home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
ftp.whtech.com
/
ftp.whtech.com.tar
/
ftp.whtech.com
/
articles
/
Sughrue
/
copycat.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2006-10-19
|
7KB
|
223 lines
.IF DSK1.C3
^^^^^^TEXTWARE, SOFTWARE, and
ELSEWHERE
^^^^^^^^^Goings-on in our TI
Community
^^^^^^^^^^^by Jack Sughrue
^^^^^^^^^^^^^DMing the TI Way
It is 3:30 in the morning. You
can't sleep. You try counting
spreadsheets, but nothing seems to
work. One way to cure insomnia is
to get a pile of, say, 15 disks full
of games and utilities and tutorials
and generic stuff. Then get a pile
of blank disks (Keep all these
things on hand for those nights of
insomnia.) and copy the full pile
onto the blank file. You'll finally
have those backups you've been
wanting in case something Dreadful
happens to Guess My Number and Loan
Amortization and other impossible-to
-live-without files.
Anyway, shove in your Disk
Manager and start initializing all
those 15 disks. This, alone, may
put you to sleep, but if that fails,
copying the disks - file by file -
is sure to do it. Great for
insomniacs; not great for making
backups.
So, if sleep's your reason for
making copies, stay with Disk
Manager.
If getting the stuff copied is
your reason for making copies, try
Floppy Copy ($24.95 plus $2 S&H from
Softspot, P.O. Box 8786, Silver
Spring, MD); or from mail-order
houses for maybe less.
Floppy Copy copies quickly.
With 2 drives it is capable of
copying some disks completely in 24
seconds. It will copy ALL disks
within 3 passes at 138 sectors a
sweep.
FC can be loaded with any of the
following: Mini-Memory, Extended
BASIC, or Editor/Assembler modules.
(M-M & E/A load 24 seconds; XB takes
50 seconds.)
If all FC could do is make
backup copies super fast, it would
be worth the price. But that is not
all it can do.
It catalogs: displaying the
complete status of the disk,
including disk name and file index.
It validates the duplicating
process. Error messages will appear
if the disk is not transferring
data.
It initializes. And it does
that faster than Disk Manager, too.
It has REDO functions (great for
initializing or duplicating a number
of disks).
It has an immediate menu. Ease
of back-and-forthing among the
functions is just right.
Within the larger functions,
there are other menus: you can take
just files for a quicker copy, or
you can copy the entire disk
(including the blank sectors), for
an example.
You can copy SSSD or any other
configuration established by the DM
or by CorComp.
So far I've found that FC will
copy everything but itself.
FC comes with a single page of
documentation. But you can choose
some rather lengthy on-screen
directions if you so choose. Once
you've gone through the four sets,
you really don't need to bother
again. FC operates smoothly and
with great ease.
Even I got it working within a
minute or two.
One night I initialized 22 blank
disks for a club swap. I stopped
for a beer and a telephone call and
returned to the task of copying the
club's 22 disks. I did it with
dread, in spite of the fact I really
wanted to give Floppy a real test.
I did all 22 disks before I went
to bed. A piece of cake, thanks to
Floppy Copy.
The next night I did all kinds
of things to check out its default
system. I put in initialized disks.
Floppy told me and gave its name.
I put in damaged disks. Floppy
gave me an error message. I put in
disks with only 5 sectors used.
Floppy read in 1 second, wrote in 2.
FC always behaved and always
protected me (and my disks) from
myself.
I'd highly recommend this fast,
versatile tool to anyone with a disk
system.
*******
Then a week or so passed and
some disks I ordered (and some
unexpected birthday disks) arrived
at our post office on the same day.
The disks I had bought contained
DM1000 and MASSCOPY. The gift
contained ULTRACOPY and DMIII.
I tried ULTRACOPY and loved it.
It was about as fast as Floppy but
lacked some of Floppy's features.
MASSCOPY was about as fast as Floppy
and had a pile more features
(getting closer to the DM cart).
Then I loaded DMIII (which came
from an Apple-owner friend who felt
sorry because I had such an inferior
machine). Pitiful creature, this
friend. But, still, I appreciated
the wonderful gift. And I thought
it WAS wonderful! "Imagine, a
resident DM, just like the big
computers," my friend remarked.
It was, too. A resident DM to
draw from whenever my heart desired.
With a few simple CALLS I could not
catalog or copy or rename or
printout or many of the other
activities permitted only through
the cart.
For the next week I played with
DMIII and MASSCOPY and ULTRACOPY and
with a lot of the other programs I
bought and the other (mostly
utility) disks I got as the gift.
I noticed, but I didn't "have
time" (read inclination) to
download DM1000 docs. I'd get to
them and the program when I could to
see what I had purchased, but it
sure couldn't beat Floppy and ULTRA
and MASS and, particularly, DMIII.
How wrong I was!
DM1000 (now up to version 5.0?
and distributed Fairwarely and as
part of the new FUNNELWEB and freely
through GENIAL TRAVELER and,
hopefully, your local user group) is
stupendous! As a disk-manager
environment all by itself it has no
equal among any home computers. It
simply makes the TI an immense tool.
Developed by Bruce Caron for the
Ottawa Users Group, DM1000 lets you
move, copy, rename, protect,
unprotect files; lets you rename,
copy, catalog, print contents,
initialize disks; lets you read ALL
DV/80 files on screen; lets you
initialize in box format (but also
automatically initialize before
copying disks); lets you change
screen colors; lets you...
But why don't you get DM1000
from your group, unload the docs,
read them over WHILE running the
program, and amaze yourself and
flabergast your Apple-owning
friends. I did just that and it
was great fun.
A few months later I got
FUNLWRITER (which has an updated
DM1000 built in) and couldn't wait
to show that same friend what my
"inferior machine" could do. An
even bigger flabergast resulted.
Elaine, my wife, says I am a
truly evil person to be so heartless
to my Apple friend. My four kids
concur.
So do I.
Ain't LIFE grand!?!
[Jack Sughrue, Box 459,
E.Douglas, MA 01516]
********
If any newsletter editor prints
these articles, please put me on
your mailing list. Thanks - JS
ÇêǼêîÉòƒ⌐╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒╒Çî