The following is an excerpt from FDFORMAT.DOC. I deleted all stuff that belonged to FDFORMAT. To get the whole software (FDFORMAT and FDREAD incl. full documentation and source code), look at your local ftp-server or BBS for the FDFORMAT package. Oliver Fromme ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FDREAD - Use Disks with higher Capacity LICENSE ------- This program is a public-domain product for private and educational use. You may freely copy and use it without any charge. This program must not be sold for profit. An adaequate fee may be requested for copying, shipping and handling when redistributing this program. You may modify and improve this program, but the executable program must show a message that your version has been modified. If you find, that this program is worth contributing for it, do not hesitate to send cash, check, 3«"-diskettes or something else. COMMENTS AND PROBLEMS --------------------- Comments, improvements, suggestions and problems may be sent to the Author Christoph H. Hochst„tter Carl-Strehl-Strasse 20 D-3550 Marburg West-Germany Phone: +49 6421 14618 (voice/BTX) E-Mail: HAMPE2@DMRHRZ11.BITNET (Bitnet/Internet) Christoph Hochstaetter on 2:243/22 (Fido) SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------- IBM or compatible Computer DOS 3.20 or above GETTING STARTED --------------- To make FDREAD resident simply type FDREAD from the DOS-Command-Line. Or install it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you have a memory-manager installed, that supports UMB (like QEMM, QRAM, mov'em or 386-Max), do not load FDREAD high. The TSR automatically detects the memory manager and will load high itself. FDREAD will also automatically load high on computers with a 286(!!!) processor and up, if DOS 5 or higher is used. You must have HIMEM.SYS (or another XMS-Driver) installed and put DOS=HIGH in your CONFIG.SYS file. Since this technique of high-loading is quite tricky, you must ensure, that FDREAD is loaded before any program that plays with the A20 line and grabs the Interrupt 13 (Hex). This is the case for some disk-caching programs like HYPERDISK(TM). If you are using a disk- caching program, load FDREAD before the caching program. Also, if the system hangs, after you installed FDREAD, load FDREAD as the first TSR. If you get the error "Too much memory available". You must load FDREAD twice to avoid this error. The TSR is required to support diskette formats, which are non- standard under DOS. Note, that it is not possible to create bootable diskettes, which require the TSR. It may also be possible, that a format, which can be read without the TSR on your computer, will fail on another computer. If you are creating bootable diskettes, it is recommended only to use DOS-standard-formats. Format 360k-Drive 720k-Drive 1.2M-Drive 1.44M-Drive --------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------- 160 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD 180 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD 200 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD 205 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD 320 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD 360 kByte Disk yes FDREAD yes FDREAD 400 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD 410 kByte Disk FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD 720 kByte Disk no yes FDREAD yes 800 kByte Disk no FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD 820 kByte Disk no FDREAD FDREAD FDREAD 1.2 MByte Disk no no yes yes 1.2 MByte Disk no no yes yes 1.44 MByte Disk no no FDREAD yes 1.44 MByte Disk no no FDREAD yes 1.48 MByte Disk no no FDREAD yes 1.6 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD 1.64 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD 1.68 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD 1.72 MByte Disk no no no FDREAD FDREAD in the above table means, that this format will work only, if FDREAD is installed. You may find out, that this table will not be valid for your computer and that you can use certain diskette formats without FDREAD, that are listed to work with FDREAD only.