Here's the second part of the rewritten ST manual. Part 1 can be 
found on SEWER DOC DISC 6. This section deals with the keyboard,
mouse care, file copying, TOS, disc structure, copying etc.

                    Chapter Two: The Keyboard


             Tips and tricks regarding the keyboard:

ESCAPE:  A clever trick,  when working on the DESKTOP: You have a 
window  open,  showing  one disk DIRECTORY  (the  contents).  You 
switch disks.  Do you then click on DRIVE B?  No!  Just press ESC 
(Escape),  on  the  upper  left corner  of  your  keyboard.   The 
computer  will then READ the new disk.  What it actually does  is 
UPDATEs  the directory,  checking again what's on the  disk,  but 
since you've switched disks,  it READS the new disk and puts that 
in the window. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

This works with RAM disks as well;  click on the RAM disk  window 
so  that it is on top,  and then punch ESC.  (Ram disks  will  be 
explained below).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     
ESCape  (ESC) is a handy button.  When changing directory  lines, 
disk labels, whatever, punch ESC, and it clears the whole thing. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
If  you change disks while in an application,  such as 1st  Word, 
ESC can help.  Load 1st Word (start the prg by double  clicking). 
Now,  you want to change disks. Insert new disk. Punch the CURSOR 
UP ARROW,  this puts the cursor on the disk directory  line.  Now 
punch ESC.  that clears the whole thing.  Now hit ENTER.  The new 
disk is read as a default in A drive.  If you have 1st Word in  D 
Drive as a RAMdisk,  then instead of backspacing and typing  some 
silly nonsense like ( A:*.* ),  just punch Up arrow (elevator to 
top floor) ESCape out the window and ENTER in the ground floor. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

You  can  also  write  the A:/folder/*.PRG  or  whatever  onto  a 
keymacro  program  and  then  produce the  whole  line  with  one 
keystroke (thanks to HS). 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
Typing an underline ( _ ) in the top directory line will bomb.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

You don't have to start up a program just to look at a text file. 
You  can  open a file directly on your desktop and  look  at  the 
first  part  of it (just double click and choose SHOW  TO  SCREEN 
from the dialogue box. Pressing ENTER scrolls one line at a time, 
pressing  SPACE bar scrolls a whole screen.  Instead of  pressing 
ENTER  and  scrolling all the way to the  end,  press  Q  (quit). 
You're out again. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Some versions of TOS (there are dozens of versions of TOS, for no 
real  reason) have a curious ability;  press CAPS LOCK  and  then 
ALTERNATE:  the Danish or German alphabets then revert to English 
font and produce square brackets and slashes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

You  are  not  stuck with Swedish keys (or whatever  is  on  your 
keyboard).  When you press the "B" key,  you don't send a "B"  to 
the computer;  you send a long string of codes.  This string  can 
easily  be  changed (edited).  You can easily re-program  or  re-
define your keyboard.  This requires no expert  knowledge;  fools 
can  do  it (most computer stores fall  in  that  category).  Use 
KEYEDIT.PRG,  a public domain program;  you get a picture of your 
keyboard on screen,  simply use the mouse to move the keys around 
or add new keys (for example,  get rid of Swedish, and add German 
or Danish).  You can easily make several keyboards, for different 
languages. 

You can also place keys in places which are more convenient.  The 
marks ( ' ) and ( " ) should be together,  and next to the  shift 
key. The same for ? and ! (and  as well), these should be on one 
key.  Add  the  Danish    and   to  the  keyboard.  Delete  the 
ridiculous  sign. 

You can also use these keys in the directory;  instead of writing 
1/2_AARHUS.DOC, you can just write _RHUS.DOC. 
 
You actually have not one,  but five keyboards. You must think of 
several modes:  the keys act differently depending on the board's 
mode.  You  change  modes  by  pressing  the  SHIFT,  CAPS  LOCK, 
ALTERNATE, or CONTROL keys. The first mode is the normal "qwerty" 
board, the small letters. The second mode is SHIFT: small letters 
become large, and numbers remain the same. The third, fourth, and 
fifth mode is CAPS LOCK,  ALTERNATE and CONTROL;  press these and 
then you have different keyboards.  The standard keyboard  setup, 
what you get from the factory,  has the same thing on both SHIFT, 
CONTROL,  and ALTERNATE. A keyboard editing program allows you to 
put  different keys in the various modes;  you can place  on  the 
numerical keypad,  which is rarely used in the higher modes,  all 
sorts of alphabets,  such as German,  French,  and  Spanish.  The 
numbers  at the top 1234567890 can also hold  different  symbols. 
Paste  stickers  on your keys so that you can see  the  different 
things. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

You will notice after a while that the letters on the keys  began 
to  disappear.  Touching the keyboard after a year will just  rub 
off the keys.  Clear plastic is sold in sheets or rolls which can 
be cut to fit the tops of your keys. This protects especially the 
non-american keys. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 


Instead of pointing and clicking the OK box in the dialogue  box, 
hit  RETURN or ENTER.  Both of these keys usually have  the  same 
function. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
Get in the practise of holding the mouse in your  palm,  clicking 
not  with  the tip of your finger,  but with the  middle  of  the 
finger.  Not so tiring.  And keep the mouse near the keyboard, so 
that  you  can hit ENTER with your thumb.  This machine  was  not 
designed by a southpaw.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
You can always print the screen by pressing ALTERNATE + HELP.  Or 
almost  always.  Often  the printing can be stopped  by  pressing 
Control + Q (quit) (or perhaps X, W, or Z as well).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Control + S will often work on your keyboard with some PRGs. This 
SAVES data

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

When renaming disk drives,  or renaming file names,  there is  no 
need to backspace one letter and type in the new:  just type  it. 
If  the cursor is at the end of the line,  it will  automatically 
delete and replace the word.  Try this now by clicking OPEN FILE, 
and just pressing K, the .DOC will change to .DOK. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

The  cursor  can  be moved with ALTERNATE  +  ARROW  keys;  press 
ALTERNATE  + INSERT for a mouse click.  The only time I've  found 
this useful is when you have to click the mouse a lot (in a game, 
for  example).  Park the mouse over the box,  and hold  down  the 
Alternate   and Insert keys.  Also this helps when  reading  long 
files  (like this one).  Park the mouse over the vertical bar  on 
the  right side of the screen,  hold down  ALTERNATE,  and  press 
INSERT as you read along.  

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
Careful,  though,  too  fast  and this  sometimes  'freezes'  the 
computer,  nothing works anymore.  Panic.  Try punching ENTER, or 
wait a bit. Waving a gun sometimes works.  

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
The  right  mouse  button works on the  desktop.  When  you  have 
several windows open,  point at an inactive window, hold down the 
right button, and point and click with the left button. The right 
button lets you work in non-active windows.  Nice,  but  useless. 
It's so easy to click up a window.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
F1 and F10 often have a function in a program.  Programmers  have 
many  traditional codes,  such as pressing "CONTROL (Ctl)  +  ?"; 
this sometimes produces a few lines of HELP or other information. 
When in doubt,  punch buttons.  Try every key on the keyboard, in 
combinations.  You  can't hurt the computer by pressing  buttons. 
However,  shooting the computer may damage it.  Gunshots are  not 
covered by warranties except in Texas. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Something difficult to describe,  but rather handy,  is an  F-KEY 
guide.  If your different programs use different commands on  the 
F-Keys,  this  little device helps you keep track of  them.  Take 
about fifteen or twenty sheets of paper.  Bind them together with 
one of those plastic ring binders:  go to any paper supply store; 
they have a hole punching machine which makes a row of  rectangle 
holes on the side of the paper,  into which a plastic ring  strip 
holds the sheets together (it is difficult to describe,  but  you 
will know it when you see them)(Use the smallest size,  that  is, 
the thinnest ones).  Now use a paper cutter so that there is only 
a strip of paper 1.3cm wide (as if you bound a book which is only 
1.3cm wide,  but normal length.  Still following this?  Good. Put 
the thing above your F-keys. Trim to lenght. It sits there in the 
groove. Make a different page for each program that uses commands 
on  the  F-keys  (also a handy place to keep  notes  about  other 
commands) Just flip the pages back and forth for each program.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

I put a little red sticker on the F6, Delete Line, key. Then it's 
just  a matter of reaching up and punching it;  I don't  need  to 
look so carefully.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Many programs can be aborted by pressing Q,W,  X, Z, or CONTROL + 
Q, CONTROL + Q, CONTROL + X, CONTROL +Z, ESCAPE, or F10.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

In Germany,  you can buy an AT keyboard which plugs into the  ST. 
The  AT keyboard is the best.  High quality keys.  It comes as  a 
small  separate  keyboard  (similar to PC's) and has  a  2  meter 
telephone  coil  cable.  Your ST is simply pushed back  into  the 
corner. Simply unplug the ST keyboard (a flat cable which is very 
obviouse when you open your machine) and plug in the AT keyboard. 
AT keyboards cost about 60 pounds. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Be  careful with the keys.  ST's are made of cheap  plastic.  The 
keys break off very easily.  There's a lot of users with  missing 
keys.  I broke my Backspace key by dropping a dictionary onto  it 
(small  wonder!) Rubber cement doesn't work;  it just gets  loose 
after a while.  It stayed loose for a long time,  until a  friend 
suggested model airplane glue;  it's made for plastic (the guy at 
the  store asked if it was for toy airplanes or toy  soldiers.  I 
said "for my toy computer").  It worked great.  Solid connection. 
Be VERY careful not to glue the key to the sleeve;  you'll freeze 
the whole thing. Use a toothpick to apply the glue.



              End of Chapter Two: The ST Keyboard.

        ====================== * * ======================


                    Chapter Three: The Mouse


There's only one thing to say about the mouse. When waiting for a 
command  to  be  carried out (waiting while  opening  a  program, 
waiting while a text is being reformatted, etc), don't wiggle the 
mouse  around impatiently.  You send information to the  computer 
when  the mouse moves;  the computer slows down what it is  doing 
and  begans to pay attention to your mouse  movements.  In  other 
words,  if you play around with the pot,  it just takes longer to 
boil water. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Your  mouse should roll smoothly.  If it doesn't (it  feels  like 
rolling on rubber),  then you must clean it.  In the back of your 
Owner's Manual is a short description of how to clean your mouse. 
It is not enough.  You need to go further. Open the mouse, as the 
manual  tells  you.  Use a cotton swab (the  little  sticks  with 
cotton  on  the end) which has been moistened (not  dripping)  in 
alcohol  and  wipe the three  rollers,  turning  them  too.  This 
softens  up  the dirt.  Take a  clean,  small,  sharp  knife  (or 
whatever)  and gently scrape the dirt from the  rollers,  turning 
them  as you go along.  (As my chemistry professor used  to  say: 
CRAP = Chemical Residue in Apparatus). Don't scratch the rollers. 
Don't try and see how high the little ball will bounce.  Put  the 
mouse back together. New mice cost at least 50$.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Some mice will go "walkies," as one British puts it.  As you work 
on the keyboard,  for no reason,  the mouse arrow will fly across 
the screen. Notice that it only goes either straight up and down, 
or horizontally.  There was quite a debate in ST WORLD last  year 
about  this;  there are several different theories on the  reason 
for this.  There are also several different cures;  many of which 
involve fooling around with the hardware.  Try pushing the  mouse 
plug tighter into the computer.  It doesn't seem to be much of  a 
problem;  if  it's not broke,  don't fix it.  Mine does it  quite 
often;  other people are rather amazed when it goes flying off by 
itself.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 


The  right  mouse  button works on the  desktop.  When  you  have 
several windows open,  point at an inactive window, hold down the 
right button, and point and click with the left button. The right 
button lets you work in non-active windows.  Nice,  but  useless. 
It's so easy to click up a window.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Oh, right, nearly forgot. Mousepads are all the rage. They really 
are  better as a surface.  Don't spend money buying an  "offical" 
pad at a computer store;  go to a scuba divers store  (underwater 
sports) and buy some Neoprene,  the stuff that wetsuits are  made 
of.  That's  what  mouse pads are anyway (who ever came  up  with 
that?). There are two kinds of neoprene: wetsuits and drysuits (A 
wet suit lets water in,  but insulates. A drysuit keeps water out 
completely.) Use drysuit material.  (If you use wetsuit,  then it 
won't  "hold" to your table top.  Use some double sided  tape  to 
hold it down.) The stuff is expensive by the square meter (around 
40    / square meter of certain thicknesses)(it is  measured  in 
cubic centimeters),  but you only need a 20X20 cm piece (mine  is 
.40 cm thick).  If you use the SPEEDMOUSE.ACC, then you only need 
16x16 cm.  Don't hope for a free scrap piece of material; none of 
it is thrown away.  They use the little pieces for making fingers 
for the gloves. 


                End of Chapter Three: The Mouse.


        ====================== * * ======================



                          Chapter Four:

                              About 
              Disks, Disk Drivers, TOS, Formatting, 
                   File Storage, and Copying.



Regretably,  much  of the information regarding disk  formats  in 
previous  versions  of  the manual was wrong.  This  was  due  to 
misconceptions about format procedures.  These misconceptions are 
widespread;  many of the formatting programs available are poorly 
written:  you  risk loss of data by using them.  

I  thank  Olafur Bragason of our UG for explaining  much  of  the 
following to me. 

It  is very difficult to talk "just about the format," as  if  we 
could ignore TOS.  TOS,  ("The Operating System"),  is called  on 
other  machines the DOS,  the Disk Operating System.  You  notice 
this mostly as the File Selection Window. TOS keeps track of what 
directories  have been moving in and out of the drive.  When  you 
read a new disk,  by updating the directory window, TOS reads the 
directory  and the FAT into memory.  That stays there  until  you 
read  a new disk.  The old directory is erased from memory and  a 
new directory is read in.

TOS is therefore an interaction between the memory, the directory 
window,  the FAT, the drive, the drive head, the disk, the format 
on  the disk,  and the directory on the  disk.  Complicated?  You 
bet.  It is difficult to talk only about one of these.  To start, 
let's look at formats.

The disk stores data.  That data must be placed on the disk in  a 
fashion  so that the drive can put it there and quickly  find  it 
again.  The format is a structure which helps the drive head know 
where the head is on the disk. 

As  a Macintosh text puts it,  the disk is like a  parking  area: 
white lines have to be drawn so that the cars can go into spaces. 
By  drawing  the lines correctly,  more can fit into  that  total 
area.

How  a  disk is formatted (structured) is up to  the  person  who 
writes  a formatting program,  within the physical limits of  the 
drive mechanism. 




       ASSUMING THE STANDARD FORMAT: HOW YOUR DRIVE WORKS

Your disk is divided into concentric rings,  called TRACKS. These 
rings,  or TRACKS,  are divided into SECTORS.

Assuming  the  standard ST format,  track #0 is on  the  outside. 
Track  #79 is near the center.  The first few tracks and  sectors 
are used for storing information about the disk and files.  There 
are eighty tracks (0,1,2,3...78,79 = 80). On each TRACK (or ring) 
are 9 SECTORs.  These are numbered 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,  and 9. Every 
sector can therefore be identified: for example, Track 54, sector 
4.  

On a single sided disk, the data is stored as following:

Track 0, Sector 1                       = Boot Sector
Track 0, Sectors 1-6                    = FAT 1
Track 0, Sector 7 to Track 1, Sector 2  = FAT 2
Track 1, Sector 3 to Track 1 Sector 9   = Directory
Track 2 to Track 79, Sector 9,          = Files.

The  File Allocation Table (FAT) keeps a list of where your  file 
gets scattered all over the disk.  For safety, TOS keeps a backup 
copy on disk; this is FAT 2.

If you want to fool around with the FAT, then here are the values 
for FAT entries.  The FAT has one entry for every data cluster on 
the disk.  If the entry for cluster n is m,  then four things are 
possible. 

     m = 0 (zero), then the cluster is not in use.
     m = FF1-FF7 means that the cluster is damaged and should not 
         be used.
     m = k where 0<k<FF1;  this means that cluster n is part of a 
         file and that cluster k is the next cluster in the file.
     m = FF8-FFF;  this means that cluster n is the last  cluster 
         in the file. 

It is not necessary to know this information for using the ST.

The Directory is just that: the list of which files are active on 
disk.  When looking for your files,  go to track 1, sector 3. The 
directory  keeps only the name of the file,  the location of  the 
first cluster for that file,  and the kilobyte size of the  file. 

On a double sided disk, the data is stored as followes:

Side A, Track 0, Sector 1               = Boot Sector
Side A, Track 0, Sector 2 to 6          = FAT 1
Side A, Track 0, Sectors 7,8,9, 
plus Side B, Track 0, Sectors 1 and 2   = FAT 2
Side B, Track 0, Sectors 3 to 9         = Directory
Side A and B, Track 1 to 79             = Files.

We can immediately see problems.  Most file recovery programs are 
set  to look automatically in a specific area for  the  directory 
sectors. A recovery program made for single sided disks will look 
in track 1,  sectors 3 to 9.  But if we are using a double  sided 
disk,  then  this  recovery program,  set to look  for  directory 
sectors in track one,  will find files.  A double sided  recovery 
program will not be able to find the directory of a single  sided 
disk, because it is looking for side B, which doesn't exist.

Each  sector  holds a maximum of 512 bytes,  or  0.5KB.  This  is 
effective with large files, but small files, fx SPOOLER, which is 
only  497  bytes,  will be  inefficiently  stored.  The  smallest 
storage unit is a CLUSTER which is two sectors.  Thus your  drive 
will use a cluster,  or 1024 bytes of space,  to store 497 bytes. 
The rest is ignored.

The  sector is made of a header,  the file data,  and  a  closing 
remark.

As the disk head goes flying along,  it meets a new sector. First 
it  reads the information in the header.  The  first  information 
identifies  the  track  number.   Then  follows  the  disk   side 
information,  then sector number,  size of sector,  and then  the 
CRC,  the Cyclic Redundancy Code (to check for possible  errors). 
Then the head reads the data in the sector. At the end is the CRC 
again. This closes the sector. Now onto the next sector. 

So the head reads sectors 1, 2, 3, 4, etc in a row in each track.

Now  on to the next track.  But to switch over from one track  to 
the  next leaves very little time,  so to make sure that  it  has 
gotten into the correct track, it waits a whole new turn in order 
to read sector 1. 

Therefore much of the time,  the head is being very careful about 
where it is. 

If the disk is new (blank),  then the drive starts at the outside 
and works its way inward,  saving/reading data along the way. But 
if  the  disk  has been used very  much  (files  deleted,  saved, 
redeleted, etc) then lots of spaces open up between active files. 
The  computer will then store data on those tracks  and  sectors, 
scattering your data not in one long piece,  but here and  there, 
anywhere it can find space.  This is effective for using the disk 
in the best way possible,  although it will increase the time for 
the process. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

It's  a good trick (thanks,  KHS,) every once in a while to  copy 
all of your files to a new,  blank disk.  Then the files will  be 
re-stored in the most efficient way,  one after the other, sector 
by sector,  in one long line.  This reduces access time  terrifi-
cally.  You  can  do this by transferring all your files  into  a 
RAMdisk,  deleting  all the files from the disk (just throw  them 
from the disk into the wastebasket),  and then saving again  from 
the RAMdisk to disk.  This can save 30 to 40% time, especially on 
a boot disk. This is especially effective on a Harddisk. 

Place  the  large programs first onto the  disk;  those  programs 
which you read only and never change.

A  "disk organizer" is very useful;  it sorts out the files on  a 
disk and places them in the most consecutive way  possible.  This 
is very useful on a harddisk.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
Remember,  the  disk  drive head works in the  most  careful  way 
possible:  it floats over the first track and then moves  inward. 
It starts at the outside the first time. 

This is not however efficient:  the directory could be placed  in 
the center of the tracks,  for example, and the most distant file 
would not be more than half a disk away. 

TOS was written to be compatible with IBM PCs (you can find those 
in  museums).  Many  users have noticed that they  can  read  IBM 
formatted 3.5 inch disks.  It seemed like a good idea.  TOS,  and 
the ST, was developed in only six months. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
A double sided drive works the same way. Both heads move over the 
disk,  but together,  not separately.  Hence a single sided drive 
cannot  read a double sided disk because a double sided disk  has 
track  one on side A and track 2 on side B and track 3 on A  side 
and so on.  It reduces access time, but makes it impossible for a 
single sided drive to read,  because all it finds on the top side 
is track 1, 3, 5, etc. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

A  possible  use  of  the option of giving the  disk  a  name  is 
suggested  by OB.  He names the disk according to the  formatting 
program so that he knows how it was formatted. 

It rather difficult,  however, to change the disk name afterwards 
without a new format.  VOLUME.PRG can,  in certain cases,  change 
the  disk name,  but only once.  Again,  this has to do with  the 
nature of TOS.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Finally,  there  are  programs  to check  the  disk  drive  speed 
(SPEED.PRG).  A correct value should be 300 to 305.  If higher or 
lower,  it  is  possible that the drive is  reading/writing  data 
incorrectly (the disk sectors will show up too soon/too late  for 
the disk head).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 



                      NON-STANDARD FORMATS

In  the past half year,  we have seen some very  clever  formats. 
Some  of  these place sectors in  better  patterns.  Others  take 
advantage  of  peculiar  aspects of the disk  head  mechanism  to 
improve read/write speed.

Why  would anyone not use the standard  ST  format?  Non-standard 
formats  can  do several things.  You can  format  faster  (often 
just  18 seconds for a format).  You can read/write much  faster; 
often more than 50% faster.  You can also put much more on a disk 
(up to 55KB more per single sided disk, or even 118KB more with a 
hyperformat).  If  you have 40 disks,  this can be about 2000  KB 
more, just on single sided disks. 

You   must  understand  how  a  non-standard  format   functions. 
Otherwise, it is pretty certain that you will lose data.

Back to the number of sectors/tracks, and their layout. There can 
well be more or less than 9 sectors.  Eleven sectors seems to  be 
the  maximum  limit.  Amiga disks possibly have  one  sector  per 
track.  There can be up to 86 tracks,  for example, instead of 79 
(the first track is number 0, so "79 sectors" is actually 80). It 
is  a  mechanical limit that keeps most drives from  making  more 
than  82  tracks:  the better heads can go  further  towards  the 
center of the disk. 

A formatting program also creates a sector called a BOOT  SECTOR. 
This is used for making a boot disk.  If you use another disk for 
booting, then you can choose not to have a boot sector on a disk. 
Thus  you can store data on that sector.  The standard ST  format 
always creates a boot sector; you can boot with any such disk.

Another  trick is to make fewer directory sectors.  The  standard 
format allows space for 112 entries; you can keep up to 112 files 
on a single sided disk. This is somewhat generous; you could have 
for example a maximum of 64 entries. Do this by specifying only 4 
directory  sectors,  instead  of 7.  That gives  you  three  more 
sectors for data.

By these various methods,  then,  if you have a good disk  drive, 
and  a good formatting program,  you can place 11 sectors  in  86 
tracks, with no boot sector, short directory sectors, and you can 
have up to 475 KB on a single sided disk. 

     A STANDARD FORMAT has 357KB per side.
     An EXTENDED FORMAT has 390 KB per side.
     A FAT DISK or FAT FORMAT has 412 KB per side.
     A HYPERFORMAT  has up 475 KB or more per side.

The sectors can also be laid nonsequentially on a track.  Instead 
of putting 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11, the sectors can be 1-7-2-8-3-
9-4-10-5-11-6- and on to 1 again;  this cleverly gives the head a 
space between each sector.  As it reads sector two,  it  finishes 
and  is ready for sector 3.  But on a standard  format,  3  comes 
right after 2.  That is too fast,  and hence it must wait another 
turn of the disk.  A nonsequential format gives the head a  space 
between sectors to get ready for the new sector:  it reads sector 
2, skips sector 8, and then reads sector 3. 

(There  is some discussion here about why some programs can  read 
faster than others.  TEMPUS can read a file much much faster than 
1st Word. Tempus possibly creates a buffer into which the file is 
first placed,  and then organized for the program's use. 1st Word 
will read the sector first, and then spend time organizing it and 
placing  it  in word processing format.  Then it reads  the  next 
sector.  But by this time, the head has already gone too far; 1st 
Word  must wait for the disk to turn once again in order to  read 
the second sector.  The many "Fast Read" programs thus deal  with 
this aspect of 1st Word,  which is why they don't help with other 
programs.)

The  first  sector on the track can also  be  "sacrificed;"  made 
useless,  so  that no data is stored there.  An error is  written 
onto  that  sector.  This has the advantage of letting  the  head 
swing  immediately  over to the next  track,  reading  the  first 
sector,  checking that it is on the correct track, and then going 
onto  the  second sector,  where it can begin to  read  at  once, 
instead of waiting for a new turn. 

It is in exploiting characteristics of the Atari disk drive  that 
"FAST FORMATS"  are made.  Since they give the head more time  to 
read, by either skipping sectors or with blank final sectors, the 
head reads the data correctly. These "fast" formats are safe.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

The directory window,  the TOS,  the disk drive mechanism,  and a 
misunderstanding  of the disk identification procedure all  comes 
together to produce the next problem. This was widespread most of 
last year,  causing many people the dreaded "directory  crashes." 

The  ST  drive has a way of speeding things up.  If  you  open  a 
folder and look inside and then close again,  the ST  immediately 
gives  you the previous window again,  with all of the  contents, 
without re-reading the disk. The ST saves some of the information 
of the directory reading (the contents of the window) to  memory. 
It  assumes  that you did not change disks;  it  just  reads  the 
previous directory from memory.

What happens when the computer reads a new disk?  The ST uses  an 
80  byte space in the memory to hold information about the  disk. 
First the directory sectors are read (file names,  file  informa-
tion (date,  size,  folders, etc.). Then the FAT (File Allocation 
Table,  where the file is spread over the individual sectors)  is 
read into memory. The file names and folder names are sent to the 
file selector window. When you enter a folder, the ST goes "down" 
into a second level; it keeps the first level in memory and reads 
the information for the second level.  When you go into a further 
folder within a folder,  then it is "down" three levels.  As  you 
move back up from the third level, it reads the second level from 
memory,  not the disk.  To go from the second level to the first, 
top level,  it again reads from memory.  At any  point,  whatever 
level you are in, you click on a file, the ST looks at the FAT in 
memory and knows where to start looking for the file on the disk. 
The entire time,  the ST must be certain that you did not  change 
disks:  if  you change disks,  then the FAT information  and  the 
stored directories are worthless.

To  prove  this,  take  out the disk in the machine  and  put  in 
another  disk (which is not write protected ("write  protect"  is 
the little tab in the back corner of the disk) and was  formatted 
by  the ST format menu).  The drive noticed that you took  out  a 
disk  (An infrared light shines through the write  protect  hole. 
The infrared light which detects write protection was blocked for 
a  moment  as  the  disk went by,  and  then  for  a  moment  was 
unblocked,  and  then blocked again).  Click on  OPEN  FILE.  The 
drive will start up and read the directory.  Click  CANCEL.  Open 
the  directory  again.  This time,  the drive  doesn't  run.  The 
directory was read from memory.  Click on the grey bar at the top 
of the file select window.  The window refreshes,  but the  drive 
doesn't  run.  TOS  knows that you  haven't  changed  disks:  the 
infrared  light wasn't blocked as if a disk had gone in and  out. 
Hence it just uses the information from memory.

On every screen redraw,  which happens about 70 times per second, 
TOS  takes  a look at the drive and checks whether  the  infrared 
light is blocked. 

Now  put a write protected disk into the drive (push the  tab  so 
that the hole is open). Open file select. The drive runs, because 
it knew a disk was removed.  Click Cancel. Open again. Drive runs 
again.  The  light is shining through the write tab;  for all  it 
knows,  a disk has been moved.  So it checks again.  Click on the 
grey  bar.   The  drive  runs  again.  In  the  test  above,  the 
directories were read from memory. Now, TOS reads them every time 
from disk.

Since TOS,  on each screen redraw, sees the light shining, it can 
only assume that the disk has been removed.  

TOS is checking serial numbers.  When you format a disk, the disk 
gets  a  random number as its  identification:  the  disk  serial 
number. TOS checks these numbers to know whether it should make a 
new  directory  reading or whether it can just use  the  previous 
directory in memory. 

This is where a great deal of problems come from. Most formatting 
programs don't change the serial number. Apparently, most persons 
who wrote formatting programs didn't know about this. Some of the 
standard  documentation (the books for programmers) contain  this 
error.  They don't explain that the serial number on the page  is 
an example.   So the number is either set to zero or perhaps  the 
same for all formats.  You end up with a box of disks which  are, 
for TOS,  identical. When you start switching disks, TOS is going 
to start adding each new directory to memory, thinking that it is 
all the same disk:  the serial number is identical.  Imagine  the 
problems if all women looked alike. This "false" serial numbering 
is the reason for most of the directory crashes, directory window 
problems,  opening  a folder but nothing happening,  and  "wrong" 
directories  which  most  users  have  seen  if  they  have  used 
formatting programs (especially FAT formats).  One frequent error 
occurs  in  1stWord / Wordplus:  you open  a  directory,  open  a 
folder,  and  then  switch disks and update  the  directory.  TOS 
thinks  that  the same disk in in the drive (serial  numbers  are 
identical) and therefore will try to go "up the directory  tree", 
that is,  just return to the level above.  But there it will find 
entirely different information.  If you try to save your document 
at this point,  say goodbye.  TOS will get disk information  from 
the first disk (where the blank sectors are,  etc).  You now have 
the  second disk with an identical serial number:  TOS will  save 
your document onto the second disk as if it were the first  disk.  
Your data goes on top of other data. The ST uses the FAT from the 
first disk to save information on the second disk.

Remember  that the directory sector holds files.  It  also  holds 
folder names; but only the names, not the contents. The directory 
contents  of  the folders is not kept in the  directory  sectors: 
that  is  kept in the data sectors.  (Hence,  a disk can  hold  a 
maximum  of only 112 files.  But if you place files in a  folder, 
then you can have unlimited number of files.)

Make  a "wrong" format disk (two with identical serial  numbers). 
Place  a  number of files and folders and folders in  folders  on 
each.  Enter the first disk,  go down a few levels. Change disks. 
Ask  for a directory re-read to read the new  directory.  The  ST 
uses  the  FAT  of the first disk to find  the  contents  of  the 
folder. All it is going to find in the second disk's file sectors 
is stored data from that disk, not the file names which should be 
there. Hence you are going to see recognizable bits and pieces of 
perhaps a text file in your file selector box. At this point, the 
experiment is over:  the FAT is destroyed and all of the files on 
the disk is lost.

It  is therefore essential that you use formats  which  correctly 
give a random serial number to a disk. If you are having problems 
with  the  directory  windows,  now  you  know  why.  Use  either 
the standard ST menu format, FCOPY_2.PRG or ALPHAFORMAT.PRG.

The  write-protected  directory  re-read,   which  checks  serial 
numbers,   is  used  by  some  commercial  programs  as  a   copy 
protection. The program is making sure that you have the original 
disk somewhere on your desk.

You can recognize this problem if you have a non-standard  format 
made with a poor formatter. You click on a folder to open it, and 
the drive runs and the screen blinks, but nothing happens. The ST 
has tried to check the serial number,  finds that it is the same, 
and  simply reads the directory again.  You get a new  directory, 
which is simply the one you had before. 

This is why the directory window,  which otherwise works so well, 
can  get so confused if you pop non-unique serial numbered  disks 
in  and  out,  reading new directories  each  time,  opening  and 
closing  folders.  If  the disks have been  formatted  without  a 
unique serial number,  then the directory window thinks that  you 
have  not  changed  disks:   the  serial  numbers  are  identical 
(usually all are zero). But since it is in fact a different disk, 
the identification of the sectors/tracks will be wrong.  So  when 
the  ST  tries  to read the sector,  it  opens  the  folder,  but 
doesn't find the correct data.  You get a totally blank directory 
window. 

Don't panic.  Your computer can smell panic. 

Simply  give  the ST a disk which has  been  correctly  formatted 
(that is:  it has a unique serial number).  The ST becomes  happy 
because  now it KNOWS that the disk is different:  it performs  a 
new directory reading and everything is okay again. 
     
The  serial  number is exploited as a form  of  copy  protection. 
When the original is made, the program makes a note of the serial 
number.  When you make your backup copy,  your correct formatting 
program will give the disk a new serial number, as it should. But 
the  program  will  see that the number  has  been  changed,  and 
therefore reject the copy. Ironically, a "bad" formatting program 
(which  does  not set new serial numbers correctly) is  good  for 
making backup copies of programs which are protected in this way.

Some copy protected programs will,  at random, cause TOS to check 
the disk for the correct serial number.  You will notice that the 
drive  runs  every once in a while.  TOS is checking  the  serial 
numbers.  The  program  will then compare that  number  with  the 
number  that  the  disk was given when it was  formatted  at  the 
factory. 

I wrote above that an exotic format may cause loss of data. There 
are several ways.  If the serial numbers are incorrect,  then TOS 
will know from the first disk where the blank sectors  are.  When 
you insert the second disk with the same serial number,  then TOS 
will  write data onto sectors which it thinks are blank.  If  you 
have  extra sectors/tracks,  and use a sector copy program  which 
does  not know how to find those sectors/tracks,  then the  extra 
data will be lost. 

Normally,  the information about the format of the disk is at the 
beginning  of the disk.  That is usually automatically read by  a 
copy  program  when the disk drive starts up;  but  if  the  copy 
program  is  stupid (doesn't check for  strange/different  format 
structures),  then it will apparently copy the entire disk,  and, 
when  you check it,  everthing seems to be there.  But since  the 
special  format  stores  things in  "illegal"  places,  the  copy 
program  will  not find that illegal data,  even  with  a  format 
monitor  and verification ON (telling the copy PRG to verify  the 
copy). Most copy PRGs don't look for those extra tracks. Parts of 
your files will be missing. Asking the SHOW INFO doesn't help; it 
correctly keeps the information in the directory sector that your 
file is 243,678 bytes long, but that information is stored in the 
directory  sector anyway;  whether the actual clusters  exist  is 
another  matter.  The  only certain way to make a  backup  of  an 
extended  format / fatdisk / hyperdisk is with a RAM disk  or  an 
intelligent formatting program. 

Again,  if  you're  going  to make a disk which  will  be  copied 
repeatedly by different people (a PD disk, for example), then use 
the standard 356KB format. 
     
The  point is:  use radical formats only if you:

     Know what you are doing.
     Are using a good formatting program.
     Have a backup.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I  wrote  that you must click on the grey bar  in  the  directory 
window.  Many programs fool around with this:  it doesn't seem to 
be standardized.  If you click in the slider box (the up and down 
space  on  the  right side),  TOS will read  the  directory  from 
memory.  You should use this if you haven't changed the disk  (no 
need for a new disk read).  If you have changed disks, then click 
on the grey bar for the first read.  Thereafter,  you can use the 
slider  box.  If you follow this procedure,  you will never  have 
trouble. The upper left black box to close a folder, the grey bar 
to read a new disk directory,  the white space in the slider  box 
to freshen the directory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

                  The famous 40 folder problem. 

Another  misunderstood problem.  This is actually the  40-folder-
visited  problem.  If you visit (look into) more than 40  folders 
during a single session,  the Atari disk will suffer a  directory 
crash;  opening  the 41st folder will erase the entire  directory 
sector. 

This problem has been very misunderstood.  Since the ST,  to save 
your  precious  time,  saves the directory to  memory,  each  new 
folder  open/close means a new directory to memory.  There is  an 
error  in  the ST:  it often doesn't completely  clear  away  old 
directories.  Bit and pieces remain there.  After a  while,  that 
becomes a mess in there.  You will notice,  after a long session, 
that  the  FREE  MEMORY accessories will report  on  very  little 
remaining memory,  even when there is nothing in the memory. Most 
people do not get this far in a session.  A simple,  quick  reset 
just clears the air and everything is ready to go again.  This is 
a  major  problem in TOS.  It can't be changed  without  a  major 
rewrite of TOS.

If  you  do cross over the limit,  it  is  "Sayonara,  User-san!" 
(that's Japanese for "Adieu,  Monsieur!") Those directories  come 
back to haunt you.  The directory window gets filled up with bits 
and pieces of texts and programs.  Take a good look.  That is the 
last you will ever see of that disk.  The directory is  destroyed 
and the disk becomes unreadable. This happens without warning.

Fixing the problem.  

     * A simple reset every once in a while.  
     * Don't use so many folders. 
     * Don't  run more than 40 disks in a single session  through 
       the  drive.  
     * Use any of three programs called 100FOLDERS,  FOLDRXXX, or 
       FOLDR999;  these increase your folder limit by giving more 
       space  to the memory for dealing with directories (if  you 
       use such a program to allow 150 folders, for example, then 
       you  have  a  150 folder limit;  crossing  that  limit  is 
       goodbye).  FOLDRXXX is the "official" fix written by Atari 
       Corporation. All of these are public domain programs.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

                       Recover Lost Files

To  rescue  things  out of the garbage  can.  Okay,  so  you  got 
careless,  excited,  or whatever,  you've deleted a file or  even 
your whole disk either by dragging it into the garbage can or  by 
clicking  DELETE in 1st Word.  First you of course have a  backup 
disk. 

Secondly,  no  panic.  The computer doesn't actually delete  your 
file,  it just changes the directory name from an active file  to 
an inactive file,  one which,  on the next WRITE or SAVE, will be 
written over.  The computer, to save time, doesn't actually erase 
the  whole file (Atari USA cares about you).  The  computer  just 
makes that space free for the next WRITE.  In certain cases,  you 
can  restore that file name,  as long as you haven't made  a  new 
WRITE  or SAVE.   The manual to the DISK DOCTOR is  pretty  good. 
Before you attempt this kind of surgery,  Herr  Doktor,  practise 
first.  Set up a file,  delete it, and then load your disk doctor 
and try and recover it.  Practise makes good recoveries.  Make  a 
backup disk of your injured disk before you try surgery.  Copying 
disks  with a sector copier will copy not just  good  files,  but 
also 'deleted' files, since sector copying is also bit copying.

Recoveries  however have many problems.  As we noted  above,  the 
fact that directory sectors may be in different places means that 
many  of the recovery programs will not function on double  sided 
disks.  There is not yet one that will recover files that  either 
were inside a folder, or an entire deleted folder. 

Sadly, one cannot just enter the directory with a disk editor and 
simply  restore the correct values (a delete flag is E5 which  is 
substituted in place of the first letter of your file  name).  It 
should  be  reasonable to simply convert that value  to  anything 
else (fx 55,  which is U).  But the directory entry contains only 
the file name,  file size,  and information which identifies  the 
first cluster.  Restoring the file name will save your file name, 
and  only one cluster of material (about one  screen  full).  The 
rest is still lost. 

The   following   programs   have  a   file   recovery   ability: 
DR_FLOPPY.TOS,  GOODIES.ACC,  MINI-DOS (all PD).  The ability  is 
however very limited: you will need to experiment.

H  and  D  (Holmes and Duckworth's) disk  tools  FRECOVER.PRG  (a 
commercial program) works very well with single sided  disks,  as 
long as the file was not in a folder. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

There  are  different kinds of DISK DOCTORs.  Some work  by  only 
opening  the  directory  sector  and  changing  files  back  from 
inactive to active.  This is easy and quick. But if your disk has 
suffered  a directory crash,  in which the entire  directory  has 
been destroyed,  then another kind of DISK DOCTOR is  needed.  If 
the first one is a first aid,  then this second one is a sort  of 
DISK SURGEON (as explained to me by Arthur Dent).  This one  goes 
through  and reads each individual sector,  cluster  by  cluster, 
allowing you to save those to a new disk.  It's more work but  it 
works in those places where the first one doesn't. Such a program 
is RECOVER.TOS (PD).

If  the disk was a work disk,  on which you have  made  countless 
write/deletes,  you  will find to your amusement that  the  file, 
especially a long file, has been scattered in bits and pieces all 
over the disk.  Recovering can be done, but you will spend a long 
time  putting  it  back into correct  order.  It  is  practically 
impossible to do this with programs:  you can rarely  distinguish 
codes from garbage. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

SINCE YOUR LOST FILE HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM AN ACTIVE STATUS TO AN 
INACTIVE STATUS, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DON'T PERFORM 
A NEW >SAVE< ON THAT DISK.  IF YOU DO SAVE,  THEN PART OR ALL  OF 
YOUR  LOST FILE CAN BE OVERWRITTEN AND THUS CAN REALLY  BE  LOST. 
NOT EVEN THE BGS CAN GET THIS BACK.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
The following piece of information is intended to be read only by 
users who know what they are doing. 

After about 12 months and 5 minutes after you buy your  ST,  that 
is,  five minutes after your garantee dies,  your ST will die  as 
well.  This  has happened to quite a few users:  you are  working 
happily  along,  and you ask for a directory (open a window  from 
desktop,  load  a new file,  etc...) and there is nothing  there. 
Your  disk is blank.  You tearfully try another  disk.  Blank  as 
well. All of your disks are blank. 

You go down to the store;  they grin (!) when you tell them  what 
has happened. 

The salesman says "Well,  we maybe can fix it.  It will take  two 
days" (after which his grin becomes even wider.) (!!)

You  come back after two weeks of no ST'ing.  Your ST works  now. 
You shake the salesman's hand and gladly pay the 60 to 100 dollar 
repair bill (two hours of expert technical work on the  machine). 
You walk away, waving: his grin is triumphant. (!!!)

Why  doeth the heathen rage?  That turkey in the store  has  just 
plundered you for 12 seconds of work. Most likely he took it home 
and fixed it himself.

If this happens to you:  blank desktop,  no files in any disk,  O 
bytes used, etc, then 

0)  Read Point 11.  Twice.  Read everything once,  and then  once 
again. 

1)  Unplug everything.  Otherwise your mother will find  Kentucky 
Fried Chicken sitting in front of your ST.

2) Place your ST on a large,  firm,  flat surface.  Flip your  ST 
over.  Take out all the little screws. Keep them separate; if you 
put the long (back) screws in the front, they will go through the 
cover and stick out.

3) Remove case. 

4) More screws.  Take out.  Lift off keyboard.  Be careful not to 
twist or break off the keyboard wires.

5) Atari does not want you in here.  Undo the little metal twists 
and remove metal plate gently.  ST's are put together by 15  year 
old  girls  in  Thailand.  They have  nimble  fingers.  Ask  your 
neighbor's daughter to get the back ones.

6) Now,  you can see the chips. The insides of the machine. Using 
the first three fingers of your five fingered right hand,  gently 
press  all the large chips squarely down.  This does  the  trick. 
What happened was that the chips eventually get loose:  the  girl 
who built your ST had The Furs (Forever Now) on her walkman.

7) Start putting everything back together again.  The cat put the 
screws under the sofa. See point 2.

8) Plug it up again. Insert a disk, and start computer. 

9) Your files are back from Limbo.  Place 60$ in an envelope  and 
send to me (address at end of text).

10) If this doesn't work,  try again.  If it still doesn't  work, 
you have real problems.

11)  ANY MODIFICATION,  CHANGE,  OPENING,  JUST  PEEKING  INSIDE, 
FOOLING  AROUND,  THE CAT DID IT,  OR WHATEVER WILL  CANCEL  YOUR 
WARRANTY. THE STORE LOVES TO CANCEL YOUR WARRANTY FOR ANY REASON. 
DO  THIS  AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IT IS NOT MY FAULT,  AND I  TAKE  NO 
RESPONSIBILITY, IF YOU RUIN YOUR ST OR BLOW OUT THE ELECTRICITY.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
Then,  there is the last trick.  When the going gets  tough,  get 
rough. If you are getting 0 bytes used, either as a blank screen, 
or getting more bombs than the Ayatollah, then:

1) Find a large, flat, solid surface. 

2) Unplug everything.

3) Pick up your ST evenly about 4 inches,  or 10 centimeters into 
the air. 

4) Drop it.

5) Other users prefer to slam it down, firmly and solidly.

6)  This has the effect of jarring the connections.  I have  seen 
this done several times, and it works. If you are too gentle with 
the machine,  ask your wife to slam it down. They usually do this 
happily.  Be  prepared to grab it away from her after  the  fifth 
swing. 

7) Believe it or not, this is usually the first thing a repairman 
does  with  your machine.  Just like  a  whorehouse.  Slam,  bam, 
thankyou madame. 50$. You got screwed. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
If  you want data and material on the disk to  really  disappear, 
only  a new disk FORMATTING will garantee  that.  Otherwise,  the 
local cop's 12 year old kid will happily tell in court how he got 
your files out. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
PC users provide endlessly amusing stories.  The White House uses 
IBM  PC's.  That's right.  Ronald Reagan,  Edwin Meese  III,  and 
Oliver  North all have PC's.  They are all connected in  one  big 
network in Washington.  When Reagan told Ollie North (who  worked 
at the National Secruity Council,  Tlf (202) 456-4974) to do  the 
silly  things he did (sell weapons to the  Iranian  Revolutionary 
Guards (the guys who kidnap and kill the foreigners in Beirut) in 
order to pay for Contra terrorists (who were partying in  Panama, 
and  occasionally selling General Noriega's cocaind in the US  by 
flying it on the CIA's Southern Air Transport airplanes (to  call 
the  CIA,  dial  (703) 351-7676) and US Air Force  airplanes  and 
landing  at  Florida's Homestead US Air Force  base)(one  of  the 
cocaine  agents got caught in New Orleans with  40  kilos;  Edwin 
Meese III,  Attorney General of the United States,  the top  cop, 
and  Reagan's failed appointment to the Supreme  Court,  released 
him.  And  returned the suitcase to him,  saying the man  was  on 
important  business).  (Was there to be a White House party  that 
weekend?)  (Meese III is currently in a  new  scandal;  something 
about 1 billion dollars,  Irak,  and bribes to the entire Israeli 
goverment not to bomb a pipeline.  Nothing is clear: they are all 
lying  over this one.) Ollie did all of his work on  his  PC.  No 
problem.  Move  money  around in Swiss banks,  send  off  sailing 
orders for Danish ships,  order C-5A loads of Sidewinder missles: 
just punch the keys. When "the shit hit the fan" (to quote George 
Bush,  Vice President of the United States,  Head of the National 
Security  Council,  Ollie's boss,  and candidate for  President), 
Ollie just ran home and punched "DELETE FILES." Clever Ollie! The 
Congress  wasted no time with his lie under sworn testimony  ("No 
such files.") and simply asked for the backups.  Imagine  Ollie's 
stupid look when he said "Backups?  What backups?" Too late:  the 
White  House didn't even know that there were  backups  automati-
cally being made of all their little deals. 

(Ollie and Nofzinger both "lied like hell" to Congress during the 
Irangate hearings.  Congress is pretty easy going, but they don't 
like liars.  Nofzinger got 3 years in a Federal prison for  that. 
Ollie's trial is coming up.) 

What  is  Nancy  Reagan doing today?   Just call  up  her  social 
secretary and find out!  Nancy's day is given on Tlf.  (202) 456-
6269.  Ronnie's  bedtime schedual can be heard on Tlf (202)  456-
2343. 

To  send  your fan letters,  write  to:  The  White  House,  1600 
Pennslyvania Avenue NW,  Washington DC,  20500 USA.  Or just call 
them up at (202) 456-1414.  But I doubt you can order a  shipment 
of cocaine there.  Try the CIA number instead. Just say that it's 
Noriega and where the hell's the check.

Dial 009 and then 1 for international calls to the US. 

One  of the best map databases in the world is maintained by  the 
CIA:  the  WORLD DATA BANK II.  It works with  ALC  (Cartographic 
Automatic Mapping Program).  You may use these free.  Contact the 
CIA  Cartographic Office at (703) 487-4650.  Remember,  they  are 
there to help you. 

The telephone number for the National Security Agency is  secret. 
The work and purpose of the NSA is secret.  The budget is secret. 
The number of persons who work there is secret.  The organization 
is so secret that for a long time, the name itself was secret. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

VERIFY ON and VERIFY OFF:  Don't use these programs.  VERIFY  OFF 
will  help  the  drive read faster by not  double  checking  each 
sector/track.  This saves about 50% time.  This should however be 
done  only  with material which you READ only  (such  as  games). 
Eventually, you will notice errors: small bits and pieces will be 
missing. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

A  FILE  COMPRESSOR can reduce the KB space  of  your  file.  For 
example,  some  work  by substituting long identical strings  for 
single symbols,  saving up to 50 or even 80% on text files.  This 
saves space on disks, especiallly with backup disks. This is also 
useful  for transferring large amounts of data over a  modem  (it 
saves telephone time).

We  use ARC.TTP (ARChiver) as the standard on the BBS.  Use  this 
program  together  with  ARCSHEL2.PRG.  Both,  with  manuals  and 
explanations, are available as PD.
     
The same thing works as a PICTURE COMPRESSOR.  Your picures  take 
up  32KB,  only  ten per disk.  A compressor lets you put  up  to 
thirty pictures on a disk. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 


                          COPY PROGRAMS

There's  a great story about an IBM user who was having  problems 
with  his  programs;  the distributor asked the user to  send  in 
copies  of the faulty PRG so they could check it.  And  the  user 
sent  in two copies.  Nice photocopies,  front and back,  of  the 
disk. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Why copy? You need backups. Disks are not "stable." They can lose 
data easily.  Laying them on top of the TV, dropping them, static 
electricity,  pouring coffee into them,  some tourist opening the 
safety and touching the disk, losing them, or having them stolen. 
If you lose a disk or data on a disk, then a backup will save you 
time.  Practically every user at one point or another will lose a 
file or disk.  I've lost 74KB files and even entire disks, for no 
clear reason. If you can't afford to lose it, make a backup. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

The ST makes copies pretty well; this is how you made your backup 
copy. Basically, you duplicate your source disk to your target or 
destination disk.  If you have a single drive,  as most of us do, 
then  you've noticed that it takes four disk changes to copy  one 
file.  If you're copying 57 files in 17 folders, take up knitting 
instead.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
There  are other ways of copying which make it easier.   You  can 
either use a COPY PRG or you can use a RAMdisk. 

There  are  two  ways  to copy:  the first  is  actually  a  FILE 
TRANSFER.  You  find the active files on the directory  file  and 
then  copy  them onto the new disk.  The second  kind  is  called 
SECTOR  COPYING  (also called bit copying):  you copy  sector  by 
sector, regardless of content. Yea, for it is written in the Book 
of the Lord,  Blessed are those who maketh their Backups (Romans, 
IV.15).  (see  especially  the the Marriage of Heaven  and  Hell, 
1790-1793, by William Blake.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

"Protected" means that information has been written into the  PRG 
or  the disk has been formatted in a special way which  makes  it 
difficult to COPY. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

It is simple to copy several non-protected files (file transfer). 
A   RAMdisk  works  best  here;   transfer  the  files   into   a 
RAMdisk,  insert new formatted disk,  and transfer the files from 
that RAMdisk to the target disk. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

To  copy  whole disks,  use a sector copy program  (for  example, 
FCOPY2). The program reads your entire disk into memory, and then 
throws  it out again onto your new disk,  formatting as  it  goes 
along.  This  is  quicker.  FCOPY2 is very fast (18  seconds  for 
formatting/copying). 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

As  noted above,  you must be certain that whatever  program  you 
use,  the  serial number is set correctly:  each newly  formatted 
disk must have its own serial number.  If the formatting  program 
doesn't do this, then you will notice that when you try to open a 
folder, often the drive will run, the screen will blink, and your 
folder doesn't open at all. 

Of course, sometimes you need a formatting/copying program to not 
change  the  serial  number:  if your commercial  program  has  a 
protection system based on serial numbers,  then a new copy  will 
create a new serial number,  which the program will then  reject. 
By using a faulty copy/formatting program, the serial number will 
be  copied as well.  The program will then check serial  numbers, 
find that it is the same, and thus allow the copy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

To make a backup of a copy protected program (This information is 
only for those who want to make a backup disk).  Commercial  copy 
programs often sell specially because of their ability to copy  a 
protected  program.  There are also public domain programs  which 
can  copy  protected  programs.  Curiously,  some  powerful  copy 
programs will copy some programs,  but not others.  It has to  do 
with the different kinds of copy protection methods.  But as soon 
as  someone comes up with a new method,  two weeks later  there's 
someone selling a copy program which guarantees to copy it.  Just 
collect  all  the copy programs you can find,  and try  them  one 
after the other on difficult programs.  Some will work. There are 
different levels of protection;  low level means that the program 
will  copy quickly,  usually within one or  two  minutes.  Medium 
level will take more time, Top level copying will take very long; 
sometimes  up  to fifteen minutes.  Copy programs may  offer  the 
ability  to specify the various protection levels and  to  format 
the destination disk in various ways.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Software piracy is beginning to have an effect. American software 
houses are dropping development of ST software; there is too much 
piracy (of course, they were never seriously into the market. And 
it is easy to drop a machine which has such a small share of  the 
American  market).  It will take time to see if this  happens  in 
Europe.  Americans mostly play games on the ST. Europeans use the 
machine  more  seriously.  Signum is nearly unknown  in  the  US. 
SUPERBASE  was developed in the UK;  it has sold 130,000  copies, 
earning 10 million pounds,  despite it being unprotected, because 
it needs a manual.  If you use the program for work, then pay for 
it. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Service  and  support  for  registered  owners  is  however  non-
existent. I have registered copies of my work programs; I haven't 
gotten anything out of that.  Support has been lousy.  We  rarely 
hear from companies,  and then only to get advertising. I haven't 
yet gotten offers of updates or whatever else. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Dealer's choice: The quickest, most versatile, and easiest to use 
is  FCOPY_2.PRG (a PD program):  user  friendly  surface,  allows 
multiple copies,  disk scanning (for formatting  errors),  sector 
control,  verification,  and directory listings. It creates Stan-
dard,  Fat and Extended formats,  plus various exotic formats. It 
is  very fast.  It also creates fast formats (the new disks  will 
run faster). It correctly creates a unique serial number for each 
disk. I use FCOPY_2 for all my PD work. Never a problem.
  
Other  copy programs:  SUPERCOPY.PRG is powerful.  Requires  1MB. 
It's PD.  Other users recommend PROCOPY V.1.32UK. ST.COPY.30 (not 
PD) and BITTE_EIN_BIT is recommended by many users as well. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

It doesn't hurt anything if you put disks in or out of the  drive 
while the drive's red light is on. Many users do this. Just shove 
one in while the red light is on. 

If you accidentally delete a file, then you can instantly pop the 
disk out of the drive;  this may save your file. It takes a brief 
second for the head to start deleting. Of course, this hysterical 
leaping at your drive will not impress the surf foxes in Malibu.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

About cheap disks.  There are two kinds of disks.  Good ones  and 
lousy ones. 

All disks are double sided.  That's the way they are  made.  They 
are then tested.  If they are good on both sides, then it is sold 
as a double sided disk. If it is good on only one side, then that 
side becomes the top side and it is sold as a single sided  disk. 

You  can easily use double sided disks in a single  sided  drive; 
your  single sided drive,  having a disk head on only  one  side, 
simply can't use the other side (the bottom side, or "B" side). 

You  can also used disks sold as singled sided in a double  sided 
drive. Use a format checking program and see if it works. If yes, 
then it is okay.  The disk manufacturer sets a very high standard 
for the disk: often we can use it anyway.

It  is better sense to buy double sided disks;  you will one  day 
have  a double sided drive and your disks will be okay  for  use. 
There is a very small price difference.

There are branded and unbranded disks.  There are lots of  rumors 
about  this.  The general story is that the Koreans began  making 
cheap disks.  The Japanese let every one know that good disks had 
serial  numbers stamped on the back.  The Koreans  began  putting 
serial numbers on all disks:  the same number.  The Japanese, who 
consider  the Koreans the same way Israeli think of the  Palesti-
nians,  began  flooding  the market with high  quality  disks  as 
unlabled disks at below production costs in order to destroy  the 
Koreans.  This  is  probably true;  I have seen  large  shipments 
marked from Maxell which contained unlabled disks.

There are plenty of cheap disks.  Be careful.  Some are cheap  in 
quality;  you can only format perhaps 60 percent of them.  Have a 
written  garantee  from  a  dealer you can  trust  that  he  will 
exchange the bad disks.  We have had spoken agreements which were 
forgotten the week later.

If you are lucky and find a safe supply of unbranded disks,  then 
you can use them.  We get unbranded disks from Maxell for our UG; 
of several thousand disks, none have had problems.

Amiga drives are much more sensitive than ours. If a disk runs on 
an  Amiga,  then it is very good.  We buy disks which  are  Amiga 
quality for our ST's. 

Which  brand is good is a matter of  discussion.  Americans  find 
Sony  to be the best and BASF to be lousy.  Germans put down  SKC 
disks.  Many of these criticisms were made last year:  as you can 
well think,  it is never clear if loss of data is because of  the 
disk or because of a formatting error or bad  program.  (Consider 
especially the entire Serial Number debate above.  I know quite a 
few  programmers who still believe that all disks have  the  same 
serial number). 

Use  FCOPY2;  it  scans and checks each disk for  bad  sectors  / 
format errors. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     
If you've noticed, when there's not a disk in the drive, it takes 
a  long time for the silly drive to figure that  out.  The  drive 
checks  three times to make sure that the disk is missing  before 
it tells you.  Someone should write a quick simple program  which 
shortens this "triple checking."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

READ ONLY:  From the SHOW INFO menu.  READ ONLY is pretty useful. 
To change a file so that it can only be read, that is, so that it 
can't  accidentally be changed or deleted,  first save  it.  Then  
close the file and exit 1st Word.  Open the disk and ask for  the 
file.  Use  the  pull-down menu for FILES and ask for  SHOW  INFO 
(FREMVIS  INFO).  The  window will ask whether  the  file  should 
be READ ONLY or READ/WRITE.  By marking READ ONLY,  the file will 
be  protected  against accidental deleting,  changes  or  further 
editing.  To remove this protection,  simply repeat procedure and 
mark  READ/WRITE.  This  is  a simple  but  effective  method  of 
protection for programs on your work disks.  Change your favorite 
programs to READ ONLY and sleep better. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                            
DISK  ICONS:  To change the names of your disk drive  icons  (see 
also DESKTOP.INF section above).  Click once on the icon (so that 
it  is black) and then ask for INSTALL DRIVE in menu.  Press  ESC 
(Escape)  (upper left hand of your keyboard) and type in the  new 
name,  using either capital or small letters.  Click INSTALL. The 
icon now has a new name.  Place these where ever you like on  the 
DESKTOP.  Insert  your  boot disk;  click on  SAVE  DESKTOP  (GEM 
DESKTOP)  and the changes will be saved to your  boot  disk.  Now 
you'll have your own icons every time.  Your desktop can  support 
up to 26 or so disk icons,  which is rather pointless, as you can 
only  use a maximum of 2 real disk drives.  Of  course,  24  disk 
icons will certainly impress those Malibu girls.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                            
Harddisks:  there  is  little to say about  harddisks;  the  high 
prices of harddisks for the ST has meant that not many users have 
them.  Harddisks are just about standard for any serious use of a 
computer. 

There  is  no reason for buying an Atari harddisk over  a  Supra. 
Both are just as good.  The old Atari 204 should be avoided; many 
of them have problems. The new 205's work very well. 

The  205 set up program will easily configure the 204 so that  it 
(the 204) can autoboot. 

Please read the section regarding the 40 folder limit.  You  will 
need to have a program allowing at least 100 folders.

If  you buy a used harddisk,  check the drive  carefully.  Get  a 
written agreement which allows you to return the harddisk in case 
of  problems.  Several members have had harddisks which crash  or 
delete material.

You will still need disks. You need to make backups.

The worst thing about harddisks is the fan.  It makes a hell of a 
lot of noise.  This is fine if it is in an office, where there is 
background noise.  But in a home,  the high whining noise of  the 
fan  is nearly unbearable.  The harddisk which is on the  BBS  is 
running 24 hours a day,  to the great dissatifaction of the home. 
The  harddisk which I have used is bothersome;  I switch  on  the 
drive to load, and then immediately switch it off again. To save, 
flip it on,  save, and then off again. It starts up in just under 
13 seconds.  If you can get harddisks without fans, such as IBMs, 
then it is better, even if it is not as convenient. 

The Atari Harddisk is tough.  I heard of a person who transported 
his harddisk in a small rucksack. I have put my on the back of my 
bycycle.  Some time ago, while resanding the floors, the shelf on 
which  it was sitting collasped and the harddisk fell  one  meter 
onto a hardwood floor, landing squarely on its side. No damage to 
files. 

The  Atari  harddisks have a cable which is only 30 cm  long  (or 
something like that: it is very short). You are forced to have it 
just behind your computer. The fan is not far away.

Occasionally  move  all  harddisk files over  to  another  drive, 
delete  the drive,  and recopy.  This noticebly  improves  access 
time. 

It  is possible to build harddisks using a cheap IBM drive and  a 
controller.  Several persons have done this.  Soon,  someone will 
began to build and sell such harddisks:  the price will be around 
3000 Kr for 30 MB. A 10MB harddisk is possible for under 2000 Kr. 
The  ST can manage up to 64MB of material.  When this  becomes  a 
reality, contact the UG for further information. 

Another  possibility is 10MB disk drives.  These use  5.25  disks 
which look like our 3.5 inch disks:  each holds 10MB and has  the 
same  access time as a harddisk.  Simply insert and  remove.  The 
disks  could  give you a large storage capacity  in  relation  to 
money. 

Again, you can save money by buying in West Germany. An Atari 205 
harddisk,  which costs 6,500 Kr in Denmark (and is  unavailable), 
costs  4,000 Kr in West Germany and they have all  the  harddisks 
you  can carry.  Simply pay MOMS (VAT,  or Danish taxes)  at  the 
border, which means that the whole thing costs around 4,700 Kr. A 
bus  will take you to Germany and back to Aarhus for  35  Kr;  do 
your  shopping  there,  buy  a  couple of  bottles  of  wine  and 
celebrate on the trip back.  You can pay in Kroner at most cities 
near the border. Call and reserve a harddisk before you go. 

The 5 gigabyte (5000 megabyte) compact disk drives is a spectacu-
lar  piece of nonsense.  A single disk which can hold  30,000  to 
45,000 programs is possible.  The copyright fees alone on such  a 
disk would a fortune; if we consider that each program would cost 
10  dollars,  then the disk will cost a bit under half a  million 
dollars.  This  could be an idea for PD  collections,  which  are 
free; the IBM PC PD CD costs 200 dollars and has 45,000 programs. 
But PD collections are obselete within 3 to 4 months.  Commercial 
programs  are updated every few months.  And CD's are  read-only: 
you  can't  change the data.  Therefore you  can't  save  program 
preferences, setups, etc etc. 


            End of Chapter Four: Disks, Drives, TOS.

        ====================== * * ======================



