bridger%rcc@RAND-UNIX.ARPA (Bridger Mitchell) (02/07/88)
The "kit version" of DosDisk requires writing and assembling an overlay for interface to the user's bios. The bios must have table-driven logical and physical disk format parameters, so that the overlay can, when DosDisk is loaded, set or install the MS-DOS format parameters IN THE BIOS. (Later when DosDisk is unloaded, the a different entry point in the overlay must restore the default format). More simply put, you have to be able to set the bios, somehow, so bios-read and bios-write calls will function correctly after valid track and sector calls have been made. "Old-style" bioses, with disk parameters hard-wired into the assembly code, don't normally support MS-DOS format; "modern" bioses provide some type of table-lookup for the parameters, and a method of altering or selecting the table values. The kit version is not recommend unless you have advanced Z80 assembly language experience and technical knowledge of your bios. The appendix of the user's manual lists the overlay specifications, and the kit includes a sample overlay. BTW, DateStamper is NOT REQUIRED for DosDisk, although they work in tandem very nicely. --bridger mitchell