APT Hard Disk Preparation and Utilities

[atari8warez]

OK: Thanks for that. FDISK wrote out type $06 (FAT16 partition with 65536 or more sectors) and Windows apparently changed it (quite reasonably) to type $04 (FAT16 with less than 65536 sectors). I'll add detection code for type $04 and ensure FDISK writes type $04 if the partition is FAT16 and less than 32MB.

 

Yes, I originally created the FAT partition as 31MB (to avoid the dreaded "unknown file system" message in SDX), so there are less than 65536 sectors.

[flashjazzcat]

Last one:

 

fdisk4_beta7_141113.zip

 

Anything broken in this gets fixed and then I'll put it on the website, finalised.

 

Bug Fixes / Changes

• Redesigned property sheets
• Shortcut keys on top-level menu (you now have to press Escape to get into the top-level menu, but you can open the device selector with one key by pressing Enter).
• Infinite loop fixed which could occur when entered partition size exceeded available space
• Bug in Undo fixed
• Memory footprint reduced
• Issues with TDLINE in RealDOS fixed
• FAT16 partitions of less than 32MB are now written out as MBR type $04
• "External" FAT partitions: Improved recognition of FAT file system type

 

Still waiting on some info from Steve on a couple of further issues under RealDOS. Thanks to him for testing these builds with his hardware, and thanks also to Ray for his bug reports.

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2013 by flashjazzcat

[w1k]

how many people use this new fdisk? nice tool

[Roydea6]

Option VIEW Names crashes Altirra. I have not tried on real hardware YET!

[w1k]

yes.. VIEW/SHOW names crashes real HW too

[flashjazzcat]

Yikes... thanks guys. Will check it out.

[Frankie]

I can't seen to set the Drive numbers on the partitions. Every time I try it ends up making an invalid partition table and I need to start over.

It also doesn't seem to save the Boot flag. I write out the table, re-read it in and it's gone.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Frankie

[flashjazzcat]

Crashing issue was the result of a new "optimisation". Editor window closes and re-opens when the view changes from detail to names. However, the underlying background is no longer cached (to save memory), but I forgot to remove the code which reinstates the background (in this case, from a empty cache) when the view is changed. Fixed now.

 

I can't seen to set the Drive numbers on the partitions. Every time I try it ends up making an invalid partition table and I need to start over.

It also doesn't seem to save the Boot flag. I write out the table, re-read it in and it's gone.

 

Boot flag problem confirmed. Steve Carden was having trouble with drive numbers but I couldn't reproduce any issues. He was getting a load of hearts in the drive list, but I've never had a problem. Can you elucidate at all?

 

Just doing general tidying up now and I'll try and nail the remaining issues over the weekend.

Edited November 15, 2013 by flashjazzcat

[Frankie]

Crashing issue was the result of a new "optimisation". Editor window closes and re-opens when the view changes from detail to names. However, the underlying background is no longer cached (to save memory), but I forgot to remove the code which reinstates the background (in this case, from a empty cache) when the view is changed. Fixed now.

 

 

Boot flag problem confirmed. Steve Carden was having trouble with drive numbers but I couldn't reproduce any issues. He was getting a load of hearts in the drive list, but I've never had a problem. Can you elucidate at all?

 

Just doing general tidying up now and I'll try and nail the remaining issues over the weekend.

 

Using SIDE2 with 4GB CF.SIDE driver v1.0, FATFS v.0.7

 

running FDISK4 beta 7 .

 

Initalize DISK -

FAT 16, 1024 MB, APT 1024 MB

Select F, Fill / Divide

4 partitions, 65535 size, 512 BPS

partitions created

Select V - Assign Drive

Select D3 for first partition, Drive column doesn't update on screen

^W write partition

^X exit

 

Turn off computer, turn back on

SDX loading ..

Invalid partition table

 

run FDISK.

Select DRIVE

prompted with "MBR will be destroyed" - OK, Cancel

[flashjazzcat]

Thanks Frankie. I'll try to duplicate the issue.

[flashjazzcat]

Lots of changes and fixes, so yet another test:

 

fdisk4_beta8_171113.zip

 

Changes/Bug Fixes

• The boot flag is now properly saved to the partition table.
• In addition, the boot flag (if set) is now cleared if a partition's drive number is removed. This makes sense, because the only the drive number of the boot partition is saved to disk.
• External (FAT) partition entries now remain correctly positioned following the insertion of regular partition entries. In fact, the whole table is now kept sorted in numerical order by partition start sector.
• It's no longer possible to insert more than one reference to the same external partition.
• Split/Divide (now called "Fill/Divide") now correctly adjusts calculated partition sizes to account for partition table records, etc. Therefore when you ask for 128 partitions, you should get 128 and not 127.
• Re: the above, the maximum number of partitions is now 128 instead of 127.
• The internal partition records have been completely reorganized, greatly reducing code size and complexity (although the saved space has largely been filled up with new stuff). In any case, the program should now work with the Sparta TD line regardless of whether the cart is present. SDX still requires use of the "X" command if the RC_GR8.SYS display driver is being used.
• Partition Properties has been augmented to report the state of the "external" flag.
• Similarly, Disk Properties has been altered to provide more space for the hardware ID string.
• Partition names do not now auto-clear when you edit them.
• Editor behaviour has changed again (see below).
• I've made an attempt to handle Extended Boot Records (EBRs), so although the program won't create logical FAT partitions (only a single primary one, plus the APT), it will register up to sixteen FAT partitions (i.e. three primary plus thirteen extended) if you prepared the disk using a partition editor on the PC. The APT partition entry ($7F) MUST be primary, however, and you should set the media up accordingly if using another utility.

Regarding editor behaviour: I considered adding a "cleanup" option to get rid of gaps left between entries in the table, before realising it would be better if gaps were not permitted to exist in the first place. Therefore, with an empty table, you now can't cursor down until you add entries. So, to partition the disk, just press enter, type the partition size, then enter again to close the entry. The cursor will advance to the next line. If you want to insert another entry higher up the list, cursor up and choose "Insert entry". An entry will open up for you and you'll be put straight into edit mode, and the space will just close up again if you change your mind and press Escape. You can still delete standard and external entries alike with "Delete entry".

 

I've been testing this build today on my 1200XL (which has two APT devices attached), using a 4GB CF card with four FATs (one of which is a logical partition) and a single APT. Seems stable so far.

 

I was never able to duplicate issues with drive number selection, and I'm completely confounded by the fact Steve was seeing ASCII zero instead of drive numbers in his selection list. The logic of the program would seem to utterly prohibit such a situation, so I can only assume some code got overwritten. I've moved the drive number look-up table away from buffers just to be safe.

 

Regardless of the fact this is unapologetically partly an exercise in user interface design - and regardless of the fact that a partition editor should generally be a use-once-and-forget-it application - obviously its critical nature means it must be well tested and reliable. When APT was introduced the application was re-written, and then again when we needed external FATs, but by this stage there were a lot of kludges. Removing those and replacing them with predictable, robust code - as well as refining the UI - has hopefully been time well spent.

 

And now - for the bug reports.

Edited November 17, 2013 by flashjazzcat

[flashjazzcat]

util MATR doesnt work.. if is empty DIR, freeze.. when i choose some ATR, then system, then showing symbols AAAAAAAAAA and system freeze

 

Were you using the version from the website? Try the attached and let me know if it's any better:

 

matr_0.2_beta.zip

[Roydea6]

Were you using the version from the website? Try the attached and let me know if it's any better:

 

matr_0.2_beta.zip

Yes I like this version of Matr.exe. On a side note though the first two fat32 directories are scrambled. But all the others are ok.. It might be problems with my naming of the Folders. I have only noticed this with two(2) of my CF cards.

 

And Fdisk Beta 8 seems solid, but I do miss the import/export of APT files. And the VIEW options are great now..[even though I think it is just extra (eye candy) probably not used often]

[flashjazzcat]

Yes I like this version of Matr.exe. On a side note though the first two fat32 directories are scrambled. But all the others are ok.. It might be problems with my naming of the Folders. I have only noticed this with two(2) of my CF cards.

Thanks Roy. I'll look into that.

 

And Fdisk Beta 8 seems solid, but I do miss the import/export of APT files. And the VIEW options are great now..[even though I think it is just extra (eye candy) probably not used often]

Heh... I didn't think anyone ever used import/export table. View by MB seems practical to me, but who knows how useful view by partition name is.

 

Anyway thanks!

 

PS: Candle was asking if FDISK can be put on the SDX CAR: device. Obviously at 19KB it's too big, but it shouldn't take long to make a build split up into a couple of overlays which will fit (files on CAR: are limited to 8KB). I dropped the SDX-only version (which used DLLs) because the application needs to work regardless of the DOS in use and it was too much of an upheaval maintaining two very different versions of the same utility which nevertheless did exactly the same job.

Edited November 18, 2013 by flashjazzcat

[flashjazzcat]

Yes I like this version of Matr.exe. On a side note though the first two fat32 directories are scrambled.

 

When you say "the first two FAT32 directories are scrambled", do you mean their entries in the root directory, or the actual directory content in the folders? Note that the file lists are sorted alphabetically, so we might need to turn this off to get a better idea of where the problem is occuring.

[Roydea6]

I renamed my Folders and shortened the names and now I don't have the scrambled letters in the folder name..

 

Previous names were: A-KGAME and L-ZGAME

New names are now; AGAME and LGAME

 

The only folder to have scrambled contents was over 300 files, so I made more folders and split up the contents to 50 files each.

This seems to have fixed the problems with Matr.exe

[flashjazzcat]

Thanks for that Roy. The program is probably missing fundamentals like checks on buffer overruns (so there'll be a limit to the directory size - probably quite severe given the storage requirements for long filenames), which might explain some issues. The details on the problem filenames are appreciated.

 

I was half way through making another (better) video tutorial but stopped when I discovered another couple of bugs in FDISK, although they were purely cosmetic. For some reason I wrote code to display the APT revision number as a BCD (major/minor version) number, when it fact it's a 2-bit value which occupies bits 5-6 of the first byte of the APT. This in turn led me to discover (with a slight start) that the number of mapping entries written out in an empty APT was wrong (undefined, in fact), but fortunately it's always corrected once entries are added. Both fixed now.

Edited November 18, 2013 by flashjazzcat

[Roydea6]

Jon,

I think that I notice when coming back from MATR.EXE to dos after mounting an atr......IF I get a directory listing after the first couple of line entrees the listing becomes double spaced Like if a DLI or poke 83,38 was happening. Nothing critical because a reset or IF in sdx I do a CLS /F the next directory listing is correct.

[flashjazzcat]

Sounds like a transmission error... PBI ROM is wholly responsible for operation following Initial mount. Video would help.

[Roydea6]

Cancel the last comment about MATR causing double spaced lines I have not been able to duplicate the effect again..

[flashjazzcat]

Cancel the last comment about MATR causing double spaced lines I have not been able to duplicate the effect again..

 

Great - I love it when bug-fixing is as easy as that.

[flashjazzcat]

FDISK 4 tutorial part 1:

 

 

This covers the basics of using the program, although hopefully the software is now intuitive enough that you can skip most of the video. I'll cover the interesting stuff in part 2 (external FAT partitions, use of FATFS.SYS, etc).

Edited November 20, 2013 by flashjazzcat

[twh/f2]

Yes Jon,

 

the tutorial has been very useful and I can't wait to see the next edition

 

Seriously, it's really cool to watch and listen you presenting your tools. Absolutely nice!

 

thanks

twh!

[Kyle22]

Very professional, looks better than anything M$-DOS ever had.

 

-K

[flashjazzcat]

 

This is specially for people who hate putting the drive numbers in.