4.4BSD/usr/src/old/rxformat/rxformat.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)rxformat.8	6.6 (Berkeley) 3/16/91
.\"
.Dd March 16, 1991
.Dt RXFORMAT 8
.Os BSD 4.2
.Sh NAME
.Nm rxformat
.Nd format floppy disks
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm rxformat
.Op Fl d
.Ar special
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm rxformat
program formats a diskette in the specified drive
associated with the special device
.Ar special .
.Pf ( Ar Special
is normally
.Pa /dev/rx0 ,
for drive 0, or
.Pa /dev/rx1 ,
for drive 1.)
.Pp
Available option:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl d
Force double density formatting.
By default, the diskette is formatted single density;
Single density is compatible 
with the
.Tn IBM
3740 standard (128 bytes/sector). 
In double density, each sector
contains 256 bytes of data.
.El
.Pp
Before formatting a diskette
.Nm rxformat
prompts for verification if standard input is a tty
(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
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Sy \&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.
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /dev/rx? -compact
.It Pa /dev/rx?
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr rx 4
.Sh AUTHOR
Helge Skrivervik
.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 DEC hardware.)
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .