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@ -535,7 +535,7 @@ |
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<p><strong>RomWBW User Guide</strong> \ |
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Version 3.6 \ |
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Wayne Warthen (<a href="mailto:wwarthen@gmail.com">wwarthen@gmail.com</a>) \ |
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08 Jul 2025</p> |
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18 Jul 2025</p> |
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<h4 id="preface">Preface</h4> |
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<p>This document is a general usage guide for the RomWBW software and is |
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generally the best place to start with RomWBW.</p> |
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@ -1563,10 +1563,10 @@ disk.</p> |
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any operating system you choose to run. Disk storage is available |
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whether you boot your OS from ROM or from the disk media itself.</p> |
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<h2 id="drive-letter-assignment">Drive Letter Assignment</h2> |
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<p>In legacy CP/M operating systems only 16 drive letters (A:-P:) available |
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to be assigned to disks Drive letters were generally mapped to disk |
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drives in a completely fixed way. For example, drive A: would <strong>always</strong> |
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refer to the first floppy disk drive.</p> |
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<p>In CP/M operating systems only 16 drive letters (A:-P:) available to be |
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assigned to disks Drive letters were generally mapped to disk drives in |
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a completely fixed way. For example, drive A: would <strong>always</strong> refer to |
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the first floppy disk drive.</p> |
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<p>RomWBW implements a much more flexible drive letter assignment mechanism |
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so that any drive letter can dynamically be assigned to any disk device, |
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or slice of media.</p> |
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@ -1727,8 +1727,8 @@ you can use the CP/M 2.2 <code>STAT</code> command to display information includ |
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the number of “32 Byte Directory Entries” for a drive letter on the |
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corresponding hard disk.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>If it indicates 512, your disk layout is legacy (hd512). </li> |
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<li>If it indicates 1024, your disk layout is modern (hd1k).</li> |
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<li>If it indicates 512, your disk layout is Classic (hd512). </li> |
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<li>If it indicates 1024, your disk layout is Modern (hd1k).</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p>Here is an example of checking the disk layout.</p> |
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<pre><code>B>STAT E:DSK: |
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@ -1841,12 +1841,12 @@ system.</p> |
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<p>Two hard disk layout schemes exist:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Modern (hd1k)</li> |
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<li>Legacy (hd512)</li> |
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<li>Classic (hd512)</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p>You <strong>cannot</strong> mix disk layouts on a single disk device, however It is |
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perfectly fine for one system to have multiple hard disks with different |
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layouts – each physical disk device is handled separately.</p> |
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<p>If you are setting up a new disk, the modern (hd1k) layout is |
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<p>If you are setting up a new disk, the Modern (hd1k) layout is |
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recommended for the following reasons:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>Larger number of directory entries per filesystem</li> |
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@ -1854,8 +1854,8 @@ recommended for the following reasons:</p> |
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<li>Reduces chances of data corruption</li> |
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<li>Each slice occupies exactly 8MB (an exact power of 2) in size</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p>Both the legacy and modern disk layouts continue to be fully supported |
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by RomWBW. There are no plans to deprecate the legacy layout.</p> |
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<p>Both the classic and modern disk layouts continue to be fully supported |
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by RomWBW. There are no plans to deprecate the classic layout.</p> |
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<h4 id="modern-layout">Modern Layout</h4> |
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<p>RomWBW (Starting with v3.2) supports the use of disk partitioning, |
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utilising a Master Boot Record (MBR) partition tables. The Wikipedia |
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@ -1867,25 +1867,26 @@ not equate to any existing well-known partition types – it was chosen |
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because it is not generally used. RomWBW does not support extended |
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partitions – only a single primary partition can be used.</p> |
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<p>The existence of a partition table entry for RomWBW on a hard disk makes |
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it behave in the modern mode. Removing the RomWBW partition entry from a |
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modern hard disk layout will cause the existing data to be unavailable |
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and/or corrupted</p> |
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it behaves in the modern disk layout mode. Removing the RomWBW partition |
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entry from a modern hard disk layout will cause the existing data to be |
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unavailable and/or corrupted</p> |
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<p>The CP/M filesystem in the slices of the modern disk layout contain 1024 |
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directory entries.</p> |
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<h4 id="legacy-layout">Legacy Layout</h4> |
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<h4 id="classic-layout">Classic Layout</h4> |
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<p>Originally, RomWBW always used the very start of the hard disk media for |
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the location of the slices. In this layout, slice 0 referred to the |
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first chunk of ~8MB on the disk, slice 1 referred to the second chunk of |
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~8MB on the disk, and so on. The number of slices is limited to the size |
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of the disk media – if you attempted to read/write to a slice that would |
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exceed the disk size, you would see I/O errors.</p> |
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<p>The legacy format takes steps to allow a partition table to still be |
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used for other types of filesystems such as DOS/FAT. It just does not |
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<p>The classic disk layout takes steps to allow a partition table to still |
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be used for other types of filesystems such as DOS/FAT. It just does not |
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use a partition table entry to determine the start of the RomWBW slices.</p> |
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<p>The lack of a RomWBW partition table entry will cause legacy behaviour. |
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Adding a partition table entry on an existing legacy RomWBW hard disk |
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will cause the existing data to be unavailable and/or corrupted.</p> |
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<p>The CP/M filesystem in the slices of the legacy disk layout contain 512 |
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<p>The lack of a RomWBW partition table entry will cause the classic disk |
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layout to be used. Adding a partition table entry on an existing classic |
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RomWBW hard disk will cause the existing data to be unavailable and/or |
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corrupted.</p> |
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<p>The CP/M filesystem in the slices of the classic disk layout contain 512 |
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directory entries.</p> |
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<h3 id="hard-disk-slices">Hard Disk Slices</h3> |
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<p>RomWBW implements a mechanism called slicing to allow multiple CP/M |
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@ -1958,9 +1959,9 @@ letter will result in a “no disk” error from the operating system.</p> |
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<p>The exact number of CP/M filesystem slices that will fit on your |
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specific physical hard disk can be determined as follows:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>For modern (hd1k) disk layouts, it is 1024KB + (slices * 8192KB). Or |
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<li>For Modern (hd1k) disk layouts, it is 1024KB + (slices * 8192KB). Or |
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equivalent to say 1MB + (slices * 8MB).</li> |
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<li>For legacy (hd512) disk layouts, it is slices * 8,320KB.</li> |
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<li>For Classic (hd512) disk layouts, it is slices * 8,320KB.</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p><strong>WARNING</strong>: In this document KB means 1024 bytes and MB means 1048576 |
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bytes (frequently expressed as KiB and MiB in modern terminology). In |
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@ -2089,9 +2090,9 @@ RomWBW system. The following instructions are one way to proceed. This |
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does not mean to imply it is the only possible way.</p> |
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<p>First you need to understand</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>The disk layout approach (either hd1k or the legacy hd512). See <a href="#hard-disk-layouts">Hard |
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Disk Layouts</a> section if you are not sure. hd1k |
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should be the preferred layout.</li> |
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<li>The disk layout approach (either the Modern hd1k or the Classic |
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hd512). See <a href="#hard-disk-layouts">Hard Disk Layouts</a> section if you are |
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not sure. hd1k should be the preferred layout.</li> |
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<li>The number of 8MB slices that you want to allocate, preferred is 64 |
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slices. At least 1 slice of 8MB is required</li> |
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<li>If you want to leave space for a FAT partition. See <a href="#fat-filesystem-preparation">FAT Filesystem |
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@ -2116,7 +2117,7 @@ number was assigned at boot See <a href="#device-unit-assignments">Device Unit |
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Assignments</a></p> |
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<p>Refer to <a href="../Applications/">RomWBW Applications</a> for more information on |
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use of the <code>FDISK80</code> utility.</p> |
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<p>If you want to use the legacy hd512 layout skip down to the <a href="#legacy-hd512">Legacy |
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<p>If you want to use the Classic (hd512) layout skip down to the <a href="#classic-hd512">Classic |
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(hd512)</a> section</p> |
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<h4 id="modern-hd1k">Modern (hd1k)</h4> |
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<p>At this point, use the <code>I</code> command to initialize (reset) the partition |
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@ -2172,12 +2173,12 @@ FDISK exit. |
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<p>At this point, it is best to restart your system to make sure that the |
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operating system is aware of the partition table updates. Start CP/M 2.2 |
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or Z-System from ROM again.</p> |
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<h4 id="legacy-hd512">Legacy (hd512)</h4> |
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<h4 id="classic-hd512">Classic (hd512)</h4> |
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<p>At this point, use the <code>I</code> command to initialize (reset) the partition |
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table to an empty state.</p> |
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<p>To use the hd512 layout, use <code>W</code> to write the empty table to the disk |
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and exit. Remember that the lack of a partition for RomWBW implies the |
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legacy (hd512) layout.</p> |
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Classic (hd512) layout.</p> |
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<p>At this point, it is best to restart your system to make sure that the |
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operating system is aware of the partition table updates. Start CP/M 2.2 |
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or Z-System from ROM again.</p> |
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@ -2356,8 +2357,8 @@ The following table shows the disk images available.</p> |
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portion of the filename will be:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>“fd_” for a floppy image.</li> |
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<li>“hd1k_” for a modern layout hard disk image.</li> |
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<li>“hd512_” for a legacy layout hard disk image.</li> |
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<li>“hd1k_” for a Modern layout hard disk image.</li> |
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<li>“hd512_” for a Classic layout hard disk image.</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p>In the case of xxx_dos65.img, only an hd512 variant is provided. This is |
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a constraint of the DOS65 distribution.</p> |
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@ -2423,8 +2424,9 @@ below.</p> |
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<th></th> |
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<th style="text-align: right;"><strong>— Modern (hd1k) —</strong></th> |
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<th style="text-align: right;"></th> |
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<th style="text-align: right;"><strong>— Legacy (hd512) —</strong></th> |
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<th style="text-align: right;"><strong>— Classic (hd512) —</strong></th> |
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<th style="text-align: right;"></th> |
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<th></th> |
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</tr> |
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</thead> |
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<tbody> |
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@ -2434,6 +2436,7 @@ below.</p> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">Sector(s)</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">Byte(s)</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">Sector(s)</td> |
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<td></td> |
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</tr> |
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<tr> |
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<td>RomWBW Partition Start</td> |
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@ -2441,6 +2444,7 @@ below.</p> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">2,048</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">–</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">–</td> |
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<td></td> |
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</tr> |
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<tr> |
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<td>RomWBW Partition Size</td> |
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@ -2448,6 +2452,7 @@ below.</p> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">1,048,576</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">–</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">–</td> |
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<td></td> |
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</tr> |
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<tr> |
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<td>FAT Filesystem Start</td> |
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@ -2455,6 +2460,7 @@ below.</p> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">1,050,624</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">520 MB</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">1,064,960</td> |
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<td></td> |
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</tr> |
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<tr> |
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<td>FAT Filesystem Size</td> |
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@ -2462,6 +2468,7 @@ below.</p> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">786,432</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">384 MB</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">786,432</td> |
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<td></td> |
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</tr> |
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<tr> |
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<td>\<end></td> |
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@ -2469,6 +2476,7 @@ below.</p> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">1,851,392</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">904 MB</td> |
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<td style="text-align: right;">1,837,056</td> |
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<td></td> |
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</tr> |
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</tbody> |
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</table> |
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wwarthen
6 months ago