[comp.sys.zenith.z100] Formatting Floppies

eboyd@apg-1.arpa (Earnie Boyd AMSTE-TAF 3077) (07/13/88)

This subject has come up before, but has never been fully discussed.  I still
have the same questions, and some new ones, but don't know if I'm asking the
impossible.

	1.  Is it possible to format (read and write is solved) Z200 1.2 meg
floppies on a Z100??

There were programs in the 360 world that allowed the 100 to format all sort of
less-than-360 kb floppies for MSDOS and CPM machines.  It seems reasonable that
this same capability exists, but perhaps not programmed in the 1.2meg world.

	2.  Is it possible to read - write - and perhaps format 360k MSDOS and
CPM disks on a z100 using the 1.2meg drive?

This can be done using the 1.2meg drive on a Z200 (for sure with MSDOS).  While
this is not the recommended approach for using 360 floppies, if one has a hard
drive and a 1.2meg floppy, the only purpose of a 360 floppy is to read in new
programs.

	3.  Is there a public domain or commercial format program that allows
one to make the format parameter changes?  

Remember when we all went from 320K to 382K in CPM85 and CPM86!!!  I have
looked over all the archives I can think of at simtel20 for a format program
but so far I haven't come up with an MSDOS format program....maybe Heath should
release the source to the Format program since they are no longer supporting
the machine.  We never did get to 382K in the MSDOS world.

	4.  Someone was working with the JFORMAT program from Tall Tree(?).  Is
there a progress report?  I wouldn't mind using the 1.2meg drive to get 2.7meg
floppies.

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