~=001~Welcome to ~=003~The Z-Letter~=001~, a newsletter for the community ofCP/M and Z-System users. Everything in this issue is copyright ~=005~q~=001~1993 by David A.J. McGlone, Lambda Software Publishing, 149 West Hilliard Lane,Eugene, Oregon 97404-3057, phone (503) 688-3563.
The purpose of this magazine is to spread the news about new developments inthe community, and to help newcomers get the most out of their machines. Sosend us the news about your new software or hardware, your opinion of someoneelse's product, that article you've been meaning to write, your praise, gripes,or just plain questions! This is the place.
. Commented out so columns line up.
Please submit material on 5~=010~$~=001~" or 8" diskette in almost any format,or printed or typewritten on clean white unlined paper. We cannot pay forarticles, but the author of any article we publish will receive that issue of~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~free. If the author has a subscription, thesubscription will be extended for one issue.
~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~reserves the right to edit for publication lettersreceived. If you're not willing to have your letter printed, or edited beforeprinting, please say so in the letter. All letters become the property ofLambda Software Publishing upon receipt.
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~=003~(continued on page 18)
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~=939~RANDOM ACCESS
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~=002~Unsung heroes of issue 23~=001~
Several people have not yet been credited for the aid they gave me on our lastissue, due to the extremely fluid situation pertaining right up to the time itwas mailed. I would like to thank them publicly now.
First, ~=002~Chris McEwen ~=001~deserves thanks for offering to help publish~=003~The Z-Letter, ~=001~including printing it, mailing it, and soliciting newsubscribers. Chris and I were unable to reach agreement on his offer, so thiswill not come about. Nevertheless, talking to Chris inspired me to look intoalternative means of printing and mailing the magazine that would cost less andkeep its production feasible in my current circumstances. Without that boost,there would have been no issue 23 or later issues. Lambda would have continuedto sell products, but ~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~would not have been one of them.
Secondly, ~=002~Alan Bard Newcomer ~=001~printed last issue when the copier Iwas going to use proved inadequate, and allowed me to use his bulk-mail permitto mail it.
Finally, I want to thank ~=002~Bob Vinisky ~=001~and ~=002~Brian Garrison. ~=001~Brian runs Emerald Microware in Beaverton, Oregon, and furnished enoughnames and addresses out of his customer data base to make up the differencebetween the number of subscribers I have presently, and the 200 minimum neededto mail an issue via bulk mail. Bob contacted Brian for me, and drove down toEugene with the disk.
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~=002~Fifth Anniversary Contest!~=001~
The first issue of ~=003~The Z-Letter, ~=001~edited by myself and published byJoe Wright as Alpha Systems Corporation, was dated September 1988. Issue 27,dated September/October 1993, will therefore mark the fifth anniversary of thismagazine. To celebrate this event, I am announcing a contest!
Lambda Software Publishing will release a CP/M-and-Z-System calendar for 1994. The exact theme of this calendar, and the illustrations in it, are the subjectof the contest. To enter, send me a letter listing the pictures that should beused in the twelve months of the calendar, with the reasons why thoseparticular pictures should be used. The categories are: People in the CP/Mcommunity, CP/M computers, and Other. For the people category, you would listthe people who should appear in the calendar, and why those people should be sohonored. For the computers theme, you would list the makes and models ofmachines that should appear in such a calendar, and why. For the Otherscategory, you would list some other theme that a CP/M calendar might feature,and which pictures should appear in that calendar, and why those ones.
The authors of the best letter for each category will receive a free copy ofthe calendar and 12 free issues of ~=003~The Z-Letter. ~=001~Winners will beannounced in issue 27, as well as the theme and illustrations chosen, and theprice of the calendar.
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~=002~Digging in~=001~
Last issue I mentioned our trip to Oregon with my office stuff and clothes. InFebruary, about three weeks after mailing issue 23, I took the Green Tortoise,a hippy bus, down to San Jose to pack the second load. Deborah had packed alot of the stuff in the house since the first trip, and had been putting itinto a storage unit a carload of boxes at a time. There was still plenty topack! We must have bought a hundred of those folding storage boxes withhandles and lids, and used them all. Then we rented a 20-foot truck andstarted loading it.
Some things were not worth moving (now I know how Joe Wright felt). None ofthe computer surplus places were willing to buy, or even come get, the non-CP/Mmachines that I acquired along with some CP/M machines in my $200 haul (seeissue 22). So, reluctantly, I put them out for the trash: TRS-80 model 1s;Commodore PETs, Super-PETs, 8032s, and 16s; TI-99/4As, a couple of them in theoriginal boxes with all the accessories; Smart Alecs, Smart Alec Jr.s, RCAvideo games, TRS DOS documentation, a Mattel TOMY, an Altair 680b, a BYTE-8,various monitors and keyboards, and much more. I even disposed of some stuffthat was CP/M-compatible, but not worth storing or moving; an ADDS Viewpointterminal, two huge Omron terminals, about eight 8" floppy-disk drives, aboutthe same number of Vector 3 computers, an Exidy Sorceror in very bad condition,an early model Starplex built into its own cabinet, and about half a dozenS~=001~-100 chasses. I kept three Vector 3s and three Vector 4s, but Vectorsare hard-sectored machines, and hence worthless as trade items. I did removeall the cards from the Vectors and the other S-100 chasses before dumping them,and kept the cards.
As usual, people appeared out of nowhere to inspect the piles and ask whetherthey could have some of the stuff being thrown away. After warning them thatthe equipment was not compatible with PCs or Macs, I told them to take anythingthey wanted.
Some stuff was disposed of more agreeably. The Toshiba 8085 system with the 8"drives, that will run CP/M but not the Z-System, I gave to the pastor of thechurch next door, along with lots of binders and other office stuff. I havepromised to copy the manuals and boot disks and send them to him. Four S-100systems, manuals, and S-100 cards I sold to Herb Johnson, and sent him much ofit via UPS in the midst of packing. And a Kaypro 10 I found at Weird Stuffwent out to a gentleman in Missouri, who had already sent me money for a Kaypro2, after phoning him and making sure that he was willing to pay another $50 forthe better machine.
You never realize just how much stuff you've accumulated until you have to moveit. After packing the truck full of book cabinets, file cabinets, a bureau, arefrigerator, two office tables, hundreds of boxes of computer magazines,computer manuals, software manuals, and disks, and a handful of computers, thebasement was still half full, the garage likewise, and a fair amount of stuffremained in the house. There was no help for it; we locked everything up andhit the road.
The weather was much better than last time, and we drove straight up Interstate5, instead of taking the more scenic, but longer, coastal route. We worriedabout being overloaded, but probably weren't, since the truck handled easily. We'll never know for sure, because all the truck-weighing stations were closedfor the Presidents' Day holiday.
We got to our house in Eugene around noon Monday, and I got to go through themail that had piled up in the week I'd been gone. Then Deborah had to catchthe Monday Green Tortoise to get back to San Jose by Tuesday, when she had tobe back at work. My nephew Derrick, my friend Bob Vinisky, and I unloaded thetruck of Lambda stuff, then Carol (Deborah's mother), Derrick, and I drove to alocal storage place, where I rented a space and we unloaded the furniture andabout twenty of the computers, and then returned the truck. Then I had a fewdays to answer letters and fill orders.
The reason I had only a few days is that I had to get down to San Jose again tofinish getting everything out of the basement and garage. Green Tortoise wasalready full, so I took Greyhound that Thursday. It's a shorter trip, sincethey don't have a three-hour stop to cook dinner, but it costs $13.50 more, andyou have to sleep sitting up. Three days' hard labor followed: Deborah and I,with the aid of our friend Ed Rush on Sunday, moved stuff to her room at Ed'splace, repacked the storage unit in San Jose for greater use of the space, puteverything at the old place into that unit and another one we rented, andcleaned up the mess in front of the house, in the alley behind the house, etc. Then I caught Green Tortoise back to Oregon, to find another pile of mailwaiting, and a house full of boxes to sort out.
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~=002~Digging out~=001~
Getting the stuff up here is only the beginning. It does no one any goodsitting around as a mountain of storage boxes, and most of the time since lastissue has been spent unpacking boxes and rearranging furniture. The computermagazines alone filled about 32 boxes. However, since they had been neatlyfiled in hanging-file folders in file-cabinet drawers, unpacking them wasfairly easy; just open the boxes in order, lift out the file folders, and putthem in the file-cabinet drawers. ~=003~Byte ~=001~from its first issuethrough December 1988 takes up a file cabinet by itself; all the other computermagazines I have take up three cabinets.
One innovation that has me excited is the discovery of an effective way oforganizing all the material I've been collecting on CP/M computers andsoftware. Well, I'm a nerdy sort of guy, so I get excited over things likethis. Previously, I had several different file systems going. Magazines werealphabetical by title and date, floppy disks were organized by format, hardwaremanuals were alphabetical by manufacturer and model number, software manualswere alphabetical by subject or name or manufacturer or anything else thatoccurred to me, letters and other correspondence were organizedchronologically, and computer manuals were on shelves in alphabetical order bymanufacturer and model. Furthermore, a lot of all of these were in boxes inthe garage, for sheer lack of room.
Moving has required me to deal with this problem, and I have found a solution. Correspondence is still a separate file, in chronological order, and I haven'tgotten to the floppy disks yet. But everything else I've been putting intohanging-file folders and organizing into alphabetical order as I've unpacked. Right now every file cabinet in my office is full, and the overflow is fillinganother fourteen boxes of files. As soon as I can afford it, I will buyanother five file cabinets, and put everything away. But even in its presentstate, all the material I have on CP/M computers is better organized and moreaccessible than it's ever been before.
I'm using folders with five tab positions, and each tab position has meaning inaddition to what's written on the label inside the tab. Counting the fivepositions from left to right as 1 to 5, 1 is used when the material in thefolder is about a company, or about a software or hardware product of acompany, such as company publicity and sales brochures. Position 5, as far aspossible from 1, is used for the actual manual for a software or hardwareproduct. Position 3, in the middle, is used for general topics, or notes on asubject. Position 4 is used for the title of a third-party book or magazinearticle. Position 2 is used for the title of a magazine, for folders thatcontain actual copies of the magazine or newsletter.
An example may make this clearer. Under ~=004~Epson, ~=001~information aboutEpson America, and sales brochures about Epson printers and computers would befiled in folders whose tabs occupied the first position. Copies of ~=003~EpsonLifeboat ~=001~occupy folders, the first of which has a tab so labeled andinserted at the second position. Notes about graphics on an Epson dot-matrixprinter, for example, would be labeled with a tab at the third position. Abook such as ~=003~The Epson QX-10, Everything You Need To Know, ~=001~byRichard Einhorn, would be in a folder with the tab in the fourth position. Numerous folders with fifth-position tabs contain all the manuals that comewith Epson printers, Epson Geneva (PX-8) computers, and Epson QX-10 computers.
One disadvantage of file cabinets is that binders are often too large to file. No solution is perfect. I have removed everything from binders, and stored thebinders in boxes with numbers on them. Yellow slips of papers record which boxeach binder is in, and these slips are being filed with the manuals. Similarly, once a distribution diskette has been backed up on a user area of anORG diskette, both first and second copy, I plan to put the distributiondiskettes in the same file folders as the manuals.
All this takes a ~=004~lot ~=001~of file folders. In fact, I read theexpression on my face, in this issue's cover drawing by Rick Sherman, as~=010~Q~=001~Oh God, I'm going to need another case of file folders.~=010~q ~=001~Hanging-file folders come 25 to a box, ten boxes to a case; I've used up1150 folders, so far, putting things away.
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~=002~Further acquisitions~=001~
I haven't given up the idea of having a CP/M Museum, I just have to be morecareful about how I spend money these days. Thanks to the kind offices of KenThomson, who frequents garage sales on weekends, I was able to pick up twosystems in San Francisco my last trip down to the Bay Area. Phil Houtalosdonated to the collection a Discovery 500 S-100 system with 10-Mb hard disk,96-tpi floppy, TeleVideo terminal, a spare hard disk, and some S-100 cards. Brad Smallridge donated a Hewlett-Packard 125 computer, diskettes, and printer. Both computers are models I did not have before.
I was also given a Durango F-85 system and three Philips 3004 word processors,with disks and manuals, by Tom Butler of Tigard, Oregon. Sydex' AnaDiskprogram cannot copy either kind of disk. Chuck Guzis of Sydex says he was partof the team that built the Durango, and it uses 100-tpi drives. That makes itsformat unreadable by any machine that does not have 100-tpi drives; a 96-tpidrive can read a 48-tpi format by skipping every other track, but 96 and 100have no common factor. The Philips systems use the same backwards drives thatcut the Dynabyte off from the rest of the world, to the same effect.
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~=002~Computers built or fixed~=001~
On the same trip, I met Ron Reymore. Ron is a true hardware hacker. Right nowhe's building a couple of YASBECs for Howard Hole, the friend who told me abouthim; he also does computer repairs. If you're in need of someone to fix an oldsystem, write him at Rondell Systems, 9993 Broadacres Road NE, Hubbard OR97032, or phone him at (503) 981-8617.
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~=002~Robots, anyone?~=001~
The San Francisco Robotics Society of America is dedicated to the exchange ofinformation about robotics, in order to stimulate education in the sciences,create new small businesses, and to enjoy robotics as a hobby. SFRSA holdsmeetings the first Wednesday of each month at the San Francisco Exploratoriumat 8 PM, usually in the Exploratorium's Library, but occasionally in the McBeanTheatre. Admission to the Exploratorium is free the first Wednesday of themonth, and so is the SFRSA meeting.
Meetings usually last about two hours. You can call (415) 550-0588 during theday to get information about upcoming meetings' programs. SFRSA also has abulletin board with computer programs and files of interest to robotenthusiasts. Your modem should be set to ~=010~Q~=001~2400 N81~=010~q~=001~before you call the BBS at (415) 648-6427.
The Society holds an annual Robot Games event each fall. The 8th Annual SFRSARobot Games are not yet scheduled, but will be in September or early October1993. Proposed events this year will be Rope Climbing, a Maze, and PotatoPeeling.
Membership in the club is free. If you want the Society's newsletter for ayear, that is $5. It should be sent to The Robotics Society of America, c/oRobert McAdams, Treasurer, P.O. Box 1205, Danville CA 94526-1205. The officialaddress of the Society is 933 Treat Avenue, San Francisco CA 94110, phone (415)550-0588, fax (415) 550-0411, BBS (415) 648-6427.
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~=002~If you want it, it's yours~=001~
The stuff in the following list is documentation for software or operatingsystems other than CP/M-80 or the Z-System, and I'm not going to keep it anylonger. So if you want any of it, and you're willing to come pick it up or payshipping, let me know ~=004~right away. ~=001~Don't put it off, because I willdonate any of it I can to local user groups, book stores, and libraries; anythat's left when I mail the next issue of ~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~will berecycled.
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~=003~Commodore OS~=001~
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1. Mastering VisiCalc, book by Douglas Hergert (Commodore version)
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2. Microsoft Multiplan Electronic Worksheet for the Commodore 64, HesWare,1983
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~=003~CP/M-86~=001~
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3. The BYTE Guide to CP/M-86, book by Mark Dahmke
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4. CP/M-86 Operating System Manual, Eagle PC version, in Eagle 5~=010~@~=001~"x 8~=010~@~=001~" binder, two copies
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~=003~HDOS~=001~
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5. DKH17V2.DVD, UltiMeth Corporation, 1981
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6. Getting Started with HDOS and Assembly Language Programming, William N.Campbell, M.D., 1981
17. User's Guide for dBase II, VICTOR, First Printing, February 1983
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~=003~North Star DOS~=001~
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18. The Business Financial Advisor For North Star Systems, Omni SoftwareSystems, Inc.
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19. Errata and Additional Information for System Software Manual, Revision2.1, North Star Computers, Inc., July 27, 1979
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20. Graphics DOS, North Star Computers, Inc., 1982 (02810A)
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21. North Star Pascal Version 1, North Star Computers, Inc., 1979 (PAS-DOC,Revision 2, 25012)
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22. NorthWord, North Star Computers, 09750B
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23. System Software Manual, North Star Computers, Inc., 1979 (SOFT-DOC,Revision 2.1)
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24. System Software Manual, Revision 2.1, North Star Computers, Inc., 1980(25013B), two copies
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25. System Software Manual Addendum, July 1980, Revision 2.1, North StarComputers (three copies)
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~=003~Oasis~=001~
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26. Oasis operating system manual set, in binder, version 5.3.0, March 1979
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~=003~TRS DOS~=001~
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27. TRS-80 Color Computer & MC-10 Programs, book by William Barden, Jr.
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28. TRS-80 Interfacing, book by Jonathan A. Titus
TurboDOS~=001~
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29. Configuration Guide to TurboDOS 1.2, Software 2000, Inc., May 1982
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30. TurboDOS for North Star Horizon 8/16, two 5~=010~@~=001~" x8~=010~@~=001~" packages, each including Reference Manual in binder, User'sGuide in binder, and diskettes
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31. TurboDOS Made Easy, book by Steven Marks
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32. TurboDOS Manual, plastic-wrapped and unopened, includes sections on 8/16hardware installation, TurboDOS Preface, User's Guide, Z80 Implementer's Guide,Z80 System Programmer's Guide, and accompanied by loose errata pages and NorthStar manual spine insert
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~=003~Unknown~=001~
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33. Microcomputer Interfaces Handbook, DEC, 1981
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34. System 88 User's Manual, PolyMorphic Systems, part number 810140, 1978
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~=002~TRS DOS to MS-DOS conversions~=001~
Speaking of non-CP/M operating systems, I thought I'd record here someinformation I discovered recently. If you need to copy data between a PC and aTRS-80 Model I, III, or IV running TRS DOS, a company named HyperSoft has twoproducts that might interest you. HyperCross runs on the TRS-80 models named,and costs $49.95. The PC version is called PC CrossZap and costs $79.95. Ifyou're running TRS DOS on a Model II or 12, you're out of luck, because theModel II and 12 format and directory structure is entirely different, accordingto HyperSoft (P.O. Box 51155, Raleigh NC 27609, phone (919) 846-1637).
~=001~I will no longer be including ~=003~Computer Monthly ~=001~in theMAGAZINE ARTICLES section of ~=003~The Z-Letter. ~=001~Several issues back,~=003~Computer Monthly ~=001~was sold to new owners, who promptly threw out allthe classic computer columns except Nancy Black's Fearless Computing column. With the columns gone, advertisers soon followed, so that today ~=003~CM~=001~is just another PC-and-Mac magazine. Nancy got a PC, so even her columnrarely has anything of interest any more.
One bit of news that comes from her column in the February 1993 issue is that~=003~Run ~=001~magazine, the last Commodore-specific commercial magazine,ceased publication with its November/December 1992 issue, leaving only the64/128 section in the occasional issue of ~=003~Compute, ~=001~and variousnewsletters. This despite the fact that the Commodore 64 and 128 are stillbeing made!
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~=002~Trenton '93~=001~
The Trenton Computer Faire this year will be April 17 and 18, at Mercer CountyCommunity College, the same site as last year. I won't be able to attend thisyear. I hope someone who does go will take notes and send me a write-up of theevent.
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~=939~ADDING 96-TPI DRIVES TO A KAYPRO
~=002~by Dave Templin
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~=001~With prices for CP/M machines and parts so low as to be almost out ofsight, I decided to improve my Kaypro systems. I own a 2X and a 1. They bothcome with two DSDD 48-tpi half-height floppy-disk drives. Some years ago Iadded a 20-Mb hard disk ~=005~V ~=001~the one from Advanced Concepts ~=005~V~=001~to the Kaypro 1. So, wouldn't it be nice to have a high-densityfloppy~=001~-disk drive to which to back up the hard disk? And how aboutanother one from which to run programs on the 2X? More space for more programfiles.
Actually, what tipped me over the edge was seeing the 96-tpi drives advertisedin ~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~for $18.50. Right away I ordered up a couple fromStanley Kung (new address: 716 Harbor Road, Alameda CA 94501). I tried eachone on my 2X and found that they wouldn't work. That's when I discovered that96-tpi drives can't be accessed by the stock Kaypro mother board. A quick callto Dave McGlone confirmed that fact. However, he was very helpful in tellingme of a man who could sell me the ROM chip needed to help do the job.
That's when I met Chuck Stafford ~=005~V ~=001~a very helpful, veryknowledgable man when it comes to Kaypro computers. What is even better isthat he lives just across town from me. He purchased all of the Advent stockof ROMs, etc. when Advent went out of business. So, for $35.00 each I pickedup a couple of ROM chips and a copy of the schematic from which I could build a~=010~Q~=001~personality decoder.~=010~q~=001~
This second item is very important, as it is needed to help the mother boardknow which are 48- and which are 96-tpi drives. The TurboRom handles the rest~=005~V ~=001~as well as adding several other nice features, like screenblanking, and the ability to configure your machine's performance as you like.
With $15.00 in parts from a local electronics store, I set to work building thedecoder. Please understand that I haven't put a soldering iron to anelectronic component since my high-school days over twenty years ago, so workprogressed slowly. Actually, work went well; it was the debugging that tooksome time. Chuck Stafford was helpful and encouraging all along the way,patiently taking my phone calls and helping me sort out what I had overlookedin making the decoder. Finally, I fixed my last mistake and the computer workslike a charm! The small decoder board plugs in between the mother board andthe disk drives, and has a set of dip switches by which you tell the computerwhich drives are 48-tpi (the old DSDD) and which are 96-tpi. The TurboRom canhandle up to four floppy-disk drives as well as two hard disks of as much as 52megabytes each.
Chuck Stafford also sells an interface kit to make the connection with harddisks. He can be reached at (916) 483-0312. His main machine is a Kaypro 10which now houses two 96-tpi drives, one 48-tpi drive, and a 20-Mb hard diskfrom which the computer boots.
The TurboRom comes with a complete set of utilities and on-disk documentation(107 pages!) which replaces the CP/M operating system and utilities. There iseverything you need to make that first TurboRom system disk (BEFORE you takethe stock ROM chip out of the machine) to formatting five different types ofdisks ~=005~V ~=001~one Kaypro SSDD, two Kaypro DSDD, and two Advent formats(48- and 96-tpi). Documentation is clear and easy to follow and should be readfirst.
So my interest in my Kaypros has been revived. I've already backed up my harddisk to space-saving 96-tpi disks. In fact, most regular DSDD 5~=010~$~=001~"floppies can be formatted to 96 tpi if you just need some for general use. Igot 30 DSHD disks for $18.00 at Price Club to use for my hard-disk back up~=005~V ~=001~a task that begs for good quality media. I'm sure better pricescan be had elsewhere if you're not in a hurry.
Oh yes, I made a second decoder board for my other machine in just a few hours. Works perfectly. It is a great addition to a workhorse computer, and a funproject as well.
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~=939~SCRIPT OF THE MONTH CLUB
~=002~Scripts that remember hard-to-remember syntax
by Jay Sage
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~=001~Some utility programs perform a variety of functions depending onswitches or option characters supplied on the command line. For utilities thatyou use heavily, you can often remember what these switches are and how to usethem, but this is not always the case. I have found this to be especially truewhen a program provides more than one type of function.
One way to deal with this is to invoke the built-in syntax message or helpscreen that most Z-System programs provide. This is OK for functions youperform rarely, but a nuisance for commonly used functions. Alias scripts cancome to the rescue here (and, of course, make it even less likely that you willremember the program's options).
I would like to present two examples here. The first involves Gene Pizzetta'sUMAP utility, which provides information about the directory areas in use on agiven disk. Invoked alone, it gives a summary of the total number of files onthe drive, the total free storage space, the number of directory entries usedby the files (this can be more than the number of files if some of the filesare large), and the number of free directory entries.
UMAP also supports two option switches. The ~=002~U ~=001~(for~=002~u~=001~ser) option results in a listing showing the number of files anddirectory entries for each user area that contains files. The ~=002~V~=001~option gives a clear visual display of the user areas that contain nofiles. I often need this function to determine where I can start a new projector where I can put some files temporarily without getting them mixed up withother files.
Unfortunately, I do not find the option letter ~=002~V ~=001~very mnemonic foranything. Rather than have to run the command ~=002~UMAP // ~=001~each time tobe reminded of the syntax, I wrote the following alias:
>0FREE >1sys: umap $1 v
Now I just enter something like ~=002~FREE D: ~=001~to find out which userareas are free on drive D:. It's simple but very handy.
The second example involves another of Gene Pizzetta's utilities, CONCAT. Bythe way, I don't think it is at all a coincidence that both examples come fromGene Pizzetta's work. He has been responsible for the majority of the newutilities written in the past couple of years, and they are of excellentquality.
CONCAT's primary function is to generate a new file by concatenating a numberof other files. The syntax for this would be:
Various option switches allow for including divider strings between thecomponent files, including time/date stamp text at the head of the file,treating the file contents as binary or as text (i.e., stopping when acontrol~=001~-Z character is encountered), and so on. A hallmark of Gene'sprograms is their flexible and forgiving syntax. The spaces around the equalsign above are not typographical errors; white space is permitted, but notrequired, around the equal sign, and the file names could have been separatedby commas instead of spaces.
One of CONCAT's options allows it to perform a related function: appending newfile content onto an existing file. This is the ~=002~A ~=001~option. I usedto have a utility called APPEND for this, but Gene's program was much better. So, I junked the old one and added the following alias to my ALIAS.CMD file:
>0APPEND >2b0: concat $* /a
All it does is provide the option ~=002~/A ~=001~at the end of the command Itype. Again, very simple but very handy.
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. ~=939~A PROGRAMMER CORNERED
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. ~=002~Customizing Spellbinder for a Kaypro
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. ~=939~ERRATUM
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. ~=939~COMPUTER CLASSICS
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. ~=002~The Pied Piper
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~=939~LETTERS
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~=002~EMULATE, CPC, LiSbus, Z-100~=001~
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October 22, 1992
Dear David,
Good to hear from you. I'll make a point of making further submissions on diskto save retyping. Here's a disk now, to be sure you can read it. I formattedit with Anapro's EMULATE program as a 40-track double-sided Ampro-format disk.
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~=003~EMULATE and CPC~=001~
EMULATE is a CP/M program that runs on my H89. It can read/write maybe ahundred disk formats, but can only format a few dozen. Unlike 22DISK and otherDOS-based programs, EMULATE actually modifies the BIOS to support the desiredformat. Thus foreign disk formats work exactly like the H89's native diskformats. I don't have to copy files onto or off of the foreign disk to usethem. Source code is available, so EMULATE can be adapted to other CP/Mmachines.
Anapro also sells CPC, a CP/M program that can read, write, and format PC-DOSdisks. It works much like the popular SWEEP utility, to get directories, tagfiles, and copy them between CP/M and DOS disks. To order EMULATE or CPC,contact:
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Anapro c/o Peter Shkabara
31642 121st Avenue SE
Auburn WA 98002
(206) 939-9705
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~=003~LiSbus~=001~
We spoke about the LiSbus local area network. It would just be another pieceof PC blather, except that it also works with non-PC-compatible (evennon~=001~-computer) devices. Anything with an RS-232 serial port is fair game. It looks like there is no reason it must be used with a PC at all.
The LiSbus allows up to 256 RS-232 devices to be connected together on the samecable, up to 3900 feet long. The master device (address 0) can select any ofthe other 255 devices; it can then send/receive data exactly as if the twodevices were directly connected by an RS-232 cable.
The interconnecting cable is standard .050" pitch 14-wire ribbon cable. Twowires are uncommitted, and can be used for phone lines, security systems, orwhatever. Two more supply power, +12V DC and ground. Four are used by theLiSbus to address and route the RS-232 signals between any two selected deviceson the bus. The remaining six are the RS-232 signals (converted to RS-422levels) that will connect the two devices.
At each device location you crimp on a standard 7x2 pin female connector. Thisplugs onto an ~=003~I/O module, ~=001~which looks like a standard 25-pin Dconnector with hood. Plug this onto your computer, printer, terminal, or otherRS-232 device, and you're in business!
David: You're a good technical writer, and have a magazine to boot. Why don'tyou call these guys and see if they'll loan/give you a sample in return for aproduct review and a free ad? This is the only LAN system I've seen that lookspractical for non Apple/PC users.
The price is $995 for a starter system for five RS-232 devices, and $130 foreach I/O module. For details, contact:
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Gigatec USA, Inc.
871 Islington St.
Portsmouth, NH 03802
(800) 945-3002 or (603) 433-2227
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~=003~Z-100~=001~
The Heath/Zenith Z-100 series (Z-110, Z-120, etc.) was Heathkit's last non-PCcomputer. They sold lots of them to the government and universities, andthey're starting to appear on the surplus market in large quantities at verylow prices. People think they are getting a PC clone, and dump them cheap whenthey find out otherwise.
The Z-100 is both an 8-bit and 16-bit machine, with both 8085 and 8088 CPUsrunning at 5-8 MHz (depending on model). It has a 5-slot IEEE-696 standardS~=001~-100 bus. There is 192K~=005~V~=001~768K of RAM on the motherboard(depending on model), and it supports up to 16 megabytes on the S-100 bus.
The console system is remarkable. The display is always in graphics mode; itnormally displays 640x250 pixels with 8 levels of gray scale or 8 colors perpixel. To display 80x25 text, it draws the characters point-by-point from auser-defined character set. The keyboard is also totally software-definable. The standard software emulates a Heath/Zenith H19 (enhanced VT-52) terminal.
The Z-100 is an excellent CP/M machine. Zenith put the BIOS, BDOS, and CCP ina separate 64K bank, so you have a 62K TPA. The main shortcoming is lack of aZ80, so it won't run Z-system. But this can be fixed by adding a Z80 S-100card, or by replacing the 8085 with an NSC-800 (a Z80-compatible CPU chip with8085 pinouts). CP/M 3.0, CP/M-86, and MP/M were also available.
The standard S-100 floppy controller card supports up to 4 drives: 40- and/or80-track; single- and/or double-sided; single- and/or double-density;3~=010~@~=001~", 5~=010~$~=001~", or 8". Hard drives are also fairly common. In typical Heath fashion, the Z-100 came with excellent manuals, full sourcecode (printed and on disk), schematics, parts lists, etc.
As a PC clone, the Z-100 has the right CPU, but the wrong video, disk,keyboard, serial, and parallel I/O hardware. Thus very little PC software willrun as is. Z-100 versions of Lotus 123, Word Perfect, Autocad etc. exist, butthey are hard to find nowadays.
It's possible to find add-on boards and software to improve PC compatibility,but this is a lot like trying to convert your Ford into a Chevy. To make aZ~=001~-100 run PC software you either run a software emulator like PatSwayne's ~=002~ZPC, ~=001~or add hardware like the Gemini or Easy-PC boards.
There is an excellent newsletter, ~=003~Z-100 LifeLine, ~=001~dedicated to theZ-100. ~=003~[[See our RESOURCES section for address, phone number, andsubscription rates. ~=005~V ~=003~DAJM[]~=001~
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Yours truly,
Lee A. Hart
323 West 19th Street
Holland MI 49423
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~=003~Thanks for the letter, Lee. LiSbus sounds interesting. I wonder whetherI could free enough time for a major project like that without scuttling~=004~The Z-Letter ~=003~and my other writing? ~=005~V ~=003~DAJM
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~=002~ADAM in an IBM world~=001~
Dear David,
Thank you for the copy of ~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~you sent. In lookingthrough it I have several questions.
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1. Is there a Z-System of some kind or other that does not use CP/M as a diskoperating system? I use TDOS, which is a very good system, however it will nothandle some CP/M programs like BackGrounder ii. Is there another operatingsystem that will handle all CP/M programs? It must also be able to use a 1-MbExpander, and two double-sided disk drives. It must also have Copy, Print,Rename, and several other goodies in high memory.
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2. I see on page 19 that you sell computer manuals. I use a Volker-Craigterminal on my Adam computer, but I don't have a manual. Can you supply one?
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3. Could you give me some information on Spellbinder? How and why is itbetter than WordStar? How does it compare with VDE?
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4. Do you accept Canadian cheques made out in US funds? How about MasterCharge?
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The following is how the Adam computer and peripherals are doing a job in ouroffice. First I will tell you what we do, then some on how we do it, andfinally give names and addresses where you can get software and hardware.
We are a small manufacturing enterprise, building and selling mainly threeproducts. These products have been developed by our staff over the last fewyears. We also sell some of our raw material to the public, however, this isnot a significant part of our business.
We got our first Adam computer for $50.00, because our typewriter was givingtrouble and would cost $75.00 to fix. We found this thing to be a veryfascinating piece of equipment, to say the least. It did a very good job as anelectronic typewriter and word processor.
It wasn't long after our purchase that we saw an ad in the Bargain Finder aboutthe Edmonton Adam User Group. I phoned the editor and decided to take in thenext meeting and see what we could learn.
It was a good meeting, and we decided to join. We got some tapes from thelibrary and started to try to figure out how to get more out of this Adamcomputer. We had no intention at the time of purchase to use it for muchexcept word processing. We didn't think this old Adam had much in it. Howfooled we were. If you think Adam is just a toy, read on.
Now, I'm not going to try to tell you that Adam will keep up with a 386 or anew Mac, but it's all the computer we need at this time.
We started with Adam Calc, a very good spread-sheet program for beginners. Itused to take two weeks to do our inventory. With two Adam computers it takesonly about four hours, quite an impressive improvement.
It wasn't long before we met a man we will never forget, the coauthor of TDOSand File Manager, none other than Tony Morehen. Every time I turn on mycomputer, I thank Tony for his contribution to the Adam community. Thanks,Tony, those are two great programs.
Tony encouraged us to get into TDOS. He said it was much better and fasterthan EOS. That is an understatement; there really is no comparison. Adam,with its built-in EOS, is a great little word processor. But TDOS as anoperating system is like moving up from a Model T Ford to a 1984 Grand Marquis. And the cost of moving up, without changing computers, is ~=004~free. ~=001~Thanks again, Tony.
Another nice feature is that you can convert most, if not all, your programsfrom TDOS to MS-DOS, when you move up in the world to IBM.
So we started trying to figure out how this new TDOS works. There's nothing toit, once you get the hang of it, but to start with it's mind-boggling. Wetalked to Tony at several of the EAUG meetings, and he very kindly helped usget going.
Then we got SuperCalc, which is more powerful and much easier to use than AdamCalc. Best of all, it's quite a bit bigger, enabling us to use a much biggerspread sheet. I got this program from Adam House in Texas. We then becamesubscribers to AIM, the Adam House newsletter, to try to learn more about thisgem. The Adam is now not a $50 word processor, but is becoming a major part ofour office. We purchased a second Adam for $75.00 out of the Bargain Finder,to speed things up even more.
Now we had two computers with tape drives, which are very slow for loading andfiling, and also very expensive. We very soon had about 50 tapes; at $5 each,this was enough to break the bank. In answer to this dilemma, we bought a newdisk drive from Micro Innovations.
The next problem to solve was how to hook up one disk drive to two computers. One of the very fine fellows we met at EAUG was David Moore, who had two diskdrives hooked up to his two computers, using a little slide switch. I couldn'tfind one of these, so I got a data switch, and between David and me, we made itwork.
Next we needed a bigger spread-sheet program, one big enough to put a wholemonth of General Ledger on, or big enough to put all my inventory on. If wecould find such a program, we felt Adam would be good enough for our office forsome time. I was told by several people that there is no such thing availablefor the 64K on the Adam. I was just about ready to give up when I ran intoElliam Associates, out of California. Bill Roch said he had a special editionof SuperCalc by West Wind, called Super-Size SuperCalc, SC2S for short. He hadno idea whether it would work on the Adam, but said he would send me anAdam~=001~-formatted copy if I would like to take the chance on it working. Iwent for it, and that is what really makes an old 1984 Adam worth having.
With a 1-Mb Expander and a MIB2 card, you can get 714K of memory on one spreadsheet all at one time on a 64K Adam computer, and it works very well. Loadedinto RAM, it's very fast, loading within a couple of seconds. If you weregoing to load this from a tape drive it would take probably 15 to 30 minutes;I've never tried it, but I know it would be might slow. I also watched theBargain Finder for a terminal, and was lucky enough to find two with onekeyboard for $50.00. Another great find. Now that I can get 132 columns onthe terminal instead of 40 on a TV, I can get the whole spread-sheet width of64 columns on two screens.
My wife, the company secretary, uses one computer and SC2S to do her books. She only uses a small portion of the useable spread sheet for a month ofGeneral Ledger books. On that sheet we also have the synoptic. The totals arecopied from the GL to the synoptic with just a couple of key strokes. We alsohave a General Ledger Report, also copied with just a couple of key strokes. The GL Report has all the GL headings vertical, with the totals beside for easyreading and studying. On that same spread sheet we have the Invoice Data, thelist of Capital Purchases. Down in the right-hand bottom corner, transferredfrom the inventory sheet, are the inventory totals and the cost-of-productiontotals.
The final part of this sheet is the Profit and Loss Statement. By tapping theCalc button, the P&L sheet picks up information from the GL Report, the CapitalPurchases List, the Invoice Data sheet, the Inventory Totals sheet, and theCost of Production sheet, and gives you the profit or loss, hours spent,dollars per hour earned, and anything else you might want to know for themonth. It can also give you yearly running totals.
. Commented out so columns will line up.
The second sheet has the inventory all listed, and the parts list for ourproducts, with prices, the inventory totals, and cost of production in thebottom right-hand corner, for transfer to sheet number one.
I am now working on a new program called PC File 80. This is a data-baseprogram to keep track of all our customers' names. I hope to tie this programinto SC2S to transfer the names and the dollar amount to the Invoice DataSheet, so this information won't have to be retyped.
I'm also going to try to use a program from Elliam Associates, calledBackGrounder ii. This program only uses 2.75K, and allows two programs to beloaded and run at the same time. You can switch back and forth, and cut andpaste output from one program into another. If this works I'll use PC File 80for invoicing with the SC2S inventory pricing, to price products we sell. I amalso going to try JetFind to speed up finding things on a large spread sheet. That is one thing Adam Calc has that SC2S does not, a search key.
The cost of SC2S is $65 US, with SuperCalc Instruction Book. I would notadvise trying to figure out SC2S without the book. When ordering software fromthe US, ask the supplier to mark the package in red ink ~=003~Magnetic Media,Do Not X-Ray; ~=001~if you don't, you may get a blank disk.
Here are some addresses you might want:
~=002~Elliam Associates, ~=003~[[see the RESOURCES section of this magazine~=005~V ~=003~DAJM[]. ~=001~They have many CP/M programs.
~=002~Adam House, ~=001~RT 2 Box 2756, 1829-1 County Road 130, Pearland TX77581-9503, phone (713) 482-5040. Has a large stock of Adam software andhardware.
~=002~Adam Link of Utah, ~=001~2337 South 600 East, Salt Lake City UT 84106. They sell many Adam products.
~=002~Adam Services, ~=001~21 Rondale Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 1H6,phone (461) 783-0316. Several Adam products, only Canadian source.
I will provide the SC2S templates mentioned above for $20.00. Two disks arerequired to hold them. You must have SC2S to run them, and CP/M or TDOS.
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Yours Truly,
George Ekman
~=002~E-Kay Enterprises~=001~
Box 517
Sedgewick, Alberta
Canada T0B 4C0.
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~=003~Thank you for your letter, and thank you for the Adam CP/M disk. I don'thave an Adam in my collection, but now I have an Adam boot disk in my files, ifsomeone acquires an Adam without software and needs to buy a copy of CP/M forit.
The Z-System does not ~=010~Q~=003~use CP/M as a disk operatingsystem~=010~q~=003~. The Z-System is an operating system which began, likeTDOS, as an upgrade to standard CP/M. We say that a computer runs under theZ~=003~-System if it uses ZCPR, BackGrounder ii, or some other replacement forthe CP/M CCP, and ZRDOS, ZSDOS, ZDDOS, or some other replacement for the CP/MBDOS. The NZCOM product I sell takes the BIOS out of a CP/M system and linksit with ZCPR 3.3 and ZRDOS 1.7 to construct a dynamic Z-System for a computerlike the Adam with a Z80 CPU. Bridger Mitchell's Z3PLUS, for CP/M 3.0 systems,links the BIOS and CP/M 3's BDOS with ZCPR.
All CP/M application programs and utilities run under the Z-System. Certainprograms, which are really system enhancements along the same lines as ZCPR andZRDOS, can conflict with the latter, but are unnecessary in a Z-System anyway. BackGrounder ii, which is a Z-System program, cannot be expected to run underTDOS or most CP/M systems. As for your requirements about memory, drives,etc., NZCOM does not alter your hardware, and takes your BIOS unchanged. Ifyou have certain hardware under CP/M, supported by your CP/M BIOS, you willstill have the same hardware and BIOS under NZCOM. If CP/M does not supportit, you will need to modify the CP/M BIOS to do so. If TDOS has a discreteBIOS section like CP/M, and you are a legal owner of TDOS, you can try runningNZCOM under TDOS, to create a Z-System with the TDOS BIOS. The resultingsystem, if it works, would be a Z-System with ZCPR, ZRDOS, and the TDOS BIOS.
As for COPY, PRINT, RENAME, and other utilities residing in high memory: In theZ-System, you can tailor your built-in commands however you want, by varyingwhich ones are included in your Resident Command Package. You can also useType 3 commands, which load at a fixed location high in memory, or Type 4commands, which load as high in the TPA as they can, whenever they are run. These both contrast with Type 1 commands, which is the only kind of transientcommands used by CP/M; Type 1 commands always load at 0100 hex.
I would be happy to sell you a Volker-Craig terminal manual, but I don't haveone yet. Sorry!
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On Spellbinder and WordStar/VDE: If you like WordStar or VDE, you probablywon't like Spellbinder. On the other hand, if you hate WordStar and WordStarclones, you may love Spellbinder. Spellbinder has several advantages overWordStar and its clones:
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~=002~1. Easy-to-remember commands: ~=003~Spellbinder does everythingWordStar does with fewer commands, and the command interface is stronglymnemonic. As an example, in WordStar you have separate commands to performoperations on characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, etc. In Spellbinderyou have a mode wheel which defaults to word, but cycles through sentence,paragraph, mark, character, and back to word again whenever you do a control-O. Instead of having separate Delete Word, Delete Sentence, Delete Paragraph,Delete to Mark, and Delete Character commands, you have one Mode Deletecommand, which deletes the next word, etc., depending on what the Mode wheel isset to. To delete a paragraph, hit the Cursor Mode key once, then the ModeDelete key (or do a Control-O followed by a Control-D). Not only is Control-DMode Delete, all the Spellbinder Edit commands are mnemonic control charactersand escape sequences, such as control B and F for Mode Back and Forward, escapeB and F for back to mark and forward to mark, escape p for Previous Page,control-N for Next Page, etc. The Command commands are also mnemonic, with Pfor print, T for Top of edit buffer, E for end of text, R for read, W for writeto disk, etc.
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~=002~2. Powerful search-and-replace commands: ~=003~Spellbinder'ssearch~=003~-and-replace commands are very flexible and powerful. Any wordprocessor can search for an exact string and replace it with another, such aschanging ~=002~Ferd~=003~ to ~=002~Fred~=003~. In Spellbinder, you can specifywhether the string has to be a separate word or not (you wouldn't want tochange ~=002~Ferdinand~=003~ to ~=002~Fredinand~=003~), whether to ignorecapital letters (changing ~=002~Ferd~=003~ and ~=002~ferd~=003~ both to~=002~Fred~=003~), and other such things. You can do wildcard searches, andyou can search for the end of a line; for instance, combining these two, youcan search for all instances of the end of a paragraph, followed by a blankline, followed by a number, and period, and a single space, and replace thatwith itself and a second space, in a single search-and-replace command, insteadof going through a list and changing all the single spaces after a number atthe beginning of a paragraph item into double spaces.
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~=002~3. Built-in macro programming language: ~=003~Spellbinder has apowerful programming language built into it. This allows you to automatethings you do often. One of Spellbinder's four manuals is a description of themacro programming language. A suite of macros, ready to use, comes withSpellbinder, furnishing capabilities such as mail-merge, personalized lettersand form handling, two-column print, columnar operations, label handling, andmore. The macro I use most often is SAVE, which notes the line and columnposition of the cursor, goes to the top of the file, reads the file name fromthe comment written there, writes the file to disk under that name, and thengoes back to the line and column it started from.
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~=002~4. True proportional spacing: ~=003~Spellbinder has always had trueproportional spacing, something that WordStar users have poured gallons ofsweat into trying to make it do. In fact, Spellbinder handles all questions offonts, including changing between fonts, with correct letter spacing on eachline and correct spacing between lines, better than WordStar.
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~=002~5. Easy to adapt to various computers and printers: ~=003~Spellbinderis customized for most computers and printers simply by running the CONFIGSBprogram. Special customization, such as setting up the function keys on aparticular terminal, or customizing it for a printer not in the CONFIGSB menu,is done by writing a TAB file with Spellbinder, and then installing it with thePS command. If you like what you've done, you can save the changes permanentlywith the XS command. So instead of patching assembly-language locations, youcustomize Spellbinder using Spellbinder itself. The Technical Manual describesthe Spellbinder tables and how to use them, and much of the Introduction manualI wrote is taken up with concrete examples of how to customize Spellbinder forvarious printers and terminals.
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~=002~6. Complete manuals: ~=003~As mentioned above, Spellbinder comes withfour manuals. The User's Guide is a complete tutorial manual that takes youthrough all of Spellbinder's features, using sample files that come withSpellbinder. The Technical Manual describes the tables used to customizeSpellbinder as you wish. The Macro Manual describes the macro programminglanguage. My own Introduction manual fills in things I felt the other manualsskipped over, and gives concrete examples of how to customize Spellbinder.
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Last, but not least, the whole package costs only $60, which is the cheapestit's ever been. Originally you paid $450 for the software and User's Manualalone, and the Technical and Macro manuals cost another $30 each.
. Commented out so columns line up.
I'm sorry, but I must insist on money orders in US funds from outside the US. The banks convert Canadian and other foreign checks, even when it says ~=002~USdollars~=003~ on the checks. I also do not accept VISA or MasterCharge,because the banks charge more for the privilege than it would be worth. Finally, although you didn't ask it, I don't ship COD, either. That is not thefault of the banks, I just want my money up front as a matter of policy.~=005~V ~=003~DAJM
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~=002~Source for Franklin Ace 1200 parts~=001~
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February 12, 1993
Dave:
Finally I've copied the diskettes for you. I've solved my keyboard problem,found a manual I needed, and in the process found a great source for FranklinAce 1200 parts that I will share with you:
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Lipson Associates
(Neil Lipson)
Microcomputer Sales and Service
29 S. New Ardmore Avenue
Broomall PA 19008
(215) 356-6183
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Thanks again,
Tonja Phillips
7013 White Pine Way
Hughson CA 95326
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~=002~Thanks to Jay Sage~=001~
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March 13, 1993
Dear David,
I am writing to thank you and Jay Sage for presenting Jay's continuing seriesof articles on alias scripting. Jay's column is generally the first one I readwhen each new issue arrives, and never fails to inspire me. Even the columnson BGii and DosDisk (neither of which I have) provide ideas for my own scripts.
I just obtained a Xerox 16/8 computer and was Z-ifying it when I dug out allof my back issues of ~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~and re-read Jay's articles. While each issue's script is a treat, taken as a whole, they are veryimpressive. There is a wealth of ideas here involving perhaps the single mostimportant ~=001~Z-System tool we have.
I couldn't help but think how useful these articles would be together as agroup. Could they be made available? I really think many people could benefitfrom having all those scripts in one place. In fact, Jay's scripts, RickCharnes' scripts from ~=003~The Computer Journal, ~=001~and those published in~=003~The Z-News ~=001~would be enough to put us in script heaven!
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Bob Vinisky
2704 N. Meridian Street
Newberg OR 97132
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~=003~I'm sure Jay will be embarassed at such fulsome praise, however welldeserved. A disk of scripts such as you suggest could easily be put together,provided the authors are willing. Jay no doubt would, and Rick Charnesprobably would, but does anyone know how to contact Frank Gaude any more? Itcouldn't be done without the permission of all three. ~=005~V ~=003~DAJM
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~=939~PERSONAL ADS~=001~
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. This ad appears for the third time in #24
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~=002~Printer for sale~=001~
Diablo 630 letter-quality printer for sale. Includes tractor wheels andribbon. $100 or make an offer. Eugene Heil, 3025 Crate Lane, San Jose CA95132, phone (408) 258-3282.
. This ad appears for the second time in #24
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~=002~Computers for sale or trade~=001~
Two Morrow computers, each $50 plus shipping. Two Eagle III computers, each$70 plus shipping. Two Eagle File 10 external hard-disk units, $100 each, plusshipping. Other computers come and go all the time; let me know what you'relooking for. Will trade for comparable computers not represented in mycollection. Contact David McGlone, phone (503) 688-3563.
. This ad appears for the first time in #24
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~=002~Kaypros for sale~=001~
Four Kaypro 4s for sale: (1) a 1983 version which has been optimized to run asfast as a 4 '84, (2) a 4 '84, (3) Two 4 '84s +88 (they have an 8088 coprocessorand 256K RAM, can run a very limited version of MS-DOS 2.2, or the memory canbe used as a RAM disk for CP/M). One of the 4 '84 +88s has a bad A: drive(390K, half height); other than that they're all in working order, and in cleanshape. I'm asking either $100 each, or $300 for the lot, FOB Dover NJ. Thisincludes 2 extra keyboards; keyboard overlays for dBase II, Perfect Writer, andPerfect Calc; 2 non-working 390K half-height drives (can be repaired for about$35 each); all the original manuals and software you want; and about 200 disksof other software. Contact Ron Kleiman, Metro Flag Inc., 47 Bassett Highway,Dover NJ 07801, phone (201) 366-1776.
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~=939~MAGAZINE ARTICLES
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~=001~The following magazines were received since last issue. Articlesrelevant to the CP/M and Z-System community, if any, are listed for eachmagazine. Where the address and subscription rate is not listed, see thelisting for the magazine in the RESOURCES section.
~=004~AUGER, ~=001~February 1993 and March 1993. AUGER stands for Adam UsersGroup Educational Report. It's the newsletter of ECAUG, the Emerald Coast AdamUsers Group, whose president, Faye B. Deere, had a column in ~=003~ComputerShopper ~=001~and then in ~=003~Computer Monthly, ~=001~before each of those inturn dropped all non-PC and non-Mac columns. ECAUG has evolved from a local toa national Adam users' group, and AUGER has regular short articles on CP/M andT-DOS. Membership in ECAUG is $15 per family per year. A 36-page list of thedisks in the group's public-domain library, plus the year's issues of AUGER,come with the membership. Send the money to Norman J. Deere, Treasurer andEditor, at P.O. Box 4934, Fort Walton Beach FL 32549-4934, phone (904)244~=001~-1516. All back issues of AUGER are available; see the ad in anyissue.
~=004~Classic Computer Society Newsletter, ~=001~January 1993, February 1993,and March 1993. The Classic Computer Society of Santa Barbara began when theSanta Barbara Kaypro Users Group merged with the Osborne Santa Barbara UsersGroup; they now serve all makes of CP/M computers. The Society's newsletter isvery short (two pages, three columns per page), but interesting. For example,the January issue has notes from the December meeting, announcement of theJanuary meeting, list of officers, a small ad, and two short articles by AlPaarmann. Al, who is not the editor of the newsletter, writes about thedrive~=001~-access light on 8" disks, and correlating counter numbers on anold-style VCR. The notes lists my old phone number in San Jose, from a phonecall to me about getting a site license or group license of CP/M. (Unfortunately, my contract with DRI doesn't allow me to do such a thing, andNovell intends to maintain and defend all of DRI's product rights, so there isno possibility they will make CP/M public domain. I checked both of these withthe legal department at Novell.) In the February issue, Al has two morearticles, one on SWCOPY and his own replacement, 1DRVCOPY, the other on settingup a VCR. The February meeting marked the 10th anniversary of both originalusers groups. According to the March issue, that meeting went very well. Besides demos of many different computers, and reminisces about the originalgroups and the merger, the editor showed the attendees his copy of ~=003~The~=003~Z-Letter. ~=001~He also copied my two-page ad from last issue, makinghis newsletter twice its usual size, though still well within the five pagesthe 29-cent stamp on each copy will mail. Al Paarmann writes on drive-selectjumpers on floppy-disk drives. The only thing missing is the annual cost ofmembership. To find out, write to the Classic Computer Society, P.O. Box 2007,Santa Barbara CA 93120, phone (805) 684-8838. The Society meets the secondTuesday of each month.
~=004~The Computer Journal, ~=001~#59, January/February 1993. Jay Sage'scolumn this issue deals with advanced ZMATE applications. Frank Sergeant hasan article on ~=003~Turnkey applications development in Forth. ~=001~The new~=003~TCJ ~=001~Center Fold feature debuts with a reproduction of the IMSAIMPU-A S-100 CPU board. Herb Johnson's Dr. S-100 column comments on lettersfrom readers and goes over the advantages and disadvantages of different makesof S-100 systems. Charles B. Stafford's Mr. Kaypro column discusses theconfusing variety of Kaypro models, and attempts to dispel it a little with achart of the CP/M version, main-board ID number, and ROM version number foreach model. This is something I've been wishing for, for a long time! AnotherForth article this issue is ~=003~Moving Forth ~=001~by Brad Rodriguez. Thisissue also lists the contents of ~=003~Micro Cornucopia ~=001~Kaypro disks 22through 41, and the available back issues of ~=003~TCJ, ~=001~which areavailable from ~=003~TCJ. ~=001~See our RESOURCES section for address andphone number, and note the new, just-raised subscription prices.
~=004~The Cursor, ~=001~February 1993 and March 1993. This is the newsletterof a Denver user's group called the PC-CLUB, formerly CP/M SIG. Mainly itgives the time and location of future meetings, and minutes of past meetings,with the occasional article. The February issue had a list of manufacturers'bulletin boards. The club has an extensive CP/M library as well as PCsoftware, and should be useful to people in the Denver area. Dues/subscriptionis $18 annually to the PC-Club, P.O. Box 5633, Denver CO 80217-5633. Theeditor is Eliot Payson, phone (303) 798-7812.
~=004~Z-100 LifeLine, ~=001~#23, December 1992. The 4th Annual Z-100~=001~Get~=001~-Together is being planned, tentatively for the Chicago area, inthe fall. Various Z-100 aficionados are working on BIOS enhancements, SCSIboards, desktop scanner support, and this issue lists sources of Z-100 parts. Lee Hart reviews ~=003~Heath Nostalgia, ~=001~a book on the history of HeathCompany, by Terry Perdue. See RESOURCES for more information.
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~=939~RESOURCES
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~=002~Lee Bradley ~=001~sells public-domain CP/M packages, $15 each for thegame disk, word-processing disk, dot-matrix printer disk, time-manager disk,SIL compiler disk, NPS COBOL compiler disk, mailing-list disk, spreadsheetdisk. NZCOM, Z3PLUS, ZSDOS, BDS C, ZMAC also available. He also carries theMYZ80 Z80 emulator for PCs, plus a large set of Z-System utilities, as apackage called Z-4-AT, at $10 per disk; there are currently two disks. CP/Mcomputer training, $15/hour. Contract programming service available. Computers, printers for sale. Write Lee Bradley, 24 East Cedar Street,Newington CT 06111, or call (voice) (203) 666-3139 or (data) (203) 665-1100.
. Commented out to make columns line up.
~=002~Paul Chidley ~=001~is the co-inventor of the YASBEC computer. The YASBECboard is $100 Canadian, the YASMEM memory-expansion board is $30 Canadian, theEuroCard backplane is $25 Canadian, and the ZVID video board is $35 Canadianwith PALs, $25 Canadian if you wish to provide your own PALs from the logic inthe documentation. Contact Paul Chidley, 162 Hunterhorn Drive N.E., CalgaryAlberta, Canada T2K 6H5, phone (403) 274-8891.
~=002~The Computer Journal ~=001~is the foremost magazine in today's CP/Mcommunity. Published 6 times a year. Free sample issue available. Subscription is $24/year surface, $34 air, $44/2 years surface, $64 air, in theUS. In Canada and Mexico, $32, $34, $60, $64 respectively. Elsewhere $34,$44, $64, $84 respectively. Contact The Computer Journal, P.O. Box 535,Lincoln CA 95648-0535, phone (800) 424-8825.
~=002~Corvatek ~=001~sells KEY-UP, a keyboard interface for IBM-stylekeyboards. The DM-1 for Big Boards, DM-2 for Xerox 820, DM-3 for Kaypro, DM-4for Franklin, DM-5 for ASCII Universal, DM-6 for Apple II are each $129. Inquire for other models and custom key definitions and applications. Theyalso sell Keytronic keyboards in QWERTY or Dvorak; the KB5150 is $112, KB5151is $164; shipping and handling extra. Corvatek, 561 N.W. Van Buren St.,Corvallis OR 97330, phone (503) 752-4833.
~=002~Davidge Corporation ~=001~makes and sells the Ampro Z80 Little Board, oneof the CP/M computers still made. This is a 4-Mhz Z80 single-board computerwith 64K RAM. The Little Board without SCSI is $240, the Series 1B LittleBoard Plus is $250. Software, BIOS source, manuals, and repair service arealso available. Volume discounts available. Write to Davidge Corporation, 94Commerce Drive, P.O. Box 1869, Buellton CA 93427, phone (805) 688-9598.
~=002~Elliam Associates ~=001~sells disks of public-domain software andcommercial software for most CP/M computers, including the Amstrad PCW. For a100+ page catalog, send $8.50 plus $2.00 shipping and handling to ElliamAssociates, P.O. Box 2664, Atascadero CA 93423, or phone (805) 466-8440.
~=002~Lambda Software Publishing ~=001~publishes this magazine and sells CP/Mand Z-System software, manuals, laser fonts, books. See the ad at the back ofthis magazine.
~=002~Microcomputer Mail-Order Library ~=001~of books, manuals, and periodicalsrelating to microcomputers in general, and Heath/Zenith systems in particular,will loan you any item for 4 weeks for a handling fee plus postage. Send thedeposit plus enough for postage, and the requested items will be sent you byfirst class priority mail. When you return them, the deposit and any left-overpostage, minus the handling fee, will be refunded. For periodicals, thedeposit is $1 per issue, $0.25 handling; books and hardware manuals are $5deposit, $2 handling fee; software manuals are $10 deposit, $5 handling fee. The price is deliberately low to encourage people to learn more about theircomputers. Inevitably, some items will be lost in the mail or not returned. Donations of printed material would therefore be greatly appreciated! Toobtain a list of available items, or to borrow material, write to Library c/oHart, 323 West 19th Street, Holland MI 49423.
~=002~Micromint ~=001~makes and sells the SB180 and SB180LO computers. Theseare 9-MHz HD64180/Z180 single-board computers with 256K RAM. The SB180 is thesize of a 3~=010~@~=001~" disk drive, costs $299 ($195 each 100 quantity), or$399 with ZCPR, ZRDOS, BIOS and ROM sources. The SB180LO is the size of a5~=010~$~=001~" disk drive, has SCSI, costs $400 ($320 each 100 quantity), or$490 with ZCPR, ZRDOS, BIOS and ROM sources, Z-System utilities. TheSB180FXMME 2-Mb memory-expansion board, populated with 256K, costs $319. Micromint, Inc., 4 Park Street, Vernon CT 06066. Technical Assistance, (203)871-6170. To order, 1 (800) 635-3355.
~=002~Morgan, Thielmann & Associates ~=001~sells and services computers, notonly the latest 386 and 486 systems with DR DOS or Unix, but also Eaglecomputers, all models, and other CP/M computers. Call them at (408) 972-1965for prices and information.
~=002~Paul F. Herman Inc. ~=001~publishes ~=003~Z-100 LifeLine, ~=001~abimonthly journal dedicated to the Zenith Z-100 dual 8088-8085 computer. Aone-year subscription is $24 per year to any U.S. zip code, $28 to Canada orMexico, and $28 to any other company by surface mail, $36 by air mail. Backissues are available for $5 each ($2 each is you're a ~=003~Z-100 LifeLine~=001~subscriber); some early issues are getting low. An index disk to Z-100articles in various magazines is available to subscribers for $19, and anupdate can be purchased any time after that for $5. Contact Paul F. HermanInc., 9317 Amazon Drive, New Port Richey FL 34655, or call (800) 346-2152.
~=002~Sage Microsystems East, ~=001~selling and supporting the best in 8-bitsoftware. NZCOM, Z3PLUS, XBIOS, PCED, DSD, Z-System Software Update Service,Backgrounder ii, ZSDOS/ZDDOS, DosDisk, JetFind, ZMATE, BDS C, Turbo Pascal,ZMAC, SLR Systems assembly-language tools, MEX-Plus and MEX-Pack. Next-dayshipping of most products with modem download and support available. Order byphone, mail, or modem. Shipping and handling $3 USA, $4 Canada per order;based on actual cost elsewhere. Check, VISA, MasterCard. Specify exact diskformats acceptable. Sage Microsystems East, 1435 Centre St., Newton Centre MA02159-2469, Voice (617) 965-3552 (9:00 AM - 11:30 PM), Modem (617) 965-7529(pw=DDT) (MABOS on PC-Pursuit)
~=002~Chuck Stafford ~=001~sells important products for Kaypro computers. TheAdvent TurboROM allows flexible configuration of your entire system, readingand writing additional formats, and more; $35. The hard-disk conversion kitincludes everything needed to add a hard disk except the hard disk itself; theinterfae, controller, TurboROM, software and manual. $175 without clock, $200with clock; very few are left, so order now. Orders receive a free copy of theschematic for the Personality Decoder Board which lets you run more than twodrives, and use 96-tpi drives (when combined with the TurboROM); unfortunatelythere are no more of the actual boards left. Write him at 4000 Norris Avenue,Sacramento CA 95821, or phone (916) 483-0312 evenings or weekends.
~=002~The Staunch 8/89'er ~=001~is a magazine for users of Heath/Zenith H-8 andH-89 computers; $15 per year U.S. and Canada, $19 overseas. Kirk L. Thompson,the editor, also sells CP/M and HDOS software, in all H/Z formats, includinghard-sector. Write him at P.O. Box 548, West Branch IA 52358, or phone (319)643-7136 (evenings and weekends).
~=002~Sydex ~=001~sells PC software useful for copying CP/M files and handlingCP/M disk formats (22DISK), running CP/M programs on a PC (22NICE), and copyingCP/M boot disks without having the original machine (AnaDisk). $25 each plus$2.50 shipping and handling per order. Free sampler disks with the limitedshareware versions are available. Talk to Chuck or Miriam at Sydex, P.O. Box5700, Eugene OR 97405, phone (503) 683-6033.
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~=939~EAGLE COMPUTER USERS GROUP~=001~
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~=001~The Eagle Computer Users Group is one of the few remaining support groupsfor users of Eagle computers, both the CP/M line and the later 1600 and PCmodels. Because Spellbinder was bundled with Eagle computers, ECUG is also aSpellbinder users group. Anyone who acquires an Eagle computer is urged to getin touch with ECUG by phoning Morgan Thielmann and Associates, (408) 972-1965. Eagle manuals and software are available from Lambda Software Publishing (seethe back cover of this magazine).
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~=002~Meeting place~=001~
Meetings are the second Saturday of every month, from 9 A.M. to Noon. The 1993meetings remaining are April 10, May 8, June 12, July 10, August 14, September11, October 9, November 11, and December 11.
ECUG meetings are held at the home of Bill Josephson, 1681 Samedra Street,Sunnyvale, California. How to get there: Going west on Homestead Road, youcome to Mary Avenue, which dead ends at the High School. One short blockfarther on is Samedra Street (parallel to Mary). Turn right on Samedra. Bill's house is white; it's the third house on the left. If you get lost, youcan call Bill at (408) 245-0318.
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~=002~ECUG software libraries~=001~
ECUG has two software librarians. Anyone seeking CP/M or Z-System softwareshould contact David McGlone at Lambda Software Publishing (see back cover foraddress and phone number).
For PC (MS-DOS) software, our librarian is Jack Morse, 1082 W. Hill Court,Cupertino CA 95014, phone (408) 252-6103. Jack is not running a business, sowhen you request software from him, send him floppy disks, not money, and thepostage to mail the disks. He will copy the software you request onto yourdisks and mail them back to you. That way no money changes hands, as would bethe case if he charged a fee per disk.
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~=003~(Continued from Page 2)~=001~
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A subscription to ~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~starts with the first issue afterpayment is received. See the Lambda ad in this issue for subscription rates,back-issue price, etc.
Anyone may submit personal ads. Each ad will be run three times. If the addoesn't achieve its end in that time, it can be reinstated after a lapse of oneissue. If the ad succeeds before it has run three times, please inform us sowe can drop it at once.
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~=003~(Continued on Page 20)~=001~
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~=939~Lambda Software Publishing
~=001~149 West Hilliard Lane, Eugene, OR 97404-3057
(503) 688-3563
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~=002~Operating system
~=002~CP/M ~=001~(version 2.2), $25. A lot of my customers have picked up acomputer without a disk to operate it. I can sell you the disk to run yourcomputer. (DRI)
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~=002~Manuals and newsletters
~=002~Computer manuals, ~=001~$15 each. Manuals for many different makes andmodels of CP/M computers are available, too many to list here; please inquire. (Various companies)
~=004~The Z-Letter, ~=002~subscription: ~=001~$18/12 issues (US), $22/12issues (Canada & Mexico), $36/12 issues (all other). Now published bi-monthly.
~=004~The Z-Letter, ~=002~back-issue/subscription package. ~=001~Get all backissues of ~=003~TZL ~=001~plus a current subscription for less than the cost ofthe individual back issues. Send the money for a 36-issue subscription ($54 inthe U.S., $66 Canada and Mexico, $108 elsewhere), and indicate that you wantyour subscription to start with issue 1. You will receive all the back issuesimmediately, and the remainder of your subscription as it is published.
~=002~Eagle Computer Users Group newsletter, ~=001~$15. All issues from July1987 to October 1990.
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~=002~Word processing
Spellbinder ~=001~(version 5.3H), $60. The best CP/M word processor. Includesall four manuals and full support. (Ltek)
~=002~MagicIndex ~=001~(version 3.00), $100. Text formatter used to producethis newsletter. Versions available for standard word processor or WordStar,LaserJet or Diablo 630. Please specify your word processor and printer whenordering. (CES)
~=002~Z-Fonts catalog, ~=001~$3 (US, Canada, Mexico), $5 (elsewhere). Samplesof all the fonts available from Lambda for HP LaserJet printers, withinstructions on how to choose what size, orientation, etc. you wish.
~=002~Z-Fonts, ~=001~$8 per font. (Digi-Fonts)
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~=002~SuperCalc
~=001~The standard CP/M spread sheet (version 2.0), $30. (Sorcim)
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~=002~Move up to the Z-System!
NZ-COM ~=001~(version 1.2d), $50. Upgrades your CP/M 2.2 system with nohardware change, yet you can still run your CP/M programs like Spellbinder andSuperCalc. Includes a manual and a large set of Z-System utilities. (Alpha)
~=002~ZCPR 3.4 source code, ~=001~$35. (Alpha)
~=002~I/OR, ~=001~$25. Saves the screen in a file, saves printer text inanother file. 1.5K IOP segment, ZRDOS required. (Alpha)
~=001~Each protects up to three 5~=010~$~=001~" diskettes from harm inbriefcase, etc. Perfect for traveling or just between home and office. $3each.
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~=002~Boot disks wanted!~=001~
I am building a library of CP/M boot disks so that I can supply working CP/Mdisks for all makes of machines. The disk should contain the CP/M utilities,the formatting and other utilities that are specific to the machine, and havethe operating system on the boot tracks. I will pay you $5 for each one Idon't have already, or deduct $5 from any products you buy from me.
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~=002~Disk copying ~=010~- ~=002~$10 per disk~=001~
I can copy most soft-sector (both single- and double-density) 5~=010~$~=001~"CP/M formats, including Apple II CP/M and Commodore CP/M. (Sorry, nohard~=001~-sector formats except Northstar and Heath/Zenith.) I can also copy8" disks and 3~=010~@~=001~" formats. Copies can be CP/M ~=005~fVh ~=001~CP/M,CP/M ~=005~fVh ~=001~MS-DOS, CP/M ~=005~fVh ~=001~Mac, or Mac ~=005~fVh~=001~MS-DOS; specify the format of your originals, and the format desired forthe copies. Both originals and copies will be returned. ~=003~Theresponsibility is ~=002~yours ~=003~to ensure that you are the legal owner ofmaterial you ask me to copy. ~=001~Software you buy from Lambda will be sentto you in the disk format you request at no extra cost.
I have acquired the rights to the Sound Potentials collection of public-domainand shareware software for CP/M systems. Thus it will stay available to ourcommunity, even though the former proprietor has retired.
To receive a catalog of Sound Potentials software on disk, send $10. If youhave a earlier catalog from Sound Potentials, you may use it to order softwarefrom me. To order software, add up the sizes of the software you are ordering,divide by the size of your disk format, and round up to get the number of disksrequired to hold it.
The price has gone down. While I will continue Sound Potentials' practice ofputting on disk for you just the software you want, the price is now per disk,not per K of software. The new price is $10 per disk, same as I charge forcopying disks. Obviously, then, the larger your disk format, the more softwareyou can get for the same amount of money. As with all things I sell, there isno separate charge for shipping and handling.
I am collecting more software from a variety of sources, and the collectionwill be expanding in the near future. Major additions will be announced in thepages of ~=003~The Z-Letter, ~=001~and in future editions of the catalog.
Before investing major sums in public-domain software from any vendor, considerpurchasing a package designed to achieve your end. For instance, if you aregoing to order a lot of utilities, consider upgrading to the Z-System viaNZCOM, which will not only give you a later version of ZCPR than thepublic~=001~-domain version 2, but includes a huge set of utilities tailoredfor the Z-System. Before purchasing lots of patches for your copy of WordStar,investigate Spellbinder, ZMATE, VEdit, and other superior word processors. Ifyou desire superior formatting abilities, MagicIndex may be just what you'relooking for.
On the other hand, if you're almost perfectly satisfied with your presentsystem and just need a few utilities to round out the corners of yourhappiness, the public domain may have just what you desire.
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~=002~Ordering~=001~
Make sure you tell me your name, company name if any, address, home andbusiness phone, and the computer format in which software should be supplied. For back issues, list which issues you want. For fonts, use the order formfrom a copy of the catalogue. For Sound Potentials software, list the programsyou want. Your check for the total should be in U.S. funds in an internationalmoney order, or the equivalent in your country's currency. There is no salestax in Oregon. I do not charge separately for shipping and handling.~=001~
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~=003~(Continued from Page 18)~=001~
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All trademarks used herein are acknowledged to be the property of their owners.
~=003~The Z-Letter ~=001~is indexed as time permits. The index for issues 1-5appeared in issue 5. The index for issues 1-18 is being prepared; issues 13-18have been indexed.
This issue was printed by Alan Bard Newcomer's Hypatia Press, 360 West First,Eugene OR 97401, phone (503) 485-0947, and mailed by the Press' bulk-mailpermit.
