The TRS-80 Model 4 Emulator's virtual disk utilities have been provided
free for download in order to allow you to determine whether your PC has
the features necessary to read and write TRS-80 floppies directly.  The
emulator can either access your TRS-80 floppies directly in its floppy
drive, or as images copied to your hard drive.  Either way, you need to
be able to determine whether the PC hardware can read the floppies. 
Below is an excerpt from the emulator manual explaining the use of these 
utilities.

Please read this documentation thoroughly as there are a number of 
contingencies outlined, in the event that the utilities cannot initially
read the floppies.

As an alternative, Computer News Publishing offers a floppy transfer
service.  They may be contacted at http://stores.ebay.com/COMPUTER-NEWS-80.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Excerpt from manual concerning floppy transfer:


TRS-80 Model 4 Emulator (C) 1993, 1994 Jeff Vavasour                       2


2.1 Preparing Disks

2.1.1 Testing the TRS-80 Disk

Disks formatted by older TRS-80 DOSes are not normally readable by an MS-DOS 
PC due to timing problems.  Disks formatted by newer TRS-80 DOSes such as 
TRSDOS/LDOS 6.2 (or higher) and MultiDOS are usually compatible, though a 
special program like the emulator is needed for a PC to make sense of them.

The program TESTDISK.EXE provided with the emulator will determine whether
a disk is readable by your PC.  If it isn't readable, don't worry.  This
section also describes how to format a PC-readable TRS-80 disk onto which 
you can copy your files or DOS.  The format of the TESTDISK command is:

        TESTDISK d: [/H]

where "d:" is the drive containing the TRS-80 disk.  The parameter /H is
is optional and should only be included if the disk being tested is an 
80-track 5 1/4" TRS-80 disk.*

TESTDISK will briefly analyse the disk.  If it reports "disk readable", 
then the disk may be used with the emulator without any further 
preparation.  Otherwise, read the next section on how to make the
disk usable.


2.1.2 Making a TRS-80 Disk Readable on a PC

The simplest solution to the timing problem is to format a disk with
the proper timing and then use "BACKUP" (or "COPY" in NEWDOS/80) without
format on your TRS-80 to put your DOS or data onto the emulator-compatible 
disk.  

The program PUTDISK.EXE, found on the emulator Master Disks, is provided
for this purpose.  To format a TRS-80 disk on the PC, look up the disk 
type from Table 1 (see next page) and then type the associated command at 
the MS-DOS prompt.  If you omit the "d:" destination drive, PUTDISK will 
assume that the disk to be formatted is in drive A:.

Examples:   PUTDISK 40TRK
--------
            will format a standard 40-track single-sided disk in drive A:,
            and

            PUTDISK B: 80TRK2SD

            will format a double-sided 80-track 3 1/2" disk in drive B:.

-----------------------------
*Standard TRS-80s have 40-track drives, so unless you've installed an 
80-track upgrade in your TRS-80 ignore this parameter.  If you wish to 
use 80-track 5 1/4" disks in your PC, you will require a 1.2Mb high 
density drive.  The /H option is not needed for 3 1/2" disks.


TRS-80 Model 4 Emulator (C) 1993, 1994 Jeff Vavasour                       3


.--------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| PC drive type            Disk type               Command                 |
:==========================================================================:
| 5 1/4" drive             40-track single-sided   PUTDISK d: 40TRK        |
|                          40-track double-sided   PUTDISK d: 40TRK2SD     |
|                          Model III's TRSDOS 1.x  PUTDISK d: TRSDOS1X     |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.2Mb 5 1/4" drive only  80-track single-sided   PUTDISK /H d: 80TRK     |
|                          80-track double-sided   PUTDISK /H d: 80TRK2SD  |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 3 1/2" drive             80-track double-sided   PUTDISK d: 80TRK2SD     |
`--------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Table 1: Look up the type of TRS-80 disk on the left to determine the format
command on the right.  80-track disks can only be formatted on 3 1/2" or 
1.2Mb 5 1/4" drives.

Most Model III and 4 DOS disks are 40-track single-sided, so you will 
usually use "PUTDISK 40TRK".  "PUTDISK TRSDOS1X" should be used only if you 
want to create Model III TRSDOS 1.x-compatible disks.

Once you have a properly formatted disk, take it to your TRS-80 and type 
"BACKUP".  With the PC-formatted disk in one drive and your TRS-80 DOS 
disk in another, copy the DOS onto the PC-formatted disk.  BE SURE TO
REPLY "NO" IF BACKUP ASKS YOU IF YOU WISH TO FORMAT THE DESTINATION DISK.

Once the backup is complete, the disk is ready for use on your PC.  You can
prepare as many disks as you like (both DOS and data disks) using this
method, though be warned that it will not work for non-standard disks such
as those that are copy-protected.

If your DOS was TRSDOS 6.x or LDOS 6.x, you can now skip to Section 3.
If you are planning on using ROM BASIC or another DOS, you should follow
the steps in Section 2.2 next.
