##-00.00.00    
        ****                  TI99_PC v. 3.0.0                         ****
                              ================
	
	May 2004. Paolo Bagnaresi, e-mail: paolo.bagnaresi@fastwebnet.it 
		                  
        Sections 01.01.00 through 06.00.00 are repeated in the _README.TXT 
        file. They work as a quick reference to see what this program does, 
        whether it is suitable for your needs, how to set it up and the
        known bugs.    

	This file is READ ONLY and must remain as is. It will build the 
	Manual.dat and Manual.idx help files. 
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                            TABLE OF CONTENTS
                            =================

            
    Section #      Subject 
    --.--.--       =======
    01.00.00 - Acknowledgements
    01.01.00 - Purpose and Features
    02.01.00 - Single Density: Quick Test
    02.02.00 - Hardware Compatibility
    03.01.00 - Software Compatibility with MS Operating Systems 
    04.01.00 - Installation and Execution
    05.01.00 - Known Bugs
    06.01.00 - Buying a new PC                         
    07.01.00 - Other Technical Info
    10.01.00 - How to start TI99-PC 
    10.02.00 - Menu Structure of TI99-PC
    11.01.00 - Reading TI disks 
    11.01.01   - Creating Image files for TI99-PC or PC99, V9T9 
                    emulators.
    12.01.00 - Writing TI disks
    12.01.01   - Creating TI Floppy Disk from TI99-PC or PC99, V9T9 
                 emulators
    13.01.00 - Formatting a TI disk
    13.01.01   - Warning : Resources may not be enough
    13.01.02   - 1) Standard TI Floppy Disk Formatter
    13.02.00   - 2) Non TI custom Floppy Disk Formatter  
    15.01.00 - Cataloging a real TI floppy disk
    16.01.00 - Managing Disk Image Files: 
    17.01.00   - From TI99-PC image file to Emulators or other destinations
    17.02.00      - Transferring TI99-PC Image files to PC99, V9T9 emulators
    17.03.00      - Extracting single files from TI99-PC Image files to DOS
    17.03.03      - Creating .ARK files from TI99-PC Image files
    17.04.00      - Splitting a large TI99-PC Image file into smaller 
                    TI99-PC Image files
    18.01.00   - From other sources to TI99-PC image file 
    18.02.00      - Transferring Image files from PC99, V9T9 emulators to 
                    TI99-PC Image file.
    18.03.00      - Transferring an Anadisk Dump file to TI99-PC Image file
    18.04.00      - Importing files from DOS or ARK files to TI99-PC image 
                    file.
    19.01.00 - Deleting Files and the Quick TI Disk Catalog  
    20.01.00 - Recovering Disk Image Files with bad FDRs
    30.01.00 - External Command File Formatter
    39.01.01 - The Dos Directory Navigator and File Selector 
    40.01.01 - PC99, V9T9 and IMG Disk Image Files. Format Differences 
    
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                        TABLE OF CONTENTS IN DETAIL 
                        ===========================
    
    Section #      CONTENTS
    --.--.--       ========
    01.00.00 - Acknowledgements
    01.01.00 - Purpose and Features
    02.01.00 - Single Density: Quick Test
    02.02.00 - Hardware Compatibility
               1) - What type of PC?
               3) - Writing TI disks
               4) - Reading TI disks
               5) - Formatting TI disks
               7) - Floppy Drive       
                    7.1) 5.25" drives
                    7.2) 3.5"  drives
               8) - Single Density on a PC          
   
    03.01.00 - Software Compatibility with MS Operating Systems 
    04.01.00 - Installation and Execution
    05.01.00 - Known Bugs
    06.01.00 - Buying a new PC                         
    07.01.00 - Other Technical Info
    07.01.01   - Technical Details of TI99-PC 
    07.02.01   - Compatibility with old FDCs in Single Density 
    07.02.02   - Will Not Support Single Density (FM)
    07.02.03   - Will Support Single Density (FM)
    07.02.04   - Uncertain Chips
    07.02.05   - Implementation Dependent Chips
    07.02.06   - Unknown Chips
    07.02.07   - Special-Purpose Cards 
    07.03.01 - The Unreadable Sector Problem on Some Disks
    07.03.02   - Connecting a Switch to the Floppy Drive Cable
    07.03.03   - More Technical Details on Unreadable Sector Problems
    10.01.00 - How to start TI99-PC           
    10.02.00 - Menu Structure of TI99-PC      
    11.01.00 - Reading TI disks 
    11.01.01   - Creating Image files for TI99-PC or PC99, V9T9 
                    emulators.
    11.01.02        # A1 - 1) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to TI99-PC 
                              disk image file
    11.01.03        # A2 - 2) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a PC-99 
                              virtual disk         
    11.01.04        # A4 - 4) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a V9T9 
                              virtual disk
    12.01.00 - Writing TI disks
    12.01.01   - Creating TI Floppy Disk from TI99-PC or PC99, V9T9 
                 emulators
    12.01.02        # B1 - 1) Transfer a TI99-PC DOS image file to a 
                              TI-99/4A floppy disk
    12.01.03        # B2 - 2) Transfer a PC-99 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A 
                              floppy disk  
    12.01.03        # B4 - 4) Transfer a V9T9 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A 
                              floppy disk   
    13.01.00 - Formatting a TI disk
    13.01.01   - Warning : Resources may not be enough
    13.01.02   - 1) Standard TI Floppy Disk Formatter
    13.01.03       - SS/SD , 40 tracks, 90 KB. Disk Drive: 1.2 MB 5.25" 
                                               on unit B:      
    13.01.04       - SS/SD , 40 tracks, 90 KB. Disk Drive: 360 KB 5.25" on 
                                               unit B:
    13.01.05       - DS/SD , 40 tracks, 180 KB. Disk Drive: 1.2 MB 5.25" on
                                                unit B:
    13.01.06       - DS/DD , 40 tracks, 360 KB. Disk Drive: 1.2 MB 5.25" on 
                                                unit B: 
    13.01.07       - DS/DD , 40 tracks, 360 KB. Disk Drive: 1.44 MB 3.5" on 
                                                unit A:
    13.01.08       - DS/SD , 40 tracks, 180 KB. Disk Drive: 1.44 MB 3.5" on 
                                                unit A:
    13.01.09       - DS/HD , 80 tracks, 1.44 MB Disk Drive: 1.44 MB 3.5" on 
                                               unit A:
    13.02.00   - 2) Non TI custom Floppy Disk Formatter  
    13.02.01        - Assigning parameters for Non TI Floppy Disk Formatter
    13.02.02        - Step Rate, Motor Off, etc. More info about Drive 
                      Timings  
    13.02.03        - Stepping Rate
    13.02.04        - Head Unload Time       
    13.02.05        - Head Load Time in milliseconds 
    13.02.06        - Head Settle Time 
    13.02.07        - Motor Off Delay
    13.02.08        - Motor Start Time
    13.02.09        - Floppy Disk Media Specifications              
    13.02.10        - Transfer Rate, Rotation Speed  
    13.02.11        - Gap 3 Length
    13.03.01        - Formatting Examples for Non TI custom Floppy Disk 
                      Formatter.
    13.03.02         - DSDD 1440 TI disk (360 KB) on an AT 5.25" 1.2M drive
                                 at 360 rpm
    13.03.03         - DSDD 1440 TI disk (360 KB) on an 40 track drive 
                                  at 300 rpm    
    13.03.00      - Transfer Rate, Rotation Speed
    13.04.00      - Standard TI Formatter
    13.05.00      - Non Standard TI Custom Formatter
    13.10.01   - DMA Boundary Crossing Warning 
    13.10.02   - F1 (Help) disabled while in Low Level I/O routines 
    14.01.01 - 4) Transfer a TI disk to PC file, directly from TI99_PC.COM
    14.01.02 - 5) Transfer a PC file to TI disk, directly from TI99_PC.COM
    15.01.00 - Cataloging a real TI floppy disk
    16.01.00 - Managing Disk Image Files: 
    17.01.00   - From TI99-PC image file to Emulators or other destinations
    17.02.00      - Transferring TI99-PC Image files to PC99, V9T9 emulators
    17.03.00      - Extracting single files from TI99-PC Image files to DOS
    17.03.03      - Creating .ARK files from TI99-PC Image files
    17.04.00      - Splitting a large TI99-PC Image file into smaller 
                    TI99-PC Image files
    18.01.00   - From other sources to TI99-PC image file 
    18.02.00      - Transferring Image files from PC99, V9T9 emulators to 
                    TI99-PC Image file
    18.03.00      - Transferring an Anadisk Dump file to TI99-PC Image file
    18.04.00      - Importing files from DOS or ARK files to TI99-PC image 
                    file 
    19.01.00 - Deleting Files and the Quick TI Disk Catalog
    20.01.00 - Recovering Disk Image Files with bad FDRs
    30.01.00 - External Command File Formatter (ECFF)
    30.02.01     - External Command File Formatter - Short Description
    30.02.02     - Warning and Disclaimer       
    30.02.03     - Basic Principles
    30.02.04     - Tips and Known Pitfalls
    30.02.05     - Commands, Listed by Purpose
    30.02.06     - User Interface Commands      
    30.02.07     - Action On Drive Commands
    30.02.08     - Drive Mechanical Timing Commands
    30.02.09     - Set Format Descriptor Table Command
    30.02.10     - Other Setting Format Commands
    30.02.11     - Changing Drive, Track, Head  
    30.02.12     - Set Density Commands
    30.02.13     - Set Gaps Commands
    30.02.14     - Change Disk Content Commands
    30.02.15     - Show Ids Commands
    30.02.16     - ECFF Commands Syntax, Listed Alphabetically
    30.03.01     - Ready Made Command Files
    30.03.02     - Simply Format a Disk
    30.03.03     - Disk Image File Copied to a Formatted TI Disk
    30.03.04     - Duplicating a TI Disk Onto an Unformatted TI Disk
    30.03.05     - Copying a TI Disk onto a Formatted TI Disk
    30.03.06     - Getting the Formatting Info (Ids) out of any Disk
    30.03.07     - Duplicating a Copy Protected Disk
    30.03.08     - Copying Diskettes with Copy Protection Schemes
    30.03.09     - Final Comments about Copying Protected Disks
    39.01.01 - The Dos Directory Navigator and File Selector 
    40.01.01 - PC99, V9T9 and IMG Disk Image Files. Format Differences 
    40.02.01 - PC99 Sector Layout     
    40.02.02     - Single Density PC99 Disk Format
    40.02.03     - Double Density PC99 Disk Format
    
    
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##-01.00.00
                        **** ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ****
                        ==========================
                        
        First off, I would like to thank Alfredo Cevolini, Italy. He is the 
        one who addressed my interest back to the TI-99/4A once again. 

        On the 1st of February, 2000, I received an e-mail from him, asking 
        me if I was the Bagnaresi who wrote some programs for the TI-99/4A. 

        He stirred up my interest for the little old machine once again. 
        From then on, I got involved with this project. Thanks, Alfredo.

        Next, I would like to thank all the people at the OLUG 
        ti99-4a@yahoogroups.com (it was ti99-4a@egroups.com). All the e
        -mails posted there daily can give you a good insight as to what 
        still happens in the TI-99/4A world. It's a nice community. 
        There are 15-30 messages each day and, more important, there are 
        people willing to help. 

        Among the other members of OLUG, I particularly would like to thank:

        - Andy B. <ab31@juno.com> for his knowledge and his competent 
          suggestions.  He inspected my assembler code and helped in 
          clarifying matters. 
  
          Also, the "CUTTING THE INDEX HOLE PULSE WIRE IN THE FLOPPY DRIVE 
          CABLE"  tip comes from him. That solves a problem that comes up 
          when reading TI disks formatted with a short GAP 0. Simply 
          invaluable!

        - Peter Killick <Peter.Killick@btinternet.com> for his long efforts 
          to provide 1.44 MB 3" 1/2 Geneve disks. He also fully edited this 
          manual. Without his help, you wouldn't easily understand my 
          written English! Not every document that comes with this program
          has passed through his hands. So, when you find something that
          sounds strange in English, you know that Peter had nothing to do 
          with it.

        - Tony Knerr <knerr@erols.com> for beta-testing version 2 of 
          TI99-PC and making useful suggestions which improved TI99-PC.  
          He also provided Teledisk copies of 1.44 MB 3" 1/2 Geneve disks 
          via Internet. Now TI99-PC works with those disks as well.
  
        - Bill R. Sullivan, for beta-testing TI99-PC v.2 on different 
          Windows operating systems and thoroughly reporting. 
  
        - Dan Olson <dano@agora.rdrop.com> for his extreme willingness and 
          relentless efforts to help everybody, and particularly me, on 
          OLUG.  
  
        - Jeff White <jhwhite@delphi.com> for his comments and explanations 
          about the 1.44 MB Geneve disk format. 
  
        - Charles Good <cgood@nicsweb.com> for his continuous maintenance 
          of ftp.whtech.com, our OLUG library.
  
        - Mike Wright <mjmw@mediaone.net> for having developed PC99. He 
          invited programmers to write a utility to read TI-99/4A disks 
          directly in a PC. I tried to do it... I hope you'll like this 
          program, Mike!

        - Barry M Peterson <barry.peterson@juno.com> for his interest and 
          steady support.  
  
        - Jim "juzzell" <juzzell@surfsouth.com>, for patiently reporting 
          errors and suggesting useful improvements. 
        
        - Dave <dginskey@stratitec.com>, for reporting Single Density
          reading, writing and formatting capabilities of his motherboards. 
  
        Also, I would like to thank Ciriaco Garcia de Celis, formerly at 
        the University of Valladolid, Spain, for having put into public 
        domain the source code of his 2M-ABIOS device driver (1994-1995). 

        My program is based on his I/O routines. His device driver was 
        intended to provide floppy I/O to all computers with old BIOS's, 
        unable to access newer disk formats (2880 KB disk). I added Single 
        Density compatibility, 40/80 track TI recognition, Geneve 1.44 
        MB "Deleted Data Mark" sector reading and writing, and Track ID
        recognition. 

        Among the other, I also would like to thank Massimo Cariboni, 
        Italy, for providing tons of old TI-99/4A floppy disks, that I 
        used  to carry out some useful tests.
  
        And, finally, my beloved wife Maria, for her patience and 
        understanding. Without her support, I couldn't have written this 
        program. 

        I hope I haven't forgotten anybody. In case I have, I deeply 
        apologize. 

                                      
##-01.01.00                
        ***                 PURPOSE AND FEATURES                 ***
                            ====================

        TI99_PC v. 2 will read, write, format, catalog, copy and convert 
        TI-99/4A floppy disks on a PC.  You will be able to transfer your 
        real TI floppy disks to the main TI emulators on a PC currently 
        available (PC99 and V9T9), which was possible with  v. 1 as well. 
        
        TI99_PC v.2 can do the opposite too, i.e. transferring your various 
        .dsk files (files for TI Emulators on a PC) back to a real TI floppy
        disk. 
        
        You will also be able to manage .ARK files (Barry Boone's Archiver 
        III files), TIFILES, Anadisk Dump files. Files can be extracted to 
        DOS and re-imported back. Image files can be split into smaller 
        disk  formats. You can also change them to larger disk formats, if 
        you wish. 
        
        Finally, starting from v.2.2.0, TI99_PC will extract, from an 
        Image File, all the files belonging to an ARK file. The extracted 
        files will be placed to a new DOS directory. The new DOS directory 
        will be named after ARK filename. 
        If several ARK files are contained in a single Image File, this 
        option will be very handy, because each ARK file will create its 
        new DOS directory, avoiding any possible confusion and/or 
        overwriting of files with the same name under different ARK files. 
        Use Menu 1.6, Option "X". 
        
        A multi-purpose floppy disk formatter is also included. 
        Finally, an external Command File Formatter will allow a set of 
        additional commands, suited to perform unusual tasks. 
        You can access the external Command File Formatter from main Menu
        by choosing option 3) Tools, and then: 
        1) Floppy Disk Formatter and other Floppy Utilities 
        and then: 
        3) External Command File Formatter. 
        
        
============================================================================
        
        
##-02.01.00 
               ***          SINGLE DENSITY: QUICK TEST         ***
                            ==========================
        The stock TI Disk Controller handles only Single Density. If you 
        have one of those Controllers on your TI, your PC must be able to 
        handle Single Density too for a successful floppy disk transfer 
        between TI and PC. 
        If your PC doesn't pass this test, then this software is not for 
        you. 
        
        Strictly speaking, you don't need this test if you have Double 
        Density FDC on your TI. 
        
        This test cannot be performed with Windows NT, 2000 or XP. If you 
        have any of the above Operating Systems please pass to section 
        06.01.02 "Buying a New PC" (point 2). No, I won't make you buy a 
        new PC :-)
        
        
        If you want to know right away if your PC qualifies, before even 
        installing, do the following: 
        
        1) Get yourself a 3.5" HD disk and cover the upper left hole with 
           some black electric tape. 
            
             Cover this hole-----+
                                 |
                                 v 
                              +----------------------+
                              | [X]              [ ] |
                              |                      |
                              |                      |
                              |                      |
                              |                      |  
                              |                      |
                              |   +-------------+    |                  
                              |   |  +-+        |    |
                              |   |  | |        |    |
                              |   |  | |        |    |    
                              |   |  +-+        |    |
                               \--+-------------+----+
        
            If you have a 3.5" DD disk that is even better and you won't 
            need to cover the left hole (because there isn't any there). 
            
         2) Extract from the TI99-PC.zip the following files: 
            - NIBBLER.IMG 
            - TI99_PC.COM 
            and place them in any PC hard disk directory of your choice. 
            
         3) Go to DOS, to the chosen directory, insert the above floppy in 
            the drive A: and type from DOS prompt: 
            
                TI99_PC.COM  /WRITE  NIBBLER.IMG  A:
                
         4)      The screen will show:  
                        TI99-PC: TI 99/4A - PC Disk Transfer - ver. 2.x.x
                        - Writing to floppy - Insert a TI disk - ESC or 
                          Press any key to continue.
                
                Press any key and your disk drive A: will start spinning. 
                 
         5)  After a while the following message will appear: 
                        Address mark not found
                        This type of error usually happens with Single 
                        Density...
                        
                 Don't pay attention to the message and press any key. 
         
         6) The screen will show:  
                  Diskname=GIOVANNI   - Disk type =SSSD - Total Sector = 360
         
                Press F6. A new screen will show: 
                                == TI STANDARD FORMATTER ==
                    Drive (A/B):   A             Diskname:        GIOVANNI
                        ....
                 Press F6 again and the disk formatting will start. You 
                 will be hearing the drive head making a noise when 
                 changing tracks.
                 
                 Now, if at the end of the formatting process (Track 39) 
                 the screen changes, you are automatically returned to the 
                 previous one and all the sectors get written to the 
                 floppy disk, THEN (WOW!) YOUR PC HANDLES SINGLE DENSITY. 
                 
                 If, on the other hand, you're stuck with the 
                        == TI STANDARD FORMATTER == screen and the 
                 following message appears at the bottom of the screen: 
                 
                        Write Sector Zero/One error. Disk is unusable. 
                        - Press any key to exit.
                        Current Track = 39 - Side = 0
                        
                 it means your PC DOES NOT handle Single Density.
                        
===========================================================================
        
        
        
        
        
           
##-02.02.00
                ***           HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY           ***
                              ======================
        
        
        1) What type of PC?
           ===============
           Unfortunately, not every existing PC is compatible with this 
           software. At the very least, you will need an AT class PC. An XT 
           class PC will not work, because the software uses some AT 
           reserved instructions. 
        
        2) Writing TI disks
           ================                      
           You will certainly be able to write TI disks that are suitable 
           for exchanging data between a PC and a TI with this program if:
           a) your TI99-4/A has a Double Density Floppy Disk Controller 
              (DD FDC)  such as Myarc, CorComp, BwG, Atronics.
           b) your FDC on the PC can write in Single Density.
           
           At least one of the above must be true.
           
        3) Reading TI disks
           ================
           You will certainly be able to Read your TI disks if: 
           a) They are Double Density. 
           b) They are Single Density *AND* your PC FDC supports reading in 
              Single Density. 
        
           At least one of the above must be true.
        
        4) Formatting TI disks
           ===================
           On your PC, you will certainly be able to Format TI disks that 
           will be usable by your TI if: 
           a) you can handle Double Density on your TI.
           b) your PC FDC supports Formatting in Single Density.
           
           At least one of the above must be true.
              
        5) If your PC hardware doesn't qualify, well, too bad, you're just 
           unlucky and this program is not for you.  
         
        6) FLOPPY DRIVE
           ============
           The floppy drive on your PC must match the Density you need on 
           your TI. When changing/installing a new floppy drive, please 
           remember to update your motherboard BIOS with the new drive 
           specifications, otherwise TI99-PC won't work properly. 
           
           7.1) 5.25" drives
                ============
                    5.25" floppy drives were standard on a TI. TI used 90 
                    KB Single Side Single Density for its floppies. Later, 
                    40 track 360 KB Double Side Double Density came around,
                    to be used with Myarc, CorComp, BwG, Atronics FDC. 
                    Finally, Myarc FDC with an 80 track Eprom was able to 
                    use 80 track 720 KB drives too. 
           
                40/80 tracks
                ============
                    I've used 80 track 1.2 MB 5.25" AT class floppy drives 
                    extensively with my PC with no problem. Disks formatted 
                    with these drives were read easily on the TI, by 40 and 
                    80 track drives. This type of drive is easy to find and 
                    costs almost nothing. 
                
                However, many have reported problems with 80 track 1.2 MB 
                5.25" AT drives for disks to be used with a 40 track drive 
                on the TI. 
                A simple cure for the problem has been suggested. First 
                format the disk as an 80 track disk, and then format it 
                again as a 40 track disk. 
                
                Bulk Eraser
                ===========
                A more powerful solution is to use a Bulk Eraser. This type 
                will wipe out all the magnetic info on the disk. Definitely 
                recommended for floppies that are hard to reformat. 
           
                If even that doesn't work, you'll have to get yourself a 40 
                track 360 KB 5.25" drive for the PC too. 
                
                    Single/Double Step
                    ==================     
                80 Track drives on a PC must Double Step when formatting a 
                disk to be used on a 40 track drive on the TI. In all other 
                cases, Single Stepping will be OK. 
                
           
             7.2) 3.5" drives
                  ============
                    Any 3.5" floppy drives can be used on a TI, whether it 
                    is an 80 track 720 KB Double Density (DD) or an 80 
                    track 1.44 MB High Density (HD). The latter is still 
                    standard in (almost) any new PC and is what I currently 
                    use.
                                    
                    Unless you have a Myarc HFDC, a 1.44 MB 3.5" drive can 
                    be used at most in Double Density, so you'll have to 
                    cover the left hole of your HD disk for it to work as a 
                    Double Density disk. 
                    
                    If you have 720 KB 3.5" floppies, well, there is no 
                    need to cover the left hole: there isn't one there. 
                    
                    Single/Double Step
                    ==================
                    If you have the original TI FDC on the TI, you'll have 
                    to Single Step with your PC. The maximum size the TI 
                    disk controller can handle is 40 tracks, Double Side, 
                    Single Density = 180 KB.
        
              
        8) Single Density on a PC
           ======================
           I) In the past, PCs used to have a separate Disk controller. 
              Nowadays, the Floppy/Hard disk controller is embedded in the 
              motherboard, usually in the South Bridge chipset.
        
              It seems that all the PC motherboards that have the South 
              Bridge chip based on the VIA VT82C686A are compatible in 
              Single, Double or High Density. This ASIC was very, very 
              common in 2001, and fitted all the PCs that I had a chance to 
              test back then. 
               
            II) Some PC motherboards do not work in Single Density.
        
                I don't have a full list of all the incompatible 
                motherboards. You'll have to try out this software on 
                your PC if you want to know whether it is compatible with 
                your machine. 
                
                It is very unlikely that older motherboards will support 
                Single Density. Please read section 07.02.01 for more about
                it. Recent motherboards are usually compatible with all the 
                possible densities (Single, Double or High), but not always:
                For instance, the following motherboards are not compatible:
                
                - Biostar M7V, for AMD Duron and Athlon (266 Front Side 
                    Bus for 266 Mhz DDR Ram). South Bridge: VT82C686B, 
                    Device 0686, Revision 40, SubSystem 00001106. This is 
                    strange: VT82C686A is Single Density compatible. Is  
                    really the B version incompatible?

           
            III) The following is a short list of the FULLY COMPATIBLE 
                 recently made motherboards I have tested. The software 
                 will read, write, format in all the possible densities: 
                 Single/Double/High.
                  
                  - Asus A7V266 for AMD Athlon Duron processors and 266 Mhz 
                    DDR memory. It has an AMD-761 chipset and the VT82C686B
                    Southbridge (Rev. 40).
                  - Asus CUV4X 133 MHz (for Pentium III processors) 
                    Chipset: Via Apollo 133A. South Bridge: VIA VT82C686A
                  - Asus A7VI-VM (tested with a AMD Athlon 
                    Duron/Thunderbird processors, up to 1.2 GHz)
                    Chipset: Via Apollo KT 133A. South Bridge: VIA VT82C686B
                  - Asus A7PRO Chipset: Via Apollo KT 133A. 
                    South Bridge: VIA VT82C686A
                  - Lucky Star K7 VAT, for AMD Athlon Duron processor.
                    Chipset: VT8363. South Bridge: VIA VT82C686A.
                  - Aopen AX34 (tested with a Pentium III 800 Mhz)
                    Chipset: Via Apollo Pro 133A. 
                    ASIC: VIA VT82C694X /South Bridge: VIA VT82C686A
                  - Microstar K7TPRO2-6330 Lite (tested with an AMD Athlon 
                    Thunderbird 1.1 GHz processor)
                    Chipset VIA KT133A, South Bridge: VIA VT82C686A
                  - DFI CA33  (tested with a Pentium III 800 MHz)
                    Chipset VIA 82C693A, South Bridge: VIA VT82C686A
                  - GigaByte GA 7DX, South Bridge: VIA VT82C686B. Tested 
                    with an Athlon 1200 MHz, 266 Front Side Bus for 266 Mhz 
                    DDR Ram)
                  - Asus A7A266, for AMD Duron and Athlon (266 Front Side 
                    Bus for 266 Mhz DDR Ram). South Bridge: ALiM1533, Device
                    1533, Revision 00, SubSystem 153310B9. Tested with a 
                    Duron 1600 MHz. 
                    
                  - Less recent motherboards equipped with the National
                    Semiconductor PC87309 or PC97317 Super I/O chip 
                    (February - April 1998). An example of that is the 
                    Compaq Deskpro EP K500 10 (mounts a PC87309).
                    
                   
        
             IV)  The following is a short list of the PARTIALLY COMPATIBLE 
                  motherboards: they READ and WRITE, but do not FORMAT in 
                  Single Density.
                  They will Read/Write/Format in Double/High Density. They 
                  will also Read/Write in Single Density but not Format:
                  -Asus P2B/I400  66 MHz (tested with a Pentium II)
                   Chipset - North Bridge: Intel 440 BX
                           - South Bridge Intel 82371AB/MB (PIIX4) 
                           
             IV-B) The following is a short list of the PARTIALLY 
                  COMPATIBLE motherboards: they READ, but do not WRITE or 
                  FORMAT in Single Density.
                  
                  As usual, they will Read/Write/Format in Double/High 
                  Density.
                  
                  - SiS 735 based Motherboard with Athlon XP 2200+
                  - SiS based motherboard with older socket 7 TX-II chipset 
                    (Pentium MMX 200) 

              V)  I have not found any recent PC that does not handle all 
                  the possible densities: Single/Double or High. 
           
              VI) An easy check to determine if a PC can use Single Density
              if to perform the test reported at 02.01.00 - Single Density: 
              Quick Test, see above. 
              
              VII) If you want to quickly find out what kind of South 
              Bridge your PC is using, try the following Windows program: 
              WCPUID, by H. Oda. http://www.h-oda.com/ 
              
              Version 3.0c, the one I tried, is labelled as "Free Software" 
              by its author. 
              
              You don't have to install it and no DLL will be copied to 
              your vital Windows directories. It is enough you unwrap the 
              zip file on an empty directory. 
              
              Select the "View" option and then "Chipset Info" and, voila, 
              the South Bridge chip name is right on your screen. 
              Vendor Code, Device, Revision and Subsystem number are also 
              displayed. 
              
                              *******************
           
                       PLEASE REPORT ANY TYPE OF HARDWARE 
                       COMPATIBILITY/UNCOMPATIBILITY YOU 
                       COME ACROSS TO:       
        
                        paolo.bagnaresi@fastwebnet.it
        
              YOUR REPORT WILL BE ADDED TO THE ABOVE LIST, SO AS TO BE OF 
              SOME HELP TO FUTURE USERS OF THIS PROGRAM. THANKS!!!
        
              Please use WCPUID (which stands for What CPU IDentity) to 
              clearly identify the make of the South Bridge of your 
              motherboard. Use the View, Chipset Info option from main menu.
              
              As of the time of this writing (2002), this program can be 
              freely downloaded from:
              
              http://www.h-oda.com
              
              Please return the following form:
                           
              - Mother Board Make and Model: .................
              - Year of Production:          .................
              - Processor Name and Speed:    .................
              - North Bridge                 .................
              - South Bridge Name and Rev.   .................
              - Single Density Read          .................
	      - Single Density Write         .................
              - Single Density Format        .................

              For example: 
              
              - Mother Board Make and Model: Asus A7V266
              - Year of Production:          2001
              - Processor Name and Speed:    AMD Athlon, 1400 MHz
              - North Bridge                 AMD-761 
              - South Bridge Name and Rev.   VT82C686B  Rev. 40 
              - Single Density Read          Yes
	      - Single Density Write         Yes
              - Single Density Format        Yes
     
              
              The South Bridge chipset is the most important thing as far 
              as Single Density is concerned. I am particularly interested
              in the name of the *NEW* South Bridges. If you don't have the
              time to entirely fill in the form, please report, at the very 
              least, the name of the new South Bridge that can 
              read/write/format in Single Density.
              
              
        
        
============================================================================



   
##-03.01.00  
        ***     SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY WITH MS OPERATING SYSTEMS         ***
                ================================================
        1) This software is compatible with: 
           - any MS DOS from 3.11 up to 6.22. It should be also compatible 
             with DR DOS, although I've never tried on it. 
             
           - Windows 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, ME. 
           
        2) It will NOT be directly compatible with Windows NT, 2000 or XP.
        
           It will be ABSOLUTELY incompatible with Windows NT, 2000 or XP
           with the NT File System (NTFS) .
           
           However, provided you have a FAT 32 with NT, 2000 or XP (NOT an 
           NTFS FAT) you can boot from floppy with a DOS version that 
           handles your PC FAT file system. Then this program will work.
           
           I guess the reason why TI99-PC does not work with Windows NT, 
           2000 or XP is because these OS's do not allow a program to 
           directly access the FDC I/O ports, or if they do, they do not 
           allow a correct I/O timing. But, honestly, I do not know for 
           sure. 
           
           More details on this subject can be found at section  05.01.00 
           Known Bugs, point 5. 


           
============================================================================





##-04.01.00 
        ***             INSTALLATION AND EXECUTION              ***
                        ==========================
                                  
        1) Floppy Disk Drives connected to the PC must be correctly 
           declared on the PC BIOS before you can use them with this 
           program. 
           
        2) Copy all the files in just one hard disk directory of your 
           choice (what about C:\TI99-PC ?).
        
        
        3) Make sure you have on your PC two additional directories, beside 
           the one you choose to store the TI99-PC files, namely: 
                        C:\TEMP\
                        C:\EXTRACT\
           
           If you want to use different directories or different hard drive 
           letters, please edit the DEFAULT.DAT file with a plain text 
           editor. You'll find DEFAULT.DAT among the TI99-PC files. Please 
           use 8.3 format Directory names. 
        
        4) Go to the TI99-PC directory and launch TI99-PC.BAT. 
               
        5) If anything goes wrong, pressing the ESC key will stop execution 
           or entirely halt the process. Sometimes, especially during a 
           difficult drive access, you will have to wait for a while (a 
           minute or so) before control is returned to you.
        
    
============================================================================
    
    
##-05.01.00   
           ***                  KNOWN BUGS              ***
                                ==========
                          
        1) Single Density
           ==============
           Reading, Writing or Formatting in Single Density (FM, 125 kbps) 
           will work only if your Floppy Disk Controller (FDC) supports it. 
           Some FDCs can read, but not write or, worse, format in Single 
           Density. 
           Others can read and write, but not format in Single Density.
           Usually, Double and High Density work.   
           Also bear in mind that, alas, same PCs are totally incompatible 
           with this software. 
           Please see the above sections 02.02.00 HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY 
           and 03.01.00 SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY for more info on this 
           matter.           


        2) 5.25" High Density Disks
           ========================
           Formatting High Density (HD) 5.25" PC disks in lower density 
           usually doesn't work. Apparently, a 1.2 Meg AT disk can be 
           successfully formatted as a DSDD disk. However, the 
           resulting disk will not be readable or writable.
           Some users have reported success with this type of disk, 
           but I have never managed to get a good Single or Double Density 
           disk out of one. I think it may depend on both the coating type 
           and the disk drive type you are using. 
           Please use the media type best suited to the recording method 
           you are going to select. 
           
           Please note that a 3.5" High Density Disk (HD) will work 
           perfectly as a Double or Single Density Disk provided you cover 
           the left hole (the one which IS NOT USED to write-protect the 
           disk) with some black electric tape.
           
           
           
        3) Sector/Track
           ============
           While you can choose a number for sector/track different to the 
           TI Standards, the following are the values you should select for 
           a disk to be used on a TI-99/4A computer:
           SSSD or DSSD disk: 9 sectors 
           SSDD or DSDD disk: 18 sectors 
           SSQD or DSQD disk: 18 sectors 
           SSHD or DSHD disk: 36 sectors 
                  
           Using higher values will make your disk unusable, because the 
           sectors cannot physically fit into the track (there will be too 
           many).
           The software can use any sector/track number and will create a 
           sector zero according to your values. However, lower values will 
           make your disk non standard, which means it will not be accepted 
           by a TI computer. 
           The sole exception to this rule are the DSDD disks formatted at 
           15 sector/track, according to an old Myarc format. They will be 
           read by the Myarc Floppy Disk Controller.
           
           
        4) Transfer/Rate
           =============
           It is possible to format a disk with a non standard Transfer Rate
           (i.e. 300 kbps on a 3.5" disk rotating at 300 rpm).
           
           It also possible to format tracks 0-39 of a SSSD 5.25" disk on an
           80 track drive, and leave tracks 40-79 unmodified.
              
           TI99_PC will not complain: it will read and write these non 
           standard disks as requested. 
           
           However, the disk will not be read by a TI. When formatting a TI 
           disk it extremely easy to make this sort of mistake. It happened 
           to me as well, and I discovered my mistake only when the disk 
           was fed to a good old TI. 
        
        5) Windows NT, 2000, XP
           ====================
           All the low level I/O routines of TI99-PC (the core of the 
           program) will not work with Windows NT, 2000, XP. Worse, if the 
           files system you adopted is NTFS you will also have file 
           compatibility problems. In a word, a mess. 
           Solution to this situation:
           
           A) FAT 32
              ======
              You have FAT 32 on your system. Possible solutions: 
              
              I)   Add a small Win 9x/Me partition and work from there.
                   This is the best solution. 
              
              II)  Add a DOS 6.22 partition and store inside all the TI99-PC
                   files and the .dsk files you will need. You won't see the
                   FAT 32 partition from there. 
              
              III) Get yourself a Windows 98/Me rescue disk. 
                   Make sure AUTOEXEC.BAT has a line that reads as follows:
              
                   SET COMSPEC=%RAMD%:\COMMAND.COM
                  
                   This will place COMMAND.COM in a drive other than  
                   Drive A:, and will keep you out of trouble. 
                   Now boot from your rescue disk and run TI99-PC.BAT from 
                   there.  
        
           B) NTFS
              ====
              You have NTFS on your system. Possible solutions: 
              I)   Add a Win 9x/Me partition and work from there. 
                   This is the best solution.
                    
                   The partition has to be large enough to contain all the 
                   .dsk files you'll be working on at any time. 
                    
                   Remember, you won't have any access to the .dsk stored 
                   in the NTFS partition while you are in the FAT 32 
                   partition.  So, reserve enough disk space while creating 
                   this partition. 
                    
              II)  Same as point II) above.
              
              III) Same as point III) above, except the following: 
                   You will have to work exclusively from the RAM-DISK that
                   the rescue disk creates at booting time. All the possible
                   files you will need will have to be transferred from 
                   floppy to Ram-Disk first, and then used. If you have to 
                   transfer lots of .dsk files you may even want to create 
                   a CD ROM and read files from there. 
                   
                   This solution is really poor. Use it only if everything 
                   else is really impossible.
                       
        6) Anadisk
           =======
           Anadisk is a PC program developed by Sybex to read/write/format 
           any floppy on a PC. 
           You cannot execute Anadisk and the low level I/O routines of 
           TI99_PC ver. 2 concurrently, whether you are in a DOS session of 
           Windows ME or of any other previous version of Windows. You have 
           to close the opened session before opening another one with 
           either program. If you nonetheless try, the execution of the 
           second program will be stopped, its DOS session closed and you 
           will be returned to Windows. No error message will be reported 
           by Windows.
           
            
        7) TI99_PC.COM hogs the FDC
           ========================
           If you open a DOS session from Windows, execute TI99_PC.COM ver. 
           2, and then exit the program but leave the DOS session opened, 
           you cannot launch TI99_PC.COM ver. 2 from another DOS session, 
           even if the previous TI99_PC.COM ver. 2 has already been exited. 
           Windows does not let you access the NEC 765 registers (03F2h, 
           03F4h,...).
           As in point 6, if you nonetheless try, the execution of the 
           second program is stopped, its DOS session closed and you will 
           be returned to Windows. No error message will be reported by 
           Windows. 
        
        8) Invalid Paths
           =============
           Paths are quite often left unchecked. If the directory or the 
           file pointed by them does not exist, most TI99-PC programs will 
           crash. This is why you should always use the built-in DOS 
           directory navigator when selecting a directory or a filename.
        
        9) DOS Directory Navigator fails
           ============================= 
           If Path Names are too long, the built-in DOS directory navigator
           will crash. Path Names should not exceed 70 characters in length,
           including the filename. Thus, please use short path/filenames. 
	        
       10) DOS Directory Navigator ignores Long Filenames 
           ==============================================
           When you select a Long Filename file, the DOS Directory Navigator
           always choose the short (8.3) version of it. But when it comes 
           to choosing directories, it always picks up the Long version of 
           it. 
 
       11) Old disks won't format
           ======================
           Sometimes old disks that have been formatted with TI99-PC may 
           not work on a TI computer. If that happens, try bulk-erasing 
           them first.
           
       12) New disks won't format
           ======================   
           Sometimes, a new 3.5" disk, pre-formatted to DOS 1.44 MB HD 
           format, with the left hand side hole covered so as to format it 
           to a lower Density by TI99-PC will not be possible to format at
           first attempt. If that happens, try bulk-erasing it first, or
           repeat the formatting a second time.


       13) Old disks won't read
           ====================
           This may be caused by a bad match between your old TI disk and 
           the disk drive you are using. 
           
           Dave  <dginskey@stratitec.com> suggested the following, while 
           you are trying to read an old TI disk: 
           'If you get "CRC> error" or "Sector Not Found error" then get 
           and try as many different floppy drives as you can find, as 
           different drives work differently with old disks and if you keep 
           trying, you may find one that'll work.'
           
           	           
       14) Long Filenames won't work
           =========================
           Paths or filenames exceeding the old DOS format of 8.3 characters
           (filename.extension) or embedding blanks may not work reliably 
           with the current version of TI99-PC. Please let me know if you 
           find problems with this feature (see section 00.00.00 for my 
           e-mail address).
           
       15) Overriding Warnings
           ===================
           Whenever there is a warning that a file doesn't seem to be what 
           it should to be, the user is given a chance to continue anyway. 
           If you do go on, you're proceeding at your own risk, i.e. no 
           provision is made to avoid a possible program crash. 
                     
       16) ARK file are poorly managed
           ===========================
           This is surely true. It takes a lot of steps, between option
           1-6 and 2-6, usually back and forth. If you find an ARK file as 
           a single DOS file, you will have to import it with 2-6 (use the 
           "K" code, so that you'll de-ark it at the same time. Then you 
           will export the single files to DOS with the 1-6 option. 
           
           If the ARK file is inside a PC99 .dsk file it's even worse. 
           First you'll have to convert that file to TI99-PC IMG format 
           (opt 2-3), then extract that file to DOS (opt. 1-6) and then 
           continue as you would with the above point. 
           
           I'll add new options to handle ARK files more easily in a future 
           upgrade of TI99-PC. Please be patient. 
       
       
==========================================================================
       
        
##-06.01.00 
        ***                     BUYING A NEW PC                 ***
                                ===============
                                        
        1) If you decide to buy a new PC, you may want to make sure the new 
           PC can handle Single Density as well. 
        
           Even if you have a Double Density Disk Controller on your TI, it 
           is still nice to be able to create all types of disk a TI can 
           handle. 
        
           Suppose you spot a nice computer in a shop: it's got a good 
           price, lots of processing power, memory, etc.. In a phrase: 
           everything you ever needed. 
        
           But you still have a big question unanswered: will it do Single 
           Density too? 
        
           Will you be able to create TI Single Density floppies with it? 
           Floppies that will be used on your beloved TI, that only has a 
           Single Density TI disk controller? 
        
           Can you check it right away, on the spot, without installing 
           anything on the hard disk?
        
           Yes, you can. 
        
           Of course you will have to ask the shop assistant first, to let 
           you boot from a floppy you brought along with you. Now, honestly,
           this is something that not all the shops will let you do. Maybe,
           if you offer to scan your floppy with an anti-virus first...
        
           But let's suppose you'll be able to convince the shop assistant 
           you are a good guy...

        
        2) OK, this is how you prepare your floppy. 
           It is assumed that the PC is equipped with MS Windows XP, the OS 
           almost all PCs are now shipped with (February 2002). 
           Anyway, it would be the same if it had Windows 2000 or NT. 
           The NT File System makes things even worse.
        
           Make yourself a Startup Disk from Windows 98/Me. 
           Open the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the just created Startup disk with 
           a plain text editor (Windows Notepad will do fine). 
           At the end of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file copy and paste the following 
           lines (it should be below the :QUICK label):
        
                copy TI99_PC.COM %RAMD%:\ > NUL
                copy NIBBLER.IMG %RAMD%:\ > NUL
                copy TIPC.BAT %RAMD%:\ > NUL
                %RAMD%:
                path=%RAMD%:\
                echo.                          
                echo At prompt, type "TIPC" and the Single Density 
                echo test will start.
        
           Now, from your TI99-PC files, copy the following files to the 
           startup diskette: 
                
                TI99_PC.COM
                NIBBLER.IMG 
                TIPC.BAT 

           Get yourself another 3.5" floppy and cover the upper left hole 
           with some black electric tape. This will become your TI disk.
        
           You're all set now! 
           Boot the new computer from the rescue disk, selecting the 
           "Boot without CDROM Support" option. At DOS prompt, launch 
           TIPC.BAT and then proceed as you would with 
                        02.01.00  Single Density: Quick Test
           (see above).         
 
##-07.01.00
        *****           OTHER TECHNICAL INFO            *****
                        ====================
                        
        The next sections will explain the interaction between TI99-PC and 
        the PC hardware and the Single Density issue of the PC Floppy Disk 
        Controller (FDC).



##-07.01.01
                *****   TECHNICAL DETAILS OF TI99-PC     *****
                        ============================

        This program bypasses all the DOS and even BIOS calls any time an
        access to a floppy disk sector is needed. PC DOS and the BIOS were 
        not meant to use single density disks so they are useless for that 
        purpose. 
        
        TI99-PC communicates directly with the disk controller. The program 
        was written to use the command language of the NEC 765 floppy disk 
        controller which is the FDC chip used on the original PC and PC/AT 
        disk controller cards. 
        
        All IBM compatible disk controllers are compatible with the 765. 
        Not all disk controllers are able to read disks written in single 
        density though. Single Density was used for all 90 KB and most 180 
        KB TI-99 disks. 
        
        Original TI-99 program disks from Texas Instruments are always 
        single sided single density, with 90 KB capacity. The original IBM 
        PC, PC/XT and PC/AT disk controllers don't work in single density 
        but disk controllers for 386 and newer systems often do work. 
        
        Frequently, a disk controller can read a single density disk in a 
        360 KB disk drive but not in a 1.2 MB disk drive. This seems to be 
        the case for PC compatible disk controller chips from Western 
        Digital and SMC. 
        
        If your disk controller and disk drive combination cannot read 
        single density, you will still be able to copy the data from all 
        the TI-99/4A MFM disks (disks written in Modified Frequency 
        Modulation, i.e. all double density disks including DSDD, SSDD, 
        and DSQD) but none of the FM disks (single density disks: SSSD 
        and DSSD), which were the usual TI-99/4A disks. 
        
        On the TI-99/4A, the original TI disk controller card could use 
        single density only. Later disk controllers by CorComp and Myarc 
        could use either single or double density. Since most TI-99 users 
        could not use double density disks, software for the TI-99 was 
        normally distributed on single density disks.
                
##-07.02.01              
            *****  COMPATIBILITY WITH OLD FDCs IN SINGLE DENSITY *****
                   =============================================
   
        The following information is taken from an e-mail message written 
        by Dan Olson, to <ti99-4a@egroups.com>. 
        This was a reply to a message from Andy Becker <ab31@juno.com>.
        
        Date: May 10, 2000
        Subject: Re: [ti-99/4a] TI disk in a PC
        
        Okay, I took the following from
        http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/personal/mann/trs80faq.html 
        It's in reference to the TRS-80, but the problem is exactly the 
        same there as they used the WD-1771 controller in them as well. 
        Hopefully this will be useful for people looking for SD pc 
        controllers: 

        Dan


        Some folks will tell you that you need an older PC to get single 
        density support. This is wrong. 
        
        Many PCs being produced today support single density, and many 
        older ones do not. 
        
        The most practical answer to this question is simply "try it and 
        see" -- it's more accurate and usually easier to try reading and 
        writing FM on your PC to see if it works, rather than opening up 
        the box and peering at the part number on the FDC or Super IO chip 
        (which might not give you a definite answer anyway). 
        
        If you want more detailed information, though, read on. 
        
        The answer to the question "does controller chip X support single 
        density (FM)?" can be "yes", "no", or "implementation dependent" 
        (that is, "maybe")
         
        With early controllers, the answer was "maybe", because more 
        external components were needed to handle data separation for both 
        FM and MFM than for MFM alone. As mentioned in topic [11], the 
        original IBM PC omitted the external components needed to support 
        FM, and many later compatibles followed suit. 
        
        Modern controllers typically integrate data separation on the main 
        chip, but some support FM and some do not. 
        
        It seems that in some cases, a PC may be able to read single 
        density but not write it, or it may be able to read and write but 
        not format; these behaviors may depend on external components, not 
        just the controller chip.
        
        The information below was gleaned from newsgroup and Classic 
        Computer mailing list postings by Amardeep S. Chana, Don Maslin, 
        Pete Cervasio, Allison Parent, and Tony Duell, together with some 
        knowledge of my own. 
        
        I've liberally borrowed from their words for this answer. Don't 
        take this listing as absolute truth; in particular, some of the 
        posters were not in full agreement on some points! Feel free to 
        send additions or corrections if you have some information. 
        
        Note: if you are going to use this information, do not rely on 
        software to identify your FDC chip. Open the box and look. Newer 
        "compatible" chips often look to software like older chips, but the 
        status of their FM support may be different. 


##-07.02.02
                ***     WILL NOT SUPPORT SINGLE DENSITY (FM) ***
                        ===================================
        Intel 82078 

        The Intel 82078 data sheet clearly states that the parts do not 
        support single density. 

##-07.02.03   - 
                ***     WILL SUPPORT SINGLE DENSITY (FM)        ***
                        ================================

        NS PC87306 Super I/O 
        SMC FDC37C65 
        SMC FDC37C78 
        Most SMC Super I/O chips (?) 
        Intel 82077AA 
        Intel 82077SL 
        NS 8477 
        Goldstar Super I/O 
         
        The above NS and SMC parts are completely standalone with on board 
        filters, write precomp generators, and data separators. They should 
        work with FM in any board implementation, unless something specific 
        is done to prevent it (not likely). 
         
        This is per the National and SMSC (new name for SMC semiconductor) 
        data sheets. 
         
        Amardeep tested the NS PC87306 and SMC FDC37C65 using Jeff 
        Vavasour's Model 4 emulator and Tim Mann's xtrs 2.8 under Linux.
         
        They both read and write FM with no problems. It is important to 
        verify the part number on the chip itself. 
         
        Many of the newer NS parts (see below) will identify themselves to 
        software as PC87306, but do not support single density. 
         
        The Intel 82077AA and 82077SL data sheet clearly states these parts 
        support FM. Again, verify the part number on the chip. 
         
        Newer Super I/O arts like Winbond W83877F or SMC FDC37C665IR may 
        identify themselves to software as 82077's but may have different 
        characteristics.  
         
        The NS 8477 data sheet indicates that it does support FM (it is 
        functionally and pin for pin compatible with the Intel 82077). 
         
        Amardeep says the Goldstar Super I/O was reported to work with FM 
        in a newsgroup posting he read once, but he was never able to 
        confirm it. 
         
##-07.02.04
                ***             UNCERTAIN CHIPS                 ***
                                ===============
        SMC FDC37C665IR 
        SMC FDC37C665GT/FDC37C666GT 
        NS PC87307/PC97307 Super I/O 
        NS PC87332 Super I/O 
        Winbond W83877F or other Winbond parts 
        
        Available information on these chips is contradictory. Perhaps some 
        individual chips of the same part number work with FM and some 
        don't, or perhaps some of these parts belong in the implementation 
        dependent category.
        
        Amardeep says that the NS PC87332 and NS PC97307 are standalone and 
        by design do not support FM; this was supposedly verified on the 
        National data sheets. 
        
        However, Tim has a machine that uses the NS PC97307, and FM works 
        just fine on it. Also, Tim can't find any statement in the data 
        sheets for either PC87307/PC97307 or PC87332 that FM is not 
        supported; the command bits to select FM operation are documented. 
        Note that some software may incorrectly identify these parts as 
        PC87306. 
        
        The FDC37C665GT and FDC37C665IR have very similar data sheets, and 
        neither mentions that FM is not supported. However, Pete has an 
        FDC37C665IR in one of his machines, and FM works on it; while Tim 
        has an SMC FDC37C665GT in one of his machines, and its FM support 
        does not work -- it can neither read FM nor format FM disks that 
        can be read by other systems. 
         
        Amardeep says that the Winbond chips have never worked in FM on any 
        adapter or motherboard he's ever encountered them on; no idea if 
        it's the chip or the implementation. Pete says that on his ASUS 
        board, the Winbond W83877F actually will read and write FM but will 
        not format FM. 
        

##-07.02.05
        ***             IMPLEMENTATION DEPENDENT CHIPS          ***
                        ==============================

        NS 8473 
        WD FDC37C65 
        NEC 765 
        Intel 8272 
        UMC 8398 
        Most other UMC parts 
        
        This category is meant for older chips that require external 
        components as part of the data separation logic (or that require 
        external components if FM is to be supported). Thus they may or may 
        not support FM depending on the implementation. It's possible that 
        some chips are in here that really belong in "uncertain" or one of 
        the other categories. 
        
        Don says: I have DTK FDC cards with the 8473 and read Osborne 1 
        disks with them just prior to writing this. Amardeep says: The 1988 
        data sheet for the NS 8473 states on page 8-32, "While the 
        controller and data separator support both FM and MFM encoding, the 
        filter switch circuitry only supports the IBM standard MFM data 
        rates. To provide both FM and MFM filters external logic may be 
        necessary." Every 8473 board I have tried failed to write FM. 
        However, it may be possible to read FM on some boards if the 
        external filters have a wide enough Q. 
        
        Don says: I have the WD 37C65 in the WD FOX card and it will also 
        read/write FM. 
        
        Amardeep says: The only information I have on the WD FDC37C65 is 
        the Always IN2000 card I have with that chip cannot read or write 
        FM. I suspect it is also dependent on implementation. 
        
        I believe the 765 was the chip in the original IBM PC, as discussed 
        above. Amardeep says: Intel 8272 is a NEC 765 clone and therefore 
        dependent on implementation. 
        
        Amardeep says that the UMC chips have never worked in FM on any 
        adapter or motherboard he's ever encountered them on; no idea if 
        it's the chip or the implementation. Allison, however, has used UMC 
        Super IO chips to do FM "with ease" using the internal data 
        separator. 
        
        Tony says: The data sheet claims the UMC 8398 will do FM or MFM. 
        In my experience it will correctly handle MFM disks (with both 
        standard and my own software). When you try FM, it almost works. 
        It just mangles the last byte in the sector. This is (apparently) 
        a known problem with this chip.
        
        Allison says: The last byte mashed in the UMC is also common to 
        most 765s and is related to DMA read/write timing such that if 
        you delay the DMA request by about 1-3uS (several FDD bit times) 
        in FM mode it should work fine. 
        
##-07.02.06
        ***                     UNKNOWN CHIPS                   ***
                                =============

        Motorola MCS3201FN 
        New Intel Super I/O 
        
        Don says: Another chip that you might want to evaluate is the 
        Motorola MCS3201FN. 
        While not terribly common, the two examples that I have been 
        exposed to suggest that it does not support FM. 
        
        Amardeep says: I haven't yet investigated the new Intel Super I/O 
        chip which is replacing the 82078.
         
##-07.02.07
        ***             SPECIAL-PURPOSE CARDS           ***
                        =====================
        I'm told that add-on floppy controller cards for the PC that are 
        specifically intended for disk duplication or for converting disks 
        from other kinds of machines often use Western Digital 17xx chips 
        or custom hardware that is more versatile than standard PC 
        controllers. I don't know specific model names or where to get 
        these cards. 
        
        I've heard people mention the MicroSolutions CompatiCard, but the 
        CP/M FAQ says that it is a discontinued product, so you'd have to 
        find a used one somewhere. I don't know what chip it uses. 
        
        The Catweasel controller, see:
                http://members.tripod.com/~apd2/catweasl.htm 
        uses custom hardware that can be programmed to handle just about 
        any format. However, I've had bad luck with the Catweasel. The one 
        I bought was dead on arrival. I sent it back to the manufacturer, 
        who repeatedly promised to fix or replace it, but never did so. I 
        never even got the broken card back; I was just out the purchase 
        price. 
        
##-07.03.01
        ****    THE UNREADABLE SECTOR PROBLEM ON SOME DISKS     ****
                ===========================================

        Some TI disks have been formatted in such a way that the first 
        sector on each track cannot be easily read in a PC. This can happen 
        to single density as well as double density disks. Usually the Disk 
        Manager 1000 formatter is the culprit, but most other formatters 
        that were not made or sold by TI may have the same drawback. Disks 
        formatted by Disk Manager 2 and Turbo Copy don't appear to have 
        this problem, at least when used with a TI disk controller. Note 
        that the problem shows up only on a PC and is due to the different 
        floppy disk controller circuit used on the PC.
        
        If you can read all the sectors of all tracks except the first one 
        of every track, chances are good that you have an "unreadable 
        sector" problem. The problem has been detected when using Western 
        Digital 37C65 family disk controller chips. Sometimes a different 
        type of disk controller may solve the problem. Some disk controller 
        chips made by Adaptec and SMC have been found to eliminate the 
        problem.
        
        On disks formatted by Disk Manager 2, the first sector of each 
        track is the physical sector zero of that track. However, this may 
        vary. On some disks, the first sector of each track changes each 
        time the track number increases. For example, on disks formatted 
        by Disk Manager 1000, the first sector numbers are 0 on track 0, 6 
        on track 1, and 3 on track 2. This pattern then repeats on the 
        following tracks. This is due to the skew placed on the disk at 
        formatting time. This is done to increase the speed of reading and 
        writing the disk. 
        
        Skew allows the first sector of a track to be in a position to be 
        read or written soon after the head is moved to the next track. A 
        short pause is needed after the head is moved to allow vibrations 
        to stop. After this pause, the next sector should be close to the 
        drive head.
        
##-07.03.02        
        ****    CONNECTING A SWITCH TO THE FLOPPY DRIVE CABLE   ****
                =============================================
                        *** DISCLAIMER ***
                            ==========
        Please don't modify your PC hardware unless you know what to do. 
        Any modification and soldering on to your computer must be 
        performed with the power supply cable taken off the AC power 
        outlet. I take no responsibility for any damage that could result 
        from the modifications that are suggested hereafter. 
        
        If you perform the following modification you must know how to 
        solder. You'll also need a simple two terminal switch and some 
        double wire cable.         
        
        Also, the modification described here has worked well on my 
        computer, but it is by no means guaranteed that it will work 
        equally well on your computer. Don't say you haven't been warned!!!
        
        =======================================================

        The solution to the "unreadable sector" problem is quite 
        straightforward.  
        
        1) Simply cut wire number 8 on the floppy drive cable near the disk 
           controller connector. You count starting from the first wire, 
           which is the only one that has a red stripe or dots. Wire number 
           1 is normally toward the right side at the disk drive (but not 
           on some Teac 1.2 MB drives) and away from the metal bracket on 
           the disk controller card. 
           
           Sometimes there will be pin or trace numbers printed at the disk 
           drive or disk controller connectors. 
           
           There are a total of 34 wires in the ribbon cable. Sometimes pin 
           1 on the disk controller has a square solder spot instead of  a 
           round one. Wire number 8 carries the index pulse signal (more on 
           this later). The cut should be between the disk controller and 
           the first disk drive connector so the modification will be 
           effective on both disk drives if you have two. You can separate 
           wire 8 from the cable with a razor, then cut it with a wire 
           cutter, scissors or razor. Remove some insulation from the two 
           ends.
        
        2) Now solder the two wires of your cable to the two cut ends of 
           wire number 8. Insulate the connections with some tape, heat 
           shrink tubing or glue. You can cut the wire to a convenient 
           length. Simply keep in mind that the other end of the cable has 
           to be within your reach. You can decide how long it must be. The 
           switch can be mounted at the front or back of the computer or it 
           can be left on your desk. 
        
        3) Finally solder the switch to the other end of the double wire. 
           Now you're done with the soldering! Insulate these connections 
           too to avoid accidentally sending a static shock into your 
           computer circuits. For extra protection against static, you can 
           also add a grounding wire from the  computer case to the case of 
           the switch if it is metal.
        
        4) Keep the switch in an ON position for all the normal operations, 
           even with TI disks, as long as you do not have any problem 
           reading them.
        
        5) If you feel you have an "unreadable sector" problem, remove the 
           hard to read disk. Insert a known good floppy disk in the floppy 
           disk drive door and let it be read by TI99-PC. This disk must 
           have the same density as the hard to read one. You don't need to 
           read all of the good disk. Just a few sectors is more than 
           enough (press ESC key to stop reading).
           
        6) Now, move the switch to the OFF position. Insert the hard to 
           read disk and start TI99-PC again. Now it should read without 
           any problem. If it doesn't work, well, maybe you have a bad disk.
           Or, ... I don't know! 
           You're on your own, now. 
           
        Credits: the above modification is a clever suggestion by Andy 
        Becker <ab31@juno.com>. 
        
##-07.03.03
        **** MORE TECHNICAL DETAILS ON UNREADABLE SECTOR PROBLEMS ****
        ========================================================
        During formatting time, the disk layout data is passed to the disk. 
        Each needed byte has to be supplied to the FDC. Data sectors are 
        just islands between other data: track #, side #, sector length, 
        sector #. Also, there are gaps. Quite a few gaps, usually filled 
        with zeros and >FF bytes. There are gaps to separate the ID fields 
        (track #, side #, etc.) from the sector data. Also, there are gaps 
        to fill the area from last sector of each track to the end of the 
        track. 
        
        All these gaps are there to provide some safety margin. They are 
        needed to allow some inevitable misplacement of the data during 
        writing and formatting. If there were no gaps, the data being 
        written to a sector could accidentally corrupt data in the 
        following sector. 
        
        The misplacement of the data can be generated by several factors. 
        The most important one is differences in the rotating speed between 
        the drive that formatted the disk and others that write data to it. 
        If the disk turns faster, a sector written on the disk becomes 
        larger.
        
        Among the gaps, there is a "post index" gap, or GAP1. This gap is 
        placed at the very beginning of each track. This gap is written to 
        the disk just after the FDC has received the index pulse from the 
        floppy disk drive when the disk is formatted. The index pulse is 
        generated once for each rotation of the disk. On a 5.25 inch drive 
        it happens when a small hole called the "index hole" is aligned 
        with a light detector in the disk drive. The first sector of each 
        track comes after GAP1.
        
        IF GAP1 WAS TOO SHORT AT FORMATTING TIME, THE PC WILL NOT READ THE 
        FIRST SECTOR OF THAT TRACK. 
        
        In my opinion, the PC FDC has a fixed delay after it has received 
        an index signal. It is unable to read the disk during that delay. 
        If GAP1 is too short, then when the FDC tries to read the first 
        sector of that track, the beginning of the first sector passes 
        under the drive head before the disk controller is ready.
        
        But, what happens if you deprive the FDC of the index pulse? Well, 
        something interesting for us, luckily. The FDC doesn't stop 
        working. It is able to read at any time, even when the first sector 
        of the track comes under the drive head. This is exactly what we 
        need. 
       
       
##-10.01.00 
        ***             HOW TO START TI99-PC                ***
                        ====================
        
        Launch TI99-PC.BAT from the directory where you have installed 
        TI99-PC. 
 
        If you are on Windows, you may want to create a short-cut to 
        TI99-PC.BAT and place it on the screen. 
 
        Once you are in, press any key to go past the intro screen, or 
        ESC if you want to abort the application. 
        
        If you wish, you can move the TI99-PC anywhere on your hard disk. 
        The only thing you will have to do is to update the short-cuts you 
        created to  TI99-PC.BAT.
 
##-10.02.00 
 	****   		MENU STRUCTURE OF TI99-PC 		****
 	============================================================
 	 
 	The following is the menu structure of TI99-PC. 
  	  
                           MAIN MENU
                          =========
             1) TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators
             2) Emulators or DOS to TI-99/4A disk
             3) Tools
             4) Help and Acknowledgements
             0) Exit 
           
                       1) TI-99/4A DISK TO DOS OR EMULATORS
                       ====================================
        
         1) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a PC file
         2) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a PC-99 virtual disk
         3) Transfer disk image file to a PC-99 virtual disk
         4) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a V9T9 virtual disk
         5) Transfer disk image file to a V9T9 virtual disk
         6) Extract (to DOS) single TI-Files from disk image file 
         7) Split a large disk image file into smaller disk image files    
         8) Utilities
         
                      2) EMULATORS OR DOS TO TI-99/4A DISK
                       ====================================
                       
         1) Transfer a TI99-PC DOS image file to a TI-99/4A floppy disk
         2) Transfer a PC-99 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A floppy disk
         3) Transfer a PC-99 virtual disk to a TI99-PC disk image file
         4) Transfer a V9T9 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A floppy disk
         5) Transfer a V9T9 virtual disk to a TI99-PC disk image file
         6) Import from DOS single Files to a TI99-PC disk image file
         7) Format a TI-99/4A floppy disk"
         8) Utilities 
         
                       3) TOOLS 
                       ========
         
         1) Floppy Disk Formatter and other Floppy Utilities
         2) Floppy Disk Catalog
                      
         
        
        
	 Please see section 39.01.01 on how to Navigate in DOS directories.

 
##-11.01.00 
        ***             READING TI DISKS                ***
                        =================
                        
##-11.01.01 
        *** CREATING IMAGE FILES FOR TI99-PC OR PC99, V9T9 EMULATORS   ***
            ======================================================== 
        
        From Main Menu, press 1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or emulators. 
        Now you have three options available from those listed:
        Opt. 1) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to TI99-PC disk image file
             2) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a PC-99 virtual disk
             4) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a V9T9 virtual disk
                
        Options 1, 2 and 4 will read a real TI disk and create an image
        file according to the chosen option type.

##+11.01.02        
        *** TRANSFER A TI-99/4A FLOPPY DISK TO TI99-PC DISK IMAGE FILE  ***
            ==========================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, and then: 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        1) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to TI99-PC disk image file
      
        The transfer will be performed by physically accessing a real 
        floppy disk, which may be a tricky activity on some computers. 
        If you're experiencing any problems, you should go to section 4) 
        Help and Acknowledgments, 
        1) Hardware Requirements. Read the help there provided.  

        The program is self explanatory. The Destination File should 
        usually have an .IMG termination. An IMG file is the native file 
        format used by TI99-PC. 
        It is basically a V9T9 file to which 768 extra bytes are appended 
        at the end of the file, to contain the possible errors which have 
        been found during the transferring process. Starting from TI99-PC
        version 3.0.0 (TI99_PC.COM Kernel 302), the 768 extra byte will 
        not be added if no reading error occurs. 
        
        In all the TI99-PC utilities a V9T9 file can be used in place of an 
        .IMG file. The only advantage of the TI99-PC .IMG format is that 
        you will be able to see if there have been original transfer errors 
        even after the real transfer, because the errors (if any) are 
        recorded inside the file itself.  Please see section 40.01.01 of 
        this manual for more about format differences of the various disk 
        image files available on a PC for the TI99/4A. 

        The Source Disk Drive (where you have to insert your precious TI 
        Disks) can be either Drive A: or B:. 

        The destination image file is set in the Destination Path and 
        Filename field.

        A linked Assembler program will take care of actually performing 
        the physical transfer. During the transfer no help online (this 
        help) will be available (F1 key will be ignored). 

        While transferring the disk content, you can abort the process at 
        any time by pressing ESC key. Also, pressing the Space Bar will 
        temporarily stop the disk transfer, that can be then resumed or 
        aborted altogether. 

        If the program finds it difficult to read your TI disk, the ESC or 
        Space Bar keys will apparently be "deaf", i.e. they will not 
        respond to your command right away. Simply wait until control is 
        returned to you, which can take some time if some sector is hard 
        to read.

        Notes
        =====
        While you are on the Source Disk Drive field you can get a Physical 
        Directory Listing of your TI Floppy Disk by pressing F6. 

        You will get a DOS Directory Listing of your Hard Disk if you press 
        the same key (F6) while you are on the Destination Path and 
        Filename field.

        While navigating through your Hard Disk directories you can use the 
        following keys: 
                - Enter = Select file/directory
                - F1  = This Help Screen 
                - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
                - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
                - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no 
                                 filename

        More help about the usage of the DOS Navigator can be found by 
        going to the 39.01.01 section of this Manual, "DOS DIRECTORY 
        NAVIGATOR AND FILE SELECTOR", toward the end of the main Help Menu.

        You can also manually change the default Destination Path and 
        Filename. 

        Be warned that some TI Floppy Disks formatted with the Ottawa UG 
        Disk Manager 1000 or similar cannot be easily read on a PC. Please 
        refer to The Zero Sector Problem On Some Disks section of the 
        Hardware Requirements Help that can be reached by 4.1 (or 2.9.1, 
        or 1.9.1) of the Main Program Menu: after the intro screen press 4 
        and then 1. 


##+11.01.03
        *** TRANSFER A TI-99/4A FLOPPY DISK TO A PC99 VIRTUAL DISK   ***
            ======================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, and then: 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        2) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a PC-99 virtual disk
        
        The transfer will be performed by physically accessing a real 
        floppy disk, which may be a tricky activity on some computers. 
        If you're experiencing any problems, you should go to section 
        4) Help and Acknowledgments, 
        1) Hardware Requirements and read the help there provided.  

        The program is self explanatory. The Destination File should 
        usually have an .DSK termination. A PC99 .DSK file is the file 
        format used by PC99. 
        It is very different from a V9T9 .DSK file or TI99-PC IMG file. 
        A PC99 .dsk file is much longer than a corresponding V9T9 .DSK 
        file, because it mimics the byte layout you would find in a real 
        disk (it will contain the sector ID, CRC, sector gaps and all the 
        like). PC99 .DSK files can be used only on PC99. However this 
        program has utilities to transfer PC99 .DSK files to a real floppy 
        (or to either V9T9 or TI99-PC).  

        The Source Disk Drive (where you have to insert your precious TI 
        Disks) can be either Drive A: or B:. 

        The destination image file is set in the Destination Path and 
        Filename field.

        A linked Assembler program will take care of actually performing 
        the physical transfer. During the transfer no help online (this 
        help) will be available (F1 key will be ignored). 

        While transferring the disk content, you can abort the process at 
        any time by pressing ESC key. Also, pressing the Space Bar will 
        temporarily stop the disk transfer, that can be then resumed or 
        aborted altogether. 

        If the program finds it difficult to read your TI disk, the ESC or 
        Space Bar keys will apparently be "deaf", i.e. they will not 
        respond to your command right away. Simply wait until control is 
        returned to you, which can take some time if some sector is hard to 
        read.

        Notes
        =====
        While you are on the Source Disk Drive field you can get a Physical 
        Directory Listing of your TI Floppy Disk by pressing F6. 

        You will get a DOS Directory Listing of your Hard Disk if you press 
        the same key (F6) while you are on the Destination Path and 
        Filename field.

        While navigating through your Hard Disk directories you can use the 
        following keys: 
                - Enter = Select file/directory
                - F1  = This Help Screen 
                - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
                - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
                - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no 
                                 filename

        More help about the usage of the DOS Navigator can be found by 
        going to the 39.01.01 section of this Manual, "DOS DIRECTORY 
        NAVIGATOR AND FILE SELECTOR", toward the end of the main Help 
        Menu. 

        You can also manually change the default Destination Path and 
        Filename. 

        Be warned that some TI Floppy Disks formatted with the Ottawa UG 
        Disk Manager 1000 or similar cannot be easily read on a PC. Please 
        refer to The Zero Sector Problem On Some Disks section of the 
        Hardware Requirements Help that can be reached by 4.1 (or 2.9.1, or 
        1.9.1) of the Main Program Menu: after the intro screen press 4 and 
        then 1. 




##+11.01.04
        ***** TRANSFER A TI-99/4A FLOPPY DISK TO V9T9 VIRTUAL DISK *****
              ====================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, and then: 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        4) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to a V9T9 virtual disk
        
        The transfer will be performed by physically accessing a real 
        floppy disk, which may be a tricky activity on some computers. If 
        you're experiencing any problems, you should go to section 
        4) Help and Acknowledgments, 
        1) Hardware Requirements and read the help there provided.  

        The program is self explanatory. The Destination File should 
        usually have an .DSK termination. A V9T9 image file is very 
        different from a PC99 .DSK file.

        A V9T9 .DSK is basically a file that contains all the sectors of a 
        real TI floppy, one after the other, starting from sector zero up 
        to the last sector, ordered in a straight sequence. No sector gap, 
        no sector ID or CRC is present. As an example, you will get the 
        Total Sectors in a V9T9 .DSK file by simply dividing the file 
        length (in bytes) by 256. 

        The Source Disk Drive (where you have to insert your precious TI 
        Disks) can be either Drive A: or B:. 

        The destination image file is set in the Destination Path and 
        Filename field.

        A linked Assembler program will take care of actually performing 
        the physical transfer. During the transfer no help on line (this 
        help) will be available (F1 key will be ignored). 

        While transferring the disk content, you can abort the process at 
        any time by pressing ESC key. Also, pressing the Space Bar will 
        temporarily stop the disk transfer, that can be then resumed or 
        aborted altogether. 

        If the program finds it difficult to read you TI disk, the ESC or 
        Space Bar keys will apparently be "deaf", i.e. they will not 
        respond to your command right away. Simply wait until control is 
        returned to you, which can take some time if some sector is hard 
        to read.

        Notes
        =====
        While you are on the Source Disk Drive field you can get a Physical 
        Directory Listing of your TI Floppy Disk by pressing F6. 

        You will get a DOS Directory Listing of your Hard Disk if you press 
        the same key (F6) while you are on the Destination Path and 
        Filename field.

        While navigating through your Hard Disk directories you can use the 
        following keys: 
                - Enter = Select file/directory
                - F1  = This Help Screen 
                - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
                - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
                - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no 
                                 filename

        More help about the usage of the DOS Navigator can be found by 
        going to the 39.01.01 section of this Manual, "DOS DIRECTORY 
        NAVIGATOR AND FILE SELECTOR", toward the end of the main Help Menu.

        You can also manually change the default Destination Path and 
        Filename. 

        Be warned that some TI Floppy Disks formatted with the Ottawa UG 
        Disk Manager 1000 or similar cannot be easily read on a PC. Please 
        refer to The Zero Sector Problem On Some Disks section of the 
        Hardware Requirements Help that can be reached by 4.1 (or 2.9.1, or 
        1.9.1) of the Main Program Menu: after the intro screen press 4 and 
        then 1. 


##-12.01.01 
        ***  READING TI FLOPPY DISK FROM TI99-PC OR PC99, V9T9 EMULATORS ***
             ============================================================
             
        From Main Menu, press 2) TO TI-99/4A disk from DOS or emulators. 
        Now you have three options available from those listed:
        Opt. 1) Transfer a TI99-PC DOS image file to a TI-99/4A floppy disk 
             2) Transfer a PC-99 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A  floppy disk 
             4) Transfer a V9T9 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A  floppy disk 
        Options 1, 2 and 4 will format and write a floppy, so as to create 
        a real TI Floppy Disk. 


##+12.01.02
        *** TRANSFER A TI99-PC DOS IMAGE FILE TO A TI-99/4A FLOPPY DISK ***
            ===========================================================
            
        Access to this option from Main Menu, and then: 
        2) TO TI-99/4A disk from Emulators or DOS
        1) Transfer a TI99-PC DOS image file to a TI-99/4A floppy disk
        
        A TI99-PC image file, obtained from reading a TI-99/4A disk 
        (Menu 1, Option 1), will be written to a floppy disk. 

        The floppy disk does not have to be previously formatted. The 
        software will detect and format the floppy disk, if needed. It will 
        also automatically adjust the Side/Density to the one of the source 
        image file. 

        Please remember that while all PCs handle Double Density, only a 
        few can read/write and, far worse, format in Single Density. If 
        your Floppy Disk Controller doesn't handle Single Density, this 
        software will fail. 

        In the first screen, you can select the TI99-PC image file and the 
        floppy drive letter. 

        By pressing F6 while the cursor is on the Source Path and Filename 
        field you will get to the PC directory, where you can navigate and 
        select the desired image file. 

        By pressing F6 while the cursor is on the TI-99/4A Destination Disk 
        Drive field you will get to the Disk Catalog of the TI-99/4A 
        Destination Disk Drive. 
        
        There you will be able to check the floppy disk content before 
        overwriting it.  

        By pressing Enter, you will get to the transfer program. First, you 
        will be shown the Catalog of the TI99-PC image file. By further 
        pressing Enter, you will proceed until all the transfer is 
        completed. 

                - ENTER key will start the extracting process.
                - F7 will display the sector content of the file the cursor 
                     is on. This is usual whenever a TI directory is 
                     displayed on the screen.
                 - ESC, as usual, will take you back to previous menu.

##+12.01.03
      *** TRANSFER A PC99 OR V9T9 VIRTUAL DISK TO A TI-99/4A FLOPPY DISK ***
          ==============================================================
          
        Access to this option from Main Menu, and then: 
        2) TO TI-99/4A disk from Emulators or DOS
        2) Transfer a PC-99 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A floppy disk   
                 or, depending on what you want,  
        4) Transfer a V9T9 virtual disk to a TI-99/4A floppy disk    
        
        A PC99 virtual image file, obtained from .dsk files of PC99 (Mike 
        Wright's CaDD Electronics) (Menu 1 [FROM], Option 2), will be 
        written to a floppy disk. 

        The floppy disk does not have to be previously formatted. The 
        software will detect and format the floppy disk, if needed. It will 
        also automatically adjust the Side/Density to the one of the source 
        image file. 

        Please remember that while all PCs handle Double Density, only a 
        few can read/write and, far worse, format in Single Density. If 
        your Floppy Disk Controller doesn't handle Single Density, this 
        software will fail. 

        In the first screen, you can select the source PC99 .dsk virtual 
        disk (image file) and the floppy drive letter. 

        By pressing F6 while the cursor is on the Source Path and Filename 
        field you will get to the PC directory, where you can navigate and 
        select the desired PC99 .dsk image file. 

        By pressing F6 while the cursor is on the TI-99/4A Destination Disk 
        Drive field you will get to the Disk Catalog of the TI-99/4A 
        Destination Disk Drive. So, you will be able to check the floppy 
        disk content before overwriting it.  

        By pressing Enter, you will get to the transfer program. First, you 
        will be shown the Catalog of the PC99 .dsk image file. By further 
        pressing Enter, the .dsk content will be extracted. You will 
        proceed by pressing Enter until all the transfer is completed. 

                - ENTER key will start the extracting process.
                - F7 will display the sector content of the file the cursor 
                     is on. This is usual whenever a TI directory is 
                     displayed on the screen.
                - ESC, as usual, will take you back to previous menu.


##-13.01.00
        ****            FORMATTING A TI DISK            ****    
                        ====================
           
        Access the TI formatter from Main Menu. Select  
        3) Tools, and then 
        1) Floppy Disk Formatter and other Floppy Utilities. 
           
        You do not need this option if you have to copy a file image to a 
        real TI floppy disk. The various options that take care of that 
        task in the "TO TI99-4/A" Menu provide an almost automated and very 
        handy TI floppy disk format, with all the most important options 
        already suitably selected.
        
        Please refer to options 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4 on the "TO TI 99-4/A DISK 
        MENU"

        However, you will need this option if you want to format a blank 
        disk for later use. You'll find more about it at the "13.01.02 
        Standard Floppy Disk Formatter in Details" section of this Help 
        system.
        
        Here you have to pay attention to the Density and Transfer Rate.
        The Density you choose has an effect on the FM/MFM Recording Method.
        You can have the following values: S, D or H. 
        S= TI-99/4A Single Density, which is FM  (SSSD or DSSD). 
        D=          Double Density, which is MFM (SSDD, DSDD, SSQD or DSQD).
        H=          Double Density, which is MFM (SSHD or DSHD).
    
       
        Please note that there is no difference between D and H, both use 
        the same recording method. If you select H you'll also have to 
        select 500 kbps as Transfer Rate, which is what *will* make the 
        difference. 
    
        Transfer Rate on AT 5.25" 1.2M drives spinning at 360 rpm must be 
        set to 300 kbps. 
        Transfer Rate on 5.25" or 3.5" drives spinning at 300 rpm must be 
        set to 250 kbps (I never had the chance to try this out, but it 
        should work like that).
       
        Please note that some AT 5.25" drives (i.e. TEAC FD-55GV, "Double 
        Speed" drives) can be forced to spin at 300 rpm in Double Density 
        (Low Density).
        In such cases, the correct Transfer Rate to be used is 250 kbps. 
        As far as I know, all 3.5" drives always spin at 300 rpm. Thus, the 
        correct Transfer Rate for those drives is always:
        - 250 kbps in Single or Double Density (Low Density), that is, 
          in FM or MFM. 
        - 500 kbps in High Density.
    
       
        Suppose you have an AT drive spinning at 360 rpm. You select a 
        Transfer Rate of 300 kbps. Now, if you also select a Density=S, 
        you'll get an FM (Single Density) disk, which will result as 125 
        kbps on a drive spinning at 300 rpm. 
    
        If you select a Density=D, you'll get an MFM disk (Double Density) 
        disk, which will result as 250 kbps on a drive spinning at 300 rpm. 

        Recently, it has been agreed upon on the "On Line User Group" [OLUG,
        http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ti99-4a] that a TI 40 track 3.5" disk 
        should be formatted on the first 40 tracks only (Double Step=N).
        This will make these disks compatible with a stock TI Floppy Disk 
        Controller, that cannot handle 80 tracks.
    
##-13.01.01
        ***         WARNING : RESOURCES MAY NOT BE ENOUGH          ***    
                    =====================================

        WHILE IN MS WINDOWS, BE CAREFUL NOT TO USE OTHER PROGRAMS WHEN YOU 
        ARE ACCESSING A FLOPPY DISK AT LOW LEVEL, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE 
        RESOURCES INTENSIVE. 

        It is important to realize that the Low Level I/O code hogs the 
        system and may leave not enough time for other critical 
        applications. For instance, I would not try to burn a CD while 
        formatting a TI floppy with TI99-PC :-)

        Low level I/O routines are those used by the Formatter, the TI Disk 
        Catalog, and Copying or Reading Image Files from a real TI floppy. 

        Also, while TI99-PC is engaged in Low level I/O, the FDC (Floppy 
        Disk Controller) is engaged too. You cannot access any type of 
        floppy disk during this time. Your FDC is engaged by TI99-PC only 
        if the red LED on your floppy drive is on. 

        However, some other programs can engage your FDC even if the drive 
        is not in use (Anadisk, for instance). So, while TI99-PC can stay 
        in stand-by, other programs can't. They must be terminated before 
        TI99-PC can actually access the FDC and perform some useful Low 
        Level I/O. 



##-13.01.02  
        *****   1)  STANDARD TI FLOPPY DISK FORMATTER    *****
                    =================================

        This option will create a perfectly working TI disk on your PC. As 
        said before, a Single Density floppy disk can be created only if 
        your PC Floppy Disk Controller supports Single Density, which is 
        not true on all PCs.

        The parameters below have to be set for the formatter to work 
        according to your needs. 

        Drive (A/B)       B      - The Drive you will be using
        Density /S/D/H):  D      - S.ingle D.ouble H.igh
        Sides(1/2):       2      - 1= SS (Single Side), 2= DS (Double Side)
        Tracks(40/80):    40     - 40. You must have an 80 track drive to 
                                   format with 80 tracks
        Double Step(Y/N): Y      - See below at note b) 
        Transfer Rate:    300    - See below at note a)
        (kbps:250,300,500)
        Diskname:       : TI99PCDISK - Any 10 character UPPER CASE name you 
                                       like
        Sect/Track(9,18,36): 9   - 9=Single Dens., 18=Double Dens., 36=High 
                                   Dens.
        Del.Data Mark (Y/N): N   - See below at note c) 
        Interleave(1-8)    : 4:1 - Avoid 1:1. Use from 2 up. 4 is good for 
                                   any drive
        Skew Factor (0-8)  : 2   - 2 should be good for most drives
        Verify             : Y   - Yes, lest a later problem occur, you 
                                   want to verify. 

        Note a) Transfer Rate:
               - 250 kbps on 3.5" and 360KB 5.25" drives
               - 300 kbps on 1.2M 5.25" drives.
               - 500 kbps on 1.44M 3.5" drives.

        Note b) Double Step:
              - Y for 40 track on 80 track 5.25" drive or
                   40 track on 3.5" drive to be used with TI 80 track FDC
               - N for 40 track on 40 track 5.25" drive or
                   40 track on 3.5" drive to be used with TI 40 track FDC

        Note c) Del.Data Mark (Y/N)
               Leave it to "N" for normal use. 
                      
               This option is related to the way 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy disks 
               are formatted with Geneve HFDC. This format is non standard 
               and, oddly enough, uses a Deleted Data Mark enabled as a way 
               of encoding bits on the magnetic medium. 
               
               Please notice that all the normal TI disks are encoded with 
               Deleted Data Mark disabled. 
               
               At any rate, please set the "3.5 Floppy"  = "Y" only if you 
               are formatting a 1.44 MB 3.5" disk for Geneve. 

        Here some settings for the most common formats: 
        
##-13.01.03
        I)  SS/SD, 40 tracks, 90 KB.  Disk Drive: 1.2 MB 5.25" on unit B:
            =============================================================
      
        This is the default TI floppy disk. Original TI Drives were Single 
        Side, Single Density. Single Density works only if your PC Floppy 
        Disk Controller supports it, which, usually, is unlikely on old PCs.

           Drive (A/B)       B      
           Density /S/D/H):  S      
           Sides(1/2):       1      
           Tracks(40/80):    40  
           Double Step(Y/N): Y   
           Transfer Rate:    300         
           (kbps:250,300,500)
           Diskname:       : TI99PCDISK
           Sect/Track(9,18,36): 9   
           Del.Data Mark (Y/N): N        
           Interleave(1-8)    : 4:1 
           Skew Factor (0-8)  : 2 
           Verify             : Y   

##-13.01.04
        II) SS/SD , 40 tracks, 90 KB. Disk Drive: 360 KB 5.25" on unit B:
            =============================================================
      
        As above. The only differences are:

           Double Step(Y/N): N
           Transfer Rate:    250         
           (kbps:250,300,500)

##-13.01.05
        III)DS/SD, 40 tracks, 180 KB. Disk Drive: 1.2 MB 5.25" on unit B:
            =============================================================

        As type I). The only difference is:

           Sides(1/2):       2


##-13.01.06
        IV) DS/DD, 40 tracks, 360 KB. Disk Drive: 1.2 MB 5.25" on unit B:
             =============================================================
        This format needs a Double Density Disk Controller on the TI side, 
        such as Myarc, CorComp and others.
        
           Drive (A/B)       B      
           Density /S/D/H):  D      
           Sides(1/2):       2      
           Tracks(40/80):    40  
           Double Step(Y/N): Y   
           Transfer Rate:    300         
           (kbps:250,300,500)
           Diskname:       : TI99PCDISK
           Sect/Track(9,18,36): 18   
           Del.Data Mark (Y/N): N        
           Interleave(1-8)    : 4:1 
           Skew Factor (0-8)  : 2
           Verify             : Y   


##-13.01.07
        V)  DS/DD, 40 tracks, 360 KB. Disk Drive: 1.44 MB 3.5" on unit A:
            =============================================================
        To be used with a TI Double Density 40 track FDC


           Drive (A/B)       A      
           Density /S/D/H):  D      
           Sides(1/2):       2      
           Tracks(40/80):    40  
           Double Step(Y/N): Y   
           Transfer Rate:    250         
           (kbps:250,300,500)
           Diskname:       : TI99PCDISK
           Sect/Track(9,18,36): 18   
           Del.Data Mark (Y/N): N        
           Interleave(1-8)    : 4:1 
           Skew Factor (0-8)  : 2
           Verify             : Y   

        Note: if you use 1.44 HD disk, because you can't find old 720 KB 
        3.5" disks, you will have to cover the upper hole on the left hand 
        side with some black opaque (not clear) electric tape. (Orientate  
        the floppy disk in front of you so that the metal sliding door is 
        on the bottom). 

         Cover this hole-----+
                             |
                             v 
                          +----------------------+
                          | [X]              [ ] |
                          |                      |
                          |                      |
                          |                      |
                          |                      |                          
                          |                      |
                          |   +-------------+    |                  
                          |   |  +-+        |    |
                          |   |  | |        |    |
                          |   |  | |        |    |                          
                          |   |  +-+        |    |
                           \--+-------------+----+
          

##-13.01.08          
        VI) DS/SD, 40 tracks, 180 KB. Disk Drive: 1.44 MB 3.5" on unit A:
            =============================================================
        To be used with a TI Single Density 40 track FDC


           Drive (A/B)       A      
           Density /S/D/H):  S      
           Sides(1/2):       2      
           Tracks(40/80):    40  
           Double Step(Y/N): N   
           Transfer Rate:    250         
           (kbps:250,300,500)
           Diskname:       : TI99PCDISK
           Sect/Track(9,18,36): 9    
           Del.Data Mark (Y/N): Y        
           Interleave(1-8)    : 4:1 
           Skew Factor (0-8)  : 2
           Verify             : Y   


##-13.01.09
        VII) DS/HD, 80 trks, 1.44 MB. Disk Drive: 1.44 MB 3.5" on unit A:
             ============================================================
        To be used with a TI High density 80 track FDC, such as the 
        Myarc HFDC for Geneve. 


           Drive (A/B)       A      
           Density /S/D/H):  H      
           Sides(1/2):       2      
           Tracks(40/80):    80  
           Double Step(Y/N): N   
           Transfer Rate:    500         
           (kbps:250,300,500)
           Diskname:       : TI99PCDISK
           Sect/Track(9,18,36): 36   
           Del.Data Mark (Y/N): Y        
           Interleave(1-8)    : 2:1 
           Skew Factor (0-8)  : 2
           Verify             : Y   
           
           

##-13.02.00
        *****      2)   NON TI CUSTOM FLOPPY DISK FORMATTER     *****
                        ===================================
        Basically this option was developed for those who want to format a 
        floppy disk in a different manner from the common TI formats.
        
        Non TI Custom Floppy Formatter will not prepare sector zero and 
        one, which a normal TI disk would need. If you need these features, 
        please use Option 1) Standard TI Formatter.
        
        You have much more control over the formatting process here, with 
        respect to option 1) Standard TI formatter. 
        
        Here you can even format a disk for another OS. The disk will be 
        formatted according to your commands, but will be empty! If you 
        need to add something to it (booting sectors or the like), you'll 
        have to use option "3) External Command File Formatter", which is 
        capable of doing whatever is possible with the standard PC FDC (the 
        NEC 765 and its siblings). This includes copying sectors (from your 
        selection) from another disk, storing them to a temporary file and 
        then writing a floppy with that temporary file.
        
        
        Here Density is called FM/MFM, which is nearer to what really 
        happens inside the Floppy Disk Controller (FDC). Thus, you only 
        have two choices and both regard the Recording Method:
        - FM (F) for Single Density 
        - MFM (M) for Double Density
        There isn't any other density, because High Density does not really 
        affect the Recording Method, but only the Transfer Rate. So, 3.5" 
        HD disks will be formatted in MFM (M) with a Transfer Rate of 500. 
    
        What has been written about Transfer Rate on Option 1 (see above) 
        holds true here as well. 
    
        Double Step has to be set to "Y" only if you want to format a 40 
        track disk on a 5.25" 80 track drive. All the other disks will need 
        a Double Step set to "N". 
   
              
##-13.02.01      
        ***   ASSIGNING PARAMETERS FOR NON TI FLOPPY DISK FORMATTER  ***
              =====================================================
        Drive (A/B):               B    - The Drive you will be using
        Sector size (128,256,..):  256  - Length, in bytes, of each sector 
        FM/MFM (F,M):              M    - Your recording method. FM=Single 
                                          Density, MFM=Double Density
        Transfer Rate(250,300,500):300  - 250 kbps on 3.5" and 360KB 5.25" 
                                                   drives
                                        - 300 kbps on 1.2M 5.25" drives.
                                        - 500 kbps on 1.44M 3.5" drives.
        Start Sector(0,1,...)      0    - Depends on the Operating System. 
                                          0 for TI, 1 for DOS.
        Sect/rack (9,18,36):      18   - How many sectors on each track.
        Start Track (0):           0    - The track where the formatting 
                                          process has to start. It doesn't 
                                          necessarily have to be 0. For a 
                                          full disk it is 0, though.
        End Track(39,79):          39   - The last track (included) where 
                                          the formatting process must end. 
                                          Any value bigger than Start Track 
                                          will be accepted.
        Start Side (1/2):          1    - The disk side where the formatting
                                          process has to start. First Side 
                                          is 1, Second is 2.
        End Side (1/2):            1    - The disk side (included) where the
                                          formatting process has to stop.
        Double Step (Y/N):         Y    - N=all tracks will be formatted, 
                                          none will be skipped. 
                                          Y=an 80 track drive will format 
                                          all the even tracks only (if start
                                          track = even number), and all the 
                                          odd tracks only (if start track = 
                                          odd number).
        Del.Data Mark (Y/N):       N   - "Deleted Data Mark" is normally 
                                          disabled. When enabled, it is a 
                                          special and very uncommon way of 
                                          marking the "Data Address Mark" 
                                          on the Sector Header. 
                                          N=Disable, Data Address Mark=FB
                                          Y=Enable, Data Address Mark=F8  
                                          Leave it to "N", unless you know 
                                          better.
        Interleave (1-8):          4:1 -  How many sectors there are between
                                          two logically consecutive sectors 
                                          in the same track. Avoid 1:1. Use 
                                          from 2 up. 4 is good for any drive
        Skew Factor (0-8):         2   -  How many sectors there are between
                                          two logically consecutive sectors 
                                          on two adjacent tracks. A value of
                                          2 should be good for most drives.
        GAP 3 length (20):         22  -  How many filling bytes will be 
                                          inserted between two physically 
                                          consecutive sectors. 
        Filler byte (D7):          BA  -  The byte value all formatted 
                                          sectors will be filled with. 
        Step Rate (0,1,..):        13  -  Depends on the drive type you've 
                                          got. The traditional value for PC 
                                          drives is 8 ms. 5 1 /4 HD drives 
                                          usually work with 6 ms, and 3 1/2 
                                          drives are usually used with 3 ms.
                                          Use higher values if you hear a 
                                          grinding noise from your drive. 
                                   
        Unload Time (0,1,...):     15  -  How long the floppy controller 
                                          waits, after an access, before 
                                          directing its attention to the 
                                          other head, or before seeking. 
                                          A typical value is 14, which
                                          corresponds to 480 ms. 
        Load Time (0,1,...):       1   -  The time a drive needs to move 
                                          the heads on the disk surface. 
                                          A typical value is 0, which 
                                          corresponds to 4 ms.
        Head Settle Time(0,1,...)  15  -  The time to wait after a seek is 
                                          performed. Older drives needed a 
                                          value of 25, which corresponds to 
                                          25 ms, newer ones often only need 
                                          15 ms. 
        Motor Off Delay (0,1,...): 37  -  The Motor Off Delay is the time 
                                          before the motor gets switched 
                                          off. A typical value is 33, which 
                                          corresponds to 1.8 sec.
        Motor Start Time(0,1,...): 2   -  The time the motor takes to reach 
                                          enough speed to read or write. 
                                          With modern controllers, you may 
                                          set this time very low, as the 
                                          controller itself enforces the 
                                          right delay.
        Verify (Y/N):              Y   -  Verify each sector by reading it 
                                          after formatting? Y=Yes, N=No
                                    
##-13.02.02                                  
        ***  STEP RATE, MOTOR OFF, ETC. MORE INFO ABOUT DRIVE TIMINGS   ***
             =========================================================
         
        The Step Rate, Head Unload Time, Head Load Time, Head Settle Time, 
        Motor Off Time, Motor Start Time are all in milliseconds. The values
        to be used in TI99_PC Option 2, "Non TI custom Floppy Disk 
        formatter" are not always expressed in milliseconds, though. The 
        below tables will explain the relationships.
        
        Acknowledgments: 
        Some parts of the following section were taken from "The floppy 
        user guide" by Michael Haardt, Alin Knaff and David C. Niemi.
        http://www.ipblythe.com/pdfs/floppy.pdf   [February 16, 2002]
         
##-13.02.03 
        ***             STEPPING RATE           ****
                        =============
        The step rate is the time between two steps when the head moves over
        the disk. The traditional value for PC drives is 8 ms. 5 1 /4 HD 
        drives usually work with 6 ms, and 3 1 /2 drives are usually used 
        with 3 ms. A too big step rate will work, but cause unpleasant 
        noise, and also stresses the drive mechanics. This is caused by the 
        step motor having an optimal frequency where it just spins smoothly 
        while making a few steps. Usually too large or too small values 
        cause the drive to sound odd, whereas the 'right' value causes it 
        to work very silently. At too low values you may also get 
        positioning errors.
       
                               +---------------+
                               |  Step rate in 
                               |  milliseconds |
                               +------+--------+
                               |  val.|  ms.   |
                               +------+--------+
                               |   0  |  2 ms  |
                               |   1  |  4 ms  |
                               |   2  |  6 ms  |
                               |   3  |  8 ms  |
                               |   4  |  10 ms |
                               |   5  |  12 ms |
                               |   6  |  14 ms |
                               |   7  |  16 ms |
                               |   8  |  18 ms |
                               |   9  |  20 ms |
                               |  10  |  22 ms |
                               |  11  |  24 ms |
                               |  12  |  26 ms |
                               |  13  |  28 ms |
                               |  14  |  30 ms |
                               |  15    32 ms |
                               +------+--------+
                                
                               
##-13.02.04
        ****            HEAD UNLOAD TIME                ****
                        ================
        The head unload time describes how long the floppy controller
        waits, after an access, before directing its attention to the other
        head, or before seeking.
        A typical value is 480 ms. 
        
                   
                               +-----------------+
                               | Head unload time|
                               | in milliseconds |
                               +------+----------+
                               | val. |   ms.    |
                               +------+----------+
                               |   0  |  32 ms   |
                               |   1  |  64 ms   |
                               |   2  |  96 ms   |
                               |   3  |  128 ms  |
                               |   4  |  160 ms  |
                               |   5  |  192 ms  |
                               |   6  |  240 ms  |
                               |   7  |  256 ms  |
                               |   8  |  288 ms  |
                               |   9  |  320 ms  |
                               |  10  |  352 ms  |
                               |  11  |  384 ms  |
                               |  12  |  399 ms  |
                               |  13  |  448 ms  |
                               |  14  |  480 ms  |
                               |  15  |  512 ms  |
                               +------+----------+
                               
##-13.02.05  
        ****            HEAD LOAD TIME IN MILLISECONDS          ****
                        ==============================
       
        The head load time is the time a drive needs to move the heads on 
        the disk surface. Since with PCs the heads are loaded when the 
        motor speeds up, the head load time is not important because the 
        motor startup time is much longer and it will be waited that much 
        anyway. A typical head load time value is 4 ms.

              
                               +----------------+
                               | Head load time |
                               | in milliseconds|
                               +------+---------+
                               | val. |  ms.    |
                               +------+---------+
                               |  0   |    4 ms |
                               |  1   |    8 ms |
                               |  3   |   12 ms |
                               |  4   |   16 ms |
                               |  5   |   20 ms |
                               |  ... |         |
                               |  255 | 1024 ms |
                               +------+---------+


##-13.02.06       
        ****            HEAD SETTLE TIME        ****
                        ================
        The time to wait after a seek is performed. After the head changes 
        between tracks it must be given the head settle time before any 
        further action. Older drives needed 25 ms, newer ones often only 
        need 15 ms for head vibrations to disappear.

                              +------------+
                              | Head settle|
                              |    time    |
                              +-----+------+
                              | val.| ms.  |
                              +-----+------+
                              |   1 |  1   |
                              |   2 |  2   |
                              |   3 |  3   |
                              | ... |      |
                              | 255 | 255  |
                              +-----+------+

##-13.02.07        
        ****            MOTOR OFF DELAY         ****
                        ===============
        The Motor Off time is the time before the motor gets switched off.
        The motor is not stopped immediately after the operation ends, 
        because there may be more operations following. 
        In a case where the next access is done very soon, this avoids 
        having to restart the motor. It improves access latency time and 
        stresses the mechanics less. A typical value is 1.8 sec.
        
        
                              +-------------+
                              |  Motor Off  |
                              |  Delay in   |
                              |   seconds   |
                              +------+------+
                              | val. | sec. |
                              +------+------+
                              |   0  |    0 |
                              |   1  | 0.054|
                              |   2  | 0.108|
                              |   3  | 0.164|
                              |   4  | 0.219|
                              |   5  | 0.274|
                              |   6  | 0.329|
                              |   7  | 0.384|
                              |   .  |   .. |
                              | 254  |13.956|
                              | 255  |14.010|
                              +------+------+
                              

##-13.02.08
        ****            MOTOR START TIME        ****
                        ================
        The time the motor takes to reach enough speed to read or write. 
        The floppy disk controller doesn't try to access the drive before 
        the Motor Start Time has elapsed. With modern controllers, you may 
        set this time very low, as the controller itself enforces the right 
        delay.
        
                             +------------+
                             | Motor start|
                             |    time    |
                             +-----+------+
                             | val.|  sec.|
                             +-----+------+
                             |    1| 0.125|
                             |    2| 0.250|
                             |    3| 0.375|
                             |    4| 0.500|
                             |  ...|      |
                             |  255|31.875|
                             +-----+------+


##-13.02.09
        ****          FLOPPY DISK MEDIA SPECIFICATIONS             ****
                      ================================
        
        The following table and the discussion are from: 
        http://cma.zdnet.com/book/upgraderepair/ch13/ch13.htm   
        [February 16, 2002]

        Floppy Disk Media Specifications Table 
+---------------------+------------------------+--------------------------+
|                     |          5 1/4-Inch    |     3 1/2-Inch           |
+---------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+----------+
|  Media Parameters   | Double |Quad   |High   |Double |High   |Extra-High|
|  ================   | Density|Density|Density|Density|Density|Density   |
|                     | (DD)   |(QD)   |(HD)   |(DD)   |(HD)   | (ED)     |
+---------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+----------+ 
|Tracks Per Inch (TPI)|    48  |    96 |    96 |   135 |   135 |    135   |
|Bits Per Inch (BPI)  |  5,876 | 5,876 | 9,646 | 8,717 | 17,434|  34,868  |
|Media Formulation    |Ferrite |Ferrite| Cobalt| Cobalt| Cobalt|   Barium |
|Coercivity (Oersteds)|   300  |  300  |  600  |   600 |   720 |    750   |
|Thickness (Micro-In.)|   100  |  100  |   50  |    70 |    40 |    100   |
|Recording Polarity   | Horiz. | Horiz.| Horiz.| Horiz.| Horiz.| Vertical |
+---------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+----------+
                                                                           
        DENSITY
        =======
        Density is a measure of the amount of information that can be 
        packed reliably into a specific area of a recording surface. 
        Disks have two types of densities: 
        longitudinal density and linear density. 
        - Longitudinal density is indicated by how many tracks can be 
          recorded on the disk, often expressed as a number of tracks per 
          inch (TPI). 
        - Linear density is the capability of an individual track to store 
          data, often indicated as a number of bits per inch (BPI). 


        MEDIA COERCIVITY AND THICKNESS
        ==============================
        The coercivity specification of a disk refers to the magnetic-field 
        strength required to make a proper recording on a disk. 
        Coercivity, measured in oersteds, is a value indicating magnetic 
        strength. 
        A disk with a higher coercivity rating requires a stronger magnetic 
        field to make a recording on that disk. With lower ratings, the 
        disk can be recorded with a weaker magnetic field. 
        In other words, the lower the coercivity rating, the more sensitive 
        the disk. HD media demands higher coercivity ratings so that the 
        adjacent magnetic domains don't interfere with each other. 
        
        For this reason, HD media is actually less sensitive and requires a 
        stronger recording signal strength.

        Another factor is the thickness of the disk. The thinner the disk, 
        the less influence a region of the disk has on another adjacent 
        region. 
        The thinner disks therefore can accept many more bits per inch 
        without eventually degrading the recording.

 
 
 
 
 
       
##-13.02.10    
        ****            TRANSFER RATE, ROTATION SPEED           ****
                        =============================
       
       Remember that Floppy Disk Drives connected to the PC must be 
       correctly declared on the PC BIOS before you can use them with this 
       program. 
       
        
      Basic rules
       ===========
       A) 
       The following is assumed: 
       - All TI and PC drives, at any density, always spin at 300 rpm. 
       - Just one (but important) exception: the 5.25" PC AT Drives, 
         80 Track Drives, always spin at 360 rpm, for both High and 
         Low Density. See note (1) below for "Dual Speed Drives".
       
     
       B)
       In Single or Double Density (FM or MFM in Low Density): 
          - All drives spinning at 300 rpm must have the Transfer Rate 
            set to 250 kbps.
         
       - All drives spinning at 360 rpm must have the Transfer Rate set 
         to 300 kbps.  
      
       In High Density (HD) the Transfer Rate to be used is always 500 kbps.
         
       
       C)
       A disk formatted at 300 kbps on a drive rotating at 360 rpm is 
       exactly equal to a disk formatted at 250 kbps on a drive 
       rotating at 300 kbps. (That is: 360/300=300/250)
         
       The above B) and C) rules *always* prove to be true.       
    
       
       D)
       Drive Table                                                
       ===========
                                                        
       +--------------+------+------------------+-----------------+
       |Drive Type    |Tracks|    Low Density   |  High Density   |
       +--------------+------+--------+---------+--------+--------+
       |              |      |Transfer|Rotation |Transfer|Rotation|
       |              |      |  Rate  |  Speed  |  Rate  |  Speed |
       |              |      | (kbps) |  (rpm)  | (kbps) |  (rpm) |
       +--------------+------+--------+---------+--------+--------+
       |5.25" 360KB   |  40  |  250   |   300   |  ===   |   ===  |
       +--------------+------+--------+---------+--------+--------+
       |AT 5.25 1.2M  |  80  |  300   |   360   |  500   |   360  |
       +--------------+------+--------+---------+--------+--------+
       |3.5" 720KB    |  80  |  250   |   300   |  ===   |   ===  |
       +--------------+------+--------+---------+--------+--------+
       |3.5" 1.44M    |  80  |  250   |   300   |  500   |   300  |
       +--------------+------+--------+---------+--------+--------+
       
    
     Note (1), for "Dual Speed Drives", point A.
         A possible exception to the exception: the so called "Dual Speed 
         Drives", (i.e. TEAC FD-55GV) which are able to spin at both 300 
         or 360 rpm in Low Density and 360 rpm only in High Density. 
         But this is not a real exception. As a matter of fact, in a PC 
         these drives have to be set to 360 rpm in Low Density for them 
         to work in DOS. 
   
       
         At 300 rpm the resulting DOS disks will not be readable/writeable 
         by other PCs. Anyway, if the Dual Speed Drive is set to 300 rpm in 
         low density (which is wrong for DOS), the TI disk will have to be 
         formatted at a Transfer Rate of 250 kbps for it to be compatible 
         with a real TI computer.
       
##-13.02.11   
        ***             GAP 3 LENGTH            ***
                        ============    
        Gap3 length when formatting (GAP3F) varies, and depends on the 
        following parameters: 
    
        - Number of unformatted bytes in the track (Track Length), which 
          depends on the chosen Density (Transfer Rate, in kbps)
        - Sector Length
        - Number of sectors in the track
    
    
       
     +-------+-----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+
     |Density|kbps |Unfor- | Sector | Sector|Sectors| Start |End   | Recom-|
     |       |     |matted |Overhead| Length|  per  | Track | of   |mended |
     |       |     |Track  |(Pregap,|       | Track | Header|Track | GAP3  |
     |       |     |Length | CRC,..)|       |       |Length |Length|Length |
     |       |     |(bytes)| (bytes)|(bytes)|       |(bytes)|bytes |(bytes)|
     +-------+-----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+
     |Single | 125 | 3125  |    31  |  256  |    9  |   12  | 206  |   36  |
     +-------+-----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+
     |Double | 250 | 6250  |    62  |  256  |   18  |   32  | 134  |   20  |
     +-------+-----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+
     |High   | 500 |12500  |    65  |  256  |   36  |   32  | 192  |   22  |
     +-------+-----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+
        
      
        As an example, work out GAP 3 Length in Single Density:
        Sector length    = 256 + 31 (Sector Overhead) = 287 bytes       
        287 x 9 sectors  = 2583 bytes + 12 (start track)= 2595 bytes      
        2595 + 206 (end track) = 2801 (Total bytes except GAP3)
        3125 (Track Length) - 2801 (used so far)= 324 (Total GAP3)
        324 / 9 = 36 (Calculated GAP3 Length). 
    
          
        By using the above method, you can work out the GAP3 length for 
        any type of disk format you may need. Don't be afraid of using 
        shorter GAP3 lengths. 
        GAP3 length experimentally found in common PC formats: 
        - 107 bytes on a 1440 KB, 3.5" disk 
        - 84 bytes on a 1200 KB, 5.25" disk
        - 2 bytes (only two bytes!) on a 1440 KB, 5.25" disk formatted 
        with FDFormat, by Christoph H. Hochstatter. 

     

##-13.03.01        
        *** FORMATTING EXAMPLES FOR NON TI CUSTOM FLOPPY DISK FORMATTER  ***
            ===========================================================
Please find below some examples of formatting a disk.        
    
##-13.03.02       
  ***  DSDD 1440 TI DISK (360 KB) ON AN AT 5.25" 1.2M DRIVE AT 360 RPM   ***
       ===============================================================
     
          Sector size=    256
          Transfer Rate=  300
          Start Sector=   0
          Sect/Track=     18
          Start Track=    0
          End Track=      39
          Start Side=     1
          End Side=       2
          Double Step=    Y
          Delet.Data Mark N
          GAP3 length     22
        
        
        
          
          
##-13.03.03       
    ****  DSDD 1440 TI DISK (360 KB) ON AN 40 TRACK DRIVE AT 300 RPM    ****
      ==========================================================
      
          Sector size=    256
          Transfer Rate=  250
          Start Sector=   0
          Sect/Track=     18
          Start Track=    0
          End Track=      39
          Start Side=     1
          End Side=       2
          Double Step=    N
          Delet.Data Mark N
          GAP3 length     22
       
          
        Skew and Interleave can be selected as you wish. A value 1:1 for 
        Interleave and a Skew Factor of 0 will in practice disable each of 
        them. 
    
        Step Rate, Unload and Load Time, Head Settle Time, Motor Off Delay 
        and Motor Start Time can be left as they are. Change them only if 
        you hear the drive makes a rattling sound. Higher values will work 
        better on old drives.
    

##-13.10.01
        ****              DMA BOUNDARY CROSSING WARNING              ****
                          =============================
        A "DMA Boundary Crossing" warning may show up when accessing the 
        Menu of the Low Level I/O routines (Standard TI Formatting) from 
        C) Tools of Main Menu. 
        
        Don't panic. There is nothing wrong with your computer. 
        The warning depends on where TI99_PC.COM has been loaded in 640 KB 
        DOS memory. This, in turn, depends on what you have previously 
        loaded. 
        
        Practically, it means that the low-level I/O buffer is split into 
        two parts by a 64 KB memory block. This goes back to a hardware 
        problem early PCs had (and newer PCs maybe still have). 
        
        Some slowing down of the Low Level Disk Activities may occur 
        with "DMA Boundary Crossing" warning (reading, writing and 
        formatting TI disks) because an alternate buffer is used. 
        On a fast computer you will not even notice it. 
        
        The warning will disappear you either free more DOS memory or, 
        oddly enough, if you use more memory. Increments or decrements 
        of free DOS memory in the range of 12 KB may make this problem 
        disappear. For example, you can load DOSKEY in your AUTOEXEC.BAT,
        or change your Files= setting in CONFIG.SYS.
        
        When DMA Boundary Crossing used to be an Error (and not just a 
        Warning), the following would have happened: 
        
        - you would have got a sector error always at the same sector. 
          That would have happened on any track if you had kept on pressing 
          "B" any time the error had popped up on the screen.
          
        - the same would have happened no matter how many different disks 
          you had changed.
          
        - the problem would have disappeared for no plausible reason when 
          you restarted another DOS session in different memory conditions.
    


##-13.10.02
        ***     F1 (HELP) DISABLED WHILE IN LOW LEVEL I/O ROUTINES    ****
                ==================================================

        While in Low Level I/O programs (Floppy Disk Formatter, Floppy Disk 
        Catalog and so on) you will not be able to access this Help (F1 
        will not work). The Help has been developed in QBasic, while the 
        Disk Formatter and the Disk Catalog (Low Level I/O) has been 
        written in pure 80x86 DOS Assembler. The two environments are quite 
        incompatible. 

        If you are on Windows you can open another session of TI99-PC and 
        keep the TI99-PC help screen opened while you go to the TI99-PC Low 
        Level I/O section on the other DOS session. 


##-14.01.01              
        ***  4) TRANSFER TI DISK TO PC FILE, DIRECTLY FROM TI99_PC.COM   ***
                ======================================================
                
        This option will read an entire TI disk and output it to a PC image 
        file. This is the only function that was available on old TI99_PC 
        ver. 1.0.  
        
                                - o - 
        
        Access to this option from Main Menu. Select:
        3) Tools, and then 
        1) Floppy Disk Formatter and other Floppy Utilities. 
        4) Transfer TI disk to PC file          
        
        Alternatively, you can load it directly from DOS. At the DOS 
        prompt, type
        
            TI99_PC.COM /MENU
        
        and then select 4) Transfer TI disk to PC file.
        
        Normally you will not use this option. You will read your TI disks
        from TI99-PC Main Menu, and then: 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        1) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to TI99-PC disk image file
        In that way you will be able to use the DOS file system navigator, 
        and avoid inadvertently overwriting existing files. 
        
        However, if you are working in critical conditions and therefore 
        cannot load the entire TI99-PC suite because of memory constraints, 
        the loading of the small TI99_PC.COM file could solve your problems.
        
                                - o - 
                                
        The output image file will have all sectors placed in a continuous 
        order, starting from sector zero, up to last sector on the last 
        track for Single Sided disks. Double Sided disks, will add the 
        second side at the end of first side on the image file, starting 
        from last track of side 1, until last sector on track 0. 
        This is the order for a 9 sector/track Double Sided Single Density:
        
        
        disk (720 sectors, 180 KB): 
        0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of Track  0, Side 0
        0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of Track  1, Side 0
        ......
        0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of Track 39, Side 0
        0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of Track 39, Side 1
        .....
        0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of Track  1, Side 1
        0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of Track  0, Side 1
        
        
        Last sector will be sector 8 of track 0 on side 1.
        
        Three sectors will be added at the end of the file. They contain 
        the table of the bad sectors found during copy. This may not be the 
        same that is found on sector zero: some sectors may have gone wrong 
        over the long period of time the disks have been kept on a shelf, 
        so you may find more bad sectors than what is shown on sector zero.
        
        
        In the three additional sectors that contain the bad sector table, 
        each bad sector is represented by one (1) bit, even for DSQD and 
        DSHD disks.  
        
    
   
##-14.01.02 
        *** 5) TRANSFER A PC FILE TO TI DISK, DIRECTLY FROM TI99_PC.COM  ***
               ========================================================
        
        This option will read an entire TI image file on a PC and output it 
        to a TI disk. The format of the TI image file on a PC is described 
        above, at 14.01.01, Opt. 4) Transfer TI disk to PC file.
                
                                - o - 
        
        Access to this option from Main Menu. Select:
        3) Tools, and then 
        1) Floppy Disk Formatter and other Floppy Utilities. 
        5) Transfer a PC file to TI disk 
        
        Alternatively, you can load it directly from DOS. At the DOS prompt,
        type: 
        TI99_PC.COM /MENU
        and then select 5) Transfer a PC file to TI disk
        
        Definitely, you will not use this option if you have to transfer 
        PC99 disk image files (.dsk), because it won't work. PC99 .dsk 
        files have a different format, that needs to be converted to 
        TI99-PC format before transferring to a TI disk. 
        
        Generally speaking, you will write your TI disks from TI99-PC Main 
        Menu, and then: 
        2) TO TI-99/4A disk from DOS or emulators
        1) Transfer a TI-99/4A floppy disk to TI99-PC disk image file
        or similar options for PC99 or V9T9 files.
        
        In that way you will be able to see the disk image file content, 
        inspect the files with a sector editor and use the DOS file system 
        navigator to locate the exact disk image file you need in your hard
        disk. 
        
        However, if you are working in critical conditions and therefore 
        cannot load the entire TI99-PC suite because of memory constraints, 
        the loading of the small TI99_PC.COM file could solve your problems.
        
                                - o - 
        
        If the destination disk is already formatted as required, the 
        copying process will start right away. Otherwise, the user will 
        have the chance of formatting the destination disk. The software 
        will set the values needed by the current image file. 

        For 3.5" drives, a caveat is in order here. 
        
        Recently, on the "On Line User Group" 
        [ OLUG, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ti99-4a ] it has been agreed 
        upon that a TI 40 track 3.5" disk should be formatted on the first 
        40 tracks only (Double Step=N). 
        
        
        This will make the above disks compatible with stock TI Floppy Disk 
        Controller, that cannot handle 80 tracks in any way. 
        
        Thus, Option 5) will check the BIOS setup of your PC for the drive 
        being used and set Double Step:
        - to "N" for a 1.44 MB and 360 KB drives
        - to "Y" for a 1.2  MB drive
        
        
        However, if you are using an 80 Track Myarc FDC with the 3.5" drive 
        declared as 80 track drive and you are formatting a 3.5" disk, you 
        will have to change the Double Step value to "Y", otherwise you will
        not read the new disk on the 3.5" drive on your TI. 
        
        
        Alternatively, you can format the 3.5" disk with Double Step="N" on 
        the PC and declare your 3.5" disk as 40 track to your 80 Track 
        Myarc FDC.
        
##-15.01.00    
        ****            REAL TI FLOPPY DISK CATALOG             ****
                        ===========================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        3) Tools 
        2) Floppy Disk Catalog.         
                 
        This option is pretty straightforward. It provides you with a TI 
        floppy disk catalog. 
        
        You can also get a catalog of a real TI disk in any option where 
        a floppy disk (A: or B:) is used as a Source or Destination. Simply
        press F6 while the cursor is on the Floppy Drive Name field.

        Please note that the option F8 Chg Dir (Change Directory) you find 
        at the end of a disk catalog, has a meaning only if you have a 
        Geneve Floppy disk, that allows up to three Subdirectories. In a 
        normal TI disk you can only access Dir 1, which is the "Root" 
        directory. By contrast, Dirs 2,3 and 4 can be accessed on a Geneve 
        floppy disk (and only if they have been created, of course).
        
        
                          
##-16.01.00 
        ****            MANAGING DISK IMAGE FILES               ****
                        =========================
        Disk Image files can be managed in several ways. Two main sections
        are explained below: 
        17.01.00  -  1) From TI99-PC image file to Emulators or other 
                        destinations
        18.01.00  -  2) From other sources to TI99-PC image file 
        
##-17.01.00 
        **** FROM TI99-PC IMAGE FILE TO EMULATORS OR OTHER DESTINATIONS ****
             ==========================================================
        This section will include: 
        - Transferring TI99-PC Image files to PC99, V9T9 emulators.
        - Extracting single files from TI99-PC Image files to DOS
        - Creating .ARK files from TI99-PC Image files
        - Splitting a large TI99-PC Image file into smaller TI99-PC Image 
          files
        
##+17.02.00
        *****   TRANSFER DISK IMAGE FILE TO A PC-99 VIRTUAL DISK    *****
                ================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        3) Transfer disk image file (obtained from option 1) to a PC-99 
           virtual disk
        
        A TI99-PC image file will be copied to the destination file and 
        transformed to a PC99 image file. 

        The program is self explanatory. The Destination File should 
        usually have a .DSK termination. A PC99 .DSK file is the file 
        format used by PC99. It is very different from a V9T9 .DSK file or 
        TI99-PC .IMG file. A PC99 .dsk file is much longer than a 
        corresponding V9T9 .DSK file, because it mimics the byte layout 
        you would find in a real disk (it will contain the sector ID, CRC, 
        sector gaps and all the like). PC99 .DSK files can be used only 
        on PC99. 

        The Source Path and Filename is where your TI99-PC file is located.

        The Destination Path and Filename is where your PC99 file will be 
        created.
        It is advisable to make it point to the PC99 .dsk directory, which 
        usually defaults to C:\PC99\DSK\

        Notes
        =====
        While you are either on the Source or on the Destination Path and 
        Filename field you can get a DOS Directory Listing of your Hard 
        Disk if you press the F6 key. 

        While navigating through your Hard Disk directories you can use the 
        following keys: 
               - Enter = Select file/directory
               - F1  = This Help Screen 
               - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
               - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
               - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no filename
               
        
        You can also manually change the default Source or Destination Path 
        and Filename. 

        All the errors, if any, that are listed in the 768 bytes appended 
        at the end to the TI99-PC file will be lost during the transfer 
        process. A TI99-PC file would contain errors only if read problems 
        occurred with the original TI floppy disk.

        TRANSFER DISK IMAGE FILE TO A PC-99 VIRTUAL DISK, IMAGE FILE LISTING
        ====================================================================

        Before the file transfer actually takes place a disk catalog of the 
        Source Image File will be shown here. 

        Key usage. 

              - Enter = Start the transfer
              - F7    = View all sectors of the file the highlighted bar is 
                        currently on.
              - F8    = View the listing of the files inside the ARK file 
                        the highlighted bar is currently on. A valid ARK 
                        file must be either DIS/FIX 128 (Uncompressed) or 
                        INT/FIX 128 (Compressed). If the file is not a 
                        valid .ARK type the F8 command will be ignored. 

##+17.02.01
        *****   TRANSFER DISK IMAGE FILE TO A V9T9 VIRTUAL DISK    *****
                ===============================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        5) Transfer disk image file (obtained from option 1) to a V9T9 
           virtual disk
        
        A TI99-PC image file will be copied to the destination file and 
        transformed to a v9t9 image file. 

        The program is self explanatory. The Destination File should 
        usually have a .DSK termination. A V9T9 image file is very 
        different from a PC99 .DSK file. 

        A V9T9 .DSK is basically a file that contains all the sectors of a 
        real TI floppy, one after the other, starting from sector zero up 
        to the last sector, ordered in a straight sequence. No sector gap, 
        no sector ID or CRC is present. As an example, you will get the 
        Total Sectors in a V9T9 .DSK file by simply dividing the file 
        length (in bytes) by 256. 

        The Source Path and Filename is where your TI99-PC file is located.

        The Destination Path and Filename is where your V9T9 file will be 
        created.
        It is advisable to make it point to the V9T9 .dsk directory, which 
        usually defaults to C:\V9T9RUN

        Notes
        =====
        While you are either on the Source or on the Destination Path and 
        Filename field you can get a DOS Directory Listing of your Hard 
        Disk if you press the F6 key. 

        While navigating through your Hard Disk directories you can use the 
        following keys: 
               - Enter = Select file/directory
               - F1  = This Help Screen 
               - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
               - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
               - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no filename
               
        More help about the usage of the DOS Navigator can be found by 
        going to the 39.01.01 section of this Manual, "DOS DIRECTORY 
        NAVIGATOR AND FILE SELECTOR", toward the end of the main Help Menu.

        You can also manually change the default Source or Destination Path 
        and Filename. 

        All the errors, if any, that are listed in the 768 bytes appended 
        at the end to the TI99-PC file will be lost during the transfer 
        process. A TI99-PC file would contain errors only if read problems 
        occurred with the original TI floppy disk.


        TRANSFER DISK IMAGE FILE TO A V9T9 VIRTUAL DISK - IMAGE FILE LISTING
        ====================================================================

        Before the file transfer actually takes place a disk catalog of the 
        Source Image File will be shown here. 

        Key usage. 

               - Enter = Start the transfer
               - F7    = View all sectors of the file the highlighted bar 
                         is currently on.
               - F8    = View the listing of the files inside the ARK file 
                         the highlighted bar is currently on. A valid ARK 
                         file must be either DIS/FIX 128 (Uncompressed) or 
                         INT/FIX 128 (Compressed). If the file is not a 
                         valid .ARK type the F8 command will be ignored. 

##+17.03.00               
        ****  EXTRACT (TO DOS) SINGLE TI-FILES FROM DISK IMAGE FILE     ****
              ======================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        6) Extract (to DOS or ARK file) single TI-Files from TI99-PC disk 
           image file
        
        This section works on a single Disk Image File only and will: 
        - extract single files to DOS (C option)
        - extract single files to TIFILES format (T option)
        - extract multiple files and store them as Barry Boone Archiver III 
        format with a TIFILES header (K option)

        If the CTRL key is also held down, all the unmarked files in the 
        directory will receive the chosen mark (either C, T or K). 

        Other key usage: 
           - ENTER key will start the extracting process.
           - CTRL U will deselect all the selected files.
           - F7 will display the sector content of the file the cursor is on
                This is useful whenever a TI directory is displayed on the 
                screen.
           - ESC, as usual, will take you back to previous menu.
           
##-17.03.01               
        ***     OPTION C - EXTRACT SINGLE FILES TO DOS    ***
                ======================================
        Option C will extract the file from the Disk Image File and try to  
        adapt it DOS environment. The following is what will happen: 

        a) The Record Length Byte in TI text files (DIS/VAR) will be 
           stripped off and a Carriage Return, Line Feed will be added at 
           the end of each record, according to DOS requirement for .TXT 
           files. INT/VAR files will be treated as DIS/VAR files. 
   
        b) Fixed Length Record files (DIS/FIX, INT/FIX types) will be left 
           almost untouched. 
   
        The only difference is that while in a TI sector there can be some 
        unused space (at the end of the sector) if the records don't 
        exactly fit in the sector, in a DOS Fixed Length Record file the 
        file is a continuous stream of data, and no unused spaces (gaps) 
        are found in the DOS sectors. 
   
        This happens because the DOS takes care of joining back a record 
        that spans on two different hard disk sectors.
   
        c) Program Files will be transferred as they are. They are almost 
        useless in a DOS environment, since they cannot be executed as such.
        However, if re-imported back to a TI disk, they will work again 
        properly. 
   
        In the above processes, whatever doesn't logically belong to the 
        file will not be transferred to DOS and will be lost. This will 
        apply to data that, for instance, are placed at the last sector and 
        beyond the last record in an INT/FIX file, as it may happen in a 
        Copy Protection Scheme. Normally, this feature will not pose a 
        problem. 
        
        
##-17.03.02                
        ***     OPTION T - EXTRACT SINGLE FILES TO TIFILES FORMAT       ***
                =================================================

        Option T will leave the TI file untouched and will simply add a 
        TIFILES header at the beginning of the file. The TIFILES header 
        will also contain all the relevant info taken from the FDR sector 
        (File Descriptor Record) of TI image file (File Type, File Length, 
        etc.). The file will not be compressed. 

        This type of extraction is provided for sending single files over 
        the Net. As a matter of fact, TIFILES header has been the TIers 
        preferred format for exchanging files via RS232 for a long time. 
        IIRC, this standard was created by Bobby Charlton. 

        When a TIFILES file is received over RS232 by a TI transfer program 
        (such as TELCO, Fast Term or others), the TIFILES header will be 
        stripped off and the original TI file placed on the TI directory. 

        With Option T all the file sectors will be copied, including the 
        data that are placed beyond the logical EOF (i.e., up to the 256th 
        byte of the last file sector). 
        
##-17.03.03
        *** OPTION K - EXTRACT MULTIPLE FILES INTO AN ARK FILE  ***
            ==================================================
        Option K will extract multiple files from the Disk Image File and 
        store them all in a single DOS file, with TIFILES header and a 
        compressed Archiver III body. 

        When a TIFILES file is received over RS232 by a TI transfer program 
        (such as TELCO, Fast Term or others), the TIFILES header will be 
        stripped off and the original TI file placed on the TI directory. 

        This is handy for sending a number of TI files over the Net. With a 
        single keystroke (CTRL K) you can select all the files that you 
        wish to collect into a single file. 

        The compression is achieved by an LZW compressor type. Its output 
        is completely compatible with Barry Boone's Archiver III, which was 
        based on the Barry Traver's Archiver structure. 
        I have to publicly thank Barry Boone for making his Archiver III 
        source code available for use over the Net (TI OLUG). 

        The DOS Ark file name will be determined by the first file name 
        that gets the "K" mark. All the next file names selected with the 
        "K" mark will use the first selected file name. 
        If CTRL K is used, and no file was previously selected with the "K" 
        option, the DOS Ark file name will be determined by the file name 
        the cursor is on at the moment CTRL K key is pressed. 

##-17.03.04
        *** OPTION X - EXTRACT AN ARK FILE, STORE THE FILES IN DOS DIR ***
            ==========================================================
        Option X will extract all the files contained in an .ARK file and 
        place them in a newly created DOS directory named as the .ARK file. 
        An .ARK file is compatible with Barry Boone's Archiver III. 
        
        For instance, if the original .ARK file inside the Disk Image File 
        is named NIBBSARK, and NIBBSARK contains  NIBBS1, NIBBS2, NIBBS3, 
        then, with this option, a new DOS directory named NIBBSARK will be 
        created in the current output directory, and the three files NIBBS1,
        NIBBS2 and NIBBS3 will be stored there. 
        
        The process is very handy to keep well separated all the files 
        contained in different .ARK files. Each new DOS directory  will 
        exclusively contain files coming from just one .ARK file. 
                
        The rules used for the extraction are the same as those used in 
        option C (see above), i.e. DIS/VAR files will be treated as text 
        files and so on. 

        Basically, this option is a double extraction process: 
        a) extracting a single .ARK type file from the Disk Image File, 
        b) extracting to DOS all the single files contained in the just 
           extracted .ARK file
        
        Option 
      
      
##+17.04.00   
   **** CHANGING DISK IMAGE FILE SIZE. A) INTO SMALLER - B) INTO LARGER ****
        =============================================================== 
        Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        7) Split a large disk image file (from opt. 1) into smaller disk 
           image files
        
        A) CHANGING DISK IMAGE FILE SIZE INTO A SMALLER ONE
        ---------------------------------------------------
        Some TI-99/4A emulators cannot handle large disk sizes. For 
        instance, PC99 manages disk images not larger than a DSDD disk (360 
        KB, 1440 sectors).
        V9T9 emulator is limited to only SSSD disks, a mere 90 KB, 360 
        sectors disk.

        On the other hand, TI disks can go as high as DSHD (1440 KB, 5760 
        sectors), in 3.5" form factor.
        What can you do if you have a TI disk larger than what your TI 
        emulator can handle?  Well, Option 7), Split a disk, can help you 
        split the disk into smaller disk images, so that your TI emulator 
        can handle them. 
        
        This option can also be used to pile up files from several disks 
        into a larger one. As a matter of fact the destination disk can 
        be larger than the source disk. Thus, files can be selectively 
        added to the existing ones in the destination disk. You can 
        repeat this process until the destination disk gets all the files
        you want. The Delete feature that can be found in any Quick TI 
        Disk Catalog (more of this at 19.01.00) may help you adjusting 
        the destination disk to your neeeds.
        
        
	B) CHANGING DISK IMAGE FILE SIZE INTO A LARGER ONE
	--------------------------------------------------
        Another use of Option 7 is when you want to transfer a SS/SD image 
        file to a real TI floppy disk, and your PC doesn't handle Single 
        Density but your TI has a Double Density Disk controller. If you 
        feed the SD image file to Copier/Formatter the transfer will not 
        succeed: the Copier/Formatter will try to format a disk in Single 
        Density, but it will fail because the PC Floppy Disk Controller 
        doesn't handle that Density. 

        The trick is quite simple though. Option 7 will allow you to create 
        a DS/DD image file out of a SS/SD image file. Then you'll use that 
        Double Density image file to create a DS/DD TI disk on your PC.

##-17.04.01
        ***     CHOOSING SOURCE AND DESTINATION FILENAMES        ***
                =========================================
        As usual, you can choose the Source_Path_and_Disk_Image_Filename 
        and the Destination_Path_and_Splitted_Image_Filename from option 
        7) of Main Menu.

        You can activate a helpful PC Disk Directory utility to select the 
        desired directory and/or filename. 
        If you want to select just the directory (and no filename), you can 
        just press ESC once you have entered the desired directory.
        If you press ENTER while the cursor is on a directory name, you 
        will move to that directory. 
        If you press ENTER while the cursor is on a double dot '..', you 
        will move to the parent directory.
        Finally, if you press ENTER while the cursor is on a filename, that 
        filename will be selected.

        While navigating through your Hard Disk directories you can use the 
        following keys: 
               - Enter = Select file/directory
               - F1  = This Help Screen 
               - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
               - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
               - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no filename
               
        
        You can also manually change the default Source or Destination Path 
        and Filename. 


##-17.04.02
        ***  A) WHAT IS SHOWN IN THE 'SPLIT AN IMAGE FILE' SCREEN   ***
                =================================================
        Once in Opt. 7 program, you will be displayed a new screen, 
        containing:
             - TI-99/4A original disk name 
             - Sectors, tracks, sides, density
             - PC source disk image filename
             - PC first split disk image filename
             - Total files, Total used sector, bad sectors 
             
        Bad sectors will only tell you how many bad sectors, if any, you 
        got while the original TI-99/4A disk was read on a PC (using 
        option 1) of main menu).
        This value has nothing to do with good/bad sectors the original TI 
        disk had when it was formatted on a TI-99/4A machine the very first 
        time.

               - On the left, an empty column you will use to select files
               - A column, showing the file numbers
               - The original TI filename, File Total sectors, File Length, 
                 File Type. 
               
        On Geneve Disks with subdirectories, you will also see the 
        subdirectory names. You can move to a desired subdirectory by 
        simply pressing Enter while the cursor is positioned on that 
        subdirectory name.

        Active keys are:

      - Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, Arrow Up, Arrow Down, to move around.
      - C, M, 0-9, Del, Space Bar, CTRL A, CTRL C, CTRL U, to select and 
        deselect filenames to be copied. 

##-17.04.03
        ***  B) SELECT FILES TO BE COPIED TO THE SPLITTED DISKS   ***
                ===============================================

        You can select:
             - what files have to be copied
             - the order in which they have to be copied
             

        - SELECTING THE FILENAMES = C, M 
          ==============================

        You can mark (select) the filenames to be copied by using the 'C' 
        or 'M' key while the cursor is on the desired filename. 

        PRECEDENCE = 0,9
        ================
        You can also use the number keys, 0 through 9, to give each 
        filename a precedence (priority) over the other filenames at 
        copying time. As an example, all the files that have been marked 
        with a '3' will be copied to the destination disk(s) only after 
        all the files marked with a lower number have already been copied. 
        At each change of precedence number the current disk will be closed.
        If there are files with a higher number, a new destination disk 
        will be created, and files marked with the next higher number will 
        also be copied. 

        Files marked with a 'C' have to lowest precedence, that is, they 
        will get copied only after all the files that have a priority 
        number have already been copied. 

        Files marked with a '0' have the highest priority.

        UNMARKING = DEL, SPACE BAR
        ==========================
        You can unmark (deselect) the filenames to be copied by using the 
        Space Bar or the DEL key while the cursor is on the desired 
        filename. 

        SELECTING AND DESELECTING ALL = CTRL A, CTRL U
        ==============================================
        You can also select all the filenames in the directory being 
        inspected by pressing CTRL A or CTRL C key from any screen position.
        That will assign a 'C' precedence mark to all the files that were 
        not previously selected with a priority number.

        You can Unmark (deselect) all the filenames in the directory being 
        inspected by pressing CTRL U key from any screen position.

##-17.04.03        
        ***     C) SELECTING DISK SIZE AND STARTING COPYING     ***
                   ========================================
        You can start copying at any time by pressing the ENTER key while 
        the cursor is on any filename. Pressing ENTER while the cursor is 
        on a subdirectory name (on a disk that has subdirectories, of 
        course) will only move you to that subdirectory. 

        Next, you will have to select the disk size you want to use. 
        Remember that you have to use a disk size larger than the largest 
        file to be copied, otherwise that file will be skipped.
        
          1)   90K  - SSSD   -  360 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          2)  180K  - DSSD   -  720 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 40 tracks <
          3)  180K  - SSDD   -  720 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          4)  360K  - DSDD   - 1440 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 40 tracks <
          5)  360K  - SSHD   - 1440 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          6)  720K  - DSHD   - 2880 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          7)  180K  - SSSD   -  720 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          8)  360K  - DSSD   - 1440 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          9)  360K  - SSQD   - 1440 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          A)  720K  - DSQD   - 2880 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          B)  720K  - SSHD   - 2880 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          C) 1440K  - DSHD   - 5760 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
    
         

        At each disk change a new disk image file will be created. If the 
        new disk image file already exists, you will be given the chance of 
        either skipping that filename or overwriting it. 

        At the end of the copying process, a short resume' of the total 
        files that have been copied (or skipped) will be shown. 




##-18.01.00
        ****    FROM OTHER SOURCES TO TI99-PC IMAGE FILE     ****      
                ========================================
        This section will include: 
         - Transferring Image files from PC99, V9T9 emulators to   
           TI99-PC Image file.                                     
         - Transferring an Anadisk Dump file to TI99-PC Image file.
         - Importing files from DOS or ARK files to TI99-PC image  
           file.                                                   


##+18.02.00
    *** TRANSFER A PC99 OR V9T9 VIRTUAL DISK TO A TI99-PC DOS IMAGE FILE ***
        ================================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        2) TO TI-99/4A disk from Emulators or DOS
        3) Transfer a PC-99 virtual disk to a TI99-PC disk image file
        
        A PC99 virtual image file, obtained from .dsk files of PC99 (Mike 
        Wright's CaDD Electronics) (Menu 1 [FROM], Option 2), will be 
        extracted and written to a TI99-PC DOS image file. 

        In this section, the same applies to V9T9 virtual disks. As a 
        matter of fact, the same program handles both formats.

        In the first screen, you can select the Source PC99 or V9T9 .dsk 
        virtual disk (image file) and the Destination TI99-PC image file.

        By pressing F6 while the cursor is on the Source Path and Filename 
        field you will get to the PC directory, where you can navigate and 
        select the desired PC99 or V9T9 .dsk image file. 

        By pressing F6 while the cursor is on the Destination Path and 
        Filename field you will get to the PC directory, where you can 
        navigate and select the Destination TI99-PC image file. 

        By pressing Enter, you will get to the transfer program. First, you 
        will be shown the Catalog of the PC99 or V9T9 .dsk image file. By 
        further pressing Enter, the .dsk content will be extracted. 

             - ENTER key will start the extracting process.
             - F7 will display the sector content of the file the cursor is 
                  on. This is usual whenever a TI directory is displayed on 
                  the screen.
             - ESC, as usual, will take you back to previous menu.

##+18.03.00             
**** TRANSFER AN ANADISK (SYBEX) DUMP FILE TO TI99-PC DISK IMAGE FILE ****
     ==================================================================
        Access to this option from Main Menu, and then: 
        1) FROM TI-99/4A disk to DOS or Emulators  
        8) Utilities
        1) Transfer an Anadisk (Sybex) dump file to ti99-pc disk image 
           format 
           
        At the beginning of the 90's, Sybex made a DOS program, ANADISK, 
        that read, wrote and formatted almost any kind of floppy disk. 

        Among the other things, ANADISK would dump the content of a disk to 
        a file. TI99-PC can use that dump file to build a TI99-PC image 
        file. 

        Dump file from Anadisk must be obtained with INCLUDE SECTOR ID 
        INFORMATION enabled (mark YES on the proper box in DUMP section). 
        Also, make sure you select the proper sides that your floppy disk 
        has (SIDE 0 or BOTH SIDES).

        There is no real advantage using Anadisk rather than TI99-PC. This 
        conversion program has been added only to prove to you that 
        usually, as far as reading a TI disk is concerned, what Anadisk 
        can do can also be done with TI99-PC. 

        At any rate, the program is here: give it a try yourself and you be 
        the judge!


##+18.04.00
*****  IMPORT FROM DOS SINGLE FILES TO A TI99-PC DISK IMAGE FILE   *****
       =========================================================
       Access to this option from Main Menu, by selecting 
        2) TO TI-99/4A disk from Emulators or DOS
        6) Import Files from DOS or ARK files to a TI99-PC disk image file
        
        Useful to import text files and data file. Program files and any 
        other kind of files can be imported too. Please bear in mind that 
        program files that are executable in DOS (.exe, .com) will not work 
        on a TI-99/4A - Geneve. 
        Data files can be useful, provided the user knows how to handle 
        data after they have been transferred to a TI environment. 

        Text files must be plain ASCII text files. Any other text file, 
        such as an MS Word .doc file or similar, has to be transformed 
        into plain ASCII text files before it can be imported and used on 
        a TI-99/4A environment.
        To obtain a true ASCII text file, simply load the text file to be 
        converted into the proper editor (i.e. load MS Word .doc files into 
        MS Word) and save it as an ASCII DOS text file (usually as .txt 
        file). 

        All the imported files will be stored into a TI99-PC Disk Image 
        File. Files contained in a TI99-PC Disk Image File can easily be 
        subsequently exported to:
                a) a real TI-99/4A floppy disk
                b) a PC99 virtual disk 
                c) a V9T9 virtual disk
                
        The import program is logically divided into 3 parts.

          -  Part 1.   Collect DOS files from various directories.
          -  Part 2.   User assigns a TI name and a TI type to the 
                       collected files.
          -  Part 3.   Create a TI99-PC image file and import all the 
                       collected files.
          
##+18.04.01
*****       PART 1: COLLECT DOS FILES FROM VARIOUS DIRECTORIES        *****
            ==================================================
        This is Part 1 of "Import from DOS single files to a TI99-PC disk 
        image file". Here you will select all the files that have to be 
        imported into TI-99/4A environment. Please navigate through your 
        hard disk directories.

        Key functions:

        ENTER (ON A DIRECTORY)
        ======================
        You can navigate through directories in the usual way. 
        A directory is marked by a reversed slash (i.e. "\TEMP").
        Pressing Enter while the cursor is on a directory will chose that 
        directory.
        If you choose a directory with double dots "\.." you will move to 
        the parent directory of the current directory. If you have selected 
        some files on the current directory and you move to another 
        directory, all the selected filenames from the current directory 
        will be added to a temporary file list that can be inspected at any 
        time by pressing the TAB key. 

        ENTER, C, M, 0-9 - SELECTING AND ASSIGNING A PRIORITY
        =====================================================
        Pressing Enter while the cursor is on a filename will select that 
        filename.
        You can also use a "C" or a "M" key to select a filename. In all 
        cases, a capital "C" on the leftmost column will mark a selected 
        filename.

        You can also select a filename by using a number from "0" to "9". A 
        number will assign a priority to files while they are imported into 
        a TI99-PC Disk Image File. If you collect more filenames than a  
        single TI99-PC Disk Image File can contain, files marked with a 
        number will be imported as firsts. 
        The lower the number, the higher the priority, the quicker they 
        will be imported. 

        As an example, files marked with a "0" will have the highest 
        priority. 
        If there are files marked with a "0", these files will the first to 
        be imported. When all the files marked with a "0" are imported, the 
        program will close the current TI99-PC Disk Image File, will open a 
        new TI99-PC Disk Image File and start importing all the files 
        marked with a "1". The process goes on until all the files marked 
        with a "C" are imported. At any change of priority the current 
        TI99-PC Disk Image File will be closed and a new one will be opened.
        The name of the new file is obtained by adding 1 to the ASCII value 
        of the rightmost letter forming the filename. 

        A priority can be useful to import many files on a single session, 
        and assigning them a chosen order in the final disk they will be 
        actually imported into. 
        
        X - IMPORT THE CONTENT OF AN ARK FILE AS SINGLE FILES 
        =====================================================
        Option X (used to be option K up to version 2.5) will extract a 
        single file from a TIFILES file or multiple files from the 
        elected DOS ARK file and place them inside a Disk Image File. 
        An .ARK file is compatible with Barry Boone's Archiver III. 

        For instance, if the original .ARK file in the DOS directory  
        is named NIBBSARK, and NIBBSARK contains  NIBBS1, NIBBS2, NIBBS3 
        files, then, with this option, the single files NIBBS1, NIBBS2, 
        NIBBS3 will be added to the current content of the Disk Image File 
        being created. 
        
        If you want to do the opposite, to collect single DOS files and 
        squeeze them all into unique ARK file inside a Disk Image File, 
        you have to use the K option. 
        
        K - COLLECT DOS FILES, PACK THEM INTO AN ARK FILE AND IMPORT IT 
        ===============================================================
        Option K will archive all the collected files into an Archiver 
        III way and then import it into a Disk Image File. 
        Only one archive file will be created per session, containing 
        all the files selected with the "K" command. Make sure you 
        don't add too many files, otherwise the ARK file just created 
        won't fit in the Disk Image File you have chosen. 
        
        After assigning the new files the right TI type (DIS/FIX, 
        DIS/VAR, PROGRAM) and record length, which is standard for all 
        the file to be imported, you will also be asked to assign the 
        ARK filename and if you want either a Compressed (INT/FIX 128) 
        or Uncompressed (DIS/FIX 128) file type. 
                
        Priorities. The files to be ARKed will be processed before all 
        the others, even before those marked with priority numbers 
        ("0", "1", "2" and so on). In other words, the new ARK file 
        will surely go to the first output Disk Image File you have 
        selected.
        
        Note: Up to version 2.5 of TI99-PC "K" option used to be used 
              to extract files from a DOS ARK file and import them 
              into a Disk Image File. 
              
        T - STRIP THE TIFILES HEADER BEFORE IMPORTING
        =============================================
        Option T will strip a TIFILES header from a TIFILES file being 
        imported from DOS, thus importing just the body of the file. 
        This new command acts as any TI-99/4A file transfer program 
        over RS232 would (TELCO and the like). These programs will 
        strip the TIFILES header when importing a file from DOS over 
        the RS232. 
        
        You can always use the "T" command instead of the standard "C" 
        command if you are not sure if the file being imported really 
        has or hasn't a TIFILES header. 
        
        As a matter of fact the new command key will always be 
        automatically reset to "C" if the file doesn't prove to be 
        a real TIFILES file. The only drawback you will experience 
        is a slight slow down in performance, since each file will 
        now have to be checked to ascertain if there is indeed a 
        TIFILES header. This involves launching an external program 
        for each file to be tested.      

        

        TAB - INSPECT PREVIOUSLY SELECTED FILES
        =======================================
        Will show you all the selected filenames from previous directories, 
        if any. 

        F6 - PROCEED
        ============
        Proceed with importing. It will move you to Part 2 of the "Import 
        Files from DOS": Assigning a TI name to a DOS file. 

        This command will also force the following action: all the files 
        selected in the current directory will be added to the temporary 
        file list that contains all the filenames selected from previous 
        directories.

        CTRL A - SELECT ALL
        ===================
        CTRL A key will mark all the files in current directory with a "C". 

        CTRL U - DESELECT ALL
        =====================
        CTRL U key will unmark all the files in current directory, no 
        matter how they were marked. 

        DEL, SPACE - DESELECT
        =====================
        DEL or SPACE BAR key will deselect the file currently under the 
        cursor. 

        F7 - SECTOR VIEWER
        ==================
        If pressed while the cursor is on a valid filename, it will show 
        you the sector content of that file. Valid on an .ARK file too.

        F8 - ARK FILE VIEWER
        ====================
        If pressed while the cursor is on a ARK filename, it will show you 
        the directory listing of that file. TI99-PC doesn't perform a 
        previous scan of each image file to see if the file is a valid .ARK 
        file. Thus, you have no way of knowing in advance if the file is of 
        .ARK type. You just have to try it.

        F1 - HELP
        =========
        F1 key will bring you to this help screen. 

##+18.04.02
**** PART 2: ASSIGN TI-99/4A FILE TYPE AND FILENAME TO COLLECTED FILES ****
     =================================================================
        This is Part 2 of "Import from DOS single files to a TI99-PC disk 
        image file". Here you will assign TI-99/4A Filenames and File Type 
        to the DOS files that you have previously selected on Part 1.
	
	Default File Type
	=================
	While TI99-PC tries to sort out what type of file you are dealing 
	with by using a "smart" algorithm, it is not really very smart. 
	When it fails, and it does often, it resorts to a default file 
	type stored in the file "FileType.Def", in your TI99-PC install 
	directory. The current 	default value is DIS FIX 128, but you can 
	change that value with a plain DOS ASCII text editor according to 
	your needs. Just edit the first line of that file. Under Windows, 
	NotePad will be a perfect ASCII text editor.
	
        Key functions:

        F5 - TOGGLE BETWEEN TI-99/4A STYLE FILENAME AND DOS LONG FILENAMES
        ==================================================================
        Usually you want to stay in Edit mode, so as to change the TI-99/4A 
        filename and properties. However, if you want to have a look at the 
        Windows 9x long filenames, press F5.


        TAB, ARROW RIGHT, ARROW LEFT, CTRL ARROW LEFT, CTRL ARROW RIGHT
        ===============================================================
        Move through the various fields of a filename (Priority, Filename, 
        File Type and Record Length).

        CTRL PAGE UP, CTRL  PAGE DOWN
        =============================
        Change the TI-99/4A File Type (DIS/VAR, DIS/FIX, INT/VAR, INT/FIX, 
        PROGRAM).

        ARROW DOWN, ARROW UP, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN
        ========================================
        Move through the selected files 

        F7 - SECTOR VIEWER
        ==================
        If pressed while the cursor is on a valid filename, it will show 
        you the sector content of that file. Valid on an .ARK file too.

        F8 - ARK FILE VIEWER
        ====================
        If pressed while the cursor is on a ARK filename, it will show you 
        the directory listing of that file. TI99-PC doesn't perform a 
        previous scan of each image file to see if the file is a valid .ARK 
        file. Thus, you have no way of knowing in advance if the file is of 
        .ARK type. You just have to try it.

        F1 - HELP
        =========
        F1 key will bring you to this help screen. 

        F6 - PROCEED
        ============
        When you are through with the editing of TI-99/4A filenames and 
        file types, press F6 to start processing the conversion. 

##+18.04.03
*****       PART 3: CREATE A TI99-PC IMAGE FILE                  *****
            ===================================
        This is the 3rd and final section of "IMPORT FROM DOS SINGLE FILES 
        TO A TI99-PC DISK IMAGE FILE". Here you have to select a number 
        (1-C) corresponding the to the disk image file of your choice. 
                
         
          1)   90K  - SSSD   -  360 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          2)  180K  - DSSD   -  720 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 40 tracks <
          3)  180K  - SSDD   -  720 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          4)  360K  - DSDD   - 1440 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 40 tracks <
          5)  360K  - SSHD   - 1440 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          6)  720K  - DSHD   - 2880 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 40 tracks 
          7)  180K  - SSSD   -  720 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          8)  360K  - DSSD   - 1440 sectors -  9 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          9)  360K  - SSQD   - 1440 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          A)  720K  - DSQD   - 2880 sectors - 18 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          B)  720K  - SSHD   - 2880 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
          C) 1440K  - DSHD   - 5760 sectors - 36 sctr/trk - 80 tracks
    
        If you should have chosen a file image that cannot hold all 
        the data you have selected, in this case when the first file 
        image has been filled up, a new file image of the same type 
        will be created and the filename assigned to it will be worked 
        out by incrementing by one the last character of the previous 
        filename.                    
        
        
                   The following disk image file:
                   already exists.              
                   You may:                      
                   - Overwrite [O]
                   - Skip      [S]
                   - Append    [A]
                   Your choice: O/S/A ? 

        If the above screen pops up, that means the output filename 
        already exists on the chosen DOS directory. Here the user is 
        given the following choices:
        
        1) overwriting the existing disk image file 
        2) skipping the existing disk image file and proceed with a 
           next one 
        2) appending the files to be imported to the existing disk 
           image file 
        
        The next disk image filename will be worked out by incrementing 
        by one the last character of the previous disk image filename.
        
        If Adding is selected, the new files will simply be added to 
        the existing ones and alphabetically reordered. Duplicated 
        file names will be automatically checked and resolved by 
        adding a tilde character "~" to the new file being added.  

##-19.01.00 
****    THE QUICK TI DISK CATALOG AND DELETING FILES  *****
        ============================================
        The Quick TI Disk Catalog is available in all the Main Menus. 
        These menus are very common and you can spot the string 
        "F5-F6=TI-DOS listing" as a bottom note in them.
        
        The Quick TI Disk Catalog (green color) will be activated by 
        pressing the F5 key while in the above menus. 
        
        "D" command key to Delete files.
        While in Quick Disk Catalog you can delete files and directories 
        from a Disk Image File. Simply mark with a "D" any file or 
        directory you want to delete. When you are through with your 
        selection, hit "F6" key to proceed and confirm. 
        
        All the selected files and directories marked with "D" will be 
        deleted and the freed disk sectors will be added to the free ones. 
        
        This command will work on both the V9T9 and the PC99 disk image 
        files.
        
        Note 1: the Quick Ti Disk Catalog used to work on an 
                uncompressed Mess Hard Disk Image File too, up to year 
                2003. I've been told Mess Hard Disk has undergone a 
                structural change and I am afraid the Quick Ti Disk 
                Catalog won't work with it. 
                
        Note 2: there is another Quick TI Disk Catalog (green color too)
                that can be activated from the DOS Navigator (see section 
                39.01.01). That one doesn't have the Delete feature, 
                though.

##-20.01.00 
        ***     RECOVERING DISK IMAGE FILES WITH BAD FDRS       ***
                =========================================
        A Disk Image File with a bad sector in the FDR (File Desctriptor 
        Record) can be recovered. An FDR is the sector that contains the 
        name of the file, and other relevant file parameters. 
        A bad FDR can strike while reading a faulty TI Floppy Disk
        (Option 1.1), if the reading error occurs on the sector that 
        contains the FDR. 
        
        A Disk Image File with a bad FDR can be managed by TI99-PC, 
        although to a limited extent. The only thing you should do is to 
        get rid at once of the file with a bad FDR. 
        
        Thus, delete the bad FDR file with the Delete option of the Main 
        Menu TI Directory (F5 from most of the menus). Although the Delete 
        option usually frees the used sectors that belong to the deleted 
        file, in this particular case you will not be able to free the 
        used sectors of this special file.
        
        To finally fix the Free/Used sectors, copy the newly obtained Disk 
        Image File with Split option (option 1.7) into a new Disk Image 
        File as soon as you can. The new disk image file will be a perfect 
        disk image file.
        
        Any other attempt may lead to unpredictable results, and should 
        therefore be avoided.
        
        A file with a bad FDR can be easily spotted on any TI99-PC catalog: 
        it will have a name formed by 10 vertical bars (or a similar 
        strange name), either no length and no type or 47803 total sectors 
        and an Int/Var 186 file type or some crazy values anyway.
        The Err number that appears on the right is the bad FDR sector 
        number.
	
       
##-30.01.00              
        ***             EXTERNAL COMMAND FILE FORMATTER         ***
                        ===============================
        You can access the External Command File Formatter (ECFF) from Main 
        Menu. Select:
                3) Tools
                1) Floppy Disk Formatter and other Floppy Utilities
                3) External Command File Formatter
    
        The External Command File Formatter (ECFF) is the most powerful and 
        sophisticated tool currently available on TI99-PC. However, this 
        option should not be avoided by normal user, for it is completely 
        useless if all you want is just a normal TI disk. Besides, it 
        demands a great deal of knowledge about floppy disk drive innards. 
    
        With this option the user will have a fine control over every 
        single aspect of the formatting process. For instance, skipping 
        some tracks, numbering sectors and tracks in a non-standard way, 
        changing side or transfer rate during the formatting process will 
        be possible. 
    
        The most beautiful part of the ECFF is that every command is issued 
        by the means of a command file that is written in plain ASCII text 
        file. 
        Once you have created a command file that suits your needs, you 
        can repeat that process any time you want with no further effort 
        on your side. 
        
        No compiling is needed. At run-time, the built-in interpreter will 
        parse and execute every instruction that forms your command file.
    
        Syntax errors will be flag out both on the screen and onto a LOG 
        file named FMT_LOG.TXT, for later inspection. 
        
        With some instructions, you will get an ASCII output that can be 
        re-directed to a new external file. This new external file can be 
        later executed too, example: '.RUN "ONTHEFLY.FMT"'. 
    
        For instance, the instruction ".DSKIDS" will Show all the ID and 
        formatting instructions belonging to an entire disk, sector by 
        sector, track by track, side bye side. Once the output of such a
        powerful instruction has been redirected to an external file you 
        will be able to edit and fine tune this new command file so as to 
        easily duplicate almost any floppy disk around. 
    
        Please see the "IDS-DS48.FMT" command file for an example on how to 
        get a full listing of the way a 40 track, 2 sides, floppy disk has 
        been formatted on an 80 Track disk drive. 
    
        The "XNDSDD48.FMT" command file will show you how to copy a 
        protected floppy disk that is Double Side, Double Density, 40 
        Track, either 3.5" or 5.25", on an 80 Track Disk Drive (either 
        3.5" or 5.25"). 
    
##-30.02.01    
        ***     EXTERNAL COMMAND FILE FORMATTER - SHORT DESCRIPTION     ***
                ===============================
        Paolo Bagnaresi - e-mail: paolo.bagnaresi@fastwebnet.it
                        March 1st, 2001
        ---------------------------------------------------

        This section 30.xx.xx contains all the possible commands that can 
        be used in a command file to be processed by TI99_PC ver. 2, 
        Option 3. 
        TI99_PC ver. 2 is a PC program that can format a floppy disk (5.25" 
        and 3.5" sizes) following the TI-99/4A conventions.

        TI99_PC ver. 2 can also format floppies according to any standard, 
        not necessarily just that of the  TI-99/4A computer.

        The External Command File (ECFF) has all the commands needed to 
        access all the different options that are theoretically available 
        on a PC Floppy Disk Controller and INT 1E System Data - Diskette 
        Parameter Table. Most of these options are in usually out of reach 
        for the common user.
        
        With the Command File you can format a floppy in completely out of 
        standard way. That is to say: 
          - Format a disk with different densities in different Tracks
          - Format a Track with different sector sizes inside the same track
          - Change FM with MFM at different tracks (provided your Floppy 
            Disk Controller handles FM). 
        In short, if the controller can do it, Command File will usually do 
        it. However, there are some exceptions, namely: 
          - Sector sizes below 128 byte/sector are not handled. 
          - DMA mode is always enabled (you cannot disabled it). 
          

##-30.02.02
        ***             WARNING AND DISCLAIMER                  ***
                        ======================
        TI99_PC ver. 2 command file Formatter (Option 3) doesn't assume 
        anything. You have to Command it. 
        Also, almost no check is carried out on the commands you will issue.
        This means your commands might remain dangerous for the life of 
        your drive and controller. 
        
        For a safety measure, extract all the floppies with important data 
        from the disk drives before starting TI99_PC ver. 2. For 
        practicing, use only floppies with scrap data. Make sure you write 
        protect source disks with important data. 

        If you are not accustomed to floppy format intricacies, please 
        refrain from using the command file option. There is no tutorial on 
        how to use the formatter. 

##-30.02.03
        ***             BASIC PRINCIPLES                ***
                        ================
 
    1)  The formatter gets all the Instructions needed to format a floppy 
        from the External Command File (ECF).
        
    2)  The ECF is written in plain ASCII (.TXT file). It contains single 
        instructions, suitable to entirely format a floppy in a custom 
        manner. All the parameters that a formatter program has to set will
        be addressable by the ECF. 
        
    3)  A log file, named "FMT_LOG.TXT" will be created. It will also 
        contain all the execution errors, if any.
        
    4)  Some commands, such as .SHOWIDS, .DSKIDS will output several dot 
        commands on the log file. This is done on purpose. The user can 
        feed the log file as is as a new command file for the formatter. 
        He can also edit it, according to his needs. 

    5)  To format a Track, you have to set several parameters.
        Please study the enclosed examples. All the enclosed command files 
        have the .FMT extension in the filename. 

##-30.02.04
        ***             TIPS AND KNOWN PITFALLS                 ***
                        =======================

    1)  A wrong command may confuse the FDC. It happened to me. I couldn't 
        get the controller to work in High Density (500 kbps Transfer Rate).
        I had to turn the computer off and restart. 

    2)  Commas (,) are usually ignored. You can add them to separate 
        parameter values, but they will usually be treated as blanks. In 
        some cases, I might have forgotten to convert them to blanks and 
        this  could confuse the interpreter: so, if you are in doubt, 
        please avoid them. 

    3)  ESC key will stop the execution of all commands. Just press it once 
        and wait. As soon as the computer carries out the current command, 
        the execution will stop. 

    4)  Transfer Rate, expressed in kbps, in commands such as .SHOWIDS, 
        .DKSIDS reflects the real value your floppy drive is using at the 
        moment. That value may change if you change disk drives.
        Values of 300 kbps in MFM (or 150 kbps in FM) on a 1.2 Meg AT 5.25" 
        drive spinning at 360 rpm correspond to 250 kbps (or 125 kbps, in 
        FM) on a 360 KB 5.25" drive spinning at 300 rpm. 
        It is a well known fact that 300 kbbs at 360 rpm correspond to 
        250 kbps at 300 rpm. 
            
    5)  When using a command file obtained by .DSKIDS command as a 
        formatting file on a different computer, pay attention to the 
        Transfer Rate supported by your disk drive. ".TRATE 1" will have 
        to be changed to .TRATE 2", and vice versa, when changing from an 
        AT 1.2 M 5.25" disk drive to a 360 KB 5.25" or a 3.5" drive . 
        Please use the Replace String function on a Plain ASCII Text File 
        Editor to carry out the replacement. For further explanations, 
        please see the point 4) above and the .TRATE command below. 

    6)  Sometimes, a wrong Transfer Rate can be useful. To entirely erase
        a floppy, so as to be totally unreadable by ANADISK (Sidex), you
        can use a wrong transfer rate. As an example, a formatted 
        Double Side, 80 Track 5.25" disk was totally unreadable after 
        formatting with option 2 (Non TI Custom Floppy Formatter) with 250 
        kbps as Transfer Rate on a 5.25" AT 1.2M drive. 
        The right value should have been 300 kbps. 
        But the interesting fact was that this floppy was "blank" to 
        Anadisk, something that is difficult to achieve.
        Anyway, that disk still had something inside, according to TI99_PC 
        ver. 2 .DKSIDS command. To achieve the same goal, I remember I once 
        had to extract the magnetic medium of a floppy and flip it over 
        before inserting it back in the black jacket. Since the resulting 
        disk had the bytes in reversed order, that disk was then a 
        perfectly "unformatted" blank disk.
        
        To strengthen this effect, you can also set .SKTRK to zero. 

    7)  If your drive makes a terrible rattling sound, try to lower 
        the STEP RATE value (the lower the value, the longer the time). 
        As an example, change the Step Rate value to 6, that is:
        .SRATE 6
        
    8)  See at the end of this doc the special section 30.03.08 dedicated 
        to copying floppies containing copy protection schemes:
        COPYING DISKETTES WITH COPY PROTECTION SCHEMES
        
        
        
##-30.02.05
        ****             COMMANDS, LISTED BY PURPOSE                ****

        You may find the same commands repeated under different categories. 

##-30.02.06
        ***             USER INTERFACE COMMANDS                 ***
                        =======================
        '         Remark. No action taken for whatever follows until end 
                  of line. 
        .BEEP     Play a short Beep sound.
        .CLS      Clear the bottom window screen.
        .CO       Output comment on the screen until end of line. 
        .WA       Wait for a key to be pressed by the user. 
        .RUN      Close the current Command File and open and execute 
                  another one. 
        
##-30.02.07
        ***             ACTION ON DRIVE COMMANDS                ***
                        ========================
        .COPY2DSK Copy bytes to the floppy disk from an external 
                  PATHFILENAME Binary file.
        .COPY2FIL Copy bytes from the floppy disk to an external 
                  PATHFILENAME Binary file.
        .DSKFMT   Execute a Track Format on all the Tracks, Sides of an 
                  entire disk.
        .FORMAT   Execute a Single Track Format.  
        .REWN     Rewrite sectors as Normal (not Deleted) Data Control Mark.
        .REWD     Rewrite sectors as Deleted (not Normal) Data Control Mark.
        .SECTW    Read a sector and then write something on it. 
        .VERIFY   Read sectors and display read errors, if any.
                  
##-30.02.08
        ***             DRIVE MECHANICAL TIMING COMMANDS        ***
                        ================================
        .HSTL     Head Settle Time.
        .LOAD     Assign Head Load Time.
        .MOFF     Motor Off Delay.
        .MON      Motor Start Time (Motor On).
        .SRATE    Assign Step Rate.
        .UNLD     Assign Head Unload Time.      
                  
##-30.02.09
        ***             SET FORMAT DESCRIPTOR TABLE COMMANDS    ***
                        ====================================
        .FLUSH    Discard all the values currently in the Format Descriptor 
                  Table.
        .LT       Assign Logical Track Number in Format Descriptor Table. 
        .LH       Assign Logical Head Number in Format Descriptor Table.
        .LS       Assign Logical Sector Number in Format Descriptor Table.
        .LZ       Assign Logical Sector Size in Format Descriptor Table.
        .WDT      Write Format Descriptor Table. 
        .TREAD    Copies all the values present in the Format Descriptor 
                  Table to the Unique Temporary Buffer. 
        .TWRITE   Writes all the values present in the Unique Temporary 
                  Buffer to the Format Descriptor Table. 
        .UDTK     Updates all the ".LT" (Logical Track) values present in 
                  the Format Descriptor Table.
        .UDHD     Updates all the ".LH" (Logical Head) values present in 
                  the Format Descriptor Table.
        .UDSZ     Updates all the ".LZ" (Sector Size) values present in 
                  the Format Descriptor Table.
                  
##-30.02.10
        ***             OTHER SETTING FORMAT COMMANDS           ***
                        =============================
        .DBLSTP   Double Step. 
        .DDM      Enable/Disable Deleted Data Mark. 
        .DWFIH    Don't Wait For Index Hole.
        .FILL     Filler Byte. 
        .SIZE     Assign Physical Sector Size for Current Track. 
        .SKTRK    Assign Total Sector/Track for Current Track. 
        .LAYOUT   Describe the Disk Layout. 
                  
##-30.02.11
        ***             CHANGING DRIVE, TRACK, HEAD             ***
                        ===========================
        .DRIVE    Assign Physical Drive Number. 
        .HEAD     Assign Physical Head Number for Current Track.
        .TRACK    Assign Physical Track Number.
        
##-30.02.12
        ***             SET DENSITY COMMANDS                    ***
                        ====================
        .TRATE    Assign Transfer Rate. 
        .FM       Select FM as Recording Method. 
        .MFM      Select MFM as Recording Method.
        
##-30.02.13
        ***             SET GAPS COMMANDS                       ***
                        =================
        .GAP3W    Assign GAP3 Length for Sector Write.
        .GAP3F    Assign GAP3 Length for Sector Format.
        .DBLSTP   Double Step. 
        
##-30.02.14
        ***             CHANGE DISK CONTENT COMMANDS            ***
                        ============================
                                
        .COPY2DSK Copy bytes to the floppy disk from an external 
                  PATHFILENAME Binary file.
        .COPY2FIL Copy bytes from the floppy disk to an external 
                  PATHFILENAME Binary file.
        .INFILE   Set PATH  and FILENAME to be later used by .COPY2DSK 
                  command. 
        .OUTFILE  Set PATH  and FILENAME to be later used by .COPY2FIL 
                  command.
        .COPYLIST Set PATH  and FILENAME for a file where .COPY2FIL command 
                  in either TIBLIND or DOSBLIND mode will output an ASCII 
                  list of all the sectors being copied (with relevant 
                  Logical and Physical track, side, size info). .DSKIDS cmd 
                  will also output to this file. 
        .INPIN    Enable a prompt to accept an .INFILE filename from the 
                  user.
        .INPOUT   Enable a prompt to accept an .OUTFILE filename from the 
                  user.
        .LAYOUT   Describe the Disk Layout. 
        .REWN     Rewrite sectors as Normal (not Deleted) Data Control Mark.
        .REWD     Rewrite sectors as Deleted (not Normal) Data Control Mark.
        .SECTW    Read a sector and then write something on it
        .SECTCOPY Copy a single sector from .INFILE to current Disk. 
                  INFILE contains Logical and Physical sector numbering, 
                  as ANADISK dump files do.
        .TOPSECT  will exclude all sectors that have a higher sector number 
                  from copying on a next .SECTCOPY command. 
        .WCF      Send argument to .COPYLIST file.
        
##-30.02.15
        ***                     SHOW IDS COMMANDS               ***
                                =================
                                
        .DSKIDS   Show sector IDS from the entire disk. 
        .IDSCNT   Sets the number of IDs that have to be read by .IDS 
                  command. 
        .IDS      Read sector IDs in Current Drive, Head, Track. 
        .SHOWIDS  Show sector IDs previously read with .IDS command. 
        .DWFIH    Don't Wait For Index Hole while reading IDS.
        
##-30.02.16            
        ***     ECF COMMANDS SYNTAX, LISTED ALPHABETICALLY      ***
                ==========================================        
                
        Please find below the External Command File Formatter (ECFF) 
        commands, listed alphabetically. 
        
'  - Correct syntax is "' ". Internal Comment (Remark).
        Whatever follows the " ' " command, until the end of the line, will 
        NOT be printed on the screen and will be totally ignored by 
        TI99_PC ver. 2. 
        The command ".' " can also be used. 


.BEEP   Play a short Beep sound. No parameter is needed. Since the timing
        is not linked to the internal real time clock, but there is just a 
        CPU loop, the frequency of the sound depends on the CPU frequency. 
        The higher the CPU frequency, the higher the sound frequency. 
        At 25 MHz it is almost a "bonk" sound. At 250 MHz it is a high 
        "beep". 
        I guess I should correct this, ... oh well, maybe in the future. 

.CLS    Clear the bottom window screen. No parameter is needed. 

.CO - Comment.  Correct syntax is ".CO ", followed by an ASCI comment. 
        The ASCI comment longer than 74 bytes will be truncated. 
        The entire line following the .CO command will be printed on the 
        screen.
        Example: .CO This file will format a 5.25" floppy as Single Density
        on Side 1 and Double Density on Side 2 
        will print  
        "This file will format a 5.25" floppy as Single Density on Side 1 
        and Double Density on Side 2"

.COPY2DSK START_BYTE, END_BYTE TO START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR, 
        FIRST_SECTOR_OFFSET UNTIL END_TRACK, END_HEAD, END_SECTOR, <MODE>
        
        Copy bytes to the floppy disk from an external PATHFILENAME Binary 
        file, set by .INFILE command. Start from START_BYTE, until END_BYTE 
        (both included in the count) in external file. 
        
        Place the above bytes on current disk at START_TRACK, START_HEAD, 
        START_SECTOR, beginning at a given OFFSET, until END_TRACK, 
        END_HEAD, END_SECTOR is reached. 
        Use the copying Mode specified in <MODE>. 
        
        <MODE> can have 4 values: "DOSMODE", "DOSBLIND", "TIMODE", "TIBLIND"
        
        DOSMODE will behave as DOS would. It will follow the .LAYOUT 
                command (first_sector_track, sector/track, last_track, 
                number of sides). 
                Pass from side 1 to side 2 and only then proceed with the 
                next track.  If we started on side 2, pass to side 1 on 
                next track. Provided enough data are specified in source 
                file, go on until outer track (40 or 80). You can say that 
                DOS mode is similar to the way a drunk person would go back 
                home, swaying from one side of the road to the other, 
                stepping forward for a while, and then swaying back to the 
                first side.
                
        DOSBLIND will try to copy all the sectors, irrespective of declared 
                disk layout (.LAYOUT command). It will follow the DOSMODE 
                pattern (Side 0, Side 1 and then next Track). 
                An implicit .IDS command will force reading all the ID of 
                the track being accessed. This will slow down the process 
                considerably. Also, no check will be performed. This means 
                that a missing sector on the destination disk will be 
                skipped without any warning to the user, making the copy 
                useless. . 
        
        TIMODE will write a disk as the TI-99/4A computer would. It will 
                follow the .LAYOUT command (first_sector_track, 
                sector/track, last_track, number of sides). 
                It will keep on writing on START_HEAD until the last track 
                is reached.
                Provided enough data are specified in source file, and  we 
                started on side 1, it will shift to side 2 and write from 
                the outer track (40 or 80) down to track 0. If we started 
                from Side 2, it will write only on Side 2, going from outer
                track down to lowest track (track zero).
        
        TIBLIND will try to copy all the sectors, irrespective of declared 
                disk layout (.LAYOUT command). It will follow the TIMODE 
                pattern (Entirely Side 0 from track 0 until Side 0 last 
                track and only then does Side 1 from last track down to Side
                1 track zero). 
                An implicit .IDS command will force reading all the ID of 
                the track being accessed. This will slow down the process
                considerably. Also, no check will be performed. This means 
                that a missing sector on the destination disk will be 
                skipped without any warning to the user, making the copy 
                useless. 
        
        Please note that the counterpart command of .COPY2FIL in BLIND mode 
        (either TIBLIND or DOSBLIND) is not .COPY2DSK in BLIND mode, as one 
        would logically expect, but is .SECTCOPY.  
              
        Correct syntax is ".COPY2DSK <start_byte_number>, <end_byte_number>,
        < TO >,  <start_track_number>,  <start_head_number>,  
        <start_sector_number>,  <first_sector_offset> <UNTIL> 
        <end_track_number>, <end_head_number>,  <end_sector_number>,  <MODE>
        
        Examples: 
        .COPY2DSK 1,512      TO 7, 1, 13, 17 UNTIL 12, 2, 5 TIMODE
        
        .COPY2DSK 2048, 244772 TO 3, 1, 11, 15 UNTIL 10, 3, 15 TIBLIND
       
        Sectors following the first sector will be written without any 
        OFFSET. This means that OFFSET is valid for first sector only. 
        Currently, Next Sectors will be valid sectors only if they reside on
        the same Head, Track area and are numbered with an increment of 1.
        If there aren't enough destination sectors to fulfill the command, 
        an error will be issued.
        Sector Size must have been previously set by .SIZE command. 
        Deleted Data Mark must have been previously set by .DDM command. 
        FM or FMF must have been previously set by .FM or .MFM command.
        First byte in external file is byte 1. Last byte in external file 
        is the last byte that will be copied. 
        Lowest OFFSET is OFFSET 0.
        While in BLIND mode, reading IDs errors will not stop the program. 
        IDs errors will simply be processed as lack of sectors on that 
        particular track. Worse, if you inadvertently hinder the 
        program execution, the program will act as though some sectors were 
        missing on the floppy, even if this is not true. Thus, if you are 
        running Windows ME and you are in BLIND mode, you are not supposed 
        to perform other tasks, unless your processor is vary fast and the 
        tasks are really light. BLIND mode has not been tested under 
        Windows 98 or 95. Nonetheless, I suppose it should work. 

.COPY2FIL  FROM START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR, FIRST_SECTOR_OFFSET 
        UNTIL END_TRACK, END_HEAD, END_SECTOR, LAST_SECTOR_OFFSET  <MODE>
        
        Copy bytes from the floppy disk to an external PATHFILENAME Binary 
        file, set by .OUTFILE command. If the file already exists,  
        destroy the file and replace it with the new one. 
        
        Get the above bytes from current disk starting from START_TRACK, 
        START_HEAD, START_SECTOR, beginning at the given 
        FIRST_SECTOR_OFFSET, until END_TRACK, END_HEAD, END_SECTOR is 
        reached. On END_SECTOR, copy until the given LAST_SECTOR_OFFSET. 
        Use the copying Mode specified in <MODE>. 
        
        <MODE> can have 4 values: "DOSMODE", "DOSBLIND", "TIMODE", "TIBLIND"
        
        DOSMODE will behave as DOS would. It will follow the .LAYOUT 
                command (first_sector_track, sector/track, last_track, 
                number of sides). 
                Pass from side 1 to side 2 and only then proceed with the 
                next track.  If we started on side 2, pass to side 1 on 
                next track. Provided enough data are specified  in source 
                file, go on until outer track (40 or 80). You can say that 
                DOS mode is similar to the way a drunk person would go back 
                home, swaying from one side of the road to the other, 
                stepping forward for a while, and then swaying back to the 
                first side.
        
        DOSBLIND will try to copy all the sectors, irrespective of declared 
                disk layout (.LAYOUT command). It will follow the DOSMODE 
                pattern (Side 0, Side 1 and then next Track). 
                An implicit .IDS command will force reading all the ID of 
                the track being accessed. This will slow down the process 
                considerably. Also, no check will be performed. This means 
                that a missing sector on the destination disk will be 
                skipped without any warning to the user, making the copy 
                useless. 
        
        TIMODE  will read a disk as the TI-99/4A computer would. It will 
                follow the .LAYOUT command (first_sector_track, 
                sector/track, last_track, number of sides). 
                It will keep on reading on START_HEAD until the last track 
                is reached.
                Provided enough data are specified in source file, and  we 
                start on side 1, it will shift to side 2 and read from the 
                outer track (40 or 80) down to track 0. If we started from 
                Side 2, it will read only on Side 2, going from outer track 
                down to lowest track (track zero).
        
        TIBLIND will try to copy all the sectors, irrespective of declared 
                disk layout (.LAYOUT command). It will follow the TIMODE 
                pattern (Entirely Side 0 from track 0 until last track and 
                only then Side 1 from last track down to track zero). 
                An implicit .IDS command will force reading all the ID of 
                the track being accessed. This will slow down the process 
                considerably. Also, no check will be performed. This means 
                that a missing sector on the destination disk will be 
                skipped without any warning to the user, making the copy 
                useless. 
        
        DOSBLIND or TIBLIND mode will add to the output file an 8 byte 
        header for each sector copied, as Anadisk (by Sybex) would do. 
        These bytes represent:  
        - byte 0   - Actual Cylinder (track)    i.e. 45
        - byte 1   - Actual Side                i.e. 0
        - byte 2   - Logical Cylinder (track)   i.e. 225
        - byte 3   - Logical Side               i.e. 73
        - byte 4   - Logical Sector             i.e. 251        
        - byte 5   - Logical Length             i.e. 2  
        - byte 6,7 - Logical Sector Length (LSByte, MSByte) i.e. 512 
        Additionally, provided an output file has been specified and opened 
        by .COPYLIST command, it will also output an ASCII list of all the 
        8 byte headers described above. 
        If a .COPYLIST file hasn't been previously opened, no .COPYLIST 
        file will be created and no error will be issued. 
        It is strongly suggested you open the .COPYLIST file. It is so handy
        to control what sectors have been copied and which one will be 
        copied to the output disk. By editing the .COPYLIST file, you will 
        easily do away with those sectors you do not want to be copied. 
        If a sector has been listed by Read ID command but cannot later be 
        read, a suitable error will be issued: '  CRC or ECC error on read
        
        Please note that the counterpart command of .COPY2FIL in BLIND mode 
        is not .COPY2DSK in BLIND mode, as one would expect, but is 
        .SECTCOPY.  
              
        Correct syntax is ".COPY2FIL < FROM >,  <start_track_number>,  
        <start_head_number>,  <start_sector_number>,  <first_sector_offset>
        <UNTIL> <end_track_number>, <end_head_number>,  <end_sector_number>,
        <last_sector_offset> <MODE>
        
        Examples: 
        .COPY2FIL FROM 7, 1, 13, 17 UNTIL 12, 2, 5, 122 TIMODE
        
        .COPY2FIL FROM 3, 1, 11, 15 UNTIL 10, 3, 15, 242 TIBLIND
        
        
        The following 2commands will copy an HD 1440 KB 3.5 floppy disk in 
        BLIND mode (very slow). 
        '<bytes_sector>, <sides>, <tracks_side>, <sect_trk>, <1st_sect_trck>
        .LAYOUT    512,     2,      80,             18,              1
'     FROM   STRK, SHEAD,SSECT,1STOFF UNTIL ETRK,EHEAD,ESECT LSTOFF <MODE>
.COPY2FIL FROM  0,  0,    0,     0    UNTIL  79,  1,    255,  0,   DOSBLIND

        Sectors following the first sector will be read without any 
        OFFSET. This means that OFFSET is valid for first sector only. 
        
        Sector Size must have been previously set by .SIZE command. 
        Deleted Data Mark must have been previously set by .DDM command. 
        FM or FMF must have been previously set by .FM or .MFM command.
        First byte that goes to the external file is byte 1. 
        Lowest OFFSET is OFFSET 0.
        Last byte to the external file comes from the Last Sector Offset.
        For instance, if  last_sector_offset is 2, bytes 0,1,2 will be 
        copied to the .OUTFILE file. 
        While in BLIND mode, reading IDs errors will not stop the program. 
        IDs errors will simply be processed as lack of sectors on that 
        particular track. Worse, if you inadvertently hinder the 
        program execution, the program will act as thouh some sectors were 
        missing on the floppy, even if this is not true. Thus, if you are 
        running Windows ME and you are in BLIND mode, you are not supposed 
        to perform other tasks, unless your processor is vary fast and the 
        tasks are really light. BLIND mode has not been tested under 
        Windows 98 or 95. Nonetheless, I suppose it should work.
        
        FIRST_SECTOR_OFFSET = 0 will start copying from byte 0. 
        FIRST_SECTOR_OFFSET greater than Sector Size will move the start of 
        copying to the next sector(s), until the condition is satisfied. 
        
        LAST_SECTOR_OFFSET = 0 will CONVENTIONALLY be considered equal to
        the an offset equal to the last byte in the last sector, whatever 
        that might be. However, you can instead assign the real offset to 
        the last byte in the last sector, if you wish. 

.COPYLIST Set PATH  and FILENAME for an output file where the COPY2FIL 
        command in DOSBLIND or TIBLIND mode will output an ASCII list of 
        all the sectors copied, with all the relevant information, namely: 
        Actual Cylinder (track), Actual Side, Logical Cylinder (track), 
        Logical Side, Logical Sector, Logical Length, Logical Byte Count. 
        If a .COPYLIST file hasn't been previously opened, no .COPYLIST 
        file will be created by .COPY2FIL and no error will be issued. 
        
        .DSKIDS command will also output to this file. For .DSKIDS cmd to 
        work, this file must be previously opened.
        
        .WCF command will output whatever is in the argument field, until 
        the End Of Record, to .COPYLIST file. 
        
        If a .COPY2FIL command in BLIND mode is not issued later on, no 
        .COPYLIST file will be created. 
        
        A .COPYLIST command can be conveniently used to copy diskettes with 
        copy protection schemes: the output file will contain a list 
        of .SECTCOPY commands (see) and all the suitable parameters ready 
        to use. 
        
        This command closes a previous Path, Filename of the same kind, if 
        present, and open this Path, Filename. Correct syntax is 
        ".COPYLIST [<"full_path">].
        The Pathname and Filename must be embedded in double quotes. 
        Example: 
        .COPYLIST  "C:\MYDIR\PATH\SECTLIST.TXT"

        If Argument [<"full_path">] is missing, this command will simply 
        close the current opened COPYLIST, if any. 
        This file will be closed anyway when exiting option 3 of 
        TI99_PC ver. 2 - External Command File Formatter.   
        

.DBLSTP Double Step. Valid values: OFF=O, Disabled; ON=1, Enabled 
        Correct syntax is ".DBLSTP <ON_or_OFF_string>".
        Example: .DBLSTP OFF
        
.DDM    Enable/Disable Deleted Data Mark. 
        Valid values: OFF=Disabled, ON=Enabled 
        OFF=0, Deleted Data Mark DISABLED. ON=1, Deleted Data Mark ENABLED.
        Correct syntax is ".DDM <ON_or_OFF_string>".
        Example: .DDM ON        
        This command is valid only on Format (.FORMAT, .DSKFMT) or Write 
        Sectors (.SECTW, .COPY2DSK, .REWD, REWN) . 
        Read sector will work irrespective of the .DDM value.
        
.DRIVE  Assign Physical Drive Number. Valid values: A:,B:
        Overrides whatever drive # has been manually input by user on menu 
        screen. 
        Correct syntax is ".DRIVE <drive_letter>".
        Example: .DRIVE B:      
        

.DSKFMT - Execute a Track Format on all the Tracks, Sides of an entire disk.
        No parameter is allowed. Correct syntax is ".DSKFMT ".  
        
        This command will use 2nd and 3rd parameter from .LAYOUT command 
        (see), namely: <sides>, <track/side>. Oddly enough, Sector/track 
        must be previously set with the .SKTRK command. 
        .LAYOUT <sector_track> is not used.
        
        With this commands all the tracks will have the same size,
        Transfer Rate (.TRATE), Density (.FM or .MFM) and sectors numbering.
        Thus, this command is not suitable for strange disk formats.
        If what you want is strange disk formats, you will be better off
        with issuing several .FORMAT commands, each with the needed 
        peculiarities.
        
        The Format Descriptor Table must have been previously set with the 
        .WDT command: each track will have as Logical Track, Logical Side 
        the Physical Track, Physical Side it belongs to, no matter what 
        Track/Side you have written with the .WDT command. So, only 
        Sector_Numbers and Size of the .WDT command will be used. 
        This is to say that an implicit .UDTK  (Updates all the ".LT" 
        (Logical Track)) and .UDHD   (Updates all the ".LH" (Logical Head)) 
        will be performed with the current track, side when there is a 
        track or side change. After .DSKFMT has been executed the original 
        .WDT table is lost: now .WDT table reflects only the values needed 
        for the last formatted track. 
        
.DSKIDS Show sector IDs from the entire disk and output a suitable command
        file to a COPYLIST file (see), which must be previously opened. 
        
        Correct syntax is ".DSKIDS ". No parameter is needed.
        Example: 
        .DSKIDS 
        Display all sector IDs from an entire floppy disk. 
        Number of Sides will be taken from second parameter in 
        .LAYOUT command. 
        Last track in each side will be taken from third parameter in 
        .LAYOUT command.
        Number of tries on current track is set by .IDSCNT command. 
        Unlike .IDS, this command will read and ALSO DISPLAY the
        IDs. The output from this command onto the default FMT_LOG.TXT 
        output file, if file-renamed, can be used as a new command file to 
        clone-format a new disk. 
        
        If the output file shows a good track every other track, and the 
        Physical Track # is the double of the Logical Track #, this means 
        that we are working on a 40 track floppy with an 80 track drive: 
        enabling .DBLSTP ON and setting the third parameter in .LAYOUT 
        command to 39 will surely correct the problem. 

.DWFIH  Enable/Disable: Don't Wait For Index Hole while reading IDS.
        Valid values: OFF=Disabled, ON=Enabled. Default is OFF condition. 
        
        With OFF, "Don't Wait For Index Hole while reading IDS" is DISABLED.
        In other words, software will wait for Index Hole detection. 
        
        With ON, "Don't Wait For Index Hole while reading IDS" is ENABLED.
        In other words, software will NOT wait for Index Hole detection. 
        
        Correct syntax is ".DWFIH <ON_or_OFF_string>".
        Example: .DWFIH ON        
        
        Discussion 
        ==========
        When DWFIH is OFF the FDC will reach the Index Hole and only when 
        this has been detected will the first sector ID be read from track. 
        This ensures that the sectors will be reported to the user in the
        exact order that was used when the disk was formatted. 
        However, if the hardware Index Hole signal detection has been 
        disabled, as with certain TI-99/4A disks that have the infamous 
        GAP3 length problem (GAP after index hole too short), it could be 
        desirable to disable the Index Hole detection too (.DWFIH ON), 
        otherwise the software will have to endlessly wait for an Index 
        Hole that will never come (since the wire has been cut). 
        
        With .DWFIH ON the sectors will not be reported in the exact format 
        order any more, but at least you will not miss any of them. 
        
        This command has an effect only on commands that read ID (Identity 
        Data Address Mark): .IDS, .DSKIDS

.FLUSH  Discard the all the values currently in the Format Descriptor Table 
        (reset the Pointer to First Free in table). Correct syntax is 
        ".FLUSH ". No parameter is needed. 
        Example: .FLUSH

.FM     Selects FM (Recording Method). No parameter is allowed. Halves 
        the real kpbs (kilobit per second) set by .TRATE (see).
        Example: .FM
        This command is valid only on Format (.FORMAT, .DSKFMT) or Write 
        Sectors (.SECTW, .COPY2DSK, .REWD, REWN) . 
        Read sector will work irrespective of the FM/MFM value. 
        
.FORMAT -  Execute a Track Format.  No parameter is allowed.
        Correct syntax is ".FORMAT ".  
        The formatter will format a track, with whatever parameter has been 
        set so far (.TRACK, .HEAD, .SKTRK, .FM, ,SIZE, .TRATE and so on)

.GAP3F  Assign GAP3 Length for Sector Format.
        Correct syntax is ".GAP3F <format_gap3_length_value>".
        Example: .GAP3F 36 

.GAP3W  Assigns GAP3 Length for Sector Write.
        Correct syntax is ".GAP3W <write_gap3_length_value>".
        Example: .GAP3W 28

.FILL   Filler Byte. Use Hexadecimal Notation for Filler Byte 
        Correct syntax is ".FILL <filler_byte_hexadecimal_value>".
        Example: .FILL D7

.HEAD   Assign Physical Head Number for Current Track. Valid values: 0,1
        Correct syntax is ".HEAD <head_number>". Physical HEAD Number will 
        be assigned. 
        Example: .HEAD 0
        
.HSTL   Head Settle Time, in milliseconds. Valid Head Settle Time: 0-255
        Correct syntax is ".HSTL <head_settle_time_code>".
        Example: .HSTL 15
        
.IDS    Read sector IDs in Current Drive, Head, Track. 
        Correct syntax is ".IDS". No parameter is needed.
        Example: 
        .IDS    
        Reads as many consecutive IDs as specified by .IDSCNT command from 
        current Drive, Track, Head. 
        First ID will be the first after the Index Mark. 
        Unlike , .IDS will not output anything. To display what has been 
        read by .IDS command you will have to issue a .SHOWIDS command 
        (see), which will Show sector IDs previously read with .IDS command.

.IDSCNT Sets the number of IDs that have to be read by .IDS command. 
        If .IDSCNT is not called, Default number and max. value is 143. 
        Minimum value is 4. If user sets a lower value, 4 will be assigned, 
        anyhow. 
        Correct syntax is ".IDSCNT  <IDs_max_number_number>"
        Example: 
        .IDSCNT 40      
        Sets to 40 the number of consecutive IDs that have to be read by 
        .IDS command

.INFILE Set PATH  and FILENAME to be later used by .COPY2DSK command. Close 
        a previous Path, Filename, if present, and open this Path, Filename.
        The Pathname and Filename must be embedded in double quotes. 
        Correct syntax is ".INFILE [<"full_path">].
        Example: 
        .INFILE  "C:\MYDIR\PATH\FILENAME.BIN"
        
        Instead of using a full path name, a simple file name can be used, 
        provided the file exists in current DOS directory.
        If Argument [<"full_path">] is missing, simply close the current 
        opened INFILE, if any. 
        The PATHFILENAME will be closed when exiting option 3 of 
        TI99_PC ver. 2 - External Command File Formatter.   

.INPIN  Enable a prompt to accept an .INFILE filename (see) from the user, 
        to be later used by .COPY2DSK command. 
        Whatever the user input is, it will be processed as an .INFILE 
        argument. 
        Correct syntax is ".INPIN "
        No parameter is needed. 
        Example: 
        .INPIN
        
.INPOUT Enable a prompt to accept an .OUTFILE filename (see) from the user, 
        to be later used by .COPY2FIL command. 
        Whatever the user input is, it will be processed as an .OUTFILE 
        argument.
        Correct syntax is ".INPOUT "
        No parameter is needed. 
        Example: 
        .INPOUT
         
                
.LAYOUT BYTES_SECTOR SIDES TRACKS/SIDE SECTORS/TRACK FIRST_SECTOR/TRACK 
        Correct syntax is:
        ".LAYOUT <bytes_sector>, <sides>, <tracks_side>, <sector_track>, 
        <first_sector_track>
        Example: 
        .LAYOUT 256, 2, 40, 9, 0 
        It describes a floppy disk having sectors of 256 bytes, 2 sides, 
        40 track per side, 9 sectors per track, lowest sector in track is 
        sector # 0.
        
        LAYOUT will be used by .COPY2DSK, .COPY2FIL  or .SECTW commands.
        BYTES_SECTOR        is # of bytes in a Sectors : 128, 256, 512, ..
        SIDES               is Total Sides             : 1 or 2
        TRACKS/SIDE         is Total Tracks in a Side  : 40, 80 or whatever
        FIRST_SECTOR/TRACK  is First Sector in a Track : 0 (DOS), 1 (TI), 
                                                                or whatever 

.LH     Assign Logical Head Number   
        Correct syntax is ".LH <logical_head_number>". Logical (not 
        Physical) Head Number will be assigned. 
        This is what the each sector will say of itself (it may not be true)
        Example: .LH 1
        Each .LH value will be immediately assigned to the Format 
        Descriptor Table.

.LOAD   Assigns Head Load Time, (1=4 ms). Valid Head Load Times: 0-127
        Correct syntax is ".LOAD <load_time_code>".
        Example: .LOAD  1
        (1=4 ms)
                       
.LS     Assign Logical Sector Number   
        Correct syntax is ".LS <logical_sector_number>". Logical (not 
        Physical) Sector Number will be assigned. 
        This is what each sector will say of itself (it may not be true). 
        Example: .LS 12
        Each .LS value will be immediately assigned to the Format 
        Descriptor Table.
        The user will have to place all the values in the Format Descriptor 
        Table in the proper order.

.LT     Assign Logical Track Number. Valid values: 0,255  
        Correct syntax is ".LT <logical_track_number>". Logical (not 
        Physical) Track Number will be assigned. 
        This is what the each sector will say of itself (it may not be true)
        Example: .LT 37
        Each .LT value will be immediately assigned to the 
        Format Descriptor Table.
        
.LZ     Assign Logical Sector Size
        Correct syntax is ".LZ <logical_sector_size>". Logical (not 
        Physical) Sector Size will be assigned. This is what the each 
        sector will say of itself (it may not be true). 
        However, Anadisk (Sybex) will report "Data Error" if .LZ is 
        different from .SIZE
        Example: .LS 1
        Each .LS value will be immediately assigned to the Format 
        Descriptor Table.
        The user will have to place all the values in the Format Descriptor 
        Table in the proper order.         
                

.MFM    Selects MFM (Recording Method). No parameter is allowed. Leaves 
        the real kpbs (kilobit per second) set by .TRATE (see) as it is. 
        Example: .MFM
        This command is valid only on Format (.FORMAT, .DSKFMT) or Write 
        Sectors (.SECTW, .COPY2DSK, .REWD, REWN) . 
        Read sector will work irrespective of the FM/MFM value. 
                        
.MOFF   Motor Off Delay, in clock ticks. Valid Motor Off Delay: 0-255
        Correct syntax is ".MOFF <motor_off_delay_time_code>".
        Example: .MOFF 37
        
.MON    Motor Start Time (Motor On), in 1/8 seconds. 
        Valid Start Time Delay: 0-255
        Correct syntax is ".MON <motor_start_time_code>".
        Example: .MON 8                        

.OUTFILE Set PATH  and FILENAME to be later used by .COPY2FIL command. Close
        a previous Path, Filename, if present, and open this Path, Filename.
        The Pathname and Filename must be embedded in double quotes. 
        Correct syntax is ".OUTFILE [<"full_path">].
        Example: 
        .OUTFILE  "C:\MYDIR\PATH\FILENAME.BIN"
        
        Instead of using a full path name, a simple file name can be used,
        and that file will be opened in current DOS directory.
        If Argument [<"full_path">] is missing, simply close the current 
        opened OUTFILE, if any. 
        The PATHFILENAME will be closed when exiting option 3 of 
        TI99_PC ver. 2 - External Command File Formatter.   

.RETRY  Set the number of retries on Sector Read and Write (.SECTW, 
        .COPY2DSK, .COPY2FIL, .SECTCOPY, .REWD, .REWN). 
        Default value is 3. 
        Correct syntax is ".RETRY <number_of_retries>"
        Example: 
        .RETRY 6

.REWD FROM START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR, UNTIL END_TRACK,
        END_HEAD, END_SECTOR <MODE>
        
        Change the Normal Data Mark (NDM) Status to Deleted Data Mark (DDM) 
        Read sectors, starting from START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR 
        until END_SECTOR, of HEAD, TRACK number is reached.
        Save them back AS  Deleted Data Mark. It will follow the .LAYOUT 
        command (first_sector_track, sector/track, last_track, number of 
        sides). 
        Use the copying Mode as specified in <MODE> of .COPY2DSK command.
        Mode will tell the program how to advance to next sector, track, 
        side. 
        Correct syntax is:
        ".REWD <FROM> <start_track_number>, <start_head_number>, 
        <start_sector_number>, <UNTIL> <end_track_number>, 
        <end_head_number>, <end_sector_number> <MODE>.
        Example: 
        .REWD   FROM 1,17,2 UNTIL 1,17,15
        Number of Sides will be taken from second parameter in 
        .LAYOUT command. 
        Last track in each side will be taken from third parameter in 
        .LAYOUT command.

.REWN FROM  START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR, UNTIL END_TRACK, 
        END_HEAD, END_SECTOR  <MODE>
        
        Change the Deleted Data Mark (DDM) Status to Normal Data Mark (NDM) 
        Read sectors, starting from START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR 
        until END_SECTOR, of HEAD, TRACK number is reached.
        Save them back AS Normal Data Mark. It will follow the .LAYOUT 
        command (first_sector_track, sector/track, last_track, number of 
        sides).
        Use the copying Mode as specified in <MODE> of .COPY2DSK command.
        Mode will tell the program how to advance to next sector, track, 
        side.  
        Correct syntax is ".REWN <FROM> <start_track_number>, 
        <start_head_number>, <start_sector_number>, <UNTIL>
        <end_track_number>, <end_head_number>, <end_sector_number> <MODE>.
        Example: 
        .REWN   FROM 0,13,2 UNTIL 0,13,16
        
.RUN    Close the current Command file, and launch a new one. 
        This command will close the current command file, open a new one, 
        specified in the argument field, and execute it. 
        
        Whatever in memory has been set so far by the current command file 
        will remain valid on the new command file as well. This includes 
        everything: the opened files, the memory environment variables 
        (i.e. .DBLSTP, .WDT, .DRIVE, etc.)
        
        The Source line counter will be reset to zero. The following
        message will appear in your FMT_LOG.TXT file:
        'Executing New Command File. Source Line counter is Reset.
        
        The new Command file name must be embedded in double quotes in the
        argument field. 
        Correct syntax is ".RUN [<"full_path">].
        Example: 
        .RUN  "C:\MYDIR\PATH\COMMAND.FMT"
        
        Instead of using a full path name, a simple file name can be used, 
        provided the file exists in current DOS directory.
        If Argument [<"full_path">] is missing, simply close the current 
        command file. 
        
        When the new command file is ended, execution will terminate and 
        the program will exit from Command file section. This means it is 
        not possible to restart execution from the first Command file. 
        
        On the other hand, there is no limit on the number of Command files
        that can be executed in a row. Just add a .RUN instruction in any 
        of them.
        
        If the Argument is missing, the current Command file will be closed 
        anyway, and an error will be issued. 

.SECTCOPY  This command is used to overcome disk protection schemes. It is 
        the counterpart of .COPY2FIL/.COPYLIST process in TIBLIND or 
        DOSBLIND mode.
        Before issuing this command, an .INFILE (see) file must be opened.
        
        There are two ways in which .SECTCOPY command can work: 
        
        a) If the 7 parameters are provided by the user, it will copy the 
        described SINGLE sector from .INFILE to current Disk. 
        
        b) If the 7 parameters are NOT provided by the user, it will copy 
        the ENTIRE .INFILE to current Disk, starting from the current 
        .INFILE position. If .INFILE has never been accessed yet, it will 
        copy the entire .INFILE file. If .INFILE has already been accessed, 
        the transfer to disk will start from the .INFILE position following 
        the last accessed one going through until the EOF is reached. 
        If you want to reset the .INFILE file to first position, simply 
        close it and open it again. I.e.:
        .INFILE
        .INFILE "ANA_DUMP.TMP"
        
        If a .TOPSECT command (see) has been previously issued, all sectors 
        numbered ABOVE the one established by .TOPSECT will NOT be copied 
        (that is, will be skipped) by .SECTCOPY.
         
        .INFILE must contain Logical and Physical info, as an ANADISK dump 
        file does.
                
        Anadisk is a sector editor program developed by Sydex in 1992. 
        Its Dump file can contain ID information (an 8 bytes header for each
        sector).
        With .SECTCOPY command, the Anadisk Dump file will be searched, 
        the sector corresponding to the parameter description will be read 
        from the .INFILE file and written to a floppy disk sector that must 
        have the same properties, (Physical and Logical sector type). 
        Obviously, such a floppy must have been previously formatted 
        precisely as needed; you can obtain that by executing the .DSKIDS 
        command on the source floppy and renaming and processing the output 
        file (FMT_LOG.TXT) as a new command file (see .DSKIDS command for 
        more on that).
        
        If the .INFILE file does not contain such sector, an error will be 
        issued. 
        
        If the input sector cannot be written to destination disk, an  
        error will be issued.
        
        Correct syntax is:
        A) 
        ".SECTCOPY <Physical_Track>, <Physical_Side>, <Logical_Track>, 
        <Logical_Side>, <Sector_Number>, <Sector_Size_Code>, 
        <Real_Sector_Length> "
        
        The above info is named differently and as follows by Anadisk (in 
        the same order): 
                <ACYL=Actual Cylinder>
                <ASID=Actual Side>
                <LCYL=Logical Cylinder>
                <LSID=Logical Side>
                <LSEC=Logical Sector>
                <LLEN=Logical Length>
                <COUNT=>
                
        Example: 
        .SECTCOPY   22    0   224    17    159    3  1024 

        In the above example:        
        One sector from an Anadisk Dump file, opened with the .INFILE 
        command and containing somewhere the following Sector 
                ID information:
                Physical Track 22
                Physical Side 0
                Logical Track 224
                Logical Side 17
                Sector Number 159
                Sector Size Code 3
                Real Sector Length 1024. 
                
        will be read. The sector will be written to a floppy disk sector
        of the same type:
                Physical Track 22
                Physical Side 0
                Logical Track 224
                Logical Side 17
                Sector Number 159
                Sector Size Code 3
                Real Sector Length 1024. 
                
        B) 
        .SECTCOPY 
        In the above example:        
        All sectors from an Anadisk Dump file, opened with the .INFILE 
        command will be copied to disk. 

.SECTW  Reads a sector and then writes to it what is in the argument field.
        Hexadecimal Values or ASCII values, embedded within Double Quotes, 
        will be placed in the argument field. 
        Correct syntax is:
        ".SECTW <track_number>, <head_number>, <start_sector_number>, 
        <first_sector_offset_number>, <:>, 
        <hex_val1>, <"text_inside_double_quotes">, <hex_val2>, ...".
        Example: 
        .SECTW 12, 0, 9, 7 :
        D7 A5 A5 00 00 00 7A F0 FF FF FF 
        57 34 34 FA FB FC 88 60 60 60 60 
            " - This will be written as well!"
        
        In the above example:
        Track 12, Head 0, Sector 9,
        Offset 7 from the beginning of sector
        will be written with:
        D7 A5 A5 .. .. .. 60 60 60   - This will be written as well!
        This command is terminated by any new dot command, ".".
        Sectors following the first sector will be written without any 
        OFFSET. This means that OFFSET is valid for first sector only. 
        Next Sectors will be valid sectors only if they reside on the same 
        Track, Head and are numbered with an increment of 1. 
        Sector Size must have been previously set by .SIZE command. 
        Deleted Data Mark must have been previously set by .DDM command. 
        FM or FMF must have been previously set by .FM or .MFM command. 
        

.SHOWIDS Show sector IDs previously read with .IDS command. 
        Correct syntax is ".SHOWIDS ". No parameter is needed.
        Example: 
        .SHOWIDS 
        Display all the sector IDs  previously read with .IDS command. 

.SIZE   Assign Physical Sector Size for Current Track. 
        Sector Size valid codes: 0-6.  0=128 bytes, 1=256 bytes, 
        2=512 bytes, 3=1024, 4=2048, 5=4096, 6=8192
        Correct syntax is ".SIZE <sector_size_code>". Physical Sector Size 
        will be assigned. 
        Example: .SIZE 1

.SKTRK  Assign Total Sector/Track for Current Track. Valid values: 0-255
        Correct syntax is ".SKTRK <sector_track_number>". Physical Total 
        Sector/Track  will be assigned. 
        Example: .SKTRK 18       
 
.SRATE  Assigns Step Rate. Valid Step Rates: 0-15. The higher the value, 
        the faster the resulting step rate. 
        Correct syntax is ".SRATE <step_rate_code>".
        Example: .SRATE 10
        If the drive "rattles" lower this value. A value of 6 should work 
        even with old drives. 
        
.TOPSECT will exclude all sectors that have a higher sector number 
        from copying on a next .SECTCOPY command. 
        
        Thus, sectors numbered ABOVE the value established by .TOPSECT will 
        NOT be copied (that is, will be skipped).
        
        No command other than .SECTCOPY will be affected by .TOPSECT 
        command. 
        
        The correct syntax is: ".TOPSECT <highest_sect_number>. 
        Example: 
        .TOPSECT 107 
        will exclude all the sector numbers above 107 from being copied on 
        any next .SECTCOPY command. 
        
        To disable this feature, issue a .TOPSECT command with no argument 
        or with an argument of 255. Both commands will disable any control
        on the sector number being transferred. 
        
.TRACK  Assign Physical Track Number: Valid values: 0,255
        Correct syntax is ".TRACK <track_number>". Physical Track Number 
        will be assigned. 
        Example: .TRACK 22
        
.TRATE  Assigns Transfer Rate. Valid Transfer Rates: 2=250 kbps in MFM, 
        125 kbps in FM ; 0=500 kbps; 1=300 kbps; 2=250 kbps; 3=1 Mbps.
        Correct syntax is ".TRATE <transfer_rate_code>".
        Example: .TRATE 1
        This command is valid only on Format (.FORMAT, .DSKFMT) or Write 
        Sectors (.SECTW, .COPY2DSK, .REWD, REWN) . 
        Read sector will work irrespective of the .TRATE value. 
                
.TREAD  Copies all the values present in the Format Descriptor Table 
        and stores them in a Unique Temporary Buffer (UTB). This command is 
        the counterpart of .TWRITE command.
        Correct syntax is ".TREAD ". No parameter is needed. 
        Example: .TREAD
        This command is of little use, if any.
        
.TWRITE Writes all the values present in the Unique Temporary Buffer 
        (UTB) to the Format Descriptor Table. This command is the 
        counterpart of .TREAD command.
        Correct syntax is ".TWRITE ". No parameter is needed. 
        Example: .TWRITE
        This command is of little use, if any.

.UDHD   Updates all the ".LH" (Logical Head) values present in the Format 
        Descriptor Table with the value that follows.
        Correct syntax is ".UDHD  <new_logical_head_number>".
        Example: .UDHD 0                                 
         
.UDSZ   Updates all the ".LZ" (Sector Size) values present in the Format 
        Descriptor Table  with the value that follows.
        Correct syntax is ".UDSZ <new_sector_size_number>".
        Example: .UDSZ 0                         

.UDTK   Updates all the ".LT" (Logical Track) values present in the Format 
        Descriptor Table with the value that follows.
        Correct syntax is ".UDTK <new_logical_track_number>". 
        Example: .UDTK 0                 

.UNLD   Assigns Head Unload Time (1=16 ms). 
        Valid Head Unload Times: 0-127. 
        Correct syntax is ".UNLD <unload_time_code>".
        Example: .UNLD  15
        (15=240 ms). 
        
.VERIFY FROM START_TRACK, START_HEAD, START_SECTOR, UNTIL END_TRACK, 
        END_HEAD, END_SECTOR  <MODE>
        
        Tries to read all sectors, starting from START_TRACK, START_HEAD, 
        START_SECTOR until END_SECTOR, of HEAD, TRACK number is reached.
        This command will follow the .LAYOUT 
        command (first_sector_track, sector/track, last_track, number of 
        sides).
        Use the advancing Mode as specified in <MODE> of .COPY2DSK command.
        Mode will tell the program how to advance to next sector, track, 
        side.  
        Correct syntax is ".VERIFY <FROM> <start_track_number>, 
        <start_head_number>, <start_sector_number>, <UNTIL>
        <end_track_number>, <end_head_number>, <end_sector_number> <MODE>.
        Example: 
        .VERIFY  FROM 0,13,2 UNTIL 0,13,16
 
.WA - Wait for a key pressed. This is an alternate command for .WAIT
        Correct syntax is ".WA ". No parameter is needed. 
        The Formatter will wait for the user to press a key. 
        ESC key will stop execution. 

.WAIT - Wait for a key pressed. This is an alternate command for .WA 
        Correct syntax is ".WAIT ". No parameter is needed. 
        The Formatter will wait for the user to press a key. 
        ESC key will stop execution. 
         
.WCF    Write Copy list File. Send the argument, until End Of Record, to 
        .COPYLIST file. It is used to add commands, or comments to a 
        copy list command file which is being created. 
        Correct syntax is ".WCF <argument until end of record>". 
        Whatever follows the command, until the end of record will be 
        placed on the current .COPYLIST file. A Carriage Return, Line Feed
        will be added at the end, to mark End of Record on output file.
        Example: 
        .WCF .CO This is an added comment 
        
        will place the string ".CO This is an added comment" in the current
        .COPYLIST

.WDT    Write Format Descriptor Table. 
        Add the next Decimal Byte(s) to the Format Descriptor Table.
        This command will replace tedious setting of the Format Descriptor 
        Table by the single commands: .LT, .LH, LS, .LZ. 
        Correct syntax is ".WDT <dec_val1>, <decval2>, <decval3>,..." 
        Each decimal value will be added to the existing bytes in the 
        Format Descriptor Table. 
        4 bytes are needed for each sector. 
        This is the correct order of the 4 bytes: 1st=Track#, 2nd=Head#, 
        3rd=Sector#, 4th=Size#
        The decimal byte list can be Multi-Line (it can use more than a 
        single Command File Record) and will be terminated only by a new 
        Command or a Remark (').
        However, if it is a truly Multi Line Command, no Line, but the last 
        one, can have a Remark (') at the end.  
        Example: .WDT 01 00 00 01 
                      01 00 01 01 
        The table will contain a maximum of 144*4 bytes= enough info for 
        144 sector/track. If more sectors are added, a "Write Format 
        Descriptor Table Full" error will be issued. 
        After .DSKFMT command has been executed your .WDT table values are 
        lost: then .WDT table will only contain the values needed for the 
        last formatted track.  
        
        

##-30.03.01
        ***               READY MADE COMMAND FILES                      ***
                          ========================
    
        There are some Formatter Command Files ready to be used. All their 
        names have the .FMT extension and are Read Only Type. Please make a 
        copy and change their attribute if you need changing them.  
    
    
        In the rest of this doc, Number of Sides definition and Side Number 
        definition might be confusing at first. 
    
        In my jargon, the Number of Sides can either be 1 or 2. 
        I.e., a Double Sided disk has 2 sides, so the Number of Sides is 
        said to be 2.
        The Side Number that the drive is working on is either 0 (First 
        Side) or 1 (Second Side). Maybe this sounds confusing and I'll have 
        to correct it in the future.... 
    
    
        Here is a short list of all the Formatter Command File that come 
        along with TI99_PC ver. 2. They all have to do with the TI-99/4A 
        computer. 
        You can write your own command files, to suit your computer needs.
    
       
        The below list is by no means complete. The files are given as an 
        example, for those who need to perform a non-standard task on a 
        floppy. 
        The /WRITE switch from the DOS command line or Option 5, Transfer a 
        PC File to TI disk, will replace most of the command files reported 
        below. 
    
        The only command files that cannot be replaced by standard features 
        of TI99_PC ver. 2 are the IDS-xxxx.FMT files, that will read all 
        the ID (Identity Data) on a disk. 
    
       
        IMPORTANT: Almost all the Formatter Command files that work in 
               Single or Double Density in an 80 track drive are prepared 
               for the AT 5.25" drive types (360 rpm): the Transfer Rate 
               has been set to 1 (.TRATE 1), 300 kbps, which is good only 
               for that kind of drives. 
       
               
               The 720/1440 80 Track drives (3.5") cannot work properly 
               with the above type Transfer Rate. They need a Transfer 
               Rate of 250 kbps, (.TRATE 2). To make the above files 
               compatible with 3.5" drive types, please change the 
               Transfer Rate Setting from 
               .TRATE 1         to 
               .TRATE 2
               To do that, copy the file under a different name and change 
               the .TRATE 1 to .TRATE 2. 
               The name of this type of files always end with an 8; 
               you could substitute this number with a 3, i.e.: 
               DNSSSD48.FMT would become DNSSSD43.FMT
               
       
               All the High Density Formatter Command files (HD) are valid 
               as they are, whether they are to be used on an AT 5.25" 
               1.2M HD drive or a 3.5" 1.44 HD drive. 
               
    
       
        The single letters that form the file name have a well defined 
        meaning.
    
        1 - First letter of .FMT files will tell you the purpose of the 
            file.
        
          F=Format only, nothing else 
          M=copy iMagine file to a Formatted Disk
          U=copy imagine file to an Unformatted Disk. Disk will be formatted
          C=Duplicate Disk to Formatted disk
          D=Duplicate Disk to Unformatted disk. Disk will be formatted    
          I=IDs (sector list) of all tracks. 
          X=attempts to copy a Sector Protected Disk, not necessarily TI.
          
       
          
        2 - Second letter will tell you Deleted or Normal Data Control Mark.
    
          D=Deleted Data Control Mark (this is usually reserved for 3.5" HD 
                                       1.44 Meg disks)
          N=Normal  Data Control Mark
       
          
        3-4 - Third and fourth letters of .FMT files will tell you the 
              Sides of the disk:
          
          SS=Single Side
          DS=Double Side
    
       
        5-6 - Fifth and Sixth letters of a .FMT files will tell you the 
              density of the disk:
                  
                  SD=Single Density (125 kbps)
                  DD=Double Density (250 kbps)
                  QD=Double Density (250 kbps) (only # of tracks differs)
                  HD=High   Density (500 kbps)
    
       
        7-8 - Seventh and eight letters of a .FMT files will tell you the 
              tracks of the disk and the track of the drive:
          
            44=40 track disk on a 40 track drive (any 300 rpm drive)
            48=40 track disk on a 80 track drive (AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 
                  rpm drive)
            88=80 track disk on a 80 track drive (AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 
                  rpm drive)
       
            43=40 track disk on a 80 track drive (720 or 1440 3.25" 300 
                  rpm drive)
            83=80 track disk on a 80 track drive (720 or 1440 3.25" 300 
                  rpm drive)
       
            
        Example: 
        
        FNDSSD44.FMT
        |||/|/|| |
        ||| | || +--> FMT, Formatter Command File
        ||| | |+-> 4=40 track drive, 8=80 AT 5.25" 1.2M HD drive, 
        ||| | |    3=80 3.5" 720/1440 track drive        
        ||| | +--> 40 or 80 track disk
        ||| +----> SD, DD, QD, HD = Single, Double, Quad or High Density
        ||+------> SS, DS = Single or Double Side
        |+-------> Normal or Deleted Data Control Mark
        +--------> F=Format, M=iMagine file copy, D=Duplicate Disk to 
                     Unformatted disk, I=IDs (sector list) of all tracks, 
                     C=Copy, X=copy Sector Protected Disk
           
    
##-30.03.02
        ***               SIMPLY FORMAT A DISK          ***
                          =====================           
          
        Format Single Side Single Density = 90 KB
        ----------------------------------      
                  FNSSSD48.FMT
                  Format a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI Disk 
                  on a 0 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  9 sector/track, 40 tracks, 1 side.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
                  
       
                  
                  FNSSSD44.FMT
                  Format a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI disk 
                  on a 40 Track drive. 
                  9 sector/track, 40 tracks, 1 side.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
       
                  
        Format Double Side Single Density = 180 KB
        ---------------------------------             
                  FNDSSD48.FMT    
                  Format a Double Side, Single Density 40 Track TI disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  9 sector/track, 40 tracks, 2 sides.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
       
                  
                  FNDSSD44.FMT
                  Format a Double Side, Single Density 40 Track TI disk 
                  on a 40 Track drive. 
                  9 sector/track, 40 tracks, 2 sides.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
       
                  
        Format Single Side Double Density = 180 KB
        ---------------------------------
                  FNSSDD48.FMT
                  Format a Single Side, Double Density 40 Track TI Disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  18 sector/track, 40 tracks, 1 side.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  FNSSDD44.FMT
                  Format a Single Side, Double Density 40 Track TI disk 
                  on a 40 Track drive. 
                  18 sector/track, 40 tracks, 1 side.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
       
                  
        Format Double Side Double Density = 360 KB
        ---------------------------------             
                  FNDSDD48.FMT    
                  Format a Double Side, Double Density 40 Track TI disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  18 sector/track, 40 tracks, 2 sides.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
       
                  
                  FNDSDD44.FMT
                  Format a Double Side, Double Density 40 Track TI disk 
                  on a 40 Track drive. 
                  18 sector/track, 40 tracks, 2 sides.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
    
       
        Format Single Side Quad Density = 360 KB
        -------------------------------
                  FNSSQD88.FMT
                  Format a Single Side, Double Density 80 Track TI Disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  18 sector/track, 80 tracks, 1 side.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
    
       
        Format Double Side Quad Density = 720 KB
        -------------------------------               
                  FNDSQD88.FMT    
                  Format a Double Side, Double Density 80 Track TI disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  18 sector/track, 80 tracks, 2 sides.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark. 
    
       
        Format Single Side High Density = 720 KB
        -------------------------------
                  FDSSHD88.FMT
                  Format a Single Side, High Density 80 Track TI Disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  36 sector/track, 80 tracks, 1 side.
                  Use DELETED Data Control Mark.
                  This is usually reserved for HD 3.5" floppy disk drives.
                  A 5.25" floppy drive will not handle so many 
                  sector/track.
       
             
        Format Double Side High Density = 1440 KB
        -------------------------------               
                  FDDSHD88.FMT
                  Format a Double Side, High Density 80 Track TI Disk 
                  on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  36 sector/track, 80 tracks, 2 sides.
                  Use DELETED Data Control Mark.
                  This is usually reserved for HD 3.5" floppy disk 
                  drives. A 5.25" floppy drive will not handle so many 
                  sector/track.
    
                                          
##-30.03.03
        ***       DISK IMAGE FILE COPIED TO A FORMATTED TI DISK         ***
                  =============================================
                  
                                   REMARKS
                                   =======
               1) Here, the only difference between 48 files (40 
                  track disk on a 80 track drive) and  44 files (40 
                  track disk on a 40 track drive) is Double Step, 
                  .DBLSTP command, which is set to ON for 48 files, 
                  and to OFF for 44 files. 
               
               
               2) Last sector on a Double Side Disk is on track 0, side 
                  1; on a Single Side Disk is on track 39, side 0 for 40 
                  track disks and on track 79, side 0 for 80 track disks. 
               
               
               3) Double Sides disks have the number of sides set to 2
                  on .LAYOUT command. On Single Side disks the same value 
                  is set to 1. 
               
               
               4) Quad Density disks are simply 80 track DSDD disks. 
                  They are called DSQD. On these disks, the track/side 
                  is set to 80 (.LAYOUT command) and the last track in 
                  .COPY2DSK command is set to 79. Also, Double Step, 
                  .DBLSTP command, is always set to OFF. Your drive must 
                  be an 80 track drive, if you want to use this format. 
               
               
               5) High Density disks are 3.5" HD disks, 1.44 MB. Here 
                  the Transfer Rate goes up to 500 kbps (.TRATE 0). 
                  Deleted Data Mark is set to ON (.DDM ON), Total sectors
                  per track is 36 (.LAYOUT command), and therefore the 
                  last sector on a track is sector 35 (.COPY2DSK 
                  command). Last track is track 79 on side 0 and track 0 
                  on side 1.
    
                       
    Image to Single Side Single Density = 90 KB
    -----------------------------------
                  MNSSSD48.FMT
                  Copies a 90 KB TI Disk Image file, such as v9t9 files, 
                  or TI99_PC .IMG output files, to a Single Side, Single 
                  Density 40 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 
                  rpm drive. Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  MNSSSD44.FMT
                  Copies a 90 KB TI Disk Image file, such as v9t9 files, 
                  or TI99_PC .IMG output files, to a Single Side, Single 
                  Density 40 Track TI Disk on a 40 Track drive. Use NORMAL 
                  Data Control Mark.
       
          
    Image to Double Side Single Density = 180 KB
    -----------------------------------
                  MNDSSD48.FMT
                  Copies a 180 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Double Side, 
                  Single Density 40 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 
                  1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  MNDSSD44.FMT
                  Copies a 180 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Double Side, 
                  Single Density 40 Track TI Disk on a 40 Track drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                                  
    Image to Single Side Double Density = 180 KB
    -----------------------------------
                  MNSSDD48.FMT
                  Copies a 180 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Single Side, 
                  Double Density 40 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track AT 5.25"  
                  1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  MNSSDD44.FMT
                  Copies a 180 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Single Side, 
                  Double Density 40 Track TI Disk on a 40 Track drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
    Image to Double Side Double Density = 360 KB
    -----------------------------------           
                  MNDSDD48.FMT
                  Copies a 360 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Double Side, 
                  Double Density 40 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track AT 5.25" 
                  1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  MNDSDD44.FMT
                  Copies a 360 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Double Side, 
                  Double Density 40 Track TI Disk on a 40 Track drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
    Image to Single Side Quad Density = 360 KB
    ---------------------------------
                  MNSSQD88.FMT
                  Copies a 360 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Single Side, 
                  Double Density 80 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track AT 5.25"  
                  1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
    Image to Double Side Quad Density = 720 KB
    ---------------------------------             
                  MNDSQD88.FMT    
                  Copies a 720 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Double Side, 
                  Double Density 80 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track AT 5.25"  
                  1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
                  
    
       
    Image to Single Side High Density = 720 KB
    ---------------------------------
                  MDSSHD88.FMT
                  Copies a 720 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Single Side, 
                  High Density 80 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track 3.5" 300 
                  rpm drive. 
                  Use DELETED Data Control Mark.
                  This is usually reserved for HD 3.5" floppy disk drives.
                  A 5.25" floppy drive will not handle so many 
                  sector/track.
       
                  
    Image to Double Side High Density = 1440 KB
    ---------------------------------             
                  MDDSHD88.FMT
                  Copies a 1440 KB TI Disk Image file, to a Double Side, 
                  High Density 80 Track TI Disk on an 80 Track 3.5" 300 
                  rpm drive. 
                  Use DELETED Data Control Mark.
                  This is usually reserved for HD 3.5" floppy disk drives.
                  A 5.25" floppy drive will not handle so many 
                  sector/track.
    
       
##-30.03.04
        ***       DUPLICATING A TI DISK ONTO AN UNFORMATTED TI DISK     ***
                  ==================================================
                  
                  DNSSSD44.FMT
                  Duplicates a 90 KB SSSD TI disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 40 Track drive. 
                  Creates a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI Disk.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
    
       
                  DNSSSD48.FMT
                  Duplicates a 90 KB SSSD TI disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Creates a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI Disk.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  DNSSSD43.FMT
                  Duplicates a 90 KB SSSD TI disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track 3.5" 720/1440 drive. 
                  Creates a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI Disk.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
                  DNDSSD43.FMT
                  Duplicates a 90 KB SSSD TI disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track 3.5" 720/1440 drive. 
                  Creates a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI Disk.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
       
                  
##-30.03.05
        ***       COPYING A TI DISK ONTO A FORMATTED TI DISK            ***
                  ==========================================
                  CNSSSD48.FMT
                  Duplicates a 90 KB SSSD TI disk, onto a formatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track AT 5.25" 1.2M 360 rpm drive. 
                  Creates a Single Side, Single Density 40 Track TI Disk.
                  Use NORMAL Data Control Mark.
    
       
##-30.03.06
        ***       GETTTING THE FORMATTING INFO (IDS) OUT OF ANY DISK    ***
                  ==================================================
                  The output .COPYLIST file can be used to actually 
                  duplicate the formatting of that disk. Some minor
                  editing is needed, basically, adding some commands (see 
                  below). 
   
                  
                  The head will follow the TI conventions,
                  first on the entire Side 1, and only then on Side 2.
                  
                  Here, the IDS-DS88.FMT will detect *any* type of disk, 
                  since it is Double Side 80 track disk on a 80 track 
                  drive. However, if your drive has less tracks, less 
                  sides, you will only lose time by using this file. 
                  You'll be better off by using the file that most suits 
                  you actual disk format; the process will be much quicker,
                  not having to test for non existing tracks. 
    
     
    
                  IDS-SS48.FMT
                  Get the Formatting Info (IDS) out of any Disk that 
                  has Single Side, 40 Tracks on an 80 Track drive.
       
                  
                  IDS-DS48.FMT
                  Get the Formatting Info (IDS) out of any Disk that 
                  has Double Side, 40 Tracks on an 80 Track drive.
       
                  
                  IDS-SS88.FMT
                  Get the Formatting Info (IDS) out of any Disk that 
                  has Single Side, 80 Tracks on an 80 Track drive.
       
                  
                  IDS-DS88.FMT
                  Get the Formatting Info (IDS) out of any Disk that 
                  has Double Side, 80 Tracks on an 80 Track drive.
    
       
                  IDS-SS44.FMT
                  Get the Formatting Info (IDS) out of any Disk that 
                  has Single Side, 40 Tracks on an 40 Track drive.
       
                  
                  IDS-DS44.FMT
                  Get the Formatting Info (IDS) out of any Disk that 
                  has Double Side, 40 Tracks on an 40 Track drive.
       
                         
        Commands that you may want to add in top of the .COPYLIST file 
        before using it as a formatting command file. If your drive works 
        well as it is, you may leave out .RATE, .UNLD, .LOAD, .MOFF, .MON. 
        Also, .FILL is not strictly needed, and, in any case, you may want 
        to check Source Disk and change the .FILL argument according to 
        your findings. 
   
        Pay attention to .DBLSTP. You may need it ON if you are doing a 40 
        track disk on a 5.25" 80 track drive, but OFF on a 3.5" drive. 
        Set other values according to your drive needs. 
    
       
        .DBLSTP OFF     ' Double Step set to OFF (meaningful on an 80 track 
                        ' drive only)         
        .GAP3W 20       ' Set GAP 3 length for Writing sector to 20 bytes
        .GAP3F 22       ' Set GAP 3 length for Formatting sector. for TI: 
                        ' SD=36, DD=20, HD=22. For DOS: HD=42
        .FILL D7        ' Fill Byte while formatting set to D7h
        .SRATE 6        ' Assign Step Rate. Valid Step Rates: 0-15
        .UNLD  15       ' Assign Head Unload Time. Valid Unload Times: 0-127
           
        .LOAD  1        ' Assign Head Load Time. Valid Load Times: 0-127
        .HSTL  15       ' Head Settle Time, in milliseconds. Valid Head 
                        ' Settle  Time: 0-255
        .MOFF  25       ' Motor Off Delay, in clock ticks. Valid Motor Off 
                        ' Delay: 0-255
        .MON   8        ' Motor Start Time (Motor On), in 1/8 seconds.  
                      '                   Valid Start Time Delay: 0-255
                      
##-30.03.07
        ***         DUPLICATING A COPY PROTECTED DISK           ***
                    =================================
                                             
        These Dup command files should succeed (hopefully!) in copying 
        disks that have a copy protection scheme based on an unusual 
        format of the disk.
        The Dup command files should work on any kind of disk, not 
        necessarily on TI Disks only.
    
                  
        Some copy protection schemes can entail: 
        1) Sectors that have a non standard length (128, 512 or 1024 bytes 
           in a TI disk, which should have 256 byte/sector). 
        2) Missing tracks
        3) Tracks that have a different Transfer Rate. For instance, MFM on 
           track 0-15 and FM on track 16-40. 
                      
        4) Physical Tracks that report a Logical Track and Logical Side 
           different from the physical one. For instance, physical track 39 
           on physical side 1 could report Logical Track 125 and Logical 
           Side 224.
        
                  
        The Dup command files work as follows: 
        - Open an output .COPYLIST file, where new commands will be stored.
        - Perform an .IDS command on the source disk, while outputting 
          all the formatting commands on the .COPYLIST file.
        - Read all the sectors from the source disk, store the content on 
          a dump file, while outputting all the .SECTCOPY commands, 
          needed to copy back the dump file to the Destination disk, on 
          the .COPYLIST file.  
        - Close the opened output files and use them as a new command file 
          (.RUN the .COPYLIST file) and a Data file (the Dump file) for 
          a bunch of .SECTCOPY commands.
        
                      
        The .COPYLIST file will contain a command line for any track to 
        be formatted and any sector to be copied onto the destination 
        disk. 
        
                              
        This is very handy, because the user can easily edit the 
        .COPYLIST command file before executing it. That is, he can 
        change whatever command in the just created command file he feels 
        not suitable to the copying task. Because of the fine granularity 
        of the command file, the user has a pretty good control on the 
        copying process.  This method should overcome the problems that 
        Teledisk, by Sydex, sometimes shows when trying to copy a well 
        copy-protected disk. 
        
                  
        Please bear in mind that programmers that employ copy protection
        schemes on their disks are usually very clever people who use any 
        nasty trick they can think of to avoid their disks from being 
        copied.
        
                      
        For instance, the user may finally understand that there are too 
        many sectors on some given tracks on the source disk: some of them 
        must be fake sectors, with no data in them. They have been added 
        just to confuse the user's copier. So, it is enough to format the 
        track in the copy disk with their ID, but without actually trying 
        to put any data in them. The user will simply disable (i.e. put a 
        "'", that is a REMark) in front of those command lines that do not 
        fit the purpose.
        
                      
        Copying a copy-protected disk is almost an art. First, you have to 
        understand what the programmer did to protect his work. 
        I usually use Anadisk (by Sydex) to study the Source disk. It is a 
        very good tool. 
        Then, you may be able to do something to defeat the protection 
        scheme. Depending on your skills, you may succeed or fail. 
        In most cases, you'll have to change the .COPYLIST files, to 
        overcome some skilful tricks played by the protection scheme. 
        
                      
        The Dup command files reported below are simply an example of 
        how a dup file can be written. You are encouraged to study them
        thoroughly and then modify the one that most suits your need, 
        until it meets exactly your requirements. 
        
   
                  XNSSSD48.FMT
                  Duplicate a SSSD 40 track disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track drive. Edit the resulting
                  "ONTHEFLY.FMT" command file before executing, 
                  if your copy disk doesn't work. 
                  
                      
                  XNSSDD48.FMT
                  Duplicate a SSDD 40 track disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track drive. Edit the resulting
                  "ONTHEFLY.FMT" command file before executing, 
                  if your copy disk doesn't work. 
                  
                      
                  XNDSDD48.FMT
                  Duplicate a DSDD 40 track disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track drive. Edit the resulting
                  "ONTHEFLY.FMT" command file before executing, 
                  if your copy disk doesn't work. 
                  
                      
                  XNDSHD88.FMT
                  Duplicate a DSHD 80 track disk, onto an unformatted 
                  Disk using an 80 Track drive. Edit the resulting
                  "ONTHEFLY.FMT" command file before executing, 
                  if your copy disk doesn't work. 
                  
                      
##-30.03.08         
        ****   COPYING DISKETTES WITH COPY PROTECTION SCHEMES       ****
               ==============================================
                   
        This section will deal with the pesky task of copying diskettes 
        that have some sort of copy protection scheme. 

        WHY THIS PROGRAM MIGHT NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS
        ==============================================
        First off, lets get one thing straight: sometimes, the original 
        diskette has been physically damaged, and the missing track is 
        formatted each time the program is run, just to see if the missing 
        sectors are still there. If that is the case, I'm afraid this 
        software is not for you. You might want to look into the portion of 
        the code that performs the check, and change it. 
        
        Even if the copy protection scheme is just based on an unusual 
        way of formatting the disk, still this program might not be the 
        solution to your problem. Please read the next paragraph on this 
        subject. 
         
        There are cases when this program will not work. Let's explain a 
        little why this could happen. This program runs on a PC, where the 
        standard Floppy Disk Controller is NEC 765 compatible. A NEC 765 
        compatible FDC cannot format a track containing valid sectors with 
        different size. For example, you cannot have a track that has one 
        valid sector of 256 bytes and another valid one of 512. 
        
        You can try to achieve this, but you will end up with one of the 
        two sectors being invalid (bad CRC), even if both sectors will 
        appear to be present on a ID scan of that track. 
        
        This is because on a NEC 765 you must declare separately the sector 
        size you effectively are going to use. In a way, you can say that 
        NEC 765 just tries to be too smart. 
        
        On the other hand, for example, on a WD 1771 (a FDC chip used on 
        most TI-99/4A computer), you don't have to declare anything. 
        You just lay down the track as you wish, making sure you put all 
        the bytes in the right order in memory, and then passing each byte 
        to the FDC after the formatting command has been issued. In this 
        way, you are fully in charge of the situation: you can easily mix 
        all the sizes you want, and each sector will be a good one. 
        
        Please notice that a PC will not have any problem reading or 
        writing a track containing valid sectors of different size. It 
        simply cannot format them. Once they have been properly formatted 
        on a different computer, it will easily read and write them. 
        
        Another feature the NEC 765 lacks is the capability of writing DAMs
        (Data Address Marks) with a value other than the default one 
        provided by the NEC 765 chip itself, namely 0FBh (Normal Data Mark).
        Thus, 0F8h (Deleted Data Mark) is not possible and this forces a 
        full rewriting of the disk just formatted when a Deleted Data Mark 
        disk is needed as it happens for the Geneve 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy 
        disks. 
        
        Some TRS80 computers need other values for the DAM, 0F9h and 0FAh, 
        which surely prevents a PC equipped with a normal FDC from 
        formatting a valid disk for these computers. Hence, TI99-PC will not
        be able to copy any of those disks. By contrast, a Myarc or CorComp 
        FDC on a TI, if properly instructed with a dedicated program, could 
        surely make a good copy of a TRS80 disk. 
        
        Commodore disks are even worse. I have been told they need a 
        special hardware because their floppy drives did not follow the PC 
        standards. 
        
	As a result, not everything that is possible on a TI can be done on 
	a PC too, as far as formatting and copying a disk is concerned. 
	I would state that "if a disk duplication of a protected disk can 
	be performed on a normal PC, T99-PC will surely do it". In short, 
	if it is possible on a PC, TI99-PC will do it. 
	

        
        HOW TO GO ABOUT TO COPY A FORMATTED DISK
        ========================================
        Provided your diskette is the type of disk described above (see the 
        above paragraph, "Why this program might not solve your problems"), 
        the following are the usual steps you have to follow to copy a 
        copy-protected disk: 
        
        1)  - The copy process is not an automatic one. During the copying, 
              you will be requested to make manual corrections so as to 
              adapt the TI99_PC Option 3 commands to your specific needs.
            - If you are working on a true multi-tasking OS or similar 
              (i.e. Windows) refrain from switching from one window to 
              another while the software reads, writes or format the disk 
              because, on some circumstances, wrong data may be 
              transferred, without the user having the slightest chance of 
              realizing it (no error will be flagged out). I think this can 
              happen because Windows and DOS do not co-operate too well 
              together. Just let the TI99_PC software do what is up to, 
              before returning to Windows.
            - Make sure you write-protect the source disk. It's easy to 
              make mistakes and destroy a floppy you cannot replace. 
            - Use the right floppy disk type on Source and Destination 
              (don't mix Double Density disks and High density disks).
            - Use the same floppy drive on Source and Destination disk, 
              even if you have two disk drive of the same type. If you 
              don't, you would just increase the chance of getting a bad 
              disk. 
            - Bear in mind that the copy process will create some 
              intermediate files, that will have to stored on a hard disk. 
              Even if you have two floppy disk on your computer, you will 
              have to use the hard disk for the intermediate files and 
              forget about the other floppy drive. 
              Although it had been possible, the ability of using the 
              secondary floppy disk as a temporary storage has been ruled 
              out, so as to keep the programmer's task simpler. 
        
        2)  Establish what's the format pattern of your source disk. Thus, 
            open a .COPYLIST to create a new command file, place a .LAYOUT 
            command as to let the software know how to go about and issue a 
            .DSKIDS command on the source disk. .DBLSTP (Double Stepping) 
            has to be set according to the disk and the drive type. 
            There are some ready-made command files on this package that 
            will make performing the entire dup process easy. 
            Please see the .FMT files whose name start with an X, such as 
            XNSSSD48.FMT, and the similar files; on the _READ_ME.TXT file 
            this type of files are listed under the section named: 
            DUPLICATING A SECTOR PROTECTED DISK 
            The various files differ just by how many tracks and sides you 
            have on your source disk. Choose the one suitable for your 
            source disk and drive type. If you know there are more than 80 
            tracks in your source disk, please change that .LAYOUT 
            parameter in your XNssddnn.FMT file.  
           
        3)  As you can see, the XNssddnn.FMT file adds the .COPY2FIL 
            command in BLIND mode to the above command file. This will dump 
            all the sectors of source disk to the file opened with the 
            .OUTFILE command. This process is very long. The software will 
            have to check for all the possible density/track combinations, 
            and this takes time. You will see on the screen how it proceeds.
            
        4)  Once all the sectors have been copied to the .OUTFILE file, all 
            the output files will be closed, and opened again as input file.
            Thus, the .OUTFILE will be opened as an .INFILE, and .COPYLIST 
            file will be the argument of the .RUN command. 
        
        5)  The .COPYLIST file will be executed. If the commands that have 
            been placed there by .DSKIDS and .COPYFIL are correct, a 
            perfect copy of the source disk will be created. 

##-30.03.09
        ***     FINAL COMMENTS ABOUT COPYING PROTECTED DISKS    ***
                ============================================
                        
        Sometimes it is advisable to edit the .COPYLIST file before 
        executing it. This might happen if the source disk has different 
        sector sizes on the same track and all the sectors are valid, which 
        is usual if the source disk has been formatted on a computer with a 
        FDC chip other than the NEC 765. 
    
        The error happens because .DSKIDS always tries to read at least one 
        sector from any track, and its resulting size is used to assign the 
        sector size for the track. If the first sector that can be read it 
        is not of the type that contains good data, the resulting 
        duplicated disk will not run satisfactorily and you may want to 
        edit the .FORMAT command for that track on the .COPYLIST file 
        before executing it. 
        
        
        If you know that some sectors are not needed in the destination 
        disk, you could erase each occurrence of them on the .COPYLIST file.
        Also, if some high numbered sectors are not needed in the 
        destination disk, you may want to add a .TOPSECT command, stating 
        the highest sector number that can be transferred. As a matter of 
        fact, the .OUTFILE files that come from the Dump function of 
        Anadisk, show this highly undesirable behavior. Anadisk tends to 
        add "ghost" sectors to its dump files for no known reason. 
        
        There might be other good reasons as well for which you may want to 
        edit the .COPYLIST file before execution. If the duplicated disk 
        does not perform as expected or there are errors in the final 
        FMT_LOG.TXT log file it is worth while giving a look at the 
        .COPYLIST file. 
        After all, the good side of using command file in plain text is 
        that you can easily edit it. 
        
        The .COPYLIST file so edited may not be executed as is. With the aid
        of a text editor you have to add at the beginning of it some info 
        that are placed in top of your first command file.
    
    
        .GAP3W 20       ' Set GAP 3 length for Writing sector to 20 bytes
        .FILL F6        ' Fill Byte while formatting set to D7h
        .SRATE 15       ' Assign Step Rate. Valid Step Rates: 0-15
        .UNLD  15       ' Assign Head Unload Time. Valid Unload Times: 0-127
        .LOAD  1        ' Assign Head Load Time. Valid Load Times: 0-127
        .HSTL  15       ' Head Settle Time, in milliseconds. Valid Head 
                        ' Settle Time: 0-255
        .MOFF  25       ' Motor Off Delay, in clock ticks. Valid Motor Off 
                        ' Delay: 0-255
        .MON   8        ' Motor Start Time (Motor On), in 1/8 seconds.  
                        ' Valid Start Time Delay: 0-255
        .GAP3F 42       ' Set GAP 3 length for Formatting sector. 22 for TI,
                        ' 42 for DOS HD
        .DBLSTP OFF     ' Double Step set to OFF (meaningful on an 80 track 
                        ' drive only)           
           
        I usually add the above Commands in top of the command file that 
        has to be executed. 
        Pay attention to .DBLSTP. You may need it ON if you are doing a 40 
        track disk on a 80 track drive. Set the other values according to 
        your drive needs. 
        Also, the GAP3F value changes on other disk types.
        
##-39.01.01 
*****        THE DOS DIRECTORY NAVIGATOR AND FILE SELECTOR        *****
             =============================================

	You are now on the DOS Navigator and File Selector.  

	You arrived here because you pressed F6 while the cursor was on 
	the Source Path-Filename field or the Destination Path-Filename 
	field.

	By pressing ESC you will get back to where you came from. 

	The DOS Navigator and File Selector will enable you to both 
	navigate in the DOS Directory and select the filename you need. 

	The highlighted bar shows the file/directory you are on. 

	By pressing Enter while the Highlighted Bar is on a filename you 
	will select that filename and you will exit the DOS Navigator 
	and File Selector, returning to where you came from.  

	By pressing Enter while the Highlighted Bar is on a Directory you 
	will select that Directory and its content will be shown to you. 
	By selecting a directory named "\.." you will open the parent 
	directory.

             Key Usage

             - Enter = Select file/directory
             - F1  = This Help Screen 
             - F5  = TI Disk Catalog of a TI Disk Image file (DSK and IMG)
             - F7  = File Hex Sector Viewer
             - ESC = Give up any selection or change made so far
             - <- Backspace = Select the current Directory but no filename
        
##-40.01.01 
        *** PC99, V9T9 and IMG Disk Image Files. Format Differences ***
            =======================================================
            
       A PC99 Disk Image File contains not only all the sectors belonging 
       to the original TI disk, but also all the bytes that are usually 
       laid  down between sectors when a real TI Disk Track is formatted. 
       
       On the other hand, a V9T9 Disk Image File contains just the sectors 
       of a real TI Disk. No other value is added to the disk. 
       The resulting Disk Image File of a V9T9 disk is just a straight 
       collection of 256 byte sectors, starting from sector 0 up to the 
       last logical sector. 
       
       Lacking the bytes between the sectors that can be found on a PC99 
       disk, a V9T9 disk is significantly smaller in size than a PC99 disk.
       
       An IMG Disk Image File is like a V9T9 Disk Image File, just a 
       straight collection of all the sectors. The only difference: there 
       are three 256 byte extra sectors, i.e. a total of 768 bytes 
       (the Read Error Map), added after the last sector of the Disk 
       Image File. 
       
       Starting from TI99_PC.COM version Kernel 302 (TI99-PC vers 3.0.0), 
       the 768 error table is added  only if a reading error occurred while 
       reading the real TI floppy disk. If no error occurs, no error table 
       will be added. Thus, an IMG file with no reading error is exactly 
       the same as a V9T9 file.
       
       The Read Error Map contains a map of all the sectors that have not 
       been properly read when an physical TI floppy disk was read by 
       TI99-PC (option 1,1). 
       
       The first bytes of the Read Error Map read as follows:  
       "Bad Sectors:". Thereafter, the number of bad sectors found during 
       reading are reported. The map of the bad sectors follows: each 
       bit is a bad sector. 
       
       The Quick TI Disk Catalog (F5 on any menu that contains a TI99-PC 
       Disk Image file name, see section 19.01.00 for more about it) will 
       display all the errors, if any, in the Read Error Map. 
       
       The Read Error Map is not really necessary for TI99-PC to work 
       properly. If the Read Error Map is missing, TI99-PC just assumes 
       that the disk image file is a plain V9T9 image file. 
       
       Hence, any IMG Disk Image File with an error table can be 
       transformed into a V9T9 file without any problem by just trimming 
       off the last 768 bytes if the bad sector count is zero. 
       
       If that count isn't zero, and you go on with trimming off the Read 
       Error Map anyway, you will lose the infos relating to what sectors 
       are actually missing in your disk image file, something you probably 
       do not want to do. 
       
       The Read Error Map will be created by option 1, 1 (Transfer a 
       TI99/4A Disk to TI99-PC Disk Image File). The Read Error Map 
       will be lost when a true IMG file is transferred to either a 
       PC99 or a V9T9 Disk Image File (Options 1,3 and 1, 5). 
       
       The Read Error Map will not be created when files are imported from 
       MS-DOS (Option 2, 6), even if the destination disk is named IMG: 
       there can't be "Read Errors" when reading a file from an MS-DOS hard 
       disk. That would be something unusual, to say the least. 
       
       As to the PC99 sector layout description, please refer to 
       sections 40.02.02 and 40.02.03 on this help file.
            
    
##-40.02.01
        ****            PC99 SECTOR LAYOUT              ****
                        ============================
        The info provided in the next two documents, Single and Double 
        Density PC99 disk formats, does not come from CaDD Electronics. 
        I simply studied some PC99 disk images, and wrote down my own notes.
        I included them in this document for your convenience. 

##-40.02.02
         ****           SINGLE DENSITY PC99 DISK FORMAT         ****
                        =========================================
          9  sectors per track (0-8)
         40  tracks (0-39)
          2  sides (0-1)
        720  total sectors
        180  KBytes
        
        
        Format disk layout
        PC 99 Double Side/Single Density format layout is very similar to 
        the standard pattern you would find on a normal diskette, formatted 
        with a WD 1770-1772 chip in FM mode (Single Density). There are 
        only minor differences, namely:
        
        1) Start of track gap is shorter than normal: 16 bytes instead of 
          the normal 40 bytes of 00.    
        
        2) CRC is always F7,F7. On a normal diskette you would write just 1 
           F7 byte and that would create 2 CRC bytes. The value of these 
           CRC bytes would depend on what you had written previously. Not 
           so on a PC99 disk! You have to write 2 F7 bytes and, of course, 
           then you will find your 2 F7 bytes.'    
        
        3) The After Data Gap is longer than normal: 45 FF bytes instead of 
           10.'    
        
        4) End of track gap is shorter than normal, 231 FF bytes instead of 
           369.'
        
        'Start of track                    =  16  00    post index gap
        +-------------------------------------------------------------
        '             |  Pre_ID gap        =   6  00                
        '             |  ID                =   1  FE    ID Address Mark
        '   Each      |  Track #           =   1  ..    Track #  (00-39)
        '   sector    |  Side #            =   1  ..    Side #   (00 or 01)
        '   (repeat   |  Sector #          =   1  ..    Sector # (0-8)
        '   for 9     |  Sector length     =   1  01    256 bytes/sector 
        '   times)    |  CRC before Data   =   2  F7    always F7
        '             |  Gap 1 before Data =  11  FF              
        '             |  Gap 2 before Data =   6  00              
        '             |  Data Address Mark =   1  FB    Data Address Mark
        '             |  Data field        = 256  ..    your real data, or
        '             |                                 E5 if a blank disk!
        '             |  CRC after Data    =    2 F7    always F7
        '             |  After Data Gap    =   45 FF
        '             +-----------------------------------------------------
        '                                                          
        'End of track                      = 231    FF              
        '                                                
        Used space
        ==========
                Sector length   = 334 bytes
                334 x 9 sectors = 3006 bytes + 16 (start of track) + 231 
                                  (end of track) = 3253 bytes
                3253 x 40 tracks x 2 sides = 260,240 bytes/disk. 
                
        As a matter of fact, a PC99 DS/DD disk image is 260,240 bytes. 
        ____________________________________________________________________
        Note: (Not relevant for formatting, but important for copying 
               purposes).
        
        Following the TI-99/4A convention, the logical sectors will first 
        have to completely fill the lower Side (Side 0). Further logical 
        sectors have to go first to the last track (the inner track) of 
        Side 1 (the upper side). 
        The next sectors will go on the tracks in backward order, from the 
        inner tracks to the outer tracks of side 1. The highest sectors 
        will go to track zero of Side 1
        
        The interleave is 4:1 (advance 4 sectors ahead on the track to find 
        the next sector) on both disk sides, while you are on the same 
        track. At track shift, the starting sector is different and it 
        depends on the side. On side 0, at track shift, the starting sector 
        number is 4 higher than the sector number of the last sector on the 
        previous track, while on side 1 is only 1 higher. This makes sense 
        when you realize that the head is stepping backward on side 1 for a 
        real disk.
        
        This data has been discovered by close examination of the PC99 disk 
        image files DSK1, DSK2, DSK3, and WNY23B. See the table below.
        
         Side 0
        
             track     sector number order
        
               0 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               1 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
               2 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
               3 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               4 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
                       . . . . . . . . . . . . 
              38 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
              39 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
        
                ________________________
                                
        Side 1
        
             track     sector number order
        
               0 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               1 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
               2 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
               3 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               4 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
               5 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
                       . . . . . . . . . . . . 
              37 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
              38 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
              39 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
        
        The interleave (or the gap length) must be important on a PC99 
        diskette.  One of the two have to be the method by which PC99 finds 
        its sectors.  On a real diskette, the start of a new sector is 
        detected by the missing clock signal in the FE and FB bytes on the 
        disk (the ID Address Mark and Data Address Mark). The missing clock 
        is a very special signal to the disk controller. It means 
        "something important is coming up. Watch out". 
        
        On a PC99 disk image file that method can't work. For instance, all 
        the FB values are identical. They don't have a Missing Clock. How 
        can PC99 understand that a particular FB byte is not part of the 
        normal data in the data field of a sector? It simply can't. 
        
        In order not to make mistakes, it must rely on the length of the 
        gaps. For the above reasons, the format pattern shown above must 
        used as it is, with no variation at all. (Editor's note: There 
        might be a better, more compatible way to find the sector data 
        fields. The first FB byte must be a data address mark. The next 
        256 bytes would be normal data. Then the next FB byte should be 
        another data address mark. A PC99 disk image made from an original 
        TI disk might have a different sector order and gap size than 
        these files have. You would need to examine the ID fields to 
        determine the sector order.)
        



##-40.02.03
        ****            DOUBLE DENSITY PC99 DISK FORMAT                 ****
                        ============================================

          18  sectors per track (0-17)
          40  tracks (0-39)
           2  sides (0-1)
        1440  total sectors
         360  KBytes
        
        
        Format disk layout
        PC 99 Double Side/Double Density format layout is very similar to 
        the standard pattern you would find on a normal diskette, formatted 
        with a WD 1770-1772 chip in MFM mode (Double Density). There are 
        only minor differences, namely:
        
        1) Start of track gap (filled with 4E) is shorter than normal: 
           40 bytes instead of the normal 60.
        
        2) CRC is always F7,F7. On a normal diskette you would write just 
           1 F7 byte and that would create 2 CRC bytes. The value of these 
           CRC bytes would depend on what you had written previously. Not 
           so on a PC99 disk! You have to write 2 F7 bytes and, of course, 
           then you will find your 2 F7 bytes.
        
        3) End of track gap is longer than normal, 712 4E bytes instead of 
           668.
        
                                      number of bytes  byte value
        
        'Start of track                    =  40  4E             
        '           +-------------------------------------------------------
        '           |  Pre_ID gap          =  10  00                 
        '           |  First 3 A1          =   3  A1                 
        '  Each     |  ID                  =   1  FE     ID Address Mark 
        '  sector   |  Track #             =   1  ..     Track #  (00-39)  
        '  (repeat  |  Side #              =   1  ..     Side #   (00 or 01)
        '  for 18   |  Sector #            =   1  ..     Sector # (0-8) 
        '  times)   |  Sector length       =   1  01     256 bytes/sector
        '           |  CRC before Data     =   2  F7     always F7  
        '           |  Gap 1 before Data   =  22  4E                      
        '           |  Gap 2 before Data   =  12  00                        
        '           |  Second 3 A1         =   3  A1                  
        '           |  Data Address Mark   =   1  FB     Data Address Mark
        '           |  Data                = 256  ..     your real data, 
        '           |                                 or E5 if a blank disk!
        '           |  CRC after data      =   2  F7     always F7   
        '           |  After Data Gap      =  24  4E                  
        '           +-------------------------------------------------------
        '                                                               
        'End of track                      = 712  4E
        '___________________________________________________________________
        
        
        Used space
        ==========
                Sector length    = 334 bytes
                334 x 9 sectors = 3006 bytes + 16 (start of track) + 231 
                                  (end of track) = 3523 bytes
                3523 x 40 tracks x 2 sides = 260,240 bytes/disk. 
                
        As a matter of fact, a PC99 DS/DD disk image file is 260,240 bytes. 
        ____________________________________________________________________
        Note: (Not relevant for formatting, but important for copying 
               purposes).
        
        Following the TI-99/4A convention, the logical sectors will first 
        have to completely fill the lower Side (Side 0). Further logical 
        sectors have to go first to the last track (the inner track) of 
        Side 1 (the upper side). The next sectors will go on the tracks in 
        backward order, from the inner tracks to the outer tracks of side 1.
        The highest sectors will go to track zero of Side 1
        
        The interleave is 4:1 (advance 4 sectors ahead on the track to find 
        the next sector) on both disk sides, while you are on the same 
        track. At track shift, the starting sector is different and it 
        depends on the side. On side 0, at track shift, the starting sector 
        number is 4 higher than the sector number of the last sector on the 
        previous track, while on side 1 is only 1 higher. This makes sense 
        when you realize that the head is stepping backward on side 1 for a 
        real disk.
        
        This data has been discovered by close examination of the PC99 disk 
        image files DSK1, DSK2, DSK3, and WNY23B. See the table below.
        
        
        Side 0
        
             track     sector number order
        
               0 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               1 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
               2 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
               3 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               4 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
                 . . . . . . . . . . . . 
              38 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
              39 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
        
                        ________________________
                                
        Side 1
        
             track     sector number order
        
               0 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               1 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
               2 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
               3 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
               4 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
               5 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
                 . . . . . . . . . . . . 
              37 =     3 1 8 6 4 2 0 7 5
              38 =     6 4 2 0 7 5 3 1 8
              39 =     0 7 5 3 1 8 6 4 2
        
        The interleave (or the gap length) must be important on a PC99 
        diskette. One of the two have to be the method by which PC99 finds 
        its sectors.  
        
        On a real diskette, the start of a new sector is detected by the 
        missing clock signal in the FE and FB bytes on the disk (the ID 
        Address Mark and Data Address Mark). The missing clock is a very 
        special signal to the disk controller. It means "something 
        important is coming up. Watch out". 
        
        On a PC99 disk image file that method can't work. For instance, all 
        the FB values are identical. They don't have a Missing Clock. How 
        can PC99 understand that a particular FB byte is not part of the 
        normal data in the data field of a sector? It simply can't. In 
        order not to make mistakes, it must rely on the length of the gaps.
        
        For the above reasons, the format pattern shown above must used as 
        it is, with no variation at all. (Editor's note: There might be a 
        better, more compatible way to find the sector data fields. The 
        first FB byte must be a data address mark. The next 256 bytes would 
        be normal data. Then the next FB byte should be another data 
        address mark. A PC99 disk image made from an original TI disk might 
        have a different sector order and gap size than these files have. 
        You would need to examine the ID fields to determine the sector 
        order.)
        
   
