旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 굇굇 REFORM (�-test) for the Atari Portfolio 굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 by Jochen Borchert, 1st. october 1998 REFORM is a small utility to re-format PoFo-memory cards (CCM) in order to enlarge the usable space. This is done by changing of organisation parameters. The gain in storage capacity can be enormous, depending on the parameters and on your file sizes. This version of REFORM is FREEWARE. It can be freely copied. Later versions may become a commercial product, indicated by changing the name to M$-REFORM. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 굇굇 Disclaimer 굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 REFORM is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author accepts no liability for damages, especially the loss of data, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of this software! It's always a good idea to do backups frequently. All data on a CCM will get lost during re-formating! Feel free to share REFORM with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. In commercial environments REFORM may only be used when the author has given his explicit permission. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 굇굇 Usage 굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇굇� � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 REFORM is menu driven and easy to use. It will be started without any parameters. General ******* Nearly every step can be cancelled by pressing [Esc]. The different menus are described in detail below. Within these menus you can step backwards by pressing [<컴] (back space). Drive menu ********** In the first menu you can select drive [a]: or drive [b]: to re-format. On this level you can access a small [h]elp screen as well and change the language from [d]eutsch to [e]nglish and vice versa. Capacity menu ************* In a second menu you are asked to select the capacity of the memory card to re-format. Because I sometimes produce images with this tool for sub- sequent burning into an EPROM, there are very small capacities available. The first item 8 kByte corresponds to an 27C64-EPROM. I never heard about a 8 kByte BeeCard or an ATARI memory card of this size. This means, that CCM doesn't nessesarily mean a commercial available memory card. And there has never been an ATARI memory card with more than 128 kB on the marked. As you can see, REFORM is very flexible in handling home-brewn memory solutions. Cluster menu ************ From a third menu you can choose the cluster size. Each cluster takes 1.5 bytes in the FAT. If you select a large cluster size, the number of clusters is decreasing, saving space in the FAT. But large clusters have an important disadvantage: Even small files occupy one cluster. That results in a lot of slack. For normal use on medium sized CCMs I suggest a cluster size of 128 byte. On smaller cards 64 byte may be useful. And bigger cards may need 256 or even 512 byte per cluster. Entry menu ********** In the fourth and final menu you are asked for the maximum number of entries to be held in the root directory. Each entry, including sub- directories, takes 32 bytes in the root directory. Therefor selecting only a small number saves space and increases the amount of data clusters. For normal PoFo use you should select 16 to 32 entries. When working with the PoFo I prefer only 16 entries in the root and use sub-directories instead. With only eight lines on the PoFo screen it's not easy to display bigger directories in a reasonable manner at all. But sometimes we need more. If you have to to store a lot of measurement files, 256 entries may be useful, but not space saving anymore. The other extreme is only two entries. If you prepare an image for a small EPROM with known structure, two or four entries may be sufficiant. Parameter screen **************** On the next screen the selection of parameters is presented again and REFORM askes for permission to write to the memory card. If the combination of selected parameters is not possible, REFORM tells you and you will be thrown back to the cluster menu. This can happen on two occasions: 1.) On a small CCM with many small sized clusters and/or many root entries there is no space remaining for any data clusters. All space is needed for the overheads. Please re-enter less entries and/or larger clusters. 2.) On a large CCM (>= 256 kByte) small sized clusters will lead to more than 4096 clusters. But the FAT12 can handle only less than 4096 clusters. Pleas re-enter larger cluster size. Up to now it was not possible for me to implement a FAT16 system on a CCM. My PoFos (BIOS 1.072 and 1.130) do not like me and laugh about my attempts to work with more than 4096 clusters :-( Drive B: warning **************** If you selected drive B: for re-formating you will be asked a second time, if you really want to perform this task. In many cases drive B: will be an internal, not removeable SRAM! Better be careful! Working screen ************** After pressing the english [y] or [Y] or the german [j] or [J] respecti- vily REFORM starts to write the different parts of the CCM. Each written cluster is represented by a '�' block. With the help of these marks you can see what REFORM does to your card and you can easily calculate the percentage of overhead afterwards. Because the number of data clusters can be very high, resulting in blow-up of the PoFo screen, the number of blocks is limited to one row of marks with the number of written data clusters in paranthesis. If everything works out fine, REFORM will tell you and the program is terminated. If something fails, REFORM will tell you as well. But do not take the failure message to seriously! Known problems/features: ************************ Please remember: REFORM is only a re-formatter. That means that the CCM has to be formatted by PoFo FORMAT prior to using REFORM. Otherwise the PoFo can't access the CCM properly at all and REFORM will give you a failure message. At the moment REFORM is able to over-format a CCM. That means that it is possible to force a boot sector appropiate e.g. for a 1-MB-card on a 16-kB-card without any failure warning. And even with a failure message the format is faulty. Later, when working with this memory card and with increasing number of files, you get strange results: The PoFo tries to write to memory locations marked as available by the FAT, where there is no ram anymore. Therefore you will encounter loss of data. But even on a normal PC its possible to over-format a 720-kB-disk to 1.44 MB. It's not a bug, it's a feature. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 굇굇 Copyright (c) October 1998 by Dr. Jochen Andreas Borchert 굇굇굇굇굇 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 For bug reports, suggestions, donations or other things concerning REFORM, you can write an email to: Dr.Jochen.A.Borchert@t-online.de That's all, have fun...