History of Disk2FDI versions


2012/09/25      Version 1.0à4 registered.
                - LPTScan updated to version 1.2 to fix a minor bug.
                  Thanks to Jeff and Chris!
                - Corrected a bug that could hang the computer for a long time
                  on some blank tracks when creating an FDI file using a
                  Disk2FDI cable.
                - Minor bugfixes.

2012/09/25      Version 1.0à4. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Added support for long filenames.
                - Improved support for quad-density disks with a new parameter
                  to the /D switch to disable automatic double-stepping when
                  creating an IMG or ST file.
                - Corrected a bug in FDIUTIL that would not update the total
                  number of cylinders when merging a second file with more
                  formatted cylinders than the first file.
                - Corrected a bug in FDIUTIL that would incorrectly process
                  files with mid- and high-level tracks (except double-density
                  Amiga high-level tracks).

2007/08/10      Version 1.0à3a registered.
                - Corrected bugs that could wrongly detect sectors or hang the
                  computer on some blank tracks when using the /S switch with
                  a Disk2FDI cable.
                - Further improved unstable tracks processing when creating an
                  FDI file using a Disk2FDI cable.

2007/07/29      Version 1.0à3 registered.
                - Corrected a bug that could hang the computer at the analysis
                  phase when creating an FDI file using a Disk2FDI cable.
                - Improved unstable tracks processing when creating an FDI
                  file using a Disk2FDI cable.
                - Minor bugfixes.

2007/07/29      Version 1.0à3. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - The FDICRCHK utility is merged into a more generic FDIUTIL
                  program. Use the 'C' command to select its functionality.
                - FDIUTIL's "Check" command now prints the total number of
                  processed and bad files before exiting.
                - "Merge" command added to FDIUTIL.
                - "Import" command added to FDIUTIL for ADF and DO files.
                - Added the /M switch to disable drive motors when performing
                  time-consuming tasks, so as to prevent the floppy disk from
                  being accessed for too long.
                - Minor bugfix.

2006/07/23      Version 1.0à2 registered.
                - Added D2FPCIPP.COM that launches DISK2FDI.COM with a /C
                  switch automatically configured using parameters returned
                  by LPTSCAN.EXE.
                - Re-added support for IRQs 8 to 15 for the parallel port
                  (this feature was disabled in Disk2FDI starting with version
                  0.97à, which was the first publicly available registered
                  version). These IRQs are generally not compatible with
                  Disk2FDI, but it indeed works on some machines with such a
                  configuration.
                - Added spurious interrupt management. These parasitic
                  interrupts can occur on some machines when using a Disk2FDI
                  cable. When creating an FDI file using the /C and /RS
                  switches, if spurious interrupts occured when reading a
                  track, it can be re-read to obtain a cleaner signal.
                - The /C switch is now XMS-friendly. This means that programs
                  requiring extended memory, such as DOS NTFS drivers or RAM
                  drives, are now compatible with Disk2FDI.
                - Added CRC-32 features to the FDI format and to Disk2FDI.
                - Added the S and nnn parameters to the /R switch. Also, using
                  the /R switch, Disk2FDI will now ask for retry after each
                  track reading when creating an FDI file.
                - Added a tracks profile recap at the end of an FDI dump.

2006/07/23      Version 1.0à2. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - When displaying the help on usage, the page size now adapts
                  to the current DOS resolution.
                - Added the /I switch to invert sides.
                - Added error info to D64 files. They may not always reflect
                  what a real 1541 would produce. Basic D64 files can still be
                  created using the new /SD64B switch.
                - Added the FDICRCHK.COM utility to test FDI files.
                - Some other minor improvements.

2006/02/04      Version 1.0à1 registered.
                - Corrected a bug that would incorrectly parse an MFM stream,
                  resulting in sectors occasionally not being detected.
                - When using a Disk2FDI cable, made density auto-detection
                  more tolerant to make it work when the signal from a track
                  is less stable. Disk2FDI should now correctly report the
                  sectors present on those tracks.
                - Corrected bugs that could hang the computer at the analysis
                  phase when creating an FDI file.
                - Corrected a bug that would prevent an Apple 3.5" GCR sector
                  (Apple // or Macintosh) from being detected if it could also
                  be detected as an Apple 5.25" GCR sector.
                - Corrected a bug when auto-detecting Amiga high-density disks
                  when using the Disk2FDI cable. They were always detected as
                  double-density. Thanks to Slobman for formatting some HD
                  disks on his Amiga at the Alchimie 5.
                - Changed details of the first and last lines of log files.

2006/02/04      Version 1.0à1. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Corrected a bug, introduced with version 0.97à, that would
                  incorrectly detect and initialize the second disk drive.
                - Corrected a bug when auto-detecting Amiga high-density
                  disks. Thanks again to Slobman for the Amiga HD formatting.
                - Added ADF support for Amiga 5.25" floppy disks. Thanks to
                  Olivier for reporting the problem and providing test disks.
                - Corrected a bug in the ADF extraction code that would
                  incorrectly report a very high number of bad sectors on
                  tracks with non-standard Amiga sector headers.

2004/07/19      Version 0.99à3 registered.
                - /CV is now /C, and /C is now /CH.
                - Pentium-optimized cable reading code.
                - New P and R parameters to the /C switch, to enable alternate
                  cable reading routines. /CR corresponds to an optimized
                  version of the /C routine from earlier Disk2FDI versions.
                - Minor improvements and bugfixes.

2004/07/19      Version 0.99à3. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Added support for 8" floppy disk drives (untested).
                  Thanks to Hans Pufal for finding manuals at the ACONIT.
                - Drives can now be fully specified using an extended form of
                  the /A and /B switches.

2004/06/18      Version 0.99à2 registered.
                - Better switch to side 1 with some Floppy Disk Controllers
                  when using the Disk2FDI cable.
                  Thanks to Charlie for helping fix this!
                - The program is now split into 2 files.

2004/06/18      Version 0.99à2. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Added the /F switch to specify the density of a floppy disk,
                  which was previously a parameter of the /C switch, so that
                  it can be used more generally.
                - Some other minor bugfixes and features.

2004/06/11      Version 0.99à1 registered.
                - Cable-part improvements:
                    - Now works on more machines, especially older ones.
                      Thanks to Gi@nts for reporting the problem and testing.
                    - Better image quality when the data clock is downgraded.
                    - Improved parts of the data-processing algorithms.
                    - General fine tuning of the algorithms.
                    - Merged LPTTEST.COM into DISK2FDI.COM.
                    - Tests the LPT port interrupt speed ("delayed pulses").
                    - More stable "pulses slide value".
                    - A few other minor bugfixes and features.

2004/06/11      Version 0.99à1. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Added new parameters to the /S switch to specify the disk
                  format and the sector size.

2004/04/24      Version 0.99à registered.
                - Improved sector extraction using the Disk2FDI cable.
                - Proper switch to side 1 with some Floppy Disk Controllers
                  when using the Disk2FDI cable.
                  Thanks to Gi@nts for reporting the bug and helping fix it.
                - Added the L/H parameter to the /C switch to specify the
                  density of a floppy disk.

2004/04/24      Version 0.99à. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Fixed a bug that prevented IBM MFM bad sectors to be
                  reported. Please do not use any earlier version for IMG and
                  ST imaging.
                - Generally improved the IBM MFM sector-dump part.

2004/03/16      Version 0.98à registered.
                - Complete rewrite of steps 2 and 3 of the FDI track
                  processing. They are now working fully correctly. They are
                  also generally faster and more stable. The main improvement
                  is that they can correctly image any kind of partially
                  unformatted track.
                  Please DO NOT use any earlier version of Disk2FDI for
                  serious FDI imaging.

2004/01/29      Version 0.97à2 registered.
                - Displays LPT port information.

2004/01/29      Version 0.97à2. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Highest reachable track bug fix.

2004/01/24      Version 0.97à1 registered.
                - Better retry strategy for sector dumps using the Disk2FDI
                  cable.

2004/01/24      Version 0.97à1. Released to the public as a trial version.
                - Supports Single and Double Head 3" floppy disk drives.
                  Thanks to Gi@nts for providing a 3" floppy drive for testing!
                - Some minor fixes.

2004/01/11      Version 0.97 registered.
                - Supports log file creation using the /L switch.
                - Supports reading retries using the /R switch.
                - Supports the Disk2FDI cable using the /C switch.
                  Using the /C switch, supports sector-dumped image creation,
                  including Apple 3.5" GCR disks, as well as FDI 2.0 creation.

2004/01/01      Version 0.97. Released to the public as a stand-alone trial
                version.
                - Commodore 1541 disk imaging now possible with a modified
                  High-Density 5.25" floppy disk drive.
                  Thanks to Womo for the idea, research, testings,
                  modification documentation and general support!
                - Improved support for IBM MFM sector-dumped images (".IMG"
                  and ".ST").
                - New /A and /B switches to override BIOS disk drives
                  configuration.
                - New FDI 2.0 specification included. FDI 2.0 images can be
                  created with the upcoming registered version, and will be
                  supported by the next WinUAE version.
                - The usual round of bugfixes and small improvements.

2003/11/04      Version 0.96. Released to the public as a stand-alone trial
                version.
                - Apple 2 DOS 3.3+ disk images now really have the standard
                  DOS order. They used to have a physical ordering.
                  Thanks to Charlie for the bug report!

2003/10/31      Version 0.95. Released to the public as a stand-alone
                shareware version.
                - Becomes shareware, with an improved registered version.
                - Adds support for Apple disk ][, Commodore 1541 and IBM
                  single density disks.
                - FDI creation is temporarily removed because the routines
                  are no more in a usable form.
                - Adds many small features and improvements.
                - All known bugs are fixed.

2001/11/04      Version 0.9. Released to the public as a stand-alone version.
                - Adds the /Tnn and /Hn command-line switches.
                - Adds the nn option to the /S command-line switch.
                - Adds detection of maximum tracks reachable by disk drives.
                - Some minor fixes.

2001/10/31      Version 0.8. Released to some beta testers.
                - Adds support for ".IMG" and ".ST" disks extraction.
                - Adds support for 3.5" high-density IBM disks extraction.
                - Corrects some minor bugs.

2001/07/14      Version 0.7. Released to the public as a stand-alone version.
                - Includes yet another version of the software synchronization
                  technique for IBM-formatted disks. It works quite well in
                  many cases but not for all disks. So a hardware
                  synchronization appears to be necessary.
                - Adds the ability to extract standard IBM-formatted tracks
                  created with an IBM PC or an Atari ST.

2000/12/31      Version 0.6 "Special Millenium Edition".
                Released to some beta testers.
                - Includes a new version of the software synchronization
                  technique for IBM-formatted disks. Although this version
                  works a lot better, it is still far from being satisfying.

2000/05/17      Version 0.6. Released to some beta testers.
                - Adds a software synchronization technique to allow the
                  extraction of IBM-formatted disks. Unfortunately, this
                  technique is not working too well.
                - All known bugs are corrected.

2000/02/05      Version 0.55. Internal release.
                - First attempt to support the extraction of IBM-formatted
                  disks. The result is practically non-working.

2000/01/25      Version 0.5. Released to some beta testers.
                - Adds support for ".ADF" disks extraction.
                - Adds support for high-density Amiga disks extraction.
                - Most bugs are corrected.
                It is quickly followed by the internal release of version 0.51
                which fixes some more bugs.

2000/01/22      Version 0.4. Internal release.
                Now able to extract quite correct FDI files, mostly from
                Amiga disks. Most of the final release is already developed,
                but still with many bugs.

1999/12         Development is resumed. The technique to read Amiga disks using
                two disk drives is discovered. Version 0.2 and 0.3 are only
                internal steps along the development.

1999/02         The technique to read raw data from a disk with one disk
                drive was discovered in 1998 and now works quite well, but
                unfortunately not with Amiga disks.

1998/03/23      Version 0.16, included in Tand-Em version 0.5 (released
                1998/11/03) and Tand-Em version 0.55 (released 1999/03/19).
                - Adds the option to dump from either A: or B:.

1998/03/07      Version 0.15, included in Tandem version 0.25 (released
                1998/03/08), Tandem version 0.3 (released 1998/03/14) and
                Tandem version 0.4 (released 1998/03/21).
                - Adds the option to input a destination filename as a
                  parameter on the command line.

1998/03/02      Version 0.1. Initial release included in Tandem version 0.2.
                (released 1998/03/03). The ".FDI" extension is chosen.
                It is just a simple sector dumper for 5.25" 360KB disks to a
                DISK.FDI file using BIOS functions.
