Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!xanth!nic.MR.NET!shamash!com50!mscunx!hawkmoon!det From: det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG (Derek E. Terveer) Newsgroups: comp.unix.microport Subject: Re: screwy format message Keywords: software, 386/3.0e Message-ID: <1029@hawkmoon.MN.ORG> Date: 5 Jul 89 20:41:43 GMT References: <1003@hawkmoon.MN.ORG> <8249@saturn.ucsc.edu> Organization: One of the Eternal Champions - Richfield, MN, 554232523, USA Lines: 65 In article <8249@saturn.ucsc.edu>, lcc@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (73701000) writes: > In article <1003@hawkmoon.MN.ORG> I write: > >Whenever i try to format my (new) 3.5" floppy (1.44M) with a 720K diskette in > >it i get the following message: > > > >$ format /dev/rdsk/f13dt #lo density device name; f13ht = hi density > >formatting. > >Formatted 0 tracks: 0 thru 4294967295, interleave 1. > > > >What does this mean? Is my format broken and is there a newer one out there > >that i can get that will work better? > > > > I put a newer format on the bbs in mid February but I don't think that it is > going to resolve that problem. Format works by doing an ioctl on the > device that was opened to get the geometry info. There is a coding scheme > built into the minor device number of the file (device node) that was opened > and in it contains info such as hi/low density, etc. My guess is that you've > got some way bogus minor device number for f13ht or a corrupted binary. Ok -- that begs the question: "what are the correct minor device numbers for 3.5" floppies?" This is what i currently have: $ ls -li /dev/rdsk/f1* 444 crw-rw-rw- 4 root sys 1, 97 Jul 5 15:30 /dev/rdsk/f1 446 crw-rw-rw- 3 root sys 1,113 Jun 28 01:50 /dev/rdsk/f13dt 444 crw-rw-rw- 4 root sys 1, 97 Jul 5 15:30 /dev/rdsk/f13ht 434 crw-rw-rw- 2 root sys 1, 21 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f15d9 436 crw-rw-rw- 6 root sys 1, 17 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f15d9t 430 crw-rw-rw- 3 root sys 1, 5 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f15h 432 crw-rw-rw- 4 root sys 1, 1 Jun 24 17:43 /dev/rdsk/f15ht 442 crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 81 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f15l8t 440 crw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 1, 65 Jun 24 19:21 /dev/rdsk/f15l9t 438 crw-rw-rw- 2 root sys 1, 49 Jun 24 17:43 /dev/rdsk/f15qt 434 crw-rw-rw- 2 root sys 1, 21 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f1d9d 436 crw-rw-rw- 6 root sys 1, 17 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f1d9dt 444 crw-rw-rw- 4 root sys 1, 97 Jul 5 15:30 /dev/rdsk/f1hi 446 crw-rw-rw- 3 root sys 1,113 Jun 28 01:50 /dev/rdsk/f1lo 430 crw-rw-rw- 3 root sys 1, 5 Jul 18 1988 /dev/rdsk/f1q15d 432 crw-rw-rw- 4 root sys 1, 1 Jun 24 17:43 /dev/rdsk/f1q15dt 438 crw-rw-rw- 2 root sys 1, 49 Jun 24 17:43 /dev/rdsk/f1q9dt Also, what do each of the bits in the minor device numbers mean? There doesn't seem to be any documentation for these things. I have sort of made some guesses but, these guesses are probably wrong. When i *do* format a 3.5" disk, it reports that 80 (0..79) tracks have been formatted; the same as for 5.25" disks, so it must not have the correct minor device number. Here is the 32 bit crc for the format i'm using: $ brik -Gb /bin/format # Whole file CRCs generated by Brik v1.0. Use "brik -C" to verify them. # CRC-32 filename # ------ -------- 2127766125b /bin/format derek -- Derek Terveer det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG || ..!uunet!rosevax!elric!hawkmoon!det w(612)681-6986 h(612)789-8643 "A proper king is crowned" -- Thomas B. Costain