> Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:14:49 -0700> > There were also a> > few undocumented > > switches in the older versions of FORMAT, such as> > the one for "don't > > ask for a console go-ahead, just format the darned> > floppy." (Used by > > the BACKUP utility)--was it /h?> > /autotest will format without asking or waiting. But> always add the /u with it as well, otherwise it'll try> to determine the existing format.> Hi Ian
I've never tried /autotest but I have used the /u
with the /f:320 command. It still won't reformat
a disk that was formatted as a 360K to a 320K,
unless track zero is not there.
Dwight
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> Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:45:52 -0700 > > > Well, DOS 6.x had the /f switch on the FORMAT command--which told DOS > > to forget about trying to read the disk, just format it. I believe > > that DOS 7.x ignores /f. And for DOS, there are always third-party > > formatters.> > > > Cheers,> > Chuck> > I think you meant the /u switch. The /f switch normally requires some other> parameters telling how to format the disk.> > BTW, some interesting comments. I've always been curious why I could bulk erase> a disk and it would sometimes show up with a track 0 bad error (win98se.) Now> I'm going to have to try formatting on an earlier version of DOS.
I've had problems with the /f switch as well. For work with my Olivetti
M20, I need a couple disk formatted as 320K disk. I've found that none
of my formatting tools will reformat a 360K disk as a 320K disk. That
is, unless I destroy the 360K format some how. Luckily, I've found that
formatting on the M20 ( that puts FM on the first track ), is enough
that the format tools think it has random data and will reformat to
320K if I ask for /f:320.
I have used a magnet as well but I prefer to not use that method.
Dwight
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On 8/16/07, Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote:
> ...lots of good stuff...
> >Any advice is appreciated!
>
> Heh. Sure hope you meant that literally; apologies if not.
Indeed! And thanks to everyone for piping in on this. It's great to
hear from so many on the subject. So far, I've distilled this:
- The consensus does seem to be "no tapes or disks," which won't be a
big problem for me as they don't take up much space and can be kept at
home. I do have some boxed original software (CBM, Apple, etc) I'd
like to store because of its bulk. I suppose I can extract the disks
in most cases and take my chances with the shrink-wrapped stuff.
- Paper will be a problem, as I had hoped to move a magazine
collection there at least through the winter. It was suggested that
allowing it to "breathe" is better than keeping it (and an amount of
moisture) trapped inside plastic would be the better choice. Perhaps
leaving them boxed but without plastic, plus a desiccant of some kind
(a bag of silica gel in each box?) might do the job.
- Concrete floors = dust and moisture. The storage facility itself is
basically a garage - 10x15ft, about 9-10ft high with a large sliding
door. The floor is heavily painted concrete (apparently thanks to the
previous tenant as no others were like this.) I'm thinking a false
floor constructed of bricks and plywood plus a plastic tarp might help
keep the bottom items dry.
- Things are going to rust. See moisture problems above. I guess it
isn't unreasonable to wrap a uVax II in plastic with a bag of silica
inside.
- I'm going to abuse the newfound space and just get more crap until I
can't move around my house. Quite likely. That will be a matter of
willpower on my part. Thanks to Mark Tapley for a great rundown of
his method of self-control. :) Despite the storage, I'm still going
to have a packed basement, garage, closets and office. But the stuff
has started to occupy permanent positions in the kitchen, dining room,
living room, etc. No comps, classic or otherwise, in the bathrooms as
of yet. I'm hoping I can develop a "one (or two) projects at a time"
mentality this way, keeping a lot of excess gear down the road a bit
might help me focus and see things through to completion. Yeah, I
know, good luck on that too :)
This has also made me rethink my plans for moving to a new house
(perhaps in a year or so.) Part of my criteria was enough outdoor
space that I could build a large garage or barn to hold all my gear,
but even if I managed that it would be unheated/cooled, much like a
storage facility, and thus only fit for certain storage. Perhaps I
should just settle for a large (dry) basement.
OK, this is becoming too much like a 12-step support group. Back to
our regularly scheduled collecting...
--
jht
I have some of the following parts, maybe you guys can help me ID this stuff?
-- Several tubes of what appear to be resistor packs, branded "Beckman" and
bearing the part number 1899-258-0, not found under Beckman anywhere
--3 tubes of white ceramic-cased w/gold chips marked 1449-1112, I *think*
this is some kind of DRAM?
Also probably _not_ Burroughs, a tube of 18-20 parts with the number 8041016A
on each of them and what I *think* is a Tandy logo (T on the top, C on the
bottom, sort of an hourglass shape?).
Can you guys help me figure out what these are?
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
I'm looking for a CBM 8032 keyboard, or possibly just a key/keycap.
I've got an 8032 with a damaged numeric keypad that I'd like to bring
back into full working order. A replacement keyboard would be a good
place to start, so I thought I'd ask here.
I'm in the US, 84106, so shipping from the EU is probably more
trouble/cost than its worth.
Thanks!
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
Fellow techies,
Attached is a message that popped in from the Telephone Collectors mailing list. It appears that someone has a complete C64 and floppy drive available, both free, if anyone wants.
Contact the original poster (steve at telephonepioneer.net), not me.
Thanks.
*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
On 19-Aug-07 at 17:17 Steve Cichorsky <steve at telephonepioneer.net> wrote:
>On the odd chance someone is nostalgic for the ?good ?ol days,? I?m
>offering ?free to a good home,? Commodore 64 computer and associated
>VIC-1541 floppy disk-drive. Both have their respective manuals included.
>In addition, I?m including a Supra Corporation serial interface.
>Otherwise it?s going to be chucked in dump-trailer along with other
>?treasures? that are victims of my ongoing cleanup.
>
>I used this set-up in my previous life as the Chief Engineer of a group of
>Broadcast stations, along with a Hallikainen And Friends
> (
>http://sujan.hallikainen.org/BroadcastHistory/index.php/HallikainenAndFrien… ) Tel171 software to interface a Moseley TRC-15A analog transmitter control system to automatically log broadcast transmitter parameters and make appropriate adjustments to keep it within FCC tolerances.
>
>By the way, Harold Hallikainen was our local broadcast engineering guru
>and manufacturer who was always available to impose on for help
>troubleshooting a down transmitter at 3AM.
>Even major manufacturers and organizations such as the National
>Association of Broadcasters, Gates/Harris, Continental, Elcom-Bauer,
>Moseley, etc. would consult with him regarding updating features, etc.
>---Aim a cannon at the Transmitter---
>As with the phone industry, broadcasting has undergone major changes that
>are generally not positive. In an article that Harold wrote for Radio
>World (http://www.hallikainen.org/rw/insite/insite96.html) in 1998, he
>quoted an FCC inspector commenting on the fail-safe transmitter shut down
>methods at attended locations;
>>>> An FCC staff member advised stations to have some alternate means of
>shutting down the transmitter should the PSTN circuit fail. He suggested
>use of an STL carrier sense relay, program silence sense, a dedicated part
>74 radio link, or the use of a well aimed cannon.<<<
>Thanks-
>Steve Cichorsky
>
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>Group web page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/singingwires
>The TCI web site is at http://www.telephonecollectors.org
>TCI Picture Place: http://www.telephonecollectors.org/pictures/
> (Picture posting password: tciphotos )
> No password is required to see the pictures.
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
><*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/singingwires/
>
><*> Your email settings:
> Individual Email | Traditional
>
><*> To change settings online go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/singingwires/join
> (Yahoo! ID required)
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>
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><*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
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>
*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal ports?"
> From: javickers at solutionengineers.com> > Hi guys...> > I have a truly huge number of old 3.5" HD floppy disks which no longer work.> Attempting to format them in DOS returns the largely unhelpful "Invalid> media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" error message.> > I'm guessing it's because these disks are old (pushing on for 20 years in> some cases, and I'm fairly sure they're *all* over 10 years), and they've
Hi
I've seen case where if the disk has had an error on track
0, you can not even reformat using the format tool. The tool
is too smart.
In some case, I've taken a small maget and dragged it along
the surface of the disk to remove all of the original format.
It needs to make contact with the surface so you need a
method of rotating the disk inside the case.
Avoid scratching or denting the surface or it will be useless.
The other possible problem is that there is something on your
drives head that is scratching the magnetic material off.
If you've not cleaned the heads in some time, don't blame the
disk.
There are some disk that others have reported to have failed
but I've personally never seen one to fail without cause. The
most common on 3.5's is contamination of dirt from carrying
around in pockets. Next is dirty heads. I've even seen oily
fingers from small children.
If the surface is being removed, the heads will surely need
cleaning.
Dwight
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I found your post in the Internet and was wondering if you found a manual for the 130 in one kit yet? I just took mine out of the closet to show my son and the manual is missing.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Don
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> Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:50:57 -0600> > Ade Vickers wrote:> > Hi guys...> > > > I have a truly huge number of old 3.5" HD floppy disks which no longer work.> > Attempting to format them in DOS returns the largely unhelpful "Invalid> > media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" error message.> Same here. Pretty much all of the 3.5" don't work reliably anymore.> But 9-tracks from the 70's are fine, 8" and 5.25" floppies are fine.> Just plain weird.
Hi
Much of the probems I've see are also drive related.
For some reason the possitioning of the tracks seems
to fail often. Soem have had luck with adjusting the
track zero sensor but what I've seem is related to the
small plastic ball bearing used in the slides. For some
reason these tend to get flat spots and don't roll well.
Once this happens, all kinds of problems happen.
Dwight
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>
>Subject: Re: Broken floppy disks
> From: "e.stiebler" <emu at e-bbes.com>
> Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:50:57 -0600
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
>Ade Vickers wrote:
>> Hi guys...
>>
>> I have a truly huge number of old 3.5" HD floppy disks which no longer work.
>> Attempting to format them in DOS returns the largely unhelpful "Invalid
>> media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" error message.
>Same here. Pretty much all of the 3.5" don't work reliably anymore.
>But 9-tracks from the 70's are fine, 8" and 5.25" floppies are fine.
>Just plain weird.
Sounds like the drive is dead not media. Hwoever I've had media that
needed bulk erase before format. One check is that if the drive was dirty
(heads fouled) it will scratch good media and make it permanently bad media.
In every case like that slide the whutter open and check the media before
and after, scratches show!
Allison
>
>
