Xref: utzoo comp.sys.atari.st:33017 comp.sys.next:10421 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!i2unix!inria!laas!ralph From: ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Reading DOS formatted diskettes Message-ID: Date: 5 Dec 90 15:24:28 GMT References: <4267@oakhill.UUCP> <1990Dec3.211612.2176@watmath.waterloo.edu> Sender: news@laas.laas.fr Reply-To: ralph@laas.fr Organization: LAAS-CNRS France Lines: 32 In-reply-to: ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu's message of 3 Dec 90 21:16:12 GMT In article <1990Dec3.211612.2176@watmath.waterloo.edu> ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey) writes: | I use the program IBMFMT by Moshe Braner. An equivalent program | is PS2FORM. Both are free. I recommend FORMAT which, I believe was posted in Sept. It should be available from atari.archive. The major difference between FORMAT and PS2FORM is that a) FORMAT ensures that the floppy has a random serial number, while being MS-DOS (and for that matter SPARCstation) compatible, and b) it creates 3 sector FATs, thereby giving the user 2 extra clusters (the same as if the floppy would have been formatted on a PC). What more can one ask for? | For casual use, you should limit the number of such disks on the Atari | to ONE disk, because the ST system gets confused by the fact that all | PC volume serial numbers are the same. If you use FORMAT this problem is solved!! Virtually all my 100 or so Atari ST floppies are MS-DOS compatible. Until FORMAT came along I had to hack the serial number manually with a disk editor. :-( Finally, FORMAT can format in the background if you install it as an ACC. Just don't use up too much CPU in the foreground, otherwise the formatting will come to a halt. Disclaimer: I didn't write it! For the moment, I'm just a happy user of FORMAT. -- Ralph P. Sobek Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own. ralph@laas.fr Addresses are ordered by importance. ralph@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!laas!ralph If all else fails, try: sobek@eclair.Berkeley.EDU =============================================================================== Reliable software should kill people reliably! -Andy Mickel, Pascal News #13,78