                       READ_ME.TXT for MDFORMAT.PRG:
                             by Clark A. Hay
                                07/19/91
          ***  MDFORMAT.PRG runs in Medium Resolution Only!  ***

                            - DESCRIPTION: -
    Musical Disk Formatter is a simple little program that plays some
music while it formats your disk.  It was written in 68000 assembly
language using Assempro from Abacus Software.  While this may prove to
be an amusing utility program, its main purpose is tutorial - which is
why I have included the complete (heavily commented) source code for it.

                             - RESOLUTION: -
    As it stands, this program runs in MEDIUM RESOLUTION only, but the
code can be modified quite easily so that it can run in any resolution.

                            - HOW IT WORKS: -
    Created to look and work much as a GEM dialogue box, the program
avoids making any calls to GEM's VDI or AES - relying solely on Line_A
calls and a few from TOS, BIOS and XBIOS.  The user may select options
using the mouse, or the keyboard.  A "Return" will format the disk
using the options that are set, and pressing the "Esc"ape key lets you
exit the program.

                              - OPTIONS: -
    Formatting uses 10 sectors per track, and the user may select
between drives A or B, single or double sided disk, 80 or 82 tracks.
It does NOT produce a sector skewed track as with "Twister.Prg", so
don't expect any disk read/write speed ups.

                         - FORMATTING STATUS: -
    The music begins when the "Format" option is selected with the
mouse or via the keyboard.  The "music" [sic] played is my own
version of the theme song to the movie "Midnight Express".  Format
status reads "Working" and a progress bar is filled in as each track
is formatted.  If an error occurs, a "falling bomb/explosion" sound
occurs and formatting stops, with the message "Error" displayed in
the status box.  Successful formatting leaves you with the message
that it is "Waiting" for the next command.

             - NOTE TO BEGINNING/INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMERS: -
    If you are a programmer, look at the source code.  In it are some
fairly useful pieces of code, and plenty of room for enhancements or
improvement.  Please feel free to use, steal or modify the code.  All
I ask is that you share any useful insights, improvements or routines
with the rest of us.

                                Enjoy!
                             Clark A. Hay
                       Genie user handle "E.T."


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