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BW-DOS Version #30 - User Manual#

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1. DOSDRIVE Resident command DOSDRIVE n This command provides easy access to external commands placed for example in a RamDisk With DOSDRIVE installed you can call the external commands without of typing Dn before each one Every files for reading and programs for starting with no path specified will be searched on the drive n first working and then DOS directory When the file isn t on your DOS drive then it ll be searched on the originally specified drive CHKDSK External command CHKDSK Dn This command will display a little info about the disk It contains volume name two internal numbers sequential and random used for disk identification size of sectors and total free disk capacity in bytes The listing looks like this Volume TESTDISK 21 138 Bytes sector 128 Total bytes 92160 Bytes free 73344 CHVOL External command CHVOL Dn name This command will change the volume name of disk PROTECTION ERASING AND RENAMING Every file or directory may be protected This state is indicated by the character before filename in the listing from DIRS command Protected files may not be changed or erased but they can be renamed protected directories only may not be erased RENAME Internal command RENAME file filename This command allows you to rename a file specified by file parameter to new name filename You can use wild cards in both the
2. ELSE will be executed if the answer is lt N gt then every commands between ELSE and ENDIF will be executed The lt ESC gt key will stop the batch file When there are no commands for the answer lt N gt the ELSE command may be excluded It is possible to make much more complicated structures by starting another batch files inside an IF ELSE ENDIF block but there isn t any way to return back into the first batch file you can only start it from begin again XBAT external command XBAT file parameters This command will start a program like the CP but stop a batch file first This may be necessary for starting some programs from a batch file There are few programs which may not run with a batch file at the same time because of collision in IOCB 5 See technical notes for more info NEWED NEWED file parameters This command starts the specified program with the I O redirection routines of BW DOS temporary disabled The batch file and HardCopy will be paused when the specified program works This should be used while installing a new E handler such as the XEP 80 or different screen output speeders Comments internal function yany comments You can add lines with comments into a batch file such a line must begin with a character If you are a SpartaDOS user you probably noticed that there is no XDIV command That s because the HATABS table is in its original state
3. FF when the HardCopy function is not active It is possible to get information if the HardCopy function is active by reading this byte 7 BATFLG It is the same as ECHOFLG this flag is used for batch files 6 DECIN Input for the CONVDC routine 3 bytes This adress is compatible with SpartaDOS X only 2 WRTCMD There is the SIO command used for every write operations It is P for writting without of verify or W for writting with verify Any other value may cause big troubles This byte is changed by the VERIFY command It is recommended to use the SIO command from this byte for all write operations in every programs 0 COMTAB At this point there is an instruction for starting the CP You can use the instruction JMP 0A under any DOS it will allways start a CP DUP menu or something like that 3 CRNAME Here is an instruction which jumps to the CRNAME routine This routine will get the next parameter from command line in LBUF add a Dn if none was specified and place the result in COMFNAM 6 DIVIO here is the adress of DIVIO routine This routine may be used to start a batch file or the HardCopy function Before starting this routine the complete filename device or Dn path gt filename must be placed in COMFNAM and the Y register must be set to 0 for the HardCopy function or 1 for a batch file This routine will return any errors in the Y register and N flag in the
4. This means that the parameter may be used but if you needn t it you can simply skip this one and type rest of the example Don t type the characters and ON OFF This tell you that you need to type ON or OFF not both name Name of a file or directory Names can be up to 8 characters long and may contain upper case letters numbers and the _ character Any character which is not allowed in the name will terminate the whole specification of a file You can also use wild cards means that the rest of name may be any and means that a single character may be any This is not possible while creating a new file or directory Most of commands will work with the first selected file while using wild cards but a few commands will work with every selected files see descriptions for single commands For example A will select files with any name which begins with A A is for every files with A at second place and TE T will select for example TEST TEXT etc ext extension part of filename It may be up to three characters long and it shows type of the file The extension may be any but it is recommended to use standard extensions which are easy to understand and some programs supports them automatically Standard extensions are for example COM for a machine code program BAT for a batch file BAS for a program in Atari Basic TXT for a text file DOC for a documentation file in fact a
5. This command works like the commands marked as low memory only while loading a file while starting its work this command uses a memory area starting at 6000 MEM external command MEM M This command shows current MEMLO and MEMHI values With the M parameter it ll show the whole memory map it ll only read SMEMLO see COMTAB MEMLO 2E7 MEMHI 2E5 and MEMTOP 6A other adresses are allways the same DUMP external command DUMP file position length A This command will display contents of specified file as hexadecimal and ATASCII listing With the A parameter it ll change non printable characters 0 1F and above 80 to printable ones use this while printing the listing see the PRINT command When a position is specified the listing will start from this position with the length parameter it ll only display specified number of bytes Press lt CONTROL gt lt 1 gt to stop the listing for a while or lt ESC gt to abort this command MDUMP External command low memory MDUMP adress length A This command works in the same way as DUMP it displays contents of memory DISASS external command DISASS file position This command will list contents of specified file as an assembler listing With a position specified it ll start from this position Press lt CONTROL gt lt 1 gt to stop the listing for a while or lt ESC gt to abort this command If you want to display a
6. a junior version for SpartaDOS users BW DOS may be freely used and distributed under following conditions e Only the whole and unchanged master disk may be distributed e It may not be sold excepting little costs in PD services e When used as a part of another software package the whole package may be marked with a C sold etc in this case it s possible to exclude files from BW DOS but all distributed files still must be unchanged and an information where the whole BW DOS is available must be included BW DOS uses disk format compatible with SpartaDOS This means that it is possible to use BW DOS disks under SpartaDOS and SpartaDOS disks under BW DOS in full including booting Most of ClO commands and other features are compatible too so lots of programs written for SoartaDOS will work under BW DOS without of problems Any disk with capacity up to 16 megabytes is possible single file may be up to 8 megabytes long BW DOS is a command driven system it is more flexible than a common DUP menu An advanced menu program is available too Up to 5 files may be open at the same time and five disk drives are supported 1 2 3 4 and 8 This is enough for most of programs BW DOS does not use the RAM under OS ROM XL XE machines only so it is compatible with software which uses this memory space such as popular Turbo Basic and others The MEMLO value is 1EE4 BW DOS version 30 this value may only be changed by resident co
7. be allways 17 bytes long Version of disk format Size of sectors 0 means 256 Number of every sectors Number of free sectors Volume name Sequential number Random number Allways 0 reserved for compatibility with SpartaDOS Oy DOF WB OWE O More functions are available for assembler programmers The file BWDFUNCT BAS in the main directory on the BW DOS 30 master disk shows how to use some of these functions from Basic TECHNICAL INFORMATIONS This chapter is there to provide more information for programmers so don t worry when you don t understand DOS LOADABLE FILES DOS loadable files may be also called as binary files or segment ed files Such a file is built from any number of segments the minimum is one segment Each segment contains header and data block The header provides the information how long the data block is and where it should be loaded into memory The header may be 4 or 6 bytes long the long header contains an identification code FFFF followed by the short header Every header contains two adresses 2 bytes each which points to the first and to the last byte in memory used for the data block The first segment must have the long 6 bytes header for other segments the short header is recommended When the file contains an executable program in machine code INIT and RUN adresses may be defined An INIT adress is defined by a segment which is loading at the a
8. disk the numbers are positions in the sector 1 7 Allways 80 This byte is used as an identification of SpartaDOS compatible di 9 Sector where is the first Sector map of the main directory 2 bytes 11 Number of every sectors on the disk 2 bytes 13 Number of free sectors 2 bytes 15 Number of Bitmaps 16 Sector used for the first Bitmap 2 bytes 18 The starting sector number for searching a free sector for a file commonly it 20 Starting sector for allocating directories Ss the previous explanation Whi 22 Volume name of the disk 8 bytes This name together with the sequential an 30 Number of tracks when the bit D7 is set then the drive is double sided 31 Size of sectors excepting Boot sectors Possible values are 128 or 0 for 2 32 Version of disk format BW DOS and every SpartaDOS versions 2 x and later us 33 37 Reserved for different SpartaDOS versions 38 Sequential number of the disk This number is incremented every time you re ma 39 Random number of the disk This number is created while formatting the disk 42 47 Reserved for different SpartaDOS versions The Bitmap contains the information which sectors are free and which are used Each byte holds the information for eight sectors the highest bit D7 is for the first and the lowest bit DO for the last of these eight sectors The bit set to 1 means that the sector is free The first byte contains the info
9. isn t allowed MEMEDIT external command low memory MEMEDIT adress This command works in the same way as HEXEDIT it allows you to edit contents of memory Use this only if you know exactly what are you doing it is possible to cause the system to be corrupt or even to lock up with this command CUT external command CUT filel file2 position length This command will save specified part of file1 as file2 When no length is specified it ll save the maximum length that is between position and the end of file It is possible for example to divide DOS loadable files into single segments using OFFLOAD and CUT to cut off binary file headers from data files CUT file1 file2 6 etc UTILITY PROGRAMS There are two utility programs on the BW DOS master disk Directory master and Micro SpartaDOS They may be distributed separately but this chapter from the manual must be included DIRMAST external programm DIRMAST Dn path Q This program allows you to change order of files in directory and to add comments It ll work with the directory specified as a parameter with the Q parameter it ll wait for changing the disk before starting its work It ll display the whole directory including erased files You can move the cursor over the directory to change order of files simply pull a file out from the directory to left side of the screen move it where you want and inse
10. names to rename a set of files and to leave specified characters in the name unchanged For example when you have files TEST and BEST after the command RENAME EST S you ll get files TESTS and BESTS Use wildcards only if you know exactly what are you doing When you ll change two filenames in a directory to be the same you can t work with the second one anymore and the only thing you can do is to erase such a double file You can t rename directories with this command ERASE Internal command ERASE file This is the command for erasing files When you ll use wildcards you can erase several files with one command but better don t do it Protected files and directories are invisible for this command PROTECT UNPROTECT Internal command PROTECT file UNPROTECT file The PROTECT command is protecting files UNPROTECT is unprotecting files that s clear With wildcards you can un protect set of files Both the commands can un protect directories too UNERASE External command UNERASE file This command will try to restore specified file s after erasing them This may be possible because the files are not really erased by the ERASE command they are only marked as free disk space to be used for other files in future The unerasing process may be impossible if you saved anything to the disk after erasing the file in this case even contents of a sucessfully unerased
11. program code from memory you need to save it to a disk file first A RamDisk is very good for this purpose For example to display a program code from memory area 8000 9000 using a RamDisk installed as drive 8 you need to type SAVE D8 TEMP DAT 8000 9000 DISASS D8 TEMP DAT 6 HEXEDIT external command HEXEDIT file position This command allows you to edit contents of a file With a position specified the editing will start from this position It ll display position in the file and the old value and you can enter new value hexadecimal of course or just press lt RETURN3 gt to leave it unchanged Press lt ESC gt to quit this command Note that the only legal way to quit HEXEDIT is the lt ESC gt key Because the edited file is open all the time you are working with HEXEDIT it may be corrupted by pressing lt RESET gt or turning the computer off before HEXEDIT finish its work It is possible to set the position greater than the length of file in this case no old value will be displayed once you ll enter any value the file will get a new length When you set the position far after the end of file the part of file between old and new data will not be physically stored non allocated sectors it ll get a physical sector at the time of first access to such a place Files with non allocated sectors may not be read or copied in a normal way because allocating a sector in a read only mode
12. BW DOS Version 30 User Manual By BEWESOFT Released 12 95 Table of Contents BW DOS Version 30 User Manual INTRODUCTION SYNTAX DEFINITIONS SYSTEM STRUCTURE DISKS AND DIRECTORIES DIR internal command DIRS Internal command CWD Internal command Dn Internal function CREDIR Internal command DELDIR Internal command AUTOCWD Resident command DOSDRIVE Resident command CHKDSK External command CHVOL External command PROTECTION ERASING AND RENAMING RENAME Internal command ERASE Internal command PROTECT UNPROTECT Internal command UNERASE External command COPYING TYPE Internal command COPY external command BACKUP external command MOVE external command FORMATTING AND RAMDISKS FORMAT external command RAMDISK resident command XLRDISK resident command RAMBOxX resident command SPECIAL COMMANDS CAR internal command BASIC internal command RUN internal command VERIFY external command BOOT external command BATCH FILES AND HARDCOPY file internal function PRINT internal command PAUSE IF ELSE ENDIF external commands XBAT external command NEWED Comments internal function DATE AND TIME DATE TIME external command CLOCK resident command RTIME8 ARGSRTC Resident commands THE MENU MENU external command
13. MAS gt XBAT gt ATMAS Every error message in the CP will stop any batch file to prevent problems The batch file will be also aborted by starting another one PRINT internal command PRINT device PRINT file PRINT The first and the second syntax will start the HardCopy function the third syntax will stop this function HardCopy function allows you to copy all the screen output from almost every programs to a specified device or file It doesn t work with programs which are not using CIO for screen output for example the menu program This function is there especially for printing output from programs on a printer but you can copy the output to any file device PAUSE PAUSE This command may be used in a batch file only It will wait for the lt RETURN gt key the lt ESC gt key will stop the batch file The PAUSE command is there to allow disk changes Don t forget that you may not change a disk on which is the working batch file IF ELSE ENDIF external commands IF ELSE ENDIF These commands may be used in a batch file only It will ask the user which block of commands should be executed The syntax of such a part of batch file is IF the question commands ELSE commands ENDIF It will display the line with question and wait for an answer lt Y gt or lt N gt If the answer is lt Y gt then all the commands between IF and
14. O value provided by BW DOS itself is low enough for almost every programs but it is increased by every resident commands so this may cause problems In general the best way to get a program working is to remove every resident commands The maximum value of MEMLO is different for single programs External commands of BW DOS needs the MEMLO less than 3000 excepting MSDOS COM which needs MEMLO less than 2500 Most of other programs will work without of problems with the MEMLO less than 2000 see the manuals for single programs for the correct value BATCH FILES AND HARDCOPY Any program which uses the IOCB 5 for any other purpose than the CLOSE command may not be started from a batch file without of the XBAT command In addition while running a program which uses IOCB 4 the HardCopy function may not be used Both batch files and HardCopy functions must be disabled while starting a program which doesn t accept a modified HATABS table especially game programs Any program that installs a new E handler should be started with the NEWED command INTERRUPTS BW DOS itself uses no interrupts Problems may be caused especially by the KEYBUFF command which changes the vectors VVBLKI at 222 and VKEYBD at 208 In addition RAMDISK and XLRDISK commands are disabling all the interrupts before any SIO operation the DLI interrupt will not be enabled again The commands mentioned here especially the KEYBUFF command ma
15. OTHER COMMANDS XFSIO external command KEYBUFF resident command ARGSPRN resident command FOR PROGRAMMERS LOAD internal command SAVE External command low memory BLOAD OFFLOAD External command see description MEM external command DUMP external command MDUMP External command low memory DISASS external command HEXEDIT external command MEMEDIT external command low memory CUT external command UTILITY PROGRAMS DIRMAST external programm MSDOS External program bootable MSINI External program RECOMMENDED UTILITY SuperArc SuperUnArc version 2 4 by Robert Puff Super Packer version 0 by Jiri Bernasek BEWESOFT CleanUp version 4 this one is C 1994 FTe BW DOS FUNCTIONS IN BASIC TECHNICAL INFORMATIONS DOS LOADABLE FILES TABLE IN PAGE 7 THE COMTAB TABLE DISK FORMAT FORMAT OF DIRECTORIES BATCH FILES AND HARDCOPY COMPATIBILITY MEMORY BATCH FILES AND HARDCOPY INTERRUPTS DISK FORMAT OLDER BW DOS VERSIONS ERRORS INTRODUCTION BW DOS is a disk operating system for 8 bit ATARI computers with at least 48kB RAM and at least one disk drive It is designed to be compatible with SpartaDOS and to use as little memory as possible In addition several small bugs known from SpartaDOS are not in BW DOS especially problems with XF 55 BW DOS may be used separately or as
16. W DOS you need to boot it again As a separate DOS Copy the file MSDOS COM to the disk with games and install it with the BOOT command Then you can simply boot the disk When you ve started Micro SpartaDOS you ll see the main directory of disk in drive If you ve not used the MSINI program you ll see only protected files To see every files press lt ESC gt If there is a file MSDOS DAT in the directory see MSINI then you ll see user defined names instead of the disk directory You need to select the program to be started now by pressing a letter key When you select a subdirectory anew menu will appear Press lt key to go into the parent directory or gt to go into the main directory Use the gt key when you ve changed the disk When the file is selected it ll turn the internal Basic off you needn t to hold the lt OPTION gt key down while booting clear the memory and the selected program will be started It ll try to use a high speed communication with the XF 551 or Speedy 1050 drives If you want to disable this a few programs doesn t work with the high speed loading add lt SHIFT gt to the letter key while selecting the program When you have a problems while starting the Micro SpartaDOS try to hold the lt SHIFT gt key down this will disable the high speed loading at all If you press the lt RESET gt key while a program started by Micro SpartaDOS is working it ll boot again never min
17. You can select more files and then enter a filter as a new name to rename more files by single command see description of RENAME command Protect lt P gt Unprotect lt U gt Functions for protecting and unprotecting files or directories A protected file may not be changed or erased View text lt V gt This function will copy the file pointed by cursor to the screen It is the best way how to read small documentation files while working with the menu Make text lt I gt With this function you can make small documentation files Press lt CONTROL gt lt 3 gt when you ve finished the whole text This command will provide the same function as COPY E file in the CP Ainit lt A gt This is the command for formatting Atari DOS 2 compatible disks You ll be asked for drive number and density and after the last confirm the disk will be formatted The format created by this command may be used under several DOS 2 alike systems but BW DOS may not use it only the menu can IIWARNING Formatting will erase every files on the disk never mind if they are protected or not Exit lt Q gt This is the selection to quit the menu and return back to CP Setup lt S gt With this function you can select the order in which the files will appear on your screen Files may be sorted by its extension and name by its name and extension by its length by the date and time they were created or you can leave the director
18. ans that you can type up to 32 characters or other keys on the keyboard while the computer is busy and these characters will become to the screen later when when the computer will be ready to get it When the buffer is full and you try to type the 33rd character you ll hear a noise sound and the last character will be ignored You can clear the buffer any time by pressing lt SHIFT gt lt CONTROL gt lt SPACE gt This may be useful for example when you just typed a command but then an error message appear on the screen ARGSPRN resident command ARGSPRN N C L CL This is a driver for the printer port of the ARGS RTC P V2 cartridge by ARGS The parameter changes the conversion of the ATASCII EOL character N is no conversion for graphics print or when your software already contains a conversion C sends the CR character like other printer interfaces do you must set the Auto feed feature to on on your printer L sends the LF character the default hopefully it will work with most of printers and CL sends both CR and LF this is the correct PC compatible mode but it needs a few bytes more in memory and it may also cause problems with graphics print FOR PROGRAMMERS Commands described in this chapter are there for advanced users and programmers so don t worry if you don t understand Some of external commands described in this chapter are marked as low memory This means that the commands
19. aracters per line and the allocation pointers was handled just like SpartaDOS do The version 20 supports the status 3 and new E handlers but it contained a bug and was replaced by a corrected version 2 Both the versions 2x wasn t released Some external commands were improved or added since the last release 00 and 0 MENU RAMDISK DIRMAST MOVE RTIME8 ARGSRTC ARGSPRN BACKUP COPY DOSDRIVE NEWED RAMBOX UNERASE and TYPE The command NEWED works under BW DOS 20 and later only ERRORS This chapter gives a list of Error codes in decimal and hexadecimal numbers and their descriptions Every Error codes less than 128 have its origin in other programs for example Basic so there is no connection between such Errors and BW DOS Not every listed errors have its origin in BW DOS There are also errors caused by ClO SIO and other device drivers For example screen tape recorder etc The first two codes are not errors BW DOS returns these codes when everything is OK You ll encounter these codes only while programing CIO calls in assembler or something like that Errorcode Hex Resut Description SS 1 01 OK This code is returned by all device handlers 3 03 Last byte read This code is returned by BW DOS instead of the code 1 OK in the case that the last byte of the file was read Next reading will return the error code 136 End of file except that you re working in the update m
20. are loading into the area of 480 6FF and they are not using the memory areas of 80 FF and MEMLO MEMHI Such a commands allows you to work with data or machine code programs in the main memory without of problems LOAD internal command LOAD file This command will simply load a DOS loadable file program but don t start it Any INIT or RUN adress will be ignored SAVE External command low memory SAVE file start end A This will save the memory area specified by start and end adresses as a DOS loadable file With the A parameter it will add another segment to an existing file The difference between A as a part of filename or as a separate parameter is that the separate A will not place another FFFF header into the file BLOAD External command low memory BLOAD file adress length This is the command for loading data files non DOS loadable into memory When no length is specified the whole file will be loaded OFFLOAD External command see description OFFLOAD file offset O L This command is displaying structure of a DOS loadable file The starting and ending adress and the file position of the data block after the header will be displayed for each segment With the L parameter it ll really load the file into memory and with Q it ll ask you for each segment if load it or not When an offset is specified it will be added to loading adress of each segment
21. asic program RUN internal command RUN address This command will start a program at given adress With no parameter it ll restart the last loaded program or the last program started with this command This command is there for advanced users and programmers a RUN with a wrong adress results in a system lock up and it may even cause a data loss The RUN command may be used by everyone for a few purposes RUN Restart the last loaded program but first look into the manual for your program to know if is it possible or not RUN E477 The same as turning the computer off and on but this is much better for the hardware and it will not erase data in RamDisk RUN E471 This will jump to the Self test program or to the menu of Q MEG operating system if installed VERIFY external command VERIFY ON OFF With this command you can swith the Write with verify function on or off The common state is OFF this means that the sectors written to a disk are not verified It allows the drive to write quickly If you turn this function ON it ll read every sector after writing it and compare the data This results in a very slow writing it may only be useful while using bad quality disks Better buy good disks BOOT external command BOOT file With this command you can specify a file to be loaded while the system is booted up when you turn the computer on with the disk in drive 1 Commonl
22. ch as non 40 tracks disks or a RamDisk BACKUP tests the density of copied disk automatically but sometimes it may fail especially with Single sided Double density on the XF 551 or with a RamDisk in this case you need to add D followed by a single letter density code S Single M Medium D Double X Double sided Double density For nonstandard disks you may need to type both maximum sector and density for sector length setting While copying into file s BACKUP will divide the whole data into files with length depending on disk capacity When you need to have the backup files shorter for example if you want to copy them later you need to add the L parameter followed by maximum file length While copying to a whole disk you can add F to format the disk before writing in the same format as the source disk had this only works for standard Single Medium Double or Double sided Double density disks other disks such as hard disks or RamDisks must be formatted already When you add X after the F parameter it ll use the high speed format on XF 55 After formatting the program will skip empty sectors while writing to increase speed Every unfinished copy is marked in a special way so when you try to boot such a disk you ll get a warning message The current version 2 is improved a little so it should recognize density in the S mode also on other drives than XF 55 MOVE external command MOVE file Dn path T
23. contains two large routines Command Processor CP and File Management System FMS CP is the program which is waiting for your commands executing some of them and loading nonresident programs for the rest FMS is used by every other programs including the CP to get access to files on the disk it is organizing every data written on the disk 2 Nonresident part is divied into several small programs made to provide more functions Such a program must be loaded from disk every time you want to use it so you need to keep these programs on every disks where you need to use them or on a disk in another drive or ina RamDisk The structure described above results in two kinds of commands in the CP Internal commands are fully executed by the CP so you can use these on any disk and you can return to Basic or other program if possible later without of data loss External commands are executed by additional programs loaded from disk so you need to have them on the disk you are working with or on a disk in another drive or RamDisk in this case you must type Dn before the command or use the DOSDRIVE function see later Every use of an external command results in data loss from user memory so you can t restart any program without of loading it from disk again Most of other programs like programming languages editors etc may be loaded in the same way as external commands simply by typing name of the program If there i
24. d if the program was protected against lt RESET gt or not It s clear that this function can not work with really every programs MSINI External program MSINI This program provides the file MSDOS DAT for the Micro SpartaDOS It ll ask you for the path and then you can enter any names for every files in the directory You can skip files which you want not to be displayed with the lt ESC gt key At the end a new file MSDOS DAT will be stored in the directory Names in the MSDOS DAT file may be up to 35 characters long and may contain almost every ATASCII characters Note that this program works only with drive number 1 because the Micro SpartaDOS itself works with drive 1 too RECOMMENDED UTILITY There are lots of useful utility programs available from different sources most of them works fine under BW DOS want to mention a few programs which are really useful in my opinion and which tested with BW DOS SuperArc SuperUnArc version 2 4 by Robert Puff SuperArc allows you to pack lots of files which you need not at the moment and put them into a single file You ll save lots of disk space while storing files in this way When you need any of such a files later you can depack it to its original form with the SuperUnArc Both the programs are available for example on Mega Magazine number 7 Super Packer version 0 by Jiri Bernasek BEWESOFT This program allows you to pack DOS l
25. dress 2E2 adress for the RUN definition is 2E0 A subroutine at the defined adress will be executed immediatelly after loading the segment with INIT the whole program will be started at the RUN adress while an EOF mark is found When no RUN adress is defined BW DOS will use starting adress of the first segment as a RUN adress TABLE IN PAGE 7 In the memory page 7 there is a little table that shows version of the DOS and allows machine code programs to use a few special functions e 700 There is allways the character S to provide the best compatibility with SpartaDOS Many programs will determine by this adress if they can use advanced SpartaDOS BW DOS functions e 701 There is allways the number 32 to provide the best compatibility with SpartaDOS e 703 two bytes There are the letters BW when any version of BW DOS is installed e 705 BW DOS version 10 is for version 0x 13 is for version 3x etc e 706 two bytes Adress of the GETTD routine This routine reads the date and time from BW DOS s clock and store it into DATER and TIMER in the COMTAB e 708 two bytes Adress of the SETTD routine This routine reads the date and time from DATER and TIMER in the COMTAB and store it into BW DOS s clock 70A two bytes Adress of CONVDC routine This routine will convert a 24 bit binary number from DECIN in the COMTAB to the 8 characters long ASCII text in the DECOUT e 70C three b
26. e end of directory Sector where is the first Sector map of the file Length of the file 3 bytes not for a subdirectory Name and extension 11 bytes 17 Date and time in the same format as DATER and TIMER WD WE The first block is different it contains an information about the directory itself When you want to read or write this block using BW DOS you must use the POINT function every OPEN in direct mode will set the file position to 23 The information in the first block is this 1 Sector where is the first map of parent directory 3 Length of the directory in bytes 3 bytes 6 Name of the directory 8 bytes BATCH FILES AND HARDCOPY Batch files and the HardCopy function works in the following way A small routine is inserted between CIO and the handler of E device by changing the HATABS table at 31A This routine checks all Editor input output if is it going through IOCB O If it is OK another handler will be used to get data from a Batch file or to send data to the HardCopy device Every batch files are accessed through IOCB 5 and the HardCopy function uses IOCB 4 These IOCBs are modified to look like a closed IOCB so a CLOSE command done by many programs automatically for example the Basic may not cause any problems Note that these IOCBs may not be used for any other purpose while a batch file IOCB 5 or the HardCopy function IOCB 4 is acti
27. ed This may be done in the same way as the previous command too the XIO command code is 38 XIO 32 iocb 0 0 Dn path gt filename filename This command will provide the same function as the RENAME command in the CP The space character between old and new filename may be replaced by any character which is not allowed in the filename for example The IOCB must be closed before this operation Following commands will provide the same functions as several CP commands as listed The IOCB used for such a command must be closed first 33 iocb 0 0 Dn path gt filename the ERASE command 35 iocb 0 0 Dn path gt filename the PROTECT command 36 iocb 0 0 Dn path gt filename he UNPROTECT command 10 iocb 4 0 Dn path gt filename load and run a program tO a O06 O 0 0 0 0 O iS chock ck GR och eet oat 40 iocb 4 128 Dn path gt filename the LOAD command 42 i0cb 0 0 Dn path gt name the CREDIR command 43 i0cb 0 0 Dn path gt name the DELDIR command 4 h e 4 iocb 0 0 Dn pat CWD command The last function may not be easily used from Basic The settings for CIO are ICCMD 47 ICBAL H adress of the string Dn ICBLL H adress of the output buffer It will provide the information similar to the CHKDSK command the result in output buffer will
28. en Serialbusoverrun 2 Checksum error 1 recorder or by damaged input output device A P A A 00 o oe O T m gJ Device done error most common reasons are Write protect tab placed on the disk while ritting a non formatted disk or no disk in the drive bad sector on the disk Illegal screen The selected mode screen mode doesn t exist This error may be caused by actions The selected screen mode needs more memory than available Bad disk format The disk is not subdirectory in the a BW DOS May not replace same directory compatible disk Bad load file The file is nota DOS loadable program file You can only use disks created with the FORMAT command in BW Cartridge error The CAR command didn t found any cartridge or a wrong DOS or with parameter was A new opened file have the same name as a subdirectory in the same directory or a new created used in the BASIC command l o 161 A1 oo many files open 162 A2 disk so you need to use anoter one The part of file hich was written before this error is not completed so it 163 A3 A wild card was used while creating 164 A4 File protected The file may not be changed because it is protected 165 A5 Bad filename Please check the file specification _ 66 A6 Bad file position The file position given to the POINT function is greater than 8 megabytes o
29. f RamDisk installed by the RAMDISK command This one does not support the E parameter and the configuration file Size of this RamDisk is 14kB and it ll be formatted each time you run this command unless you use the N parameter Note that you can use this RamDisk only when you know that it ll not cause a collision in the RAM under OS ROM It is O K with every programs working under SpartaDOS 2 x or 3 x A little problem with the screen may be caused by this driver It results in a little horizontal lines flasing on the screen during SIO operations but it may not cause any damage RAMBOX resident command RAMBOX n F This command provides the same function as RAMDISk but it uses the memory contained in the RAMBOX cartridge by JRC Czech republic The parameter E and the configuration file isn t supported Possible sizes of the RAMBOX memory are 32 4096kB SPECIAL COMMANDS CAR internal command CAR This command will jump to a program in cartridge or to internal Basic if enabled only XL XE If you ve not used an external command since you leaved the cartridge your data Basic program will not be lost BASIC internal command BASIC ON OFF This command can turn the internal Basic XL XE on or off With Basic off you have more free memory and several programs works in this mode only This command works only with no cartridge installed and it ll allways erase data from user memory B
30. file may be wrong It s better to make a serious decision before erasing a file because the unerasing process will never be 100 safe Don t use the UNERASE version older than 2 the one with no version number included it contained a bug COPYING If you want to copy files to another disk with only one disk drive you need to use the menu program TYPE Internal command TYPE file This command shows contents of a textfile for example batch files Since BW DOS version 30 there isn t any limit on line length COPY external command COPY Dn path gt filename Dn path gt filename A This is the main command for copying files it ll copy file s specified by the first parameter to file s specified by the second one You can use any I O device instead of Dn for example COPY K P most of these devices will ignore any filenames When copying disk files you can use wild cards in both the filenames to copy a set of files and save them with another names see RENAME commana When no filename is specified every files in directory will be copied first parameter or the files will get their original names Second parameter NEVER try to copy a file to itself this is the easiest way how to destroy a file On the other I O devices you can use wild cards and filenames also with COPY version 2 but only in the case that your device handler supports filenames and directory reading When the direct
31. function to go into the parent directory The cursor will be placed on the directory you came from Make dir lt N gt With this command you can create new subdirectories Del dir lt D gt The Del dir command allows you to delete a subdirectory It is only possible when the subdirectory is empty Copy lt C gt This is the main function for copying files using the menu You ll be asked for destination drive and path and then every selected files will be copied here If you was working with the destination drive before the last use of New Disk function or if you was copying to that drive already then you ll get a default path to confirm or edit The destination path may be up to 231 characters long it scrolls when neccessary If you select the same drive number you ll be asked if is it the same disk when your answer will be No then the menu program will ask you for changing source and destination disks so you can copy from one disk to another with only one drive When you are copying to the same disk you must copy into other directory In the case that a file with the same name already exists in the target directory a little menu appears You can overwrite the old file skip the file or abort the copying This feature may be turned off when neccessary see Setup Erase lt E gt This is the function for erasing files Protected files may not be erased Rename lt R gt This function gives new names to files
32. his command allows you to move a file or subdirectory into another directory on the same disk quickly The greatest difference between COPY and MOVE is that MOVE removes the file from source directory and is much faster It also doesn t need any free sectors on the disk because it only moves the filename into an other directory without of copying the file itself FORMATTING AND RAMDISKS FORMAT external command FORMAT Dn This is the main command for formatting disks and installing BW DOS Formatting must be the first thing done on a new disk The drive number specified as a parameter is used for searching DOS files NOT for formatting The program will ask you for necessary things and then format the disk This program may not be controlled from a batch file RamDisks may not be formatted in this way IIWARNING Formatting will erase every data on the disk never mind if they are protected or not and it may not be unerased anymore The only protection against this is to place the write protect tab on your disk The first question is which DOS version you wish to install on the formatted disk You ll get a little menu with every DOS files found on the disk files X DOS in directory DOS and in the main directory select the correct one or press lt N gt for none It is possible to install any version of BW DOS or any disk based version of SpartaDOS 2 x and later Next questions are for drive number density
33. ify in which directory the wanted file or directory is Path is simply a list of directories you need to go through from working directory to the target directory Single names including filename after the path are separated by the gt character There are two kinds of path Absolute and relative Absolute path begins with a single gt character and it begins in main directory while relative path have no gt at its begin and it begins in working directory In addition at the begin of relative path there can be any number of lt characters each one tell BW DOS to go into parent directory For example gt DATA gt TEXTSs gt filename means that the file is in directory TEXTS which is in directory DATA in main directory MUSIC gt filename means that the file is in directory MUSIC which is in the working directory lt BASIC gt filename means that the file is in directory BASIC which is in the same directory where the working directory is Special directory is DOS in the main directory Every files for reading or programs for starting which are not in working directory are searched in the DOS directory too This works only when no path is specified It is recommended to place external commands the DOS itself and other commonly used read only files in this directory to provide a simple access never mind the working directory Besides of this it s a very good idea to create separate directories for different file ty
34. l be in the format of DIRS command You may not open more than one directory listing at the same time a po Writing to the file If the file exists already it ll be replaced by the new file When A is added to the filename it ll work in the same way as the mode 9 Append The new data written to the file will be added at the end of an existing file When the file doesn t exist it ll be created first 12 Update Data may be readed from and written to the file as necessary When you ll add 16 to the aux1 value you ll get direct access to the directory specified by path the filename will be ignored With 32 added to aux1 you ll get the direct access to the subdirectory specified by filename See the next chapter for information on the internal directory format This doesn t work with the mode 6 When you are opening a directory for direct access in mode 8 9 or 12 and the directory doesn t exist it ll provide the CREDIR function first The position in directory data will be set to 23 after the first block in every modes excepting the mode 9 if you want to read write the first block then you must use POINT IIIWARNING Use the direct access to directory only when you know exactly what are you doing With this mode it s possible to destroy the whole directory structure on a disk by a single OPEN command GET i0cb variable UT iocb variable INPUT io0cb variable PRINT iocb variab
35. le as These commands are sending data to the specified OCB or receiving data from the IOCB Note It is much faster to send data as one large block This may be done by CIO commands 7 and 11 in the assembler or by commands BGET and BPUT in Turbo Basic CLOSE iocb This is the command for closing files Every file must be closed after use X POS Y 0 POINT iocb X Y or Y 16 iocb X INT POS 65536 POKE 846 Y X POS POS 65536 X X INT POS 256 POKE 845 Y X POKE 844 Y POS 256 X XIO 37 iocb PEEK 842 Y PEEK 843 Y Dn In this way you can set the position in a file the POINT function the position is simply serial number of the byte in file When the file is opened in mode 8 9 or 12 then you can set the position after the end of file too see the description of HEXEDIT command for more information The first method works only for positions less than 32768 while the second method may be used for any position up to 8 megabytes The IOCB must be opened first Y 16 iocb XIO 39 iocb PEEK 842 Y PEEK 843 Y Dn LNGTH PEEK 844 Y 256 PEEK 845 Y 65536 PEEK 846 Y This command will provide the information how long is the file for which the IOCB is opened NOTE iocb X Y POS X 65536 Y With this command you ll get the current position in a file for which the IOCB is open
36. ly 3 digits long any number greater than 999 will be shown as 999 This listing looks like this DOS DIR 000 TESTI BAS 010 573 FREE SECTORS CWD Internal command CWD Dn path This command will set the directory specified by path as working directory Dn Internal function You can change current drive number by typing the new Dn instead of command This drive number will be used when no Dn is specified Note that this only works in the CP CREDIR Internal command CREDIR Dn path gt name This command will make a new directory specified by name Note that you can t make a directory with the same name as a file in the same directory DELDIR Internal command DELDIR Dn path gt name This is the command for deleting directories You can only delete an empty directory if there are any files or directories in it you need to remove them first Never try to delete the working directory AUTOCWD Resident command AUTOCWD Dn path When you are working with a program which is protected against the lt RESET gt key for example ATMAS Il you can t load save your files after lt RESET gt easily because the working directory was changed by the lt RESET gt to main directory To prevent this problem install AUTOCWD before starting the program This command will do the same job as the CWD command after every lt RESET gt or jump through DOSINI vector
37. memory for other purposes The n parameter is the number of RamDisk drive BW DOS only supports drives 1 2 3 4 and 8 If you add F the RamDisk will be formatted without of F it ll format only when the previously existing format was invalid Without of F you can mostly re install the driver even after a re boot without of destroying the contents of your RamDisk The parameter N used with older version of the driver is still possible and will be ignored The E parameter will cause that it will not use 130XE compatible banks only for machines with more than 128kB memory so it ll not collide with 130XE software When the RamDisk collide with your software with the E parameter too and you know that there are some memory banks left you need to use the configuration file This file may be between 1 and 64 bytes long and it contains the values which must be stored at D301 to get different banks in the area of 4000 7FFF 16kB 1024kB RamDisk is possible To re format an existing RamDisk change its configuration or change the drive number simply start this command again Note that the resident part of RamDisk driver uses a part of extra RAM for itself so any collision in the extra RAM may cause a lock up of SIO operations XLRDISK resident command XLRDISK n N This command works like the RAMDISK command but it uses the RAM under OS ROM as the RamDisk It works on every XL XE machines independent o
38. mmands Don t think that it is too high BW DOS is much more complicated than for example Atari DOS 2 and besides of this when you set other DOSes to 5 files open at the same time and 5 disk drives you ll get MEMLO far above 2000 Because of limited memory space BW DOS doesn t support some of the functions known from SpartaDOS as internal functions They are supported by external and resident commands Atari DOS 2 disks are only supported by the menu program If you have found a bug in BW DOS you can write to the author Send only serious letters please I ll not answer others The address is Jiri Bernasek BEWESOFT Na Hrebenkach 42 150 00 Praha 5 Czech Republic If you have found some spelling or other errors in this manual please forgive them I m not very good on English SYNTAX DEFINITIONS In this manual there are examples and syntax definitions for several commands When it is between another text it is written like example Don t forget that you need to press the lt RETURN gt key after every command line Following syntax is used in the examples and definitions lt KEY gt This tell you that you need to press specified key three dots means and so on UPPER CASE LETTERS and other characters such as numbers etc must be written exactly as shown in the manual lower case letters It must be substituted by corresponding parameter for example name of the file you want to work with parameter
39. nd others Note that in Atari DOS 2 alike systems there are different conditions for filenames so when you are converting files to Atari DOS 2 make sure that there is no character and that the first character of the name is not a number While working with the menu you ll see disk directory on your screen It shows the same information as the listing provided by DIR command in the CP If you are working with an Atari DOS 2 disk there is no date time information and the length of files is not exact Above the directory there is the current drive number and path A little arrows on the top and bottom edge of the directory shows that the directory continues outside your screen The menu program can work with max 255 files in a directory The cursor is on the left edge you can move it with lt up gt and lt down gt keys and with lt SPACE gt you can select or deselect single files Selected files are shown in inverse video and when you select a command later it ll be executed for every selected files When no files are selected it ll be executed for a file pointed by the cursor At the bottom of your screen there is a command menu with another cursor in it Use keys lt left gt and lt right gt to move this cursor and press lt RETURNs gt to start the selected function Description of single functions later To select a command quickly you can move the cursor where you want with a single keystroke see the descriptions for cor
40. ndless loop IMPORTANT Never change a disk if there is a file open on it That is while a batch file from the disk is working while the HardCopy function is sending output into a file on the disk while you are editing a file with HEXEDIT etc In addition while a file is open in write or update mode don t press lt RESET gt and don t turn the computer off DISKS AND DIRECTORIES Every disk under BW DOS have its name Volume and main directory There may be almost unlimited number of other directories each placed in another one like a file Viewed from a directory every directories which are in it are subdirectories and viewed from a subdirectory the directory in which it is may be called parent directory BW DOS directories may contain up to 1424 files or directories but it is recommended to keep this number less than 100 because the access to long directories is slow Besides of this while working with SpartaDOS only SpartaDOS X version 4 x is able to use BW DOS directories in full other versions will work only with the first 126 files the rest will be invisible Working directory is directory where all the files will be searched when no path is specified or where the relative path have its begin For each disk drive there is working directory which is independent of another drives Every disk change lt RESET gt jump through DOSINI vector or booting up will set the main diectory as working The path is used to spec
41. oadable files especially games You ll get a file much shorter than the original with exactly the same program in it This program is available for example on Mega Magazine 7 CleanUp version 4 this one is C 1994 FTe This program is a part of SpartaDOS toolkit which was released as ShareWare With this program you can fix several problems which may cause on BW DOS disks Note that the Directory master program may cause invalid filenames comment lines or when used under SpartaDOS the bad directory length both the errors are not fatal The format of BW DOS RamDisks may be reported as bad by the CleanUp program Unfortunately this program contains a bug To prevent problems you should press lt RESET gt immediatelly after leaving CLEANUP under both BW DOS and SpartaDOS BW DOS FUNCTIONS IN BASIC This chapter shows how to use the functions of BW DOS in your own programs written in Basic In other programming languages the commands mostly are not very different This chapter is there for programmers so don t worry when you don t understand OPEN iocb auxl aux2 Dn path gt filename This command will open specified IOCB for access to the specified file on disk The value of aux1 may be 4 Reading trom the Te Reading the directory listing When the aux2 value is greater than 127 the listing will be in the same format as provided by DIR command in the CP with aux2 less than 128 it l
42. ock is based on the VBI interrupt so it is possible that a few programs will stop it It works on both PAL and NTSC machines RTIME8 ARGSRTC Resident commands RTIME8 R ARGSRTC R Both the commands are drivers for a hardware real time clock Such a device mostly a cartridge with a backup battery in it gives the correct date time information to the system without of a need to re enter the information after each re boot RTIME8 works with the R Time 8 cartridge by ICD while ARGSRTC is designed for ARGS RTC P V2 cartridge by ARGS With the R parameter a reduced version will be installed It allows only reading from the clock setting a new date time isn t possible in this mode This option saves your memory space THE MENU MENU external command MENU Dn S E N IS D 0 B Y N 1 Q Y N The menu program is a comfortable tool for operations with many selected files for copying between two disks with only one disk drive and for converting files from Atari DOS 2 format to BW DOS and back Every commands in the menu excepting these ones for subdirectories works on Atari DOS 2 compatible disks too This function is only supported by the menu program so it is NOT available in any other part of BW DOS Following Atari DOS 2 compatible formats are supported Single density DOS 2 0 DOS 2 5 BiboDOS and others Enhanced Medium density DOS 2 5 and Double density BiboDOS a
43. ode aux1 12 This code will not be returned in the directory listing mode aux1 6 This code have no connection with the error 3 returned by Basic or other programs 128 80 BREAK abort The user did press the lt BREAK gt key during an input output operation 129 81 IOCB already open This error is probably caused by a mistake in program Nonexistent device The specified device does not exist Please check if the corresponding handler is installed If you are accessing a disk file try to add Dn before the filename this is allways necessary hile accessing a file from your own programs OCBwrteony a ish Invalid ClO command OCBnotopen Sid SSCS 134 86 Bad IOCB number 87 IOCB read only These errors may be caused by a mistake in program 88 End of file This is not a real error this code indicates that there are no more bytes left to read in the longer than buffer for it this may 1 Device timeout The device is not connected correctly it is turned off or it doesn t exist accessing a disk drive 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 44 8B Device NAK The device didn t understand This may occur for example while using programs for modified drives ith a standard disk drive Serial frame error This error may be caused by tape recorder or by damaged input output device computer or cables Out of screen The position of cursor is out of scre
44. ory listing supplied by the handler contains only one file and the file isn t longer than free memory then COPY will never open more than one file at a time this is prepared for a future Turbo tape system Examples COPY gt DOS gt D8 Copy the whole directory DOS to drive 8 RamDisk COPY E file Create a new textfile Press lt CONTROL gt lt 3 gt when you ve entered the whole contents for new file COPY file P Send file s to the printer BACKUP external command BACKUP Dn file S max sector D S M D X Lmax len BACKUP file Dn F X BACKUP Dn Dn S max sector D S M D X F X This command is there for making backup copies of whole disks The first syntax is for copying the whole disk into file s second syntax is for restoring the disk back from file s and the third syntax is for copying directly from one disk to another Filenames may not contain any extensions if there is any it will be overwritten BACKUP will add its own extensions serial number of the file While copying from a disk that is not from file it ll copy the whole contents of a BW DOS compatible disk only sectors marked as in use in the bitmap unless you ll use the S parameter With S it ll copy the whole disk exactly so you can copy almost anything in this way Boot software etc After the S parameter you can add number of the last sector to copy this may be useful for nonstandard disks su
45. pes such as Basic programs texts etc When you ll save everything to the main directory it ll become very long soon the access will be slow and the listing will be almost unreadable DIR internal command DIR Dn path gt filename This command show contents of the specified directory When no filename is specified every files will be listed This listing starts with the volume name of the disk and name of the listed directory It shows for each file filename length and date time when the file was created Directories are indicated by lt DIR gt listed instead of length At the end of listing you ll see number of free sectors on the disk The listing looks like this Volume TESTS Directory MAIN DOS lt DIR gt 11 06 94 16 01 TESTI BAS 1231 11 06 94 16 32 573 FREE SECTORS DIRS Internal command DIRS Dn path gt filename This command provides the same function as DIR but the listing is in Atari DOS 2 style now Directories are indicated by DIR in inverse video instead of extension Note that length of files is in sectors now one sector contains 128 bytes in Single or Medium density or 256 bytes in Double density The file in fact occupies a few sectors more they are used for internal informations for the FMS The star before filename means that the file is protected Every numbers in this listing file length and number of free sectors are on
46. r it is greater than length of file hen it is open in a read only mode aux1 4 This error may also occur when you try to copy a file hich contains non allocated sectors While orking with Atari DOS 2 comaptible disks using the 167 168 169 170 SAA File not found The specified file or directory in the direct mode doesn t exist This error may also occur while trying to erase a protected file or subdirectory A7 A8 A9 menu program this error indicates that the file number in a sector is incorrect This may be caused by a non compatible disk format or by a corrupt disk structure Directory not empty The directory specified in the DELDIR command is not empty so it may not be deleted Not implemented BW DOS didn t understand the command code Please check the command code for CIO or the XIO command This error may also occur while trying to use a few special functions of SpartaDOS which are not supported by BW DOS There is no more space for a new file in directory BW DOS directories may contain up to 1424 files but it is much better to divide such a large number of files into several subdirectories Atari DOS 2 compatible disks supported by the menu program only may contain up to 64 files or to rename a subdirectory
47. re is FF then the lt RESET gt key will jump to the CP e 33 COMFNAM This is a buffer for complete device and filename specification it is used for output from the CRNAME routine and as input for the DIVIO routine It is 28 bytes long When reading parameters from the command line with the CRNAME routine this buffer will allways start with Dn if you are looking for other parameters than filenames you must start at COMFNAM 3 e 61 RUNLOC There is stored the adress which will be used by the RUN command without of parameter This adress is changed by loading a program or by RUN with a parameter e 63 LBUF This is the buffer for command line and for DIR DIRS and TYPE commands there will be stored the whole command line before executing it This buffer is 64 bytes long DISK FORMAT BW DOS uses the same disk format as SpartaDOS There are four kinds of sectors Boot sectors Bitmaps Sector maps and Data sectors Boot sectors are sectors 1 2 and 3 on every disks These sectors are allways 128 bytes long and contains a small program which is started while you turn the computer on this program is loading DOS or other file specified by the BOOT commana The Boot loader is not the same on BW DOS and SpartaDOS disks but the function of both the loaders is almost identical In the sector 1 there is an important table which gives to the system several informations about the whole
48. rect keys The last thing on your screen to explain is the line between directory listing and the command menu Here the menu will ask you for everything what s necessary While selecting from a menu here you can use the lt left gt lt right gt and lt RETURN gt keys or simply hit the first letter of the wanted selection While entering a filename or path you can use the keys lt DELETE gt lt CONTROL gt lt left gt lt CONTROL gt lt right gt lt CONTROL gt lt DELETE gt lt CONTROL gt lt INSERT gt and lt RETURN3 gt in the same way as in standard system editor in addition you can use the lt CONTROL gt lt CLEAR gt combination to clear the line and start typing again New disk lt F gt This function allows you to select another drive number to work with you ll see the working directory of selected drive Use this function when you want to work with another drive or when you ve changed the disk in drive you ll see main directory in this case The current path to working directory before executing this command will be saved Later this path will be used as a default while copying files to the corresponding drive Disk info lt Z gt With this function you can look at a little info about the disk It gives the same listing as CHKDSK command in the CP Sub dir lt T gt This function allows you to go into a subdirectory You need to place the cursor to a subdirectory first Up dir lt Y gt This is the
49. rmation for sectors 0 7 second byte for 8 15 etc When more than one sector is necessary for the map it is stored on the disk as a compact block it may be for example in sectors 4 5 and 6 40 Sector where is the first Sector map of file specified for booting 2 bytes Sector maps contains information which sectors are used for a file There are physical numbers of sectors 2 bytes each in a Sector map The first number in every Sector map in fact two bytes points to the next Sector map of the file Zero indicates the last map Second number points to the previous map of the file zero indicates the first map The rest of the map contains numbers of data sectors used for the file There are 62 128 bytes sector or 126 256 bytes sector numbers When the number is zero it indicates a non allocated part of the file see the description of HEXEDIT command for more info Data sectors are simply full of data FORMAT OF DIRECTORIES Directories are in fact special files they may be directly accessed by adding 16 or 32 to the aux1 value while opening the file The directories contains information about every files and subdirectories 23 bytes each The numbers are positions in this 23 bytes long block 0 The status Single bits are used DO The file is protected D3 Block in directory is used D4 The file is erased block in directory is free D5 Flag for a subdirectory The status equal to zero means th
50. rt it back into directory Special commands may be executed by pressing letter keys lt T gt change time for a single file lt D gt change date lt C gt create a line with comment lt E gt delete a comment line or an erased file lt ESC gt abort the program lt Q gt save the new directory Characters displayed before the filename are following anormal file a protected file gt a subdirectory e comment line erased file 2 other unknown file status Note Don t use the comment lines too much because such a lines may cause troubles with programs like COPY MENU etc Never use control codes for example lt CONTROL gt lt right gt lt CONTROL gt lt DELETE gt lt TAB gt etc in a comment line because it ll cause terrible effects while listing such a directory In addition better don t use inverse video and graphics characters because they may not be printed on a printer MSDOS External program bootable MSDOS The file MSDOS COM contains the program called Micro SpartaDOS version 2 3 This program is there for loading games and other programs which needs a very low MEMLO value It can only run a DOS loadable file no other support for the loaded program will be provided Micro SpartaDOS may be used in two ways As an utility program Simply start it by typing MSDOS in the CP when you need to start for example a game To get back into B
51. s no COM extension you must type the real extension too Third kind of BW DOS commands are resident commands They are in fact external commands but there is one important difference When you ll start a resident command a part of the command s program will stay in memory like resident part of the DOS do and it will provide more internal functions Note that this will increase the MEMLO value so it s possible that some programs will not work then because of collision in memory Every resident commands of BW DOS may be also removed from memory by starting them again with parameter OFF for example RAMDISK OFF But remember that you can only remove the LAST installed resident command So if you have for example installed CLOCK and then RAMDISK and you want to remove CLOCK later you must remove RAMDISK first then you can remove CLOCK and then install RAMDISK again Once you ve installed a resident command which have no remove ability a non BW DOS one you can remove every resident commands installed at that moment only by booting the system up again Commands may use parameters for example filenames you need to type parameters after the command name on the same line separated by the space character The line with a CP command may be up to 64 characters long Every BW DOS commands may be aborted by pressing the lt ESC gt key while the program is waiting for an answer from the user or while displaying something in an e
52. same way as ClO or SIO That s different from SpartaDOS 3 x 8 XDIVIO There is the adress of XDIVIO routine This routine may be used to stop a batch file or the HardCopy function Before starting this routine the Y register must be 0 for the HardCopy function or 1 for a batch file 10 BUFOFF This is the position of next character in LBUF for the CRNAME routine 13 DATER 16 TIMER This is the main variable for date and time 3 3 bytes It is in the format day month year hour min sec This variable is used by GETTD and SETTD routines and while creating a file 19 ODATER 22 OTIMER This variable is in the same format as DATER and TIMER it is used while copying files see TDOVER 25 TDOVER This flag determines if the new created file will get the current date time from BW DOS s clock 0 or the date time from ODATER and OTIMER FF It is used especially while copying files to carry the date time information Don t forget to clear this flag after use e 26 TRUN Here is the RUN adress from the last file loaded by the CP or with the XIO 40 command 30 SMEMLO The address of first byte in memory after the BW DOS itself If the MEMLO value is different then there are resident commands between SMEMLO and MEMLO e 32 INCOMND This adress determines if you are working with the CP or with a cartridge to provide the correct function of the lt RESET gt key If the
53. text file PIC for a picture and so on It is recommended to use no extensions for directories Dn The specification of a disk drive where n is number of the drive You can also type simply D for drive device Specification of device which is not a disk drive For example E for screen editor C for tape recorder P for printer etc filename Full name of a file it is name ext While writing a file you can add A after filename to add the new file at the end of old file with the same name Without of A the new file will replace the old one A filename with wild cards in it may be also called as filter path Specification of directory in which the wanted file is There are two kinds of path Absolute gt name gt name and relative lt lt name gt name See explanation later in this manual for more details file This means full specification of file to work with The syntax is Dn path gt filename Every numbers are entered as hexadecimal numbers without of the identificator File positions are up to 6 digits long while memory adresses and sector numbers are up to 4 digits long SYSTEM STRUCTURE In general BW DOS is divided into two parts 1 Resident part the DOS itself is loaded while booting and it stay in the memory to provide basic functions of the system Like every other DOSes The resident part come from a file with extension DOS and it
54. uted Standard extension for a batch file is BAT When you start a batch file the computer will read commands not from the keyboard but from the batch file This works not only in the CP it works in most of other programs too for example Atari Basic There are of course exceptions for example the menu program several text editors etc You can use batch files in two ways When you need to execute several time eating programs put their list into a batch file start it and then you can for example go to the lunch the computer will work on its own You can use batch files to write a simple programs for some tasks for example to install RamDisk and copy selected external commands there etc A batch file named STARTUP BAT in main directory or in the directory DOS will be executed every time you boot the system It is good to place commands for system configuration in such a file Since BW DOS supports no AUTORUN SYS file you need to put a name of such a program into STARTUP BAT When the file STARTUP BAT doesn t exist BW DOS will jump to cartridge if any after booting For example need to do following things after booting the system Install RamDisk turn the internal Basic off switch to directory ATMAS and install AUTOCWD and run ATMAS II macroassembler which is in main directory under the name ATMAS COM The file STARTUP BAT will be following RAMDISK 8 BASIC OFF CWD gt ATMAS gt AUTOCWD gt AT
55. ve such an action may cause big problems If you want to start a program which is using IOCB 5 from a batch file then you need to use the XBAT command When no batch file or HardCopy function is active the HATABS table is modified into its original state automatically to provide the best compatibility with every programs If anew E handler is installed the address in HATABS is changed by a program BW DOS will accept the new address and repair its I O redirection routines at the time of first DIVIO XDIVIO call or while entering the CP After that the function of batch files and HardCopy will be re enabled Installation of new E handlers should be done with the NEWED command to prevent the new handler from storing the address of BW DOS s I O redirection routines into its code instead of the original E handler COMPATIBILITY This chapter contains the information about compatibility between BW DOS and other programs and between BW DOS and SpartaDOS A few lines are also written about older BW DOS versions It may be useful when there are troubles with function of the system MEMORY When a program locks the system up the most common reason is a collision in the memory Since BW DOS does not use the RAM under OS ROM it may not cause any collision in this area as known from SpartaDOS but still there may be collisions caused by too high value of MEMLO To look at the MEMLO value use the MEM command The MEML
56. volume name and if use the XF 551 high speed format or not Note that you can only select a density which is supported by your drive That is Atari 810 Single Atari 1050 Single or Medium expanded Atari 1050 Single Medium or Double XF 551 Single Medium Double or Double sided Double density other drive see manual for the drive Now insert the disk you want to format make sure that it is REALLY the disk you want to format and press lt RETURN gt to format it If the disk was formatted in the same density already without of errors of course and you want to clear it only press lt B gt in this case the FORMAT program will skip physical formatting If an error appear while formatting you ll get a chance to try it again but better use another disk the first one is probably bad After formatting it ll create BW DOS disk structures and if you ve selected a DOS it ll create the directory DOS and install the DOS file there The last question is if you want to format another disk RAMDISK resident command RAMDISK n E F file RamDisk driver version 2 This resident command sets up an emulated disk drive using a 130XE compatible RAM expansion up to 1MB This means that you can use your extra memory in the same way as a disk drive excepting formatting and booting It s clear that every files from such a RamDisk will be lost if you turn the computer off or if you use a program that is using extra
57. while no batch file or HardCopy function is active This means that you can start programs which needs the XDIV in SpartaDOS directly and with the XBAT command you even can start such a program from a batch file In a limited fashion you can also use NEWED to start some programs with a batch file paused only DATE AND TIME Every files and directories have its date and time in BW DOS it is the date time when they were created To provide this information while creating a file there is a clock in BW DOS Because of little memory available for the DOS the BW DOS s clock is not a real one it only keeps the date time information without of changing it This means that every files will get the same date time till you enter a new value If you want to have a real clock in BW DOS you need to use some of the resident commands that are designed for this purpose DATE TIME external command DATE TIME These commands will display the current date time from BW DOS s clock and allows you to enter a new value Press lt RETURNS gt to leave it unchanged CLOCK resident command CLOCK ON This is a software clock for BW DOS If you ve entered the correct date time with DATE and TIME commands then every files and directories will get the real time when they are created While installed this clock will get the date time from old clock while removed or a re boot the new date time will be lost This cl
58. y in the same order as on the disk this may be useful when the directory is already sorted by the Directory master or it can save a few seconds when the directory is very long Second question allows you to turn on off the sound signal that accompanies errors and other important messages The last question is for turning on off the menu selection before overwriting a file see Copy All the selections may be also done from the CP using parameters while starting the menu Dn specifies drive number the menu will start with and the rest is similar to the Setup function S is sorting of directories B is the bell function and Q controls the question before overwriting a file Select lt INSERT gt Deselect lt DELETE gt These functions will select or deselect every files specified by entered filter OTHER COMMANDS XFSIO external command XFSIO n n n n This resident command provides fast communication with the XF 551 disk drive You must enter drive number s of the XF 551 drive s in your system while installing this command The fast communication is 2 5 times faster than the standard but it may only save some time when the disk is formatted in the fast mode see FORMAT and BACKUP commands The keyboard is disabled during fast SIO operations to prevent problems KEYBUFF resident command KEYBUFF ON This resident command is a buffer for 32 keystrokes This me
59. y it is a DOS file but other files may be booted too see the conditions below The common use of this command is installing the DOS on a disk that was previously formatted with no DOS or with an older version To installa DOS on a disk you should copy the X DOS file the DOS directory is recommended and then use the BOOT command to install it The booting process is done by a little loader which is in sectors 1 3 on every BW DOS or SpartaDOS 2 x and later disks The file which is booted must be in the DOS loadable format and it must contain a RUN adress If there are not at least two bytes between end of file and end of physical data sector that is in Basic IF 128 INT LNGTH 127 128 LNGTH lt 2 then two zero bytes must be added as an EOF mark The booted file may not be loaded into the area of 2E00 317F where is the loader itself Note that the loader is different from the one found on SpartaDOS disks a little bit If you are booting from a SpartaDOS disk then no segments in the file excepting the first one may begin with the FFFF header Besides of this the SpartaDOS loader is not fully compatible with the XF 551 disk drive When you ll erase the file specified to be booted an attempt to boot such a disk may give almost any result BATCH FILES AND HARDCOPY file internal function file This syntax will start a batch file Batch file is in fact a text file which contains a list of commands to be exec
60. y not be used with some programs especially games DISK FORMAT BW DOS is using the same disk format as SpartaDOS versions 2 x and later Other disks for example Atari DOS 2 MYDOS DOS XE and others including SpartaDOS x disks may not be used under BW DOS Only SpartaDOS X versions 4 x can work with BW DOS directories in full older versions of SpartaDOS can only work with short directories max 126 files each The menu program supports Atari DOS 2 compatible disks too You can use every disks created with Atari DOS 2 0 or DOS 2 5 other disks may be only used if they are compatible with this format In addition you can use Double density disks similar to the DOS 2 0 format for example the ones created with BiboDOS or the AINIT command in SpartaDOS Disks without of file number in data sectors for example MYDOS high capacity disks or BiboDOS 6 4 double sided disks may not be used BW DOS 80 is handling the allocation pointers in the bootsector in a different way than older versions or SpartaDOS do This may result in using different physical sectors for a file compared to these DOSes Both the versions are fully compatible OLDER BW DOS VERSIONS Four older BW DOS versions exists 00 0 20 and 2 00 is the basic version 0 is identical to the basic version excepting the message after boot The status 3 last byte read wasn t supported a new E handler wasn t allowed the command TYPE was limited to 64 ch
61. ytes There is an instruction which jumps to the SIO routine defined by LSIO in the COMTAB This is provided for compatibility with BiboDOS Any changes done to this adress may not change function of BW DOS THE COMTAB TABLE This table allows machine code programs to get parameters from the CP and to use many other features of BW DOS Adress of this table is stored in the DOSVEC vector at 0A numbers in the following description are relative positions in the table Bytes which are not mentioned in the description are reserved for compatibility with several SpartaDOS versions such a bytes may not be changed by any program e 21 DWARNM This value will be stored to the adress 8 before starting a cartridge It provides the information if the memory was changed by an external command zero or not FF 19 DECOUT This is an output buffer for the CONVDC routine It contains up to 8 characters long decimal representation of the number from DECIN spaces may be added at the begin This adress is compatible with SpartaDOS X only 10 LSIO There is the adress of main BW DOS s SIO routine This routine is used by BW DOS for every disk operations it have the same inputs and outputs as the standard SIO in ROM E459 After booting this adress points to E459 it may be changed by commands like RAMDISK XLRDISK RAMBOX XFSIO etc 8 ECHOFLG This is the index into HATABS for the HardCopy function there is the value

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