Conference 7.286::atarist

    Reply to .0, Rolf,
    
    NO. A disk formatted on the DECStation can be read or written on the
    Atari but not the reverse.

Does this mean that I could bring a disc into work, copy some of the PD
programs onto the DECstation, then onto the disc and then run them at home 
on my ST ??

I don't have a modem at home (nor am I likely to get one), so I can't
copy things directly to the ST. If this would work, does the disc need
to be formatted in any special way ??

Cheers,

    Derek (the asker of potentially dim questions :-)

If the DECstation supports 720kb DSDD disks then a disk can also be formatted
onthe Atari and read on the DECstation using one of those IBM format programs
(or I gather TOS 1.4 should work anyway).  I've taken disks formatted on the
Atari (regular) and read them on PCclones with 720kb drives with some luck
and using the IBM formatters on Atari (I used an old version of DCFORMAT) no
problems in my limited experimenting.

Chad

Reading between the lines of .3 - Be sure to use (and format as) 720K
floppies, not 1.4MB floppies!

    WARNING:  The ST is moderately allergic to MS-DOS formatted disks.
    
    There are two differences between MS-DOS and TOS formats.  MS-DOS has a
    boot block that TOS lacks, so if a disk was formatted by TOS before 1.4
    (which is fully compatible), it won't be readable by MS-DOS.  TOS,
    however, ignores the boot block so it can read the MS-DOS disk.
    
    Two, and more important:  TOS writes a random 24-bit serial number on
    each disk, and uses that to detect disk change.  MS-DOS puts ASCII
    characters there, so all MS-DOS formatted disks appear to have the same
    characteristic serial number.  Switching form one to the other on the
    ST causes things to get very messy --  the ST thinks the disk wasn't
    changed, so it doesn't do the disk change routine, and can write to the
    wrong block, etc.  Work-around:  Insert a different TOS-formatted disk
    into the ST in between MS-DOS disks.
    
    Best solution:  Use TOS 1.4 to format, or use IBMFMT, a freeware
    formatter that produces serial-numbered, MS-DOS readable disks.  That's
    what I use, and I routinely upload Atari files onto an NEC Multispeed.
        fred

    
    I'm not sure of that...
    
    A collegue give me thet explanations.
    
    He think that the trouble on ATARIS formatted disk and MS-DOS disk is
    due to the different interleave factor, fixed on MS-DOS, variable on
    TOS . But this is only a mind of He.
    
    I've worked and work whit 3.5" disks formatted on Decstation ( about 30 )
    with any sorts of problems. Naturally , the disks must be formatted at 720
    Kbytes. If you are not sure of this, use Norton Utilities to format the
    disk with proper format density. Or any other MS-DOS utility wich you
    have.
    
    Read also the note 613, where is an explanation of the necessary steps
    about the tranfer, and formatting, between DECSTATION and ATARI.
    
    Ciao
    
    Gianmario
    

    
    Groan...
    
    > whitout any sorts of problems
    
    G.
    

    Thanks a lot for all infos about it.
    The thing i will do is to copy over PD-Sowftware onto the DECstation
    200 Floppy Disk and transport it to my ATARI ST.
    .....Rolf