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Text File | 1994-05-23 | 23KB | 419 lines

DISK-EMU Floppy disk drive emulator Version 1.00 (c) 1.994 Carlos Fernández Sanz Emporium programming group 93:341/101.2@SubNet, 2:341/31.29@FidoNet, cfsanz@nebula.encomix.com English docs 1. Description of the program and its characteristics ----------------------------------------------------- Shortly: DISK-EMU is a resident program that emulates a flopy disk drive in RAM memory. The emulation is carried out through the BIOS, making it compatible with all the programs that do not access the hardware directly (except the copiers, no other does so). DISK-EMU must not be considered as a RAM disk. Although the drive emulated is what is usually considered as a RAM disk, that is not the real purpose of this program. Just to show why DISK-EMU is not a simple RAM disk, I will comment some of its features: -The emulation is at the BIOS level, not DOS level. So, every program that works with a floppy disk drive also works with the DISKEMU drive. -DISK-EMU allows you to change a disk on the fly. So, you can quickly install programs with various installation diskettes. -It is possible to make exact images of the emulated disk drive, which is much more quickly than copying file by file. The images have CRC, so it is possible to detect any possible error in the disks. -DISK-EMU compress the images, so it can be used as an storage method for programs of various diskettes instead of the typical compression programs. -You can enter the DISK-EMU menu during the installations in any video mode, text and graphics as well. DISK-EMU will correctly restore the screen when coming back. -You can enter a shell to DOS from the DISK-EMU menu. e.g. to delete some files in the middle of an installation (to gain a little more space). -DISK-EMU drives can be write protected, just like the normal disk drives. Besides, there is an special protection mode (pseudo), which protects the disk "cheating" the programs. This is very useful when programs need to write in the disk although you do not want so. -The emulated drives can be of any kind, from the usual ones of 360 kb, 720 kb, 1.2 Mb and 1.44, to those of 2.88 Mb, or any non-standard formats, e.g. 100 tracks with 20 sectors/track... 2. Hardware and software requirements to use DISKEMU. ----------------------------------------------------- Not too much really, nowadays. At least (and enough) the following: -386SX or better. -10 kb of conventional memory, and the one necessary for the disks to be created. Tipically 1.44 Mb. Memory can also be used for the resident swapping, but the hard disk can be used for that purpose. -Very likely a EGA or VGA for installations in graphic modes. I have not tested it with a CGA, so I can not assure if it works with it. -An XMS or EMS memory driver. Any of them can be used. 3. Distribution conditions of DISK-EMU. --------------------------------------- DISK-EMU is distributed as shareware. This means that the evaluation copy is freely distributed. The user can test it for a time (usually, about three weeks) to decide whether he/she likes the program or not. if he/she likes it, he/she must register, which will give him/ her some privileges which are detailed below. If he/she does not like it, he/she just simply must stop using it. This way of distribution is of absolute confidence for the user, since he does exactly know what he is paying for, and very cheap for the programmer, which also gives a benefit to the user, who pays less. Concerning DISK-EMU, registering it gives the following benefits: -Of course, the right to use the program whenever you want, with no limitations. The registered version must not be distributed, being the user the responsible of guaranteeing this. The registered versions are protected by the law like any other program, and its distribution is a crime that can be severely punished. -Free upgrades to every little modification. I mean, all the 1.x versions. I use the "traditional" numbering system, in which changing the main number means really important changes. So, it surely will be some versions 1.x. To receive this upgrades sending a diskette and an envelope with a right stamp and the address already written on it will be enough. -An upgrade to the following important revision. This upgrade will be automatically send to all the registered users the moment it is finished, with no delays. -Electronic mail support, you can choose between SubNet (this is the best way), FidoNet or Internet. Ordinary mail can also be used, although it is too slow. -The registered version has options not available in the shareware version. -The suggestions of registered users will always be in my mind. -The diskette with the registered version of DISK-EMU also has many other programs with utilities having something to do with DISK-EMU. Most of them are free. Some others are shareware too. The shareware version can be distributed in any media, including the diskettes that go with magazines, CD-ROMs, BBS, networks like Inter- net, service catalogues of shareware selling, etc, as long as: 1. None of the files that go with the program is deleted. Other files and advertisements can be added. 2. The asked price is the same of the one of any other program. To register, send 1.800 pesetas (from Spain) or 20 US dollars (from outside Spain). Accepted payment methods are: -Deposit in the following bank account: Name: Carlos Fernández Sanz Bank: Caja de Madrid Office: 1119 Account: 3001052409 The receipt of the deposit or a photocopy of it must be sent to the address detailed below. To make the send faster, the desposit can be notified by electronic mail. If this happens, add the quantity of the last two numbers of your phone number, just to identify your deposit quickly. If you use FidoNet send the message direct, do not route it. -Bank cheque. -Simply, send money. Take care! If you do so use a registered letter. -Postal order. This way is very slow, since I have to go to the central post office, and so I do not go until I have some waiting. -Cash on delivery. Only if no other way can be used. The additional costs of the delivery are paid by the user. Whatever the method you choose is compulsory to send perfectly filled the form included in the file ORDER.DOC. The address is: Carlos Fernández Sanz C/Fermín Caballero 60, 3-B Madrid 28034 Spain 4. Guarantees of the distribution of DISK-EMU. ---------------------------------------------- There is no guarantee in the shareware version. The user is the only responsible of the use of the program, not being the author responsible of any harm or mistake the use of DISK-EMU can produce. I do guarantee that the registered version includes all what is described in this document and just the way it is described. 5. Parameters that can be used with DISK-EMU -------------------------------------------- By default, DISK-EMU creates a drive of the same size of the physical drive A:, using extended memory preferably (if there is no extended memory, expanded memory would be use), and it uses RAM memory as a container for the swapping methods. Its behaviour can be modified through the command line with the following parameters: Parameter Meaning Default value. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0 Do not create any virtual disk. Create the disk. 360, 1220, Size of the virtual disk. That of the physical 720, 1440, drive. 2880. N:drive Number of drive to be emulated 0 T:tracks Tracks of the virtual disk. That of the physical drive (40 or 80). H:heads Heads of the virtual disk. 2. S:sectors Sectors per track of the virtual That of the physical disk. drive (9, 15 or 18) B:bytes/s Bytes per sector. 512 D:dir. Working directory. C:\ K:code Code of the hot-key. This code can Alt-Tab be obtained through the menu. E Use EMS first than XMS Use XMS *FO Format the disk when creating it. Do not format. It only works on standard disks. *M Reduce the memory usage taking it Use the neccesary. from the shell. F Use hard drive to swapping zones. Use EMS/XMS U Uninstall a previous installed version. *R:file Load the image file. It is possible to make a batch process with this parameter. *W:file Save the current image in a file. *WP:file Save the current image in a file. The image will be saved compressed. ? It shows a help screen. The parameters marked with an * only work in the registered version. The parameter R will have two different behaviours: If a DISK-EMU copy is already in memory, it loads the image. If there is no DISK-EMU copy in memory, the disk is copied in the one to be installed. All the commands of reading/writting files can be cancelled by pressing ESC. Those commands that can be dangerous warn the user. For instance, to load a disk it is necessary to delete the one already loaded. The user will be warned appropiately. All the parameters can go after / or - (e.g. /R, or -R). 6. The DISK-EMU menu. --------------------- It is accessed through the key combination choosen with the parameter K, its default value is Alt-Tab. To exit the menu and return to the current program, ESC will be used. DISK-EMU will stop the running program, saving all the information necessary to let it continue after calling DISK-EMU. This includes the program itself (which is overwritten in memory with the non-resident part of DISK-EMU), the screen (text mode or graphic mode so well), DTA, and so on. Which happens when activating the menu is not important at all for the user (although it is interesting for programmers). The menu is divided in three parts, which are "Image", "File" and "System". In the screen there is also an information panel with all the characteristics of the current virtual disks, if there is any. In this panel is shown the following information: If there is no virtual disk, it simply has a warning. If there is a disk: Drive: Number of the physical drive substituted. This is better explained below. Tracks: Number of tracks. Heads: Number of heads. Sectors/Track: Number of sectors per track. Bytes/sector: Number of bytes per sector. Total sectors: Total number of sectors in the disk. Total bytes: Total number of bytes of the disk. The formula used is HEADS * TRACKS * SECTORS/TRACK * BYTES/SECTOR. The less experienced user would ask why this number is not the same that the DIR command of DOS returns when the disk is empty. This is because the first sectors of the disk are used by the DOS to manage the disk space. Protected: The disk can be protected against writting or not. There is also a third way of working (I have called it pseudo) that has the disk protected but cheats the programs that try to write in the disk, returning an "OK" as the result of a writting operation. Some programs try to write configuration files during installations (and also other things) in the disks, and they do not let the user decide whether he wants it or not. This pseudo mode is very useful if this happens. Active: The disk can be active or not. In the latter, the drive accesses are sent to the BIOS, and then the real drive is the one that works. The menu options are the following: "IMAGE" file. -Create | A submenu appears with options to choose the virtual disk| size of the disk. It can be a standard disk, or | it can have its own characteristics. To create a | virtual disk the current one must be erased, if | there is one. -Delete disk | Deletes from memory the virtual disk and it puts | the physical drive to work again. -(Un)protect | It toggles between the protection options, disk | already explained before. -(De)Activate| Activates or deactivates the disk. -Change drive| This option is only available in the registered | version. | By default, DISKEMU substitutes the physical | drive 0, which is the drive A: under DOS. | However, any other drive can be substituted (are | valid from 0 to 3). The physical drive 1 is the | drive B:. However, in the systems with only one | floppy drive, DOS assigns a 0 to A: and B: as | well, so in this systems it is not possible to | simply announce the drive change. To solve this | problem to possible solutions are available: | 1. Change the CMOS and set that there is another | drive, although it is not present. | 2. Load the DRIVER.SYS, that comes with MS-DOS. | For instance, DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:1 /F:7 makes | DOS assign a drive letter to the physical drive | 1 (this can be the DISK-EMU drive) and set its | characteristics to those of a 1.44 Mb one. The | way DRIVER.SYS works is explained in the manual | of the operative system. | The letter can be E:, F:, etc., although DOS | still handles the drive as a floppy disk drive, | so all the commands for this drives still work | perfectly. | Systems with two drives can install the DISK-EMU | drive as the physical drive 2 (with /D:2 in | DRIVER.SYS), to have access for every drive at | the same time. "FILE" menu. -Read image | DISK-EMU will show a list with the image files | stored in the current working directory, and it | will let the user choose one to load it. Besides, | it will tell the operative system a disk change | has taken place, just to make everything work in | the same way as a disk had been changed in the | real drive. In the shareware version only the | first five images will be listed. -Write image | This option writes an image, without compressing | it, but with CRC, in the working directory. | Besides the name, a description can be inserted, | this description appears with the option of read | image, to make the identification easier. -Write | Just the same that the previous one, but the without CRC | images does not have CRC. This option is used to | create images that are going to be used and | deleted inmediatedly, and which are not suitable | of storing, because they are not sure. However, | not being necessary to calculate the CRC they | are stored more quickly. -Write with | This option is only available in the registered compression | version. | Images are saved compressed, saving a lot of | space. -Delete an | It permits deleting an image from the hard drive, image | which is very useful if the space is needed to | continue with the installation of a program. "SYSTEM" menu. -Credits | It shows a screen with the names of the people | who have helped in the development of this | program. -Change | It allows the user to change the key combination hot-key | selected to invoke the menu. First of all the | main key is to be pressed (letters or numbers) | and after that the secondary key(s) (CTRL, ALT, | etc). DISK-EMU will return the associated code | of this combination, code that can be used with | the parameter K for future installations. -Shell to DOS| This option is only available in the registered | version. | It exits temporarily to DOS. After doing whatever | necessary in DOS (even another program can be | called) type EXIT to return to the menu. -Uninstall | Uninstalls DISK-EMU from memory, if it can be | done so. 7. Some aditional tips about DISK-EMU. -------------------------------------- Although the way of working with DISK-EMU is already perfectly described, some other things must be discussed. Firstly, the virtual disk must be formatted, just as any other disk. This can seem funny, but the disk needs the formatter to save some important information at the beginning of the disk. Fortunately, it only takes ones second to format a DISK-EMU disk. To format the disks I highly recommend the widely spread FDFORMAT. It is free and is distributed with source. It is available at most BBS. It is much better than the FORMAT of DOS, with DISK-EMU as well as with any physical disk. The disk with the registered version of DISK-EMU has a copy of it, just in case you have any problem finding it. Although DISK-EMU uses compression, it was not thought of as a way of storing files, but disks. For files, it is better to use any other wonderful utilities designed for it, like PKZIP or ARJ. DISK-EMU must not be loaded before any other program that receives real time messages (e.g., networks, communication programs, etc). When entering the menu, DISK-EMU stops all this programs, so data may be lost. Besides that, programs like DesqView must not be loaded before. The correct way (if you want to access the menu, if you do not want to do it is not necessary to do so) is by loadin DISK-EMU within a window. 8. Contacting the author ------------------------ My main electronic address are: SubNet : 93:341/101.2 FidoNet : 2:341/31.29 InterNet: cfsanz@encomix.nebula.com If are unable to contact me through those addresses, you may try the following ones: SubNet : 93:341/901.16 FidoNet : 2:341/18.107 InterNet: cccanto@eui.upm.es -> This one belongs a friend, but you can use it. He will forward the messages to me. Of course, snail mail is also a posibility. In that case, please please send a envelope with the correct stamp and your address. 9. Credits ---------- Besides me, Carlos Fernández Sanz, as the author of the program, some other people have colaborated in the developing of DISK-EMU: Betatesters: Rafael Imedio 93:341/101.2 2:341/31.0 Francisco J. González 93:341/101.3 2:341/31.11 Paco Romero 93:341/901.0 2:341/53.0 Pedro de Paz 93:341/501.0 2:341/52.0 Nacho Rapallo 93:341/108.0 2:341/31.7 Antonio Cordero 93:341/108.0 2:341/31.7 Roger Manuel 93:341/108.0 2:341/31.7 Francisco J. González has helped me a lot with the translation into English of the program and its documentation. Luis Crespo (the author of Visual Player) told me his experience on the distribution of his fine program. Ciriaco García de Celis, with his wonderful book "El Universo Digi- tal del IBM PC, AT y PS/2" gave me a lot of useful information about TSRs. I also want to greet everyone who came to the computer meeting some friends made in Madrid, I will see you in Barcelona in our way to the the Assembly '94 this summer: Javier y Juan Carlos Arévalo, from Iguana. Arturo Ramírez-M (you are very good at DOOM), Jon Beltrán de Heredia (I wait impatiently for your assembly book), Arcadi Magre, Francisco Carrascosa, Oscar Esteban, Aitor Garay, Patxi Olarte, Reddevil, and some others that I forget. Greetings also go to Mstislav, Daf, Undo.