Chapter3 Directories; What A Directory Shows - Commodore 1541 User Manual

WHAT IS A DIRECTORY?
CHAPTER3
DIRECTORIES
One of the primary advantages of a disk drive is that it can , with nearly equal
ea~
and speed , access any part of a diskette's surface , and jump quickly from one spot
~
ano~he~ .
A
DATASSE~E ™,
on the other hand , usually reads a cassette file from
t~
begmnmg_ to the_ end , without _ s kipping around . To see what 's on a cassette, it is necessari
to look at its entire length , which could take as long as an hour. On a disk drive, by way
0
contrast, it is a quick and simple matter to view a list of the programs and data files on .
diskette. This list is called the directory . '
VIEWING THE DIRECTORY: BASIC 2
To view the directory in Basic 2, it is usually necessary to load it , like a program .
Ai
when you load other programs, this erases anything l!lready in Basic memory , so be sun
to save any work you don 't want to lose before loading the directory in Basic 2. (Chapter<
describes how to Save a program .)
For example, to load the entire directory from disk device 8, type:
LOAD " $"
,8
Then , to display the directory on your screen after it loads into computer memory
type LIST. You may slow the listing by pressing the CONTROL key on the VIC 20
anc
Commodore 64 , and halt it entirely by pressing the STOP key .
You can also use this command to limit the directory to desired files by using pattem
matching characters described later in this chapter.
VIEWING THE DIRECTORY: BASIC 3.5
READY·
...
•HOW TO USE•
14
12
•HOW PfllRT 2•
12
•HOW PART 3•
4
•v1c-2e WEDGE·
• C -6"4 WEDGE •
4
•oos !5. 1 •
9
•PRINTER TEST•
4
•DISK ADDR CHANGE•
6
•VIEW BAM•
4
•CHECK DISK•
14
•olSPLAV. T&s·
9
•PERFORMAl'CE TEST•
!5
•SEO.FILE.DEMO•
7
•so.BACKUP.CIS·
7
•so.BACKUP.PLUS4·
UI
•so.BACKUP.C64•
7
•PRINT.64.UTIL•
7
•PRINT.Cl6.UTIL•
7
•PRINT.+4.UTIL•
311
•cs4 BASIC DEMO·
3!5
•+"4 BASIC OEMIP
8
·LOAD ADDREss•
7
•UNSCRATCH•
!5
•HEADER CHAI-GE•
1e
•REL.FILE.DEMO•
426 BLOCKS FREE.
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
IMPORTANT NOTE:
PRG Your Test/Demo diskette
PRG
may contain additional
PRG
programs. Commodore
PRG
may update the diskette
from time to time.
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
PRG
f>'RG
PRG
To view the directory in Basic 3.5, simply type the word DIRECTORY on a blanl
line, and press the RETURN key . Unlike Basic 2's method of loading a directory , this
does not erase anything already in Basic memory, so you can safely ask for a directory
a1
Starting with the top line, here is what it tells us:
almost any time, even from within another program .
Again , you may slow a directory listing on the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 by holding .
~
0 at the left end tells us that the 1541 's single drive is drive 0 .
If we had gotten
down the COMMODORE key ((II) , or halt it entirely by pressing the STOP key. y
0 u
this dlJ'CCtory from a dual disk drive, it might have said " I" instead.
may also pause it with CONTROL-S (by holding down the CONTROL key while pressing
~
next thing on the top line of the directory after the format type is the name of the
the " S " key), and resume by pressing any other key. diskette, enclosed in quotation marks, and printed in reverse field . Just as each program
h' . 18
a
name, so does the diskette itself, assigned when the diskette was formatted . The
diskette name may be up to 16 characters long, and serves mainly to help you organize
WHAT A DIRECTORY SHOWS
your diskette library. By keeping related files together on the same diskette, you' ll ease
~ task of finding the program you want
later, when you have dozens or hundreds of
Now let's look at
a
typical directory on your 1541 Test/Demo Diskette. diskettes. The two character code to the right of the name is the diskette ID, also created
When the diskette was formatted, and equally useful for individualizing diskettes
.
18
C
The
2A at the right end of the top line tells us that the 1541 uses version 2 of
0
11Unodore's DOS (disk operating system) , and that it, like most Commodore drives,
uses
fonnat "A. "
19