Re: Formatting a disk for Apple ][e \ Laser 128

[aw133@lafn.org (James Poore)]

In a previous article, nparker@inferno.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker) says:

>In article <6765gr$97i$1@news1.iamerica.net>,  <john1970@iamerica.net> wrote:
>>Can someone tell me what the exact command for formatting a disk on an
>>Apple 2c / 2e or Laser 128 computer?  I tried the initialize command by
>>its self, added a 0, added a text string, etc. and they all seem to have
>>the same result I/O Error on every disk I try (I thought the drive may
>>be having problems at first, and still there may have been a
>>write-protect notch stuck in it, so I may try looking at the drive....
>>But a friend sugested that perhaps the command was wrong.
>
>If you're using DOS 3.3, the command is
>
>     INIT (filename)
>
>This formats the disk, and saves the current BASIC program under the name
>"(filename)", so that it will run automatically when the new disk is
>booted.
>
>By itself, the INIT command formats a disk in the most recently used drive.
>If you want to force it to use a different drive, you can use the ,Sn and
>,Dn options...for example,
>
>     INIT HELLO,S5,D2
>
>formats the disk in slot 5, drive 2, and saves a startup program under the
>name "HELLO".
>
>
>If you're using ProDOS, there is no builtin formatting command--you have to
>use a utility program.  Older versions of ProDOS come with a program called
>"FILER" that can format disks; newer version of ProDOS have the Apple II
>System Utilities (usually called "SYSUTIL.SYSTEM").
>
>
>Be sure to use single or double density disks.  High density disks (i.e.
>1.2M PC disks) do *not* work in Apple drives.  You may need to visit your
>local thrift store to find appropriate disks...I haven't seen anything
>other than high density disks in the computer stores for a long time.
>
>>                                                           Also, how
>>does one access the external floppy?
>
>Under DOS 3.3, this is done with the ,Sn and ,Dn options.  The internal
>drive is S6,D1 and the external drive is S6,D2.
>
>DOS remembers which drive you accessed most recently, and automatically
>uses that drive for future accesses until you tell it otherwise.  When you
>first boot a disk in the internal drive, that drive is the default for
>subsequent DOS commands.  A command such as
>
>     CATALOG,D2
>
>accesses the external drive, and from that point forward, the external
>drive is the default drive.  To go back to the internal drive, just add
>",D1" to a DOS command...for example,
>
>     LOAD MY.PROGRAM,D1
>
>The same method works in ProDOS, but ProDOS also has a more elegant way of
>locating disks.  Every ProDOS disk has a name, and if you ask for a disk by
>name, ProDOS will search all the drives until it finds a disk with that
>name.  Thus you can type
>
>     CATALOG /FRED
>
>to see the catalog of the disk "FRED", no matter what drive it's in, or
>
>     LOAD /MARY/MY.PROGRAM
>
>to load "MY.PROGRAM" from the disk called "MARY", no matter what drive it's
>in.
>
>               - Neil Parker
>-- 
>Neil Parker, nparker@inferno.uoregon.edu, nparker@axis.llx.com,
>http://axis.llx.com/~nparker/     (Note new addresses and home page!)
>
>Unsolicited commerical e-mail is not welcome, and will be discarded unread.

WOW---LOOK AT THIS

Its a genuine Apple II post

Very unusual for this newsgroup!

Jim
>

-- 
James M (Jim) Poore--Apple II's Forever--Especially IIgs's
Los Angeles Free Net---aw133@lafn.org
Here siggy, siggy...Here Boy
Where is that damn SIG?