Commodore RF512C, RF502C, RF501C Operational Manual

RF500C

SERIES

DISK DRIVE

Operational

Manual

L..--..

•

__

~_-'

RF512C,RF501C and RF502C

Operational

Manual

TABLE

GENERAL

C

HAPTER

INSTALLATION

Unpacking
Care of the drive

Drive set
C

HAPTER

GETTING

Manual organization
Principl

OF

up

es

CONTENTS

1

AND

and

procedure

2

STARTED

diskettes

HANDLING

2

4

C

HAPTER

3

COMMANDS

Syntax 1-
NEW/HEADER
SAVE/BSAVE/DSAVE
RUN/BOOT
LOAD/BLOAD/DLOAD
VERIFY/DVERIFY
DIRECTORY/CATALOG
RENAME
SCRATCH
COPY/BACKUP
I

NITIALIZE

CL

OSE/DCLOSEiDCLEAR

OPEN/DOPEN
GET"/INPUT

PRINT"
APPEND
RECORD
COLLECTIVALIDATE
CONCAT

AUTO

Command nam

"

AND

STATEMENTS

e

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13
14

15

16
16

17

18
18

19
19

20
20

21

B-A

(BLOCK-ALLOCATE)

B-F

(BLOCK-FREE)

B-R

(BLOCK-READ)

B-W

(BLOCK-WRITE)

B-P

(BLOCK-POINTER)

B-E

(BLOCK-EXECUTE)

M-R

(MEMORY-READ)
M-W
M-E
HEAD/SIDE

(MEMORY-WRITE)

(MEMORY-EXECUTE)

( for RF502C only)

21
22
22
23
23
24
24
25
25

26

C

HAPT

ER 4

USER

Introduction
Common

Extension "UO"

C

HAPTER

FILE

Introduction

Sequential

Random
Direct - Block
Direct -

COMMANDS

user

5

AND

DIRECT PROGRAMMING

File

Access File 33

Memory

APPEDICES

commands

commands

Programming

programming

for RF512C

only

36

27

28

30

31

34
35

A.

QUESTIONS

B.

DISK

C.

SETTING

[l

ERROR

E.

SPECIFICATIONS

F.

RADIO

AND

FORMAT

THE

DEVICE

MESSAGES

AND

TELEVISION

ANSWERS

NUMBER

INTERFERENCE

.

36

37

40

41

43

44

GENERAL

This

manua

how

to

this

manual use examples to

how the various

of

this

manufa l

ture.

The

formation
The

RF500C

retrieve information much more quickly

you

can

l has two primary purposes. T

use t

he

BASIC

is

appendices

in

detail.

is

a floppy disk drive which al

with tape.

programming l

accompany

BASIC commands

to serve

as

a reference

and

the specificiations give you more

he

First

anguage.

with explenation of

work.

The second

guide

lows

and

is

to teach you

The

chapters of

purpose

to disk file struc-

in-

you to store

conveniently than

and

Thi

s manual can
operate
that let you commun i

Because different computer
must make sure what kind of

SY

NTA

The
the versions of BASIC
BA

SIC has more sophisticate funct i

with lower versions.

C

BM comput

in

different

X for your convenience.

table below

RET

2000

VIC-20
C-64 2,0
CBM
C-16
PLUS
CBM
C-

3000

4

8000

128

be

applied

computers.

cate

lists

the various

each

er

with your

says

cont

to many versions of BASIC that

The

BASIC is

RF500C

different BASIC

compute

Commodore

ains.

Remember, higher version

ons;

BASIC

a popular

floppy disk drive.

language

r you

and

interpreter

1.0

2.0

3.0
3,5

3.5

4.0

7.0

use,

computers

can

language

to

obey

compa

, you

its

and

tible

C

HAPTER

1

INSTALLATION

UNPACKING

Your

disk drive

1.

The

disk drive (the main box)

2.

A serial

3.

A power

4.

This

operation

Save the
drive - or even
dea

ler or to the factory for service.

IMPORTANT

Before

or computer.

CARE

connec

OF

pac

cable

adaptor

packing

in

NOTE

ting or disconnecting anything on the drive

TURN OFF THE POWER.

THE

AND

comes with several

(120

manual

material in

the unlikely case that you must return it to your

DRIVE

HANDLING

items.

volt AC for

AND

USA,

case

you

This

DISKETTES

These are:

240 volt AC for Europe)

wish

to transport your

is a must!

The

disk dri
motors
than t
or having things

The

formation
coating

The

cover which

it to spin freely

he

diskette

diskette

DRIVE

STEP
STEP
STEP

STEP
STEP

STEP
STEP
STEP
STEP

1:
2:
3:

4:
5: Plug

6:

7:
8:

9:

ve.

unlike the computer.

and

moving parts. Therefore it

computer. Rough handling. such

is

a plastic disk wi

can

be

is similar to the

is

permanently

is

used to protect

SETUP

Setup your
TURN
Using the drive serial

computer.

TURN
and

Remove out the
TURN
TURN
It

OFF your

OFF

the

the drive's power connector.

ON
ON

is

ready

drop

This

on

it.

stored on

magnetic

package

can

th

and
packed

it.

is

PROCEDURE

Commodore

computer

your drive.

bot

h ends of the

head-protec
your drive.
the

computer.

and

type:

10

is a mechanical

is

somewhat more delicate

as

dropping

cause it to malfunction.

magnetic

erase out from

coating

in a square

Please keep it cl

never

computer

and

cable

AC

adaptor

tion sheet from the drive.

PRINT "DEM

coating.

on recording tape.

opened.

system.

its

periphrals.

link

up

into the wall outlet

O".

device

so

its

surface.

black

ean

and

the drive

RETURN

with

the drive

that

in-

The

plastic

allow

and

C

HAPTE

R 2

GETTING

MANUAL

This

manua
works
tion
t

he

Information

and

of

this

information

Setup

STARTED

ORGANIZATION

l contai

specific information for

manual, refer to the chart.

I

ns

what

Installat

gene

you need.

ral information about. how t

ion

each

I

I

Basic

Operations

File

Ope

rations

I-

Block

Operations

operation.

You

can quickly find out

Se

tting Devi

I

Pr

I

Programming

Direct Block

Programming

The

ce

inciples

File

he

drive

orangiza-

No

I

I

Instructions

Information

Memory

Operat

Commands

Er

Messages

Format

I

Questions

I

System

ions

Us

er

1

ror

Di

sk

Information

I

I

I

I

Direct Memory

Programm ing

Programming

Information

2

Learning
direct
and
tal

commands, This

how

commands

several of

Commodore

BA

SIC programs.

You

can

use these

to

use

the

with

them

are

manual

computer,

commands

drive

emphasis

and

its

on

BASI

C statements

a few

special

straightforward extensions

assumes

and

feel

to

that

user

comfortable

instruct

the dive

are
in writing simple

or

instructions,

of

fundamen-

familiar

as

you

des

DOS

with

ire

Basic

File

operations

operations

Block

Momry
User

commands

ope

rations

operations

NEW,

HEADER,

SAVE, BOOT,

VERIFY, DIRECTORY,

SCRATCH,
OPEN,

CLOSE,

APPEND,

COLLECT, VALIDAT

B-P,

and

M-

R,

HEAD,

COPY,

etc

.

OPEN, GE

RECORD,

B-E

M-W,

M-E

SIDE

and

INITIALIZE,

Ti!', INPUT

CON

E, B-

U

RENAME,

CLOSE

#,

CAT,

A,

B-F,

LOAD

PRINT

AUT
B-R,

,

,

#,

O

B-W,

3

PRINCIPLES

One of the most i

mat

ion

can

it

is

filed.

The

programs that

be

mpo

stored

retrieve information,
tasks
to "

In this
pe
for a specific devi
logica

The
as the
assigned fram 1
specified
be
in single di

are cal

DOS

".

DOS

ripheral

ed

, t

he

is

called channel. Each peripheral must

l file is specified

re have

15

available

command channe

from 1 to

set

by har

dware

sk dri

the

path

ce

to.

ve

rtant

automatically

and

Disk

advantages

of this dri

and retrieved by a

keep track of file

do

a multitude of other housekee ping

Ope

rating

System

ve is that inf

name

under which

, usually shortened

which link between the computer
num ber (usually 8 for disk dri

for

data

channel

l.

127.

The di

32

by saftware (but only

switch

sys

). The drive number

tem .

The

sk

transf

s,

and

log i

drive

er.

channel

cal

file number

dev

ice number

15

8,9,

10

is

always 0 (zero)

s,

save

be

assigned

ve) and

is

reserved

can

can

and

11

or-

and

and

a

be
be

can

So,

the typical form for sendi

be

low:

Example:

In

GCR

sectoring

OPEN

sys

tem, a di

is

shawn

1,8,15,

sk

as

Track

1-

17

18

-24 0­25-30 0­31-35

In

RF512C,

wi

th

sector

the tracks an side

no.

as trac

''#'' :

is

for

matt

belaw:

k 1 to

ng

cammand

REM

open

to the drive

logical file 1
8 thraugh channel 15
message

ed

35

Sectar Ass

is

"II".

trackS/s

ide a

ignment

0-20

18
17

0-

16

one

are

ass

ign

ed

35,

respectively.

is

for

device

and

nd

the optimal

from 36 t

listed

the

o.

70

4

In

every formatted disk, there

information (disk

status indicotion, see
track

The

VECTOR

the sector of the file
the entire file

loaded

The

also shorten the internal

the

For
memory.

18.

(For

information collection of the disk

table

in

computer memory

built-

in

RAM

1/0

buffer to

more

advanced

Then,

name

more detail, see

(in

the directory), we know the location of where

could

is

speed

a multiple processing environment one

, disk ID, file

appendix). The

starts.

not only support for the

Follow the pointer of

be

found

data

up

user,

~

a directory which contains disk

table

appendix)

and

aulomatically

processing time.

the transfer rate.
helshe

can

and

directory file

is

called

the

program

system

write

bit-

map

is

file.

From

each

.

operation

It

can

program

for block

located

sector then
file wi

enl

can

on

the file

ll

be

but

arge

on the

enjoy.

Here,

RAM

is

the

toble

page

0

1 buffer for

of

RAM

Contents

system

usage.

register

GCR

2 drive information

3

4

5

6

7

#0

buffer zero

#1

buffer

#2

buffer two

#3

buffer three

#4

buffer four

one

5

CHAPTER

3

COMMANDS

Syntax -

Function

Format

Language

and

version

Syntax

Command

Discuss

KEYWORD

The

The

strings that are

The

Where # means a real or integer variable

Note:

AND

the

KEYWORDs
KEYWORDs

arguments

S means a string variable

[]
()

" " means argument that within quotation

In

some commands, drive
no.
ad9ress location
which are

P,

respectively.

In

wildcard string,

STATEMENTS

name.

command

(arguments ... ) [optional arguments

appear

are words that are

appear

means such arguments

parameter~

means that parentheses must

with variable

marks must not

(8,

9,

10

preceded

type

commands

or

11),

and

in

upper-case

in

lower-case

RAM

and

by letters

"?"

,,'" stands to full the

how

of

be

variables

bank

end

stands
in

that position,

filename with "?"s.

it

works.

letters.

part

DOS.

no.

address location,

for

of

letters.

are

(0

or

1),

no. (0-

D,U,B,P,

any character

...

]

BASIC

optional

15),
and

or

come

device

start

TO

and

rest

of

Example:

6

We

wish

each

you

can

example joyfully.

satisty on our discussion

and

try

NEW/ HE

Fun

ction New

Format

ADER

is

HEADER

to

clear

a direct

is

an

the directory

command

interactive

for formatting a disk.
command
of

a disk.

for formatting or

BA

SIC

BASCI7.0

Synta x

stringS
HEADER

Remember,

sen' through the
mnemonic

But

HEADER
When it
The
When id

tory is
The diskname must not longer than
The

id

The

device# defau
The dri
Where the

S

YNTAX.

= "N[

works,

answer

cleared (if your disk

code

ve# default value

EW

] : diskname,

"diskname [,id]" [,D drive#]

[,

U device#]

NEW

is

code

preceding

is

a direct

is

N.

an

interactive

echo

may

is any 2

be

isn'

lt value

command

message is '

"Y"

t assigned, then the disk direc-

characters

lett

id"

command

type

or "N".

is

ers D and

is

O.

is

8.

in

terpret command.

already

identif

channel

'ARE YOU SURE

U please refer to

that should

and

formatted).

16

characters.

ier.

be

its

?".

Ex

amples: Using

7

NEW

C

LOSE

Using

HEADER 'lEST
ARE

1:

HEADER

YOU

command

OPEN

SURE

1,8,15

command

DISK, 1A"

? Y

, "N: TEST DISK, 1

(Type
(Answer "Y" for

wait for "

that line)

ready" prompt

A"

yes

and

SAVE I BSAVE

IOSAVE

Function These interpreter

specific

computer

Format

BASIC

BASCI

Syntax

7.0

SAVE
SAVE

DSAVE
BSAVE

DSAVE

The fil

"filename",

filenameS,

"filename"[,D drive#]
"filename"[.D drive#]

(fi

ename

bank#

B

lenameS) [,D drive#] [,U

must

quotation marks

existing

follow i

ng

SAVE

file's

name; otherwise, you ,r-ould type as

:

"

@:

filename",

commands

save a

copy

memory to the disk as a file.

device#

device#

[,U device#]
[,U

device#]

,P start#

TOP

end#

device#

be

a string that is enclosed

and

can

't

be

the some as any

device#

of the

]

in

the

Examples:

Where @: means the

old file

new one,
The
The

BSAVE

device#
drive# default value is

command

defau

lt value

is specified for directly save the
computer memory onto the di
preceding

SYNTAX

.

letters D,

U,

SAVE "DEMO",8

DSAVE
BSAVE

SAVE

"DEMO"
"PICTURE':

"@:

DEMO" ,DV:
dated

DO,U8,P8192

REM[The

on the disk drive number

is

sk

Band

TO

is

replaced

by the

8.
O.

as

a file. Where the

P please refer to

P 16384

"DE

MO

" file

DV)

is

up-

.

8

RUN/BOOT

Functio

Fo

rma t

BASIC

Sy

ntax

n These interpreter

program file

The BOOT

7.0

RUN
RUN
BO

The fil

file).

The

device

The

drive# default value is O.

If

no

then the

Where t

S

YNTAX.

"filename"[,D

[filnameS)

OT ["fil

ename

filename

he

.

command

ename"] [,D

must

" default val

is

boot

preceding

commands

is

specified for binary

drive"] [,U

drive"] [,U device"]

be

a string

ue

assingned
program

file is i

letter D

can

load

device"]

[i.e.

name

is

8.

to

the BO
and U please

OT

mplied

and

execute

file.

of

program

command

.

refer to

,

Exa

mpl

e:

RUN "DE
BO

OT

Commodore

MO" :

[If

REM

a CP/M master disk

128 will

"DEM

opera

O"

on

te

device

is

under

8

insert

ed.

your

CP/M mode.)

9

LOAD/BLOAD/DLOAD

Fun

ction These interpreter co

program) from disk to computer memor

Format

mmands load

a file (e.g.

y.

BA

SIC

BA

SIC 7.0

Syntax

LO

AD

LOAD
DLOAD

BLOAD

"filename
filenameS,

"filename"[,D drive"'] [,U device"']
"filename"[,D drive"'] [,U device"']

[,

B bank"'] [,P start"']

", device"'[.command"']

device

"'[,command "']

DLOAD (filename) [,D drive"'] [,U device"']

The fil

The
The
The

When the

ename
quotat
disk

file.

must

ion marks

be
and

device'" default v
drive'" default value

command'"
program file
loca

tion.

default value

is

loaded

command'"

be

loaded

at

the same

a string t

such string

alue

at

is

1, then the program file will

hat

is

is

is

B.

is

O.

is

0 that means the

the BASIC

loca

tion where it was

enclosed

saved from.

BLOAD

to computer quickly. Where the
D,U,B

command

and

P please refer

is

specified for binary file to

preceding

to SYNTA

X.

also a

name

program

in

the

sta

load

lett

of

rt

ers

Exa

mple

s: L

10

OAD "DEMO
DLOAD "DEMO
BLOAD "PICTUE",DO
LOAD

"*

",B

,1:

",

B

"

,UB,0,PB192

REM

(This

command

loading

games.)

is

suitable for

VERIFY

/DVERIFY

Function

Format

BASIC

BASIC

Syntax

These

the program file on di
in

An "OK"

7.0

The

quotes
The
The
The

pr

When the

will
was saved.

Where the

S

YNTA

interpreter

computer.

echo will

VERIFY
DVERIFY

filename must

device# de

drive# default value
comm

ogram file

be

"filename'[.device#] [,command#]

and

and#

command

compared

preceding

X.

commands

sk with the progr

respone for verify

"filen

ame'[,

be

a string th

such string

fault va l

defau

is

verified with the

lt value

# is

with the location from which it

letters D

D drive# ] [,U device#]

ue

are used to

at

is enclosed

is also a name

is

8.

is

O.

is

0,

that means the

BASIC

1,

then the program file

and

U please refer to

compare

am

pass.

of disk

prog

memory

in

file.

ram.

Example:

VERIFY "DEMO
OK

",8

11