w11 - /man/cat1/create_disk.0

CREATE_DISK(1)               Retro Project Manual               CREATE_DISK(1)


NAME
       create_disk - create disk container file for ti_w11

SYNOPSIS
       create_disk --typ=typ [--ini=pat] [--bad] [--boot] FILE
       create_disk --help

DESCRIPTION
       Creates  a  disk container file FILE with the proper size for a disk of
       type typ.

OPTIONS
       --typ=typ
              determines disk type, must be specified.  The list of  supported
              disk types can be obtained with the --help option.

       --ini=pat
              determines whether the container file will be initialized with a
              specific data pattern. Note that the --bad  and  --boot  options
              will  overwrite  the  last  track or the first sector(s) respec-
              tively.  The default without --ini is to create a container with
              all  zero data.  It is implemented by writing a single zero byte
              after positioning with lseek(2) to the desired end. This creates
              a  file  with  'holes'  and defers the actual allocation of disk
              space to the point when sectors are written.  Allowed values for
              pat are

              zero   creates  a  disk  with all sectors zero'ed. In this case,
                     zero's are explicitly written. The explicit allocation of
                     disk space is the main effect of this option.

              ones   creates a disk with all data bytes set to 0xff.

              dead   creates a disk with an alternating 0xdead 0xbeaf pattern.
                     Can be helpful to diagnose whether  an  operating  system
                     accesses uninitialized parts of a disk.

              test   creates a disk with a unique test pattern in each sector.
                     The whole disk is initialized  with  groups  of  8  16bit
                     words (in PDP-11 little-endian) with

                        0:  absolute disk byte address, lower word
                        1:  absolute disk byte address, upper word
                        2:  current cylinder number (0 based)
                        3:  current track/head number (0 based)
                        4:  current sector number (0 based)
                        5:  number of cylinders for disk type
                        6:  number of tracks/heads for disk type
                        7:  number of sectors for disk type

                     A  hexdump(1)  of  an  RP06  disk  image initialized with
                     --ini=test will look like

                        0000000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 032f 0013 0016
                        0000010 0010 0000 0000 0000 0000 032f 0013 0016
                        ...
                        00001f0 01f0 0000 0000 0000 0000 032f 0013 0016
                        0000200 0200 0000 0000 0000 0001 032f 0013 0016
                        ...
                        a657be0 7be0 0a65 032e 0012 0015 032f 0013 0016
                        a657bf0 7bf0 0a65 032e 0012 0015 032f 0013 0016

       --bad  creates a DEC standard 044 compliant bad block table on the last
              track of the disk container file.

       --boot creates  a PDP-11 dummy boot block. When such a disk is attached
              and booted with ti_w11(1) or a simh pdp11 a message like

                ++======================================++
                || This is not a hardware bootable disk ||
                ++======================================++

                Disk image created with 'create_disk --typ=RK05':
                  number of cylinders:        203
                  tracks per cylinder:          2
                  sectors per track:           12
                  block size:                 512
                  total number of sectors:   4872
                  capacity in kByte:         2436

                CPU WILL HALT

              will be printed on the system console and the CPU HALTed.

       --help print full help, with list --typ and --ini options.

EXIT STATUS
       If the file FILE can not be created an exit status 1 is returned.


EXAMPLES
       create_disk -typ=rk05 rk05.dsk
           This will create a zero'ed disk contained sized for an  RK05  disk.
           In  most  cases, it is sufficient to create such plain zero'ed disk
           images.

       create_disk -typ=rl02 -bad rl02.dsk
           Creates an RL02-sized disk with a 'factory bad block  table'.  When
           using  RLxx,  RPxx,  or  RMxx type disks, especially in conjunction
           with DEC operating systems, it is advisable to  create  disks  with
           --bad.

       create_disk -typ=rk05 -ini=test rk05_test.dsk
           Creates an RK05-sized disk with a test pattern.

SEE ALSO
       ti_w11(1)


AUTHOR
       Walter F.J. Mueller <W.F.J.Mueller@gsi.de>


Retro Project                     2015-06-04                    CREATE_DISK(1)