Disc Menagerie (v4) - Alastair Scott 1987 ----------------------------------------- This is the final version of Disc Menagerie, with control greatly facilitated by John Valentine's AGE windowing system. Almost everything can be accessed via menus: to select something from a pull down menu, move the bar over the required option using the up and down arrow keys, then press COPY. Amsdos Commands Allows you to use ERA, REN, DRIVE, USER and DIR from within Disc Menagerie without worrying about awkward syntax. Directory Editor Here you are given a list of all programs in the disc directory with their attributes. For any file, you can set Read Only (attempting to erase the file doesn't work and produces an error message), Read/Write (the file can be erased as normal), System (the file is hidden from view and is not listed with |DIR or CAT), Directory (|DIR or CAT work as normal) and User (change the user number to 'x' so that you must type |USER,x before |DIR or CAT if you want to see the file). Note that all Read Only files have an * after their name in the disc directory. You can also erase or rename a file directly, or unerase it if it was accidentally deleted before. Note that this last option will not always work; it depends critically on whether you saved anything to the disc after the file was erased and, if so, on what part of the disc it was stored. Once all the changes are made, you can save the new directory to the same disc. A warning - don't use this option unless you are absolutely sure you know what you're doing! Needless to say, WACCI or myself cannot be held responsible for any blunders. Sector Editor You can alter the contents of any disc using this option. Alterations can be made in hex or ASCII, using a simple cursor which moves around the sector contents display. Note that it will work with System, Vendor, Data or IBM format discs (as will all the options here), and the format of a disc and its sector numbers are automatically detected. Once again, don't write an altered sector to the disc unless you know what you're doing. File Map This displays the 40 tracks of any disc in a graphical format, and shows you where each file is stored on the disc. If you take a note of the track and sector numbers, you can use the Sector Editor to alter a program directly without having to guess where it is on the disc. *P Disc Map Many commercial discs have non-standard formats, and this option, which uses code ¤ John Keneally (WACCI issue 15) finds these discs. Put the disc into the drive, enter a track number, and the track number, sector number and sector length for each track will be displayed. If any of the following criteria is not satisfied, the disc is of non-standard format. You cannot edit such a disc using Disc Menagerie (if you try, the disc drive will grind away and you'll get a "Read fail" error); very specialised machine code is needed, and you require a program such as WOPS (WACCI issue 18 for review) to do the trick. 1. There must be 9 sectors per track, or 8 for IBM format (see next option), and each of the 40 tracks (0-39) must be formatted. 2. The sector numbers must all lie within the range 1-8 (IBM format), 65-73 (System or Vendor format), or 193-201 (Data format). It doesn't matter which order the numbers are in. 3. All the track numbers, including the one at the top of the screen, must be the same. 4. Each sector must have length 512 bytes. Disc Turbo Three simple POKEs which speed the disc drive up by about 20%. Don't try and alter these POKEs; this is the only occasion in which you can physically damage the computer by doing so! Fast Format The DISCKIT2 or DISCKIT3 formatting routines take about 40 seconds to format a disc as they check each track after it is formatted to make sure it has been done correctly. My formatting routine doesn't do this, as it is extremely unlikely you will come across a dud Amsoft disc, and thus saves about 25 seconds per side. The two common formats, Vendor and Data, are supported. System format is the same as Vendor, except that you have to copy certain tracks from the master CP/M disc using SYSGEN and BOOTGEN. If you need System format, it's more convenient to use DISCKIT as you don't have to keep swapping discs. File Copy 100% machine code, this routine prompts you for a filename, loads the file from the input device, waits for you to press C (any other key aborts), and saves the file to the output device. You can choose the I/O device (disc or tape) from a pull-down menu. This option has been greatly improved since the last Disc Menagerie; you cannot enter too long a filename, and the DEL key now works properly. If a file does not exist, you'll get a "Bad Command" error: press any key other than C when prompted, otherwise rubbish might be saved to your disc or tape. Note that Disc Menagerie will almost certainly be corrupted when you return to BASIC; the only exception to this is if you are copying some binary files. *P This routine can be used as an effective tape-disc transfer utility for files saved in normal Amstrad format. Technical note: it is stored low down in memory (addresses 100 to 354). Some software may load at 64 (&40), and, in this case, the code will be overwritten and the computer will crash. To get this around this, I have assembled the routine at another address (&BE80) high in memory, which can be used with these awkward files. To use it, put the Disc Menagerie disc in the drive and type LOAD"DM3":CALL &BE80. Operation is exactly the same as for the normal version. Recover This option is the same as that in the Directory Editor, but is easier to use. The same restrictions governing whether it will work or not apply here. String Search All places (track, sector, byte) where a string is stored on disc are found and displayed using this routine. The string can be in ASCII format (e.g. 'Alastair Scott') or hex format (e.g. '3E2ACD5ABB' finds all occurrences of the assembler code 'LD A,"*": CALL &BB5A'). All 40 sectors of the disc are interrogated. As the search is pure machine code, it is very quick. Header Information If you want to know about a file on your disc, this is the option you'll need. Given the name of a program on disc, its filetype, start address, length and (for binary files with a non-zero parameter) execution address are given. ASCII files, which are headerless, don't yield any information. As Protext document files are stored in a special format, they can be distinguished from normal binary files, and the routine does this. Instructions You're reading them! Quit and Reset If you're sure you want to do this, you're given two options. One is a complete system reset, which returns the system to its power-up status. The other resets the computer, switches off any expansion ROMs (if present) except the disc ROM, and resets HIMEM to 42619. This is the equivalent of the Arnor ROMs' |ROMON7 command, and is necessary if you want certain programs (e.g. Cyrus II Chess) to work properly.