COPYRIGHT NOTICE
DISKMATTER software and documentation are © COPYRIGHT 1994 - 1996 by David Tucker. All RIGHTS reserved.
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DISCLAIMER
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the integrity of the software, the USER assumes ALL risk and responsibility related to its use. The author CANNOT be held responsible for any loss of data, damages to software or hardware that may result directly or indirectly from the use or misuse of this program. The author reserves the right to make changes to the software and / or documentation without notice.
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WHAT IS THE PACKAGE
The main DiskMatter package consists of 
DiskMatter_All - For all Amigas 
DiskMatter2.0+ - For WB 2.0 or higher
DiskMatter.Doc - This text file
Icon/AppIcon.info - AppIcon Image (WB2.0+ version only)
DiskMatter.Config - Configuration of Diskmatters options
ReadMe - Main differences between the 2.0 and All versions.
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DISTRIBUTION
This program is FREEWARE. It may be freely distributed provided that no charge is made for the program. This excludes reasonable costs of media, copying and or shipping and for BBS / Network systems, no charges other than normal download charges. The DiskMatter package must be distributed as a whole. No additional restrictions may be added to the distribution of the DiskMatter package. No files may be modified except for archiving.

Commercial distribution by magazine cover disks is permitted provided that they obey the above rules and follow this additional requirement. Please send me copy of the magazine
edition including the coverdisk ( If DiskMatter does not appear on the coverdisk but on a CD then include the CD as well else just the coverdisk ) that the DiskMatter package appears on.
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CREDITS
DISKMATTER was written using BLITZ BASIC 2 VERSION 2.10.
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HARD DRIVE INSTALLATION
From WORKBENCH just drag the DRAWER across to where you want it.
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HISTORY
V1.33 June 1997
° Minor changes.

V1.32 Sept 1996
° The code has been optimised to give a saving of approx 5500 bytes.

° DiskMatter can now be opened in a 'zoomed' state.

° DiskMatters window title font is taken from the current  screen font. This would throw DiskMatters GUI out slighty if the screen font was not an 8 point font.The size of the screen font is now taken into account and the GUI is displayed correctly.

V1.28 July 1996
° DiskMatters requesters are now sent to the current window. Before the requesters were sent to the Work Bench window which of course mean that if you where using another application you could not know what diskmatter was doing.

° There has been a slight change to some of the gadgets.

° DiskMatters current configuration can be saved on exiting. The Save Config feature from earlier versions stays the same.

° DiskMatter nows gives confirmation that a Auto Option has been selected. You will also be informed if Auto Option is ON when DiskMatter is first run.

V1.23 June 1996
° App Icon added.

° You can now set where DiskMatter's window opens.  (Via the icon tooltypes)

° The problem with the computer crashing after exiting if  you have been using the file requester and locking (CD) a directory, has been fixed. This problem was only with the ALL version the 2.0+ version was okay.

° Diskmatter now will only do AUTO on the selected drive if the disk has been inserted into that drive. 

° You now QUIT format using the Esc key rather than the right mouse button. If you where formatting a disk and using another application and clicked the right mouse the format would QUIT. DiskMatters window must be active. 

° Setting the font no longer needs to check Fonts: DiskMatter sets the font to Topaz 8. The last version used Blitz's loadfont command. This version uses the system setfont instead and puts the font into the rastport direct

V1.18 April 1996
° Able to INSTALL your own Bootblocks.

° Able to save your own Disk Icon when formatting disks.

° Using WB1.3 and selecting INFO would crash the program this has been fixed.

° Code has been optimised.

° 2 Versions now available one for ALL Workbenches and one for WB 2.0 and higher.
° Improved the way Diskmatter handles requesters. DiskMatter now checks for a disk in drive, disk write protection etc before asking you to confirm your selection. Pervious versions - stupidly - did it the other way round.

° Font is set to Topaz 8. If you had your Workbench set to a different font size Diskmatter displays would not look quite right. Gadgets were OK.

° Verifying formats is slightly faster.

° You can now VIEW bootblocks in ASCII or HEX

V1.15 July 1995
° DiskMatter Window is now reactivated when a disk has been removed from a drive if the menu option Window Act for Auto is ON.

V1.14 June 1995
° View boot block function added.

° Options may be configured to user's taste.

° Cancelling format using CANCEL no long causes the program to exit.

° Info function now works with WB 1.3. (WB 2.0 and higher returns more info)

° The requester does not take 230 bytes each time it is displayed. ie 230 + 230 + 230 etc. Fault was with Blitz.

° A Non Dos Disk could not be formatted on any drive other than DF0: If a disk was in DF0: and you tried to format a Non Dos disk in another drive the program would lock.

° Trying to Check, Install, Format, Info and Quick Format a Non Dos Disk, the program allocated some memory for this but would not free it.

V1.10 April 1995
° INFO now returns correct Information.

° Disks are Automatically Validated. 

° All functions can be executed when a disk is inserted.

V1.07 Dec 1994
° With earlier versions you could execute commands from the CLI ie Format df0: ffs boot. This option has been dropped.

° Info function added.

° Various Minor bugs fixed.

° Auto Boot Block Check has been fixed.

V1.05 June 1994
° Now runs under WB 1.3.

° Verify & Quick Format added.

° Improved error trapping.

V1.00 April 1994
° 'The Original'
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THE PROGRAM
With DiskMatter you can format disks including WB3.0 file systems You can also check, remove, install WB1.3, WB2.0 bootable bootblocks, install your own bootblocks, view bootblocks in hexidecimal or Ascii. At the moment DiskMatter does not support Hard Drive formatting maybe in the future. With the App Icon feature you can now format disks without using DiskMatter's GUI.

Do NOT set DiskMatters config file to be not readable. When DiskMatter tries to read the config file in this state it will bring a visit from the guru. I do not consider it worth the
effort to program for this possibility.
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QUICK OVERVIEW
Functions from DiskMatters GUI
¤ INSTALL - a normal bootblock or a loaded bootblock.
¤ REMOVE - a bootblock ie make disk non bootable.
¤ CHECK - reports on disk file system.
¤ INFO - returns information about bytes used, date created.
¤ VIEW - ASCII or HEX dump of bootblock.

¤ DF0: -> DF3: - Which drive to use.

¤ V.NAME - Volume name when disk is formatted.

¤ FORMAT - format disk.
¤ FORMAT QUICK - format a Disk that is already formatted.
¤ QUIT - exit the program.

Functions from DiskMatters pull down menus
¤ SAVE CONFIG - saves current set up.
¤ ABOUT - version & Bytes free.
¤ FREEWARE - where I can be contacted.
¤ QUIT - exit the program.

¤ CONFIRM SELECTION - requester to confirm selection.
¤ WINDOW ACTIVE FOR AUTO - must be current window for auto.
¤ CONFIRM HIGHER FORMAT - if you want to a format a disk not
suited to your workbench.
¤ CHECK SET PATH LEGAL - is set path legal.
¤ VERIFY ABORT AT ERROR - if verify is selected then abort at
first verify error.
¤ SAVE CONFIG ON EXIT - save current configuration on exit.

¤ AUTO MENU - performs selection when disk inserted.
¤ NO AUTO - no auto.

¤ LOAD FROM DEVICE - bootblock into memory.
¤ FILE LOAD/SAVE - bootblock to/from disk.
¤ VIEW BUFFER - ASCII or HEX dump of Bootblock.
¤ AUTO - SET PATH - where to find your bootblock.
¤ AUTO - LOAD AT RUN - your bootblock when Diskmatter is
first executed.
¤ TYPE - WB 1.3 - A WB 1.3 bootable bootblock
¤ TYPE - WB 2.0 & HIGHER - Bootable bootblock
¤ TYPE - USER - A bootblock that you have loaded
¤ TYPE - AUTOMATIC - Bootblock to suit your Workbench

¤ FILE LOAD - Your disk icon
¤ AUTO - SET PATH - Where to find your disk icon
¤ AUTO - LOAD AT RUN - Your disk icon when DiskMatter is
- first executed
¤ PUT ON DISK - save your icon to disk.

¤ APP ICON - FORMAT - use format.
¤ APP ICON - FORMAT QUICK - use format quick.
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COMPATIBILITY
Diskmatter should run on all versions of Workbench. The program was tested on an A500 - WB 1.3, an A2000 - WB 2.04 and an A1200 - WB 3.0.

You can format disks using any of the file systems regardless of the version of workbench you are using. You will be ask to confirm that you want to format a disk with a file system that is not suitable to your version of Workbench. Of course you still can't use file systems which are not compatible with the machine you intend to use the disk in.

All other functions with the exception of INFO, will work with Amiga Dos disks even if the file system is from a later version of Workbench.
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MULTI TASKING
The formatting process is run as a separate task this means that you can use other applications when a disk is being formatted. Depending on what applications you are using the disk formatting may pause. This is normal and the formatting will resume when the
task can regain access to the CPU. You can not use any other of DiskMatter's functions while formatting. A busy pointer indicates that this is the case.
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APP ICON
DiskMatter will set a App Icon onto the workbench window if you are using WB 2.0 or higher. ( This can be disabled refer to the tooltypes section ). This gives you two methods to which you can format disks with. The first is to double click the App Icon this
will format a disk using the drive which is currently set in DiskMatters GUI.The second method is to drag and drop a disk icon onto the App Icon which will then format the disk that that icon belongs to. The drive as set in the GUI is ignored. You CAN'T use extended selection with this method. You may drag and drop more then one icon one after another which will then be formatted in turn. You can only FORMAT or FORMAT QUICK using the app icon. All other options such as the file system must be set using the GUI.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The App Icon is available only from the WB2.0+ version of DiskMatter. Besides DiskMatter being named as such you can also get the version from ABOUT in the pull down menu.
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TOOL TYPES
In DiskMatter's icon is a box called tooltypes. It is possible to set these tooltypes. There are 5 options these being:

WINDX=? ; (Default 100 - 0 to 292)
WINDY=? ; (Default 20 - 0 to 65))
WBACK=? ; (Default 0 - 0 is off 1 is on)
APPICON=? ; (Default 1 - 0 is off 1 is on)
ZOOMED=? ; (Default 0 - 0 is off 1 is on)

WINDX - This sets where DiskMatters GUI will open across the screen. Maximum amount is 292.
WINDY - This sets where DiskMatters GUI will open down the screen.
WBACK - If on then DiskMatters GUI will be sent to the back of all other windows. This is of use if you want to use the app icon to format and not wish to use DiskMatters GUI
immediately.
APPICON- If off then DiskMatter will not open a app icon. You can only open / close the app icon from the tooltypes.
ZOOMED - This will open DiskMatters GUI in a zoomed state. ie just the title bar shown. You can set with all versions of workbench but can only zoom out with WB 3.0 refer to
zoom gadget below.

Do not exceed the maximum WINDX or WINDY as there is no checking to see if the value is legal. This is your responsibility.

THE ZOOM GADGET
WB 3.0 users get a zoom gadget which enables them to zoom the GUI in or out. WB 2.0 users should have this option but don't, can't quiet figure out why but hopefully will have this corrected soon. All users can open the GUI in a zoomed state but only WB 3.0
users will be able to zoom out the GUI while the program is running.
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PULL DOWN MENUS
A tick indicates that item has been selected.

OPTIONS - SAVE CONFIG
Saves all the current settings including the pull down menus.  It will save a file to the directory that DiskMatter was run from called DiskMatter.Config.

OPTIONS - ABOUT
Gives DiskMatter Version number & Amount of free memory.

OPTIONS - QUIT
Exit program.

SETUP - CONFIRM SELECTION
Puts up a requester asking you to confirm your choices. Basically just a double check.

SETUP - WINDOW ACTIVE FOR AUTO
All of DiskMatter's Functions may be started automatically when a disk is inserted into the selected drive. If this option is on then the DiskMatter window must be the current window when a disk has been inserted. If not selected then it doesn't matter which is the current active window as Diskmatter will perform the function requested. Refer Below 'AUTO'.

SETUP - CONFIRM HIGHER FORMAT
This just switches off the requester informing you that you are trying to format a disk which is not suitable to the computer you are using.

SETUP - CHECK SET PATH LEGAL
If you want to set the path for your bootblock file or disk icon file. This checks if the path is legal and if the file selected is a bootblock or disk icon. If not selected then it doesn't matter what you set the path to. It of course will be checked when Diskmatter goes to load your bootblock or disk icon. Refer to BOOTBLOCK - AUTO and DISK ICON - AUTO for more
information.

SETUP - ABORT AT ERROR
When on and Verify has been selected, if there is a verifying error then FORMAT will abort at the first error. Otherwise FORMAT will continue until done. If there are any errors then
they will be reported at the end of the FORMAT.

SETUP - SAVE CONFIG ON EXIT
When you exit diskmatter the current configuration will be saved.

AUTO MENU
Which ever item you have selected will be performed when a disk is inserted into your currently seleceted drive.
No Auto - nothing happens.

BOOTBLOCK - LOAD FROM DEVICE
Loads a bootblock from the device selected. This bootblock may be saved as a file using FILE SAVE. You can also install this bootblock to disk. Refer INSTALL for more information. If the bootblock loaded is not bootable then you will be informed of this. The bootblock will still be loaded.

BOOTBLOCK - FILE LOAD/SAVE
Loads a Bootblock file which has already been saved. Saves a BootBlock file which has been loaded using FILE LOAD or has been loaded using LOAD FROM DEVICE. There is only one user bootblock held in memory at one time.

BOOTBLOCK - VIEW BUFFER
Shows bootblock as either ASCII or HEXidecimal. Click on the  arrows to move through the whole bootblock. Use VIEW BUFFER for bootblocks that have been loaded using LOAD FROM DEVICE or LOAD FILE.

BOOTBLOCK - AUTO - SET PATH
This is a standard file requester. Enter the path if required. You must enter a filename. This path is saved when you use SAVE CONFIG. It tells the program where to find your boot block. You must set LOAD AT RUN and save the configuration ( SAVE CONFIG ) for you bootblock to be loaded automatically when Diskmatter is executed.

BOOTBLOCK - AUTO - LOAD AT RUN
Loads your bootblock when you first execute DiskMatter. This menu item is not available until you SET the PATH. You must SAVE CONFIG for this to take effect.

BOOTBLOCK - TYPE - WB 1.3
When INSTALL or FORMAT BOOTABLE has been chosen then a WB 1.3 bootable bootblock will be installed to disk.

BOOTBLOCK - TYPE - WB 2.0 AND HIGHER
Same as WB 1.3 but WB 2.0

BOOTBLOCK - TYPE - USER
If you have LOADed FROM DEVICE or LOADed your own boot block then select this to have it INSTALLed. ( When you INSTALL or MAKE BOOTABLE ). This option is not available until a bootblock has been LOADed.

BOOTBLOCK - TYPE - AUTOMATIC
WB 1.3 or WB 2.0 & HIGHER bootable bootblock will be installed depending on the version of Workbench that you are using. 

DISK ICON - FILE - LOAD
Loads a disk icon file. Your file may be named anything you wish, but will be saved to disk as Disk.Info

DISK ICON - AUTO - SET PATH
Same as the BOOTBLOCK but for disk.info

DISK ICON - AUTO - LOAD AT RUN
Same as the BOOTBLOCK but for disk.info

DISK ICON - PUT ON DISK
This saves the Disk Icon onto a disk when selected and you are  FORMATting OR QUICK FORMATting a disk. This is not available until you have LOADED a Disk.info file. Your disk icon will be saved to disk as Disk.Info. You have no control over this. It is required to be saved as this so that the system recognises the image. While you can format a disk to a file system that is not suited to your Workbench, Disk Icon can not be saved to an
unsuited file system. 

APP ICON - FORMAT
APP ICON - FORMAT QUICK
If using the app icon select which one you want
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GUI OPTIONS
INSTALL
Installs a bootable boot block to a disk.Set the menu BOOTBLOCK - TYPE for the type of bootable boot block that you want installed. If in doubt then leave the menu set to AUTOMATIC.

REMOVE
Removes a Bootable Boot Block from a disk.

WARNING
Some PD and Commercial disks have non-standard boot blocks. You should NEVER Remove or Install these boot blocks, Unless you know what you are doing.You can by Removing or Installing these types of boot blocks make the disk non bootable, ie you can't use it.

CHECK
Used to check a disk's file system. It will advise for example if the disk has a bootable bootblock or what is the earliest version of Workbench that the disk can probably be used on. Old File Systems disks will be reported as WB 1.3. But these are probably okay for WB 1.2 and lower.

Non - Standard boot Block - this is reported when the program looks at the boot block and says to itself "hang on a sec this doesn't look like a normal boot block". It is nothing to be
concerned about because some disks do not have standard boot blocks. These boot blocks could have been modified by PD programs ( ie a program which displays IFF ILBM files using the boot block ). Also some commercial programs have custom boot blocks. However if you can't be 100% certain about a boot block on a disk then use a virus checker to check the boot block.

INFO
Basically gives you information about the selected drive & disk It returns bytes on the disk, bytes used, etc. A disk must be in the selected drive. You can't get INFO about a drive only.
You can also exit INFO by removing a disk from any drive.

VIEW
Shows the Bootblock in ASCII or HEXIDECIMAL.You may also scroll through the 1024 bytes of the bootblock by clicking in the arrow gadget. You can also exit the VIEW window by removing a disk from any drive.

FORMAT
Different file systems are selected up by clicking in the required gadget box. The Volume Name is changed by clicking in the V.Name box and typing in the new name. For a full
description of file system types refer to your user manual. You can stop the FORMAT operation at anytime by pressing the ESC key (if DiskMatters is active) or by clicking the abort gadget in DiskMatters window. ( the abort gadget is where the cancel gadget is ).
If you select a file system which in not suitable to the computer you are using then you will be asked to confirm the format. (If this has been selected in the menus).

FORMAT-QUICK
This just formats the Boot & Root blocks. It is basically the same as FORMAT. The disk must have already been formatted for Format-Quick to work.

The next few options are used when FORMATting or QUICK
FORMATting disks

MAKE BOOTABLE
If you select this when you format a disk then that disk will have a bootable boot block installed automatically. This performs the INSTALL function after the disk has been formatted Refer INSTALL for more information.

VERIFY
This verifies most commands. It checks that the data on a disk is correct. It can be used to check that a Boot Block has been Installed or Removed, that Format-Quick has worked, and with Format that each track in right. When used with FORMAT the formatting of a disk increases in time. It can not be used with CHECK, VIEW or with INFO. When FORMATting, a bar is used to show the percentage of the disk formatted. If the bar colour changes then a track error occurred at that point. Also at the end of the format an error message will be shown. On all other functions if an error has occurred then there will be an error message when finished.

SELECTING DRIVES
There are four boxes DF0 -> DF3. To select a drive to perform any of the operations on simply click on its non-ghosted box.

ERROR MESSAGES
Any errors that occured during any operation will be shown in a requester. It is possible to have several error messages. In such a case the requester will have a next and cancel gadget. Next takes you to the next message. Cancel will finish the messages. The number of errors to be viewed are shown in the requester title bar.

BUSY MOUSE POINTER
A busy pointer is used to show that you no longer have access to DiskMatter.You may use other applications even if DiskMatter is formatting a disk.

NOTE
If you have set AUTO and chose to FORMAT or FORMAT QUICK a disk when finished after the disk is validated AUTO will operate as if you have just inserted a disk.
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Till next time
Catcha !

DCAT