formatting disks

JoshuaHorn · Post by **JoshuaHorn** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:18 pm

How do you format disks on the vic?

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:52 pm

Try this: OPEN1,8,15,

Leeeeee · Post by **Leeeeee** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:27 pm

Close, one to many "s ..

Code: Select all

OPEN 1,8,15,"N:diskname,ID": CLOSE 1

.. to clear an already formatted disk or..

Code: Select all

OPEN 1,8,15,"I":CLOSE 1

.. to initialise an unformatted disk.

You don't need to specify the drive number on single drive units.

Lee.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:37 pm

D'oh! Thanks for correcting that.

Joshua: You really should look into getting JiffyDOS installed in your VIC-20. The fast loader isn't as important on the VIC-20 as the 64 but the DOS wedge is such a time/hassle saver.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:04 am

Eh.. the "I" command is to initialize an formatted disk, not an unformatted one. If you try that on a foreign disk, the 1541 will blink its lamp and give you an error, I can't remember if it is a READ ERROR or DRIVE NOT READY.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:32 am

gklinger wrote:D'oh! Thanks for correcting that.

Joshua: You really should look into getting JiffyDOS installed in your VIC-20. The fast loader isn't as important on the VIC-20 as the 64 but the DOS wedge is such a time/hassle saver.

The Mega-Cart comes with an Nbla000's excellent Turbo loader. I *think* this has a built in DOS wedge (plus a lot of commands mapped to the function keys).

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:51 am

True enough. As if people need another reason to buy a Mega-Cart.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:17 am

In the mean time, you can load a DOS wedge separately. For example there is one on the 1541 Test/Demo disk. However rarely you perform so many disk commands that it is worthwhile to load and run a program before issuing the commands.

CurtisP · Post by **CurtisP** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:45 pm

carlsson wrote:Eh.. the "I" command is to initialize an formatted disk, not an unformatted one. If you try that on a foreign disk, the 1541 will blink its lamp and give you an error, I can't remember if it is a READ ERROR or DRIVE NOT READY.

I does not initialize a disk. It initializes the drive (returning it to the power on state).

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:24 am

Hm, ok. But I believe the command reads track 18,0 to get the disk ID of the current disk?

CurtisP · Post by **CurtisP** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:55 am

That is correct. I believe it also refreshes the RAM copy of the BAM from the disk.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:09 pm

I believe we both think of the same thing, just having different meanings of "initialize". In any case, neither the disk header nor BAM will be available on an unformatted (or foreign formatted) disk. Possibly it was just a typo from Lee.