[cctalk] Re: Greaseweazle part 2

Still trying to make sense of this thing. The problem is that one very important thing is missing. I refer to DODUMENTATION. I don't fall for this modern rubbish that a product with a thin manual is easy to use. No, the thicker the manual the better. It will probablt answr my questions. But the Greaseweazle has no documentation at all other than the built-in help, (which is what I'd expect, a reminder of the options if you know the product and can't remember the exact term used to, say, check the drive speed). If I type 'gw' at a command prompt I get the following, which at least gives the options. ------------------------------ C:\classic_computer\greaseweazle\greaseweazle-1.13>gw Usage: gw [--time] [action] [-h] ... --time Print elapsed time after action is executed -h, --help Show help message for specified action Actions: info Display information about the Greaseweazle setup. read Read a disk to the specified image file. write Write a disk from the specified image file. convert Convert between image formats. erase Erase a disk. clean Clean a drive in a zig-zag pattern using a cleaning disk. seek Seek to the specified cylinder. delays Display (and optionally modify) drive-delay parameters. update Update the Greaseweazle device firmware to latest (or specified) version. pin Change the setting of a user-modifiable interface pin. reset Reset the Greaseweazle device to power-on default state. bandwidth Report the available USB bandwidth for the Greaseweazle device. rpm Measure RPM of drive spindle. ------------------------- I can basically understand that So lets see how to write an image to a disk . I type gw write -h and get : ------------- C:\classic_computer\greaseweazle\greaseweazle-1.13>gw write -h usage: gw write [options] file Write a disk from the specified image file. positional arguments: file input filename options: -h, --help show this help message and exit --device DEVICE device name (COM/serial port) --drive DRIVE drive to read (default: A) --diskdefs DISKDEFS disk definitions file --format FORMAT disk format --tracks TSPEC which tracks to write --pre-erase erase tracks before writing (default: no) --erase-empty erase empty tracks (default: skip) --fake-index SPEED fake index pulses at SPEED --no-verify disable verify --retries N number of retries on verify failure (default: 3) --precomp PRECOMP write precompensation --dd DD drive interface DD/HD select (H,L) DRIVE: Drive (and bus) identifier: 0 | 1 | 2 :: Shugart bus unit A | B :: IBM/PC bus unit SPEED: Track rotation time specified as: <N>rpm | <N>ms | <N>us | <N>ns | <N>scp | <N> TSPEC: Colon-separated list of: c=SET :: Set of cylinders to access h=SET :: Set of heads (sides) to access step=[0-9] :: # physical head steps between cylinders hswap :: Swap physical drive heads h[01].off=[+-][0-9] :: Physical cylinder offsets per head SET is a comma-separated list of integers and integer ranges e.g. 'c=0-7,9-12:h=0-1' FORMAT options: acorn.adfs.160 acorn.adfs.1600 acorn.adfs.320 acorn.adfs.640 acorn.adfs.800 acorn.dfs.ds acorn.dfs.ss akai.1600 akai.800 amiga.amigados amiga.amigados_hd atari.90 atarist.360 atarist.400 atarist.440 atarist.720 atarist.800 atarist.880 coco.decb coco.decb.40t coco.os9.40ds coco.os9.40ss coco.os9.80ds coco.os9.80ss commodore.1541 commodore.1571 commodore.1581 dec.rx01 dec.rx02 dragon.40ds dragon.40ss dragon.80ds dragon.80ss ensoniq.1600 ensoniq.800 ensoniq.mirage gem.1600 ibm.1200 ibm.1440 ibm.160 ibm.1680 ibm.180 ibm.2880 ibm.320 ibm.360 ibm.720 ibm.800 ibm.dmf ibm.scan mac.400 mac.800 mm1.os9.80ds.hd32spt mm1.os9.80ds.hd36spt msx.1d msx.1dd msx.2d msx.2dd occ1.dd occ1.sd olivetti.m20 pc98.2d pc98.2dd pc98.2hd pc98.2hs raw.125 raw.250 raw.500 sci.prophet sega.sf7000 tsc.flex.dsdd tsc.flex.ssdd zx.trdos.640 Supported file suffixes: .a2r .adf .ads .adm .adl .d64 .d71 .d81 .d88 .dcp .dim .dsd .dsk .edsk .fdi .hdm .hfe .ima .img .imd .ipf .mgt .msa .raw .sf7 .scp .ssd .st .td0 .xdf ---------------- And this is where I get lost.. What are all the file suffixes (extensions?) Does the program determine the file type from that?What does each type of image file contain as regards metadata? If I specify a disk format, and there's also metadata giving the same type of information, which overrides the other? Or is it an error? What are all the pre-defined formats? What machines do they apply to? What is the exact definition of each one? What is a disk definitions file, what is its format? What are 'shugart bus units' and 'IBM/PC bus units'? As far as I can tell, the floppy drives on the IBM PC use the normal shugart SA400 interface Which options do I have to specify for a particular image file type? If I miss something, is it an error, or is there a default? In the latter case, what is it? I found somewhere a comment that certain image types were read only.It is not clear if this means they can be read by the gw software and written to a physical disk or that they can only be used with the 'read' option and thus can be created but not read. I suspect the former, but it is not specified. There should at least be the equivalent of manpages for this thing. It's getting to the point where it's going to be quicker for me to make my own device and learn how to write the software! -tony