Using the BSE Flashdrive with the Atari Portfolio ------------------------------------------------- You will need to copy the files: ATFLASH.SYS and ATPART.EXE to the Portfolio. Put ATFLASH.SYS in the root directory on RAM drive C:, ATPART can be placed on a RAMcard. Connect the Flashdrive to the Portfolio using the Portfolio Smart Parallel Interface port. Use a cable that is as short as possible. Preparing the Flashdrive for use: --------------------------------- The Flashdrive hard disk must be prepared before it can be used: There are two basic steps to preparing it. First, the drive must be partitioned. This defines one or more areas on the disk that will be assigned logical drive letters (D:, E:, etc.). The largest partition allowed is 32 megabytes, so if the basic capacity of your drive is larger than 32 meg, you will need to define multiple partitions to be able to use all of that capacity. The second step in preparation of the disk is formatting. Formatting creates a directory structure in a partition that allows DOS to locate files. Each partition must be formatted before it can be used. Important: If you have formatted your Flashdrive on a computer using a version of DOS 3.0 or greater, it WILL NOT WORK properly on the Portfolio, which uses DOS version 2.11. You will need to reformat it with the ATPART.EXE program before it can be used. To partition and/or format the Flashdrive, run the ATPART.EXE program. After a message describing the configuration of the Flashdrive appears, press any key to get to the main menu, where you can choose to create, delete, format or view the current partition(s). From the main menu, pressing will exit the program and return to DOS. If any partitions have been created or modified, you will be asked if you want to save the changes. If you respond with 'N' the changes you made will not be saved. If you press 'Y', the new partition data will be saved, effectively erasing any data that may have been on the disk. If you choose neither 'Y' or 'N' and press again, you be returned to the main menu. Creating a partition: Select main menu option 1 to go to the Create Partition sub-menu. There are two types of partitions you can create: DOS and EXTended partitions. A DOS partition is limited to a maximum size of 32 megabytes. An extended partition may be any size, and contains one or more logical DOS partitions of 32 meg or less. The first partition on a disk must be a DOS partition. Up to three more DOS partitions may be defined, or an extended partition may be defined. After defining an extended partition, logical DOS partitions must be defined to fill the space it occupies. After selecting the type of partition you want, the maximum number of disk cylinders available to allocate to the partition are displayed at a prompt. You can press ENTER to select this default value, or type in a smaller number. (When defining an extended partition, always select the maximum amount -- you can subdivide the partition later). Examples of typical partition configurations: 1. 20 megabyte drive, one 20 meg partition: Select the first option: Create DOS partition Press ENTER to select the maximum number of cylinders 2. 60 megabyte drive, three 20 meg DOS partitions: Select the first option: Create DOS partition Look at the TOTAL number of cylinders on the disk displayed at the top of the screen. Divide this number by three and enter the result as the number of cylinders to allocate. Repeat two more times. 3. 60 megabyte drive, one 32 meg DOS partition and a 28 meg extended partition containing two 14 meg partitions. Select the first option: Create DOS partition and use the maximum number of cylinders (32 meg). Select the second option: Create EXT partition and use the maximum number of cylinders. Select the third option: Create logical partition Take the number of cylinders displayed at the prompt and divide by two and enter the result. This will create a 14 meg DOS partition in the extended partition. After you press ENTER, you will be prompted again to enter the number of cylinders to allocate to the next logical DOS partition. This will continue until all available cylinders have been used. If you define four partitions or less, there is no real advantage to using extended partitions, and you might as well use four standard DOS partitions. However, if you want more than four partitions you must use an extended partition. Deleting partition(s): Select main menu option 2 to go to the Delete Partitiion menu. You can delete the LAST partition defined, or delete all partitions. After deleting or creating partition(s), the changes are not actually saved to disk until you exit the program, or choose to format the partition(s). At this point you have the choice of saving the partition data or quitting without saving. Displaying partitions: Main menu option 4 allows viewing the current partition status. You can see up to four partitions on the screen at one time. You will see, starting from the left, the partition number, the starting and ending cylinders of the partition, the partition size in cylinders, and in megabytes, and the partition type. If any extended partitions are defined, you are offered the option of seeing the extended partition contents. A number followed by a + sign at the right shows how many logical partitions are in the extended partition. Extended partitions do not have a partition number; only DOS partitions and logical DOS partitions are numbered. Formatting a partition: After you have defined a partition structure for the disk, you will need to format the partition(s). Select main menu option 3 to reach the Format Partition menu. Here you can choose to format a single partition by number (see Displaying Partitions to find out how to determine the number of a partition). Select menu option 1, then enter the partition number and press ENTER. The partition will be formatted, erasing all data in it. If you like, you can choose to format all partitions at once using menu option 2. This will effectively wipe out the entire disk data area. It is possible to run the ATPART.EXE program without changing the partition structure if you want to re-format a partition. Using the prepared Flashdrive: ------------------------------ For the Portfolio to recognize the existence of the Flashdrive, the ATFLASH.SYS device driver must be installed. This is done by placing ATFLASH.SYS on drive C: and editing the CONFIG.SYS file on drive C: (if you don't have a CONFIG.SYS file already, you will need to create one). Using the Portfolio's built in text editor, add the following line to the CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE = C:ATFLASH.SYS /P=8078 /T=15 The /P=8078 option tells the driver to use port address 8078 (hex) to access the parallel port. The /T=15 option sets the disk drive timeout delay. This helps save battery power in the Flashdrive by turning the motor off when not in use. The motor will turn back on automatically when the disk is accessed. You can change this number if you want, or make it 0 if you don't want the drive to power down automatically. After saving the CONFIG.SYS file, make sure the Flashdrive is turned on and press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the Portfolio. You should see a message on the screen describing the disk drive model and serial number, as well as a description of the capacity of each logical drive. If an error message appears, check the cable connections and make sure the Flashdrive battery low indicator is out. After checking the connections, reboot the Portfolio again. The Flashdrive should now be ready for use. Here are some important tips for successful operation with the Flashdrive: When you are ready to switch off the power to the Flashdrive, be sure to turn off the Portfolio FIRST. Always turn off the Portfolio and the Flashdrive before connecting or disconnecting them. When you are ready to switch the Flashdrive on, do so BEFORE turning on the Portfolio. If the Flashdrive has been disconnected from the Portfolio, remember to press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the computer after turning them on. umber of cylinders 2. 60 megabyte drive, three 20 meg DOS partitions: Select the first option: Create DOS partition Look at the TOTAL number of cylinders on the disk displayed at the top of the screen. Divide this number by three and enter the result as the number of cylinders to allocate. Repeat two more times. 3. 60 megabyte drive, one 32 meg DOS partition and a 28 meg extended partition containing two 14 meg partitions. Select the first option: Create DOS partition and use the maximum number of cylinders (32 meg). Select the second option: Create EXT partition and use the maximum number of cylinders. Select the third option: Create logical partition Take the number of cylinders displayed at the prompt and divide by two and enter the resu