MSWEEP - A CP/M <==> 8" MS-DOS file transfer utility George Eldridge 2217 Tulane Ave. Long Beach, CA 90815 Copyright (C) 1985 by George Eldridge .pn 1 C O N T E N T S Page Introduction .......................................... 2 Overview of MSWEEP ............................... 3 Invoking MSWEEP .................................. 3 Single file commands .................................. 4 Help ............................................. 4 Forward and Backward ............................. 4 Exiting .......................................... 4 Viewing a file ................................... 4 The Log command .................................. 5 Multifile commands .................................... 5 The Tag command .................................. 5 The Untag command ................................ 5 The Mass copy command ............................ 5 Retagging files (Again command) .................. 6 Introduction MSWEEP is a utility that will transfer files from a CP/M disk to an 8" Generic MS-DOS disk or from an 8" Generic MS-DOS disk to a CP/M disk. People using Xerox 16/8 computers with 8" drives will find this utility especially useful. MSWEEP is patterned after the classic utility SWEEP. It is written in Turbo Pascal version 3 and will run on any CP/M-80 2.x system with a Z80 processor. Any problems or suggestions should be directed to George Eldridge at the address on the first page, or through one of these electronic mail addresses: ARPA Net: Eldridge.es@Xerox.ARPA (Eldridge.es@Xerox.COM) MCI Mail: George Eldridge ID# 162-0997 Disclaimer While this program has been tested, George Eldridge will have no liability or responsibility to the user or any other person or entity with respect to any liability, loss or damage caused, or alledged to be caused directly or indirectly by this program, including, but not limited to, any interruption of service, loss of business, anticipatory profits or consequential damages resulting from the use of this program. This software is provided on an "AS IS" basis. George Eldridge makes no warranties, either express or implied, that the operation of the software will be error free, uninterrupted or that any program defect will be corrected. George Eldridge makes no warranty with respect to the merchantability or fitness for any particular use of the software. In no event shall George Eldridge be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential damages caused or alledged to be caused directly or indirectly by the software, including but not limited to loss of business, anticipation of profits or interruption of services. MSWEEP Overview MSWEEP is a file transfer program. It will allow you to view files on 8" MS-DOS disks and transfer them to CP/M disks, or to view files on CP/M disks and transfer them to 8" MS-DOS disks. MSWEEP will read both Single-Sided Double-Density (SSDD) and Double-Sided Double-Density (DSDD) 8" Generic MS-DOS disks. This program was developed to allow files created under MS-DOS on a Xerox 16/8 computer to be transfered to CP/M disks and back again. This makes it easier to transport the files since the CP/M disk format is much more widely accepted than the generic 8" MS-DOS disk format. This program is based on the file manipulation programs SWEEP and NSWEEP. If you are familiar with either of these two programs, then you should be able to use this program with no further instruction. Just remember that MSWEEP presently supports only a limited number of features and commands available in NSWEEP. Also, MSWEEP does not currently support wildcard expansion. IMPORTANT: MSWEEP can only access files in the root directory of the MS-DOS disk. Invoking MSWEEP MSWEEP is invoked by typing "MSWEEP" at the CP/M prompt. No command line parameters are required or accepted. MSWEEP is a CP/M-80 "COM" file (MSWEEP.COM) and must be executed from CP/M-80 version 2.x or higher. A Z80 processor is required. Once MSWEEP is started, it will log in the current CP/M drive and display the first file in the directory. If there are no files in the directory, then a "No files." message is displayed. Single file commands There are two primary types of commands in MSWEEP: those that act on one file and those that act on many files. All commands are a single character. The command is executed immediately, no RETURN is required. All commands in MSWEEP may be either upper or lowercase. Lowercase input is automatically converted to uppercase. The commands that act on a single file will be covered first. Help Help can be requested by pressing '?'. The help command displays a summary of all MSWEEP commands. Moving forward and backward MSWEEP provides a list of the files on the logged disk sorted in alphabetical order. The files are numbered for convenience (the file numbers may not be used directly). The file size is also shown. The file immediately to the left of the cursor is referred to as the "current" file. The most common commands will be moving forward and backward through the list of files. The RETURN key or the SPACE bar is used to move forward. Moving forward will make the next file in the list the "current" file. When the end of the list is reached it will wrap around back to the first entry. The 'B' key is used to move backwards through the list. Exiting To exit MSWEEP, use the 'X' command. This will return you to CP/M. Viewing a file The view command, invoked by pressing 'V', will display on the screen the contents of the current file. When the screen is full the listing will stop. At this point you can abort the view command by typing ^X (control-X). To see the next line of the file, hit 'L'; to display the next screenfull, hit RETURN or SPACE. This command will allow you to type the contents of ANY file. Viewing binary files may cause strange behavior of the display. The Log command This command, 'L', will log-in a new disk. You will be prompted to enter the drive designator (A through P) and, if the disk is a CP/M disk, a user number followed by a RETURN. MSWEEP will determine what type of disk it is and log it in. Entering an invalid drive designator or just a carriage return at the prompt will cancel the command. Multifile commands Multifile commands are ones that affect as few as one or as many as all of the files on the logged disk. In order to do this, a method of describing which files are to be affected is needed. This program uses the concept of the "tag". The Tag command The current file is tagged by pressing the 'T' key. A tagged file in the list of files is denoted by an asterisk ('*') next to the colon after the filename. The tag command automatically performs a "move forward" operation. The tag command itself does not perform any operation, it only marks the file for a future "mass" operation. When a tag is made, the total number of bytes in tagged files is displayed. This information is helpful for determining the disk space required to hold the tagged files. The Untag command Typing 'U' will untag the current file. The tag is removed from the file and its size is subtracted from the total for tagged files. The Mass copy command The 'M' command will prompt you to enter a drive designator. If the currently logged disk is a CP/M disk, then you must enter the designator of a drive containing an MS-DOS disk. If an MS-DOS disk is logged in, then you must specify a drive and user number for a CP/M disk. After hitting RETURN, all tagged files will then be copied from the logged disk to the designated disk. The names of the files remain the same. Any files on the destination disk with the same name will be overwritten. The command may be aborted by entering an invalid drive designator or just a RETURN at the prompt.Retagging files (Again command) After a mass file operation, the tags are reset. The tags change from a '*' to a '#'. The files are not tagged, but MSWEEP remembers them so that they can be retagged automatically. To retag them enter 'A'. All previously tagged files (i.e. those with a '#' after the colon) will be tagged. This command is useful for transferring a number of files to several different disks.