Utility programs

Several custom utilities are included with M3SE. They don't require M3SE to operate, but they have proven useful during its development.


DISKDATE :d <date>

DISKDATE/CMD allows changing a logical drive's date field originally set by FORMAT or IDEFORM. :d is the logical drive number, and <date> can be any 8-character string. Enclose the date string in double quotes if it contains spaces.

Note: If a hard drive's date string does not have slashes ('/') as its third and sixth characters, re-installing its driver using M3SEINIT will produce an error message about the drive appearing to be unformatted. However, the drive will install and function normally.
OUT <port> <byte>

OUT/CMD sends a data byte to the specified I/O port. Either argument can be specified in decimal or C-style hexadecimal notation. For example, the following two commands are equivalent:

OUT 0x71 0x90
OUT 113 144

REBOOT

REBOOT/CMD reboots the TRS-80, reducing wear-and-tear on the long-suffering reset button. This is similar to LDOS's BOOT command, but runs much more quickly and reliably.


SETSYS <filename> (SYSTEM=ON/OFF)

SETSYS/CMD sets or resets the System bit in a file's directory entry. The default is ON.


WHICH <filename>

WHICH/CMD searches for the specified file sequentially across all logical disks. It returns the full name, including drive number, of the matching file on the lowest-numbered drive.

If no filename extension is specified, /CMD is assumed. Thus WHICH determines which executable will be run when its name is entered on the LDOS command line.


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