Info-Atari16 Digest Tue, 14 May 91 Volume 91 : Issue 270 Today's Topics: Atari-st vs Atari-tt Bad Sector on Formatting (was Re: Tos 1.4 Bugs) Professional Gem series, the posting (1 of 3) System 7 and Spectre Welcome to the Info-Atari16 Digest. The configuration for the automatic cross-posting to/from Usenet is getting closer, but still getting thrashed out. Please send notifications about broken digests or bogus messages to Info-Atari16-Request@NAUCSE.CSE.NAU.EDU. Please send requests for un/subscription and other administrivia to Info-Atari16-Request, *NOT* Info-Atari16. Requests that go to the list instead of the moderators are likely to be lost or ignored. If you want to unsubscribe, and you're receiving the digest indirectly from someplace (usually a BITNET host) that redistributes it, please contact the redistributor, not us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 May 91 10:04:41 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.e du!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!simvax.labm ed.umn.edu!davidli@arizona. Subject: Atari-st vs Atari-tt To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1986@ahds.UUCP>, geert@ahds.UUCP (Geert W.T. Jonkheer CCS/TS) writes: > Is it worth it to get rid of my mega-ST and buy an TT or > must I wait for another machine to come up? Does all > ST software run on an TT? You might want to wait for an announcement / price quote for the SST68030 from Gadgets (the folks who brought you the Spectre Macintosh emulator). For about half the cost of a TT you can get a very nice 68030 with lots of fastRAM and compatibility with the ST -and- TT software. I can see about getting a copy of the on-line session David Small gave on GEnie last Wednesday dealing with the new hardware. -- David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu ------------------------------ Date: 14 May 91 13:10:33 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ccut!wnoc-tyo-news! toumon!wucc!ytsuji@arizona.edu (Y.Tsuji) Subject: Bad Sector on Formatting (was Re: Tos 1.4 Bugs) To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article , ralph@laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes: > It is true, other than real cheapo's, the defective floppy disk can be > returned to the dealer. (Do you all save all your receipts? :-) Some disks have labels that says "lifetime guarantee", i.e. they can be changed without a receipt. We return the defective products to the manufac- turers here. And they know when the lot went to the market and determine if the floppy hasn't been used long. > Still, which formatters on the Atari do at least verify the formatted > disk? Especially, MS-DOS compatible formatters; you get 4 extra > sectors for free! Very few formatters (such as those that come with a disk editor) have their own routine for the actual formatting. Most of the formatters simply feed arbitrary parameters to a TOS formattng routine, which does the verify. > > The only time I detected a defective floppy instantly was when Sector > 0 was defective! Otherwise, you slowly fill up the floppy disk until > you come to the defective spot. ;-( It would be nice to know that > fact when the disk was formatted. Fortunately maybe, I have never experienced using a defective disk in my life (since 1980 when I bought my own single sided 8" disks). I heard people like to spread dust (tiny rocks, they are) over their disks, use very poor drive mechanism, or are unaware of the insufficient power supply to the drive mechanism. I have experienced cases where read/write failed but neither the floppy nor the drive mechanism was to blame: the write current of previous head was too strong for the second write current to override. As long as we use the same type of drive mechanism with adequate and stable power supply, that can be avoided. (the rest deleted) Y Tsuji ("I 've got only one person who has positively responded to my appeal for a beta tester of an HD drive project!")