libdskrc(5)

💾 libdskrc — the manual page, bestie edition 💾

okay so this is libdskrc(5), from the Emulators section, and it's literally just the custom format definitions for LibDSK programs. buckle up, we're learning disk geometry 💅

---

✨ NAME ✨

libdskrc — custom format definitions for LibDSK programs 🎀

---

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so the libdskrc file is where you keep your disk geometry definitions, and the LibDsk utilities dsktrans(1), dskid(1) and dskform(1) will happily read them. it's giving config file, but make it fashion.

the file is made up of one or more sections, and each section describes one disk layout. every section starts with the format name wrapped in square brackets, and it keeps going until the next section shows up. inside each section you've got one or more entries that look like this:

variable = value

anything after a semicolon or a hash character counts as a comment and gets ignored. blank lines? also ignored. we simply do not see them. 🙈

---

🦋 PARAMETERS 🦋

for each geometry, you can include the entries listed below. and no worries if you don't fill in every single one — if some values are missing, LibDsk falls back to the defaults from its "pcw180" format, which is 40 tracks, 9 sectors, single-sided, MFM. periodt.

• description = DESC — the description of the format, aka what shows up when you run stuff like dskform --help. it's the little name tag of your geometry 🏷️
• sides = TREATMENT — how a double-sided disk gets handled. pick one:
  • alt — sides alternate. this is what most PC-hosted operating systems do.
  • outback — use side 0 tracks 0-79, then side 1 tracks 79-0. this one's for 144FEAT CP/M disks.
  • outout — use side 0 tracks 0-79, then side 1 tracks 0-79. some Acorn formats vibe with this.

if the disk is single-sided, you can literally just leave this parameter out. no stress 💖

• cylinders = COUNT — sets the number of cylinders. usually 40 or 80.
• heads = COUNT — sets the number of heads. usually 1 or 2, for single- or double-sided respectively.
• sectors = COUNT — sets the number of sectors per track.
• secbase = NUMBER — sets the first sector number on a track. usually 1, but some Acorn formats use 0 (they're quirky like that).
• secsize = COUNT — sets the size of a sector in bytes. this one should be a power of 2, no cap.
• datarate = VALUE — sets the rate at which the disk should be accessed. pick one:
  • HD — 1.4Mb or 1.2Mb
  • DD — 360k or 720k disc in 1.2Mb drive
  • SD — 360k or 720k disc in 1.4Mb, 720k or 360k drive
  • ED — 2.8Mb
• rwgap = VALUE — set the read/write gap.
• fmtgap = VALUE — set the format gap.
• fm = Y or N — set the recording mode. Y for FM, N for MFM.
• multitrack = Y or N — set multitrack mode. heads up: this only affects attempts to read normal data from tracks containing deleted data (or the other way around, whatever). Y for yes, N for no.
• skipdeleted = Y or N — skip deleted data when you're searching for non-deleted data (or vice versa, bestie). Y for yes, N for no.

---

🎀 FILES 🎀

• $HOME/.libdskrc — your personal, user-specified format list. this one's yours, main character energy 👑
• /usr/local/share/LibDsk/libdskrc — the system-wide format list. shared with everyone, communal slay 🌈

---

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

dsktrans(1), dskform(1), dskid(1) — go read those next, iykyk 💜

---

👑 AUTHOR 👑

John Elliott <seasip.webmaster@gmail.com>. icon behavior, honestly. 💖

---

and that's a wrap on the libdskrc saga besties!! this was Version 1.2.1, dated 20 January 2006, and yes she is vintage and we love her for it 🦋✨💅