!!!!!!!!!! begin the HIW Help document ------------------------ HIW Document Server Help Updated 09 Nov 96 ------------------------ This is the help document for the How It Works document server. This document is sent as a plain ASCII text file. ---------------------------------- HOW TO USE THE HIW DOCUMENT SERVER ---------------------------------- The HIW document server will mail back to you one or more of the HIW documents. Follow these simple steps to use this server: Send an email message to hiw@sugs.tware.com with one or more document names, or, one or more server commands, in the message body. Place one document name or server command per line in the message body. The subject line of the message is ignored. The server will process each line of the message body until one of the following happens: a) A line with the word END is found. b) A line with data other than alphnumeric characters is found. You will receive one or more email messages from the server for each document requested. The server will respond to document requests approximately once every 24 hours. Additional rules and notes: a) Document names and server commands can be in upper or lower case. b) Additional data to the right of a document name or server command is ignored. c) Blank lines are ignored. --------------- SERVER COMMANDS --------------- The following server commands are available: Name Description ---------- ----------- ASCII Send the following documents as plain ASCII text files. This is the default. END Should be used at the end of the list of documents and commands to prevent the server from processing signature lines. HELP Returns this help document. Help is sent as a plain ASCII text file even if HTML or ZIP is in effect. HTML Send the following documents as HTML files (HTML files are also plain ASCII text files). INDEX Returns an index of all the documents showing the current version number and approximate size. The index is sent as a plain ASCII text file even if HTML or ZIP is in effect. ZIP Send the following documents as uuencode'd ZIP files. --------------- ASCII DOCUMENTS --------------- The following ASCII documents are currently available (use the ASCII server command before requesting any of these documents): Name Description ---------- ----------- ALL Sends all of these ASCII documents, except the ATA-2 standard, each in a separate email message. ATANEWS News from the ATA and ATAPI committees and other industry information. Updated about once a month depending on what is going on. BASICS Basic information about the IDE/EIDE/ATA/ ATA-2/ATAPI interfaces. CHSTRANS A detailed description of how CHS and LBA addressing is handled by the system BIOS and operating systems. DOSBOOT A description and disassembly of an DOS boot record (sector). FNF1 Facts and Fiction Volume 1. A collection of Mini HIW articles. MBR A description and disassembly of a Master Boot Record (sector). OS2BOOT A description and disassembly of an OS/2 boot record (sector). PARTTABLE A description of partition records and the rules an FDISK program must follow when creating this data plus a complete list of all known partition type codes. WHATSNEW The What's New Bulletin. Also sent anytime the HELP document is requested. ATA2 The ATA-2 Revision 3 document. This is the *real* IDE/EIDE standard! Sent in six parts. -------------- HTML DOCUMENTS -------------- The following HTML documents are currently available (use the HTML server command before requesting any of these documents): Name Description ---------- ----------- *** NO DOCUMENTS IN HTML FORMAT ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME *** ------------- ZIP DOCUMENTS ------------- The following ZIP documents are currently available (use the ZIP server command before requesting any of these documents): Name Description ---------- ----------- ALL uuencode'd ZIP file containing all of the ASCII documents listed above except the ATA-2 standard document. This file (allhiw.zip) is also at the WD FTP site -- see below. ATA2 uuencode'd ZIP file containing the ATA-2 Revision 3 document. This is the *real* IDE/EIDE standard! ATADEMO uuencoded'd ZIP file containing the ATADEMO program. If really want to learn how the ATA/ATAPI interfaces work, you need this program (you also need a copy of the ATA-2 document). -------- EXAMPLES -------- Here are some examples (only the message body lines are shown): 1) Request this help document. help END 2) Request the HIW Master Boot Record document in ASCII. ascii MBR EnD 3) Request the HIW Partition Tables, Master Boot Record and DOS Boot Record document. parttable mbr DOSboot eNd 4) Request the ZIP file containing all the ASCII HIW documents. ZIP ALL ----------------- NOTES and NOTICES ----------------- 1) The file allhiw.zip can be found at: ftp://fission.dt.wdc.com/pub/otherdocs/pc_systems/how_it_works 2) HTML and ZIP'ed versions of these documents may be available in the future. Other related documents may be may available if there is interest and the authors of those documents give approval. 3) If you have problems or suggestions about this document server, send a message to Hale Landis -- landis@sugs.tware.com 4) Hale Landis reserves the right to restrict access to this server at any time and for any reason without prior notice. !!!!!!!!!! end the HIW Help document