TRS80 Model 4P HELP!
Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD
I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
--
Basil P. Spyropoulos, M.D.
Bill Marcum
In article <bspyropoulos-1...@slip5.info.siumed.edu>,
Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD <bspyro...@siumed.edu> wrote:
>I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
>does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
>Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It definitely does not run MS-DOS. It can run TRSDOS 6.2 or LS-DOS, LDOS,
or CP/M. You can get TRSDOS from a Radio Shack store, but they will
probably have to order it from Tandy Software Replacement.
--
Bill Marcum bma...@iglou.com
On 22 July, 1996, at 6:00 pm GMT, everyone in the world
just START HUMMING. Those who don't know will freak.
Frank Durda IV
Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD (bspyro...@siumed.edu) wrote:
:[0] I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
:[0] does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
:[0] Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It sounds like you expect the Model 4P to run MS-DOS or PC-DOS operating
systems. The Model 4P does not run MS-DOS at all. It runs Z-80/8080-based
operating systems, such as TRSDOS 6 (which came with the Model 4P), LDOS,
TRSDOS 1.3, CP/M+ and several other operating systems.
MS-DOS applications such as Windows, Lotus 1-2-3, etc will not run
on this machine. The Z-80 is not compatible with the 80x88/80x86
processors used in IBM PCs and PC-clones.
Frank Durda IV <uhc...@nemesis.lonestar.org>|"The Knights who say "LETNi"
or uhclem%nem...@rwsystr.nkn.net | demand... A SEGMENT REGISTER!!!"
|"A what?"
or ...letni!rwsys!nemesis!uhclem |"LETNi! LETNi! LETNi!" - 1983
Leonard Erickson
bspyro...@siumed.edu (Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD) writes:
> I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
> does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
> Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It's only an 8-bit system. It runs TRSDOS 1.3, TRSDOS/LDOS 6.x, and
CP/M.
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
sha...@krypton.rain.com <--preferred
leo...@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort
sh...@solution.maths.unsw.edu.au
In article <bspyropoulos-1...@slip5.info.siumed.edu>, bspyro...@siumed.edu (Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD) writes:
|> I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
|> does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
|> Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
|> --
|> Basil P. Spyropoulos, M.D.
|>
|> bspyro...@siumed.edu
|> Bas...@aol.com
Try one of....
CP/M, TRSDOS, LSDOS, LDOS, NewDos, NewDos80/86/90, DosPlus, MultiDos.....
There may be others that run on the medel 4 but I don't know which ones....
Shawn
P.S. The 4p is z80 based, not 80x86. i.e. NO MSDOS of any description.
Rick Oakes
>bspyro...@siumed.edu (Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD) writes:
>
>> I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
>> does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
>> Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
>
>CP/M.
>
that that this machine will run TRSDOS 1.3. In the form he has it,
it will _not_. His message strongly implies he got the machine
without any system disks.
TRSDOS 1.3 requires Model III casette BASIC in low memory. Model
4 did this by installing the Model III ROMs in a bank switch with
the lowest 16K of RAM. The Model 4P does not have the Model III
ROM.
In order to run TRSDOS 1.3, an image of the Model III ROM had to
be written to low memory. This could be done either from the
TRSDOS 6.x disk, LS-DOS disk or a special disk that was available
separately. Once the image was in ROM, the TRSDOS 1.3 disk
was switched in, and booted. This process also switched the
video driver from 80 x 24 mode to 64 x 16 mode. But the 4P
will not run 1.3 without one of the other disks.
--
Rick Oakes ri...@reo.alphai.org or roa...@nyx.cs.du.edu
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
anonymous
mark wolfe
On 21 May 1996 20:32:10 -0600, roa...@spieg.interealm.com (Rick Oakes)
wrote:
It requires the ModelA/III rom image disk for any dos but trsdos
6.x/ls-dos 6.x. OR, a special system boot disk with the rom image
loaded on the right tracks, and a bit of sector editing. :) I've
got a fast rom image loader for newdos. In fact most of my stuff is
Newdos based. IMHO the operating system of choice for TRS-80's.
Too bad they didn't come out with a model 4 based version of it.
Sigh, but hey, it runs my corvus just fine.
Cul,
Mark Wolfe
Frank Durda IV
Rick Oakes (roa...@spieg.interealm.com) wrote:
:[5] In order to run TRSDOS 1.3, an image of the Model III ROM had to
:[5] be written to low memory. This could be done either from the
:[5] TRSDOS 6.x disk, LS-DOS disk or a special disk that was available
:[5] separately. Once the image was in ROM, the TRSDOS 1.3 disk
:[5] was switched in, and booted. This process also switched the
:[5] video driver from 80 x 24 mode to 64 x 16 mode. But the 4P
:[5] will not run 1.3 without one of the other disks.
That is generally correct, but from 1983 onwards, all TRSDOS 1.3 (in
particular TRSDOS 1.3.2 and up) system diskettes manufactured by Tandy
contained a copy of MODELA/III. There was also a plain (no OS) TRSDOS
1.x diskette available with MODELA/III on it.
A newer version of MODELA/III file can also be obtained M. A. D. Software.
Leonard Erickson
roa...@spieg.interealm.com (Rick Oakes) writes:
> >bspyro...@siumed.edu (Basil P. Spyropoulos, MD) writes:
> >
> >> I picked one up a TRS-80 4P at an auction last night, and it apparently
> >> does not run on DOS 2.1. Does anyone know what OS this thing does need.
> >> Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
> >
> >It's only an 8-bit system. It runs TRSDOS 1.3, TRSDOS/LDOS 6.x, and
> >CP/M.
> >
> Important caveat: I have seen a couple replies to this message saying
> that that this machine will run TRSDOS 1.3. In the form he has it,
> it will _not_. His message strongly implies he got the machine
> without any system disks.
>
> TRSDOS 1.3 requires Model III casette BASIC in low memory. Model
> 4 did this by installing the Model III ROMs in a bank switch with
> the lowest 16K of RAM. The Model 4P does not have the Model III
> ROM.
>
> In order to run TRSDOS 1.3, an image of the Model III ROM had to
> be written to low memory. This could be done either from the
> TRSDOS 6.x disk, LS-DOS disk or a special disk that was available
> separately. Once the image was in ROM, the TRSDOS 1.3 disk
> was switched in, and booted. This process also switched the
> video driver from 80 x 24 mode to 64 x 16 mode. But the 4P
> will not run 1.3 without one of the other disks.
Actually, all you have to do is copy the ROM image files onto a
bootable 1.3 disk. The boot ROM on the 4p can apparently find them and
load them. At least it works fine on *my* 4p!
Leonard Erickson
uhc...@nemesis.lonestar.org (Frank Durda IV) writes:
> A newer version of MODELA/III file can also be obtained M. A. D. Software.
Care to elaborate a bit on this?
M A D Software
:[8] A newer version of MODELA/III file can also be obtained M. A. D. Software.
:[9] Leonard Erickson (sha...@krypton.rain.com) wrote:
:[9] Care to elaborate a bit on this?
Since it has been five months or so since the last time, sure.
M. A. D. Software sells upgrade ROM, ROM images and applications for
TRS-80 systems, mainly the Model 4 line. The catalog can be obtained
over the Internet in ASCII form by sending mail to:
ma...@madsoft.lonestar.org
and putting the word "catalog" in the subject or in the body
of the message. Please mention which platform you have an interest in.
(We don't have anything for the Color Computer - sorry.)
In response to this thread, the newer MODELA/III file contains many of the
features available in the XROM and XDROM which replace the C-ROM in Model
4 systems or the D-ROM in gate-array Model 4 and Model 4D systems. Off
the top of my head, some of the features are:
o Full 128-character ASCII keyboard driver for Model III mode.
You can now get [ ] \ ~ and all of those other characters using
the ROM keyboard driver for any Model III operating system or even
ROM BASIC.
o The system time-of-day clock will run at the correct speed
regardless of the CPU speed. Those of you using LDOS or
other Model III operating systems that offer a command to
speed the CPU up to 4MHz know what happens to the clock without
this fix.
o Keyboard debouncing is correct at both CPU speeds and keystroke
roll-over is actually implemented. On a system with a stock
ROM, press keys 1-8 all at once (the keys above the letters) and
see how many keys are displayed. You should get all eight.
This performance is better than the KI/DVR in LDOS/TRSDOS/LS-DOS
(although the ROM can't do type-ahead).
o Interrupt services will actually service more than one pending
interrupt, rather than tossing the others away. Serial I/O is
much more reliable.
o A 6845 CRT controller can be used in place of the 68045 used by
Radio Shack. This lets you run the video in many different modes,
such as 25x80, etc. TRSDOS 6/LS-DOS 6 assume you might have a
6845 and program it too.
We provided Logical Systems and Misosys with the MODELA/III file that
came with LS-DOS 6.3 and 6.3.1, so you may have some of these features
already if you use the version that came with these operating systems.
But that was in 1987 and more things have been done to the ROM since then.
These functions are available in real ROMs for Model 4/4D systems as well.
There is also a replacement ROM for the Model 4P, with features like
fast (and more reliable) loading of the MODELA/III file (3 seconds total,
instead of over ten as in the original Tandy version).
The ability to boot LS-DOS 6 directly from several types of hard disk
drives and controllers is also supported by all of these ROMs.
Our Model 4 Utility disk provides many UNIX-style commands (can you
imagine having pipes, More or Ls on LS-DOS?) plus other utilities unique
to the TRS-80 environment. The Look utility will identify almost any
floppy, even PC/AT floppies formatted in 1.2Meg or 1.44Meg formats and
it knows an unformatted floppy when it sees one. The utility disk has
been reviewed in TRS-Times and mentioned in passing in some CN-80
articles, although for the past two years CN-80 has been unwilling to
have someone review our products in their newsletter.
Nearly every product comes with typeset documentation.
We also have limited supplies of some of the Tandy ROMs and PALs for
these systems, in case you need updated or spare parts.
So, get the catalog for more information. Thanks for asking about us!
If you don't see something you are looking for, ask! We have done
custom jobs and want your business!
Mike @ M. A. D. Software
ma...@madsoft.lonestar.org
Hopefully some of the people who have our products will speak up
with a well-timed endorsement here... :-)
Pete Cervasio
ma...@madsoft.lonestar.org (M A D Software) wrote:
>:[8] A newer version of MODELA/III file can also be obtained M. A. D. Software.
>
>:[9] Leonard Erickson (sha...@krypton.rain.com) wrote:
>:[9] Care to elaborate a bit on this?
[Snipping to the Model 4 part... :-)]
>The ability to boot LS-DOS 6 directly from several types of hard disk
>drives and controllers is also supported by all of these ROMs.
>
>Our Model 4 Utility disk provides many UNIX-style commands (can you
>imagine having pipes, More or Ls on LS-DOS?) plus other utilities unique
[snip again]
>Hopefully some of the people who have our products will speak up
>with a well-timed endorsement here... :-)
One of *those*?? I can supply one of those. I use the 4P hard disk
boot feature every time I turn the 4P on. Well, just about...
sometimes I'm loading SuperUtility 4. :-) It works. It works well.
It works well, even with a Smartwatch. And the utilities are GREAT.
No one should be without them. I've gotten so used to them that I
don't know what I'd do without them.
I'd strongly urge anyone who has a Model 3 or 4 (plain or peanut), to
email for a catalog.
Best regards,
Pete C.
(Not affiliated, other than as a satisfied customer)
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Pete Cervasio Email: cerv...@airmail.net
Check out the TRS80 Home Page at http://www.kjsl.com/trs80/
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