ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.tar/ftp.whtech.com/Geneve/9640news/CAT18/HFDCMNL.ARK

Text File | 2006-10-19 | 8KB | 128 lines

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HARD AND FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLER MANUAL UPDATE
October 10, 1988

NOTE:  This update includes some information included in the second edition of
the Hard and Floppy Disk Controller Manual, but not included in the first
edition.  Information that is new to both editions is marked with an *.

SELECTING A HARD DRIVE.  Run Link Limited (RLL) drives CANNOT be used with the
MYARC HFDC.  Be sure you do not try to use a drive marked RLL.

SETTING UP THE FLOPPY DRIVES.  By adding a floppy controller in addition to the
HFDC, you can control up to 8 floppy drives.  With two controllers, the HFDC
controls drives 5 through 8.  Set up the physical drives that will be used as
drives 5 through 8 as if they were drives 1 through 4, cabling them to the
HFDC.  The HFDC will address them as if they were the higher numbers.

LOADING THE MYARC DISK MANAGER.  In addition to the methods shown of loading
MDM5, there are several other ways available.  MDM5 can be loaded from XBASIC
by running the program LOAD, which loads and runs the file MDMXB.  If LOAD is
placed in drive 1, it will automatically load when XBASIC is entered.  MDM5 can
also be loaded from Editor/Assembler option 3 or any equivalent method using
the file MDM.  Finally, 9640 users can install a loader as a cartridge in the
GPL mode.  The MDMV file is a cartridge-type file which will load from the GPL
menu by selecting F4 and entering DSK1.MDMV.  GRAM KRACKER or other GROM device
owners can use this file, too.  It loads in the GRAM KRACKER at >gE000.

*CHECKING THE EPROM VERSION NUMBER.  When you first load MDM V, you will see
the MYARC logo, the version number of MDM V, and, on the 99/4A only, the
prompts for setting the date and time.  If you press V at this point, the
version number of the eprom on the HFDC card will also be displayed.  It will
consist of the letter H followed by a number or letter.  If you ever need to
call MYARC about a problem with the card or the software, you should check the
eprom version number first.

*FORMATTING YOUR HARD DRIVES.  The format screen has been redesigned to offer
more flexibility in handling different types of hard drives.  After the
"Cylinders:" line, "Reserved dir/file sectors" now appears.  This data is
filled in automatically for your drive.  Next, the line "Write
pre-compensation:" now appears.  The data on this line is automatically filled
in, also. You can accept the data filled in, or if you know that your drive can
handle zero compensation (most 28 msec drives), you can change the data to 0.
The next line is "Reduced write current," which will show the same data as the
line before.  Again, you can reduce this line to 0 if you know that your drives
can accept it.  The next line is "Sector verification retry," which allows you
to set how many retries will be attempted when a sector does not verify
correctly.  The default is 8.  The next line is "Interlace." The default is 3,
which will be correct for most drives.  A 28 msec drive may be able to handle
an interlace of 2.  Older, slow drives may require as high as a 6 or 7.  The
last line is "Step rate" with a default of 1, which will work for most drives.
A higher figure may be required for 65 msec or slower drives.  28 msec drives
may be able to handle 0.  Even two drives of the same make and model may vary
in the best settings.  It is a good idea to try formatting at several interlace
and step rate settings, timing how long it takes the drives to format.  Use the
settings that produce the shortest format time in order to get the best
performance from your drive.

FORMATTING WITH MORE THAN FOUR FLOPPY DRIVES.  The format options for drives 1
through 4 are in some cases more limited when you run more than four floppy
drives.  If you are using a MYARC controller with 80-track eprom for drives 1
through 4, you have all the normal options.  With a MYARC card wthout the
80-track option, you can only format disks in 9 or 16 sectors per track.  18
sectors is not provided, although you can format disks in drives 5 through 8 in
9, 16, or 18 sectors per track.  With a CorComp controller, you can only format
in 9 or 18 tracks in drives 1 through 4.

PRINTING THE FULL DIRECTORY TREE.  If you press Control-P at the root directory
screen, the full directory structure, called the directory tree, will be
printed out to your printer.  It will not appear on screen.

RETURNING TO "UTILITY SCREEN." If you should accidently Exit from the Utility
screen by pressing E for Exit instead of X for eXecute, you can return to the
Utility screen by pressing Function 8.

SETUP CHANGE.  When you select C for Change, you can set defaults for up to 8
floppy drives, rather than 4 as stated.  Another option has been added to set
single hard or floppy drives.  If you are running only one hard drive or one
floppy drive, answering Y to the "Single Drive" prompts will set the single
drive defaults.  Thereafter, you will not be prompted for drive number when you
select Hard or Floppy drive functions.  If you should later add additional hard
or floppy drives, just return to the Setup screen and change the option.

If you use "PIO." for your printer setting, make sure you put a period at the
end of it.  Without it, you will get a "device error" when you try to access
it.

SETUP SAVE.  When you save the setup on a 9640 system, the data is saved to
both the MDM5 and the MDMV files.  Make sure that both files are present at the
indicated pathname.

TESTS.  When you select Tests from the Utility menu, you will be asked Hard,
Floppy, or Exit.  When you select Hard, the non-destructive test begins
immediately and continues until the entire drive has been checked.  Do not
interrupt the test procedure once it has begun or you may lose data on the
drive.  Any bad sectors found will be mapped out, so that future files will not
be written to them.

If you select Floppy tests, you will be prompted for drive number and then
asked if you want to log errors to printer and if you want to loop test.  If
you answer Y to the loop test question, the test will repeat multiple times
until you stop it.  When you have indicated your selections, you will then be
asked which type of test to perform as described in the manual.

*CATALOG.  When you catalog hard drives (or floppy drives with directories),
you no longer need to press D and then C to select and catalog a directory.
Move the inverse video line with the up or down arrows to the desired
directory.  If that is the directory you want to catalog, just press C and it
will select the directory and show the catalog with the single keypress.

*DIRECTORY UTILITY - BACKUPS.  When you select Directory and then Utility from
the Directory screen, you are next asked to select Complete, Directory, or
Exit.  "Complete" and "Directory" refer to backup functions.  When you backup
the hard disk, the option has been added to backup the complete hard disk
without regard to directory structure.  With this option you can save the
directories as well as the files and restore the complete contents and disk
organizations exactly as they were before saving.  With the directory option,
only files are saved.  With current software, do not select the New Files Only
option for backup.  The identification of new files is inconsistent and may
miss files.

BOOTING THE 9640 FROM HARD DISK.  In order to boot the 9460 from hard disk, you
must have set up files and directories correctly.  The file LOAD/SYS must be in
a directory named DSK1.  The file SYSTEM/SYS must be in the root directory.

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