Specifications

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3.6 USING FLOPPY DRIVES
DOS compatible floppy disk functions are provided within the ROM-BIOS. Diskettes may be
copied, formatted, verified, etc. using the standard DOS commands. This includes all of the DOS
mini (5-1/4") and micro (3-1/2") floppy formats -- 160K, 180K, 320K, 360K, 720K, 1.2M, and
1.44M -- provided the appropriate version of DOS is used (see Chapter 2). In addition, dual
capacity use of high density floppy drives is supported, which means that 360K floppies can be
read in a 1.2M 5-1/4" drive, and 720K floppies can be read in a 1.44M 3-1/2" drive.
The Little Board/286 contains a non-volatile RAM system Configuration Memory, which contains
information on the number and type of floppy drives connected to the system. As shipped, the
board's Configuration Memory is initialized to expect the first physical floppy drive (called "A")
to be a 360K 5-1/4" drive. However, the board's ROM-BIOS automatically adapts to whatever
type of drive is connected as drive A, whether 360K, 720K, 1.2M, or 1.44M. Therefore, you can
boot your system from any type of drive. In addition, the board's ROM-BIOS supports dual
capacity use of high density drives (1.2M and 1.44M), so you can boot from a 360K 5-1/4"
diskette in a 1.2M 5-1/4" drive, and you can boot from a 720K 3-1/2" diskette in a 1.44M 3-1/2"
drive.
3.6.1 Drive Parameter Setup
Within the board's Configuration Memory are parameters for the quantity (one or two) and type
(360K, 720K, 1.2M, or 1.44M) of drives. If the drives connected to your system do not match
those in the board's Configuration Memory, you will see an error message indicating the
mismatch, and instructing you to "Run SETUP". Once you have booted DOS, you can
reconfigure the system for the correct floppy drive configuration using the Ampro SETUP utility.
For instructions on using SETUP, refer to the detailed description of the SETUP utility in
Appendix A of this manual.
3.6.2 Single-Floppy Configurations
One handy feature of DOS is its built-in support for single-drive systems. If you specify only one
floppy drive in the board's Configuration Memory (using SETUP), the operating system will
automatically assign drive letters "A" and "B" to the single floppy drive. With this configuration,
you can copy files between two diskettes on one drive, as though your system has two drives;
DOS will prompt you to change diskettes when needed.