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Re: [Sharp-pc3k] Serial/Parallel Converter
Actually SRAM cards *are* supported in W98 at least, but you need to load
the Trueffs/fftl/Tffs9x module from the CAB files that don't install
automatically
The software for reading these cards in the Win98SE CD-Rom disc under
\drivers\storage\ftl. Right click on the trueffs.inf and select install.
Upon thinking about all this again, I have only quickly tried inserting the
SRAM card in XP but it seems that as the PC3K only formats at 16bit, this
is unrecognised by XP and although XP sees the card, wants to format to
32bit or NTFS which is no good when placing back in the PC3K.
W98 sees both FLASH and SRAM at 16bit - both then are recognised upon card
insertion. But, as the battery in my SRAM card had failed, I have lost the
setup for autobooting all the required drivers to format the SRAM in the
PC3k so that Windows sees it. It sees itself in the PC3K, but I need to
copy data! I need to therefore go and get the Backpack external floppy out
and load the Dipsys files and format the SRAM again. God! USB and Bluetooth
are so so welcome nowdays!
Once you have installed Trueffs.inf, it should create a directory in
Windows called Tffs9xIn there are also format and card check utils and a
vague txt and help files.
Here is the .txt blurb that comes with them (forget the fact your card type
might not be listed, it shouldn't matter). The important bit is where it
tells you to load from ADD NEW HARDWARE from the Control Panel...:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TrueFFS-9x
User's Guide
For Intel, AMD, Fujitsu, M-Systems and compatible
Linear Flash Cards
Sep-97
This document is for information only and is subject to
change without prior notice. No part of this document
may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a
retrieval system, or translated into any language or
computer language, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical,
manual, or otherwise, without the prior written consent
of M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd.
(c) Copyright 1995-1997 M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd.
Corporate Headquarters North American Headquarters
M-Systems Ltd. M-Systems Inc.
Atidim Industrial Park 39899 Ballentne Drive
P.O.B. 58036 Suite 335
Tel-Aviv 61580 Newark, CA 94560
Israel USA
Tel: +972-3-647-7776 Tel: (510) 413-5950
Fax: +972-3-647-6668 Fax: (510) 413-5980
info@xxxxxxxxx info@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.m-sys.com
TrueFFS is a registered trade mark of M-Systems Ltd.
The TrueFFS software is protected by US Patent no. 5404485.
All other trade marks, service marks, trade names are the
property of their respective owners.
TrueFFS for Windows-9x User's Guide
1.1 Introduction
TrueFFS-9x is TrueFFS for Microsoft's Windows-9x: A new
version of M-Systems' TrueFFS Flash File System
supporting the FTL standard data format.
In keeping with the spirit of Windows 95, TrueFFS
breaks all ties with real-mode DOS, and is a true 32-
bit protected mode VxD. TrueFFS-9x works in
coordination with the protected-mode Card Services &
Socket Services, with the plug-and-play configuration
manager and with the Windows-9x I/O Supervisor.
To TrueFFS for Windows-9x are attached several
utilities: TFORMAT to format Flash cards, and TCHECK to
verify and correct the TrueFFS format.
At installation time, these utilities are copied to your
\WINDOWS\TFFS95 directory.
The utilities are console applications, which means that
they have the general appearance of DOS commands, and
will run in what appears to be a DOS box (although in
fact they are Win-32 applications).
1.2 Requirements & Compatibility
A PCMCIA adapter that is supported by Windows-9x Card &
Socket Services. It is assumed that the PCMCIA adapter
was properly configured and that Windows-9x Card
Services is accessing PC cards on it.
TrueFFS-9x works with:
ú Intel Series-2 PC cards
ú Intel Series-2+ PC cards
ú Intel Value-100 PC cards
ú Intel miniature cards
ú AMD Series-D PC cards
ú AMD miniature cards
ú Fujitsu Series-D PC cards
ú Fujitsu miniature cards
ú M-Systems D-Series, V-Series & S-Series PC cards
ú M-Systems Series-2000 PC cards
ú Static RAM cards
This version of TrueFFS-9x has been tested and is compatible
with all Windows-95 retail releases, OEM service releases
and Windows-98 release.
1.3 Installation
Follow these steps to install TrueFFS/9x:
1. If you have not yet read the "Requirements" section
above, please read them now.
2. Is your PCMCIA socket installed ? If not, or you do not
know, refer to details on PCMCIA Socket installation in this
section below.
3. Insert the disk with TrueFFS installation files into a
drive.
4. Remove any Flash memory cards from the PCMCIA slots.
5. From the Windows-9x display, open "My Computer" on your
desktop or open the Windows Explorer.
6. Open the disk with TrueFFS installation files.
7. Click with the right mouse button on the file Trueffs.inf.
You will see a menu.
8. In the menu choose "Install" and click on it.
9. After Windows-9x finishes copying installation files you
are ready to work with Flash Memory Cards.
1.4 Installing the PCMCIA Socket
To find out if your PCMCIA Socket is installed:
1. From the Windows-9x display, choose "Start", then
"Settings", then "Control Panel".
2. Open "System".
3. Click on "Device Manager".
4. Scan the list of devices class for "PCMCIA socket". If
you find it, open it (click on +). It should contain at
least one line. If you do not find it, or it contains no
lines, your PCMCIA socket is not installed.
If your PCMCIA Socket is not installed, but the actual
PCMCIA hardware exists on your system, proceed to
install it:
1. From the Windows-9x display, choose "Start", then
"Settings", then "Control Panel".
2. Open "Add New Hardware".
3. Click "Next".
4. If the "Add new hardware wizard" suggests that Windows
look for your new hardware, click on the "No" button and
then click "Next".
5. Choose "PCMCIA Socket" and click "Next".
6. Choose from the list of known sockets, or click "Have
Disk" as appropriate to the PCMCIA hardware installed.
1.5 Removing installed components
Follow these steps to uninstall TrueFFS/9x:
1. From the Windows-9x display choose "Start", then "Settings",
then "Control Panel".
2. Open "Add/Remove Programs". You will see the list of the software
that can be automatically removed by Windows.
3. Select "M-Systems TrueFFS driver" from the list and click
"Add/Remove".
4. Windows-9x will remove all installed components.
1.6 Formatting Flash Cards
Before TrueFFS can access a Flash medium, the medium must
be formatted. Formatting initializes the medium and writes
to it a new and empty DOS file system. When formatting
is complete, the medium contains only a root directory.
The DOS FORMAT command cannot be used for formatting
Flash media driven by TrueFFS.
The medium may be formatted more than once. However, all
data on the medium is destroyed each time it is
formatted.
There are two ways of formatting a flash card. You may use
a flash card formatter or the TFORMAT utility.
1.6.1 Flash Card Formatter
To use the TrueFFS formatter, you should start the Windows Explorer.
This
can be done through the desktop icon, or by right-clicking the "Start"
button on the task bar and selecting "Program", then "Windows Explorer".
Once Windows Explorer is running, the TrueFFS formatter can be invoked
in one of three ways:
* Select the "File" menu, and choose "Flash Card Format".
* With the mouse pointing to a TrueFFS drive, click its right
button, then select "Flash Card Format" from the pop-up menu.
* At the same pop-up menu, select "Properties", then choose "TrueFFS
formatting".
Once the formatter is running, The formatting process is only one step
away. Choose a volume label if you wish, then hit "Start" to begin the
formatting process. The bar graph will show you the progress.
When done, you can hit "Ok" or "Cancel".
Help is available through the "Help" key or by clicking the "?" icon on
the upper right side of the formatter window.
1.6.2 TFORMAT - The TrueFFS Format Utility
After installation, the TFORMAT.EXE utility will be found in your
WINDOWS\TFFS95 directory.
The syntax of the TFORMAT command is:
TFORMAT { drive-letter }
[ /S:boot-image-file-name ]
[ /S:drive-letter:]
[ /S:! ]
[ /S:* ]
[ /BOOTSIZE:boot-image-size ]
[ /USE:nnn ]
[ /LOWMEM:size ]
[ /LABEL:label ]
[ /DOSVER:dos-major-version ]
[ /SIZE:size ]
[ /SPARE:n ]
[ /Y ]
Note An equal sign (=) may be used wherever a
colon (:) is required.
Examples:
TFORMAT E:
TFORMAT D: /SIZE=8M
All sizes specified in TFORMAT options are in bytes if
specified as simple numbers, in KBytes if specified with
the suffix K, or in megabytes if specified with the
suffix M.
The TFORMAT options are:
drive-letter DOS drive letter of the TrueFFS drive.
/S:boot-image-file-name Create a
boot-image partition with a boot-image
copied from the file specified. The
partition size will be the smallest
that may contain the file contents,
unless overridden by the /BOOTSIZE
parameter described below.
/S:drive-letter: Create a boot-image partition, with a
boot-image copied from a memory card
residing on a different TrueFFS drive.
The amount copied from the socket must
be specified by the /BOOTSIZE
parameter. The partition size will be
the smallest that may contain the boot-
image.
This variation of the /S parameter is
useful to create boot-images which are
clones of another memory card.
/S:! Do not create a boot-image partition.
This option is necessary if, upon
reformatting, an existing boot-image
partition is to be deleted.
/S:* Retain the previous boot-image
partition. This is the default action.
If no boot-image existed previously,
this option acts like the /S:0
parameter.
/BOOTSIZE:boot-image-size The size
of the boot-image partition in bytes.
This parameter must be specified when
copying a boot-image from another
socket. Otherwise it is defaulted as
follows:
/S:file-name Number of bytes in the
file
/S:! 0
/S:* Old partition size
/USE:nnn Percentage of available space on the
Flash medium to be used for file
storage. nnn can be any number from 1
to 100. Default is 99 (99%).
The value of this option may affect
the write performance of TrueFFS. For
more details, see Performance
Considerations, later in this manual.
/LOWMEM:size The low-memory part of the TrueFFS DOS
medium may be handled using a faster
access mechanism than the rest of the
medium.
Since the FAT and root directory
reside in low sector numbers, this may
improve performance. However, this
option has an overhead in TrueFFS
memory requirements.
For more details, see Performance
Considerations, later in this manual.
The default is 64 KBytes. In
principle, it is possible to specify a
size that will span the entire medium,
if the memory required to handle this
is available.
/SIZE:size The size of the Flash medium to be
formatted (including the boot-image).
By default the entire medium is
formatted by TFORMAT. This option may
be used to limit the formatted size to
a smaller size.
This option is useful if the memory
card will be transported to a machine
that is physically able to address
only a part of Flash memory.
/LABEL:label A string to be used as the DOS label
of the formatted medium.
/DOSVER:dos-major-version Format for
a target system running the specified
DOS version. The default is the
current DOS version (the one on which
TFORMAT is executed). E.g. /DOSVER:3
formats for DOS 3.x. Valid values are
1 to 6.
/SPARE:n Leave n Flash erase units as spare
units for garbage collection. The
default is 1. At least one unit should
be specified for the Flash medium to
operate as a true read-write device.
More than one spare unit may be
specified to format media that have
bad Flash units. In such a case the
number of spare units should exceed
the number of bad units by at least 1.
It is also possible to specify more
than one spare unit in anticipation of
Flash units becoming bad in the
future.
A value of 0 spare units may be
specified to create a WORM (Write-
Once-Read-Many) disk. When formatting
with this option, the Flash medium can
be written once only, after which it
will become a read-only medium.
TrueFFS will report that the medium is
write-protected when space for writing
is exhausted. This option provides
very limited functionality, and should
not be used except in special cases.
The option has the advantage of
lowering the formatting overhead of
TrueFFS, since a spare Flash erase
zone is not needed for space
reclamation.
/Y Do not pause for confirmation before
beginning to format.
1.7 TCHECK - Format Verification Utility
The TCHECK utility is used to verify the underlying
TrueFFS format and, optionally, to correct formatting
inconsistencies. TCHECK is comparable to the SCANDISK
program or the Norton Disk Doctor, which do the same for
the DOS FAT format.
You may run SCANDISK or a Disk Doctor on a TrueFFS
drive, just as you may for any other standard DOS drive.
These utilities, however, will diagnose and fix DOS
errors. The TrueFFS format is transparent to them, as it
is to you.
After installation, the TCHECK.EXE utility will be found in your
WINDOWS\TFFS95 directory.
The syntax of the TCHECK command is as follows:
TCHECK { drive-letter } [ /F ]
For example,
TCHECK D:
The TCHECK options are:
drive-letter DOS drive letter of the TrueFFS drive.
/F Attempt to fix inconsistencies when they
are found. The default is not to fix, but
only to report errors.
TCHECK performs the following consistency scans of the
TrueFFS format:
It checks that the spare transfer units are
erasable. An error indicates that your system's
power supply to the Flash medium is insufficient, or
that the Flash unit involved is faulty.
If there is no problem in power supply, and all
transfer units are no longer erasable, the medium
should be reformatted with a larger value of the
/SPARE parameter. To do this without losing data,
download all files on the TrueFFS medium to a backup
medium, reformat with the new /SPARE value, and then
reload all files from the backup medium.
Logical-to-virtual scan of the format tables.
Logical-to-virtual errors are usually not serious,
and do not indicate damage to user data, unless they
occur often and in large numbers. They are usually
the result of occasional power failures or Flash
hardware failure. Fixing them will usually result in
regaining a sector that was inaccessible.
Virtual-to-logical scan of the format tables.
Virtual-to-logical errors will never occur unless
there is a serious malfunction in TrueFFS operation,
Socket Services operation, or hardware. Although
such errors can be fixed by TCHECK, such fixes will
often not prevent loss of user data."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If anyone needs these files mail me - they are available from the web if
you use Altavista to search. My Googling missed it first time...
I wish I hadn't read this thread - I've spent hours going over old stoney
ground again for nothing!
Its a shame the machine *looks* more purposeful than it really is...
Chhers afor your feedback...
Mark
UK
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