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M M AA X X III MM MM A A X X I M M M M A A X X I MAXI M MM M AAAAAA X I M M A A X X I FORM M M A A X X I M M A A X X III The Original Floppy Disk Expander (version 1.9) 95-Jan-25 ====================================== INSTALLATION AND USAGE GUIDE ====================================== Copyright (c) 1988-1995 Herne Data Systems Ltd. P.O. Box 250 Tiverton, ON N0G 2T0 CANADA voice or FAX (519)366-2732 CompuServe 72060,1153 (MAXI.DOC v1.9 95-01-25) TABLE OF CONTENTS THE FINE PRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 REGISTRATION BENEFITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 REGISTRATION AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT ADDRESS . . . . . . . 2 COMPUSERVE SHAREWARE REGISTRATION SERVICE . . . . . . . 3 ASP OMBUDSMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 STARTING UP MAXI FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Table 1: Example Command Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 THE FORMATTING CYCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SUPPORTING MAXI STYLE DISKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 USING DRIVPARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 USING SMAX.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 THE TECHNICAL DETAILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Table 2: Technical Data of MAXI Style Disks . . . . . . 17 APPENDIX A: ENHANCEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . 18 New Features of v1.9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 i MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE FINE PRINT DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of MAXI Form must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "MAXI Form is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of MAXI Form. MAXI Form is intended to format blank disks only. Because it will destroy all existing data on a floppy disk, Herne Data Systems assumes no liability for losses caused by misuse or abuse of this product. This responsibility rests solely with the end user." Please note that MAXI Form relies on quirks in the MS-DOS/PC-DOS operating system and BIOS ROM's. Although it has been tested on a wide variety of systems with MS/PC-DOS versions 3.2x to 6.x and DR-DOS 5.0 and later, it cannot be guaranteed to work with all systems, especially ones which have been heavily customized and modified (including the installation of non-standard disk drives and controller cards) by the user; nor can it be guaranteed to work with future releases of MS/PC-DOS. MAXI Form is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you continue to use MAXI Form after a 30 day trial period, you must make a registration payment of $10 (US or CDN) (plus $2 postage) to Herne Data Systems Ltd. Cheque, money order, VISA credit card and corporate/institutional purchase orders are accepted. The single user registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial, corporate and institutional users of MAXI Form must register and pay for their copies of MAXI Form within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site Licenses are 1 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- available for $100 (US or CDN) directly from Herne Data Systems Ltd. Any individual, corporation or institution distributing MAXI Form for any kind of remuneration must first contact Herne Data Systems Ltd. at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be granted automatically to distributors recognized by the ASP as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering MAXI Form immediately (However Herne Data Systems Ltd. must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of MAXI Form.). You are encouraged to pass a copy of MAXI Form along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. REGISTRATION BENEFITS All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of MAXI Form, along with free technical support and updates for 60 days. Registered users can also update to later versions (beyond the initial 60 day free support period) for a nominal update fee of $5.00 plus $2.00 postage and handling. REGISTRATION AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT ADDRESS If you have already registered, THANK YOU! If you have not registered, please consider doing so. Simply fill out the registration form in the REGISTER.DOC file and return it to the address below with your check or money order for $12 (US or CDN funds - $10 registration plus $2 postage for US or Canada). If outside US or Canada, please add an additional $2 postage (total of $14.00). Please address all registration requests and customer support inquiries to: Herne Data Systems Ltd., PO Box 250, Tiverton, ON N0G 2T0 CANADA voice or FAX (519)366-2732 Technical support can also be obtained on CompuServe by directing inquiries to 72060,1153. 2 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- COMPUSERVE SHAREWARE REGISTRATION SERVICE MAXI Form can now be registered using the CompuServe shareware registration database. This service lets you pay for shareware registrations through your CompuServe account. After logging in to CompuServe, type GO SWREG and follow the on screen prompts. The database registration ID number for MAXI Form is 426. A registered copy of the latest version of MAXI Form will be shipped directly to you from Herne Data Systems Ltd. ASP OMBUDSMAN This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at: 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 USA or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536 DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it after a reasonable evaluation period, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. 3 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. 4 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION Are you tired of running out of space on your floppy disks? How would you like to fit 420k on a 360k disk, 800k on a 720k disk, 1.4 meg on a 1.2 meg disk, or 1.6 meg on a 1.44 meg disk? Sound impossible? Well not any more!! If you are using DOS version 3.2x or later, then the innovative shareware program from Herne Data Systems called MAXI Form is just the thing for you. Using MAXI Form for all your floppy disk data storage needs is like getting an extra one and a half disks FREE with every box of floppies that you buy!! MAXI Form is the original MS-DOS floppy disk expander. Don't settle for higher priced imitations! * * * * In most cases, NO SPECIAL SOFTWARE DRIVER PROGRAMS ARE REQUIRED TO ACCESS THESE DISKS FROM DOS. However, in cases where reliable stand alone operation cannot be achieved (it is a complex function of ROM BIOS details, DOS version and disk controller characteristics), the simple device driver SMAX.COM can be used to patch the BIOS code and provide resident support. * * * * MAXI Form is designed to be self documenting to the extent that it can be used by experienced MS-DOS users. This documentation provides a full description of how to access and use all of the features of the program. In order to use MAXI Form you will need a 100% IBM compatible computer (PC, XT, AT, PS/2, Convertible, etc) with at least one 360k 5.25 inch, 1.2 meg 5.25 inch, 720k 3.5 inch or 1.44 meg 3.5 inch floppy drive. The 1.44 meg drive can be used to format 800k 3.5 inch disks; and the 1.2 meg drive can also be used to format 420k disks or 800k 5-1/4 disks. (Please note that 420k disks formatted in 1.2meg drives may not work on older 360k drives (i.e. the full height drives supplied with the original IBM PC and XT machines). This is due to a physical limitation of the 1.2 meg drives, i.e. the read/write head is only half the size as that on a standard 360k drive.) External 5.25 inch drives for the PS/2 and most laptops are also supported under the given versions of DOS. With many BIOSes, you will need to use the TSR driver program 5 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- SMAX.COM to read and write MAXI style disks (especially 800k, 5-1/4 inch disks). MAXI Form works with all standard display adaptors and monitors. This documentation assumes that the reader is reasonably familiar with MS-DOS concepts and terminology and has a basic understanding of how to use his/her computer. The complete MAXI Form package consists of a number files: MAXI.EXE The main MAXI Form program file. Current version is 1.9. SMAX.COM The memory resident driver required by many systems to read/write MAXI style extended capacity disks. Current version is 4.0. MAXI.DOC This documentation file. REGISTER.DOC Shareware registration form. UPDATE.DOC (Optional) contains information on new features or enhancements since the last version. CATALOG.DOC Descriptions of other shareware and commercial software products available from Herne Data Systems Ltd. RUN-ME.BAT Run this batch file the first time you use MAXI Form. It will display the ASP shareware ombudsman information then start-up the help mode of MAXI Form. ASP.COM Displays the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) ombudsman message. All files should have a date stamp of 1-25-95 and a time stamp of 1:09 am. The complete MAXI Form package is normally distributed in a single PKZIP archive file named MAXI19.EXE (self extracting .ZIP) or MAXI19.ZIP (manually extracting .ZIP, requiring PKUNZIP utility). If one or more of the above files is missing from your package, please contact Herne Data Systems Ltd at the address listed above with the details of which file(s) is missing and where you obtained this copy from. 6 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- STARTING UP MAXI FORM MAXI Form relies on command line switches to specify its input parameters. If you simply type in: MAXI <-- (note: in this documentation the symbol <-- is used to denote the "return" or <Enter> key.) you will be greeted by an extended sign on message which gives the shareware registration details and a summary of the command line options. To switch between the various pages of the help screen, press <PgUp> to go to a previous screen, or <Enter> or <PgDn> to go to the next screen. The help screens will cycle in a continuous loop until you press the <Esc> key. The general syntax for the command line options is: MAXI {drive:} [/L] [/8] [/T:xx] [/V] <-- Where: {drive:} is either A: or B: corresponding to the physical disk drive on which you wish to perform the formatting operation. Use of other drive letters will result in an error message. This parameter must be explicitly included. MAXI Form will not assume a default value for the drive. /L is used to force a double density disk in a high density drive (i.e. a 420k disk in a 1.2 meg drive, or an 800k disk in a 1.44 meg drive). If this switch is not used with a high density drive, MAXI will assume a high density format (i.e. a 1.4 meg or 1.6 meg disk). /8 is used to denote an 800k disk in a 1.2 meg drive. This feature will format a normal double density 360k 5-1/4 inch disk to 800k when used in a 1.2 meg drive. In most cases, it must be used with SMAX 4.0 or later. If using earlier versions of SMAX, you must manually set the 80 track option of SMAX with SMAX 80. /T:xx is used to specify the number of cylinders (xx) to format. The defaults are 42 cylinders for 360k, 5-1/4 inch drives; 82 cylinders for 1.2 meg, 5-1/4 inch drives and 80 cylinders for 3-1/2 inch drives. Changing this parameter will let you maximize disk storage space for specific hardware systems. (Some disk drives can 7 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- handle more cylinders than others.) /V is used to denote a "format with verify". With this option, the sectors on each track are written with test data just after the formatting to make sure that they are OK. A message will be displayed during the formatting cycle indicating if any tracks had detectable errors. Note that cylinder 0 is always tested for errors regardless of the setting of this switch. If errors are found on track 0, the formatting operation is aborted. /V will automatically re-try a format on a track up to 3 times before reporting an error. A format operation done without the verify option is considerably faster than one done with the verify option. The /L, /8, /T:xx and /V switches are optional. Spaces are not required between multiple switches. If only the drive letter is specified, then MAXI Form will default to the highest capacity supported by the drive. The /H and /3 switches are no longer supported because MAXI Form will automatically determine the drive type. If an invalid command line option is specified, an error message will be displayed along with a summary of the valid options. Press the <Esc> key to quit the help screen and return to DOS. Table 1: Example Command Lines Command line What it will do ---------------------+------------------------------------------ MAXI B: /V will format a disk in drive B: to its highest capacity with verify on. MAXI A: /8/T:81 will format an 810k (81 cylinder), 5-1/4 inch disk in drive A:, assuming drive A: is a 1.2 meg drive. MAXI A: /L will format a double density disk in drive A: with no verify, assuming drive A: is a high density drive. (i.e. 800k in a 1.44 meg drive, or 420k in a 1.2 meg drive) 8 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- * * * * MAXI FORM WILL AUTOMATICALLY CHECK TO SEE WHAT KIND OF DRIVE IS CONNECTED AS THE SPECIFIED DEVICE. THIS WILL PREVENT THE DRIVE FROM PHYSICALLY JAMMING UP IF THE WRONG DISK TYPE IS SPECIFIED. THIS REQUIRES THAT YOUR SYSTEM IS CONFIGURED CORRECTLY. FOR 80286 AND LATER SYSTEMS, THE DRIVE INFORMATION IS STORED IN THE CMOS CONFIGURATION RAM. FOR 808X SYSTEMS, YOU MUST SET THE DRIVPARM VALUE IN THE CONFIG.SYS FILE FOR ANY TYPE OF DRIVE OTHER THAN A 360K. * * * * THE FORMATTING CYCLE Many systems require the SMAX driver to be present when formatting or using MAXI style disks (especially 800k 5.25" disks). MAXI Form will test for the presence of the SMAX v4 driver and display a warning message if it is not resident. If SMAX is required on your system and is not installed, you should exit MAXI Form and install SMAX. MAXI Form will automatically configure SMAX to the correct mode for the type of disk being formatted. When it is ready to go, MAXI Form will prompt you to insert a disk into the specified drive. It will display a message indicating the type of disk to be formatted, and in which drive. At this point, you can either insert the disk and press <-- to proceed, press the <escape> key to abort and return to the DOS prompt, or press the <F1> function key for the on-screen help display. Use <PgUp> and <PgDn> to cycle through the pages of the help screen. Press <Esc> to return to the main screen. Before formatting the disk, MAXI Form will check to see if the disk is already formatted. If it is formatted as a DOS disk, MAXI Form will display the volume label, total disk size, bytes used and free space on the disk. You will then be prompted to continue formatting or quit. If you type in anything other than Y <-- , you will terminate the current process and be taken to the "Format Another" prompt. As the disk is being formatted, the current cylinder and head being processed is displayed, along with a indication of the approximate percent completion. If the verify option was specified, indications of the number of media errors detected and the current re-try attempt (if re-tries are required on a given 9 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- cylinder) are also given. You may interrupt the formatting cycle at any point by pressing the <Esc> key. When the current track has been completed, MAXI Form will terminate the formatting operation and display an error message. Disks interrupted in this fashion will not be usable, unless they are reformatted to completion. If MAXI Form detects a major system error (like the no disk in the drive, or the drive door being opened after formatting has started), the process will be terminated and an error message displayed. When the formatting cycle is complete (i.e the required number of cylinders have been formatted, and the disk boot record data have been written), you will be asked to enter a volume label of 1 to 11 characters. (This is similar to the DOS FORMAT program with the /V option specified.) Type in the label, then press <--. If you do not wish to label the disk, press <-- alone. When the label has been written to the disk, MAXI Form will display the total space available on the disk, the number of byte locked out in bad sectors, and the amount of usable space on the disk. Note that bad sectors are only detected and locked out if the /V verify option has been selected on the command line. (The default is NO VERIFY). You will then be prompted for formatting additional disks of the same type in the same drive. If you type in anything other than Y <-- , you will exit MAXI Form and return to DOS. 10 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORTING MAXI STYLE DISKS USING DRIVPARM Most versions of DOS can be fooled into accepting MAXI style disks with one or more DRIVPARM statements in the CONFIG.SYS file: DRIVPARM /D:0 /F:x /S:32 where: x is the type of your A: drive (0 = 360 k, 1 = 1.2 meg, 2 = 720 k, 7 = 1.44 meg). If this does not work with your version of DOS, you will need to use the SMAX driver as outlined below. SMAX may also be required to format, read and write 800k 5-1/4 inch disks (in 1.2 meg drives). Note that if you are using an 808x based computer, you will need to have a DRIVPARM command for each floppy drive on your system which is not a 360k drive. If you do not, MAXI Form may not correctly recognize the type of drive. Note also that DRIVPARM is not documented for all versions of DOS, and is buggy for some earlier versions (such as DOS 3.3x, which required the following syntax: DRIVPARM ^A^A^A /D:0 /F:x /S:32 ^A is the ASCII Control-A (ASCII code 1) character, which is difficult to enter with some editors). USING SMAX.COM While DOS versions 3.2x and later can automatically handle the housekeeping required to access MAXI style extended capacity disks, the BIOS and hardware on many systems will not. SMAX.COM is a memory resident driver which is used to improve the compatibility of MAXI extended capacity disks with some combinations of hardware and DOS. It is not a true device driver in the conventional sense of DOS terminology. Rather, it is a simple TSR (terminate but stay resident) program which patches into the BIOS disk interrupt vector (interrupt hex 13) and changes the EOT (end of track, or last sector in a track) parameter to match the increased value of the MAXI extended capacity disks when it detects a disk read or write operation. 11 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- MAXI Form v1.8 or later, MAXI Disk v3.2 or later, and FreeForm v2.3 or later will automatically configure SMAX for the type of disk being formatted. SMAX will automatically configure itself for the read/write operations to allow transparent access to all DOS and MAXI formatted disks, regardless of density. * * * * SMAX MAY BE FREELY COPIED AND DISTRIBUTED TO YOUR FRIENDS FOR THEIR PRIVATE, NON-COMMERCIAL USE (SO THAT THEY CAN READ FILES WHICH YOU MAY SEND THEM ON MAXI FORMATTED DISKS) PROVIDED THAT THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE IS NOT REMOVED. THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS OR VENDORS WISHING TO INCLUDE SMAX WITH THEIR OWN COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS REQUIRE THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF HERNE DATA SYSTEMS ALONG WITH A RUNTIME DISTRIBUTION LICENSE. * * * * When to Use SMAX To determine whether or not you need to use SMAX with your system configuration, perform the following simple test. - Install SMAX on a cold system boot. - Format an extended capacity (420k/800k/1.4meg/1.6 meg) disk with MAXI Form, using the largest capacity floppy drive on your system. - Turn off SMAX or reboot your system without SMAX installed, then try to copy a number of relatively long files (eg. over about 20k bytes long each) to the new disk using the DOS COPY or XCOPY command or equivalent. - If you get an error message (eg. 'general failure reading drive ...' or 'sector not found') then you need to install SMAX to use the MAXI formatted extended capacity disks. * * * * IF SMAX IS REQUIRED ON YOUR SYSTEM, IT SHOULD BE INSTALLED BEFORE USING MAXI FOR FORMATTING THE EXTENDED CAPACITY DISKS AND BEFORE READING OR WRITING ANY PREVIOUSLY FORMATTED MAXI DISKS. THIS IS MOST EASILY 12 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- DONE BY INSERTING THE REQUIRED COMMAND LINE INTO YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE. * * * * Installing SMAX * * * * BECAUSE IT IS A TERMINATE-AND-STAY-RESIDENT PROGRAM, DO NOT INSTALL SMAX FROM A DOS WINDOW (UNDER MS WINDOWS) OR THROUGH A MENU SHELL SUCH AS DOS 5 OR 6 DOSSHELL. IF YOU DO, YOUR SYSTEM MAY LOCK UP WHEN YOU TRY TO ACCESS ANY KIND OF DISK (INCLUDING THE HARD DRIVE). HOWEVER, ONCE SMAX HAS BEEN INSTALLED, YOU CAN CHANGE ITS CONFIGURATION FROM A DOS WINDOW OR THROUGH A MENU SHELL. * * * * To install SMAX automatically on a cold boot, type the following command at the DOS prompt (or insert the line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file): SMAX <-- SMAX checks to see that you are using DOS 3.20 or later before installing itself. Once installed, SMAX remains resident in your computer's RAM and is active for all floppy drives on your system. The resident portion of SMAX requires only 1.5k bytes of memory. SMAX also accepts several command line options. These are: SMAX 0 Turns off SMAX so that it remains hooked into the interrupt 13h chain, but does nothing. If SMAX is not resident, an error message is displayed. Note that the '0' can be either the letter o (uppercase or lowercase) or the numeral zero. SMAX 1 Turns on SMAX that has been previously turned off with the 0 option. If SMAX is not resident, it is installed as for a first time installation. Note that the '1' can be either the letter i (uppercase or lowercase) or the numeral one. SMAX 40 Turns off the 80 track double density mode for 1.2 meg 13 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- drives to allow them to access 360k/420k disks. SMAX 80 Turns on the 80 track double density mode for 1.2 meg drives. This allows 720k/800k 5-1/4 inch disks to be formatted and used in 1.2 meg drives with normal 360k DD media. On most systems, this feature is only supported for drives A: and B: due to BIOS limitations. In addition, it will also remove the ability for these drives to access 360k/420k disks. SMAX A Sets SMAX to automatic 40 track/80 track sensing mode (where it can read/write either 40 or 80 track double density disks interchangeably). This is the default mode. SMAX E Enables SMAX for secondary controlled drives. This is the default mode. SMAX N Disables SMAX for secondary controlled drives. The BIOS in some secondary floppy disk controller cards, such as those used with some external expansion drives, is not compatible with SMAX. This options allows SMAX to be used for internal, primary controlled drives, while not interfering with the use of secondary controlled drives. SMAX ? Checks the current status of SMAX in memory, if present. * * * * SMAX 40 AND SMAX 80 ARE NOT REQUIRED WHEN USING MAXI FORM v1.8, MAXI DISK v3.2, OR FREEFORM v2.3 OR LATER. THEY ARE PROVIDED FOR BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY WITH EARLIER VERSIONS ONLY. * * * * If you attempt to install SMAX with no options specified (or with the ? option) when it is already resident, a status message will be displayed showing the currently active options. If you attempt to install SMAX with a command line option not listed above, you will get an error message. SMAX options can be changed at any time after it is resident in memory by running the appropriate command line. This will change the current parameters for the copy of SMAX in memory and will not result in another copy of SMAX being loaded into memory. 14 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- SMAX can be loaded into high memory with the DOS 5 or 6 LOADHIGH (LH) command, provided that your CONFIG.SYS includes the proper XMS and EMM memory managers. (See your DOS manual for more information on the LOADHIGH command). Disabling SMAX SMAX will not normally interfere with the use of standard floppy DOS disks and it is completely transparent to hard disks. Both regular style DOS disks and MAXI extended capacity disks can be used interchangeably and transparently on any floppy drive in your system by most application software such as word processors, spreadsheets and databases. However, it is recognized that some programs, such as those which access the disk at the physical sector level or in an unconventional manner (including some hard disk fast backup utilities and some versions of the DOS FORMAT and DISKCOPY programs) do not work correctly with SMAX installed. For such cases, SMAX can be de-activated without re-booting the computer by using one of two command line options as summarized above: SMAX 0 <-- The 0 option will set a disabling flag within SMAX itself, without actually removing the code from the interrupt 13h chain. SMAX can then be re-activated using the 1 option when required. A special compatibility concern may arise when using two floppy disk controller cards: a primary card and a secondary or add-on card. The primary card may require SMAX to work correctly, while the BIOS in the secondary card (such as a CompatiCard, usually controlling external floppy drives) may become confused by SMAX. In this case, use the SMAX N option to disable SMAX for externally controlled drives. The SMAX R and SMAX U options to unhook and re-hook SMAX into the interrupt chain are no longer supported in SMAX v4, since they are no longer required for reliable operation. 80 Cylinder Double Density Mode The 1.2 meg disk drives used in AT class machines are capable of reading and writing 80 cylinders. Normally this feature is used only in high density mode (1.2 meg or 1.4 meg). However, in order to do this reliably, special (i.e. more expensive) high density (HD) diskettes are required. Some BIOSes will let you format and use 80 cylinder double density (DD) 5-1/4 inch disks in 1.2 meg drives. However, most will not. With the 80 option 15 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- of SMAX, you can take advantage of this to get up to 800k on a normal 360k double density disk with any BIOS! This is done by recording the data at the same bit density as normal 360k disks, but with twice the number of cylinders. In terms of reliability, the disks are just as reliable as 360k disks that have been formatted and used in 1.2 meg drives. Of course, the 80 cylinder DD disks will NOT be usable in 360k drives, but will be usable in the 80 cylinder DD, 5-1/4 inch drives used on some non-standard MS-DOS systems. The 80 option is not required if your BIOS normally supports reading and writing this disk type. To activate the 80 cylinder mode of SMAX, use the command line: SMAX 80 <-- (Because of limitations of BIOS flag storage areas, this feature is limited to drives A: and B: only. On most systems this is adequate because the standard AT type machine has only two drives with the 1.2 meg drive as A:.) The 80 cylinder mode will not affect normal 80 cylinder disks (i.e. 3-1/2 inch and 1.2/1.4 meg 5-1/4 inch). However, with the 80 cylinder mode activated, you will not normally be able to access 360k/420k disks in the 1.2 meg drive. To de-activate the 80 cylinder mode, use the command line: SMAX 40 <-- This will return the machine to normal 40 cylinder DD mode for 1.2 meg drives. To put SMAX into auto 40/80 mode (the normal default), use: SMAX A <-- Note that MAXI Form v1.8, MAXI Disk v3.2, and FreeForm v2.2 (the three disk formatting utilities designed to work with SMAX) will automatically configure SMAX to the correct settings without the use of the 40/80/A command line switches. When in the default automatic mode, SMAX will configure itself for normal disk reads and writes. * * * * SMAX HOOKS ITSELF INTO BIOS INTERRUPT HEX 13 (THE DISK CONTROLLER INTERRUPT) AND USES INTERRUPT HEX 7E (NOT NORMALLY USED BY THE BIOS, DOS OR OTHER KNOWN PROGRAMS) FOR ITS OWN INTERNAL FUNCTIONS. * * * * 16 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE TECHNICAL DETAILS MAXI extended capacity disks work on the basis of creating a disk with extra sectors on each track, and extra tracks on each disk. On a normal DOS disk (e.g. 360k with 9 sectors per track), there is enough space on each track taken up with filler and padding bytes to provide another sector. Just by adding an extra sector per track, you can turn a 360k disk into a 400k disk. If you add a few more tracks (most modern disk drives are quite capable of getting more than 40 tracks), the capacity can be boosted to 420k or more! All of this occurs without data compression or encryption of any kind. We admit that some of the current generation of 'disk expanders' claim they can double the capacity of a disk. However, all of that is done with data compression. Such disks are not transportable (i.e. you cannot use them on another machine not equipped with the data compression board or software). Normal DOS disks and MAXI style disks can be used transparently and interchangeably on any system configured to use MAXI style disks. The main parameters for the MAXI style disks are outlined below. Other parameters (such as number of directory entries, allocation unit size, etc.) are the same as the corresponding standard DOS disk. Table 2: Technical Data of MAXI Style Disks DISK TYPE --------------------------------------------- PARAMETER 420k 800k 1.4 meg 1.6 meg -------------------------------------------------------------- sectors/track 10 10 17 20 default # tracks 42 80 82 80 # FAT sectors 2 3 9 10 sector interleave 1 1 1 1 --------------------------------------------------------------- 17 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- APPENDIX A: ENHANCEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS New Features of v1.9 MAXI Form v1.9 has the following new features and improvements over v1.8: - MAXI Form v1.9 now works correctly with DOS and Windows SmartDrive (and compatible) disk caching software. Previous versions could cause system lockup if caching was enabled for floppy drives. New Features of v1.8 MAXI Form v1.8 has the following new features and improvements over v1.7: - Automatic detection of drive type reduces the need for command line switches (/3 and /H switches no longer supported) and eliminates potential machine lockup if wrong disk type specified for a drive. - Automatic interface with SMAX to set required parameters for different types of disks without SMAX command line switches. - Improved SMAX driver (v4) features automatic 40/80 track support; ability to be loaded into high memory with DOS 5/6 LOADHIGH; improved compatibility with DOS FORMAT and DISKCOPY programs; and streamlined interface with fewer command line parameters (U and R switches no longer supported, 40 and 80 switches maintained, but not required for MAXI Form v1.8). New Features of v1.7 MAXI Form v1.7 has the following new features and improvements over v1.61: - A 'safe-format' feature which checks to see if disk has been previously formatted has been added. - The formatting process can be user terminated by pressing the <Esc> key. - The final display of disk stats now includes total disk 18 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- space, bytes locked out in bad sectors and free space available on the disk. - Improved disk verify option. - Improved on screen help. - Improved documentation. New Features of v1.61 MAXI Form v1.61 has the following new features and improvements over v1.6: - Improved version of SMAX which can be disabled for secondary floppy disk controller cards. This allows MAXI to work with CompatiCard style external floppy controllers. - Revised signon screen and shareware notice. - Updated documentation. - VISA credit cards now accepted for registration fees. New Features of v1.6 MAXI Form v1.6 has the following new features and improvements over v1.54a: - Supports formatting of 800k double density disks in 1.2 meg drives. - Improved version of SMAX to allow use of 800k DD disks in 1.2 meg drives, and activation/de-activation without having to re-boot. - Supports user adjustable number of cylinders to format. - New address information for shareware registrations. - Improved disk verify method that writes data to a track when verifying it instead of just trying to read it. - Updated documentation. - Unlimited user corporate/institutional site licenses now available. 19 MAXI Form v1.9 Users' Guide ----------------------------------------------------------------- New Features of v1.54 MAXI Form v1.54 has the following new features and improvements over v1.52: - Supports formatting 420k disks in 1.2 meg drives. - Improved error detection and handling routines. - On screen display of type of disk being formatted. (This lets you know how MAXI interpreted your command line switches). - Automatically re-tries formatting a track up to 3 times before reporting an error (with verify option on). - Improved version of SMAX compatible with more hardware BIOS's. - Automatically determines if you have correct DOS version (3.20 or later). 20