[Coco] Re: RETRIEVE utility...

[KnudsenMJ at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/23/04 8:47:46 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
vxlzneo02 at sneakemail.com writes:

> Actually... no.  On the 765 core there is a "format track" command.  You
>  load the controller with gap sizes, sector size, sector count, etc.  Then
>  you feed it the "data" portion of the track with each DRQ until it
>  interrupts out, usually just a bunch of 0xe5 bytes but I suppose you could
>  fill the sectors with valid data if you had some at the time.

ISTR that Disk Basic creates a complete RAM image of one track when doing a 
DSKINI format.  This takes up a few K of RAM, maybe 5K or 6K, and explains why 
doing a DSKINI blows away any machine code or data you've loaded up above 
Basic's areas, and resets the allocation settings (like where strings go, etc.).

In OS-9 the same full-track image is required, which is why many OS9 systems 
can no longer format disks -- you keep a special stripped-down boot around for 
when you want to make some.
--Mike K.