About the new s4diag software...

[Lenny Tropiano]

In article <20250 at cup.portal.com> thad at cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes:
...
|>I've used the s4diag I posted to format and test (and put online! :-) both a
|>Miniscribe 3085 (7 heads and 1170 cylinders) and a Maxtor XT2190 (15 heads
|>and 1224 cylinders).  I know nothing more about the origins of that specific
|>s4diag than what I originally posted; 

I've used this s4diag (the same one that Thad posted) to format and so
surface tests on the 2nd hard drive installed on my UNIX pc.   It also
allows one to partition it into smaller slices, rather than using the
default partitioning which is the entire disk, minus 4000 1K blocks (non-
multi-user) and 5000 1K blocks (multi-user) for swap.   During the
format phase you are prompted for each of the slices, from slice 2 to 
slice f (/dev/rfp0[01][2-f]).

|>I suspect it's an unofficial release from AT&T much like the 3.51c 
|>and 3.51d "pseudo-Fixdisks."

3.51b and 3.51c were kernel versions never released because of the bugs
that existed in them.  Those bugs were ironed out by myself and a couple
of other *beta* testers.  In the forthcoming FIXDISK, the kernel versions
and the fixes from them, from 3.51a all the way up to what I have 
now 3.51dE1 should be included in the kernel that they distribute.  As
soon as *I* know, or one of the other testers know, what *EXACTLY* will
be on the FIXDISKS, and when they will be available, and how to get them,
etc, etc, etc... We'll be sure to let the net know!

|>The instructions for s4diag expert mode are detailed on pages 3-24 through
|>3-30 in the AT&T UNIX PC REFERENCE MANUAL.  
...
There are some other problems with the s4test/expert mode that are currently
being cleaned up in the deep caverns within AT&T.  Hopefully these fixes
(more specifically cleaning up the problems with the expert mode) will
make it to the next FIXDISK releases.   Specifically there will be code
in there to do formatting, testing, bad block entering of the 2nd drive
(if you have one installed), the partitioning code, the 2048 cylinder limit,
and the fix for the ambiguity of the "DR" command in the 31-"i>" interactive
device test.   BTW:  if you look in the reference manual DR could mean
select which "DRive" or "DataRegister" ...   

...
|>And in reply to several others' questions: I believe the "new" s4diag I posted
|>is the same one available from several other sources (such as ICUS and John
|>Milton); if someone would compare the checksums of what I posted with what is
|>available from those two sources, then we'd know!
|>
Yes, they are one in the same... 

-Lenny
-- 
Lenny Tropiano             ICUS Software Systems         [w] +1 (516) 589-7930
lenny at icus.islp.ny.us      Telex; 154232428 ICUS         [h] +1 (516) 968-8576
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