Why is "DIR" in CP/M not working correctly ?

[Semper Talis]

Hi,

first I am new to the forum, so I apologize if I am asking old. questions.

1. How can I search the forum? The search option I have just searching on the topics of the discussions in the visible page of the forum. Not much help

2. I just build my ALTAIR Arduino , what a blast of fun.

   The first thing I tried out was loading the CP/M 2.2 from the 88-Hdsk

    It loaded and I typed "DIR" to my great surprise I got one entry and one only "BOOT ASM"

    I was puzzled and frustrated by this but just typed "STAT *.*" and to my surprize I got a long list of filres.

    So the files are on the disk but not shown when "DIR" . I saw a "LS com" and typed "LS" and got a directory .

   I am somewhat familiar with CP/M on my Apple ][ , so I ampuzzled about the behavior of "DIR"

Anyone who can enlighten me what is going on ?

BTW I played with "DIR" and whatever I do like "DIR *.com" I get only one Dir entry shown.

Is this normal on the ALTAIR ? 

Thanks in advance , beside this I have a blast to rediscover the CP/M on this machine.

[Joseph Corda]

This is a guess but you try typing 

 USER 0

And then see what dir gives you 

Joe 

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[Semper Talis]

Hi Joseph,

Thanks for the quick reply .

Nothing changed 

[Tom Wilson]

Are you using the built in terminal, or connecting with a serial terminal on your PC, like PuTTY?

PuTTY specifically adds a line feed (ASCII 10) when you press RETURN. This is pretty much wrong for nearly any situation, but that's the default. Turn that off in the terminal settings, and try it again. 

Tom Wilson
wils...@gmail.com
+1(619)940-6311 

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[Semper Talis]

Hi Tom,

I tried the USB Programming Port (the programming port on the Arduino) and the same thing DIR just gives one reply .

STAT *.* and LS gives the full directory .

I wonder if someone with a ALTAIR DUINO could check and let me know if ye sees the same behavior or if it works for him.

[Semper Talis]

I tested a diffrent serial program and had the same trouble regardless wich com port I used on the ALTAIR.

I may try to install a different CP/M 22 installation which has definitely no LS command and see what happens.

On Jun 6, 2026, at 1:49 PM, Tom Wilson <wils...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Richard Deane]

If DIR only shows ONE entry then it is almost certainly due to incorrect line ending settings in your terminal package. CR +LF  will break it. Change to LF.

Richard 

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[Semper Talis]

LOL!!!!!

That was it , thank you very much .

I tried all afternoon and downloaded CP/M disks from all over the internet and to no avail.

My whole CP/M collection on my Apple ][ was tested through and all DIR went fine.

I even downloaded simh for the ALTAIR and these CP/M disk did also DIR just fine.

I was questioning my sanity .

Thanks again , that was like an eureka moment for me . 

I do ssh into my computers but just a serial terminal is nothing I have used in ages.

My program did CR+LF by default and I had no idea that may cause the issue , I played with other settings like ignoring ANSI sequences .

But CR+LF was not on my mind ever :-) 

Thanks for finishing my frustrating afternoon with a sprinkle of joy !!

[John Galt]

it is a feature actually. the idea was DIR could take a long time to display and if you saw the entry you needed as it was running you could just hit enter and stop DIR fast and then type your next command.

[Gwen Patton]

I'm glad it's finally solved! When I saw that, I forehead smacker!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

73,

Gwen, NG3P

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