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FFORMAT.DOC
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1991-06-13
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*****************
* FFORMAT [1.3] *
*****************
FFORMAT (For Fast-Format) is a fast formatting program for 360K floppy disks.
Operation
---------
To use it for drive A:, just type FFORMAT. If you want to format a floppy
in drive B:, you must specify it at the command line. It's that simple !
To have help, just type FFORMAT/H
CORRECTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS
-----------------------------
I wrote FFORMAT in 1986. That version ([1.0]) has been around on Bulletins
boards since then. That old version needed small polishing. The only way to
quit the program was to press Control-Break. I must say that I wrote this
program for my personal use, and that to quit the program this way wasn't
as crazy as it seems. But .....
The revision [1.3] has this 'bug' corrected. You can also abort formatting at
any time by pressing the ESCAPE key. The user interface has also been polished.
But a more important bug has been corrected. Sometimes, FFORMAT formatted a
floppy without problem, but wasn't able to write the directory on it. This was
hapening when FFORMAT was the first program to use the Floppy drive. DOS is
setting it's default number of sector per track to $F to accomodate 1.2MB
drives. This problem won't happen with that revision.
Previous revisions weren't able to format floppys with 1.2MB AT's drives.
This has been corrected, but the only type of disk that can be formatted with
those drives is the 360K format. Next revision will be able to format 1.2MB
disks too.
On previous revisions, a VERIFY option was possible. I removed this option
on the [1.2] revision. Nobody was using this, and the formatting was almost
as long as with DOS format.
The new version is a little bit faster than the 1.0.
Performance
-----------
FFORMAT is 100% faster than DOS FORMAT. That's a noticeable improvment !!
OPERATION FFORMAT FORMAT PERFORMANCE
========================================================================
Format : 34.06 seconds 68.09 seconds 200 %
========================================================================
Compatibility
-------------
Most of FFORMAT job is made through BIOS calls. On IBM compatibles, that
should cause no trouble. If it doesn't works, may be your BIOS isn't fully
compatible. Too bad !!!
Other software
--------------
I have written many software currently available on BBS. First, there is a
companion program, FDCOPY, that copies and format 360K floppies. in 98.21
seconds (26% faster than DISKCOPY). There is also ERAFIL, a small program
that permits you to tag files to delete with a simple menu. PRINTFIL, with
the same interface as ERAFIL, prints text files with a formatted output
(Page number, date and time etc.).
Contributions
-------------
If you find any bug, or if you find those programs useful and want to
encourage me in my works, just send your contribution or bug report to :
André Laurendeau
10495 Cartier #5
Montréal, Québec,
CANADA
H2B 2B5