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

[nparker@inferno.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker)]

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!)

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