Category : Utilities for DOS and Windows Machines
Archive   : CNFMT108.ZIP
Filename : CONFMT.DOC

 
Output of file : CONFMT.DOC contained in archive : CNFMT108.ZIP





Sydex



















Con>Format




A Concurrent Diskette Formatter































Table of Contents


Con>Format, Briefly..........................................1

Configuring Con>Format.......................................1

Operating Con>Format.........................................4

Display Adapters and Modes and Con>Format....................5

Removing Con>Format From Memory..............................6

Other Things to Know.........................................6

In Conclusion................................................6

The Sydex Product Line.......................................7











































Con>Format

A "POP-UP" CONCURRENT DISKETTE FORMATTER



Copyright 1988-90, Sydex
All Rights Reserved

Version 1.07 August, 1990


Sydex
P.O. Box 5700
Eugene, OR 97405
Voice: (503) 683-6033
FAX: (503) 683-1622
Data: (503) 683-1385


NOTICE

THIS IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE! If you paid a "public domain" vendor
for this program, you paid for the service of copying the
program, and not for the program itself. Rest assured that noth-
ing ever gets to the originators of this product from such a
sale. You may evaluate this product, but if you make use of it,
you must register your copy.

We offer several inducements to you for registering. First of
all, you receive the most up-to-date copy of the program that we
have -- and we do update the product on a regular basis. You
also receive support for Con>Format -- which can be quite valu-
able at times. And finally, we have a few utilities not included
in the evaluation package. Make no mistake, however - this is a
fully functional version of Con>Format and not "crippled" in any
way.


REGISTRATION INFORMATION

The non-commercial single-user registration fee for Con>Format is
$15.00 US. The commercial and multisystem site fee for
Con>Format (including Con>Format) is $50.00.

Send a check or company P.O. for the appropriate amount to:








Sydex
P.O. Box 5700
Eugene, OR 97405

We accept VISA and MasterCard. Please indicate what product you
are ordering and if you have a requirement for 3.5" media. We
normally ship 5.25" 360K diskettes, but will furnish 3.5" 720K
media upon request. Customers outside of the United States and
Canada should add $5.00 for airmail shipping.

If you are a registered user of this product and desire an up-
date, please send $5.00 for handling and we will ship you an up-
to-date copy. Please add $3.00 for printed documentation to
cover duplication costs.


DISTRIBUTION NOTICE

This is "user-supported" software. You are hereby granted a
license by Sydex to distribute this evaluation copy of Con>Format
and its documentation, subject to the following conditions:

1. Con>Format may be distributed freely without charge in
evaluation form only.

2. Con>Format may not be sold, licensed, or a fee charged
for its use. If a fee is charged in connection with
Con>Format, it must cover the cost of copying or dis-
semination only. Such charges must be clearly iden-
tified as such by the originating party. Under no cir-
cumstances may the purchaser be given the impression
that he is buying Con>Format itself.

3. Con>Format must be presented as a complete unit, includ-
ing this documentation. Neither Con>Format nor its
documentation may be amended or altered in any way.

4. By granting you the right to distribute the evaluation
form of Con>Format, you do not become the owner of
Con>Format in any form.

Any other use, distribution or representation of
Con>Format is expressly forbidden without the written
consent of Sydex.














Con>Format, Briefly


For those who don't like going though tons of documentation to
find out what a program does, here's Con>Format in a nutshell:

* Con>Format stands for Con(current) For(matter) and offers
you the capability of formatting diskettes "in the back-
ground" while other work is being done on your computer.

* Con>Format is a "pop-up" utility. That is, it stays dor-
mant until a particular combination of keys (which you
specify yourself) is depressed. Con>Format then opens a
"window" on the display and requests which drive to format
and what kind of format to write. Once this is done, the
"window" disappears and does not reappear until formatting
is complete. In the meantime, you have full use of your
computer, excluding the diskette drives (you may use the
hard disk). Hence the term "background" formatter.

* Con>Format works with 5.25" and 3.5" diskette drive types,
and provides formatting for 180K, 360K, 720K, 1.2M and
1.44M diskettes. The format written is compatible with
DOS versions 2.0 through 4.01 (the latest as of this
writing).

* Con>Format will "hold up" a diskette access from a running
program if a diskette is in the process of being for-
matted. A window "pops up" to notify you of this occur-
rence. When formatting is complete, the diskette access
is performed and program execution continues. If the ES-
Cape key is pressed during the time that diskette access
is suspended, a "Drive not ready" status will be returned
and control returned to the suspended program.

So why waste your time staring at "Formatting Track 13, Side 1"
displays? Give Con>Format a try--pretty soon you'll be wondering
why you ever put up with DOS Format!


Configuring Con>Format

Con>Format can be run without first being configured. Con>Format
will use the following defaults if the configuration program has
not been changed:

1. White-on-black window colors.

2. "Hot key" is Alt-Left Shift-"F".

3. Tone and window completion alert.


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You need only copy the file CONFMT.COM from the installation dis-
kette to a directory or drive where it may be accessed. To load
Con>Format into memory, simply type the following at the DOS
prompt:

CONFMT S

Con>Format operates with most PC-compatibles including PC XT-, PC
AT- and PS/2-compatibles. Some machines, such as the Tandy 2000
or PC jr will not work with Con>Format, because they are rela-
tively PC-incompatible. Your video display may be monochrome,
CGA, EGA or VGA, and your diskette drives may be internal or ex-
ternal to your computer. If you have more than one diskette
adapter card, Con>Format will access drives attached to the
primary or secondary adapters.

If the defaults given above are not suitable, you'll want to
specify your configuration explicitly. You'll need to have the
files CONFMT.COM and CFCONFIG.EXE on a disk where they can be ac-
cessed by the configuration program. If you obtained Con>Format
in "archived" or "squeezed" form, you'll need to run the ap-
propriate utility to extract both CFCONFIG.EXE and CONFMT.COM.
At the DOS command prompt, load the configurationn program by en-
tering

CFCONFIG and pressing the ENTER key.

You'll be guided through a series of displays which will con-
figure Con>Format to reside on the disk of your choice.

At one point in the configuration program, you will be requested
to furnish a "hot key" combination -- the combination of key
depressions which will "activate" Con>Format and cause its window
to "pop up". A "hot key" combination involves depressing any (or
none) of the following keys:

Ctrl, Alt, Right Shift, Left Shift

and, while these keys are depressed, depressing, then releasing
any other key on the keyboard. Note that a "hot key" combination
must include a "shift" combination and some other "non-shift"
key.

For example, a good combination to use is Alt, Right Shift and
"F", as it's a rather unlikely combination and is easy to remem-
ber. Take care not to assign a "hot key" combination which is
the same as that used by another one of your programs. Should
this happen, the "hot key" combination will be intercepted by
Con>Format and be rendered inaccessible to the other program.
For instance, the "F" key could be designated as a Con>Format"hot
key" -- but you'd be left without the letter "F" in everything


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else you tried to do! If you find that your "hot key" selection
was not a good one, you can run INSTALL again to re-install
Con>Format with a different "hot key" combination.

Some notes on the configuration process:

* You may have CFCONFIG modify the file AUTOEXEC.BAT on the
target disk drive to cause Con>Format to be loaded
automatically after each system "boot". Alternatively,
you may load Con>Format with the following DOS command:

CONFMT followed by the ENTER key

* If you have installed the registered version of Con>Format
and want to avoid the opening "banner", use the following
DOS command to load Con>Format:

CONFMT S followed by the ENTER key

* If you have an XT-compatible machine with a high-density
diskette adapter such as the MicroSolutions CompatiCard,
you may need to configure your computer as an AT-
compatible to be able to use the higher capacity drives.

* Conversely, a Toshiba T3100 laptop should be configured as
an XT-compatible, rather than the default AT-compatible
selection, because of its non-standard diskette control-
ler.

* During the configuration process you will have an oppor-
tunity to specify what type of diskette drives and control-
lers your computer supports. If you have a single dis-
kette adapter, all drives are connected to the primary
adapter. If you have an additional adapter, such as the
SYSGEN Omni-Bridge or MicroSolutions' CompatiCard, this is
the secondary adapter. In all cases, if your computer sup-
ports high-density diskette formats, you must specify that
it is an "AT" type of computer, regardless of its actual
model type.

* If you're using a MicroSolutions CompatiCardtm I or II dis-
kette adapter in addition to the "normal" PC-type adapter,
you must specify not only that you have an "AT"-type of
computer, but also that you are using a CompatiCard. If
you are in doubt about the base address of the Com-
patiCard, consult your CompatiCard reference manual for
configuration information.

* As part of the configuration process you may specify that
Con>Format use a different "boot" sector image. To do
this, you'll need a copy of a diskette having the boot sec-
tor to be used by Con>Format.

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* Finally, you may specify if Con>Format is to signal comple-
tion of the formatting process by a tone instead of, or in
addition to, a "pop-up" status window. If a tone signal
is selected, a high, medium or low tone is sounded to in-
dicate that the diskette you just formatted had:

* No errors (High tone)
* Some flawed areas (Medium tone)
* A serious error; the result is unusable. (A low tone)

These tones are very distinctive. If no "pop-up" completion
status window is selected, the status of the previous formatting
operation is display when the "hot key" combination is next
pressed.

Note that the configuration process customizes Con>Format for a
specific configuration of disks and display adapter. Con>Format
must be re-configured if the system configuration is changed.


Operating Con>Format

Operation of Con>Format is straightforward. After Con>Format has
been loaded, simply depress your own "hot key" combination and a
"window" will appear, prompting for information.

After the drive containing the diskette to be formatted and the
format to be written have been selected, the "window" disappears
and the formatting process begins. While the format is being
written, you may perform other tasks on your computer, provided
that no diskette activity is involved. Should you attempt to ac-
cess a diskette drive while Con>Format is formatting, a "window"
will appear, advising that your diskette request has been held
up, pending completion of the formatting operation. At this
point, no more work can be performed concurrently with the format
operation. However, if the ESCape key is pressed during the time
that diskette access is suspended, a "Drive not ready" status
will be returned and control returned to the suspended program.
It may take several depressions of the ESCape key before DOS
reports a "Drive not ready" error because most diskette opera-
tions are retried several times by DOS before an error is finally
reported.

When the formatting operation is complete, Con>Format again "pops
up" a window displaying the outcome of the operation, or sounds a
tone, or both, depending on the selection made at configuration.
If "tone only" was configured, the results of the formatting
operation will be displayed the next time the "hot key" combina-
tion is depressed.



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If flawed areas of the diskette were encountered, the total size
of the flawed areas is displayed. In some cases it may not be
possible to format a diskette because the drive door was left
open, the diskette was write-disabled, or a flaw was detected in
a critical area of the diskette. Con>Format will diagnose each
of these conditions and display an appropriate message.

After the results of the formatting operation are shown, you'll
be asked if another diskette should be formatted. If the Enter
key is pressed, the whole formatting process is repeated on
another diskette, using the same drive and choice of format used
for the previous diskette. If the ESCape key is pressed, the
"window" disappears and any diskette operation which was "held
up" by Con>Format will be performed.

When Con>Format displays its window, you may move the window
around the screen with the cursor keypad. Each key moves the
window as follows:

7 - Upper left corner
9 - Upper right corner
1 - Lower left corner
3 - Lower right corner
5 - Center of screen
8 - One line up
2 - One line down
4 - One column left
6 - One column right


Display Adapters and Modes and Con>Format

Con>Format will not "pop" a window up when your computer's dis-
play is in graphics mode. That is, Con>Format will work only
with text displays. If Con>Format concludes diskette formatting
and the display has been changed from text to graphics,
Con>Format will wait until the display is again text before
"popping" a window up. If the display is in graphics mode when
Con>Format is activated by the "hot key" combination, Con>Format
will ignore the "hot key" depression.

However, "Hercules" or Monochrome Graphics adapters pose some spe-
cial problems. Con>Format will not display correctly or intel-
ligibly when a Hercules- or Monochrome-graphics display is in
graphics mode. If Con>Format is activated accidentally when a
monochrome-graphics display is in a graphics mode, the ESCape key
should be pressed and Con>Format will restore the display. In
addition, Con>Format is not compatible with some program which
make use of Hercules Computer Technology's "RAM-Font" mode. The
ESCape key will restore the display in case of accidental activa-
tion of Con>Format.


Page 5





Removing Con>Format From Memory

You can remove Con>Format from your computer's memory with the
command:

CONFMT R

The only restriction is that Con>Format must not be in the
process of formatting a diskette at the time this command is ex-
ecuted.


Other Things to Know...

Con>Format will work with most "serious" programs. Some games
will not operate with Con>Format, however.

Products which directly access the diskette adapter will not
operate correctly with Con>Format. These include our own
ANADISK, TELEDISK, COPYQM, FORMATQM and 22DISK. Con>Format may
be installed, but must not be activated (by depressing the "hot
key" combination) while any of these programs are executing. If
Con>Format is accidentally activated during the execution of
these programs, exit Con>Format by pressing the ESCape key.

When using other "hot key" products, such as Borland
International's SideKick, remember that the order in which "hot
keys" are recognized depends on the order in which the products
have been loaded. Load Con>Format last if possible.

The formats created by Con>Format are compatible with DOS 4.0,
and will also work with DOS 2 and DOS 3. Con>Format will not
produce 8-sector DOS 1 formats.


In Conclusion

Thank you for giving Con>Format a try. If you have suggestions
or questions concerning its use, or any of our other products,
please write or give us a call.












Page 6




The Sydex Product Line

AnaDisk -- The compleat diskette utility. Nothing like it
anywhere else; scan, edit, repair and copy just about any
kind of diskette. $25.00 ($150.00 site) registration fee.

Con>Format -- Concurrent "background" diskette formatter.
Features "pop-up" operation and "hot key" activation.
You've got to see it to believe. Supports all current DOS
formats. $15.00 ($50.00 site) registration fee.

22Disk -- Transfer files, format, examine and erase files on
"foreign" CP/M diskettes on your PC. Includes tips on sup-
porting 8" and 5.25" single-density diskettes. Contains
definitions for over 200 different formats. $25.00 ($100.00
site) registration fee.

22Nice -- A CP/M 2.2 emulation package. Supports the NEC
V-series chips or performs emulation by software for both
the 8080 and Z80 processors. Includes terminal emulation
and diskette handling for common CP/M systems. Includes
22Disk. $40.00 ($150.00 site) registration fee.

TeleDisk -- Turn any diskette into a compressed data file
and vice-versa. Allows you to send and receive entire dis-
kettes via modem. Even works with some "copy-protected" dis-
kettes. $20.00 ($150.00 site) registration fee.

CopyQM -- Mass diskette duplicator. Format, copy and verify
multiple diskettes from a single master. Implements "no
keyboard" interaction mode and drive "round robin" servic-
ing. Supports all standard DOS formats. $15.00 ($50.00
site) registration fee.

FormatQM -- Mass diskette formatter - format a box of dis-
kettes at a single sitting. Implements "no keyboard" inter-
action mode and drive "round robin" servicing. Supports all
standard DOS formats. $10.00 ($40.00 site) registration
fee.


Information on any of these products can be obtained from Sydex
by calling or writing us at:

Sydex
P.O. Box 5700
Eugene, OR 97405
Voice: (503) 683-6033
FAX: (503) 683-1622
Data: (503) 683-1385



Page 7


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Archive   : CNFMT108.ZIP
Filename : CONFMT.DOC

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