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5-Nov-80 03:47:00,7939;000000000000
Date: Wednesday, 5 November 1980 03:47-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: The SIG/M Report
The SIG/M Report
November 1980
edited by
Bruce Ratoff and Bill Chin
SIG/M has now been in full operation for the past two months
and things are really starting to happen. As Sol announced in
this column last month, our first three software volumes,
containing source and object of two souped-up Adventure games,
are now available. Since that announcement, we have collected an
additional four volumes of software, which will be available for
the first time at the November meeting of SIG/M (at the 808X/Z80,
CP/M, N*, TRS-80 users' meeting) at UCTI on Friday, November 7.
The new volumes are:
SIG/M004 - miscellaneous CP/M utilities
SIG/M005 - 8080/8085 diagnostics package
SIG/M006 - 6502 monitor and simulator (on Z80!)
SIG/M007 - modem and BBS utilities
Another disk of games has been started but does not yet
contain sufficient material for release. Expected future volumes
include more CP/M utilities, and a set of cross-development tools
for the TI9900 processor. These and all future volumes will be
announced in this column, and on our participating BBS's (see
below).
We are of course always seeking software contributions
in all areas of interest. Remember that the "quickie" that you
threw together to solve some minor problem may be a lifesaver
for another user, no matter how trivial you may consider it.
For those who have not yet heard about SIG/M, its purpose is
to promote the exchange of programs and information on/about CP/M
and related systems. It is our goal to provide this exchange in
as open and non-commercial an environment as possible. Besides
providing software exchange, we would like to serve as a forum
for sharing ideas/comments on CP/M related topics. This is your
organization, and can only succeed with everyone's participation.
SIG/M was jointly founded by CP/M proponents in ACGNJ and the New
York Amateur Computer Club (NYACC).
WHERE TO FIND US
There are many ways to contact/locate SIG/M for information
or to exchange software. We can always be found at the "first
Friday" ACGNJ users' group meeting at UCTI or the "second
Tuesday" NYACC users' group meeting at Computer Emporium (in
NYC). You may also contact one of the four coordinators directly.
We are:
Bruce Ratoff Iselin, NJ 201-283-2724
Bill Chin Clifton, NJ 201-778-5140
Marty Nichols Dover, NJ 201-361-7180
Henry Kee Flushing, NY 212-539-3202
Written correspondence and diskettes may be mailed to:
SIG/M
P.O. Box 97
Iselin, NJ 08830
If you have a modem at your disposal, you may wish to
contact us and/or obtain programs by calling Bruce Ratoff's
Remote Iselin Bulletin Board System (RIBBS). In addition to
normal BBS functions, it is possible to go into CP/M and send or
receive programs using the Ward Christensen MODEM program. Plans
are currently underway, although not yet implemented, to support
Apple CP/M and TRS-80 CP/M on this system. To reach the system,
dial Bruce's number (listed above), let it ring once, hang up and
call back within 40 seconds. The system will answer the second
call. A number of other BBS owners and potential BBS owners have
expressed interest in providing the same service on their
systems. Their numbers will be published in future columns. We
are especially looking for participants in other regions (both in
and out of the NY/NJ area). Contact us if you wish to
participate.
LOCAL COORDINATORS
We are looking for people to coordinate local distribution
of the SIG/M software collection. This is in line with our
general policy of keeping both user costs and club costs to a
minimum. If you are the 8080 or CP/M coordinator of a local
club, or wish to act as the "dropping off point" for the other
CP/M users in your area, please contact us. The point of all
this is to minimize the number of disk copies that we have to
produce, while providing the widest possible distribution of the
software collection. Clubs and area coordinators may obtain
copies of the SIG/M volumes for a donation of $4 per diskette,
plus $2 to cover mailing costs. These diskettes are to be
redistributed locally on a non-profit basis. Funds collected by
the local coordinator should go back into the support of the
local club or group. All commercial use of these diskettes and
their contents is expressly forbidden.
PROGRAM SUBMITTAL
All programs/files for submittal to SIG/M should be provided
on 8" single-density soft-sectored "standard CP/M" format, along
with our standard submittal form. A copy of this form appears
on each SIG/M volume as the file SIG/M.LIB. It is also
reproduced in this issue of the newsletter. Contributions and
forms may also be sent via modem to a participating BBS, but a
signed copy of the submittal form must be received before the
program can be distributed. This protects all of us from
copyright problems, and assures a consistent method of program
documentation and cataloging.
UPCOMING RELEASES
The NYACC S-100 users' group has published a directory of
public-domain software. It contains the catalogs and abstracts
from all current CPMUG and SIG/M releases. The directory is
available for $5 (subject to change) from NYACC.
Digital Research has released the first version of CP/NET,
their distributed-processing system. This release allows up to
16 modified CP/M systems to share disks and printers residing on
an MP/M system. Each disk drive may be either locally supported
or mapped into the network (controlled by the MP/M system). The
communication method is left up to the installer, making this a
very general and powerful tool for applications requiring too
much "crunch" per terminal to be served with a single processor.
The cost is $200, and the license is linked to a single MP/M
system license.
A new version of MP/M is scheduled for release before the
end of the year. The main enhancement will be the inclusion of
file interlocks between users, making multi-terminal file updates
much easier to implement. This version of MP/M will also
support the next release of CP/NET, which allows the inclusion of
slave processors that do not contain any local disk storage. A
further update of MP/M and CP/NET, which allows MP/M systems to
function as slaves to other MP/M systems, is expected at the
beginning of next year.
Questions about the much-delayed release of CP/M-86 were met
with a reply that it should be released "any week now". It will
consist of 8086/8088-resident versions of all the standard CP/M
programs, plus a cross-assembler that will allow the installer to
use an existing 8-bit CP/M system to bring up the 16-bit system.
CP/M TIP-OF-THE-MONTH
This "department" will hopefully appear on a regular basis.
Its purpose is to provide answers to common technical questions
about CP/M and MP/M. Please send your questions, ideas and tips
to Bruce for inclusion in this column.
5-Nov-80 21:22:00,1081;000000000000
Date: 5 Nov 1980 at 2222-CST
From: wilcox at UTEXAS-11
To: info-cpm at mit-mc
Subject: USER x
Digital Research has done an excellant job of creating a 'standard' system
for micros, but when the added the USER feature for 2.x they missed the boat.
All they did was set up an otherwise unused field in the FCB for a user number.
But that means a users normally sees ONLY his one files. What ever happened
to the concept of SYSTEM files.
What I feel should have been done is to make a small mod to BDOS such that
if the initial file search fails, it makes a new search with the USER number
set to 0 (or F as we choose). We then declare that number (0 or F, whichever)
to be the SYSTEM account. Just like the big systems do! References are first
satisfied in our own account, and then if necessary, by the system files.
Problem? No source to make even these relatively simple patches. Does anyone
have (or sell) a source (listing, not necessarily machine readable) to BDOS
and CCP (ver. 2.2 preferrably) that is not too expensive?
--Jim
9-Nov-80 13:35:00,1698;000000000000
Date: Sunday, 9 November 1980 13:35-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: [W8SDZ: BDOS-PAT.ASM]
Date: 11/09/80 13:56:12
From: W8SDZ
Re: BDOS-PAT.ASM
title 'BDOS patch for CP/M 2.2 to make USER 0 public'
;
;5/15/80
;
;patch courtesy of Andy Johnson-Laird
;
;******************************CAUTION******************************
;
;This patch is for grown-ups who know what they are doing.
;Note that if files of the same name are present on both USER 0 and
;the logged-in USER number, the OPEN, SEARCH for FIRST, SEARCH for NEXT
;and READ SEQUENTIAL functions will match directory entries on a first-come
;first-served basis. This will cause exciting results if multiple extent
;files of the same name are present on both USER 0 and logged-in USER.
;
;Recommended use:
;
; 1) Keep on USER 0 only commonly used programs (Files.COM)
; 2) Set these programs to $SYS to reduce directory clutter.
; 3) Set these programs to $R/O to avoid accidental erasure of
; invisible programs.
; 4) NEVER place on any other USER number programs of the same name.
; 5) Have turn-key applications cold-boot directly into the assigned
; USER number. The USER number is the high nibble of address 4.
;
;
msize equ 20 ;set your memory size here
;
bdos equ (msize-20)*1024+3C00h
;
patch$area equ ?????? ;this will depend on YOUR system, and
;should probably be in your BIOS area
;
org bdos+075eh
jmp patch ;overlays: mov a,b
; cpi 0dh
;
;
org patch$area
patch: mov a,b
ora a
jnz patch2
ldax d
cpi 0e5h
jz patch2
mov a,m
ora a
jz bdos+077ch
patch2: mov a,b
cpi 0dh
jmp bdos+0761h
;
end
12-Nov-80 02:42:00,2435;000000000000
Date: Wednesday, 12 November 1980 02:42-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: A (temporary) home for CPMUG files
CP/M, CPMUG files, and micros are very closely related to my official
work. Thus, to cut the clutter in my directory, I have asked for a
CPM directory to be created on MC and have moved all my CPM files to
that directory, including the archive file for this mailing list.
In that directory (which can be accessed via FTP without login) there
are a number of HEX, ASM, and ASMPAT files, courtesy of Keith Petersen
(W8SDZ@MC). All of the HEX files have been successfully downloaded
and LOADed into COM files and checked by either running them or
matching the CRCs. Most of these files are short, except for MTN HEX,
which is 28K bytes. All HEX files have, or will have text at the
front (which LOAD will ignore) indicating what the CRC of the COM file
produced from that HEX file should be. Of course, to get the CRC, you
should download CRCK HEX, LOAD it, and run it on itself. Its CRC is
2D47.
Here is a short abstract of what is current in CPM:
ASMPAT ASM The UPPER/lower case patch for ASM on CPM 1.4 patched
BBS NOS The latest list (as of 11/04/80)
BDOS22 PATCH ASM Patch file for using USER 0 as "system" files
CP/M AUTO A Babyl file of replies to the AUTO startup query
CP/M LIST A Babyl file of requests to be added to INFO-CPM
CPM ARCHIV The INFO-CPM archives
CPM DOC A re-edit of the two-part msg on CP/M internals
CRCK HEX Produces 16-bit CRChecksums of files (CRC: 2D 47)
FAST DOC How to install FAST and SPEED
FMAP HEX FMAP updated for use under CP/M 2.x (CRC: 1A 2C)
MAKSUB ASM Source for a SUBMIT-like program, MAKESUB.
MENU MAC Z80 source fore a working MENU program
MTN DOC Lastest DOC for MicroTELNET (1.3)
MTN13 HEX MicroTELNET 1.3, an intelligent terminal program for
Z80's only (sorry) (CRC: A1 53)
RSPEED ASM Source for RSPEED (see FAST DOC)
RSPEED HEX HEX for RSPEED - checks skew factors (CRC: )
SKEW2 ASMPAT Sample patch file for FAST
SKEW3 ASMPAT Sample patch file for FAST
UNLOAD ASM Source for UNLOAD... in HEX format
UNLOAD HEX Converts ANY file to HEX (CRC: )
UNLOD2 ASM Source for UNLOAD2
UNLOD2 HEX HEX for UNLOAD2 (presumably the same as UNLOAD)
XD HEX Another directory lister (CRC: C7 B7)
Comments to the list, please.
--Frank
13-Nov-80 00:46:00,1174;000000000000
Date: Thursday, 13 November 1980 00:46-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: Another file in CPM;
This time it is the documentation file that goes with MTN13. The file
is MC:CPM;MTNMSG HEX and is very long (44K), but reduces to 16K after
LOADing. The resulting COM file must be renamed to MTNMSGS.OVR to be
used by MTN13. CRC of the .OVR file is 8B F6.
Perhaps I should have made it clear that the CPM directory on MC is
NOT proposed to be the permanant net home for the entire CPMUG
library. There just simply isn't that much room available for all of
the files themselves, nor is there enough room to hold all of the
directory entries for that many files.
However, selected files of general and popular interest should
eventually find their way to this home. I would hope that at least
the ABSTRACT files for each of the CPMUG disks will eventually get
uploaded and live in an INFO-formatted file for quick lookup.
(For those of you outside of the EMACS/TECO community, INFO is an
TECO-based program which reads tree-structured sequential files which
are usually menu-ized and footnoted.)
--Frank
19-Nov-80 23:17:00,434;000000000000
Date: Wednesday, 19 November 1980 23:17-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: New Mailing Lists
There is now a BUG-MTN and INFO-MTN (both at MIT-MC) for mail
concerning MicroTELNET. Right now, BUG-MTN mail goes to me and
MC:CPM;MTN BUGS, INFO-MTN goes to a list of known users of MTN and
MC:CPM;MTN INFO. If you wish to be added to either list (or both),
send a msg to me. --Frank
23-Nov-80 19:48:00,238;000000000000
Date: Sunday, 23 November 1980 19:48-MST
From: Gray at UCLA-SECURITY (Terry Gray)
To: info-cpm at mc
Subject: SPEED/FAST for CPM 2.2?
Are SPEED and FAST applicable to CPM 2.2?
If so, has anyone done the work yet?
Terry Gray
23-Nov-80 19:51:00,516;000000000000
Date: Sunday, 23 November 1980 19:51-MST
From: Gray at UCLA-SECURITY (Terry Gray)
To: info-cpm at mc
Subject: Bigger BIOS
CPM 1.4 allows 9 sectors for BIOS;
CPM 2.2 allows 6 sectors for BIOS.
When I tried to incorporate a driver for a TDL video board (with
software scrolling and cursor positioning) in my CPM 1.4 BIOS,
I found I had exceeded the 9 sector limit. And I was thinking
of going to 2.2 soon. Any way to get around these limits
(other than putting the drivers in ROM) ??
Terry Gray
24-Nov-80 14:16:00,1007;000000000000
Date: Monday, 24 November 1980 14:16-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: New Files in MC:CPM;
There are two new files in the CPM directory, courtesy of Keith
Petersen (W8SDZ@MC).
The first is the previously mentioned MBOOT ASM program to get you
started downloading files using the MODEM2 program on the remote host.
The idea here is to keyin this code, tailoring it to suit, and then
use it to download MODEM2. MODEM2 is used from then on to exchange
files between systems. (Hopefully, some industrious soul will
volunteer to code up a mainframe version of MODEM2, suitable for use
on TOPS-20, TENEX, and ITS machines - DEVON@MC is working on a Lisp
version... - the specs can be made available upon request.)
The second program is an UNLOADed (HEX) copy of SD.COM (MC:CPM;SD HEX)
and is similar to XD, which in turn is similar to LIST. Comments on
it are at the front of the file, including the CRC of the resulting
COM file.
--Frank
25-Nov-80 21:34:00,1391;000000000000
Date: Tuesday, 25 November 1980 21:34-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: BDOS Question
The following situation occurs with both CP/M 1.45 and 2.2 and I want
to know why:
LOOP: CALL RDTIME ; Reads clock ports and displays time
; using direct I/O to the console
; serial port.
CALL CONST ; Checks console input status only
CALL NZ,GKC ; If input, read console for command
JR LOOP
GKC: CALL CONIN ; Gets the pending character and does
; nothing with it.
CALL PRINT ; Prints a msg using BDOS
CALL GNC ; Waits for a response
; then jumps to appropriate subroutine
; based on character
The subroutine in question prints another message and waits for
confirmation, and then prints another prompt and waits for string
input using the READ BUFFER BDOS call.
Now here is the strange part: it takes TWO characters (not one) to
break out of the LOOP, and that first character shows up in the read
buffer. It can even be edited!
How did it end up in the read buffer?
Any clues to this mystery would be appreciated.
--Frank
(I have this sinking feeling that, as usual, I'm doing something
wrong, but I can't figure it out for the life of me. If so, I
apologize for taking up your time. If not, and it turns out to be a
bug in CP/M - however obscure, I think we should all know.)
26-Nov-80 05:18:00,894;000000000000
Date: Wednesday, 26 November 1980 05:18-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: [W8SDZ: BDOS PROBLEM]
Date: 11/26/80 06:34:05
From: W8SDZ
Frank, the problem is caused by mixing direct console input with BDOS
console output. CP/M tests for console input during all BDOS console
outputs to allow CTL-S and CTL-C pause and abort. In the process of
doing this, it cancels any pending keyboard character. The solution
is to use direct console output to print your messages.
Further re CP/M's printing via BDOS - when it sees a character
typed, it sets a reminder byte inside CP/M itself which says that the
console status is true, and attempts to fetch that character without
first doing another status test. Because you have already fetched the
character in your loop, there is none, and it just sits there waiting
for the next one.
26-Nov-80 22:41:00,241;000000000000
Date: Wednesday, 26 November 1980 22:41-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: SPEED Files Available
Courtesy of LAUREN, there are two more new files in MC:CPM;
SPEED DOC
SPEED HEX
--Frank
27-Nov-80 01:42:00,639;000000000000
Date: Thursday, 27 November 1980 01:42-MST
From: Lauren at UCLA-SECURITY (Lauren Weinstein)
To: INFO-CPM at MC
Subject: speed deleted
SPEED.HEX has been deleted from MC:CPM; -- while this appears on
a CP/M user's group disk which claims it is public domain, I have
my doubts, and have decided that it is not appropriate for
open access on MC. If there was someway to verify people's CP/M
licenses... but there isn't. I don't think that MC wants to
take responsibility for such verifications, so I think this
is better for everyone concerned. SPEED is available on CP/M
User's Group disk #38, by the way.
--Lauren--
28-Nov-80 22:07:00,657;000000000000
Date: Friday, 28 November 1980 22:07-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: More files
Again courtesy of Keith Petersen (W8SDZ@MC):
MC:CPM; SD ASM - source for SD, a sorted directory program
MC:CPM; D DOC - Doc for D below
MC:CPM; D HEX
MC:CPM; MOVE ASM - like FILECOPY and PIP for multiple files.
Difference is that it asks to copy or skip.
Now a question: anybody besides Lauren and myself downloading these
files and using them? What's holding you up? No software to download
or the programs are not what you're looking for (if not what then), or
what?
--Frank
29-Nov-80 14:59:00,1256;000000000000
Date: Saturday, 29 November 1980 14:59-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: More Files
More from W8SDZ:
A new SD.ASM - the old one has been replaced: MC:CPM;SD ASM.
COPYFILE.ASM - this is the one that I mistakenly described as MOVE.
(MOVE does single file copies like FILECOPY, but may be to more than
one disk, ala SYSGEN.)
;This program will copy files of any length from one drive to
;another, with up to 16k buffering. It was created for very
;long files (megabyte length), which are not properly handled
;by CP/M 2.x PIP. This version offers selective copying of
;files - something not available with PIP. The destination
;files will have NO attributes set, which is useful for
;copying from CP/M 2.x to 1.4 disks.
This is in MC:CPM;CPYFIL ASM.
And finally, there is an edited collection of CBBS messages commenting
on various user's experiences with several disk controllers in
MC:CPM;DSKCMP DOC. (After reading that, I am glad I have a "stock"
system!)
--Frank
P.S. For those of you looking to download (only) to get started, a
simple-minded ASCII capture program is forth-coming, one that will be
short enough to key in. Stay tuned!
30-Nov-80 16:06:00,802;000000000000
Date: Sunday, 30 November 1980 16:06-MST
From: Frank J. Wancho <FJW at MIT-MC>
To: INFO-CPM at MIT-MC, NORTH-STAR-USERS at MIT-MC
Subject: N* Skew Table for FAST and SPEED
The patch file I use for FAST on a NorthStar is in MC:CPM;NSSKEW ASM.
It was derived using a modified version of RSPEED which accessed my
Mountain Computer Clock card to give the relative timings for the
various skews. It is interesting to note that the static timing for
the normal CP/M skew table supplied from Lifeboat is 1.3 seconds; no
skew, as in NS DOS, is 2.2; and the table in that file is 0.4! What
this means, I guess, is that the one derived by Lifeboat is indeed
better than DOS', but it is not the best that could have been...
(Startup timings were 2.5, 3.4, and 1.4, respectively.)
--Frank
30-Nov-80 23:06:00,1290;000000000000
Date: Sunday, 30 November 1980 23:06-MST
From: MITTON at MIT-AI
To: Info-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: Cp/M Users Group Software
I have Vols 1-42 of the CP/M UG on a DEC RK06 in my office.
I also have a few Fortran programs that allowed me to archive this stuff
and to create copies back to floppies. I will be offering copies under
the auspice of the New England Computer Society. There will probably
be a 25 or 50 cent coping charge to keep the requests resonable and to
finance further acqusitions.
HOWEVER, I am willing to try to arrange to give away a copy of the entire
collection to anyone that can read it in its current form. It is on a
DEC RK06 written under Files-11 on RSX-11M-Plus. The diskettes are stored
as Fixed length (128 byte records in squential order (all disk interleaving
as been un-interleaved. I could write it to mag tape, but it would be
DEC DOS, "ANSI standard" or other more obscure DEC formats.
I could also arrange to transfer it over the DEC DECnet Engineering Network,
if someone in Marlboro is willing to work with it.
Anyone who is serious about picking this stuff up, Please contact me direct.
My turn-around on this mailing list is about once a month!
Dave Mitton, 617-493-9362 work, 876-8718 home, 864-3819 CBBS/Cambridge.
30-Nov-80 23:13:00,297;000000000000
Date: Sunday, 30 November 1980 23:13-MST
From: ELMO at MIT-MC (Eliot R. Moore)
To: INFO-MICRO at MIT-MC, INFO-CPM at MIT-MC
Subject: Losing
Is there a way (does someone have software on-line) to make ITS work
with standard handshaking? (X-On, X-Off)
Thanks--
Eliot Moore
(Elmo @ MC)