kurfurst@utgpu.UUCP (09/07/87)
Following a dosread or doswrite on a formatted DOS diskette ( I have
version 2.10) it would appear that track 0 is destroyed and so
impossible to reformat with format.com.
Has anyone else had this problem? Could it be that my format.com is
broken.
In view of all this and while on the subject I would greatly appreciate:
1. Source code to the equivalent of format.com which does not
use BIOS calls.
2. Technical specs so that I may write (1).
3. Failing request (1) a copy of format.com as I think that
mine may be broken.
Please e-mail me if you can be of some help. If there is sufficient
interest I will post to the net. Thanks in advance ....
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_______________________________________________________________________________
Thomas Kurfurst
...{decvax,ihnp4,utcsri,{allegra,linus}!utzoo}!gpu.utcs.toronto.edu!kurfurst
______________________________________________________________________________paradis@encore.UUCP (Jim Paradis) (09/08/87)
In article <1987Sep7.134426.5166@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> kurfurst@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Tom Kurfurst) writes: >Following a dosread or doswrite on a formatted DOS diskette ( I have >version 2.10) it would appear that track 0 is destroyed and so >impossible to reformat with format.com. What kind of PC are you using? I found the same problem with my 12-MHz AT clone, but it has nothing to do with whether track 0 is destroyed or not. All that message means is that it failed on the first track. >Has anyone else had this problem? Could it be that my format.com is >broken. Well, format.com is "broken" in that it can't deal with very fast machines. Apparently it uses some hard-coded countdown loop which works fine on XTs, turbo XTs, and ATs, but fails on turbo ATs. >In view of all this and while on the subject I would greatly appreciate: > > 1. Source code to the equivalent of format.com which does not > use BIOS calls. > 2. Technical specs so that I may write (1). > 3. Failing request (1) a copy of format.com as I think that > mine may be broken. Actually, I've been meaning to add formatting capabilities to the MINIX floppy driver for some time now... this just might be the incentive I need to do it. It's actually not that hard to do at all... for the controller that MINIX supports, formatting is very similar to a write operation... all one has to do is clone off some of the write code and modify it appropriately. I'll see if I can do that this week (I see it as about a one-evening project). If I can't, I'll post the details I know and some other enterprising soul can do it... +----------------+ Jim Paradis linus--+ +--+-------------+ | Encore Computer Corp. necntc--| | | E N C O R E | | 257 Cedar Hill St. ihnp4--+-encore!paradis | +-------------+--+ Marlboro MA 01752 decvax--| +----------------+ (617) 460-0500 talcott--+ You don't honestly think ENCORE is responsible for this??!!