What Floppy Format? (c) 1992-94 by Angel Babudro "Organic Computer Wizardry" Box 132 * Paonia, CO 81428 USA I. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THOSE CONCERNING MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER ANGEL BABUDRO NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE EVEN IF ANGEL BABUDRO HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR'S LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some States do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This agreement shall be governed by the State of Colorado and shall inure to the benefit of Angel Babudro and any successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a State or Federal Court of competent jurisdiction located in Delta County, Colorado. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts. II. COPYRIGHT WFF is owned and copyright (c) 1992-1994 by Angel Babudro, all rights reserved. You may only use and/or distribute WFF under the License terms below. III. LICENSE The following terms and conditions apply to the use and/or distribution of What Floppy Format?: ___________________ 1. WFF is being distributed as copyright-protected Freeware. There is no registration fee and you are licensed to use it for an unlimited time. 2. All files originally distributed as part of the package (including this notice) must be included without modification. The complete list of files can be found in the PACKING.LST file which is part of this package. 1 3. Individual users may freely copy this disk and share it with friends, family, and acquaintances. Non-profit groups (including user groups and BBSs) may distribute copies of this disk. A fee of no more than $5 may be charged to cover disk copying costs. If the files on this disk have dates more than a year old please contact the author for a free update to the current version. 4. Disk distributors and dealers must have written permission before selling copies of this software. When you contact me you will receive a free copy of the latest version and you will be placed on my mailing list to receive updates as they are released. Disk distributors may charge no more than $10 per disk for copies of this software. If, as a distributor, you supply copies to other resellers, the end price to the user may not exceed $10. 5. You must obtain written permission prior to distribution as part of any "bundled" packages (e.g., CD-ROM, placing on new computer systems, etc.). Such permission is often granted; the author is a nice guy - please write to him with your ideas. 6. You must immediately stop selling/distributing copies of this software upon notice from the author. IV. TECHNICAL SUPPORT (HOW TO REACH ME) If you have questions or need help, just send a note to me through the mail or a BBS listed below. Sysops and shareware vendors please see VENDOR.DOC for distribution information. Mail Angel Babudro, "Organic Computer Wizardry", PO Box 132, Paonia, CO 81428 USA Official Distribution Bulletin Boards My software packages are "free" downloads on the BBSs listed below - you need not subscribe to download my shareware (although other files or functions may require subscription). I use the first name "Angelo" on BBSs since it avoids gender confusion (I'm used to both names anyway). Scan for the file name WFF*.* to locate the latest version. West Coast Researcher's BBS (CA) USR Dual (805) 949-8151 Enter "J;136" to join the OrganicSftwr conference then use "F" to list files and "E" to post messages for me. Over 4 gigabytes of files on-line; anything you want is here. Messages can be sent to this board for me via FidoNet 1:102/1310. Expanding Horizons (CO) 14.4k V.32 (303) 241-2847 This is my local BBS so it is the one I most often update and check for messages. Log on to this board with the name "OC WIZ" and the password "WHAT" - this will bypass 2 the usual questionnaire so you can begin downloading right away. Next, enter "J;3" to join conference #3, then type "F" to view the list of my software. Midwest Rusty 'n Edie's BBS (Ohio), six phone numbers: HST 16.8 (216) 726-1804 Hayes 28.8 (216) 726-3642 Hayes V-series (216) 726-3610 2400/V32/ZyXEL 19.2 (216) 726-2620 USR HST Turbo 21 (216) 726-3628 CompuCom Speed (216) 726-3584 East Coast Excalibur (Central NY) USR Dual (315) 736-3792 FREQ (File REQuest) from this board via RBBS address A:954/401, FIDO address 1:26501, or ICN address 91:315/101. WhiTech BBS (NC) ZyXEL 14.4 V32b/V42b (910) 944-1165 File Request (FREQ) via Fido address 1:3636/2. Software Creations (MA) - over 120 lines. Home of Night Owl CD-ROM. USR Courier 2400 MNP5 (508) 365-2359 USR Dual Standard 14.4k (508) 368-7036 USR HST/Dual Std 16.8k (508) 365-2032 USR Dual Std v.32Terbo (508) 368-6604 V. INTRODUCTION WFF is a menu shell for use with Christoph Hochstatter's FDFORMAT. WFF is Freeware; it is my contribution back to all the fine programmers who have donated their labour in the form of public domain software. Please distribute complete copies of WFF to bulletin boards and friends -- please shackle any temptations you might have to eliminate or modify anything -- that wouldn't be nice. :) I am open to donations if feel so inclined. For the latest version of WFF order my Sampler Disk (see ORDER.FRM). Now, let me tell you what it is that I've created. What Floppy Format? (WFF) is an easy way to quickly format floppies without remembering commands and option switches for various disk types using FDFORMAT, a formatting utility written and donated to the public domain by Christoph Hochst tter (normally found as FDFRM16A.ZIP or FDFORM18.ZIP on BBS's). FDFORMAT is the best floppy format utility I've seen, but it's so flexible that there are a million and one combinations of options. So I wrote WFF to allow me to set & test certain options, save the options I prefer, and then format a disks without having to remember any of it. I don't even need to remember which drive is A: (not that it's a problem...). I use the extra high-density and off-colour formats provided 3 via FDFORMAT for my archive disks. FDFORMAT packs 1.48Mb on a 5¬-inch disk and up to 1.72Mb on a 3«-inch disk, which dramatically reduces the number of disks I need to off-load large software from my hard disk. And I've noticed that with a CompatiCard IV the <300-byte TSR isn't needed for the extended densities. It's the best disk capacity extender I've seen, and it's public domain, too! Can't beat it. If you can't find it on your local BBS, FDFORMAT can be downloaded from the BBSs listed above. By the way, I don't have any interest in FDFORMAT other than using it. I'll have to write a letter to the author some day... WARNING WFF allows you to format disks in drive letters _______ other than A: or B: by assigning drive A: to that drive. I did this so that I could format my 8" drive (which is K: on my system) using FDFORMAT. To illustrate, my 8" drive is K: so WFF does an "ASSIGN a=k" before issuing the FDFORMAT command. When FDFORMAT is finished, an "ASSIGN" command is issued by itself to remove the drive assignment. BEWARE If you set a hard disk letter as a floppy disk ______ drive I have no idea what will happen (I'm not going to try it!). So be careful if you use something other than drives A: and B: -- double check that it's a floppy disk letter you're using! File List _________ The files that make up What Floppy Format? are as follows: wff.exe The executable file wff.txt The documentation (this text) in ASCII format [*] wff.wp The documentation (this text) in WordPerfect 5 format (so you can format for your printer) [*] wff.new Late-breaking news [*] file_id.diz Description file for BBSs [*] desc.sdi Description file for BBSs [*] order.frm Order form for all of my Shareware! Please TYPE ORDER.FRM > PRN These are the files which make up WFF. When you give copies to friends, BBSs, etc. please be sure to include all of these files. Additional files will be created in the same directory as you use the software. The files marked with [*] can be deleted if disk space is a premium, but I ask that you please keep ORDER.FRM handy in case you or someone else you know wants to contact me. Since I am asking for no money for WFF I hope you will do this for me. Thanks. 4 Using WFF _________ NOTE: WFF.EXE should reside in a directory in your DOS PATH. Otherwise you will have to use "cd" to change to that directory each time. To set your path use the "set path=" command in your autoexec.bat file. Just type WFF from the DOS prompt. The first time you use it, WFF will pop-up its set-up screen for you to fill in. Just tell it whether you have a monochrome or colour screen, which types of floppy disk drives you have (up to 4) and the drive letters, and the path to the FDFORMAT programme. If FDFORMAT resides in a directory which is in your DOS PATH it will automatically be filled in. (See WARNING above about floppy drives.) Default values for disk verification and sector sliding are also presented for you to change. If you aren't sure what you want to use, just leave the defaults as they are -- the default sector sliding values should improve the floppy disk's speed on any computer. See the documentation for FDFORMAT for details about these. Directory Command -- While you are formatting disks you can press F5 between disks to see a directory on the screen. This is the directory command, and parameters, you like to use. You can use the DOS "DIR" command, or "NDIR" as I use, or "HDIR" or anything else. Root Dir Files -- This is the maximum number of files the disk may have in its root directory (\). In more technical terms, this setting determines the size of the FAT (File Allocation Table). See FDFORMAT docs. Leave "112" for default of 112 or 224, depending on disk type. You can lower the number to squeeze a few more bytes out of your disks. This does not affect subdirectories; only the number of files you can have in the root. After you've done the set-up, just pick the size of disk you want from the horizontal menu -- 3«-inch, 5¬-inch, and 8-inch -- and press RETURN. You'll see a vertical menu of the densities available, depending on whether you have double-density or high-density drives -- densities which are not valid for your drive(s) cannot be selected. Highlight your selection and press RETURN. That's all there is to it! Special Features & Functions ____________________________ Quick Format -- If you have verification turned OFF, FDFORMAT version 1.8 will re-format a disk in 5-10 seconds by only verifying already formatted tracks and clearing the FAT. Continuous Format -- After a disk is formatted you will hear some tones to tell you the disk is finished (so you don't have to watch the 5 screen), and a ticking will begin.1 This is to let you know that WFF is waiting for your response: 1. You can press Esc to stop formatting disks or F5 to see a directory of another disk. 2. You can remove the disk. This will initiate WFF's Continuous Format feature -- WFF will wait for you to insert another disk or press Esc to quit or F5 for a directory. Before inserting another disk you can press the F5 key to get a directory of a disk. WFF will prompt for a drive letter at the bottom of the screen. While it is waiting for the drive letter you can insert the disk you would like to view. NOTE Both FDFORMAT and WFF test the disk drive. Usually this causes no noticable delay, but I stumbled across a combination of electronics that took 16-seconds to identify an unformatted disk. If this is happening to you there may be a conflict in your system; experiment with card settings (address, IRQ, etc.). In my case it was an address conflict. Drawbacks -- I designed WFF to allow selection of disk drives based on size rather than drive letter. This avoids confusion where one 5.25" and one 3.5" disk drive are used since you can't even assume that the top drive is A: (Tandy broke that rule). But, if you have two of the same drives (like an old AT or XT with dual 5.25" drives) there is currently no way to choose between them. I will spend the time to install this feature as soon as someone asks me to. ____________________ 1 These sounds are only audible if the Sound option under "File" is turned ON. 6