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- OPL and Solid State Disks
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- *** Types of Solid State Disk
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- Solid State Disks (SSDs) are explained in detail in the User
- guide. There are two main reasons for using them:
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- *) To provide more room for storing information.
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- *) To make backup copies of important information, in case
- you accidentally change or delete it (or even lose your Series 3a).
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- There are two types Ram SSDs and Flash SSDs.
- They fit into the SSD drives marked "A" and "B",
- at either side of the Series 3a.
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- *) Flash SSDs are for storing or backing up information which
- is infrequently changed. This includes finished OPL programs.
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- *) Ram SSDs are for storing or backing up information which
- changes frequently. This includes OPL programs you are still writing
- or testing.
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- You can, though, save programs and data files to either kind of SSD,
- as you see fit.
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- *** How to put programs on an SSD
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- To create a new OPL module on an SSD, use the `New file' option in
- the System screen as before, but set the "Disk" line of the dialog
- to "A" or "B" as required.
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- To copy an OPL module onto an SSD, move onto the module name where
- it is listed under the Program icon, and use the `Copy file' option
- on the `File' menu. Set the `To file: Disk' line to "A" or "B".
- If you want this copy to have a different name to the original, type
- the name to use, on the `To file: Name' line. The new copy will appear
- in the list under the Program icon, but with "[A]" or "[B]"
- after its name.
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- To copy the translated version of an OPL module, move onto the
- name in the list under the RunOpl icon (to the right of the Program
- icon), then proceed as before.
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- *** SSDs from inside OPL
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- Your OPL programs can create or use data files on SSDs. To do so,
- begin the name of the data file with "A:" or "B:"
- for example:
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- CREATE "B:JKQ",A,X1$,X2$
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- tries to create a data file "JKQ" on an SSD in "B", while
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- DELETE "A:X300"
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- tries to delete a data file "X300" on an SSD in "A".
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- Don't confuse the drive names "A" and "B" with the logical
- names "A", "B", "C" and "D". Logical names are unaffected
- by which drive a data file is on.
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- The internal memory can be referred to as "M:", if required. For
- example:
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- PROC delx300:
- LOCAL a$(3),c%
- a$="MAB" :c%=1 REM default to "Internal"
- dINIT "Delete X300 data file"
- dCHOICE c%,"Disk:","Internal,A,B"
- IF DIALOG REM returns 0 if cancelled
- DELETE MID$(A$,c%,1)+":X300"
- ENDIF
- ENDP
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- In this example, "MID$(A$,c%,1)" gives ""M"", ""A"" or
- ""B"", according to the choice made in the dialog. This is added
- on the front of "":X300"" to give the name of the file to delete
- ""M:X300"", ""A:X300"" or ""B:X300"".
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- When using data files with SSDs, follow the same guidelines as with
- OPL programs Flash SSDs are for one-off or "finished" information,
- while Ram SSDs are for information which is still being changed.
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- *** Directories and DOS structure
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- The internal memory and SSDs use a DOS-compatible directory structure,
- the same as that used by disks on business PCs. For more details,
- see the `Advanced Topics' chapter.
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