**************************************¢ HAVING 8-BIT COPYING PROBLEMS?¢¢ by Ken Wickert¢¢ (Ed. While this was written in¢ 1990, I'm sure that thre are many new¢ users that will benefit from reading¢ this article, as the information is¢ still valid and informative. A.P.)¢¢ Reprinted from the ACE of Syracuse¢ Newsletter by THE OL' HACKERS AUG,¢ Inc, N.Y., With notes and updates by¢ Thomas J. Andrews, member of ACE of¢ Syracuse, and THE OL' HACKERS AUG,¢ Inc.¢¢ Making copies of 8-bit disks?¢¢ As you might guess, I copy a lot of¢ disks so I look for the best and¢ fastest way to do them with the¢ highest reproduction accuracy. ( Ken¢ was 8-bit Vice President and 8-bit¢ disk librarian of ACE of Syracuse at¢ the time this was originally written.¢ TJA)¢¢ The problems I've encountered are¢ mostly with the Atari Enhanced¢ Density, the 1050 density. I've also¢ heard it referred to as Dual Density.¢ (Editor's Note: Single Density disks¢ format as 40 tracks of 18 sectors each¢ with 128 bytes per sector for a total¢ of 720 sectors and 90 kilobytes on a¢ disk. Enhanced density disks format¢ as 40 tracks of 26 sectors with 128¢ bytes persector for a total of 1040¢ sectors and 130 kilobytes per disk. ¢ Double Density disks have 40 tracks of¢ 18 sectors each with 256 bytes per¢ sector for a total of 720 sectors and¢ 180 kilobytes on a disk. VWS) (VWS is¢ Vern Smith, Contributing Editor of the¢ ACE Newsletter. Double sided double¢ density disks have 80 tracks of 18¢ sectors each with 256 bytes for a¢ total of 1440 sectors and 360¢ kilobytes. TJA)¢¢ Many disks I receive are in this¢ "medium" density. I use it myself¢ and, as I've not had any problems¢ except for copying, I continue to use¢ it. I seldom use true Double Density,¢ as it limits the people I can exchange¢ disks with. ¢¢ So, if, like me, you have a disk you¢ want to copy and share with a friend,¢ (Great! That's what PD is all about!)¢ you'll probably want a sector copy¢ utility to do the job. Plain old DOS¢ just takes too long.¢¢ Now the fun begins. You might just¢ assume you'll get a mirror copy using¢ any sector copier. SURPRISE! You may¢ not. I've made this error several¢ times. If you select CopyMate 4.3 or¢ 4.4, you may not notice it misses the¢ middle of the road density completely. ¢ If you don't know you have an enhanced¢ density disk, you'll have a copy of¢ the disk, but only up to the 720¢ sectors formated in single density.¢ (Remember, there are 1040 sectors on a¢ 1050 density disk.) If the disk¢ isn't full, you may get all the¢ information on it, but if it is full¢ you don't get it all and that is a¢ problem.¢¢ MyCopyR is a good sector copier and¢ will sense proper density of single,¢ dual, and double density, EXCEPT on an¢ Atari XF551, where it always senses¢ single. (See update at the end of the¢ article. TJA) Why? Well, I wrote to¢ the author of MyCopyR, Glenn Smith,¢ and the letter was returned, unopened¢ and unable to forward. Then I tried¢ to leave him e-mail on CompuServe only¢ to be notified that he no longer¢ subscribes. Probably the hope of an¢ upgrade or update is lost. MyCopyR¢ properly senses density on a stock¢ 1050 drive and on the Indus GT drive.¢¢ I would like to use My CopyR as my¢ permanent copy program because it¢ gives me the option to get a disk¢ directory before and after use. This¢ is important when doing a lot of¢ copying as you may lose your place. ¢ Without this feature, you must back¢ out of the copy program and go to DOS¢ to get a directory. The MyCopyR DC¢ file states that it will work with a¢ memory-upgraded machine, but I've not¢ been able to get it to work with my¢ RAMBO upgrade without the problems¢ described.¢¢ USCOPY by E. Reuss is by far my¢ favorite copying program, despite the¢ fact that you can't check the¢ directory of a disk. Key features are¢ that it works properly with my RAMBO¢ upgrade and shows the RAM available on¢ screen. It does not sense Dual¢ density on the XF551 drive (See¢ Update! TJA) but it does work properly¢ on the 1050 drive and on the Indus GT. ¢ USCOPY only needs to read the source¢ disk once and is the best for making¢ multiple copies of enhanced density¢ disks with an extended memory machine¢ or with a 130XE using single density.¢¢ All of the above copy programs will¢ correctly copy a disk regardless of¢ the memory of your 8-bit, but you must¢ know the density of your source disk. ¢ They will also correctly copy Print¢ Shop Icon disks which use a type of¢ single density.¢¢ I do quite a bit of Downloading of¢ files from GEnie and CompuServe and¢ then inspect and assign them to a¢ respective disk. For this I use a¢ FILE copier. The file copier is very¢ similar to the demonstration on Sparta¢ DOS given by Fred Dunaway at our¢ September 1990 meeting. You get the¢ contents of the disk and select which¢ files you want to copy by using the¢ arrow keys and pressing RETURN to¢ highlight your choice.¢¢ There are several file copiers for¢ use with Atari DOS 2.* and density is¢ not a problem as you format the disk¢ yourself before you start to make your¢ special disk.¢¢ UPDATE!¢ ¢ Contrary to what Ken believed¢ when he wrote this article, both¢ MyCopyR and USCOPY will detect disk¢ density on an XF551. There is an¢ undocumented trick that must be¢ performed first though, one that I¢ discovered quite by accident.¢¢ All you have to do is press RESET¢ just before you copy a disk of a¢ density different from the one last¢ read on that drive. This seems to re-¢ initialize either the disk handler or¢ the drive itself (I vote for the¢ handler). Just to be sure, I ALWAYS¢ press RESET, whether I think the disk¢ is the same density or not.¢¢ When Ken wrote this, I was still¢ using my original 800 computer. When¢ I tried to use MyCopyR, I found out¢ that it wouldn't work with the older¢ machine, so I put it to one side and¢ worked with another. USCOPY does work¢ with the 800, so I was used to that by¢ the time I switched to my 800XL, and¢ Ken wasn't recommending it for use¢ with my XF551 drive, anyway.¢¢ I needed a sector copier one day¢ recently, and had misplaced my USCOPY¢ disk. I was searching for it when I¢ came across the MyCopyR disk again, so¢ I tried that. Naturally, I ran right¢ up against the problems Ken describes¢ here. I had come across the same¢ problem with USCOPY and had found that¢ pressing RESET "cured" it, so I tried¢ it with MyCopyR and it worked again!¢¢ None of these copiers will copy¢ double-sided disks. A quick review of¢ the GEnie Atari8 library revealed no¢ entries there that would do so,¢ either. If you want to make a copy of¢ a double-sided disk, you'll probably¢ have to use the particular DOS to do¢ it.¢ Double-sided disks and drives¢ have a problem all their own. By¢ double-sided, I mean a drive that can¢ use both sides of a disk without¢ turning it over. I don't maen the¢ "flippies" that Atari users have been¢ using for years.) It seems that the¢ different manufacturers of double-¢ sided drives used differing formats¢ when designing them. This means that¢ it's almost necessary to use a double-¢ sided disk in the same brand of drive¢ that produced it. Because of that,¢ you should try not to distribute¢ double-sided disks to other people, as¢ they may find them unusable.¢¢ MyCopyR does use the extra memory¢ of an extended XL or XE. Both single¢ and double density disks are copied¢ with one pass with my RAMBO'ed XL. ¢ For double density this requires 180k,¢ so the program MUST be using the¢ expanded memory. For some reason,¢ though, MyCopyR does enhanced density¢ disks differently, using two passes. ¢ It copies the first 720 sectors on the¢ first pass, and the rest on the¢ second. This is done even though the¢ program knows there is sufficient RAM¢ to do it in one pass.¢¢ The best of all worlds, and I'm¢ sure Ken would agree with me, would be¢ a new copier that would properly sense¢ density, provide a directory, make¢ multiple copies from RAM, and would¢ work with all double sided drives. ¢ Will someone ever write such a¢ program? I wish I knew...¢¢ *************************************¢
