POFOZIP.SYS

PofoZip is a block device driver that enables the use of Iomega's portable ZIP-drive together with the Atari Portfolio palmtop.
A single ZIP-Disc can hold the equivalent of hundreds of memory cards. PofoZip allows a comfortable access to a huge archive of software, maybe to all known Portfolio programs on one disc.

What you need:

Atari Portfolio and parallel interface
Iomega ZIP-100 drive, parallel port version with "old" firmware. ZIP-100 drives produced since about 1998 got an incompatible firmware that is not supported by pofoZIP. The ZIPplus drive is not supported either.

Characteristics:

Storage capacity: 3 partitions of 32 MByte each which can be installed as drives D:, E:, F:
A normal PC can access only the first partition using Iomega's driver.
Data transfer rate: > 25 KByte/sec. (gross), approx. 5 KByte/sec. (net).
Size of the driver: approx. 2 KByte. Besides, the tool ZIPMAN (2 KByte) is needed for format and configuration. Furthermore, MKDIRFIX (128 Bytes) helps working with the buggy MD-command of DIP-DOS.
Cost: 8 € (including VAT, delivery via e-mail).
Please order your licensed copy via e-mail: I will usually answer within 1-2 days (please check your spam folder, too).

Version history

Version Release date Changes

1.00 August 1997 First publicly released version

1.14 Februar 1998 Improved data transmission; No own stack memory allocation

1.20 Juli 1998 New boot record with only 2 FATs; Support for sleeptime und eject commands

1.30 September 1998 Manage all 3 partitionen (logical drives) with a single instance of the driver; Introduction of a FAT-cash (command line switch /$) and the option /F for avoiding unnecessary read operations when no media change is allowed

1.31 Juni 2000 Automatic FAT mirroring (command line switch /2)

1.32 November 2001 Minor optimization of data transmission for read operations

1.33 November 2003 Quicker error detection, revised debug messages (command line switch /D)

1.34 Februar 2018 Adaption of the FAT mirroring to the FAT12 file system generated by ZIPMAN-Version v1.42 and later

Version	Release date	Changes
1.00	August 1997	First publicly released version
1.14	Februar 1998	Improved data transmission; No own stack memory allocation
1.20	Juli 1998	New boot record with only 2 FATs; Support for sleeptime und eject commands
1.30	September 1998	Manage all 3 partitionen (logical drives) with a single instance of the driver; Introduction of a FAT-cash (command line switch /$) and the option /F for avoiding unnecessary read operations when no media change is allowed
1.31	Juni 2000	Automatic FAT mirroring (command line switch /2)
1.32	November 2001	Minor optimization of data transmission for read operations
1.33	November 2003	Quicker error detection, revised debug messages (command line switch /D)
1.34	Februar 2018	Adaption of the FAT mirroring to the FAT12 file system generated by ZIPMAN-Version v1.42 and later

Support:

You can download a free service pack which contains add-ons and updates for the utilities that come with PofoZip:

ZIPMAN 1.42 (Format and configuration tool)
MDEXTERN 1.01 (redirects the MD-command of the Portfolio to an external program)
ZIPCOPY 1.1 (copies complete PofoZip-partitions within one disk)
LPT_TEST 0.20 (This tool is in the distribution because palmZIP-users might need it. It's probably of no use for the Portfolio)

Download service pack (25 KByte, Latest Update: 14.10.98) . Now including English documentation.
Owners of older versions of PofoZip that require multiple installations of the driver should better use ZIPMAN 1.30.

How to access partitioned disks from your desktop PC:

Iomega's driver assigns only ONE drive letter to the ZIP-drive. Therefore only the first partition can be accessed through it. Stefan Matthaeus got around this problem by replacing SCSIDRVR.SYS by ASPIDISK.SYS from Adaptec. The corresponding lines in CONFIG.SYS could look like this:

DEVICE = ASPIPPM1.SYS 049 FILE=ECR.ILM SPEED=10 DEVICE = ASPIDISK.SYS /D /R3

On reboot, three new drive letters will be created which correspond to the partitions of the ZIP-disk.

How to access partitioned disks from an Atari ST computer:

Atari users can access partitioned Zip-disks like described in the following German article edited by : ATARIZIP.TXT

Compatibility with Windows 95:

The special disk format "3xFAT12" generated by ZIPMAN up to version 1.22 used 3 FATs for each partition. Apparently, this lead to great confusion in Windows 95 so that no data transfer was possible. A disk formatted using ZIPMAN 1.30 (or later) should be usable both under Windows 95 and with any version of PofoZIP.
If you want to convert your disk and do not like to format every partition, you can manually change 2 bytes in each boot sector. The data will not be affected by this procedure. Example for drive D:

C:\>debug -l 0 3 0 1 -e10 080A:0010 03.2 -e16 080A:0016 0C.12 -w 0 3 0 1 -q

For drive E:, the second line reads -l 0 4 0 1 and the 7th line reads -w 0 4 0 1. All other input stays the same.

Hint: Mobile power supply using NiCd-batteries

In addition to PofoZip, palmZIP has been developped as a driver for DOS-compatible palmtop-computers. Questions to .

Zip und Iomega are trademarks of Iomega.
The picture in the upper right corner shows Iomega's Zip-drive.

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