80 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
80 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
This stuff is mostly self explanatory, but:
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part takes one optional argument, which is the disk number with
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which to start (either 0 or 1. 0 is default).
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286pd1.sys and 286pd2.sys are for driving partitions on your first
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and second disks, respectively. They will only work on 80186 or higher
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processors. For 8086/8088 computers, use pdisk1.sys, pdisk2.sys. They
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are just a *wee* bit slower....
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fdins is for use when you're short of free space in "low menory" --
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i.e. free interrupt vectors. fdintins, on the other hand, doesn't
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use up any application space memory. In either case, these programs
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don't do *anything* directly -- you run them in order to create a
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.COM program that does the dirty work. You get TBL1.com, TBL2.com,
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TBL1INT.com, or TBL2INT.com, depending on whether you run fdins,
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fdintins and specifiy disk 1 or 2 (== 0 or 1).
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pformat is for when you want to be particularly destructive with your
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new partition. You run "pformat <drive>:" where <drive> must be a
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valid pdisk. It's good for marking newly developed bad sectors,
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I guess. Be careful.
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According to tests I ran with the PC Magazine benchmark program, disk access
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to a pdisk is actually faster than the normal DOS driver (i.e. C: or a DOS
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3.3/4.x extended DOS partition). (This may only be true using the 286 version,
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and may be affected by your usage. The main point is that you certainly do
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not take a performance *cut* by using my program.)
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I am not including most of the COPYING file that comes with stuff from the
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Free Software Foundation (Richard Stallman, et al.) because I don't know
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if I'm allowed, but that's what I intend for this software. Specifically,
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you can *give* away as many copies of this software as you like. You can
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charge a *reasonable* handling fee. You can even incorporate parts of it
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into other projects, as long as you distribute at least the source you got
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from pdisk. I don't want money or contributions, I want plaudits. I hope
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this software is helpful to you.
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When you find the inevitable bug (there are *none* in the driver, but I
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don't absolutely swear for the partitioning program), please try to
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fix it yourself and let me know the solution. Failing that, drop me a
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line describing the situation exactly, especially including DOS version and
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all hardware, including fixed disk and controller type. I don;t promise
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to do anything about it, but I might.
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One thing I recommend from experience: my boot code will only work on some
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IBM compatibles. It is best to use the manafacturer's (or generic) MSDOS
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fdisk to set up the initial partition, then use "format c: /s" to set up
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your bootable DOS partition. If you can get this working right with pdisk,
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that would be nice.
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have fun. Scott E. Garfinkle
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smsdpg!seg@uunet.uu.net
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<The following is taken from Project Gnu's AWK distribution, the COPYING
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File. I hope I'm not violating their copyright, or anything.
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>
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NO WARRANTY
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BECAUSE PDISK IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, WE PROVIDE ABSOLUTELY NO
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WARRANTY, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE STATE LAW. EXCEPT
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WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING, SCOTT GARFINKLE
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AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE PDISK "AS IS" WITHOUT
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WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
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LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
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A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND
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PERFORMANCE OF PDISK IS WITH YOU. SHOULD PDISK PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU
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ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
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IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW WILL SCOTT GARFINKLE
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AND/OR ANY OTHER PARTY
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WHO MAY MODIFY AND REDISTRIBUTE PDISK AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO
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YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST MONIES, OR OTHER
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SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
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INABILITY TO USE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA
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BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THIRD PARTIES OR A
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FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS) PDISK, EVEN
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IF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR
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ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
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