[Coco] CoCoSDC: Using RS-DOS for new .DSK image file size?

[Allen Huffman]

Darren,

I am writing a series of CoCoSDC articles on my www.subethasoftware.com site, and as I work through things, I come up with more questions.

In my RS-DOS days, we had patch programs we would run that would set Disk BASIC to 40 tracks, and set the hardware to use 6ms step rate for faster and quieter disk access. Once this patch was ran, all commands worked with 40-tracks:

DSKINI - format all 40 tracks
BACKUP - backup all 40 tracks

Does CoCoSDC DOS take in to consideration this max track value when creating the new .DSK file? I believe creating a pre-formatted DSK image file is merely a convenience to the user so we don't have to format each one we make:

DRIVE 1,"NEWDISK.DSK"
DSKINI 1

Nice. But if CoCoSDC DOS used that value in the ROM for the size of the .DSK file, it could automatically create a 40-track (or 42-track) disk image for the user, too, the same  was DSKNI does.

I expect if I have the patch ran, and my system is set for 40-tracks, when I do this:

DRIVE 1,"40TRACK.DSK"
DSKINI 1

...the DSKNI process will format to 35 tracks, then continue going and the .DSK image will be expanded.

Ultimately, I need to go through all my old disks and reorganize them back down to standard 35-track disk files. But initially, I just want to clone everything as-is. Some even used extensions to write the disk name on unused sectors and such (I forget what extension I had that did this). Fun days!

Thanks...
-
Allen Huffman - PO Box 22031 - Clive IA 50325 - 515-999-0227 (vmail/TXT only)
http://www.subethasoftware.com - https://www.facebook.com/subethasoftware
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