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<book lang="&language;">
<bookinfo>

<title>The &kfloppy; Formatter Handbook</title>

<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Thad</firstname>
<surname>McGinnis</surname>
<affiliation><address><email>ctmcginnis@compuserve.com</email>
</address></affiliation> </author>

<othercredit role="developer">
<firstname>Bernd</firstname>
<othername>Johannes</othername>
<surname>Wuebben</surname>
<affiliation><address><email>wuebben@math.cornell.edu</email></address></affiliation>
<contrib>Developer</contrib>

</othercredit>

<othercredit role="reviewer">
<firstname>Lauri</firstname>
<surname>Watts</surname>
<contrib>Reviewer</contrib>
<affiliation><address><email>vampyr@atconnex.net</email></address></affiliation>
</othercredit>

</authorgroup>
<date>14/12/2000</date>
<releaseinfo>1.3.0</releaseinfo>

<copyright>
<year>2000</year>
<holder>Thad McGinnis</holder>
</copyright>

<legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>

<abstract><para>This Handbook describes &kfloppy; Formatter Version
1.3.0</para></abstract>

<keywordset>
<keyword>KDE</keyword>
<keyword>kfloppy</keyword>
<keyword>floppy</keyword>
<keyword>format</keyword>
</keywordset>

</bookinfo>

<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>

<para>&kfloppy; Formatter is a utility that provides a straightforward
graphical means to format 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks. </para>

<important><para>Make sure that your floppy is <emphasis>not</emphasis> mounted.
&kfloppy; cannot format a mounted floppy.</para></important>

</chapter>

<chapter id="usingkfloppy">
<title>Using KFloppy</title>

<para>Starting &kfloppy; opens a single window by which the user may choose
appropriate settings and control the formatting process.  These options and
controls are detailed below.</para>

<important><para>Make sure that your floppy is <emphasis>not</emphasis> mounted.
&kfloppy; cannot format a mounted floppy.</para></important>

<sect1 id="controlsettings">
<title>Control Settings</title>

<para>The settings are chosen by means of three drop down boxes located at
the top left center of &kfloppy;.</para>

<sect2 id="selectdrive">
<title>Floppy Drive</title>

<para>Clicking on the top drop down box, which is labeled <guilabel>Floppy
Drive</guilabel>floppy>, offers the user the following four choices:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>A: 3.5</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Choosing this item configures &kfloppy; to format a 3.5 inch
floppy drive.  The <guilabel>A:</guilabel> follows the MSDOS/Windows naming
convention and corresponds to the <filename>fd0</filename> device in Linux.  The
<guilabel>3.5</guilabel> indicates that the floppy is the 3.5 inch type.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>A: 5.25</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Choosing this item configures &kfloppy; to format a 5.25 inch
floppy drive.  The <guilabel>A:</guilabel> follows the MSDOS/Windows naming
convention and corresponds to the <filename>fd0</filename> device in Linux.  The
<guilabel>5.25</guilabel> indicates that the floppy is the 5.25 inch type.  This
type is generally out of use and normally found only in older computers.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>


<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>B: 3.5</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Choosing this item configures &kfloppy; to format a 3.5 inch
floppy drive.  The <guilabel>B:</guilabel> follows the MSDOS/Windows naming
convention and corresponds to the <filename>fd1</filename> device in Linux.  The
<guilabel>3.5</guilabel> indicates that the floppy is the 3.5 inch type.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>B: 5.25</guilabel></term> 
<listitem><para>Choosing this item configures &kfloppy; to
format a 5.25 inch floppy drive.  The <guilabel>B:</guilabel> follows the
MSDOS/Windows naming convention and corresponds to the <filename>fd1</filename>
device in Linux. The <guilabel>5.25</guilabel> indicates that the floppy is the
5.25 inch type.  This type is generally out of use and normally found only in
older computers.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="density">
<title>Density</title>

<para>The drop down box labeled <guilabel>Density</guilabel> offers the choice
of two possible density settings.  They are:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>HD</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para><abbrev>HD</abbrev> stands for High Density.  This is the type commonly
used today and so will most likely be the one chosen by most users.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>DD</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para><abbrev>DD</abbrev> stands for Double Density.  This format is available
mostly because some old diskettes and floppy disk drives require it.  While the
user may format a high density diskette in this manner it will reduce the
storage space by one half.  The following list of properties for each disk type
and density combination should make that clear:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>3.5" DD: double-sided, 80 tracks, 9 sectors/track  - 720K</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>3.5" HD: double-sided, 80 tracks, 18 sectors/track - 1440K</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>5.25" DD: double-sided, 40 tracks, 9 sectors/track  - 360K</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>5.25" HD: double-sided, 80 tracks, 15 sectors/track - 1200K</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<note>
<para>The 800k disk format used by Macintosh floppy drives cannot be
supported on PC floppy drives since they are not capable of formatting
disks in that fashion.</para>
</note>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="filesystems">
<title>File Systems</title>

<para>The third drop down box, labeled File System, offers the user the
following two choices:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Dos</term>
<listitem>
<para>This selection will have &kfloppy; place the MSDOS/Windows type of
file system on the diskette.  The user will most likely want to choose this
system if she or he will be using the diskette with those operating systems
as they do not recognize other system types.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry> 
<term>ext2fs</term>
<listitem>
<para>This selection will have &kfloppy; place the type of file system on
the diskette which is most commonly used with Linux.  The user will 
likely want to choose this system if he or she will only be using the
floppy with Linux.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="formatting-options">
<title>Formatting Options</title>
<para>Within the outline of a box in the left center of &kfloppy; the user
may find a set of five formatting options.  The top two are a pair of radio
buttons.</para> <note><para>This term (radio buttons) indicates a set of options among
which only one can be selected - in the same way that only one preset
channel selection may be set on a car radio.</para></note><para>The
bottom two options are for labeling the diskette.  All are explained
below:</para>

<sect2>
<title>Formatting Method</title>
<para>&kfloppy; can format a disk in the following two ways:</para>
<para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Quick Erase</term>
<listitem>
<para>This simply puts the new file system on the disk. All data on the
disk is erased. If the density of the disk is different than the selected
<link linkend="density">density</link>, then the tracks and sectors on the
disk will be reallocated before the file system is made.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Full Format</term>
<listitem>
<para>A full format reallocates the tracks and sectors, puts the selected
file system on the disk, and then verifies the format, blocking out any bad
sectors it finds.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Verify on</title>

<para>The middle feature is the <guilabel>Verify on</guilabel> check
box.  This tells &kfloppy to check that the formatting was correctly
written to the floppy.  This allows bad sectors to be identified.
</para>
</sect2>



<sect2>
<title>Create Label</title>

<para>The bottom two features allow the user to add (or change) a
label to the diskette.  If the <guilabel>Create Label</guilabel>
check box is selected then the user can enter a name (label) for the
diskette that is to be formatted in the text box located immediately
below.  When the diskette is subsequently formatted the label will be
written to the diskette.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="buttons">
<title>The Buttons</title>
<para>There are four buttons located vertically along the right side of
&kfloppy;.  Starting at the bottom and going up they are:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Format</guibutton></term>
<listitem><para>This button initiates the formatting process.  Once the user is
sure that all the settings are correct he or she may begin the process by
clicking on this button.  Assuming that a diskette is in place and the
parameters are set correctly, the user will see a few changes take place.  The
label on the button itself will change from <guibutton>Format</guibutton> to
<guibutton>Abort</guibutton> indicating that another click on the button will
stop the formatting.  Furthermore, there will be a change in the two long
rectangular boxes that span the bottom of &kfloppy;.</para>

<para> The upper box is a status indicator that gives information about the
process underway.  As the formatting occurs it will contain specific
details about the type of formatting.  When &kfloppy; enters the
verification stage of the process this will be displayed.</para>

<para>The lower box is a progress bar.  This displays both graphically and
numerically the progress of first the formatting and then the verification.
Before starting it appears to be empty - showing only the figure
<guilabel>0%</guilabel> in the center.  As each process takes place the progress
is tracked graphically as the box fills from left to right.  At the same time
the number in the center will increase reflecting the precise percentage of the
process that has been completed.</para>

<important>
<para>Make sure that your floppy is <emphasis>not</emphasis> mounted.  &kfloppy; cannot 
format a mounted floppy.</para>
</important>

</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Help</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>This invokes the KDE help system starting at the &kfloppy; help pages
(this document).</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>About</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>This displays version and author information.</para>
</listitem> 
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Quit</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>Clicking on this button will close &kfloppy;.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</sect1>
</chapter>

<chapter id="command-line">
<title>Command line options</title>

<para>Though &kfloppy; may most often be started from the KDE program menu,
or a desktop icon, it can also be opened at the command line prompt of a
terminal window.  There are a few options that are available when doing
this.  They are:</para> 

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><command>kfloppy <option>--help</option></command></term>
<listitem><para>This lists the most basic options available at the command
line.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><command>kfloppy <option>--help-qt</option></command></term>
<listitem><para>This lists the options available for changing the way
&kfloppy; interacts with Qt.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry> 
<term><command>kfloppy <option>--help-kde</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>This lists the options available for changing the way &kfloppy;
interacts with KDE.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><command>kfloppy <option>--help-all</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>This lists all of the command line options.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><command>kfloppy <option>--author</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lists &kfloppy;'s author in the terminal window</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><command>kfloppy <option>--version</option></command></term>
<listitem>
<para>Lists version information for Qt, KDE, and &kfloppy;. Also available
through <command>kfloppy <option>-V</option></command> </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist> 

</chapter> 

<chapter id="credits">
<title>Credits and Licenses</title>

<para>&kfloppy; Formatter Program Copyright 2000 Bernd Johannes Wuebben
<email>wuebben@math.cornell.edu</email></para>

<para>Documentation Copyright 2000 by Thad McGinnis
<email>ctmcginnis@compuserve.com</email>.</para>

<para>This version of the &kfloppy; Handbook is based on the original by
David Rugge <email>davidrugge@mindspring.com</email></para>

&underFDL;
&underGPL;

</chapter>

<appendix id="installation">
<title>Installation</title>

<para>&kfloppy; is packaged as part of the kdeutils package.  For more
information on installing and compiling KDE please see <ulink
url="http://www.kde.org">www.kde.org</ulink>.</para>

</appendix>
</book>

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