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Track/N/Pack Pro 1.0

by Sergeant Busbee of IPG

Dox by The Bunny Slayer


Well, it's been a long time since Sarge wrote a useful hack, and this one is
one of his best.  A need has been growing recently for a version of Track-N-
Pack that operated in ProDOS and worked on 3.5s as well as floppies.  The wait
is over...

     Track/N/Pack Pro is here!

Why Split Disks?

In case you don't know, disks are "SPLIT" to allow packing and transfer even
when a disk packs to more than 280 (or 1600) blocks.  TNP strips a certain
amount of information from the disk to be split, stores that info in a file,
and then erases the blocks that were stored.  The packing program then has a
lot of blank space and will pack the disk in less than a disk.  After transfer,
the disk must be unpacked and then UnSplit, which reverses the Split operation.

Loading:
  TNP is a ProDOS System file, so it can be run from BASIC by "-TNP.PRO" or
from the ProDOS "BYE" screen.

The Menu:

  The Menu should look something like this...



1. Choose Device
2. Split Disk
3. UnSplit Disk
4. Credits
5. Quit

================
1. Choose Device
================

Hitting 1 presents you with a list of the slots and drives of all disk devices
on-line.  Type the number corresponding to the device you want to split/unsplit
from.  Only 5.25" and 3.5" disk drives are supported.  If you try to split a 
RAMDISK, you'll get an error from TNP.
After you make your choice you'll be back at the menu.

=============
2. Split Disk
=============

After a warning, type in the name of the file the "split" is going to be stored
in.  You must type the name in in ALL CAPS (I'm lazy...wait for the next
version).  Be careful about how you have your prefixes set if you use partial
pathnames.
None of that nice user-friendly file selection bullshit here...
After you type the filename and hit return, hit RETURN again to start the
split.  Various errors are possible and TNP will tell you if one occurs.

NOTE: The old DOS version of TNP allowed you to specify how many tracks got
split from the original.  TNP PRO doesn't yet support that. The amount split
from disks is as follows:

5.25"   32 blocks (the first 4 tracks)
3.5"    192 blocks (the first ??? tracks)

The next version of TNP will support variable length splits.

The drives you selected will whir and what not... if all goes well, you'll
be back at the main menu ready to hop into your packer.

===============
3. UnSplit Disk
===============

This glues a disk back together after it's been split.  Type in the filename
of the file the "split" is in (the same name as in part 2) and insert the
proper disks and hit RETURN.  The drives will whir again and after a bit
the disk will be as good as new!!!

==========
4. Credits
==========

Credit where credit is due...
This is some of Sarge's Bullshit

=======
5. Quit
=======

If you type 'Y' after this, you'll be dropped into the ProDOS "BYE". Any
other key will take you back to the menu.



Finale:

   If you have comments, questions, or suggestions about TNP PRO, just call
THE CAVERNS OF QYV / 618-242-2252 3/12 24hrs
and leave a note to Sergeant Busbee (#1).  He'll get back to you and probably
even answer your question.



This has been an Illinois Pirate's Guild release...
it
is over...

     Track/N/Pack Pro is here!

Why Split Disks?

In case you don't know, disks are "SPLIT" to allow packing and transfer even
when a disk packs to more than 280 (or 1600) blocks.  TNP strips