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<page 1>
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QFORM v1.95 Copr. 1989, 1990 Dave Williams, GRU Development
Custom Diskette Formatter
shareware - registration $10
QForm is a custom diskette formatter. When invoked with the proper command
line, QForm can format virtually any type of diskette. You can use QForm to
format a disk quickly or with a special format.
QForm features:
■ high capacity options: extra tracks or sectors
■ fast format (no verify)
■ optional "boot through" to hard disk if diskette is in A: drive
■ add a volume label automatically during format
■ quick /4 and /7 commands force 360k and 720k formats
■ batch formatting
QForm uses the ROM BIOS routines to format floppy disks on IBM compatible
computers. Only floppy disks may be formatted: your hard disk is not
accessible to QForm. QForm will not format a network floppy drive.
QForm manipulates hardware directly, and allows many machines which have
difficulty formatting both 1.44mb and 720k diskettes to do so without
reconfiguring the drive or CMOS.
┌─────────┐
┌─────┴───┐ │ (tm)
──│ │o │──────────────────
│ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of
│ │ │─┘ Shareware
└───│ o │ Professionals
──────│ ║ │────────────────────
└────╨────┘ MEMBER
_____________________________________________________________________________
<page 2>
Table of Contents:
Registration and Licensing ............................................. 3
Formatting Options ..................................................... 4
Command Line Parameters ................................................ 5
Error Messages ......................................................... 6
Acknowlegements ........................................................ 7
History and Bug List ................................................... 8
______________________________________________________________________________
<page 3>
======================== Registration ========================
noncommercial single-user registration fee: $10.00
commercial or multisystem site license fee: $30.00
Send a check for US funds or company P.O. to:
Dave Williams
PO Box 181 - B
Jacksonville, AR 72076-0181
USA
Print the file ORDER.TXT for a ready-made order form.
Registered versions of QForm are normally shipped on 5-1/4 inch diskettes.
Please specify if you need 3.5 inch diskettes instead (same price).
Your registered version will not have the brief delay after formatting.
Support is available by BBS or through the PCRelay echomail network.
Announcements of new versions will be posted in both places.
======================== Licensing ========================
QForm is the property of Dave Williams and GRU Development. No other persons
may sell QForm for a profit. Shareware resellers are allowed to distribute
QForm provided 1) they note that Qform is a shareware product; 2) that their
price per disk does not exceed $5.00: 3) they note that disk's price does not
count toward the registration price of QForm.
======================== Liability ========================
QForm accesses the system hardware at a low level. Though precautions have
been taken to try to detect unsafe parameters, it is possible to force QForm
to damage a drive. Dave Williams and GRU Development will not be held liable
for any damages. If you are unsure of what QForm can do, don't use it!
This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP). The 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 P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve
message via EasyPlex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536
_____________________________________________________________________________
<page 4>
======================== Formatting Options ========================
QForm will generate any standard DOS format. The following table shows you
what options are correct for specified formats:
Parameter Space Drive Type
------------ --------------- ----------------------------------
/n:9 /t:40 360k any drive
/n:9 /t:80 720k 720k 5¼, 720k 3½, 1.2m 5¼, 1.44m 3½
/n:15 /t:80 1.2m 1.2m 5¼
/n:18 /t:80 1.44m 1.44m 3½
Many machines will also accept diskettes formatted with nonstandard, higher
capacity formats. Examples of these are:
Parameter Space Drive Type
------------ --------------- ----------------------------------
/n:9 /t:42 380k any double-sided drive
/n:9 /t:84 766k 720k 5¼, 720k 3½, 1.2m 5¼, 1.44m 3½
/n:15 /t:84 1.27m 1.2m 5¼, 1.44m 3½
/n:18 /t:84 1.53m 1.44m 3½
QForm will automatically try to format a diskette at the highest capacity
offered by the drive. If you have a 1.2 or a 1.44 and wish to format a 360
or 720 you will need to override QForm's autodetection with the command line
switches.
Please note:
The 42 and 84 track parameters are not specifically supported by many floppy
drives. Use of these parameters is strictly "at your own risk." Though these
parameters have not damaged any of the hardware they have been tested on, it
is possible they might cause damage to your drive. If your drive makes any
unusual noises, stop at once!
______________________________________________________________________________
<page 5>
Command Line Parameters
Commands may be entered in upper or lower case. All commands are separated
by forward slashes (/). Spaces between commands are optional.
Usage is: QForm d: [options]
Examples: QForm A: /n:9 /t:42 /x
QForm B: /n:9 /t:80 /b /!
Option Meaning Version
------ ---------------------------------------------- ---------
d: drive to be formatted v1.0
/R show registration information v1.91
/T:nn format nn tracks v1.0
/N:nn format nn sectors per track v1.0
/X do not verify the diskette (cuts time in half) v1.0
/! make audible signal at end of format v1.32
/B "boot through" to hard disk v1.6
/V prompt for volume label after format v1.5
/V:label automatically add "label" after format v1.5
/4 forces 360k format in any drive v1.7
/7 forces 720k format in 1.44meg drive v1.7
/E 384k format on 360k drive v1.7
/S format a system (bootable) diskette v1.8
/#:nn format nn diskettes v1.9
Detailed explanation of command parameters:
d: Floppy drive to format. May be any valid non-networked floppy drive,
including those with drive letters which appear after the hard drive,
as with some secondary floppy controllers. QForm will not format
network drives.
/T:xx This sets the number of tracks. Standard diskettes format at 40 or 80
tracks. QForm allows you to format disks with more or fewer tracks.
You can normally format 40 track drives to 42 tracks, and 80 track
drives to 84 tracks without problems.
/N:xx Sets number of sectors per track. QForm defaults to 9, 15, or 18
sectors depending on the type of drive and requested format. DOS does
not normally recognize other values. A future version of QForm will
include a device driver that will allow use of more sectors than DOS
presently allows. If you have one of the rare DOS versions that will
read a 10 sector diskette, you can use QForm to format new diskettes.
/X Turns off verification during format. This can reduce formatting times
40-45%. See "TANSTAAFL" below!
/! Makes an audible signal when format is complete. Handy when you have
better things to do than babysit the keyboard.
/B QForm defaults to a standard IBM-type boot sector. With /B, QForm
writes a special boot sector that lets you leave a diskette in drive A
when booting off the hard disk. The machine will look at the floppy in
A, then proceed to boot off the hard disk. The /S option overrides
this option.
/V Prompts for a volume label after format. See your DOS manual for a
discussion of valid volume labels.
/V:xxx Puts label "xxx" on the floppy automatically after format. Spaces are
not allowed in labels applied with this option.
/4 Forces a 360k format on any drive. This allows you to format a 360k
diskette and use one of the sector copiers to move copy protected
software from a 5-1/4 to a 3-1/2 diskette, or to format a 360k
diskette in a 1.2 meg drive. Please note: not all 1.2 meg drives are
capable of writing diskettes which can be read on a 360k drive!
/7 Forces a 720k format on any compatible drive. Saves typing a lot of
parameters. Useful for 720s in machines with 1.44s with no disk type
detection (early PS/2s cannot identify a 720 in a 1.44), for old XTs
with 720k drives (BIOS defaults to 40 tracks).
/E This option lets you format a standard 360k floppy to 384k by adding
two more tracks and reducing the number of directory entries from 112
to 16. This reduces the directory size from 7 sectors to 1 sector. Disk
space is 384,000 bytes. This format can be read by any MSDOS machine,
and was pioneered by Eric Tauck (hence the /E parameter). DISKCOPY,
CHKDSK, and all OEM DOS utilities recognize this format.
/S Make SYSTEM (bootable) diskette. QForm uses your own DOS' SYS command
to place the DOS files on your diskette. It initially assumes that the
drive you ran QForm from was the boot drive and that SYS is in your
PATH statment. If your system configuration is different, you can add
the statement BOOT=C:COMMAND.COM (or wherever) to your DOS environment.
QForm will change to that drive and execute the SYS command.
An advantage to this is the ability to format a diskette with any DOS
version you want. For example, you could set BOOT=A:COMMAND.COM to
format a DOS 2.1 diskette while running DOS 4.0. The drive letter tells
QForm where to look for the system files. The filename is the name of
the DOS command interpreter, normally COMMAND.COM, though you might be
using the popular 4DOS or Command Plus interpreters.
Why exec the SYS command? There is no simple way to identify the
system files on your computer. The prime culprit is DR-DOS, which uses
a very different layout from MSDOS. The SYS command will always work,
while poking about on your system may not yield the proper results.
Note that most DOS versions will happily boot off somewhat nonstandard
diskettes.
/#:nn Batch format of nn diskettes.
QForm takes approximately 24k of RAM while operating. On completion, it will
return one of the following DOS ERRORLEVEL codes:
errorlevel 1 normal termination
2 critical error: aborted by operator
3 unrecoverable disk error
4 too many bad sectors
5 invalid command line parameter
6 error writing volume label
»» TANSTAAFL: (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)
You'll notice that QForm isn't appreciably faster than DOS' FORMAT.COM. There
is a very good reason - the NEC 765 floppy controller chip proceeds at pretty
much its own rate regardless of software input. It formats a track, then goes
back and rereads the track to look for errors. By turning error-checking
(verify) off, you can cut the time in half. That's how most "fast" floppy
formatters work. The X parameter will turn off error-checking if you insist.
I don't recommend using this parameter unless you are reformatting a floppy
previously known to be good. Think of the X as a skull and crossbones.
______________________________________________________________________________
Error messages: <page 6>
QForm reports the following error messages:
Error: Drivespec is SUBSTed, ASSIGNed, JOINed, or Network drive.
meaning: For safety reasons, QForm does not work on these drive types.
Error: No valid drives found.
meaning: QForm could not find any floppy drives.
Error: Specified device is not a floppy drive.
meaning: You asked QForm to format something other than a floppy.
Error: Unknown drive type.
meaning: QForm could not determine the floppy drive type. Qform
can still format a disk if you give it the number of tracks
and sectors and the proper ID byte.
Error: QForm Terminated: disk error in system area.
meaning: The disk had a bad spot where QForm needed to write the boot
sector and directory information. The disk should be
discarded.
Error: QForm terminated. Too many bad sectors.
meaning: QForm will abort if more than 10% of the disk is bad. The
disk should be discarded.
Error: Diskette cannot be formatted.
meaning: The diskette controller chip has reported an unknown
failure condition and aborted the format. This message can
come up with some machines using not-quite-compatible BIOSes.
Error: Too many tracks for detected drive type. Continue (Y/N)?
meaning: Formatting more than 42 tracks on a 40 track drive or 84
tracks on an 80 track drive could damage the drive mechanism.
This message may come up on some older XTs with 720k drives.
Be careful when overriding this warning - trying to format
80 tracks on a 40 track drive can destroy the drive!
______________________________________________________________________________
<page 7>
Acknowlegements:
Richard Hamming noted, "Isaac Newton could see so far because he was like a
midget standing on the shoulders of giants. Programmers, however, are like
midgets standing on the toes of other midgets."
No piece of software is written in a vacuum. QForm's development has been
influenced by the information available to me as it was written. QForm is
written in Borland's Turbo Pascal v5.5 and Microsoft's Macro Assembler v5.1.
Portions of code used in QForm were originally developed by Kim Kokkonen of
Turbo Power Software, 3109 Scotts Valley Dr. #122, Scotts Valley CA 95066,
and adapted for my purposes. Kim also sells some of the best Turbo Pascal
programming tools around.
Eric Tauck's BDISK and FORDSK programs, Jacques Pierson's SDF, Peter Norton's
FCOPY, (remember that one, Peter?), F.M. de Monasterio's NEWBOOT3, Jeff
Prosise' DISKPREP, B. Gibson's BOOTHRU, Sanford J. Zelkovitz' INTRCPT3, David
Rifkind's SKEWTEST, and other programs were valuable sources of information.
Much information was gathered from Byte Magazine's BIX system, thanks to
John Switzer, David Rifkind, Roedy Green, Donn Anderson, and others. Thanks
again, guys.
Finally, the "authoritative Word" came from the disassembly and inspection of
good ol' DOS 2.1 and 3.3 FORMAT.COM via V Communications' incredible SOURCER
code disassembler and by inspection of formatted disks with Central Point's
CopyIIPC Option Board.
______________________________________________________________________________
<page 8>
History:
12/03/89 v1.0 first shareware version of QForm
12/11/89 v1.01 added color support
01/15/90 v1.1 documentation reflects ASP membership; DOS version check
eliminated for proper function on Toshiba 1000 (oops!);
added elapsed time counter; fixed cursor-loss on fatal error
02/07/90 v1.2 fixed a bug which prevented some machines from being able
to read 720k 3½" diskettes generated by QForm
02/21/90 v1.3 added track count, added colon requirement on command line
to match Microsoft practice
02/23/90 v1.31 fixed incomplete display problem for CGA monitors, changed
registration price from $15 to $10
02/24/90 v1.32 added /! switch to put audible signal at end of format
02/27/90 v1.4 fixed improper media byte problem on some XTs with high
density floppy controllers. Substantial code rewriting.
02/28/90 v1.5 added /V: and /V commands for volume label
03/01/90 v1.6 added /B "boot through" option
03/01/90 v1.61 turned control-break checking on for those "uh-oh" times
03/02/90 v1.62 revamped error messages
03/02/90 v1.63 now checks state of DOS verify flag, turns verify off while
formatting (we're monitoring directly and don't need the DOS
overhead) and restores original verify state on exit
03/04/90 v1.7 added /4 command for 360k in 1.2mb drive, /7 command for
720k disk in 1.44 w/o drive detect
03/05/90 v1.71 added README.EXE to read documentation
03/09/90 v1.8 added /S command to format system disk, BOOT= environment
variable to find system drive
03/10/90 v1.85 fixed bug that prevented formatting 720k diskettes on older
XTs without BIOS support
03/12/90 v1.9 added /#:nn to batch format diskettes
03/13/90 v1.91 added /R command for shareware information
03/14/90 v1.95 enhanced /S option to allow loading of system files and
command interpreter from any given drive.
Bug List:
1) Doesn't always work properly on XT machines with high density floppy
controllers and 1.2 or 1.44 drives. Usually just doesn't work at all if
there's any problem. I've chased this one round and round, and some of the
BIOSes in the el cheapo cards are... well... icky.
2) Though I haven't actually come across one yet, it's possible one of the
OEM customized DOS versions might not work with a nonstandard format. Some
vendors (like Tandy) modify the actual DOS files heavily and then buy the
utilities from a place like Phoenix. Toshiba writes their own utilities. If
the vendor messed with the DOS too much QForm might not work. Same goes for
the various BIOS versions, especially those oddball Kwai-Chang Klone jobs.
3) QForm can't reliably tell what sort of diskette is in the floppy drive,
so it tries to format a diskette as high density if a high density drive
is present. This may be corrected in a future version. The main problem is
that some of IBM's PS/2 machines don't have any way to detect a low density
diskette in a high density drive; the physical hardware isn't there. Again,
some of those pesky cheapo high density XT controllers don't monitor the
correct lines of the floppy drive, which may or may not be configured right
anyway. <heavy sigh>