Personal CP/M
Salle Arobase
As usual, searching for something else,
I managed to finally find some info about
the (almost) mythical "Personal CP/M".
I got it from a very slow Web site dealing
the Sharp 8-bitters.
(This VCCP looks very much like the SHELL
sold by MML Ltd for the Amstrad CPC6128...)
Yours Sincerely,
"French Luser"
THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF SHARP'S MZ-800 PCP/M
MZ-800 PCP/M is a fairly standard implementation of CP/M 2.2,
with "user friendly" additions. It "Auto-executes" VCCP.COM,
which has 2 "windows"; the l.h. window displays the directory
of the disk you have just booted, and the r.h. window lists
PCP/M's built in commands. Also, there is a highlighted "status
line" at the bottom of the screen which shows function-key settings,
"time", and the state of CAPS (highlighted=ON, normal display=OFF).
A highlighted cursor-bar sits at the top of the r.h. window,
and you may cursor up and down to select a command; then CR moves
you to the l.h. window, where you execute the command. At any stage,
you can cry HELP (CTRL/D), or ABORT (CTRL/C); HELP messages are
displayed at various points in the L.H. window, in framed "boxes";
and ABORT restarts the VCCP as if you had just booted up.
The function keys are in 4 sets of 4. The current set is on keys
F1 - F4, and key F5 is used to "rotate" F1 - F4 to the NEXT set.
Most of the systems programs in PCP/M are standard, and require
no comment. But there are 3 additional programs of Sharp origin,
all of which are VERY friendly and EXTREMELY useful:-
DISKEDIT.COM can be used to directly edit a PCP/M disk.
You can select BLOCK, FILE or SECTOR mode, or you can TARGET
a new drive. DISKEDIT.COM was used to make ALL the changes needed
to get PCP/M working on an 80-column MZ-700. Its operation is
self-explanatory, but note that it CANNOT read and write correctly
to tracks 0 and 79 (the two outside tracks) on a PCP/M disk.
DISKDEF.COM can redefine the format accepted by drive B:.
The options include 2 Sharp-CP/M formats (MZ-80B, MZ-3500)
plus 3 other formats ( 1D-IBM, 2D-IBM, MZ-5500 ). I am pretty
sure that the last 3 formats are CP/M-86, but I have not been
able to check.
SETUP.COM enables you to customize nine different items.
These include the AUTO EXECUTE file ( default VCCP );
screen colours and intensities; CP/M "devices" and the number
of drives; floppy-drive read after write & stepping rate;
keyclick; masking of high bits; printer type ( Sharp / ASCII ),
and printer CRLF; RS-232 settings; and, very useful,
redefining the four function keys, the cursor keys, and
the shifted and unshifted INST / DEL / TAB / BLANK keys.
SHARP'S PERSONAL CP/M 2.2 on the MZ-800 ( and MZ-700 )
This System includes features which are not found in earlier
versions of CP/M 2.2. The BIOS / BDOS / CCP is in a file called
PCPM.SYS; this may be anywhere on the disk, but it MUST be first
in the directory ( though it is normally hidden ). PCP/M offers
the option at two screen control standards, ANSI ( default ),
and VT-52.
Standard CP/M files are ASM, DDT, DUMP.ASM, ED, LOAD, PIP, STAT,
SUBMIT, SYSGEN ( as COPYSYS ) and XSUB; notable omissions from
this list are MOVCPM and DUMP.COM. Special files include BACKUP
( under the name COPYDISK ), DEL, DISKDEF, DISKEDIT, EJECT, FILES, FORMAT,
SETUP, TIME AND VCCP.
ALL the above files are covered in the 1-volume Sharp / D.R. MZ-800
PCP/M Manual ( 370pp. approx ). New features include:
DISKDEF a cursor-driven program for setting drive B: to read various
CP/M disks ( MZ-800 / 80B / 3500 / 5500, 1D / 2DIBMPC )
DISKEDIT a user-friendly direct sector-editing program, which can work
in file or sector mode.
FORMAT formats a disk and THEN copies over the hidden boot-up code
and PCPM.SYS. To format only, use FORMAT/N.
SETUP another cursor-driven program, for setting up various parameters
in the PCP/M system. These include the name of the auto-execute file,
screen colours, CP/M device assignment ( including FD drives ),
floppy-disk settings ( read after write, stepping rate ), key click
on / off, MSB mask, printer ( Sharp / ASCII, CR / LF ), RS-232
settings, and definable key settings ( function keys, and others ).
VCCP ( Visual CCP ) is an optional extra CCP, which can be used as
the "auto-execute" file. It shows a 2-window screen; one is a
directory of the default disk; the other is a list of commands,
selectable by moving the cursor.
N.B. VCCP.COM DOES NOT LIKE VT-52 SCREEN MODE !!!
Status line ( bottom ) shows FN key settings, "TIME", and SML/CAPS.
All in all, MZ-800 PCP/M, in combination with the MZ-800 itself,
with its built-in 80-column screen option and switchable printer
protocol, makes a nice system ( pity Sharp didn't put these things
on earlier MZ- machines ! ). And now, thanks to Robin Hill and
John Edwards, an MZ-700 version of PCP/M ( Version 2 ) is now
available, in 40 and 80-column versions ( details elsewhere in this
issue ).
The above should help you sort out CP/M, and its documentation,
on any Sharp machine you may acquire. lt is worth the effort,
as CP/M offers a wide range of applications software which is
quite good even by today‘s high standards e.g. WORDSTAR 4,
SUPERCALC 2, DBASE 2.4 and, dare I say it, PEACHTEXT on all
the above machines. And expert programmers can use DISX,
DISCMOD and ZENASM. So go out and enjoy CP/M - but remember,
if you have an MZ-80K, an MZ-80A or an MZ-700, it must be
modified for 80 columns. No problem on the MZ-80A or MZ-700,
but tricky on the MZ-80K ( talk to John Edwards ).
EOF
bud
Thanks "French Luser".
Now,… if only the source and/or binaries were available for download
somewhere.
salaam,
dowcom
--
http://community.webtv.net/dowcom/DOWCOMSAMSTRADGUIDE
DOShead Credo:
a) Try it! It might work.
b) GOTO a).
Salle Arobase
>download somewhere.
As far as I know, the source code is lost.
The binaries, however, are available on the same Web site.
But don't forget that this is CP/M...
The BIOS is written only for the particular hardware
of the Sharp MZ-800.
If you don't have one of those rarities,
you won't be able to run PCP/M.
(However, I am quite sure that VCCP can run
on other CP/M systems. From the text, I am
quite sure that this is the SHELL program
which was sold by MML Ltd for the Amstrad
CPC6128.)
Yours Sincerely,
"French Luser"
John Elliott
: As far as I know, the source code is lost.
There's source for the BDOS at <http://www.cpm.z80.de/source.html>.
It seems to take a slightly different approach compared to earlier CP/M
versions (it's dated 1984, so it's later than CP/M Plus even though its
version number is lower). The BDOS data segment is located *after* the BIOS
(suggesting that it's been split out so that PCP/M can be loaded into ROM).
In addition, there are some extra BIOS entry points which use LINK-80
exported symbols rather than the jumpblock.
: (However, I am quite sure that VCCP can run
: on other CP/M systems. From the text, I am
: quite sure that this is the SHELL program
: which was sold by MML Ltd for the Amstrad
: CPC6128.)
Only other PCP/M systems with similar terminal emulation. It uses the PCP/M
"Direct screen functions" call, and escape sequences are hardcoded.
--
------------- http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/index.html --------------------
John Elliott |BLOODNOK: "But why have you got such a long face?"
|SEAGOON: "Heavy dentures, Sir!" - The Goon Show
:-------------------------------------------------------------------------)
Salle Arobase
> (suggesting that it's been split out so that PCP/M can be loaded into
> ROM).
Well, I have always heard the PCP/M was a counter-attack by
Digital Research against the MSX-DOS 8-bitters, and that it
was to be in ROM. That's why I am surprised to find one PCP/M
booting from a SYS file.
> Only other PCP/M systems with similar terminal emulation. It uses the
PCP/M
> "Direct screen functions" call, and escape sequences are hardcoded.
How can you know all this, since nothing about PCP/M can be
found on the Internet, and nobody (including you) ever said
anything about it before?
Yours Sincerely,
"French Luser"
Hans Otten
>
>> (suggesting that it's been split out so that PCP/M can be loaded into
>> ROM).
>
>Well, I have always heard the PCP/M was a counter-attack by
>Digital Research against the MSX-DOS 8-bitters, and that it
>was to be in ROM. That's why I am surprised to find one PCP/M
>booting from a SYS file.
>
Fun to hear Digital research was interested in the MSX system, since
it was not really preesent in the USA.
MSX-DOS comes in 2 versions:
MSX-DOS 1 is made up of two files on floppy (MSXDOS.SYS and
COMMAND.COM) and a socalled diskrom, containing all device dependent
diskdrive code to support Disk Basic and MSX DOS.
MSX DOS 1 is a CP/M 2.2 clone by Microsoft, most CP/M programs can
run under MSX DOS (if a MSX 2 computer is used for 80 column screen
support). The memory model is that of CP/M: 64 K non-mapped.
The file structure on disk is FAT12, and supports time stamps on file.
MSX DOS 2 is a much more developed version with memory mapper (16K
pages) support and subdirectories on FAT12. consists for a large part
of a ROM cartridge and a small part on disk (MSXDOS2.SYS and
COMMAND2.COM) and supporting utilities. Still CP/M 2.2 compatible.
Did PCPM run on a MSX computer?
Hans
John Elliott
: Well, I have always heard the PCP/M was a counter-attack by
: Digital Research against the MSX-DOS 8-bitters, and that it
: was to be in ROM. That's why I am surprised to find one PCP/M
: booting from a SYS file.
I suspect it wasn't the only PCP/M-80, because BDOS calls 124 and 125
(byte block copy and byte block alter) aren't implemented; this suggests
that there was another PCP/M system somewhere that did have them.
There's a bit of the source code that goes like this:
if data_low
ld bc,front_size ;move an image of the front of the BDOS code
ld de,bdos$dt ;segment to the front of the data segment for
ld hl,bdos$cd ;systems with data lower in RAM
ldir
endif
What it does is copy the first 13 bytes of the BDOS (including the initial
entry point) to RAM. So you can have a memory map with a ROM at the top
containing the BDOS proper, and then a 256-byte BDOS in RAM containing just
the memory variables and the initial jump.
: How can you know all this, since nothing about PCP/M can be
: found on the Internet, and nobody (including you) ever said
: anything about it before?
Because, when you mentioned finding PCP/M, I went and found the boot disc
image (and the BDOS source). I then ran PCPM.SYS and VCCP.COM through a
disassembler. Staved off boredom for a couple of hours.
Arndt Oevermann
There was no PCPM for MSX, but there was a CP/M+ available for for the
PHILHIPS VG8235 MSX2 system. This CP/M+ runs on many other PHILIPS MSX2 and
on a japanese National MSX2 machine with an integrated printer.
CP/M+ was also used on the Commodore 128, Amstrad/Schneider CPC 6128 and
Bondwell 14 systems.
BTW: Is there anywhere a disk definition from the VG8235 CP/M+ disks for
22disk?
GG
Arndt
Salle Arobase
> I suspect it wasn't the only PCP/M-80, because BDOS calls 124 and 125
> (byte block copy and byte block alter) aren't implemented; this suggests
> that there was another PCP/M system somewhere that did have them.
(...) So you can have a memory map with a ROM at the top
> containing the BDOS proper, and then a 256-byte BDOS in RAM containing
just
> the memory variables and the initial jump.
Good. Personally, I am quite sure that Digital Research had a
few test systems that really contained Personal CP/M in ROM.
Since we live in another time and location, I wonder if one of
the many electronicians lurking this Newsgroup could not
find and explain how to modify one Amstrad CPC6128,
so that it would boot Personal BASIC, rather than the
Locomotive BASIC that it has in ROM?
(I am a fan of OSes booting from ROM, and of big
RAMdisks. (At least as big as the floppy drive,
or circa 720 KB for the CPC. This makes disk
copying so much easier.)
Yours Sincerely,
"French Luser"
Salle Arobase
-------------------------
Last week, I found the binaries of Personal CP/M.
(Why am I always the only one to find stuff on
the comp.os.cpm Newsgroup?)
The problem is that this version of Personal CP/M
was running on the Sharp MZ-800, which is now a
collector item.
So, I have been thinking at what to do to use this
version of CP/M 2.2 in ROM.
It so happens that the last successful (in fact,
it was a best-seller, with more than one million
units sold) CP/M micro was the Amstrad CPC6128,
and it has a BASIC (Locomotive BASIC) in ROM...
There are dozens of Web sites dealing with it.
So, here is my proposal to all those electronicians
lurking the comp.os.cpm Newsgroup:
1) Modify the ROM of the Amstrad CPC6128 so that
it boots from Personal CP/M, not Locomotive BASIC.
2) Change the floppy disk drive so that it uses
the cheapest commonly available floppy disk drives:
the 3.5" drives for the IBM PC.
3) STANDARDISE the format of this 3.5" drive on
the format used by CP/M-86 Plus, so that those
disks will be easily read on IBM PCs. (The Siemens
Web site has versions in English, German, and French
of a set of programs to work with 720 KB disks.
From experience, I can say that 720 KB is a good
size for a 8-bit computer.)
4) I am a fan of big RAMdisk. Please do one RAMdisk
at least the size of the floppy disk. Since the
maximum size for CP/M 2.2 is 8 MB, I would suggest
using the cheapest available spare parts for the
IBM PC, from 1 to 8 MB. IMPORTANT: foresee a reset
button which would reboot Personal CP/M from the
ROM in the TPA, but would not erase the RAMdisk!!!
(While you are at it, foresee an "uninterruptible
power supply" lasting at least 24 hours for this
RAMdisk, so that you could go back to the computer
and find all your stuff instantly available since
your last session.) (You can add a "sleep" button
for the screen, if you want.)
5) Don't forget that Tilmann Reh, the German
electronics engineer who designed the CPU280,
also designed a GIDE ("Generic IDE interface
for Z-80 micros"). This is a board that plugs
on any Z-80, and adds an IDE hard disk interface
to any Z-80 micro (like the CPC6128)...
6) Finally, don't forget that CP/NET-80 v1.2
is available... and that the source codes are
available for the 8-bit and IBM PC versions...
That is to say: one could connect up to 255
CPC6128 in a Local Area Network!!! (Of course,
one of those nodes could be a Linux computer
acting as an gateway to the Internet...)
Need I say more?
It is you the electronicians, not me!
Yours Sincerely,
"French Luser"
EOF
Salle Arobase
Personal CP/M: addenda to my proposal by Emmanuel ROCHE
-------------------------
Bloody! In my proposal, I forgot one thing
that, I think, is important: the number of
floppy disk drives.
You see, my favorite CP/M micro happens
to have FOUR floppy disk drives, and I have
never complained about this number.
Most people are of the opinion that one CP/M
system is useless without at least TWO drives
(and a big RAMdisk, in my opinion).
(Computers sold, like the Amstrad CPC6128,
with only ONE floppy disk drive are, in my
opinion, almost useless.)
Since the IBM PC floppy disk drives are so cheap,
I therefore would ask those lurking electronicians
to foresee that the "dream" Personal CP/M
system that I am talking about should be designed
in such a way as to have FOUR floppy disk drives.
The hardware should not prevent this.
(In my experience, the best location for floppy
disk drives is on the side of the screen.
That is to say: the Amstrad CPC6128 micro
would keep its 3" drive, and there would be
a ribbon cable going to an enclosure fixed
on the right (or left) side of the screen.)
What do you think?
(Finally, I have been wondering how to name
this "dream" Personal CP/M system?
I have been thinking to "Percy". Any ideas?)
wild bill
<salle....@ville-rochefort.fr> wrote:
>Since the IBM PC floppy disk drives are so cheap,
>I therefore would ask those lurking electronicians
>to foresee that the "dream" Personal CP/M
>system that I am talking about should be designed
>in such a way as to have FOUR floppy disk drives.
>The hardware should not prevent this.
Mike .... oh, damn, what's his name anyway .....the
Mr. BIOS guy, pretty much agreed with you - many
of his BIOS versions supported FOUR floppies.
Back there sometime, i used to checck with him
about recent 'clients', and buy boards where Mr.
was at least an option - usually an additional ROM
so I could get AMI or Award, too. But Mr. always
had a feature or two I preferred.
Mike was one of the 'insulated' programmers
who gave the world IBM BIOS compatability
without fees to IBM ...... we might wonder
what would have happened, had Compaq not
succeeded in cracking the thing ........ what
if the BIOS had stayed proprietary IBM?
Bill
Salle Arobase
and 700 series for many years running CP/M. I personally
have used, reverse engineered and implemented CP/M on
several products in the early (pre-DOS!) 80s.
Several thousand units were shipped, but we stopped
manufacturing two years ago as we could not find a suitable
LCD in small enough volumes, and PC DOS is taking over,
hence our 900 and 9000 products.
We continue to support the products, which are used all over
the world. We have a small stock of used products, some of
which we would need to keep for future support, but I am
happy to sell a few.
What would be your use of them? and how many would you
want/need?
I look forward to your email.
Best regards
Peter Cowley
Director
Starfish, Camdata, Microscribe and Starfish Developments
Tel: +44 1780 480555
www.starfish-uk.com
www.camdata.co.uk
www.microscribe.co.uk
www.starfish-homes.com
Salle Arobase
Microsystems Journal, Vol.5 No.3 (March 1984) p.12
Personal CP/M comes to Z80
==========================
As rumored previously in this column, a chip has been
announced by American Microsystems, Santa Clara CA that
places the kernel for the Personal CP/M operating system
in the same chip with a Z-80 processor. AMI has been a
second-source agreement with Zilog and expects to start
sampling by the end of next month. The chip is expected
to be used in low-cost home computer system.
EOF
Salle Arobase
Microsystems Journal, Vol.5 No.2 (February 1984) p.12
P-CP/M in beta test
===================
Digital Research of Japan has disclosed that it is beta testing
preproduction home computers using the new CP/M-in-ROM operating
system. Reportedly, these units use an IC that integrates the
system software ROM and processor into one IC and will make
possible the selling of CP/M-based systems for under $250.
This version of CP/M is being referred to by DRI as "P-CP/M".
Systems running under P-CP/M are expected to compete with home
computers that have the new MSX operating system from Microsoft.
Several Japanese personal computer makers have already announced
their intention to introduce a system based on MSX, and Fujitsu
Ltd. has already introduced a personal computer running the
Microsoft MSX operating system. Sales of the unit are currently
being limited to Japan.
EOF