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AUTOBOOT.ARK
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AUTOBOOT.WS
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1988-03-13
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7KB
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125 lines
AUTOMATION! LET YOUR OLD CP/M KAYPRO DO IT FOR YOU.
by Dave Green, KUAFC, September 1987
(Tips on auto-start at bootup)
The dedicated word processor I use at work starts automatically.
Well, almost automatically. I turn on the switch, pop in an 8"
disk, wait a few seconds, and the machine presents me with a
blank page, ready and waiting for the words to start flowing
(sometimes it gets just a trickle, though). But until recently,
my old Kaypro II had no idea what I wanted when I went through
the same procedure. I would turn on the switch, pop in a disk,
wait a few seconds and find an A> waiting in the corner of the
screen. Then if I wanted to use Wordstar, I'd tell it to load
Xtrakey (to redefine my keypad for Wordstar), then load Wordstar,
log Wordstar onto the B: drive to find my text files, and finally
tell it which file I wanted to work on.
It's a simple procedure, but it's always the same. Why not let
the machine do it for me and speed up the whole process?
There's a simple way to set up a system so your CP/M Kaypro
starts up automatically. The secret is to use a function of
CP/M's "Copy" program to mark a file on each disk to load
automatically when you cold boot the system. If you've upgraded
to Advent's TurboRom system, you can configure that system to
always look for a particular file name with a cold boot.
With either system, you can make that startup file a submit file
which executes all of the steps you normally go through to start
computing. SUBMIT.COM is a public domain program which executes
a series of commands you put together in a "submit file". EX.COM
is a similar program which works better in some applications
because it keeps the submit file in memory. (SUBMIT.COM writes a
temporary file to disk, so you have to leave room on the disk.)
But I've had better luck with SUPERSUB.COM. It, too, writes a
temporary file to disk, but I'm using it because EX.COM upset the
apple cart with Wordstar--my left arrow cursor control required
two keystrokes to move the cursor one space. SUBMIT.COM wouldn't
complete the entire set of commands, so save yourself some time
and trouble and use SUPERSUB.COM.
SUBMIT.COM, EX.COM (EX15.COM), and SUPERSUB.COM are all available
in the KUAFC library.
In order to automate my system, I've written a submit file for
each disk of software I use. Here's the file I use for Wordstar
named WSTART.SUB:
B: Logs the B: drive for text files
SD SD.COM displays directory of disk in B:
and space available
A:XTRA A:WS;WS Runs Xtrakey redefinition program and
or WS loads Wordstar. If you don't use
Xtrakey or another key definition
program, use the second line instead.
ERA *.BAK Erases all backup files on B: drive
after exiting from Wordstar. Leave
out this step if you want to save
backup files.
A: Logs the A: drive
ERA *.BAK Erases all backup files on A: drive.
Leave this out if you want to save any
backup files that end up on A:.
The command to run this procedure is SUPERSUB WSTART. And that
brings up another problem. Try to tell the computer to
automatically run SUPERSUB WSTART when you do a cold boot and you
won't get any farther than before. The trick is another free
public domain program you can get from the KUAFC library called
SYNONYM.COM. Synonym lets you give the command SUPERSUB WSTART a
new one-word command file name. I've used START.COM, but you can
call it AUTOEXEC.COM if you want to pretend you're running MS-
DOS. With my TurboRom system I put a file on every disk named
START.COM. I've already configured the TurboRom system to look
for START.COM every time I do a cold boot. To make cold boots
easier, I moved the reset button to the front panel of my Kaypro
II. Now when I switch from Wordstar to another software package,
I simply insert the new disk, punch reset, and the Kaypro looks
for a file called START.COM to tell it what to do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a step-by-step review of the process:
1. Write a submit file (xxxxx.SUB) listing all commands
you want your Kaypro to automatically perform. Use the non-
document mode in WordStar or any text editor to create the
file. Don't leave any blank lines in the middle of the file,
but end the file with a blank line with just a carriage
return. The sample file above includes explanatory notes in
the right column. Don't include that column in your file.
2. Run SYNONYM.COM to rename SUPERSUB xxxxxx.SUB with a
one-word command such as START.COM. The form of the command
to run SYNONYM is "SYNONYM newname.COM SUPERSUB xxxxxx" where
newname is the name you pick for your startup command file
(START.COM or AUTOEXEC.COM) and xxxxxx is the name of your
submit file.
3. Configure your system to look for newname.COM when you
cold boot (either power up or push reset). With a
conventional CP/M operating system, copy each disk using
CP/M's COPY.COM utility. After the system copies the entire
disk it will show you a list of files on that disk and ask
you which one you want to run automatically when you cold
boot the system. Enter START.COM or AUTOEXEC.COM or whatever
name you picked when you ran SYNONYM.COM.
If you have a TurboRom operating system, run the
TurboRom TURBOCFG.COM program to configure your system to
look for START.COM or AUTOEXEC.COM or whatever you plan to
name your startup procedure. It's easier if you use the same
file name for all disks. Number 8 on the TURBOCFG.COM menu
is the selection to specify your automatic cold boot command.
Don't forget to write the new system image to a file and then
write the system tracks on any disk you want to autoload.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Automation is the name of the game in industry today. Why
not automate your Kaypro and let it make things a little
easier?
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