
                            *********************   
                            *** DIRECT FLOPPY *** 
                            *********************   
                

                                Introduction
        
        Direct Floppy is a fast tool for working with floppy disks.
        It can read/write image files of floppy disks, copy disks from one
        to another and quickformat floppy disks. DF has graphical interface
        in 320x200x256 mode.
					
        My e-mail for comments/possible bugs : sd70092@lanet.lv

                                                        Maris Orbidans



                                Disclaimer
        
        Direct floppy is freeware, that is you are free to distribute and
        use it how long you wish. Correct working under all systems/conditions
        cant be guaranteed, however it was tested and worked fine under
        WIN 95 and MS-DOS 6.22 with HIMEM.

        If you use this software then you could send me e-mail with some
        comments.



                                System requirements

        -  At least 286 processor
        -  1.44 Mb floppy drive.
        -  VGA compatible videocard.
        -  1.44 Mb of XMS memory and HIMEM.SYS ( when under DOS ) loaded



                                Features
     
        -  Ability to copy only used tracks, so copying of one floppy disk 
           containing some small files to other disk using DF would be faster 
           than copying in other ways.
           ( You can turn this option on/off by pressing O and S )

           With Direct floppy you can do following things

        -  Create image files of floppy disks. In other words,
           save floppy disks in files.
        -  Write image files to floppy disks. That means - restore
           contents  of disks from files.
        -  Copy one floppy disk to another without hdd using.
        -  QuickFormat your floppy disks - faster than standart format program.



                                Hints and tips

        -  While copying there are two progress bars on screen.
           First bar displays processing progres, second displays clusters
           of floppy disk. White pixel means used cluster, gray -
           particulary used, black - unused, red - bad cluster.
           Pixels of processed clusters are brighter then others.
        -  Under Windows 95 you can get "Not enaugh free XMS" message.
           You can fix this problem by creating shortcut to DF and
           specifying amount of XMS needed. ( Icon->Properties->Memory->XMS )
           


                                Keys

        -  D - Copy one floppydisk to another.
        -  C - Create image file.
        -  W - Write image file to floppy disk.
        -  F - QuickFormat floppy disk.
        -  S - View some info about memory and floppy.
        -  O - Options, there you can change background picture
               and SkipUnusedTracks option.
        -  F1 - View help screen.
        -  Alt+X,Q - Exit.



                                Limitations

        -  Only 1.44 Mb floppy disks are supported.
        -  DF cannot operate with drive B:



                                What' s new

v 2.5     Added command line switches

  DF command filename [/INC] | /?

    where command is:
    /dfo       - quickformat a:
    /dsc       - duplicate a:
    /drc       - write a: to image file
    /drw       - write image file to a:

    /INC       - process all clusters (disable "SkipUnused clusters"
    /?         - display this screen

  Direct Floppy works without GUI if command line parameters are specified

