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From: kirkaas@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (paul kirkaas)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att
Subject: How to format floppy disks for IBM-PC on a 3b1
Message-ID: <38343@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 25 Aug 90 17:57:43 GMT
Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 23

Is there some general way to format floppy disks in an IBM-PC format
on the 3b1?  The UA package comes with a program to format floppies
for the IBM, but it is a binary program and cannot be modified for
3.5" inch floppies, etc.  I have MTOOLS, and there is a reference to
a program "mkdfs" which supposedly does that, but the source mkdfs.c
is not included.

Is it possible to use iv to format ibm-pc compatable discs?  Any other
suggestions?  I don't have an IBM machine, but I would like to back up
my 3b1 in PC compatable format just in case my machine bites the big
one and I get a 386 unix machine to replace it.  I had asked on the net
previously if a 386 unix machine could read 3b1 3.5" floppies; and got one
email response indicating that this was not possible (Thank you, by the
way.)  I want to put a 3.5" drive to replace the 5.25, but I don't want
to commit myself to the 3b1 in perpetuity just because I can't read my 
backup floppies onto any other machine.

Thanks for all that anticipated help ---
Paul.
--
--
Paul Kirkaas
kirkaas@cs.ucla.edu