When I was first getting started using CP/M on vintage computers I found that there was no " standard" format for writing CP/M files to a floppy disk. Most system manufacturers had a proprietary format for writing to floppies. It's not like M$-D0S where you can format a diskette and use the sys command to make a bootable disk that will boot-up most 8088 machines.
22Disk is a utility that will format diskettes in a number of various CP/M formats. It has disk definitions for a number of vintage computer systems. When setting up 22Disk you select from a list what format you want to use. One of it's best features is the ability to format a diskette in a CP/M machine's proprietary disk structure and copy files to it. I recently contacted them regarding a Televideo TS802 machine I was trying to generate a boot disk for. I found a zip file on the Web with individual files(not an image). I am inserting the correspondence I sent and their reply:
My correspondence:
I would like to order a current copy of 22DISK. I understand that the registered copy of 22DISK comes with 420 disk definitions.
I am trying to generate boot diskettes for a Televideo TS802 without any
success. I am using a Zenith Z386/25 computer with an Adaptec 1522A
controller which should do the job. I have tried the shareware version
of 22DISK and Teledisk but the computer won't boot with the floppies I
make. The TS802 floppy controller appears to be working OK and the
floppy drives works fine when connected to a PC. When the TS802 is
turned on, it sees the floppy drive, passes the startup tests and
resets the heads to track 00. The floppy LED stays on but the heads
don't step through the tracks and there is no error generated by the
system.
Anyway I want to eliminate the possibility that I have an invalid boot
disk. I understand that there were numerous formats for different CP/M
machines and 22DISK is the best utility for creating CP/M diskettes.
Please let me know how to order the software and how you would like
payment to be made.
Their reply:
Thank you for making sure we knew that you need to generate a boot
diskette for a Televideo TS802. You do need to have a valid boot
diskette to start with. 22DISK will allow you to copy boot tracks,
but it cannot generate a system diskette.
This limitation applies to other CP/M diskette formats supported by
our utility. Given appropriate hardware, you can format DATA
diskettes. SYSTEM diskettes are another matter.
You might contact the classic computer list for help in obtaining the
appropriate boot diskette.
Should you decide to purchase 22DISK for conversion tasks, we still
offer this product - but not as shareware. Our current price is $100,
but we can offer a 50% discount for non-business use.
Please let us know if you have questions or need other details about
what 22DISK can and cannot accomplish. We appreciate your interest in
our special products.
To understand all of the features of this utility, there are shareware versions on the Web that contain the Setup and User's guide.
