User`s guide
29
5. CP/M UTILITIES
RECONFIG.COM
RECONFIG.COM is a version of CONFIG.COM, but enhanced for REMEMOTECH and
REMEMOrizer. It gives give better error messages and has been enhanced to support extra drive
types. It supports type 18..1F drives, which are 8MB SD Card partitions. Do not configure two drives
with the same 1x type code, as this can cause data corruption. It also supports type 52 drives, which
are 320KB RAM Discs.
Every time you configure or change a drive type, high memory is allocated for the allocation and
check vectors. High memory is in short supply, and after configuring and reconfiguring lots of drives,
you can run out. This issue can eased by using a 54K system disk, rather than 59K. This is made
worse in REMEMOTECH and REMEMOrizer, as in order to access more of the SD Card, you may
find yourself configuring and reconfiguring a drive to access different partitions on it. The included
RECONFIG.COM is enhanced to spot reconfiguring a drive to a new type code with the same DPB
(which implies the same geometry), and if so, it reuses the existing allocations and check vectors.
The new RECONFIG.COM is a superset of the original shipped by Memotech, and can actually be
used on earlier Memotech systems.
REFORMAT.COM
Back in the day, there were 3 different formatting programs :-
FORMAT.COM - for FDX floppy disks, hard disks and Silicon Discs
FRMSDX.COM - for SDX floppy disks
SIDFMT.COM - for Silicon Disc or RAM Disc on either FDX or SDX
REMEMOrizer includes REFORMAT.COM which doesn't issue hardware level formatting commands,
and instead it overwrites the reserved tracks and directory area with sectors containing 0xe5 bytes.
This can therefore be used to "format" the RAM Disc and SD Card found on REMEMOrizer. None of
the original formatting programs are therefore needed, none of them work, and so none of them are
included.
REFORMAT.COM can be used on an original Memotech system to wipe a disk, providing the disk is
already formatted to the right type code.