Go64!/Go64_1999-06_1999_CSW_Side_A.d64/1581cp50.zip/SRC/HISTORY.TXT

Text File | 1999-05-13 | 20KB | 432 lines

mODIFICATIONS, FIXED BUGS AND NEW FEATURES:





tHE EARLY VERSIONS OF 1581-cOPY WERE 1581-dUMP 0.00 AND 0.20 AND 1581-

cOPY 0.00, 0.15, 0.20 AND 0.30. tHESE WERE INTERNAL DESIGN STUDIES ONLY

AND SO, FEATURE LISTS OR MODIFICATION DATES ARE NOT AVAILABLE ANYMORE.

tHE FIRST MORE OR LESS WORKING VERSION WAS 0.40 AND BECAUSE IT WAS THE

FIRST DISTRIBUTION, THE DOCUMENTATION PHASE STARTED THERE.







1581CP4:  1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.40   1998-09-28



  mOD: tHE WHOLE TRACK IS READ INTO A BUFFER, BEFORE WRITING IT TO DISK.

       tHIS MAKES THE TOOL MUCH MORE FASTER ON SYSTEMS, THAT RUN A DISK

       CACHE IN THE BACKGROUND.



  mOD: tHE PROGRAM ISN'T ABORTED ANYMORE, IF AN ERROR OCCURS, THERE ARE

       DONE DEFAULT ACTIONS FOR THE CASE OF AN ERROR. eX.: iF A READ

       SECTOR FAILS, AN EMPTY BUFFER (0X00) IS WRITTEN TO DISK.



  mOD: tHE NUMBER OF RETRIES CAN NOW BE DEFINED VIA COMMAND LINE.



  nEW: iMPLEMENTED THE SECTOR HEADER rEAD id COMMAND, SO THAT TRACK

       READING/WRITING CAN BE STARTED WITH THE CURRENT SECTOR NUMBER.



  iNFO: i GAVE UP IMPLEMENTING A POLLING MODE, BECAUSE i AM UNABLE TO

       HANDLE IT. sO dma BASED FLOPPY DISK ACCESS CAN BE USED ONLY.







1581CP41: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.41   1998-10-04



  fIX: tHE "RETRY" VARIABLE WASN'T INITIALIZED, SO IF THE ARGUMENT /t:XX

       IS NOT GIVEN, THE TOOL MAY FAIL TO READ AND STEPS THROUGH ALL THE

       TRACKS VERY QUICKLY WITH AN ERROR MESSAGE ON EACH. tHAT WAS AN

       ERROR COMBINATION, BECAUSE i USED VARIABLES THAT WERE "SIGNED INT"

       INSTEAD OF "UNSIGNED INT".



  fIX: wRITING WASN'T POSSIBLE, BECAUSE i DID A READ OPERATION WITHIN THE

       cbm 1581 HIGH LEVEL CODE.



  fIX: tHERE WAS A WEIRD CONDITION, THAT PREVENTED ONE OF MY DRIVES FROM

       SEEKING ON STARTUP (i BOUGHT A BRAND NEW tEAC 3,5" DRIVE, SO THAT

       i CAN TEST THE TOOL ON THREE DIFFERENT MACHINES NOW).



  fIX: aRGUMENTS WEREN'T CHECKED CORRECTLY







1581CP42: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.42   1998-10-18  (UNRELEASED)



  mOD: mAKING rEADid FASTER, IF AN ERROR OCCURS.



  nEW: oNE OF MY CONTROLLERS (aDAPTEC aha-2842 vl-TO-scsi, WITH

       INTEGRATED FLOPPY SUPPORT) HAS MUCH PROBLEMS WITH SINGLE SECTOR

       READING, SO i IMPLEMENTED NEW ROUTINES FOR MULTIPLE

       SECTOR/MULTIPLE TRACK READING (REAL "TRACK ACCESS"). tHIS COULD

       IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE UNDER MULTITASKING ENVIRONMENTS, TOO.







1581CP43: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.43   1998-10-18



  fIX: tHE MULTIPLE _TRACK_ READING SLOWS DONE THE PERFORMANCE ON SOME

       OTHER CONTROLLERS, SO THIS IS DISABLED NOW (SEE VERSION 0.42).



  nEW: iNTRODUCING AN INTERLEAVE PARAMETER, TO INCREASE THE PERFORMANCE

       ON UNUSUAL CONTROLLERS (LIKE MY aDAPTEC). tHIS IS NEEDED, BECAUSE

       IF THE MULTIPLE SECTOR READ ROUTINE FAILS, THE SINGLE SECTOR READ

       IS USED AND AN INTERLEAVE OF 2 IS NEEDED, SO THAT THE PERFORMANCE

       IS NOT TOO LOW.



  nEW: iNTRODUCING A PARAMETER, SO THAT THE USING OF THE MULTIPLE READ

       SECTOR FEATURE OF THE FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLER CAN BE SWITCHED OFF

       AND IT IS NOT USED FOR THE FIRST READ/WRITE TRY.







1581CP44: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.44   1998-11-01  (UNRELEASED)



  mOD: iMPROVING OUTfdc, SO THAT timeoutS CAN BE DETECTED BY THE CALLER

       OF THIS LOW LEVEL FUNCTION. iF OUTfdc PRODUCES SUCH A TIMEOUT, THE

       WHOLE OPERATION MUST BE CANCELLED, BECAUSE THE CONTROLLER CANNOT

       BE PROGRAMMED PROPERLY.



  nEW: iF THE USER PRESSES eSCAPE DURING OPERATION, THE TRANSFER IS

       ABORTED (THIS AFFECTS READING, FORMATTING, WRITING).



  mOD: i DISABLE ALL INTERRUPTS NOW, WHEN i PROGRAM THE dma CONTROLLER.

       tHE '#DEFINEABLE' OPTION WAS ALREADY THERE, BUT i NEVER TESTED IT.

       cURRENTLY i _BELIEVE_, IT WOULD BE BETTER TO DO IT.



  mOD: sETTING SINGLE SECTOR READING AS DEFAULT. tHE PARAMETER "/p"

       SELECTS "MULTIPLE SECTOR READING" NOW. tHE NEW ROUTINES CAUSED

       MUCH MORE PROBLEMS THAN THEY SOLVED.







1581CP45: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.45   1998-11-08



  mOD: iNVERTED ALL THE DISK SIDE DESCRIPTORS IN ALL THE LOW LEVEL

       FUNCTIONS, SO THAT TRANSFERRING/FORMATTING IN THE HIGH LEVEL

       ROUTINES STARTS ALWAYS WITH SIDE 0 INSTEAD OF SIDE 1 (THIS IS A

       BEAUTY FIX ONLY). tAKE NOTICE, THAT THIS DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING

       WHAT REALLY HAPPENS TO THE DISK.



  nEW: aFTER FORMATTING A DISK, BUT NOT WRITING SOME STUFF ON IT, THE

       bam IS WRITTEN WITH AN EMPTY DEFAULT bam (?TIMER VALUE LABEL).



  nEW: iNTRODUCING A VERY SIMPLE bam COPIER, TO SUPPORT PEOPLE WITH

       HEAVY PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS, THAT ONLY WANT TO TRANSFER ONE FILE.



  nEW: aDDED A FUNCTION, THAT IS ABLE TO DETECT, IF A DISK IS IN, OUT OR

       JUST INSERTED (THE dISK-cHANGE-dETECTION ROUTINE). i NEEDED THE

       WHOLE LAST WEEK TO LET IT GO WORK NEARLY PERFECT.



  mOD: iMPROVED OUTfdc, SO THAT THE fdc DATA REGISTER IS CLEARED, IF

       THERE ARE RESULT BYTES FROM PREVIOUS COMMANDS.



  nEW: rEIMPLEMENTING jOE fORSTER'S AUTOLABEL ALGORITHM, SO THAT MASS

       IMPORTING AND MASS FORMATTING BECOMES POSSIBLE WITH LEAST USER

       INTERACTION. tHIS SHOULD BE A DEMONSTRATION OF THE NEW

       dISK-cHANGE-dETECTION ROUTINE.



  nEW: aDDED A DISK SCANNER UTIL, THAT IS ABLE TO TEST READING SECTOR

       HEADERS ON ALL TRACKS AND SIDES OF THE DISK AT ALL THE DIFFERENT

       MODULATIONS (fm AND mfm) AND BITRATES. nOW SOME OF YOU MAY BE ABLE

       TO SEND ME PHYSICAL DISK LAYOUTS OF UNKNOWN DISK TYPES

       (cmd fd2000, fd4000 AND OTHER). pERHAPS YOU ARE ALSO ABLE TO

       IDENTIFY COPY PROTECTION MECHANISMS OF SOME COMMERCIAL SOLD

       SOFTWARE DISKS!







1581CP46: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.46   1998-11-24



  mOD: cHANGED THE CALCULATION OF THE "REAL" SIZE OF AN SECTOR FROM

       256*bYTESpERsECTORvALUE TO 128U<<bYTESpERsECTORvALUE. tHE OLD

       METHOD WAS DEFINETLY WRONG. wITH THE SECTOR SIZE OF 512 BYTES

       (cbm 1581 bPs VALUE OF 2), THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE IN THE RESULT

       AND SO i DIDN'T RECOGNIZE IT UNTIL NOW, WHERE i STARTED THE

       diskscan IMPLEMENTATION OF THE rAW-mODE-rEAD-tRACK FUNCTION, WHERE

       i NEED SECTOR SIZES OF 8192, 16384 AND 32768 BYTES (VALUES 6, 7

       AND 8).



  mOD: cHANGING DISK DRIVE DESCRIPTORS FROM 0 & 1 TO a: AND b:



  mOD: cHANGED THE FORMAT AND r/w gap SIZES. tHE r/w gap SIZE DOES ONLY

       AFFECT THE MULTIPLE SECTOR READING OR WRITING OF DISKS. oN A cbm

       1581 FORMAT THE gap SIZES ARE A LITTLE BIT SMALLER, THAN ON THE

       FORMAT i CHOOSED AND ESPECIALLY THE cbm 1581 FORMAT gap SIZE WAS

       SMALLER THAN THE 1581-cOPY r/w gap SIZE. nOW IT IS ABSOLUTELY

       CLEAR TO ME, THAT THE MULTIPLE SECTOR r/w COULDN'T WORK CORRECTLY

       WITH cbm 1581 FORMATTED DISKS (AND A TEST APPROVED THIS:

       FORMATTING A DISK WITH VERSION 0.46 AND TRYING TO READ WITH

       VERSION 0.45 AND THE SWITCH /p).



       oLD 1581-cOPY FORMAT gap SIZE WAS: 46  0X2e

       oLD 1581-cOPY r/w gap SIZE WAS:    42  0X2a

       cbm 1581 FORMAT gap SIZE IS:       35  0X23

       cbm 1581 r/w gap SIZE IS:          ???

       nEW 1581-cOPY FORMAT gap SIZE IS:  35  0X23

       nEW 1581-cOPY r/w gap SIZE IS:     12  0X0c



       tHERE'S STILL ANOTHER DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE cbm 1581 AND A pc

       FLOPPY DISK FORMAT: tHE pc fdc CREATES THE SO NAMED sYSTEM 34

       FORMAT, WHILE THE cbm 1581 CREATES THE "iso" FORMAT. tHE

       DIFFERENCE IS, THAT ON THE "sYSTEM 34", THERE'S A HEADER OF 146

       BYTES INSTEAD OF 32 BYTES WITH THE "iso" FORMAT (THERE ARE 114

       BYTE MORE WITH THE "sYSTEM 34"), BUT i THINK, THAT DOESN'T MATTER.

       wHEN THE TRACK IS BEEING FORMATTED, IT MAY OVERWRITE THIS HEADER

       AT THE END OF THE FORMAT PROCESS. uNTIL NOW NO ONE DETECTED ANY

       PROBLEMS WITH THIS AND BECAUSE IN THE PAST THE gap SIZES WERE

       BIGGER, THE HEADER WAS OVERWRITTEN ALL THE TIME.



  fIX: tHE LOW LEVEL COMMAND SEEK SHOULD BE MORE RELIABLE NOW, BECAUSE IT

       CHECKS THE INTERNAL CONTROLLER TRACK VALUE AGAINST THE DESTINATION

       TRACK NUMBER (AFTER SENSE INTERRUPT STATUS).



  fIX: tHE LOW LEVEL COMMAND RECALIBRATE SHOULD BE MORE RELIABLE NOW BY

       LETTING IT CHECK THE TRACK 0 SIGNAL (DRIVE STATUS COMMAND).



  mOD: iMPLEMENTED A 1581 HIGH LEVEL FUNCTION FOR RESETTING THE DRIVE

       CONTROLLER, SO THAT THE DRIVE IS RECALIBRATED AFTER.



  nEW: iMPLEMENTED A mEDIA-dETECTION ROUTINE, SO THAT cbm 1581 COMPATIBLE

       DISKS CAN BE DETECTED RELIABLY. tHIS ROUTINE SHOULD ALSO CHECK,

       WHICH DRIVE TYPE (5,25" OR 3,5") IS CURRENTLY USED, THIS MEANS A

       HARDWARE CHECK (ASKING THE cmos).







1581CP47: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.47   1998-11-29  (UNRELEASED)



  fIX: oNE OF THE ERROR MESSAGES SAID, THAT THERE WAS AN ERROR, WHEN

       "WRITING" A TRACK, BUT IN FACT, THE TRACK COULDN'T BE _READ_.







1581CP48: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.48   1998-12-02  (UNRELEASED)



  mOD: a COMPLETE RESTRUCTURING OF THE WHOLE LOW LEVEL CODE, SO THAT THE

       cmd fd2000 DISK FORMAT CAN BE RECOGNIZED IN THE FUTURE.

       aDDITIONALLY i ADDED SOME COMMENTS AND CHANGED THE INTERFACE

       OF MANY OF THE FUNCTIONS. tHIS NEEDS A CHANGE OF THE HIGH LEVEL

       cbm PROGRAMMING LIBRARY, TOO.



  mOD: aLL THE DIFFERENT fdc COMMAND SETS ARE NOW ISSUED BY ONE BODY

       FUNCTION, THAT DOES THE COMMON PROGRAMMING SEQUENCES.



  mOD: i SIMPLIFIED AND REDUCED THE CODE BY ONLY READING ONE SIDE OF A

       CYLINDER (A TRACK), BUT NOT THE WHOLE CYLINDER. tHIS IS NEEDED

       BEFORE IMPLEMENTING THE VERIFY ROUTINE. iT MAY RESULT IN A LOSS

       OF TRANSFER SPEED, BUT IT SAVES MORE MEMORY, BECAUSE OF THE HALF

       BUFFER SIZE IS NEEDED AND LESS CODE.



  mOD: tHE MULTIPLE SECTOR READ/WRITE ROUTINES DON'T AUTOMATICALLY ISSUE

       THE SINGLE SECTOR ROUTINES AFTER AN ERROR ANYMORE. tHIS HAS TO BE

       DONE FROM THE MAIN PROGRAM NOW.



  nEW: rEMOVED THE /w SWITCH BY MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO AUTODETECT, IF THE

       SOURCE IS AN IMAGE OR DISK DRIVE (THE ':' OF THE DISK DRIVE

       DESCRIPTOR IS DONE FOR THIS).







1581CP49: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.49   1998-12-16



  nEW: aDDING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS, SO THAT THE TIME NEEDED FOR A

       TRANSFER OPERATION IS PRINTED OUT.



  nEW: aDDED A VERIFY ROUTINE FOR FORMAT AND WRITE OPERATIONS, BUT TAKE

       NOTICE, THAT THIS DOESN'T MEAN, THAT THE DISK CONTENTS ARE

       COMPARED AGAINST THE SOURCE BUFFER. tHE WRITTEN SECTORS ARE ONLY

       crc CHECKED BY THE fdc AGAIN. tHE dma CONTROLLER KNOWS A "VERIFY"

       MODE, BUT i COULDN'T FIND OUT, HOW TO CHECK, IF THERE WERE

       DIFFERENCES OR NOT.



  mOD: tHE HIGH LEVEL LIBRARY HAS BEEN RESTRUCTURED, SO THAT THERE ARE

       NOW ONLY 2 BODY FUNCTIONS FOR SINGLE SECTOR AND MULTIPLE SECTOR

       TRACK READING, WRITING AND VERIFYING. tHIS REDUCED THE CODE SIZE

       A LOT. tHE FORMAT ROUTINES HAS NOT BEEN ADDED, BECAUSE IT NEEDS

       SOME EXTRA HANDLING.



  mOD: cHANGING THE ERROR REPORTING IN THE HIGH LEVEL LIBRARY, SO THAT

       THE CYLINDER NUMBER AND OTHER PARAMETERS ARE CORRECTED TO THE

       LOGICAL cbm NAMING.



  nEW: aDDED A MEDIA TYPE fdc PARAMETER CHANGE FUNCTION, SO THAT OTHER

       FORMATS CAN GENERALLY BE SUPPORTED WITH THE LOW LEVEL ROUTINES.

       bUT THERE WILL NOT BE ALL 1581-cOPY PARAMETERS SUPPORTED, LIKE

       THE bam COPY SWITCH.



  nEW: a FIRST VERSION OF cmd fd2000 DISK SUPPORT HAS BEEN ADDED FOR TEST

       PURPOSES. cURRENTLY THIS FORMAT IS NOT WELL SUPPORTED, E.G. bam

       COPYING IS NOT ABLE AND MOST LIKELY WILL NEVER BE, BECAUSE THE cmd

       PARTITIONING SYSTEM SEEM TO BE VERY COMPLEX. tHE WRITING OF A

       DEFAULT bam AND SYSTEM PARTITION IS CURRENTLY NOT SUPPORTED TOO,

       BUT THIS WILL BE ADDED, AFTER i GOT SOME (EMPTY) IMAGES.



  mOD: iMPROVED READsECTORid, SO THAT VARIABLE TIMEOUTS CAN BE SELECTED.

       tHIS WAY i WAS ABLE TO REALIZE A MUCH FASTER MEDIA DETECTION

       ROUTINE.



  nEW: aDDED DEFAULT EXTENSION GENERATION (d81 AND d2m), IF A FILENAME IS

       GIVEN, THAT DOESN'T CONTAIN AN EXTENSION. fILENAMES, THAT SHOULD

       NOT CONTAIN AN EXTENSION CAN BE SPECIFIED BY ADDING A DOT TO THE

       END (image. ). iF A DISK IS WRITTEN, THE ROUTINE SEARCHES FOR

       FILES WITH THE DIFFERENT EXTENSIONS UNTIL IT FINDS A MATCHING

       COMBINATION OF AN IMAGE AND DISK MEDIA TYPE.







1581CP50: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.50   1999-05-13



  mOD: cHANGED THE DEFAULT DISK FORMATTING LABEL FROM "1581 cOPY FORMAT"

       TO "1581 COPY FORMAT" SO THAT COMMODORE USERS ARE NO LONGER

       CONFUSED BY GRAPHICAL CHARS.



  nEW: iF THE DISK IS WRITE PROTECTED AND DATA HAS TO BE WRITTEN OR THE

       DISK HAS TO BE FORMATTED, THERE COMES A WRITE PROTECT ERROR

       MESSAGE NOW AND THE WHOLE OPERATION IS ABORTED IMMEDIATELY.



  mOD: aDDED MORE SUPPORT FOR cmd'S fd 2000 DISKS. wHEN FORMATTING A

       DISK ONLY, THERE'S SOME DEFAULT DATA WRITTEN TO THE DISK NOW.

       tHE PHYSICAL LAYOUT OF SUCH DISKS IS AS FOLLOWS:

          81 CYLINDERS PER DISK, 2 HEADS PER CYLINDER (A TRACK),

          10 SECTORS PER TRACK (PER HEAD), 1024 BYTES PER SECTOR,

          SECTOR HEADER SIDE id DESCRIPTORS ARE _SWAPPED_ LIKE WITH

          THE cbm 1581 DISKS.

       bam COPYING OF fd2000 REMAINS STILL DISABLED, i DON'T WANT TO

       INTEGRATE THE COMPLEX PARTITIONING SYSTEM OF THESE DISKS.



  mOD: iNTEGRATED A VERY SIMPLE rle DECOMPRESSING ROUTINE FOR ALL THE

       DIFFERENT HEADERS.



  mOD: iNTEGRATED THE FORMATTING INTO THE MAIN TRANSFERRING LOOP, SO THAT

       IT WOULDN'T BE A SO BIG PROBLEM TO INTEGRATE INTEL'S CONTROLLER

       FEATURE "FORMAT'N'WRITE" LATER. bY THE WAY THIS CHANGE MADE THE

       TOOL 5 SECONDS FASTER, IF YOU FORMAT A DISK AND WRITE AN IMAGE TO

       IT.



  nEW: nOW THAT FORMATTING IS INTEGRATED INTO THE MAIN TRANSFERRING LOOP

       IT WAS NO FURTHER PROBLEM TO ADD THE SPECIAL EXTENDED COMMAND OF

       THE INTEL 82078 fdc, THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO FORMAT AND WRITE A

       TRACK AT ONCE.

       tHE PROBLEM IS, THAT NONE OF MY MACHINES IS ABLE TO EXECUTE THIS

       COMMAND CORRECTLY. mY 486 MACHINE COULD BE DETECTED AS AN INTEL

       CONTROLLER 82078 WITH THE CHIPMASK STEPPING 3. bUT THE COMMAND

       SEEMS NOT TO WORK AT THIS MACHINE, TOO. aLL WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT

       THE fdc DOES A NORMAL FORMATTING AND SO WRITES THE WRONG DATA TO

       THE DISK. wELL, i THINK, i HAVE TO SEARCH FOR SOME MORE

       DUCUMENTATION ABOUT DIFFERENT CONTROLLER IMPLEMENTATIONS TO FIX

       THIS.

       bECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEMS, VERIFYING IS FORCED WHEN YOU USE THIS

       FEATURE. pLEASE, IF YOU HAVE SOME SUCCESS WITH THIS, REPORT THIS

       TO ME.



  rMV: i REMOVED THE diskscan UTILITY FROM THE PACKAGE, BECAUSE IT WON'T

       BE NEEDED ANYMORE. i DON'T PLAN TO INTEGRATE MORE DIFFERENT FLOPPY

       DISK FORMATS INTO 1581-cOPY.



  mOD: aGAIN DID SOME MORE INTEGRATION OF THE FORMAT PROCESS. nOW IT HAS

       BEEN ADDED DIRECTLY INTO THE SINGLE/MULTIPLE SECTOR HIGH LEVEL

       FUNCTIONS. tHIS WAY A TRACK IS BEEING REFORMATTED AGAIN, IF

       VERIFYING IS ENABLED AND FAILS. aDDITIONALLY THIS BROUGHT ME AN

       FUCKING GREAT SPEEDUP. fORMATTING, WRITING AND VERIFYING A DISK

       SHOULD BE DONE WITHIN 115 SECONDS (MULTIPLE SECTOR ENABLED, BUT

       WITHOUT THE 82078 FORMAT'N'WRITE FEATURE).



  nEW: cREATED SOME USER MENU ENTRIES FOR tHE sTAR cOMMANDER, SO THAT

       DISK IMAGES CAN BE DIRECTLY TRANSFERRED FROM WITHIN sc.







mY cOULD-bE-dONE/tO-dO LIST FOR FURTHER RELEASES:



  nEW: aDDING A REAL VERIFY OR BETTER NAMED A COMPARE FUNCTION, THAT

       UTILIZES THE fdc COMMAND "sCAN eQUAL". i DON'T KNOW, IF i TRIED

       THIS IN THE PAST, BUT i EXPECT SOME PROBLEM NEVERTHELESS.



  nEW: nOW, THAT i STARTED IMPLEMENTING SUPPORT FOR THESE EXTENDED

       CONTROLLERS (FORMAT'N'WRITE COMMAND), i COULD DO SOME MORE TO

       REALIZE FORMATTING DISKS IN THE iso FORMAT INSTEAD OF THE ibm

       sYSTEM 34 FORMAT). tHAT WOULD RESULT IN A BETTER _EMULATION_ OF

       THE PHYSICAL cbm DISK LAYOUT. bUT i DON'T BELIEVE, THAT IT

       INCREASES THE COMPATIBILITY IN ANY WAY.



  mOD: pERHAPS: cHECKING, IF THE USE OF VIRTUAL DMA SERVICES IS NEEDED OR

          AT LEAST USEFUL (UP TO NOW, i COULDN'T FIND ANY REASONS FOR

          NEEDING THIS).



  nEW: pERHAPS: aDDING A POSSIBILITY TO LIST THE MAIN/ROOT DIRECTORY OF

          AN IMAGE OR DISK DRIVE, SO THAT DISKS CAN BE DISTINGUISHED

          EASIER (DISCARDED, BECAUSE i CAN'T SUPPORT THIS AND bam COPY ON

          fd2000 DISKS).



  tHE FOLLOWING IDEAS ARE DELAYED UNTIL i REALIZED SOME OTHER PROJECTS,

  LIKE E.G. sPEEDdos SUPPORT FOR vc1541 FROM tORSTEN pAUL AND A REALLY

  EXTENSIVE TEST OF tHE sTAR cOMMANDER (i PLAN TO REPEAT ALL THE TESTS i

  EVER DID).

  bAD NEWS: i GOT AN IDEA FOR A NEW PROJECT... i THINK, IT SHOULD BE

  POSSIBLE TO READ gcr ENCODED 1541 DISKS WITH A LITTLE BIT OF HARDWARE

  (ONE WIRE CONNECTED FROM THE FLOPPY'S FLAT CABLE TO A HARDWARE COUNTER

  AT AN ecp PARALLEL PRINTER PORT). tHIS IDEA WOULD BE A COMBINATION OF

  THE adf-rEADER (aMIGA DISK IMPORTING PROGRAM) AND THE dISKSUCKER

  (DIRECT 1541 DISK CONTROLLER CONNECTION). cHECK THIS FOR MORE INFO:

    HTTP://HOME.T-ONLINE.DE/HOME/cHRISTIANk./ADFREADE.HTM

    FTP://HLD.C64.ORG/PUB/HLD_WARE/DISKSUCK





  mOD: pERHAPS, DON'T KNOW: eXPANDING THE mEDIA-dETECTION ROUTINE, SO

           THAT ALL ibm-pc 3,5" STANDARD DISK FORMATS ARE DETECTED, TOO.



  mOD: pERHAPS: aSKING tHOMAS mNKEMEIER (vga-cOPY) AND THE AUTHOR OF

          wINiMAGE, HOW IT IS POSSIBLE TO PROGRAM THE fdc SO FAST UNDER

          wINDOWS nt.



  mOD: iDEA FOR THE oo REDESIGN: a "sETdRIVEpARAMETER" (BITRATE,

          MODULATION, HEADER id INFORMATION TO SEEK FOR) METHOD, THAT

          IS DEPENDEND FROM THE SELECTED DRIVE, TRACK AND HEAD, SO

          THAT DIFFERENT SECTOR SCHEMES CAN BE DEFINED FOR EACH TRACK

          AND HEAD (LIKE WITH os/2'S xdf DISKS).



  mOD: iDEA FOR THE oo REDESIGN: iMPLEMENTING A GREAT IDEA ABOUT AN

          AUTOMATIC REGISTRATION PROCESS FOR NEW IMPLEMENTED CUSTOM

          OBJECTS FOR NEW DISK TYPES, THAT i GOT. a USER SHOULD SIMPLY

          BE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT A NEW OBJECT FOR HIS SPECIAL DISK TYPE

          WITHOUT CHANGING ANYTHING FROM THE MAIN PROGRAM. a SIMPLE

          INIT SEQUENCE (GENERATING A STATIC OBJECT, THAT DOES THE

          REGISTRATION WITH ITS DEFAULT CONSTRUCTOR) AND A DISK TYPE

          DETECTION METHOD THAT THE USER HAS TO IMPLEMENT SHOULD IT

          MAKE POSSIBLE, THAT THE MAIN PROGRAM CAN TRANSFER DISKS

          WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT THE DISK LAYOUT. tHIS WILL

          RESULT IN A _FRAMEWORK_ FOR ALL KNOWN AND UNKNOW DISK TYPES

          THEN. wILL ANYBODY REALLY NEED THIS ANYMORE, NOW THAT

          cd-rECORDABLES ARE THE DISKS OF TODAY?







mY PLANNING FOR 1581CP51: 1581-cOPY, VERSION 0.51   2001-01-XX

                             (SEE YOU _IN_ THE NEXT MILLENIUM)



  THE NEXT STEPS FROM MY tO-dO LIST:



  fIX: fIXING ALL BUGS FOUND AND/OR REPORTED



  nEW: aDDING A REAL VERIFY OR BETTER NAMED A COMPARE FUNCTION, THAT

       UTILIZES THE fdc COMMAND "sCAN eQUAL". i DON'T KNOW, IF i TRIED

       THIS IN THE PAST, BUT i EXPECT SOME PROBLEM NEVERTHELESS.



  nEW: nOW, THAT i STARTED IMPLEMENTING SUPPORT FOR THESE EXTENDED

       CONTROLLERS (FORMAT'N'WRITE COMMAND), i COULD DO SOME MORE TO

       REALIZE FORMATTING DISKS IN THE iso FORMAT INSTEAD OF THE ibm

       sYSTEM 34 FORMAT). tHAT WOULD RESULT IN A BETTER _EMULATION_ OF

       THE PHYSICAL cbm DISK LAYOUT. bUT i DON'T BELIEVE, THAT IT

       INCREASES THE COMPATIBILITY IN ANY WAY.

       hOWEVER, FIRST i WANT TO HEAR FROM, IF THE NEW FORMAT'N'WRITE

       FEATURE IS WORKING ON ANYBODYS SYSTEM. iN MY VERY PERSONAL

       OPINION ONLY STANDARD CONTROLLERS/FUNCTIONS SHOULD BE SUPPORTED

       AND THAT'S THAT, WHAT THE nec {$e6}pd765 SUPPORTS. tHE FORMAT'N'WRITE

       IS ONLY A VERY SPECIAL PRESENT TO ONE OF MY MOST FAITHFUL TESTERS

       AND PERHAPS THE ONLY ONE, READING THE FUCKING MANUALS :-)







nOTE: tHERE WILL BE NEVER A VERSION GREATER 0.99 OF 1581-cOPY, BECAUSE i

      WANT TO DEVELOP ONLY THE BASIC ROUTINES FOR IM- AND EXPORTING 1581

      DISK IMAGES, TESTING AND FIXING IT UNTIL THERE ARE NO ERRORS

      REPORTED ANYMORE.