Changes
following options:
If you do not enter any options, XTEST prints the help message and exits.
the following options:
If you do not enter any options, XFORMAT prints the help message and exits.
When you specify -s, XFORMAT will print an error if no slave drive is
attached to the LoTech uIDE interface.
Formatting assumes a minimum of 128MB available on the IDE device(s) being
=== BASIC program to load the driver from a DOM ===
If you choose to buy one of my DOMs, I can load it with the xdriver FID file. Enter You can also download and copy the uIDE hard disk image onto your own IDE device as this has the FID loaded. Enter the following program into BASIC and run it, and it . It will retrieve the driver from the DOM IDE device and write it to the currently logged -in disk. The driver file is written to the first three sectors on the DOMIDE device, so that even if you format it, you can still use the BASIC program to restore the FID (because track 0 is reserved by the driver for future use).
10 REM uIDE bootstrap - load FID from uIDE track 0
'''To use the program.'''
* Turn the PCW off.
* Connect the uIDE to the PCW.
* Plug the DOM into the uIDE's IDE socket.
* Power upthe PCW. If the uIDE power and activity lights both come on, you have the cable or DOM back to front. Power down and check.
* Now power-on.
* Load BASIC and enter the program. It's easier if you type AUTO 10 first. Take care with the entering of variable names, most of them have a % at the end (integer).
* You should also see a list of available drives.
* Congratulations, your new IDE device is working!
== uIDE disk image ==
There is a disk image of CP/M software that you can download here: [TBD]
It is a copy of the N8VEM image, with the PCW uIDE driver loaded, as well as a bunch of PCW specific COM files (on drve C:, User 0).
Note: The original N8VEM downloads are here (including manuals for many of the included programs): http://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/n8vemimage
To transfer this onto an IDE device, you will need a special cable setup:
[[File:IDE imaging cable.JPG|1000px||centre|]]
The various parts are labelled:
# IDE-USB adapter. Get this from any online auction site.
# Power connection (if your IDE-USB adapter doesn't supply power to IDE pin 20). Pin 20 is the red wire, +5v. Pin 19 is GND. I use a 2 pin PCB header to connect to the female IDC connector.
# IDE device, in this case a 128Mb DOM
# 5v power supply. This is only used to power the IDE device, and if you are using a CF card adapter, you may find it has a power socket you can use instead.
# Cable. This is a simple 40 way IDC ribbon cable with two cable mounted male IDC box headers and two cable mounted female IDC plugs (you only need one, for connecting power to the IDE device). The parts to make this up are freely available, and the cable can be used to connect a slave drive to uIDE.
Plug the rig together and use win32 diskimager (on the N8VEM Disk Tools zip file) to copy the uIDE disk image to your IDE device. If you haev Linux, you can also use '''dd''' to do this.
Then follow the instructions above (the BASIC program) to retrieve the xdriver FID file from the IDE device. You should now be able to explore the disk image.
== CP/M Plus version requirements ==
