Re: IMS D100 file format question

[Michael Poole <mdp2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In message 
<Pine.LNX.4.44.0408032048570.12383-100000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Denis 
A Nicole <dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
> Hi all/
>
> Does anybody remember how files used to be laid out on floppies made by
> the Stride version of the TDS (IMS D100)? I can read the physical disks,
> but they are neither Tripos nor P-System---both of which I can read OK. Is
> there any way I can reconstruct the fold hierarchy?
>
> Many thanks to the oldtimers...

Denis,

The person who will definitely know is Tom Parke, last heard of living 
at Abingdon. His initials are I T C - perhaps some directory could 
locate him.

Failing that I suggest you contact Julian Wilson, who as far as I know
is still at STM at Aztec West.

I am trying hard to turn my mind back to the Stride system. I think the
underlying file system was Tripos as you suggest, but if the product was
called TDS then text files would not have been ordinary host text files
but would have been encoded in the same way as in other contemporary
INMOS software. The bytes in 16-bit words might be the wrong way round
as a result of the differences between Intel and Motorola processor 
architectures. The contemporary of the Stride was the Sage (8088?)
but the PC  was just round the corner and so the TDS data representation
probably survived unchanged into later TDSs.

Best of luck with your attempts to use old software. I have managed to
physically read some old 5.25in floppies of that era on my old 386 PC
today but have not yet got inside any files!

Michael
--
Michael Poole
15 Heather Close, STROUD, GL5 3QY
01453 759557