usr/src/old/rxformat/rxformat.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1983 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"     @(#)rxformat.8  5.1 (Berkeley) %G%
.\"
.TH RXFORMAT 8V "28 April 1983"
.UC 5
.SH NAME
rxformat \- format floppy disks
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B /etc/rxformat
[
.B \-d
] special
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I rxformat
program formats a diskette in the specified drive
associated with the special device
.IR special .
(
.I Special
is normally /dev/rrx0, for drive 0, or /dev/rrx1,
for drive 1.)
By default, the diskette is formatted single density;
a
.B \-d
flag may be supplied to force double density formatting.
Single density is compatible
with the IBM 3740 standard (128 bytes/sector).
In double density, each sector
contains 256 bytes of data.
.PP
Before formatting a diskette
.I rxformat
prompts for verification (this allows a user to cleanly
abort the operation; note that
formatting a diskette will destroy any existing data).
Formatting is done by the hardware.
All sectors are zero-filled.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
`No such device' means that the drive is not ready,
usually because no disk is in the drive or the drive door is open.
Other error messages are selfexplanatory.
.SH FILES
/dev/rx?
.SH SEE ALSO
rx(4V)
.SH BUGS
A floppy may not be formatted if the
header info on sector 1, track 0 has been damaged.  Hence, it is not
possible to format a completely degaussed disk.
(This is actually a problem in the hardware.)
.SH AUTHOR
Helge Skrivervik