Removing Flash Formatter software from Organiser

[1333david]

Hi,
I would like to free up some RAM on my XP Model organiser by removing the FLASH formatting program which resides on the Menu. I've followed the instructions i.e. "If you wish to remove the Flash Datapak software from your Organiser (to recover the 4.5K of memory it uses), first switch off and remove any program packs or peripherals. Then switch back on and, with the main menu displayed, press ON/CLEAR an extra time to purge the Organiser's memory of software from other program packs or peripherals.
The 'Flash' item will still be in the menu. Select it, then select 'Remove' from the menu that follows, and confirm by pressing the Y key."

However, after following these steps it's still there and working I haven't used a flash datapack on this organiser in while. I know I can remove the battery to get rid of it but wondered why it won't go by following the instructions. I'm guessing it's like one of Jaap's TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident programs) but the TSRREMV program has no effect. The flash formatter is a bit of a mystery to me. I have a Utils Pack which I have put together and it would be nice to add the flash formatter but the files in the OPK look rather odd. If anyone can enlighten me on why it won't remove or about the flash formatter pack I'd be very interested, thanks.

[Martin]

Hi David

Page 69 of the republished technical reference manual (here) has additional information on Flaskpacks

Also Boris Cornet produced an information sheet for the original ORG2.com web site you will find it in the Organiser Pack Information link (here)

When the driver is loaded (by pressing ON in the main menu), FLASH should appear as a menu option. The flash driver will stay in memory permanently, even if any flashpacks are subsequently removed. To remove it you must choose the REMOVE option in the FLASH menu. You must remove any other software drivers first, for example the comms link and any bootable packs, before the flashpack driver can be removed (otherwise a 'bad device call' error occurs). You can check for the presence of a flash driver in OPL by testing whether bit 2 of $2178 is set (i.e. whether (PEEKB($2178) AND 4)<>0 ).

I've tried to replicate your situation on various Organisers (XP16K XP32K LZ32 POS464) and the only way I can get the flash option to remain on the menu after selecting remove, is to have a datapak that has the flash formatter on it in one of the slots. Can you confirm that you had both slots empty before selecting remove and that the menu item is still there before inserting any other pack.

As for creating a utilities pack that has the flash driver on the pack. The flash software needs to be the 'boot' code with any other 'utilities' behind it. When I wanted to make one of Andrews 512K flash packs into a large spreadsheet pack (the spreadsheet also needs to be the boot software) I got round this by adapting the spreadsheet OPK (sprdsht_v34.OPK) in Jaaps OPK editor (untick Eprom, write protected, copy protected change 32K to 512K - don't select Flashpack). Then MAKEing the revised 'sprdshtF.OPK' pack without the flash driver pack in the other slot as is recommended to MAKE a bootable flash pack. Of coure without the flash driver in memory this large capacity spreadsheet pack in now read only. So one time only insert the flash formatter pack in a slot ON/CLEAR to boot the driver then remove the driver pack and re-insert the spreadsheet pack that is now read write.

Sincerely
Martin