PC Exchange Update Information ** WARNING **************************************************************** * * * DO NOT use PCX for writing on your mission-critical diskettes! Always * * use intermediate "scratch" disks for transfers. * * * *************************************************************************** PCX has been tested (and works) in the following configurations: System VMS Version Drive VAXstation 3100/M38 V5.3-1 RX23S VAXstation 3100 V5.1-B RX23 VAX 6320/HSC70 V5.3-1 (HSC V3.94) RX33 (in the HSC70) Instructions on setting up the HSC70's diskette drives for host access, from an Info-VAX posting, are provided in the file HSC_RX33.TXT. *************************************************************************** * * * For users of the RX23 diskette drive (non-SCSI version, device name * * DUA2) and 1.44MB diskettes: if PCX returns with the message MOUNT-F- * * FORMAT, use MOUNT/FOREIGN to mount the diskette prior to running PCX. * * * *************************************************************************** Version 1.6-1, 17 December 1990 PCX now checks whether the disk is write locked or not before doing anything to the disk, and prevents commands that write to the disk from working when write locked. Previously, the write commands would appear to succeed without actually modifying the disk. Version 1.6, 09 October 1990 Sector cache cells now hold 2KB instead of 512 bytes, leading to substantial reduction in I/O to the disk and noticeable performance improvements. -- Remember: don't remove the floppy from the drive until after -- -- you exit from PCX, or the sector cache won't get flushed! -- Version 1.5, 06 August 1990 Fixed a logic error in READ/BINARY. WRITE now truncates filenames and filetypes to 8 and 3 characters, respectively, before creating a file. This should prevent duplicate file names being created with wildcard WRITEs where the VMS filenames are not unique in the first 8/3 characters in the name/type. CD is now a synonym for SET PATH. Some of the required parameters on some commands in the CLD file did not have PROMPT= clauses, resulting in some ugly prompts. This has been fixed. Version 1.4, 03 August 1990 The READ, WRITE, and DELETE commands now all support wildcards, using VMS-type notation. Sector caching has been added to improve performance a bit. Version V1.3-2, 01 August 1990 The sector-count field of the boot parameter block was incorrectly being treated as the number of clusters (which is the same for 1.44M diskettes, but different for 720K diskettes). Version V1.3-1, 31 July 1990 The table of month names was one off. Version V1.3, 30 July 1990 This version fixes a couple of minor bugs in, and makes a couple of minor improvements to, the directory listing code. Also included is an improved exit handler that closes all open files before the program exits. This helps prevent sectors from going missing if an error or ctrl-Y happens during a file write. Also fixed is a bug introduced in V1.1 -- READ/BINARY would work fine, but non-binary READs wouldn't. Version V1.2, 26 July 1990 This version fixes bugs in the FAT maintenance code. It also eliminates the problem where the RX33 wasn't being recognized in HD mode. Version V1.1, 26 July 1990 This version fixes bugs in the READ/BINARY and WRITE/BINARY commands. Version V1.0, 25 July 1990 ** WARNING ** This is the first release of PCX, so EXPECT BUGS! DO NOT use PCX on your mission-critical diskettes! Always use intermediate "scratch" disks for transfers. PCX has been tested on a VAXstation 3100/M38 with an RX23S diskette drive. It should work with the RX23 in the 3100/M30's and the RX33 on other systems, but until someone tests it, I won't know for sure. The FORMAT command does not do a low-level formatting pass, nor does it verify the diskette for bad sectors. This speeds things up considerably, but leaves open the possibility of corrupted sectors getting through. Be careful. If you have found a bug, please report it to me by E-mail at: (Internet) madison@vms.ecs.rpi.edu (BITNET) MADISON@RPIECSVX or MADISON@RPIECS Thanks. -Matt