Hall of Fame

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Hall of Fame / HallofFameCDROM.cdr / util3 / tdisk105.lzh / TELEDISK.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1988-11-29 | 32.1 KB | 1,021 lines

TELEDISK - A DISKETTE TRANSMITTAL PROTOCOL Version 1.04 - August, 1988 Copyright 1988, C. P. Guzis and Sydex 153 North Murphy Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 739-4866 All Rights Reserved NOTICE THIS IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE! If you paid a "public domain" vendor for this program, you paid for the ser- vice of copying the program, and not for the program it- self. Rest assured that nothing ever gets to the originators of this product from such a sale. You may evaluate this product, but if you make use of it, you must register your copy. We offer several inducements to you for registering. First of all, you receive the most up-to-date copy of the program that we have - and we do update the product on a regular basis. You also receive support for TELEDISK - which can be quite valuable at times. And finally, we have a few utilities not included in the evaluation package. Make no mistake, however - this is a fully functional version of TELEDISK and not "crippled" in any way. To register, just send a check or a company P.O. for $25.00, together with your name and address and some reference to TELEDISK (we need to know what you are or- dering) to - SYDEX 153 North Murphy Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 You'll receive your registered copy of TELEDISK and printed documentation in about 2 weeks. ADDITIONAL NOTICES This is "user-supported" software. You are hereby granted a license by Sydex to distribute this evaluation copy of TELEDISK and its documentation, subject to the following conditions: 1. TELEDISK may be distributed freely without charge in its evaluation form only. 2. TELEDISK may not be sold, licensed, or a fee charged for its use. If a fee is charged in con- nection with TELEDISK, it must cover the cost of copying or dissemination only. Such charges must be clearly identified as such by the originating party. Under no circumstances may the purchaser be given the impression that he is buying TELEDISK it- self. 3. TELEDISK must be presented as a complete unit, including this documentation. Neither TELEDISK nor its documentation may be amended or altered in any way. Any other use or distribution of TELEDISK is expressly forbidden without the written consent of SYDEX. Table of Contents TELEDISK -- AT A GLANCE......................................1 WHAT IS TELEDISK AND WHAT DOES IT DO?........................2 GETTING STARTED WITH TELEDISK................................3 COPYING FROM DISKETTE TO A FILE..............................4 COPYING FROM A FILE TO A DISKETTE............................6 COPYING FROM A DISKETTE TO A DISKETTE........................8 THE OPERATING DISPLAY........................................8 ACCESSING OTHER DISK DRIVES.................................10 STRUCTURE OF THE TELEDISK TDn FILES.........................11 PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS....................................13 REVISION RECORD.............................................13 THE SYDEX PRODUCT LINE......................................14 i TELEDISK -- AT A GLANCE WHAT IT IS -- TELEDISK is a utility which will convert any diskette into a file and vice-versa. The diskette need not be a DOS diskette; certain types of "copy-protected" dis- kettes are also handled. The result is an exact copy of the original diskette. The file produced by TELEDISK is compressed to minimal size and is handled by most telecommunications file transfer protocols, including Kermit and XMODEM. HOW TO USE IT -- The program file is named TELEDISK.EXE; no other files are needed. TELEDISK is menu-driven; to begin, use the DOS command - TELEDISK If the display is unreadable, use - TELEDISK M Follow the directions on the menus; press the F1 key for online help. The ESCape key is used to terminate the current activity. If you are using a diskette-only sys- tem, you should have one or two blank, formatted dis- kettes to hold output file which TELEDISK produces. It's good practice to write-protect the source (ori- ginal) diskette when you are making a file from it using TELEDISK. All TELEDISK files have an filename extension (type) of TD0 through TD9. For detailed information, consult the rest of this document. Page 1 WHAT IS TELEDISK AND WHAT DOES IT DO? Sydex develops software and we also carry out support activities for that software. Part of any "bug hunting" operation is the task of duplicating problems. And part of duplicating problems is obtaining the necessary supporting materials. If "supporting materials" means only one or two files, obtaining them is easy - just upload them via a modem and a communications package. If, however, the supporting material takes the form of many files in several directories, getting the information over a telephone line tends to be quite an operation. Our only viable response in such a case had been "Can you Fed Ex it to us?". Clearly, something better was warranted. And so TELEDISK was born. This utility allows you to take a dis- kette and convert it into a file. You can then transmit this file using your favorite communications program and again use TELEDISK to reconstruct an exact copy of the diskette from that file. No muss, no fuss - and very easy to use. Some applications immediately suggest themselves: * "No brainer" file transmission. Just send the whole diskette without worrying about getting all the right files. * Preservation of disk directory entries, including hid- den, read-only and system files, as well as volume labels and directories. * Transmit diskettes complete with boot sectors. * Transfer "foreign" diskette formats - an answer to how to send a diskette from, say, a Wang word processor over the phone lines. * If diskette image files are placed on a hard disk, they can be saved on a streamer tape backup unit. * Now, this one isn't obvious... But, since TELEDISK makes a file from a diskette, this file can be used to obtain data from foreign formats. The layout of a TELEDISK output file will be presented later on in this document. Something needs to be said about "copy protected" diskettes. It is not the intent of Sydex or TELEDISK to encourage copyright violation by making it easier to transmit "copy protected" dis- kettes. It is true that TELEDISK will handle a number of copy protection schemes, resulting in a faithful reproduction of the original; however, this is a necessary "side effect" of the basic Page 2 operation of TELEDISK. Please note that most commercial software agreements do not authorize you to redistribute copyrighted material to third parties, and that by doing so, you may be held in violation of U.S. copyright law, as well as being liable for civil damages. TELEDISK has a number of interesting features: * The ability to copy one or both sides of a diskette. * The ability to copy just the diskette sectors allocated by DOS. * Optional use of an "advanced" data compression algo- rithm (Lempel-Zev) to produce minimal file size. * Automatic "splitting" of files across several diskettes if necessary. This is essential for diskette-only sys- tems. * Menu-driven with online help screens. * Support of low-density (180K and 360K) formats as well as high-density (1.2M and 1.44M) formats. To use TELEDISK, you'll need at least 256K of memory and one dis- kette drive. For high-density diskette support, you'll need an PC AT-type machine or an upper-level IBM PS/2 system. GETTING STARTED WITH TELEDISK The whole of TELEDISK is contained in the file TELEDISK.EXE; no other files are required. To start TELEDISK, simply enter TELEDISK at the DOS command prompt. If your computer has a color display adapter, TELEDISK will make use of color in its displays. If you have a monochrome display connected to a CGA or EGA, you'll prob- ably want to suppress color selection by invoking TELEDISK with TELEDISK M After a sign-on display, you'll be presented with the following opening menu: Page 3 +------------------- Teledisk Ver. 1.0 -------------------------+ | Copyright 1988, Sydex, C. P. Guzis | | Press ESCape to exit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------- OPERATOR MESSAGES -----------------------+ | Select Function - ESCape to quit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | MAIN MENU | | | | | | Select function with the cursor keys. ENTER confirms your | | choice and goes to next menu. F1 gets help, ESCape exits | | to DOS. | | | | | | Copy Disk to File Copy File to Disk Copy Disk to Disk | | | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ The actual display will appear to be slightly different from that which is presented here; the restrictions of a printed page do not allow entirely accurate reproduction. Observe that the F1 key is always the key to press to get help. In addition, the ESCape key will generally terminate the current operation and return to the previous display. To make a file from a diskette, use the cursor keys to position the blinking area to "Copy Disk to File" and press the ENTER key. To recreate a diskette from a file, use the cursor keys to posi- tion the blinking area to "Copy File to Disk" and press the ENTER key. The choice "Copy Disk to Disk" is the equivalent of a "Copy Disk to File" followed by a "Copy File to Disk" using the same file; no file is actually created, however. After selecting the function to be performed by TELEDISK, a sub- menu will be displayed for selection of various additional operating parameters. Each sub-menu and the operation of each function are discussed in the sections which follow. COPYING FROM DISKETTE TO A FILE If the "Copy Disk to File" operation was selected, a second menu appears: Page 4 +---------------------- Teledisk Ver. 1.0 ----------------------+ | Copyright 1988, Sydex, C. P. Guzis | | Press ESCape to exit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------- OPERATOR MESSAGES -----------------------+ | Select Function - ESCape to quit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | COPY DISK TO FILE | | | | Select choices with cursor keys. Move between lines with up | | and down keys. ENTER begins execution. F1 gets help, ESCape | | goes back to the opening menu. | | | | Source Diskette Drive A: B: C: D: | | | | Check Diskette for Data Both Sides One Side | | | | Read Which Sectors All DOS Allocated | | | | Data compression method Normal Advanced | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Source Diskette Drive refers to where the diskette data is coming from. If you've added a diskette drive to your computer and it's not addressed by the drive letters A-D, consult the section titled "Accessing Other Diskette Drives". The drive to be used to read the source diskette is selected with the right- and left-arrow cursor keys. This drive may also be used for the resulting output file - a prompt will be issued when diskettes need to be switched. Check Diskette for Data has meaning only if the diskette is not a DOS diskette and "DOS Allocated" under "Read Which Sectors" has been selected. If "Both Sides" is selected, both sides of the diskette are inspected for data. If only one side is found to contain data, then only that side is examined. If "One Side" is selected, the second surface of the diskette will not be ex- amined. This feature is useful when a single-sided diskette has been copied to a diskette which has had both sides formatted. Read Which Sectors determines how the source diskette data is in- terpreted. If "All" is selected, no interpretation of the dis- kette is attempted, and all sectors on the diskette are recorded verbatim. If "DOS Allocated" is selected, an attempt will be made to recognize the diskette as having one of the standard DOS formats. If the diskette does, in fact, contain a recognizable DOS file structure, then only those sectors actually belonging to data files will be recorded. Page 5 Data Compression Method determines how much effort should be spent "squeezing" the diskette file to its smallest representa- tion. "Normal" causes simple repeated-byte compression to be used and operates quite rapidly. "Advanced" compression make use of Lempel-Zev compression in addition to repeated-byte compres- sion. Advanced compression is somewhat slower than normal com- pression, particularly on XT-class computers, but typically results in an output file size 30-40 percent smaller than that achieved with normal compression only. After the appropriate selections have been made, the ENTER key is pressed and a prompt appears for the name of the file to which the diskette information will be written. If the file name sup- plied contains an extension, that extension will be ignored. All TELEDISK files are initially created with an extension of TD0. If an output file is created on a diskette and the diskette has insufficient room to hold the entire initial TD0 file, TELEDISK prompts for another diskette and creates a new file with a TD1 name extension. This process continues from diskette to dis- kette until the Copy Disk to File operation is complete. If such a multi-volume file is used when a File to Disk operation is performed, TELEDISK will prompt for each diskette as it is re- quired. If all volumes were copied to a hard disk, no prompting is performed. After the file name has been entered and TELEDISK has succeeded in creating the file, the operating display appears and TELEDISK proceeds with the copy operation. COPYING FROM A FILE TO A DISKETTE If Copy File to Disk is selected on the main menu, the following display is presented: Page 6 +---------------------- Teledisk Ver. 1.0 ----------------------+ | Copyright 1988, Sydex, C. P. Guzis | | Press ESCape to exit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------- OPERATOR MESSAGES -----------------------+ | Select Function - ESCape to quit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | COPY FILE TO DISK | | | | Select choice with the cursor keys. ENTER begins execution. | | F1 gets help, ESCape goes back to the opening menu. | | | | | | Destination Diskette Drive A: B: C: D: | | | | Enter source file name or ENTER for list - | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Here, only the drive to receive the diskette copy is selected. Once ENTER is pressed, a prompt for the name of the source file is displayed. A file extension of TD0 is assumed by TELEDISK for all files. If the ENTER key is pressed in lieu of a file name, the following display appears: +---------------------- FILE SELECTION -------------------------+ | | | Select file name with the cursor keys. Press ENTER to | | confirm your selection. Press F2 to specify a new drive/path.| | ESCape exits without selecting; F1 gets help. | | | | Current path: C:\WORKDIR | | | | | | ONE TWO THREE FOUR | | | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ This display shows all files with the extension TD0 and allows selection of one by use of the cursor keys. Pressing the ENTER key confirms the selection and recreation of the original source diskette will begin. If the F2 key is pressed, a prompt appears for the name of a new drive and directory for this display. If ESCape is pressed, the original Copy File to Disk display will be shown. Page 7 COPYING FROM A DISKETTE TO A DISKETTE As mentioned earlier, this option is the logical equivalent of performing a Disk to File operation, followed by a File to Disk. However, no intermediate file is created. The menu for this function appears as follows: +---------------------- Teledisk Ver. 1.0 ----------------------+ | Copyright 1988, Sydex, C. P. Guzis | | Press ESCape to exit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------- OPERATOR MESSAGES -----------------------+ | Select Function - ESCape to quit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | COPY DISK TO DISK | | | | Select choices with the cursor keys. Move between lines with | | cursor up and down keys. ENTER begins execution. F1 gets | | help, ESCape goes back to the opening menu. | | | | Source Diskette Drive A: B: C: D: | | | | Destination Diskette Drive A: B: C: D: | | | | Check Diskette for Data Both Sides One Side | | | | Read Which Sectors All DOS Allocated | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Source Diskette Drive specifies which drive is to contain the original for the copy operation; Destination Diskette Drive specifies the drive to receive the copy. The same drive may be selected for both; TELEDISK will prompt for the correct diskette when required. Check Diskette for Data and Read Which Sectors are the same as the options of the same name described in Copy Disk to File ear- lier. THE OPERATING DISPLAY After the operating function and its parameters have been selected, the following display appears: Page 8 +---------------------- Teledisk Ver. 1.0 ----------------------+ | Copyright 1988, Sydex, C. P. Guzis | | Press ESCape to exit, F1 for help | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +--------------------- OPERATOR MESSAGES -----------------------+ | Scanning Drive A:, Track 0 | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ |-+-+-+-+-|-+-+-+-+-|-+-+-+-+-|-+-+-+-+-|-+-+-+-+-|-+-+-+-+-|-+-+ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 +-------- GENERAL INFO ---------++------ ANALYSIS INFO ---------+ | || | | || | | || | | || | | || | | || | | || | | || | +-------------------------------++------------------------------+ Notice the "thermometer" at about the middle of the display. TELEDISK uses a "bar" indicator as the operation proceeds to give an idea of the progress of the operation. The numbers on the "thermometer" correspond to diskette track numbers. A 360K dis- kette contains 40 tracks; 720K, 1.2M and 1.44M all contain 80 tracks. Thus, if the thermometer bar indicates 20 on a 1.2M dis- kette, the operation is about one-quarter complete. All prompts for disk changes, as well as general progress mes- sages are displayed in the OPERATOR MESSAGES window. Messages requiring action are displayed in high-intensity, blinking char- acters. The GENERAL INFO display tells what was discovered during the course of analyzing the diskette, or from reading the file from which a diskette is to be produced. A note is made of the fol- lowing: * Single- or Double-sided diskette * Diskette density * Data compression method used * Sector address range on each side Page 9 The ANALYSIS INFO display presents a running narration of opera- tion. The display scrolls as it becomes filled and provides a track and side "tag" for each item of information displayed. When the selected copy operation is complete, a prompt is dis- played in the OPERATOR MESSAGES window. Pressing any key at this point will cause the opening menu to be displayed. ACCESSING OTHER DISK DRIVES TELEDISK obtains the number of diskette drives from the informa- tion furnished by the computer's ROM BIOS. How the ROM BIOS gets this information depends on the machine type. On XT-type machines, the number of drives is set by two DIP switch positions on the motherboard. On AT-class machines, the number of drives is set via the SETUP program and stored in battery-backed RAM. A computer may have an added diskette drive that is not visible to the ROM BIOS, but is accessed by a special device driver (most commonly DRIVER.SYS). In this case the ROM BIOS will return too small a number for the total drive count. TELEDISK may be informed of the total number of drives on a com- puter by having this number specified on the command line. For example, a command of the form: TELEDISK 3 informs TELEDISK that three diskette drives are present. Rather than refer to them as A:, B: and C:, TELEDISK refers to these drives by their physical unit numbers, or 0, 1, and 2. CAUTION -- When specifying the number of drives do not allow the source and destination of a copy operation to share the same unit! TELEDISK has no certain way of determining which drive letter (A:, B:, etc.) corresponds to a physical unit (0, 1, etc). If you are uncertain about your operating procedure, write- protect your source diskette! The monochrome display option may be specified along with the number of drives by simply placing the "M" for monochrome and the number of drives together: TELEDISK 4M or alternately, TELEDISK M4 Page 10 STRUCTURE OF THE TELEDISK TDn FILES The first file of a TELEDISK series has, as its file name exten- sion, TD0. A subsequent file will have the extension TD1, and so on. Every TELEDISK data file has a header of the following form: File Identification, 2 bytes, with a value of 'TD' if normal data compression was used to write it, or 'td' if advanced data compression was used. Volume Sequence, 1 byte, the first volume is volume 0. Check Signature, 1 byte. This is a unique signature common to all files in a sequence. That is, the headers for a TD0, TD1, TD2 sequence would all have this same check signature byte. Version number, 1 byte. Version of TELEDISK used to create this file. A decimal value of 10 would signify version 1.0, 11 would signify version 1.1 and so on... Source Density, 1 byte. Recording density of source drive; 0 = 250K bps, 1 = 300K bps, 2 = 500K bps. If this was a single-density FM diskette, this number is biased by 128. Drive Type, 1 byte. Type of source drive. 1 = 360K, 2 = 1.2M, 3 = 720K, 4 = 1.44M. Note that the actual media size is not recorded; thus type 3 may be either 5.25" or 3.5" media. Track Density, 1 byte. Track density of source drive in relation to source media. 0 = source density matches media density. 1 = double density media in quad density drive. 2 = quad density media in double density drive. DOS Mode, 1 byte. Nonzero if source diskette was analyzed according to DOS allocation. Media surfaces, 1 byte. 1 = single-sided media, 2 = double-sided media. Header CRC, 2 bytes. A 16 bit CRC for this header. After the header, the diskette structure information and sector data follows. If advanced data compression was used to produce this file, the information appears in 6,144 byte blocks of 12 bit Lempel-Zev code. Each block is preceded by a 2 byte CRC and a 2 byte code packet count (one packet = 12 bits). Page 11 The information for each track (or surface) is prefixed by a header of the following format: Sector count, 1 byte. How many sectors are contained on the current track. If this is the end of the data file, this field is set to 255. Physical cylinder, 1 byte. The physical position of the source drive head when this track was read. Physical side, 1 byte. The actual surface (0 or 1) of the diskette on which this track occurred. CRC check byte, 1 byte. A CRC checksum of the preceding 3 bytes. After each track header, there follows a list of sector headers. Each sector header is of the following format: Cylinder, 1 byte. The cylinder number of this sector as it appeared in the ID address field. Side, 1 byte. The side code of this sector as it appeared in the ID address field. Sector number, 1 byte. The sector number of this sector as it appeared in the ID address field. Sector length code, 1 byte. The length code (0 = 128 bytes, 1 = 256 bytes, etc.) of this sector as it appeared in the ID address field. Syndrome flags, 1 byte. Flags indicating various conditions of the sector data field, namely, 1 - This sector number occurred more than once on this track. 2 - A data CRC error occurred when this sector was read. 4 - A deleted data control mark was present for this sector. 16 - A DOS sector copy was requested; this sector was not allocated. In this case, no sector data follows this header. 32 - This sector's data field is missing; no sector data follows this header. Page 12 64 - No ID address field was present for this sector, but there is a data field. The sector information in the header represents fabricated information. Sector CRC, 2 bytes. A CRC checksum of the sector header information as well as the sector data which follows. If present, (see the syndrome flags above) the data for the cur- rent sector follows the header. Note that this data is also in- cluded in the CRC checksum in the header. PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS TELEDISK has been tested on several different classes of PC com- patibles and should provide satisfactory operation. However, there are some known potential problem areas: PC Compatibility - TELEDISK depends on a standard PC en- vironment for operation. TELEDISK will not function with PC incompatibles such as the Tandy 2000, Heath/Zenith Z-100 or AT&T 7300. TELEDISK supports Monochrome, CGA, EGA and VGA display adapters. High-Density Formats - TELEDISK requires an PC-AT class of machine to make use of the high density (1.2M and 1.44M) diskette formats. The IBM PS/2 models 50 through 80 satisfy this criterion also. PC-XT-type machines with high-density controllers will operate in low-density mode only. Other formats - When directed to copy DOS allocated sectors, TELEDISK examines the first sector of the diskette. If a boot sector with a valid Disk Parameter Block is present, the parameters contained within the boot sector are used. If no valid boot sector is found, the second sector of the diskette is read to find a valid File Allocation Table (FAT). If none is found, a non-DOS copy is performed. Copy Protection - TELEDISK makes an "intelligent" guess when confronted with unusual track configurations. Copy protec- tion schemes using the "super-sector" method will not be reproduced accurately by TELEDISK; the PC disk controller makes this impossible. REVISION RECORD Version 1.0 - April 1988, Initial release. Version 1.01 - May 1988, Cleaned up help screens, added single- density (FM) mode. Version 1.02 - May 1988, Check sector 0 for DPB, faster track scan algorithm. Version 1.03 - August 1988, Improve support for 1.2M/1.44M drives. Page 13 THE SYDEX PRODUCT LINE SHAREWARE 22DISK - Transfer files, format, examine and erase files on "foreign" CP/M diskettes on your PC. ASCII diskette description file allows "roll your own" specifications for really hard-to-find systems. Includes tips on sup- porting 8" and 5.25" single-density diskettes. Bundled with 22NICE. $15.00 Shareware registration fee. 22NICE - A CP/M 2.2 emulation package. Supports the NEC V-series chips or performs emulation by software for both the 8080 and Z80 processors. Includes terminal emulation and diskette handling for Osborne, Kaypro, Morrow, Heath/Zenith and Actrix. Allows use of CP/M utilities interchangeably with DOS programs. Includes 22DISK. $30.00 Shareware registration fee. ANADISK - The compleat diskette utility. Nothing like it anywhere else; scan, edit, repair and copy just about any kind of diskette. $15.00 Shareware registration fee. COPYQM - Cheap diskette duplicator. Format, copy and verify multiple diskettes from a single master. Implements "smart" drive status determination, freeing the operator's hands from keyboard interaction. Handles all standard DOS formats including 3.5" 1.44M files. $15.00 Shareware registration fee. FORMATQM - Mass diskette formatter - format a box of dis- kettes at a single sitting. Implements "smart" drive status determination, freeing the operator's hands from keyboard interaction. Format a 360K diskette in 41 seconds. Supports all standard DOS formats. $10.00 Shareware registration fee. RETAIL SOFTWARE SIMCGA 4.2 - Color Graphics Adapter simulation on monochrome (Hercules-compatible) graphics-equipped machines. Available from better software retailers and dis- tributed by CSS, ABCO and American Software Dis- tributors. SIM-EMS - A "must" for AT users -- emulates Lotus/Intel/ Microsoft Expanded memory using your machine's extended memory. Allows sharing with VDISK and has extremely simple installation. Page 14