If you invoke format.jar without any commandline options, it will print "help" information, albeit terse. (I created a shell script named "format" that invokes the "java -jar format.jar ..." command, just for ease of use). The help output is:
Code:
Usage: format [options] <file> [format-options]
format show [options] [format-options]
format list
Options:
files=d = preload image with files from directory 'd'
h8d=file = preload image from H8D image
imd=file = preload image from IMD image
td0=file = preload image from TD0 image
nores = Do not reserve hidden blocks (breaks cpmtools)
list = List all known formats
show = Show geometry(s) (do not format)
Format-Options:
5 | 8
DD | SD
DS | SS
DT | ST
MMS | Z17 | M47 | Z37 | Z47 | Z67 | Z37X | Z47X | Kaypro | HiDens
Basically, the "<file>" parameter is the output image file name, to be created. format refuses to overwrite that file if it already exists. "[options]", if any, must precede the image file name. "[format-options]" must follow. Here is what I use to create a blank Kaypro 400K image:
Code:
java -jar format.jar kp4blank Kaypro 5 DD DS
This creates the file "kp4blank.logdisk" which is a blank Kaypro 400K floppy image.
The "files=d" option may be used to populate the new image with files from your computer. "d" is a directory/path. For example, "files=/some/path/to/cpm/files". All files in that directory will be loaded onto the new image.
The "h8d=file" option is really for Heathkit systems, but if the "file" is the same size as the raw capacity of the image, it will be loaded as-is over the new image.
I've had pretty good success using the "imd=file", although some IMD files out there have issues (like extra tracks beyond the end of the disk).
I've not had much success with the "td0=file" option as most TD0 images I come across are compressed, and the compression algorithm is considered proprietary. I have been able to use a utility to convert TD0 compressed to raw, but I don't recall exactly what util now.
As for as "compatibility" of logdisk images, the first N blocks (N = capacity of diskette) of the file are the diskette image, and you can use cpmtools directly on them (provided you have the diskdefs). I use a modified cpmtools that examines the logdisk data and automatically generates the diskdef. I also have the 'raw2imd' program that can work on logdisk images.
