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▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▓▓ ▓▓▒▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▒▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ D O C U M E N T A T I O N (c) Marco Vieth, August 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 1.1 Hints how you should read this documentation 1.2 Copyright, guaranty 1.3 What is a CPC ? 1.4 What offers you CPCEMU ? 2. Installation of CPCEMU 2.1 Files which comprise the CPCEMU package 2.2 Requirements and Installation 2.3 Hints about memory and soundcard 3. Differences between CPC and CPCEMU 3.1 Keyboard 3.2 Loading of Programs, Menus (disk, cassette and snapshots) 4. Changing the Configuration 4.1 The Setup Menu 4.2 The Configuration File 4.3 Command Line Parameters 5. Data Transfer CPC <-> PC 5.1 The Disk as a media 5.2 The parallel Interface 5.3 The serial Interface 5.4 Other possibilities 6. Sources of Supply, Help Line, Acknowledgments 6.1 CPC Software, where to get ? 6.2 News, Exchange experiences 6.3 If you have questions or suggestions 6.4 Other Amstrad CPC Emulators 6.5 Plans for future releases of CPCEMU 6.6 Acknowledgments 6.7 Registered Trademarks 7. Internal Information about CPCEMU "Black Box", with its own table of contents Appendix: A.1 Glossary A.2 Bibliography A.3 Index --------------------------- 1. Introduction ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ Welcome to the would of emulators! What, you want to know what CPCEMU is? And what you can do with the strange program with yellow writing on blue screen, displaying "Syntax Error" after every input? Well, to avoid long searching, here it comes: CPCEMU emulates a Amstrad CPC 464, 664 or 6128 with many extensions. To say it with other words, the program imitates the behaviour of the older Amstrad computers on your new PC. For what purpose ? Well yes, if you have no idea yet, you will not need CPCEMU. Some reasons: - nostalgia (oh, how nice was my good old CPC ...) - better performance compared to the original - better environment to develop programs - playing games - work (yes, a CPC is enough for simple text processing) - [ ] <- insert other reasons at your own. 1.1 Hints how you should read this documentation ================================================= I have tried to write a clearly arranged documentation. If you still have questions (after reading it several times?), you can contact me. You can certainly do that too, if everything is clear to you. Look at chapter 6 (Sources of Supply, ...). In chapter 1 (Introduction) I describe how to read this documentation, who has the copyright and some things about the CPC in general. In chapter 2 (Installation) it finally starts. You will hear how to install and start CPCEMU. In chapter 3 (Differences between CPC and CPCEMU) deals about features you should realize if you know a real CPC and want to use the emulator now. Mainly I will describe keyboard, disk, cassette and snapshots. In chapter 4 (Changing the Configuration) I describe how to set up CPCEMU for your needs. Maybe your most liked program will run yet. You should read chapter 5 (Data Transfer CPC <-> PC), if you own several old CPC programs without knowing how to get them to the PC. In this chapter the utilities coming with CPCEMU are described. In chapter 6 (Sources Of Supply, Help Line, Acknowledgments) I reveal, how you get always the latest version and whom you can appeal to in case of questions. Chapter 7 (Internal Information about CPCEMU) is for professionals only. The "official" part for the user has ended before this chapter, because this is the "last". If you want to know how to program such an emulator and what you must concern. Besides, the debug menu of CPCEMU is described. It allows you to analyze processor and memory at *every* time. Only-users should skip this chapter, at least when first reading. In the appendix A.1 there is a glossary with descriptions of the most important technical terms. In A.2 there is the bibliography and in A.3 is the index. 1.2 Copyright, guaranty ======================== CPCEMU was developed by: Marco Vieth Auf dem Uekern 4 33165 Lichtenau Germany CPCEMU is Freeware, that means you can give the program to friends and acquaintances for *free*. Archive maintainers it is allowed to include CPCEMU in their program collections for "downloading". Shareware distributors it is allowed to make use of CPCEMU, if they only if they only take a small fee for copying from their clients. Comparing to Public Domain, freeware does not mean that it is "free" and you can do anything with it. The copyright still belongs to me. All software and documentation is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Although this program is freeware, I would certainly accept any sort of support, technical or financial. See chapter 6 for more details. 1.3 What is a CPC ? ==================== If you already know what a CPC is, simply skip this section and continue reading with 1.4. Still here? I do not want to "dissect" the CPC now, I give only a retrospective view, so you maybe can imagine what the CPC is. CPC is abbreviation for Colour Personal Computer. Computer of this type were built since 1984 by the British company Amstrad and sold under different names in other countries. It was the period of the home computer Commodore C64, Sinclair Spectrum, Atari 800XL ..., when the CPC 464 was born. He had as much RAM as the Commodore C64 (namely 64 KB), a built in cassette recorder and Locomotive BASIC 1.0. What followed was the CPC 664 with a built in 3" disk drive and slightly extended Locomotive BASIC 1.1. The CPC 6128 came in 1985, with 128 KB RAM and nearly the same features as the CPC 664. 3" disks were awfully expensive, but more stable than the 5.25" disks (nearly as stable as today's 3.5"), Besides you noticed a extremely speedup compared to the tape, not as it was with the C64 ... All three types were sold with either a colour or a green screen, with integrated power supply. In the meantime there were two to three other types (the CPC+), only to mention them. The BASIC was with nearly 178 instructions powerful and fast. One could program graphics, sound and even interrupt handling all in BASIC, with avoiding PEEKs and POKEs. The software supply increased during the years. 1.4 What offers you CPCEMU ? ============================= It follows a short overview about what CPCEMU offers you. In the next sections of the documentation the meaning is described more clearly. Graphics in 3 different screen modes (x, y, colours): Mode 0: 180x200x16 Mode 1: 320x200x4 Mode 2: 640x200x2 Sound either through PC-speaker or Soundblaster (3 channel, stereo) Memory: ROM: OS, BASIC, AMSDOS, up to circa 13 additional ROMs (with EMS) RAM: 64KB, 128KB, up to 576KB Dk'tronics compatible RAM (with EMS) Disk: Special disk images, with the extension .DSK Cassette: Standard files under DOS, e.g. CPC BASIC- and binary files with the extensions .BAS and .BIN respectively. Snapshots: You can make memory dumps of running programs in order to continue them later. Snapshots have the extension .SNA . Speed: On a 386/33 with EMS-memory CPCEMU uses to be faster as the original. 2. Installation of CPCEMU ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ In this chapter you will hear, how to install and start CPCEMU. In 2.2 you will read some hints about using EMS memory and the Soundblaster environment. Full user defined installation with the configuration file is described later in chapter 4 (Changing the Configuration). 2.1 Files which comprise the CPCEMU package ============================================ You have received the CPCEMUxx.xxx package with the following files: (I have put the directories in brackets where you will find the files after installation.) COPYMATE.ROM ROM with a copy program (ROM) CPC464.BAT a CPC 464 CPC464.ROM ROM (firmware+BASIC) of a CPC 464 (ROM) CPC664.BAT ditto, but for CPC 664 CPC664.ROM (ROM) CPC6128.BAT ditto, but for CPC 6128 CPC6128.ROM (ROM) CPCADOS.ROM AMSDOS for all CPCs (ROM) CPCEMU.CFG the configuration file for all CPCs (or CPCEMU0.CFG) CPCEMU.HLP help file, displayed when you press F1 CPCEMU.EXE the emulator CPCEMU_D.TXT the German documentation CPCEMU_E.TXT the English documentation (this file) CPCPARA.BAS Locomotive-BASIC program for the parallel adapter (UTILITY) CPCPD1.DSK disk image with some example Public Domain programs (DISC) CPCREC.BAS Locomotive-BASIC program to receive programs (UTILITY) CPCT0.BAT batch file for CPCTRANS.EXE (example) (UTILITY) CPCTRANS.EXE transfer program for disk images (UTILITY) CPMDISKS.DEF format definitions for 22DISK (UTILITY) FILE_ID.DIZ how this program is called INSTALL.BAT batch file for installation PCPARA.EXE PC side of the parallel adapter (UTILITY) README_D.TXT German Readme README_E.TXT English Readme ROMGET.BAS Locomotive-BASIC program for saving ROMs (UTILITY) The original Amstrad ROMs are also included. They are copyright by Amstrad. 2.2 Requirements and Installation ================================== You will need at least (as usual no limits to more) - PC AT 386 with VGA graphics - MS-DOS, as possible with EMS, or Novell DOS (DRDOS) or OS/2 2.x DOS box. - If you want to start programs from inside ZIP archives you will need the program PKUNZIP in you DOS searchpath for extracting. The installation itself is very simple: Copy the CPCEMUxx.ZIP archive on your hard disc and decompress it with 'PKUNZIP CPCEMUxx.ZIP'. Call INSTALL.BAT to create some subdirectories. Start CPC464.BAT, CPC664.BAT or CPC6128.BAT depending on what CPC you like most. After the configuration press <RETURN> and the well-known CPC opening screen appears with yellow writing on blue ground. You can quit the emulator with F12. It is best to try that now, after that you can read further ... If some errors occur during the configuration, you get into the so-called debug-menu, which you can quit with 'q' <RETURN> . In such cases it is sometimes useful to redirect the messages into a file, e.g. with 'CPCEMU > INIT.TXT'. Then you are able to analyze the problem later. 2.3 Hints about memory and soundcard ===================================== In the following two hints, if you like a particular fast emulation or if your soundcard is not recognized. 2.3.1 Use EMS Memory ! ----------------------- You should have hardware or emulated EMS on your PC (EMS=Expanded Memory System). This speeds up the emulation in a significant way, especially with BASIC. Simulated EMS is too slow. All you need is EMM (Expanded Memory Manager) supporting the LIM 4.0 standard (LIM EMS 4.0). If EMS usage is possible, a memory count 'EMS xxx Bytes ok.' will appear during initialization. Otherwise you will read "Sorry, using conventional memory". Example under OS/2 2.x (settings for the window): EMS_FRAME_LOCATION = auto EMS_HIGH_OS_MAP_REGION = 32 (or more) EMS_LOW_OS_MAP_REGION = 0 (or more) Example under DOS in the file CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 1024 ... 2.3.2 Define the BLASTER environment ! --------------------------------------- In order to hear sound from the soundcard you must set the BLASTER environment variable properly. Either use the program 'SET-ENV.EXE' (or 'SBTEST.EXE') coming along with your soundcard or modify AUTOEXEC.BAT directly. In AUTOEXEC.BAT, you should have a similar line to the following: SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3 With the meaning: A specifies the base address (0x220) I specifies the IRQ (7) D specifies the DMA channel (1) T specifies the version of the soundcard: 1 : Soundblaster 1.0/1.5 2 : Soundblaster Pro 3 : Soundblaster 2.0/2.5 4 : Soundblaster Pro 3/Pro 4.0 5 : Soundblaster Pro (Microchannel) For version 2,4,5, stereo sound is assumed. 3. Differences between CPC and CPCEMU ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ In this chapter I describe some features that differ in CPCEMU and a real CPC. In the next section some special keys are mentioned, especially the function keys; later how to load from disk or cassette. 3.1 Keyboard ============= Maybe you have already noticed that the function keys of the PC not map to those of the CPC. They produce strange output which is described here. Or you are looking after the COPY-key for hours. All the CPC keys really are located somewhere. You may rest assured of it. Here the secret is disclosed: - ALT, ALTgr : COPY on a CPC - PAUSE Key : holds the PC until it is pressed again. If the function keys of the PC do not react any more you may have pressed the PAUSE Key. - Keypad : Depending on the Num Lock state the keypad functions in a different way. With "Num Lock on", the keypad represents the function keys of the CPC, otherwise the joystick. If you want to use an analog PC-joystick you have to calibrate it first. You have to wait until chapter 4 (Changing the Configuration). Only to be complete: - Page up/down: Moves the whole CPC screen. (Do not ask me for what purpose this is.) And certainly the function keys. F1 : Help Key. Maybe the most important key in the beginning. F2 : Toggles between CPC screen (standard view) and message screen (that one with a red border). F3 : Insert a disk, see section 3.2.1 F4 : toggle sound on/off F5 : Load a snapshot (memory dump), see section 3.2.3 F6 : Save a snapshot, see section 3.2.3 F7 : Setup menu, see section 4.1 F8 : Hard reset, like reset button for CPC. Use this, if CTRL/SHIFT/ESC does not work any more. F9 : reserved for future use F10 : debug menu, explained in chapter 7. If you come inadvertently into this menu, press 'r' for R)un or 'q' for Q)uit. F11 : reserved for future use F12 : Quit the emulator 3.2 Loading of Programs, Menus =============================== In this section you will learn how to load programs from disk tape or snapshots. Certainly the same goes for saving. How to use menu is described, too. 3.2.1 Loading from Disk, Menus ------------------------------- Under normal conditions the AMSDOS (Amstrad DOS) is active, that is all file instructions use the disk. You do not need to insert a real CPC disk into your PC drive every time apart from the fact that you may have 3" CPC disks only. To have a better speed a CPC disk is contained inside a so-called disk image. This file can be located anywhere on the hard disk (or on a high density disk). Here some BASIC AMSDOS instructions: - CAT <RETURN> : displays the catalogue - With 'RUN"<filename>"' you load and start a program. You may omit the ending quotation marks. This instruction is useful for BASIC programs having the extension .BAS as in many cases for binary programs with the extension .BIN . A simple way to run a program: 1. input the filename, e.g. 'disc' *without* pressing <RETURN> 2. Hold down the CTRL Key and press Cursor left (the cursor moves back to the first column now) 3. Still hold down the CTRL key and press the ENTER Key on the keypad (RUN"disc appears and the program is loaded) - LOAD"<filename>" loads a program without starting it. You can inspect BASIC programs with LIST and start them with RUN. Usually binary programs will not load with LOAD. Try to use the MEMORY instruction before, e.g. 'MEMORY &1fff'. - SAVE"<filename>" saves a BASIC program. For binary programs you have to specify some more parameters, e.g. 'SAVE"<filename>",b,&c000,&4000' will save the screen. - MERGE"<filename>" is also possible. It merges a BASIC program to another contained already in memory. Some special AMSDOS instructions are introduced by a vertical dash: - |A, |B to select the drive (also possible with |DRIVE,0 or 1) - |DIR,"<filename pattern>" to see the directory. Important note: Use the following on a CPC 464: a$="<filename pattern>" : |DIR,@a$ - |ERA,"<filename>" erases a file. Important note: Use the following on a CPC 464: a$="<filename>" : |ERA,@a$ - |REN,"<new name>","<old name>" to rename a file. Important note: Use the following on a CPC 464: a$="<new name>" : b$="<old name>" : |REN,@a$,@b$ - |TAPE to switch to the cassette, is described in the next section. - |DISC to switch back to disk There are some other instructions but not so important. A Menu ------ Until now you can use only one disk. That one already "inserted" in the drive. To insert another disk, simply press F3. A menu appears: Insert Disk Drive 0 Side Select 0 Write Protected 0 With the Cursor Keys <up/down> you can select a line. You can also do that by typing in letters (go back with <DEL>). Change numbers with the Cursor Keys <left/right> or with direct input of digits. <RETURN> in any line (e.g. the first one) takes the changes. It would be dismissed with <ESC>. "Drive" is the desired drive (0=A, 1=B); "Side Select" is a side switch for double sided disks, it has no effect when using a single sided format. With "Write Protected" you can mark a disk as write protected (0=No, 1=Yes, write protected). The File-selection Menu ----------------------- Now press <RETURN> and a directory of the disk drive appears. Select a new disk with the same methods as described above. If there is already a disk lying inside the drive you do not need to remove it first as in real life. It is automatically done. But at the bottom of the screen this disk is displayed. You will see at most 15 files, if there are more, "<more>" appears. - <HOME> goes home to the first filename, <END> to the last one - <Page up/down> scrolls in pages through the list - <RETURN> takes the selected name, <ESC> escapes. You can also select names directly by pressing a first letter. ".." is the parent directory; [A], [B], ... are the available drives. Please select only floppy drives with a disk inserted. Otherwise you could get some trouble. It is also possible to insert disks from inside ZIP archives. Select a ZIP archive by pressing <RETURN> and its directory is displayed as a normal directory. If you select a file from inside a ZIP archive, it is automatically extracted into a temporary file. For this feature you will need the program PKUNZIP anywhere in the DOS searchpath, especially in the CPCEMU directory. Temporary files are automatically deleted if they are not needed any more. Changes are *not* written to the ZIP archive. If you save something on a disk image inside a ZIP file, it will be lost after you insert another disk. If you want to change disk images inside ZIP archives, extract them before starting CPCEMU. How to create disk images at you own is described in chapter 5 (Data Transfer CPC <-> PC). 3.2.2 Loading from and Saving on Cassette ------------------------------------------- Actually, what is a cassette for CPCEMU ? Well, files on cassette are regular files in DOS directories. After the '|TAPE' instruction the BASIC instructions for file handling use the cassette. But only those starting not with "|". Now you can use the instructions described in the section above (CAT, RUN", LOAD", SAVE", MERGE") for cassette. If you omit a filename, the file selection menu will appear which you already know from the disk. With SAVE"" you can either overwrite an existing file or create a new one by specifying a new name in the last line "(new name)". Certainly you can load programs from inside ZIP archives, saving is ignored. Such a fine cassette you have only with the emulator. 3.2.3 Loading and Saving of Snapshots -------------------------------------- Snapshots are memory dumps not only containing the actual memory contents also the internal states of the hardware chips, e.g. the processor. At every time you can interrupt the running program and save it as a snapshot. Later you can load it, continue with the same position you have interrupted it. You save a snapshot with F6. Specify the snapshot size, if it is 64K or 128K. 128K snapshots make only sense if the second memory bank is in use. In this case use "128K Snapshot = 1", with the meaning 1=Yes. The file selection menu is the same as described already with the disk, with the additional comments given for the cassette (3.2.1 and 3.2.2). Later you can reload a snapshot with F5. 4. Changing the Configuration ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ In this chapter you will learn how to configure CPCEMU for your needs. The setup menu is described as well as the configuration file and the command line parameters. 4.1 The Setup Menu =================== This is the simplest way to make adjustments to CPCEMU. Nevertheless this menu lets you change far from all settings. To give an example, if you want to use additional ROMs you must use the configuration file described in section 4.2. As already mentioned in the keyboard section, you get into the setup menu with F7. The following menu appears: Setting: Value: Short explanation: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sound 1 (Sound on or off) Colour 1 (Colour or Green Screen) Screen offset (ymove) 1 (moving screen up and down) Set VSYNC position 1 (position of vertical synchronization) Allow palette change 1 Multi Mode 1 (multi mode) Interrupt Frequency 300 (interrupt frequency) Don't forget INTs (CPM+ 0) 0 (do not forget interrupts) Delay 0 (slow down the emulation) Sondblaster Delay 1 (delay for Soundblaster) Keybrd Language (UK GR FR) 0 (other keyboard mappings) Calibrate joystick DOS Shell Continue (continue with the emulator) Select the settings as already described in 3.2.1. - Sound (1) Enables the sound output. 1=on, 0=off. You can also press the function key F4 instead. - Colour (1) Selects a green or a colour screen. 1=colour. - Screen offset (0) Specify the number of lines the CPC screen should be moved. Usually you do not need this option. You get the same effect by pressing <Page Up> and <Page Down>. Possible values: 0=no offset, up to circa 25. - Set VSYNC position (5) Commonly you will not need this option, but nothing will be damaged if you try it. One time during the screen update there is a vertical frame fly with a special bit set, the so-called VSYNC bit (vertical synchronization). You can define the position, where the VSYNC should occur. Possible values are 0 to 5. For further information look at chapter 7. - Allow palette change (1) Set this option to 0 to disable palette changes. This makes sense if you cannot see anything because the screen flickers too much. If you press the function key F8 to cause a hardware reset, this option is reset to 1 automatically. Hint: If palette update is disabled and you see completely wrong colours, try pressing F2 twice. - Multi Mode (0) If programs use several modes simultaneously on the screen, switch on this option. Then CPCEMU tries to handle it correctly. Per default this option is switched off because it does not work properly in all cases. - interrupt frequency (300) To change the frequency with which interrupts are generated. On a real CPC this is always 300 Hertz. If you raise this value many programs seem to run faster, but there is less computing power between two interrupts. If you own a slow computer you may have to lower this value to 100 or 200 sometimes. Possible values are 18 to circa 600. For further information look at chapter 7. - do not forget INTs (CPM+ 0) (0 or 1) Another of these options one cannot explain without much background information. Without EMS (Expanded Memory) this option is 0 which means that interrupts can be skipped. Certainly this is not desired, but with 1 the emulation is getting too slow. With EMS this option is 1, so CPCEMU tries to handle every interrupt. Important note: It seems that CP/M Plus only runs with EMS and this option = 0 ! For further information look at chapter 7. - Delay (0) This option allows you to slow down the emulation if it is too fast. 0 means no delay, 100 is a small delay, 300 some more ... - Sondblaster Delay (1) Set the amount of delay after every write access to the soundcard. In the configuration file this delay is set to 1 to speed up sound output. If problems with the soundcard occur, use a value of 35. - Keyboard Language (0) With this option you can select the keyboard mapping for other countries. 0 = UK, default 1 = GR, "German-like" keyboard. Unfortunately it is impossible to have a full German keyboard because SHIFTed keys cannot mapped to non-SHIFTed. But "Z" and "Y" are swapped, in addition to some other characters. 2 = FR, "French-like" keyboard. After the introduction of a German keyboard the French will not stand in the rain. Some parts of the AZERTY Keyboard are realized. But is has the same problems as the German one. - calibrate joystick You surely know it from other programs that you have to calibrate the analog PC joystick first. Select this setting by pressing <RETURN>, move the joystick to the upper left, then to the lower right. Then some parameters are displayed. IF you want to use your joystick always, take this parameters and write them in the configuration file (see next section). Nevertheless you have to repeat the calibration if you change the clock. - DOS Shell Opens a DOS shell which you can exit with 'EXIT'. - Continue Take the values and continue with the emulation. You get the same effect by pressing <RETURN> in any line except calibrate joystick. 4.2 The Configuration File =========================== Now you will learn the most important way to configure CPCEMU. At first CPCEMU reads the configuration file CPCEMU.CFG per default. The structure of this file is described. Then you will be able to use your own ROMs, change the keyboard language permanently, ... Have a look at the file CPCEMU.CFG: ;CPCEMU.CFG - The Configuration File for CPCEMU ;... ; ;configuration for CPC 464, 664 and 6128 ; SHOW_CONFIG=yes ;should the configuration be displayed ? ROM_PATH = .\ROM ;path to ROM images PIO_PORT_B = %00111110 ;use %00111010 for "Schneider" Already with this few lines you get the simple structure: Comments start with a semicolon (";"). Options are changed by writing a key-word followed by "=" followed by a <value>. The <value> depends on the key-word and is either a string or a number. Numbers can be given in decimal, hexadecimal ("0x") or binary ("%") notation. Instead of %00111110 you could write 62 or 0x3e. When knowing the meaning of the key-words, you can adjust the values with a text processing system for your own needs. But first an overview of the key-words, sorted alphabetically. #ENDIF, #IFCPC, AMSDOS_DI, AMSDOS_SPDUP, BREAK_MASK, COLOUR, DELAY, DRIVE_A, DRIVE_B, EMS_EI, INT_FREQ, INT_RESUME, JOY_CALIBRATE, KBD_LANGUAGE, MULTIMODE, PIO_PORT_B, PRINTER, RAM_SIZE, ROM_BLOCK, ROM_PATH, SBLASTER, SB_DELAY, SHOW_CONFIG, SNAPSHOT, SOUND, TAPE_BYPASS, TAPE_PATH, TMP_PATH It follows the meaning of the key-words: (Values in brackets are default values, used if the key-word is not defined in the configuration file.) - #ENDIF, #IFCPC Some control instructions for conditional configuration depending on the desired CPC: #IFCPC 464 ... #ENDIF #IFCPC 664 ... #ENDIF #IFCPC 6128 ... #ENDIF (default) Consequently you need only one configuration file for all CPCs. The batch files CPC464.BAT, CPC664.BAT and CPC6128.BAT set the desired type with command line parameters. These are explained in the next section. - AMSDOS_DI = {YES,NO} (NO) (AMSDOS disable) Forbids the initialization if the AMSDOS. This is useful if you want to load programs from cassette without giving the instruction '|TAPE' every time. Certainly you could simply make a comment of the ROM_BLOCK line for the AMSDOS (with ROM_BLOCK you specify the ROM to load), but with the effect that no AMSDOS is present at all. Using this option the AMSDOS is still present for some programs. - AMSDOS_SPDUP = {YES,NO} (YES) (AMSDOS Speedup) Permits a AMSDOS ROM modification speeding up disk accesses. This is done by minimizing the motor waiting times, not necessary for the emulator. - BREAK_MASK = <number> (0xffff) Only for debugging purpose. With the value 0xfffb from the configuration file some errors are suppressed, caused by illegal instructions. Do not change this value! - COLOUR = {YES,NO} (YES) Permits the usage of a colour palette. Instead of a green screen you have a colour screen. This option is also available in the setup menu. - DELAY = <number> (0) This option is also available in the setup menu. If you want to slow down the emulation. - DRIVE_A = <path+filename> () Set the path to disk images. If you use a filename as path, this disk is automatically inserted into drive A. Section 3.2.1 described Loading and Saving on Diskette. - DRIVE_B = <path+filename> () Same as DRIVE_A, but for drive B. - EMS_EI = {YES,NO} (YES) (EMS enable) Permits the usage of EMS memory (Expanded Memory System). If no or not enough EMS memory is available, CPCEMU uses conventional memory automatically. For further information about EMS consult 2.3.1 and chapter 7. - INT_FREQ = <number> (300) (Interrupt Frequency) Set the frequency of interrupt generation. Read the setup menu section for more details. - INT_RESUME = {YES,NO} (YES) (Interrupt resume) Same as "Don't forget INTs (CPM+ 0)" in the setup menu. Please read the explanation given there. - JOY_CALIBRATE = <xcen> <ycen> <xdead> <ydead> ( 0 0 0 0 ) Define a joystick calibration for your analog joystick. Use the values displayed after the joystick calibration in the setup menu (see section 4.1). This is a key-word with 4 values. You must always specify all of them. 4 times zero means not calibrated. - KBD_LANGUAGE = {UK, GR, FR} (UK) (Keyboard Language) Set another keyboard language permanently. Also available in the setup menu. You can specify UK (England, is 0), GR (Germany, is 1) or FR (French, is 2). - MULTIMODE = {YES, NO} (NO) Permit multi modes. Also available in the setup menu. - PIO_PORT_B = <number> (%00111110) With some jumper you can make from the Amstrad CPC a "Schneider" CPC and some more. Furthermore it was possible to change the screen refresh rate from 50 Hertz to 60 Hertz (in the emulator it is always 70 Hertz). To get a "Schneider" CPC, use the value %00111010 (or 0x3A). The company name is coded in the bits b3,b2,b1: Isp (000), Triumph(001), Saisho(010), Solavox(011), Awa(100), Schneider(101), Orion(110), Amstrad(111) - PRINTER = <path+filename> () Set the printer file where line printer outputs are collected. It is cleared at every emulation start. After quitting the emulator, you can send it to your printer with 'COPY <filename> prn:'. - RAM_SIZE = <number> (128) Change the size of the RAM in KB. Possible values are 64, 128, 192, 256, 320, 384, 448, 512, 576. Values greater than 128 are only possible if you have EMS memory. ROM_BLOCK = <ROM-number> <filename> <offset> Describe what ROM should be loaded and where. Repeat this line for every ROM you want to load. The maximum number of ROMs is circa 20, if you use EMS. - <ROM-number> is the number assigned to the ROM, that means it is selected by 'OUT &DF00,<ROM-number>' . Possible values are: 0 : Foreground ROM (e.g. BASIC) 1 - 251 : Background ROMs. On a CPC 664/6128, the ROMs 1-15 are automatically initialized during reset (on a CPC 464 only 1-7). The AMSDOS ROM has always the number 7. 255 : Lower ROM (e.g. OS; has only in emulator this number). - <filename> is a file in the directory ROM_PATH, which contains the ROM. - <offset> is a number of bytes preceding the ROM-image in file <filename>. The AMSDOS header is skipped automatically, so do not include it in the offset. With an offset it is possible to load several ROMs from the same file. If you inspect the lines ROM_BLOCK = 255 CPC6128.ROM 0x0000 ROM_BLOCK = 0 CPC6128.ROM 0x4000 you may see that the lower ROM and the foreground ROM are loaded one after another from the same file. Important: Do not omit the offset, even if it is 0. Maybe you have note a feature of this key-word which has 3 values. You must always specify all of the values, so do not omit the offset even if it is zero. - ROM_PATH = <path> (.\) Set the path to ROM images. In the configuration file this path is set to ".\ROM". The ROMs itselfs are defined with the key-word ROM_BLOCK. - SBLASTER = {YES,NO} (YES) (Soundblaster) Permits the usage of a Soundblaster card for sound output. IF you do not own one, the PC speaker is automatically used. Important note: You have to specify the BLASTER environment variable properly. See section 2.3.2 for how to do that. - SB_DELAY = <number> (35) (Soundblaster Delay) Set the amount of delay after every write access to the soundcard. In the configuration file this delay is set to 1 to speed up sound output. If problems with the soundcard occur, use a value of 35. Also available in the setup menu. - SHOW_CONFIG = {YES,NO} (YES) (Show Configuration) Permits the display of the configuration overview when starting the emulator. - SNAPSHOT = <path+filename> () Set the path to snapshots. If you specify a snapshot file as path name, this snapshot is automatically started. Look at section 3.2.3 for more details. - SOUND = {YES,NO} (YES) Permits sound output. You can always disable the sound with the function key F4 or in the setup menu. Sound comes either through a Soundblaster card or the internal PC speaker. - TAPE_BYPASS = {YES,NO} (YES) Permit the usage of the cassette. Further information about the TAPE bypass are in chapter 7. - TAPE_PATH = <path> (.\) Set the path to tape files. In the configuration file this path is set to ".\TAPE". Look at section 3.2.2 for more details. - TMP_PATH = <path> (.\) (Temp Path) Set the path for temporary files. They are only needed if you select a file from inside a ZIP archive and CPCEMU needs to extract it with PKUNZIP. 4.3 Command Line Parameters ============================ As you know from other programs, it is also possible with CPCEMU to use command line parameters. But currently there are only few of them. Execute CPCxxx.BAT with the following options: /f : use the fast mode (default) /s : use the slow mode /d : use the debug mode, described in chapter 7 /x : disable EMS usage /c <file>: specify another configuration file, overriding the default CPCEMU.CFG. See section 4.2. /v <CPC> : set the desired CPC type 464, 664 or 6128 with /v 464, /v 664 or /v 6128 respectively. /h : displays a help screen The option "/d" is automatically used, if an unknown option was specified. Instead if "/" you can also use "-" known from UNIX. 5. Data Transfer CPC <-> PC ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ What can you do with a good emulator when having no programs for it or if you do not see any possibility to get the programs from CPC across to the PC ? In chapter 6 (Sources of Supply, ...) some sources are listed where to get CPC software. This chapter deals with data transfer of CPC software to the PC. Some utilities are described for the different possibilities (disk, with parallel or serial interface). 5.1 Disk as a Media ==================== Mostly this is the simplest way to get CPC software across to the PC. You only need a CPC with a second drive in correct size. Correct size means that the disks must fit in your PC drive. If not, you could still try to connect a 3" drive to your PC. The PC is persuaded with a utility to read the CPC formatted disks. This utility is called CPCTRANS. 5.1.1 The Disk transfer program CPCTRANS ----------------------------------------- I have developed CPCTRANS to create disk images from CPC disks. Standard CPC formats as well as double sided Vortex formats are supported. CPCTRANS is not intended to transfer copy protected formats! When calling CPCTRANS without parameters you will get a short overview. CPCTRANS is similar to the DOS COPY-instruction: 'CPCTRANS <source> <destination> <options>'. Examples: 'CPCTRANS B: DISK1.DSK' copies the disk in drive B to the disk image DISK1.DSK. If it does not exist, it is created. 'CPCTRANS DISK1.DSK B:' writes the disk image back to the disk in drive B. The first command only runs for the DATA format. For other formats you have to use an option: /f 0 : DATA format (default) /f 1 : DATA format, double-sided /f 2 : SYSTEM format /f 3 : SYSTEM format, double-sided /f 4 : VORTEX format, double-sided /f 5 : unknown, CPCTRANS tries to detect it /f 6 : +3DOS Note the space between "/f" and the number. When using the double sided DATA- or SYSTEM-format, you can select the side A or B in the disk menu (3.2.1). When writing back a disk image, the disk in the drive must have the same format! For simple formats you can use 22DISK, described in the next section. For copying the B-side of a disk, use the option "/s 1" With 'CPCTRANS B: DISK1.DSK /s 1' only the B-side of the disk is copied, with 'CPCTRANS DISK1.DSK B: /s 1' it is written back. The option "/v" turns on "verify", so CPCTRANS checks if the copy is correct. That is indeed a bit slower but increases security. The option "/t <count>" sets the number of tracks to copy. Normally it is 40 tracks, only for the VORTEX format it is 80. The option "/q" (quick format) is a feature. You can format a disk image, instead to copy the contents of to disk into it. Nevertheless you have to specify a valid drive as first parameter, even if it is not used. Example: 'CPCTRANS a: SYSTEM.DSK /f 2 /q' formats SYSTEM.DSK as disk image with SYSTEM format. 5.1.2 The format- and copy-utility 22DISK by SYDEX --------------------------------------------------- This program is available as shareware. With correct definitions you can use nearly all CP/M formats! Unfortunately just the CPC formats are not included with the evaluation copy of 22DISK. Therefore I have defined the formats in the file CPMDISKS.DEF. You will find them in the UTILITY subdirectory. What can you do with 22DISK ? You can transfer single files back and forth between DOS and non-DOS formats, format disks and so on. Copy the CPC files into the TAPE directory and read section 3.2.2 for an explanation how to load them. 5.2 The parallel Interface =========================== If you own a CPC without second drive, you can do the data transfer over the parallel interface. The original idea came from Gilles Molinari, he had also written some Turbo Pascal programs. But maybe you belong to the group of users, who do not have a Turbo Pascal compiler on their CPC, so you could not do much with a Pascal source. Therefore I have rewritten the utilities Locomotive BASIC, extended by the additional direction PC->CPC. Thus it is possible to transfer files between CPC and PC back and forth! CPC and PC are coupled together with the parallel interfaces. If you own a CPC 6128 with Centronics connectors and compare them with a printer you will note that CPC and PC fit together excellently when using a standard PC printer cable! But do not do that now, please read further. You have to jump over two hurdles: 1. constructing a simple adapter 2. input a short program into the CPC Wait! Do not skip the rest! Both steps are really simple, because 1. is possible without soldering and 2. is indeed very short (about 30 lines BASIC) To step 2. The program you need calls CPCREC.BAS and is in the UTILITY directory. It is saved in ASCII, so you can send it to your printer without problems and type it into your CPC. It does its job like a thin rope sent through a pipe in order to get a thick cable through it. Here, the thin rope is CPCREC.BAS which receives files from the PC. With this little utility you get CPCPARA.BAS (the thick cable) over to the CPC. With CPCPARA.BAS you can receive and transmit. Then you will not CPCREC.BAS any more. On the PC side you use PCPARA.EXE, also included in the UTILITY directory. But before you input CPCREC.BAS, have a look at step 1: The parallel Adapter -------------------- You need an adapter between the PC printer cable and the PC printer connector. This goes easiest with a RS-232 wiring box, which has a 25pin D-Sub male (plug) and a 25pin D-Sub female (socket) connector. By plugging short wires into the box you can realize any possible connection between both sides. Usually such a box is used - as its name already says - for adapting RS-232 interfaces. Serial connections do not function at the first, you know. We use the adapter the other way round, that is the plug is for the PC side, the socket for the printer cable. Plug it together now: Plug for the PC printer- Socket for the printer cable connector (left side): (right side): Pin 2 --------------- Pin 11 Pin 10 --------------- Pin 8 Pin 11 --------------- Pin 1 Pin 12 --------------- Pin 7 Pin 13 --------------- Pin 6 Pin 15 --------------- Pin 5 Pin 19 --------------- Pin 19 As you see, you do not need all the 25 wires, only 7 of them. Even if the wiring box is cheap if you buy it from a electronic mail-order, you can get it cheaper by using a jumper box. Then you have to solder the wires. The cheapest is buying a 25pin D-Sub plug, a 25pin D-Sub socket, a box and some wires. Now I presume you have connected the computers with the adapter and CPCREC.BAS on your CPC. What is up now ? 1. On the CPC : Run CPCREC.BAS (after you have saved it) 2. On the PC : Run 'PCPARA /s CPCPARA.BAS' Now it gets exciting, if no error messages appear on the PC screen, all is OK, the file is on the CPC. If the PC does not send anything and reports an error message the connection may incorrect. If it is sending ("Sending block xx"), but some error messages appear occasionally, your PC may be to fast or to slow. The direction PC->CPC is very time crucial, you know. On my 386/33 I must not have EMS memory installed, otherwise it is too slow. On a very fast computer it could be necessary to use the turbo switch. Use the program under plain DOS, not OS/2 or Windows. If it does not run at all, send me a note. In the meantime you can type in the program CPCPARA.BAS which is somehow longer. The direction CPC->PC runs always, also under OS/2, because it is nearly the same as printing. The PC behaves like a printer. Use PCPARA in the following way: - PCPARA /r : start PCPARA in receiving mode - PCPARA /s <file> : sends <file> to the CPC, if you use 'TRM:' as file, you will get a terminal. All programs in the UTILITY directory display an overview about its options if you call them without any. WARNING: Even if the construction is very simple, I cannot guarantee that you do not damage anything. If your CPC printer-port is damaged afterwards, it is a pity and rather an unfortunate accident. Perhaps it would be also damaged if you had had connected simply the printer. For example, I know a former CPC user whose keyboard did not work properly any more one day. After the repair it was told to him that he should not plug in the joystick while the computer is switched on! (Well, I do so always ?!?) To come back: I have built the adapter successfully. And even users sometimes "forgetting" to insert the adapter in the connection have no problems. You can read further information about the parallel adapter in chapter 7. 5.3 The serial Interface ========================= If you own a serial interface for the CPC, you can certainly use it for data transfer to the PC. 5.4 Other possibilities ======================== There are some more fantastic ways to get the software on the PC. - Connect the 3" disk drive to the PC. Some (older) should fit to a 5.25" connection. - With a detour over the the Spectrum+3: read the 3" disk on the Spectrum+3, convert it in the Spectrum format and use a utility to read it on the PC. This utility comes with the Spectrum emulator Z80 by Gerton Lunter. - When is was necessary to get the ROM your own, someone told me about his way: He took out the ROM chip out of the CPC and inserted it instead of the VGA BIOS. With a small program he was able to read the contents. - Maybe you will find another way ? 6. Sources of Supply, Help Line, Acknowledgments ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ In this chapter you will hear where to get CPC software and whom to ask in the case of questions. Furthermore I mention some other emulators for the Amstrad. 6.1 CPC Software, where to get ? ================================= This is no problem if you have access to the Internet. As for Spectrum emulators, there are existing some "anonymous" archives, where you can get CPC software via FTP. - ftp.nvg.unit.no:/pub/cpc, thanks to Arnt Gulbrandsen - ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/cpm, thanks to Paul Martin Paul Martin will send anyone, who can give him proof that they have original Amstrad CP/M Plus, the binary ROM images of his "CP/M Plus ROMs" for free. - [ sunshine.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de:/pub/joscho/cpcemu ] The following BBS have CPC software: - Aspects 2:250/107 : +44 617920260, in United Kingdom - Genesis the 8bit generation 2:320/220, in France, open in mid-august, ask the phone number to a FIDO sysop after the 15th august. 6.2 News, Exchange experiences =============================== You want to have always the latest version of CPCEMU ? You want to be informed, if a new one is released ? Meanwhile we have set up a newsgroup only for CPC ! It is called comp.sys.amstrad.8bit. You will find discussions about CPC (and also CPCEMU). Here you can talk about your experiences with the CPC. If you cannot read the newsgroup for any reason, write me an email that you want to be on the mailing list. Then you will be informed about CPCEMU news. You will find my address in the next section. Certainly you can also use normal mail to ask me (or David, see below), but please do not forget the return postage. If you send me a contribution, I feel obliged to send the latest version to you at least one or two times. 6.3 If you have questions or suggestions ========================================= Then you can write directly to me: Marco Vieth Auf dem Uekern 4 33165 Lichtenau Germany Phone: (...)05292/1366 Internet: ali@uni-paderborn.de As you probably already suppose when reading the Internet address, I am studying at the university of paderborn, indeed computer science in the 9th semester (WS 95/95). In case you speak or write English (I presume so 'cause you're reading this) you also can write to David Cantrell: David Cantrell 116, London Road Bexhill-on-sea East Sussex TN39 4AA England Phone: ? Internet: test@gmcl.co.uk David offered to help a little to answer the "pile of letters". He is just scanning in the firmware manual for the CPC, so he will be able to offer computerized literature about CPC. Certainly he will always have the latest version of CPCEMU. Although this program is freeware, I would certainly accept any sort of support, financial or technical. (30-50 Deutschmarks would be appropriate.) (That is around 20-33 US$ or 13-21 British pounds.) Even if you send no money, I normally respond to all letters and try to keep in mind all suggestions (I am sure David will do the same). So do not hesitate and write your comments. 6.4 Other Amstrad CPC Emulators ================================ Still in the beginning of 1994 I thought that CPCEMU was the only emulator for the Amstrad CPC. Now I know of three other: - SIMCPC: Presumably the first CPC emulator written. CPC Emulator for PC/XT/AT (c) 1989, 90 by GHE, Aachen. It is only black and white, but with additional ROMs; only a "beer humour". - CPCEMUII (?): In development since October 1993 by Paco Lopez (Spain). Is available from SIMTEL now. It uses the same disk format as CPCEMU. - CPE: In development by Bernd Schmidt. By using a special 50 hertz screen mode, some colour blocks are exactly reproduced. Also supported: Multi modes, overscan. 6.5 Plans for future releases of CPCEMU ======================================== - more accurate timing of the Z80 instructions - fast hardware scrolling - improved multi modes - overscan - centered screen, if you change its size - transfer of disks with the parallel adapter - direct loading of CPC diskettes - improved sound (maybe with noise) - loading of CPC tapes with the parallel port or with the Soundblaster - Multiface II <-> snapshot converter 6.6 Acknowledgments ==================== - Special thanks to Juergen Weber, not only for many hints and suggestions, but especially for the fast Z80 emulation from his CP/M emulator ZSIM. Juergen G. Weber Wiesentalstrasse 1 74523 Schwaebisch Hall Federal Republic of Germany email: weberj@dia.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de - Also thanks to Bernd Schmidt. Because Bernd writes his own emulator, we have had the same problems many times. Only if you try to write such an emulator yourself, you can imagine, which details cause problems. There is no CPC documentation available, which gives a whole specification. Most parts of the CPC behaviour are detected by experiments with a real CPC. - Thanks to Emmanuel Roussin for his untiring engagement for the CPC. He did essential steps for setting up the newsgroup and lent me his Multiface II for months, that I should include in the emulator somehow. - Thanks to Arnt Gulbrandsen for his JPP source, where I found ideas for the keyboard handler, and the joystick routine. By the way, JPP is a very good Spectrum emulator. - Thanks to Martin Zacho for supplying a joystick routine. - Thanks to Fernando J. Echevarrieta Fernandez for pointing out first that version v0.8 did not emulate a CPC 664. - Thanks to Gilles Molinari for his transfer program for the parallel adapter. - Thanks to Paul Martin for correcting the English documentation to version 1.0. - Thanks to Mark Haigh-Hutchinson for his engagement in giving programs of the Vortex company making public domain. - Thanks to Martin Young for his outstanding ideas about emulating a Z80. - Thanks to Linh Hsiesh for many ideas of improvements, the most should be realized now. - Thanks to Fred Harris for writing a letter to AMSTRAD about the ROM. - Thanks to Amstrad, especially to Cliff Lawson for allowing to use the ROMs. Certainly Amstrad retains the copyright. Amstrad plc, Brentwood House, 169 Kings Road, Brentwood, Essex CM14 4EF - And thanks to the many users for sending me suggestions or having ideas. Without them CPCEMU had hardly come even to version 1.0 - (Please excuse my English.) 6.7 Registered Trademarks ========================== CP/M, CP/M 2.2 and DRDOS are trademarks of Digital Research. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft. IBM PC, PC-XT, PC-AT and OS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines. CPC, AMSDOS by Amstrad, BORLAND C, TASM (Turbo Assembler) by Borland, 22DISK by SYDEX Soundblaster by Creative Labs ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Internal Information about CPCEMU ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ This chapter gives some background information and shall answer the question, WHY shall I do this or that now. The powerful debug menu is also described. You will also find the structures of disk images and snapshot files. This information is not intended for CPCEMU users without knowledge of what is inside a CPC. Maybe it is useful sometimes. I have put this information to the end, even after the trademarks, in the objection to show its "relative insignificance". If you have no fun reading unintelligible sentences and unarranged information, do not read further! Skip directly to the Appendix. WARNING: Go on reading at your own risk ! 7.1 Table of contents for chapter 7 ==================================== 7.2 Internal overview of CPCEMU features 7.2.1 The Z80 CPU (The processor) 7.2.2 The Gate Array (The "Co-Processor") 7.2.3 The PAL (Programmable Logic Array) 7.2.4 The CRTC 6845 (Cathode Ray Tube Controller) 7.2.5 The PIO 8255 (Programmable Input Output) 7.2.6 The PSG AY 3-8912 (Programmable Sound Generator) 7.2.7 The FDC 765 (Floppy Disc Controller) 7.2.8 The Centronics printer interface 7.3 The Debug menu 7.4 The Memory Management 7.4.1 Another time: EMS configuration 7.4.2 How the Banking is done 7.5 ROM Modifications 7.5.1 ROM bypass for the cassette 7.5.2 AMSDOS ROM modifications 7.6 Miscellaneous 7.6.1 Another time: The Configuration file 7.6.2 The parallel Adapter 7.6.3 CPCTRANS 7.7 Structure of selected CPCEMU files 7.7.1 Disc Images 7.7.2 Snapshot Files 7.7.3 AMSDOS Header 7.8 Internal History 7.2 Internal overview of CPCEMU features ========================================= How compatible is CPCEMU really ? 7.2.1 The Z80 CPU (The processor) ---------------------------------- + All Z80 instructions are emulated, including so-called illegal ones. You have the choice between a slow Z80 emulation written in C and a fast Z80 emulation written in assembler by Juergen Weber. With the COCPU technique, every Z80 instruction is emulated simultaneously by the slow and the fast version, so it gets very slow, but by comparing the registers after each instruction many errors are found. Obviously this was only used during program development. You can activate the slow emulation in the debug menu. + Additional instructions 'ED FC xx' only the emulator knows. Among them the user break 'ED FC FC USER &BCFC'. - No exact timing of the instructions - Fast emulation: load/write a word from/to address 0xffff causes an INT 0x0D. With EMS it is even more fatal, the system hangs (under OS/2 only one window). 7.2.2 The Gate Array (The "Co-Processor") ------------------------------------------ + All 32 colours of the CPC (27 different ones) + All three screen modes (x, y, colours): mode 0 = 160x200x16 mode 1 = 320x200x4 mode 2 = 640x200x2 + ROM banking (16KB OS, 16KB BASIC, 16KB AMSDOS and additional ROMs) - Colour beams flicker 7.2.3 The PAL (Programmable Logic Array) ----------------------------------------- The PAL is logically at the same address as the gate array but in hardware separated from it. + RAM banking (128 KB, up to 576 KB) with EMS or conventional memory. With emulated EMS, the blocks are mapped by the hardware, so the speed is OK. CPCEMU gives you a Dk'tronics compatible RAM expansion with up to 576 KB. - Without EMS, RAM banking is very slow, since memory blocks must be moved around in the PC memory. Besides you have only 128 KB RAM. 7.2.4 The CRTC 6845 (Cathode Ray Tube Controller) -------------------------------------------------- + Screen base and offset for hardware scrolling + Several screen sizes from 0x0 to 80x25 with CRTC registers 1 and 6. + Different character sizes (1..7) with CRTC register 9 + Multi modes (they use some other registers) - Overscan is not yet supported 7.2.5 The PIO 8255 (Programmable Input Output) ----------------------------------------------- + Keyboard (connected to the PSG) + VSYNC emulation: A bit which is set between two interrupts during a screen refresh. You can change the position. + The cassette is very fast, a ROM bypass allows to access any DOS file. - VSYNC bit is set too long - Cassette ports are not emulated, so most of cassette copy programs which access the ports directly do not run. 7.2.6 The PSG AY 3-8912 (Programmable Sound Generator) ------------------------------------------------------- + Either through the PC speaker (awful, since 3 channels are multiplexed into one and the volume cannot be changed) or a Soundblaster card. Only the Adlib compatible FM part of the soundcard is used. - No digital-sound or too slow. The noises form the PSG have no equivalent on the Soundblaster, so they are not emulated. 7.2.7 The FDC 765 (Floppy Disc Controller) ------------------------------------------- + All necessary FDC commands to control two drives A and B (including sector read/write, seek track, read sector-ID, ... ; format track is ignored) Very flexible disk formats (up to 18 sectors per track). Including double sided formats, e.g. VORTEX. - Complicated copy-protected formats are not supported. 7.2.8 The Centronics printer interface --------------------------------------- + Printer output also with 8-bit printer patch, to a file defined by PRINTER. 7.3 The Debug menu =================== The complete register set of the CPU is displayed and can be modified. You can "dump" the memory, disassemble or modify it. You can load or save areas in memory. And the most interesting thing: You can single-step through programs! (Similar to a real debugger.) Overview of the debug menu -------------------------- R)un T)race S)tep A)ssem D)ump I)nput L)oad saV)e M)ode F)ast Q)uit AF=0000 BC=0000 DE=0000 HL=0000 IX=0000 IY=0000 SP=0000 PC=0000 IR=0000 AF'=0000 BC'=0000 DE'=0000 HL'=0000 IFF1=0 IFF2=0 IMD=0 NZ NC PO P 0000 : 01 89 7F LD BC,&7F89 -f-> The first line displays the available commands, use the capitalized letters. The next two lines show the actual values of the Z80 registers. The next one disassembles the actual instruction at PC position and the last is a prompt waiting for your input. ('f' indicates that you are using the fast CPU.) Preliminaries ------------- Parameters in special brackets are optional [opt]. Use only hexadecimal values, e.g. <address> = 0000-ffff "<ret>" signals you, that you are in a special mode. You may press <return> to continue. <String><Return> leaves this mode (use e.g. b<return>). Commands are letters, mostly followed by an optional address. Between the letter and this address must be a blank or tab. Without an address, PC (program counter) is assumed as default. Overview of the commands ------------------------ R)un: r [<address>] : starts emulation from PC or an optional address. Examples: -f-> r starts emulation from PC -f-> r 100 sets PC to 0x100 and starts emulation T)race (trace into): t [<address>] : executes only the actual displayed instruction. Use <return> to continue in this mode, and so on. <string><return> goes back to normal mode. All single-step-commands are executed by the slow CPU (even if "-f->" is displayed), since there is no counter in the fast CPU any more. S)tep (step over): s [<address>] : executes the next instruction. Rather all instructions, until PC is equal to the following instruction. This can take a long time e.g. after a 'Ret'. In this case F10 helps (as usual). All single-step commands are executed by the slow CPU (even if "-f->" is displayed), since there is no counter in the fast CPU any more. A)ssemble (actually disassemble): a [<address>] : disassembles the next 16 instructions. Use <return> to continue in this mode, and so on. <string><return> goes back to normal mode. D)ump: d [<address>] : shows an hex/ASCII dump of the following 256 bytes from address (or PC). Use <return> to continue in this mode, and so on. <string><return> goes back to normal mode. I)nput (modifying memory): i [<address>] : shows the actual memory address with its current value, which you can take by <return> or change by <hex-value> <return>. Leave this mode by using an invalid number like '-1': -1<return> . L)oad (loading a program): l [<address>] : prompts you for a filename <name> and loads it from the directory TAPE_PATH to <address> An AMSDOS-header is recognized. If you press <Return> after the filename prompt, the well-known file selection menu appears ... Examples: -f-> l<return> demo<return> : loads file 'demo' to the actual PC -f-> l a000<Return> myprog<Return> : loads file 'myprog' to address 0xA000 saV)e (saving a program): v [<address>] : prompts you for a filename <name> and the length of the memory block. This block is saved from <address> (or PC), as binary file in the directory TAPE_PATH, which includes an AMSDOS header. Example: -f-> v<return> demo<return> 4000<return> : saves file "demo" from PC with length 0x4000. M)ode (changing the display mode): m : Changes display mode: register display, instruction disassembling on/off. F)ast (selecting the type of emulation): f : Flips between the fast Z80 emulation (developed in assembler by Juergen Weber, default) and the slow one (written in C). The prompt toggles between "-f->" for fast and "-s->" for slow. All r, s, t commands refer to the selected type of emulation. Q)uit (leaving the program): q : quits the emulator. Manipulation of registers ------------------------- In addition to the one letter commands you can change register values with the syntax: '<register>=<hex-value>' Examples: - af=345 : set register AF to 0x0345 - pc=a000 : set program counter to 0xA000 You can also write '<register><space><hex-value>'. You can modify all displayed registers, thus AF, BC, DE, HL, IX, IY, SP, PC, IR, AF', BC', DE', HL', and also IFF1, IFF2 and IMD. 7.4 The Memory Management ========================== 7.4.1 Another time: EMS configuration -------------------------------------- You need an expanded memory manager supporting the LIM 4.0 standard (LIM EMS 4.0). This memory manager must supply extended EMS-pages in any region, as CPCEMU will look for 6 physical pages on continuous addresses. If EMS usage is possible, a memory count 'EMS xxx Bytes ok.' will appear during initialization. You were told to use the following settings under OS/2: EMS_FRAME_LOCATION = auto EMS_HIGH_OS_MAP_REGION = 32 (or more) EMS_LOW_OS_MAP_REGION = 0 (or more) What does that mean? Low region is for EMS pages in conventional memory. If CPCEMU is to use such pages, use at least 6*64KB = 84KB. High region is for EMS pages above 640K, additional to the standard frame of 64KB. Use at least 2*16KB = 32 KB. For DOS, you were told to include the following lines in your CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 1024 ... Modify the 1024, depending on the available memory of your computer. Annotations: EMM386 supplies several additional pages in conventional memory. The minimum address can be changed with the option /B=<segment> (default is 4000). With /P<number>=<segment> it is possible to change the segments of physical pages. 7.4.2 How the Banking is done ------------------------------ Banking is to enable some home computers to have RAM and ROM at the same address. So read is from ROM and write is to RAM. The Amstrad CPC has 64K RAM and a 16K ROM at 0-3fff and a second one at c000-ffff: 0 RAM 0000-3fff 1 RAM 4000-7fff 2 RAM 8000-bfff 4 RAM c000-ffff L ROM 0000-3fff U ROM c000-ffff The main idea is to have different segments and offsets for reading, and writing. For every read access, a read offset is added to the desired address, and the same is done with a write offset for writing. state 0 state 1 block 5 M L c W 0 < block 4 M W C c W C c | swap at block 3 M W 8 b c W 8 a c | state block 2 M W 4 b c W 4 a c | change block 1 M W 0 b L a c < block 0 M U b U a (M = conventional memory or physical EMS-pages) a = lower ROM enabled, upper ROM enabled b = lower ROM disabled, upper ROM enabled c = lower ROM enabled, upper ROM disabled W = lower ROM disabled, upper ROM disabled To flip between the two states, the '0' and 'L' block must be swapped. For RAM banking a new '0' must be swapped with the old one. ROM select is done by copying the new ROM to 'U'. With EMS memory, all banking is done by the EMS hardware (or its emulation). This improves the emulation speed in BASIC and CP/M Plus. Now you understand why 6 continuous physical EMS pages are needed; the standard frame with 4 pages is not enough. 7.5 ROM Modifications ====================== 7.5.1 ROM bypass for the cassette ---------------------------------- After the '|TAPE' command, or if the AMSDOS ROM is disabled, the cassette is addressed. Cassette access is transformed into file access in a single directory. This redirection is done by a ROM bypass. With 'TAPE_BYPASS=YES' you enable the ROM bypass of the tape vectors. If CPCEMU finds a known ROM from a CPC 464/664/6128, the ROM is modified accordingly. The bypass is necessary if you want to use the cassette. Some special instructions are implemented in the Z80 emulation. They call special functions only supplied by the emulator. They are entered directly in ROM, so it is still possible to patch the RAM vectors. The following instructions are available: ED FC xx USER &BCxx (only valid for some RAM vectors) Similar to a call instruction to an internal function. The following values for xx are legal: 65 : CASSETTE INIT (BC65) 77 : CASSETTE IN OPEN (BC77) 7A : CASSETTE IN CLOSE 7D : CASSETTE IN ABANDON 80 : CASSETTE IN CHAR 83 : CASSETTE IN DIRECT 86 : CASSETTE RETURN 89 : CASSETTE TEST EOF 8C : CASSETTE OUT OPEN 8F : CASSETTE OUT CLOSE 92 : CASSETTE OUT ABANDON 95 : CASSETTE OUT CHAR 98 : CASSETTE OUT DIRECT 9B : CASSETTE CATALOG In addition to that, you can use the user break instruction ED FC FC USER &BCFC. It stops the emulation at once. 7.5.2 AMSDOS ROM modifications ------------------------------- - With 'DISABLE_ADOS=YES' you forbid the initialization of the AMSDOS. Then patching of tape vectors by the AMSDOS ROM is disabled. (So the tape vectors are still pointing to tape, although the AMSDOS ROM is initialized.) This is necessary if you want continue loading from tape after a disc-reset, but without giving the '|TAPE' command first. (It is done by 'poke &CCF2,&18: poke &CCF3,&05' in the AMSDOS ROM.) Sector instructions are not affected, they always address the disk. - 'DISC_SPEEDUP=YES' enables a AMSDOS ROM modification, which minimizes the motor waiting times to render a faster disc access. (The things are managed by DOS, so we do not need the delay loops.) The following bytes are modified in the AMSDOS ROM: poke &C5D4,&01 :'motor load time poke &C5D8,&01 :'format track time poke &C5D9,&01 :'short wait poke &C5DA,&01 :'short wait poke &C602,&01 :'only 1 retry on error poke &C784,&01 :'fast seek poke &C7E2,&01 :'fast seek 7.6 Miscellaneous ================== 7.6.1 Another time: The Configuration file ------------------------------------------- You maybe remember that comments start with a semicolon ';', and can start anywhere on a line. The rest of the line is ignored. Blanks, tabs, newlines and ';' are delimiters, and it does not matter how many you use. Many of the definitions have the syntactical form <key-word> '=' <value> {T} {T} is a sequence of at least one delimiter. Example: 'ROM_PATH = .\ROM' If you do not want to (re-)define a key-word, make a comment out of it by inserting a ';' in front of it; you are not allowed to use 'ROM_PATH = <nothing>' . <number> can be given decimal, hexadecimal (with 0x) or binary (%). <pathname> may have a length of up to 80 characters and <filename> up to 20 characters. Some supplementary information to selected key-words: PIO_PORT_B = <number> (%00111110) Sets the input value to appear at port B of the PIO. You can disable the printer or select another company name. By changing this value to %00111010 (0x3A), you get "Schneider" instead of "Amstrad" (0x3E) on the opening screen. Meaning of the bits: b7 = 0 (TTL signal from tape; not used) b6 = 0 (0 = printer ready, 1 = busy) b5 = 1 (EXP signal) b4 = 1 (1 = VSYNC with 50 Hertz or 0 = with 60 Hertz; not used in the emulator) b3,b2,b1 = 111 select company: Isp (000), Triumph(001), Saisho(010), Solavox(011), Awa(100), Schneider(101), Orion(110), Amstrad(111) b0 = 0 (VSYNC: set automatically by the emulator.) BREAK_MASK = <number> (0xffff) For debugging purpose only. Some events interrupt the normal emulation. With this flag, you can disable such events. Use with caution! Leave all bits on except those for such events you do not want to occur. b2 = 0 -> disable display of port errors (use 0xfffb) b3 = 0 -> disable function keys (so the emulation runs forever!) (use 0xfff7) The meaning of the bits can change in future! 7.6.2 The parallel Adapter --------------------------- First, the construction of the adapter, now with functional description: PC D-SUB Cent. CPC Function -------------------------------- --------------------------- GND 19 ---- 19 GND GND BUSY 11 <--- 1 -STROBE Synchro (Data available) -ACK 10 <--- 8 D6 | PE 12 <--- 7 D5 | Data SELECT 13 <--- 6 D4 | -ERROR 15 <--- 5 D3 | D0 2 ---> 11 BUSY Synchro (Ready to receive) Direction CPC->PC ----------------- Normally the adapter is designed for this direction only. Sending on a CPC is on principle the same as printing on a line printer. If the PC sets Not-BUSY, the CPC writes a nibble (4 bit of a byte) to the port, sets STROBE as sign that the data is there, and clears it afterwards. So the PC only needs to clear BUSY (with D0), wait for STROBE (his BUSY line) and take the nibble (from the input-lines printer->PC), and set BUSY. Question: Why not sending 8 bits parallel? Answer: 1. The PC printer port must be reprogrammed for input and I am not sure if that is possible on all PCs and 2. The CPC has a 7 bit printer port only. Direction PC->CPC ----------------- One day I have thought about the possibility of sending data in the other direction. Unfortunately the CPC has only one single input line at the printer port, namely the BUSY signal. So it would not improve the situation if you try to design a better adapter for this direction. Thus take what you have already and make the best out of it by developing a clever protocol. A serial interface has also one data line for each direction, yet. But: Serial interface synchronize by hardware, mostly by a quartz; both peers have to use exactly the same baud rate (e.g. 1200 baud). It is hard to do that with software only. What should I do ? The idea is to utilize the speed advantage of the PC over the CPC. Each byte is split into 8 bit and transmitted serial, the PC has to set the BUSY line accordingly. During this 8 bit the CPC gives its maximum speed and the PC has to conform with it. The CPC writes a "bit request" with one assembler instruction. Now the PC must react promptly by setting the BUSY line accordingly the next bit. Since with the following-but-one (?) instruction the CPC will read it. In order to not disable the interrupts during the whole transfer, for every byte a "connection" is established. The CPC says "Hey, send something to me!", and the PC answers "Ok, I'm waiting until you want it." by toggling the BUSY-line. The whole story is protected with timer, so no peer can hang when waiting on a signal never sent. Thus you can escape the programs with <ESC> or <CRTC>+<BREAK> any time. 7.6.3 CPCTRANS --------------- Another option not mentioned is "/d 0" or "/d 1". With 1 a special double-step mode is selected, on 80 track drives every second track is skipped when working with 40 track disks. This option should be unnecessary, because CPCTRANS switches automatically to double-step when detecting a 5.25" 360 KB disk. Normally it is very simple to read or write sectors by using the BIOS. But the BIOS cannot handle B-sides of disks with head-mark=0. So I had to program the FDC functions myself, with the aid of the MINIX source as an outline. Unfortunately the MINIX source contains some errors, and the timing in critical sections was done by simple delay loops possibly outlined for a 8086 processor. 7.7 Structure of selected CPCEMU files ======================================= 7.7.1 Disc Images ------------------ Disc image files consist of a 0x100-byte disc info block and for each track a 0x100-byte track info block, followed by the data for every sector in that track. The Disc Information block -------------------------- Byte (hex): Meaning: 00 - 21 MV - CPCEMU Disk-File\r\nDisk-Info\r\n ("MV - CPC" is characteristic) 22 - 2F unused (0) 30 number of tracks (40, 42, maybe 80) 31 number of heads (1 or 2) 32 - 33 size of one track (including 0x100-byte track info) With 9 sectors * 0x200 bytes + 0x100 byte track info = 0x1300. 34 - FF unused (0) The Track Information block (for every track) --------------------------------------------- Byte (hex): Meaning: 00 - 0C Track-Info\r\n 0D - 0F unused (0) 10 track number (0 to number of tracks-1) 11 head number (0 or 1) 12 - 13 unused (0) Format track parameters: 14 BPS (bytes per sector) (2 for 0x200 bytes) 15 SPT (sectors per track) (9, at the most 18) 16 GAP#3 format (gap for formatting; 0x4E) 17 Filling byte (filling byte for formatting; 0xE5) Sector info (for every sector at a time): 18+i track number \ 19+i head number | sector ID information 1A+i Sector number | 1B+i BPS / 1C+i state 1 error code (0) 1D+i State 2 error code (0) 1E+i , 1F+i unused (0) Annotations: The sector data must follow the track information block in the order of the sector IDs. No track or sector may be omitted. With double sided formats, the tracks are alternating, e.g. track 0 head 0, track 0 head 1, track 1 ... Use CPCTRANS to copy CPC discs into this format. 7.7.2 Snapshot Files --------------------- Snapshot files consist of a 0x100-byte header and a memory dump. The Snapshot header: Byte (hex): Meaning: 00 - 07 'MV - SNA' (as characteristic) 08 - 0F unused (0) 10 snapshot version (2, former 1) 11 - 1A Z80 register AF, BC, DE, HL, R, I 1B - 1C Z80 flags IFF0, IFF1 (0=disabled, 1=enabled) 1D - 24 Z80 register IX, IY, SP, PC 25 Z80 interrupt mode IMD (0 - 2) 26 - 2D Z80 register AF', BC', DE', HL' 2E Gate Array: ink number register 2F - 3F Gate Array: ink value register (0, 1, ..., 15, 16) 40 Gate Array: multi configuration register 41 Gate Array: RAM configuration register 42 CRTC: address register 43 - 54 CRTC: data register (0, 1, ..., 17) 55 Upper ROM number 56 - 59 PIO: port A, port B, port C, control port 5A PSG: address register 5B - 6A PSG: data register (0, 1, ..., 15) 6B - 6C memory dump size (64K or 128K) (the following parameter exist only from version 2.0:) 6D CPC type where the snapshot was generated (0=CPC 464, 1=CPC 664, 2=CPC 6128, 3 = unknown) 6E interrupt number (0..5), the latest interrupt during a screen update cycle. 6F - 74 6 multimode bytes, thus screen modes (0..2) for the interrupts 0..5. 75 - FF unused (0), maybe later for emulator configuration 7.7.3 AMSDOS Header -------------------- Byte (hex): Meaning: 00 user number (0 , possible values 0-15) 01 - 0F filename+extension (possibly filled with 0) 10 block number (0) 11 last block flag (0) 12 file type (0=basic, 1=protected basic, 2=binary,...) 13 - 14 length of block (0) 15 - 16 load address (0-FFFF) 17 first block flag (0) 18 - 19 logical length (0-FFFF) 1A - 1B entry address (0-FFFF) 1C - 3F free for the user (0) 40 - 42 real length of file (1-FFFFFF) 43 - 44 checksum of bytes 00-42 45 - 7F unused (random values from sector buffer) Annotation: A header is found at the beginning of every non-ASCII file. It is identified by calculating the checksum. Bytes 00-3F originate from the "cassette area", where files were divided up into blocks. The bytes 12, 15-16, 1A-1B, 40-42, 43-44 are necessary. 7.8 Internal History ===================== Z80EMU (only a Z80 with less CPC) --------------------------------- - v1.0 (1991) first version in Pascal (only Z80 emulation) - v1.2 (12.8.1992 - 16.8.1992) first version in C (translated with TPTC) Z80 problems: ADD HL..., DAA, LDIR set the P-flag incorrectly. BIT... set the Z-flag incorrectly, rotate instructions set the Z-flag and S-flag incorrectly; possible to use ROMs now. - v1.3 (18.8.1992) wrong port addressing: low byte incorrect. New memory management with 128 KB RAM, 32 KB ROM - v2.0 (18.8.1992 - 22.8.1992) implemented COCPU technique to find errors (the COCPU uses separate memory and is only active in a special debugging mode). Z80 problems: AND... set H-flag incorrectly, CPI... set N-flag incorrectly. Former, the screen was only black and white, now it is blue and yellow as you know from a real CPC. - v2.1 (25.8.1992 - 27.8.1992) Emulation of all pens, colours in all modes. Writing only to the active screen which you can see. COCPU found an error: all instructions containing (IX+zz) with a negative distance were wrong ! Forgotten to take "signed char". - v2.2 (30.8.1992 - 3.9.1992) New keyboard routine, set palette without flickering (waiting for HSYNC). "Need-ROM" with COPYMATE introduced. - v2.3 (15.9.1992 - 19.9.1992) FDC emulation for sector load/save. COCPU found an error: LD XH,... was LD H,... - v2.3b (19.9.1992) Do screen update only if the screen is on RAM blocks 0..3 (and not 4..7); Made port FCxx an alias for FBxx (for CP/M Plus). At that time, I did not know that OUTI... predecrement the B-register. - v2.4 test (25.10.1992) Only R-register emulation if desired (per "DEFINE"); Now screen update every nth interrupt and not for every single byte written in memory. (Still very slow, because all is done in C). New memory management with blocks aligned to segments. - v2.5 test (31.10.1992) Changed memory management. Hardware scrolling and different screen sizes possible. - v2.6 test (5.11.1992) New keyboard handler from Arnt Gulbrandsen: all key combinations possible. Screen update in assembler. - v2.7 test Unsuccessfully tried to include the fast Z80 emulation from Juergen Weber. - v2.8 Improved Screen update: Only changed parts are modified on the screen. - v2.9 Using PC Timer to generate interrupts with 300 Hertz. Fast emulation runs only, if no ROM (banking) is needed. CPCEMU (now a CPC) ------------------ - v0.2 (23.12.1992), following Z80EMU v2.9 After nearly 4 hours analyzing with the Turbo Debugger I have found the error hanging the fast emulation: PUSH ES instead of PUSH DS. - v0.3 (28.12.1992 - 29.12.1992) Set N-flag for INI,OUTI. CPI in fast Z80 set wrong flags. RL (HL) used read segment (in DS) instead of write segment (in ES). LD A,R now produces random-numbers; All Tape routines implemented (but wrong CASSETTE IN CHAR). - v0.4 (1.1.1993) IN A,(n): A to b8..b15 (instead of B); RAM configuration 0xC3: corrected to 0,3,2,7 (for CP/M Plus). KC-Compact (a CPC compatible from former DDR) uses port EE00 - EE3D, but for what ? - v0.5 (28.1.1993 - 8.2.1993) INIR,... R-register-incrementation depends on B, not on BC. CASSETTE IN CHAR corrected (wrong patch for CPC 6128). - v0.6 (23.3.1993 - 24.5.1993) Someone mentioned that the OUTI-instructions predecrement the B-register! Compiling the C parts in 386 code (with Borland C++ v3.1). Disk images have the suffix .DSK. CPCREAD.PAS corrected (head not initialized with 0) and translated to CPCREAD.C. Port addressing of the PIO improved (the CPU can read, even if the port is programmed for output, ...) - v0.7 (26.7.1993 - 29.8.1993) (unreleased) Totally new source, modularized, ... Configuration file, more ROMs possible. Changed company name from 'Schneider' to 'Amstrad'. (You can choose between several names.) RAM banking error removed. New documentation in German. - v0.8 (30.8.1993 - 9.9.1993) Slow emulation: parity instructions improved by using a table not only for parity. Z80: ED xx with illegal xx is ignored. New documentation in English. - v0.8a (10.9.1993 - 15.9.1993) Fatal error in fast emulation: If an DD CB xx instruction is executed and an interrupt occurs, the instruction is ignored! - v0.8b (16.9.1993 - 21.9.1993) Implemented a "real" VSYNC, if VSYNC_CT = 0. Corrected PIO port A problem: OUT &F400,xx with Port A in input mode was ignored. New joystick routine from Martin Zacho. - v0.8c (22.9.1993 - 13.12.1993) Checked documentation with "ispell". Emulation did not start, if "USE_JOYSTICK=YES" and a joystick was not present (PUSH AX at wrong position). Slow Emulation: DAA corrected (brackets were missing since v0.8). Wrong patch for CPC 664 in interrupt routine. This patch replaced EI with NOP do avoid the problem with EI (enable interrupts one instruction later). Now correct for all CPCs. - v0.8d (14.12.1993 - 29.12.1993) FDC emulation rewritten for double sided formats. CPCTRANS replaces the old CPCREAD and allows you to read Vortex-disks after you have installed the patch 720KB.COM. Beside that, you can write disk images back to disk. New fileselect when pressing F3. Some port address aliases introduced, e.g. &7000 - &7f00 to address the gate array, &0c00,&1c00,&2c00,&3c00, &bc00 for the CRTC. Emulation of the R-register enabled. - v0.9 alpha (30.12.1993 - 20.1.1994) EMS memory possible with a special EMS/UMB-configuration. Binary digits in the configuration file. RAM-banking addressing corrected: emulator accepted &d0-&ff as &c0-&c7. Now up to 576 KB RAM with EMS. - v0.9b (21.1.1994 - 31.1.1994) Usage of EMS simplified by extended EMS (or LIM EMS 4.0) with more than 4 physical EMS pages. File-select added to 'l' (debug menu), RUN" . - v0.9c (1.2.1994 - 29.4.1994) Some awful PC speaker sound (disable it with F4). File select also with 'v'; this English documentation corrected; Soundblaster sound (can be improved); new CPCTRANS with command line parameters, direct FDC access; parallel adapter tested and the software improved. Fast Z80: INC (HL), DEC (HL), INC (IX+n), DEC (IX+n) for RAM below ROM corrected. PgUp,PgDn move oversized screens; parts of overscan screens are displayed. Now possible: 64K snapshots. - v0.9d (30.4.1994 - 12.5.1994) Interrupts during DI are not forgotten, and they are not enabled directly after an EI instruction any more. New color functions: now without snow under OS/2. Fast Z80: speed up code fetch. - v1.0 (13.5.1994 - 20.5.1994) Improved screen part: different character sizes from 1 to 8. File select added to SAVE" , added fast select by pressing a letter. Improved CPCTRANS with a verify option. A new setup menu, if you press F7. So you can disable colour flickering. - v1.0a (21.5.1994 - 9.6.1994) Improved setup menu with direct input or cursor keys, added German keyboard layout, added simple delay option. Correct display of smaller screen sizes (without parts of the bigger ones). Improved fast Z80 part: faster RRA,RLA, ... faster CB xx instructions. Added more illegal instructions (ED xx). LD D,XH and LD YL,YH were missing ! Corrected CPDR, CPIR with BC=0 (0 means 65536 on a Z80, but it is 0 for the 80x86 REPE prefix!). DAA flags corrected. New software for the parallel adapter: Now it is possible to send to the CPC. Thanks to Bernd Schmidt for pointing out that an interrupt increments the R-register by 1. With his help, the PIO port C register emulation has been improved. - v1.1a (10.6.1994 - ) A new era of CPCEMU has arisen: Amstrad has allowed the use of the ROMs! Changing in the configuration file: ROM_BLOCKS -> ROM_BLOCK, DISC_BYPASS -> DISABLE_ADOS, no space separating '=' needed, Changings in sound part, graphics part: vertical size by VGA-CRTC. Joystick calibration is in the setup menu now, tape routines for saving are improved. FDC part improved: now you can use COPYMATE. Insert non-data format disks without read error (without a seek to track 0). Another delay in CPCTRANS, I hope, you will not need the turbo switch any more; formatting of disk images. Corrected PIO port C another time: it is cleared after out &7f00,n. Major changes in the configuration file: Now with conditional configuration (#IFCPC, #ENDIF). Some tokens changed (VSYNC_CT -> /, DISC_PATH -> /, SNAP_PATH -> SNAPSHOT, DRV_A -> DRIVE_A, DRV_B -> DRIVE_B). Load programs from inside ZIP archives. You will need PKUNZIP. - v1.1b (17.8.1994 - 2.9.1994) Multimodes introduced, that means different screen modes on the same screen. The screen update is partitioned in up to 6 areas, each one is updated when an interrupt occurs. (Can be improved.) Possible now: 128K Snapshots, extended for multimodes. CPCPARA improved: Now you can transfer binary files with header. CPC 6128 Plus detection included. More port aliases included. - v1.2 (3.9.1994 - ) This version will be released. Mainly there are some changes with the help menu. CPCEMU is written in C and Assembler, using Borland C 3.1 with 386 optimization and Turbo Assembler. For Debugging the Turbo Debugger was used. The colours were composed with the program VGAMETER by J. Stephen Shattuck, Jr., with the CPC connected to a Scart-TV. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (From this point you can continue reading without danger.) Appendix ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ A.1 Glossary ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ Here some computer terms are explained. I do not lay claim to give complete or precise definitions. The terms are described with the view to the CPC. References are marked with "»". 386/33 (AT 386/33) Short term for »PC AT with 80386 processor, clocked with 33 MHz. Because of the "high" clock rate it should be a 386DX with a real 32 bit data bus, not the cheap 386SX with a 16 bit data bus. AMSDOS (Amstrad DOS) »DOS developed by »Amstrad, for the »CPC computers. Amstrad British computer manufacturer, who has designed the »CPCs. Archive Storage of files. Or: One file, including several other. In »ZIP archives the files are compressed before including them. ASCII (Abbreviation for: American Standard Code of Information Interchange) On a computer all characters, numerals are represented internal as numbers. Most computers use ASCII, with the letter "A" coded as 65. »PC and »CPC also use ASCII. In »Locomotive-BASIC you can save an ASCII file by typing 'SAVE"<filename>",A'. Basis Address This you have to specify in many »setups, if you own a soundcard. CPCEMU looks for a »environment variable. BASIC (Abbreviation for: beginners all purpose symbolic instruction code) Wide used easy to learn programming language for home- and personal computer. Former every computer had had his own BASIC dialect. Modern BASIC allows structured programming, so you are not forced to program "spaghetti code" any more. Also the »CPCs have its own BASIC, the Locomotive BASIC by a company of the same name. Batch File Contains instructions you normally type in your computer. If you call such a file, the instructions are executed one by one, even if you input them. BASIC File See »File. BBS Binary File See »File. BLASTER environment variable See »environment variable. C64: Home computer by the company Commodore with 64 KB »RAM, very popular. Caused by the huge software supply it was "the game computer" for many years. Later it was pushed away from the Commodore AMIGA, but despite its old technique it could hold longer. Clock frequency Clock the processor is connected to. It determines the speed of the processor in a significant way. Today's 486DX2/66 processors are clocked internally with 66 MHz. The Z80A in the »CPC is clocked with 4 MHz, running actual with 3.3 MHz because he has to wait periodically for the screen update. Command line parameter Parameter you give in the command line after the file you want to call. Configuration Here: Configure a program for his own needs. you can do that with the »Setup or a configuration file. CPC (Abbreviation for: Colour Personal Computer) "Personal Computer", developed by the company »Amstrad, was available in different types. Please read the introduction again. CPC printer port Centronics interface at the »CPC to connect a printer. Unfortunately the CPC designers were too economic: It has only 7 bit. With a short wire it was possible to extend it to 8. For this the cassette port was "misused", not needed when printing. CPC firmware manual A book about the »CPC, especially describing the operating system interface of the CPC. CPC newsgroup A newsgroup only for the »CPC. It is called "comp.os.amstrad.8bit" and was created in august 1994. CP/M Plus (Abbreviation for: control program for microcomputers) Operating system from the company Digital Research, mainly for 8 bit microcomputer. Widely used until IBM decided to use MS-DOS for its PCs. CP/M Plus (CP/M 3.0) was the successor of CP/M 2.2 and was included in the software package of the »CPC 6128. CTRL/SHIFT/ESC (control/shift/escape) "Three finger combination" on a »CPC to cause a reset. It is similar to the reset combination 'CTRL/ALT/Del' on a PC. Some programs block such a reset so you have to turn off the computer or use the reset button. The CPCs had no button, but it was easy to build one. In CPCEMU the function key F8 is the reset button. Cursor Character on the screen which shows you the current writing position. Somewhere on the keyboard there are cursor keys to move the cursor around. D-Sub Connectors with a special form. Dk'tronics British company offered hardware extensions for the »CPC, e.g. memory extensions. DMA (Abbreviation for: Direct Memory Access) Direct access to the computer memory without using the processor. Used with disk drives, but to be cheap not in the CPC. The Soundblaster card can also use a DMA channel, getting digital sound data "through" it. DOS (Abbreviation for: disk operating system) Disk oriented operating system, e.g. AMSDOS, DRDOS, MS-DOS. Today it is a synonym for MS-DOS. DOS Search Path DOS uses a path along subdirectories to find a file. It is set with the environment variable 'PATH'. DRDOS MS-DOS compatible »DOS by the company Digital Research. E-Mail (Abbreviation for: Electronic Mail) Using a computer as mail-box. EMM (Abbreviation for: Expanded Memory Manager) Similar to »EMS. EMS (Abbreviation for: Expanded Memory System) Memory extension for the »PC, to get around the 640KB memory limit. With the banking technique, other memory pages are mapped in a EMS window. EMS was developed by Lotus Intel Microsoft , thus it is called LIM-EMS. There are hardware-, emulated and simulated EMS. Special memory cards supply hardware EMS, mainly used on old PC XT. On a PC AT with at least a 80386 processor it is possible to have emulated EMS by using the paging mechanism for banking. This sort is supplied by EMM386.EXE and should used to speed up CPCEMU. Simulated EMS is too slow, it has to copy the memory pages. Emulate Imitate a system (hard- or software) by another one. The imitating system computes the same results on the same data as the imitated system. CPCEMU emulates a »CPC on a »PC. Emulator The system »emulating another one. File Collection of data belonging together. On the »CPC there are files of different types, e.g BASIC files with BASIC programs having usually the extension '.BAS', ASCII files with any text and binary files with any bytes, having usually the extension '.BIN'. Binary files can contain machine programs or other data. Format definitions Definitions of disk formats. FTP (Abbreviation for: File Transfer Protocol) A protocol to transfer files in computer networks. Also the program using this protocol is called "FTP". Hardware Parts of a computer you can "touch", e.g. periphery like printer, monitor; internal its the processor and other »hardware chips. Hardware chips Components inside the computer, e.g. processor, memory chips, floppy disk controller, ... Inside the CPC there are the Z80 processor, the Gate Array, the CRTC 6845 for addressing the screen memory, the PIO 8255 for input/output, the sound chip PSG AY 3-8912, the floppy disk controller FDC 765, ... Hardware scrolling Moving the screen without having the processor to copy from one part to another. The processor has to modify only the screen base address, the rest is done by a hardware chip. Initialize Fill the memory with special values, so variables are defined. Interface Connection of a computer to its periphery or from one program to another. Thus there are hard- and software interfaces. The so-called Centronics interface is a parallel interface, transmitting the bits of a byte parallel. With serial interfaces it is necessary to transfer the bits one after another. Internet A Internet is composed of several sub-networks of computers. Here: *The* Internet, a worldwide computer network for communication. Interrupt If the processor gets a signal with higher priority, it interrupts the running program and calls a special interrupt handler. When finished he continues with the interrupted program. On a PC there are different interrupt signals, e.g. when you press a key, when a timer runs off, when data from the serial interface has arrived (e.g. when you move the mouse), when the soundcard just played its last sample and needs more data, ... The Z80 in the CPC is interrupted 300 times a second. Interrupt number IRQ (IRQ=Abbreviation for: Interrupt Request) On a PC, different »interrupts have different numbers. For example, the keyboard interrupt has number 9, the timer interrupt has number 8. If you press a key, the keyboard sends an interrupt request to the processor, so it is informed. Jumper box A adapter box to realize any connection between two connectors by using short wires which must be soldered. See also »Wiring Box. Keyboard handler A program called when the keyboard generates an »interrupt. The handler gets the number of the key which is pressed or released. LIM standard (Abbreviation for: Lotus Intel Microsoft) Memory expansion (»EMS), developed by Lotus, Intel and Microsoft. Locomotive British company which wrote the »BASIC of the »CPCs. Mailing list A service from me, for which I add your email address to a list. So you will be informed about news concerning CPCEMU. Microchannel Special bus architecture. MS-DOS (Abbreviation for: Microsoft Disk Operating System) Operating system, developed by the company Microsoft for 16 bit processors (8086). The most popular operating system for the PC. Still in use on the 32 bit processors 80386 and 80486. Multi Modes Programming technique to have different screen modes simultaneously on the screen. The screen mode is changed during a screen refresh more than one time. On the CPC you get zones with high resolution, few colours and low resolution, many colours. Multiface II (Abbreviation for: Multipurpose Interface) A hardware extension for the CPC. Allows to interrupt any program at any time to analyze or save it. Developed by the British company Romantic Robot. Number representations Depending on the selected base, there are different representations for the same number. Well known is the decimal representation with basis 10 and digits 0 to 9. Computer use the binary representation (base 2) with digits 0 and 1. Programmers like the hexadecimal representation with base 16, because 16 is a power of 2 (2 powered with 4). Then the representations can be easily computed into each other. Besides a byte needs only 2 digits (0 to 9, A to F) in the hexadecimal notation. OS (Abbreviation for: Operating System) A program needed to use the computer. It provides basic functions to application software. New operating systems do complicated tasks like program scheduling in multitasking systems, ... OS/2 DOS box A window under the 32 bit operating system OS/2 by IBM, where you can run DOS programs. The so-called DOS compatibility box. Overscan The border surrounding the writable area on the screen. On a PC it is very small but you can change its colour, e.g. in CPCEMU with 'BORDER 10'. On the CPC the overscan is much wider, so programmers have looked for possibilities to write to it. With a programming trick it is possible to write to the whole screen. This programming technique is called overscan. Parameter Variable with a fixed meaning, the behaviour of the program relies on it. PC (Abbreviation for: Personal Computer) Computer with a microprocessor as processor (or CPU=central processing unit). Today a synonym for the IBM PC with 8086 or 8088 processor. PC AT (advanced technology) are computers with a 80286, 80386 or 80486 processor. PEEKs and POKEs: »BASIC instructions to modify the memory directly. 'PEEK(<address>)' is used to read a byte from memory, 'POKE <address>,<number>' modifies the memory. Programs with many PEEKs and POKEs are hardly to understand, but sometimes it is necessary to break through the limits BASIC has, especially if the BASIC has few instructions. PKUNZIP Program by PK-Software to decompress »ZIP files. RAM (Abbreviation for: Random Access Memory). Memory chip. Memory of the computer. The CPCs have 64KB RAM (kilo bytes) or 128KB. With hardware extensions they could have up to 576KB RAM. ROM (Abbreviation for: read-only-memory). Memory chip. Memory that can only be read but not changed. It is available directly after switching on the computer. The CPCs have 16KB ROM »OS, 16KB ROM »BASIC and 16KB ROM for the AMSDOS. ROM Image File with the contents of a »ROM. IF you read out a ROM and write the bytes into a file you will get a ROM image. RS-232 Serial Interface to connect monitors or printers to the computer. (RS 232 C). Schneider German company, which sold the CPCs in Germany. Screen mode Setup Changing »parameters of a program, so if behaves differently. You can tell the setup, if you have a soundcard, if you want to use a joystick, ... SIMTEL A big software archive in the USA. The SimTel Software Repository is maintained by Coast to Coast Telecommunications, Inc. (CCT) on its host computer on the Internet located at "SimTel.Coast.NET". This archieve is mirrored (copied) to other sides. One mirror site is Oakland University located at "OAK.Oakland.Edu". Snapshots A memory dump completed by internal states of the »hardware chips. It contains a complete momentary state description of the computer. If the snapshot is reloaded, the computer is set back to the state described in the snapshot. Thus it is similar to a real snapshot, only inside the computer. Software Programs of a computer system. Soundblaster Soundcard of the company Creative Labs. Spectrum The Sinclair Spectrum is a home computer developed by the company Sinclair. Turbo Pascal compiler Pascal is a higher programming language which allows structured programming, today used in many schools. If one talks about Pascal, he means mostly Turbo Pascal, even if this is only an extended Pascal by the company Borland. The Turbo Pascal compiler is particular fast because it compiles the program in one pass. Utility Useful program. VGA (Abbreviation for: Video Graphics Array) Graphics standard on the PC. Successor of CGA (Colour Graphics Adapter), MCGA (Multi Colour Graphics Adapter) and EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter). Extended to SVGA (Super VGA) with higher resolution. VGA-BIOS (Abbreviation for: VGA Basic Input Output Operating System) The operation system for the »VGA graphics card. Windows Something you can put on »DOS. Wiring box A adapter to realize any connection between two connectors by using short wires. In comparison to the »jumper box the wires need not be soldered. Z80 A 8 bit processor developed by the company Zilog. It is upwards compatible to Intel's 8080 and was very popular. In the »CPC there is the Z80A which is clocked with 4 MHz. Z80 instructions Machine instructions which the »Z80 understands. They are only number columns, to remember them more easily, mnemonics were introduced, which are translated by an assembler into binary code. The instruction "LD A,B" loads register A with the contents of register B and is the same as the binary code 0x78. ZIP A special process to compress files. The »archives have the extension "ZIP". A.2 Bibliography ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ The CPC manual is indispensable for CPC beginners: - Spital Ivor und Perry, Roland und Poel, William und Lawson,Cliff: CPC 6128 Benutzerhandbuch, Schneider Computer Division 1985, Originalausgabe (c) 1985 (in meinem Exemplar steht übrigens 1895) by AMSOFT, AMSTRAD Consumer Electronics plc and Locomotive software Ltd. An excellent commented ROM listing, with starting chapters dealing especially with the software side of the CPC: - Janneck, Jörn W. und Mossakowski,Till: ROM-Listing CPC 464/664/6128, Markt & Technik Verlag 1986 On the contrary: unkind composed, rarely commented, dealing more with the hardware side: - Brückmann, Englisch, Gertis: CPC 464 Intern mit kommentiertem ROM-Listing, Data Becker 1985 Good to learn C, with many exercises: - Kellay, Al and Pohl, Ira: A Book on C, Second Edition, 1990 by Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc. Hints, how to write an understandable and good manual, gives: - Boedicker, Dagmar: Handbuch-Knigge, Software Handbücher schreiben und beurteilen. Wissenschaftsverlag 1990 A.3 Index ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ The numbers behind the entries show you the chapter where they are described. (not complete) #ENDIF 4.2 #IFCPC 4.2 22DISK 5.1.2 Adapter, parallel 5.2 AMSDOS_DI 4.2 AMSDOS_SPDUP 4.2 BLASTER Environment 2.3.2 BREAK_MASK 4.2 Cassette 3.2.2 COLOUR 4.2 Configuration file 4.2 CPC 1.3 CPC Newsgroup 6.2 CPCEMU.CFG 4.2 CPCPARA.BAS 5.2 CPCREC.BAS 5.2 CPCTRANS.EXE 5.1.1 Debug Menu 7.3 DELAY 4.2 Disk 3.2.1 Disk Image 3.2.1 DRIVE_A 4.2 DRIVE_B 4.2 EMS_EI 4.2 EMS Memory 2.3.1 Function key 3.1 INT_FREQ 4.2 INT_RESUME 4.2 JOY_CALIBRATE 4.2 KBD_LANGUAGE 4.2 Keyboard 3.1 Menus 3.2.1 Multi Mode 4.1 MULTIMODE 4.2 PCPARA.EXE 5.2 PIO_PORT_B 4.2 PRINTER 4.2 RAM_SIZE 4.2 ROM_BLOCK 4.2 ROM_PATH 4.2 SBLASTER 4.2 SB_DELAY 4.2 Setup menu 4.1 SHOW_CONFIG 4.2 SNAPSHOT 4.2 Snapshot 3.2.3 SOUND 4.2 Soundblaster 2.3.2 TAPE_BYPASS 4.2 TAPE_PATH 4.2 TMP_PATH 4.2 VSYNC Bit 4.1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ logout ------