************************************************************************
*								       *
*		   D I S K  E X E R C I S O R  1 . 1		       *
*								       *
************************************************************************

Copyright Bill Rink; 1984

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Revision 1.1 December 31,1984
Added prompt for minimum track number to test from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This software is made available to the public domain and may be freely
distributed.  It is not to be sold or used for commercial use.

DISKX.COM is a comprehensive disk exercisor that can be used to certify
either the operation of your disk drive(s) or the quality of a floppy.
It is particularly useful if you are trying out a new brand of diskettes.
I wrote it initially for testing some new 96 tpi Shuggart drives and to
check the compatabilty of 48 tpi diskettes with them.

This program was written for a Western Digital (or compatable) 179X
Floppy Disk Controller and so the error conditions detected are set-up
for that device.  If you have some other controller it will still work
but you will not get error counts for CRC, RNF (record not found), or
Write Fault errors.  You will be prompted for the port address of your
179X controller, simply hit RETURN if you do not have one.

(note: 179X stands for 1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1797 controller family.)

DISKX.COM can be initialized to test up to 2 drives. There are three
basic tests performed on each pass:


Verify Scan, Read
-----------------
This test will scan the disk first to verify it is free of format and
CRC errors. This is a READ only test.


Sequential R/W
---------------
A random data pattern is written and then read back on every track and
record on the disk.  A spiral pattern is used to start with the first
track/record and then sprial to the inner most tracks, then repeating
this after incrementing the record bias by one.


Random R/W
-----------
Random data is written and read on randomly generated track and record
numbers. This will give the disk a good workout and more closely resemble
real activity, though more intensive.

(I know that there are certain data patterns that are good for detecting
certain write problems, but I was in a hurry to get something together,
so I used random data patterns.)

Each test will loop for the number displayed in brackets next to the loop
counter.  At any time, you may either SKIP the current test or HALT the
program by entering either 'S' or 'H'.

Play with it, you'll get the idea.

INSTALLATION

Provided in the library file is an istallation program called DISKXINS.COM
You must also have the DISKX.INS and DISKX.DTA files on you disk at the
time of installation.  Simply execute the DISKXINS.COM file and follow
the instructions.  Use the "None of above" selection if your terminal is
not listed.