dfh@scirtp.UUCP (David Hinnant) (08/16/86)
The UNIX micros we manufacture (SCI 1000/2000/3000) read and write 9 sector
40 track floppies. I would love to be able to write a tar or cpio format
floppy on our SCI machines and read it directly on the UNIX PC. Right now
I am creating MS-DOS files on our SCI machines and then reading them on the
UNIX PC. This works, but is a bother for several reasons I won't go into.
When I try reading a tar format on a 40 track 9 sector floppy created
on our SCI machines via /dev/rfp020 on the UNIX PC, I get unexpected
errors (I forget the exact error just now). I assume that /dev/rfp020
is the correct device for raw (un-volumized) access because that is
what the MS-DOS read and write programs use. Even a dd(1) from the
floppy gives me the same error. Obviously it is possible to read an
un-iv(1)'ed floppy because MS-DOS read and write work. Tar and cpio
work via /dev/rfp021 on floppies formatted by iv(1), but iv(1) is less
than standard and is not on our SCI machines.
I think I should be able to read 9 sector 40 track floppies on the UNIX PC.
What do I need to do to directly access the floppy the way that MS-DOS
read and write do? The manual pages on the 'general disk interface' are
less than useful. Can I format a 9 sector 40 track floppy with out
placing all the garbage iv(1) does on it? Whatever happened to simplicity
and media exchangability?
--
David Hinnant
SCI Systems, Inc.
...{decvax, akgua}!mcnc!rti-sel!scirtp!dfh