Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!sun!imagen!atari!kbad
From: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Setting the seek rate
Summary: Use PCF554.PRG to set the seek rate for drive B.
Message-ID: <1569@atari.UUCP>
Date: 16 Jun 89 20:17:46 GMT
References: <8906151157.AA03321@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 24

In article <8906151157.AA03321@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> ONM07@DMSWWU1A.BITNET ("Julian F. Reschke") writes:
| I wonder if there is a LEGAL way to set the current seek rate (for using
| 5 1/4''-drives...). What happened to the function Getdsb() in the
| original DR-Gemdos?


The newest TOS adds the Floprate() xbios call which does just that. For
earlier TOS versions, it is necessary to use the undocumented BIOS dsb
locations.  These will be described in the documentation that comes
with the new TOS.  Atari has also released a program (I believe it is
called PCF554.PRG, because it was released to support the Atari PC
external drives), available on several online services and probably from
Atari Customer Relations, which sets the correct seek rate for using the
PCF554 as drive B.

The Getdsb() call (if it existed) would have given you a different dsb
than the BIOS dsb.  GEMDOS also has a dsb, which is actually only an
extension to the bpb that you get from Getbpb().  The function went away
apparently because whoever was working on GEMDOS at the time felt it was
redundant.
-- 
   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
  / | \  #include <disclaimer>