$Header: MINDOS.T_V 1.4 91/04/05 15:51:42 SWH Exp $

                              MINDOS v1.1
                              ===========


********************************************************************
*                                                                  *
*   COPYRIGHT STATEMENT                                            *
*   ===================                                            *
*                                                                  *
*   All the files in this MINDOS package, including, but not       *
*   limited to, sources, executables, documentation, are:          *
*                                                                  *
*   COPYRIGHT 1988,1991 STEVEN W. HARROLD -- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED   *
*                                                                  *
*   You may use this MINDOS package and its components for any     *
*   purpose, except that you are not permitted to sell or          *
*   exchange the contents of the package for remuneration.  You    *
*   may use MINDOS to build other products that you intend to      *
*   make a profit from, but this MINDOS package must not itself    *
*   exchange hands for financial gain.  You may reproduce this     *
*   package for someone else and charge only for the cost of       *
*   materials expended, not to exceed $10.  If you do reproduce    *
*   the package, you must do so only in its entirety, and name     *
*   the result MINDOS11.                                           *
*                                                                  *
*   CAVEATS                                                        *
*   =======                                                        *
*                                                                  *
*   Although I have attempted to provide an error-free package I   *
*   will accept NO LIABILITY for any damages that result from      *
*   your use of the software.                                      *
*                                                                  *
********************************************************************


WHAT MINDOS DOES
================

This utility package allows you to read any file inside a Minix File
System (MFS) from MSDOS.  The programs offered are:

    MBLOCK.EXE  Display any block in an MFS, in hex
    MDISK.EXE   Tells you the physical attributes of a disk/drive
    MDUMP.EXE   Dumps the blocks controlling the content of a MFS
    MLS.EXE     Presents an 'ls -l' listing of MFS contents
    MREAD.EXE   Reads a file in an MFS and copies to DOS file system


CONTENTS OF ARCHIVE
===================

The contents of the archive are:

    MINDOS.TXT      This file (the one you're reading)
    MANIFEST        List of source files and revisions used
    MAKEFILE        Makefile to recompile
    *.EXE           The commands described above
    *.C             C sources
    *.H             C header files
    *.X             C prototype files


RUNNING A PROGRAM
=================

The commands all respond to a "-?" to yield help information, e.g.

    MLS -?

If a problem occurs while accessing a floppy, a status byte, as returned
from the PC BIOS, is displayed.  Some of the most probable codes are:

      2     Address mark not found
      4     Sector not found
      8     DMA overrun
     16     Uncorrectable CRC error
     32     General controller failure (probably disk is unformatted)
     64     Seek failure
    128     Device not ready

Only the last one is recoverable by you.


DISK DEVICES SUPPORTED
======================

This package currently services only floppy disk drives.  It determines,
through trial and error, the geometry of the inserted disk.  The actual
type of DRIVE is not determined (e.g. it cannot distinguish between the
two 720KB possibilities), but this doesn't matter as only the DISK
geometry is important.

The possibilites recognized are:

        disk        heads   tracks  sectors
    --------------  -----   ------  -------
    160 KB 5.25"      1       40       8    rare
    320 KB 5.25"      2       40       8    less rare
    360 KB 5.25"      2       40       9    DSSD
    720 KB 5.25"      2       80       9    popular in Europe?
    1.2 MB 5.25"      2       80      15    DSDD
    720 KB 3.5"       2       80       9    low density
    1.4 MB 3.5"       2       80      18    high density


RECOMPILING
===========

The sources and makefile have been successfully used (under MSDOS) with:

    OPUS Make 5.11    (the follow-on to NDMAKE)
    Microsoft C 5.1
    Turbo C 2.0

To recompile, examine the makefile to insure it is suitable for your
environment.  In particular, comment out the group of macro statements
at the top to select either the Microsoft or Turbo environment.

All the executables are produced by:

    MAKE


SPECIAL THANKS
==============

I want to acknowledge the help, advice and patience of:

    Chris G. Sylvain    cgs@umd5.umd.edu

He got me off my duff to clean up the package and to encourage me
to plan for and begin work on a more feature-rich version.  He also
was the guinea pig for working out bugs and usability problems.


CONTACT
=======

Please address all communications to one of the following places:

    Steve Harrold,
    620 Brenda Lee Drive,
    San Jose CA   95123

    also:  swh@hpesf.cup.hp.com
    also   408/447-5580 (daytime)


I hope MINDOS proves useful to all of you, and that you will
communicate your feedback me, especially ideas for the next version.


---
swh, 05 apr 91
