Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ccut!wnoc-tyo-news!toumon!wucc!ytsuji
From: ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: floppy compatibility problem
Summary: use a good formatter on ST.
Message-ID: <5527@wucc.waseda.ac.jp>
Date: 25 Apr 91 21:43:21 GMT
References: <91115.102014PHB100@psuvm.psu.edu>
Sender: news@wucc.waseda.ac.jp
Organization: The Centre for Informatics, WASEDA Univ.
Lines: 10

If formatted by ST's destop formatting program or by similar ones (difference
being user interface and fancy sectors/cylinder or greater than 80 cylinders),
the diskettes are unlikely read well by other machines. Apart from the
fact that the low level formatting is neither IBM nor ISO compatible, the
media descriptor byte in the boot sector may not be correct. And many msdos
machines I have used so far don't bother other info on that sector. And of
course the first 3 bytes must be 'jump ...' in 8086 machine language and not
'bra ...' in 68000.
The physical drive is very unlikely to be defective these days, but the 
interface can be very bad (genuine ATARI and IBM things may be OK.)