comp.sys.amstrad.8bit FAQ v0.99 part 1/1
Emmanuel ROUSSIN
The FAQ exists in four versions :
- AMSTRAD.FAQ : english text, always up to date,
- AMSTRAD.HTM : english HTML (v0.90 from 1 to 1.2, v0.72 after),
* - FRENCH.FAQ : french text (v0.98),
* - GERMAN.FAQ : german text (v0.96) by Tim Riemann (TCS-So...@gmx.de).
The latest versions of these FAQ are archived on :
- primary site : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/
- FAQ archive (english text only) :
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/amstrad8bit-faq
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.sys.amstrad.8bit
ftp://ftp.cs.nott.ac.uk/faq/amstrad8bit-faq
- ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/di/dibald/FAQS and
ftp://ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs
The french translation was done by Pierre Guerrier and then by Pierre
Thevenet. The conversion from text to HTML was first done by Erwann
Gaudal. Thanks to them.
This FAQ is posted twice a month on the 4th and 19th to
comp.sys.amstrad.8bit, and only once on the 4th to comp.answers and
news.answers
Lines preceded by '+' have been added since the last FAQ.
Lines preceded by '*' have been modified ""
Both added and modified are in bold in the HTML FAQ
This FAQ is written by :
- Emmanuel Roussin, rou...@genesis8.frmug.org, section A1 to A11,
- Mark Ray, M.J...@UEA.ac.uk, section B (Amstrad Notepad),
- still waiting for somebody who could write a PCW part, send it to
E.R., for the moment it's the section C.
If you have any ideas for the FAQ, send an email to the correct
person. About parts written by E.R., as english isn't my mother
tongue, this FAQ has certainly typing mistakes, grammar errors, etc...
I welcome the corrections.
This FAQ is freeware, you can use it freely for your personnal use.
For commercial use, you must ask our permission before.
Parts of this FAQ are taken from the documentation of CPCEMU, some are
from the main faq keeper (E.R.) and Mark Ray (Notepad part), other
parts are taken from articles of the newsgroup, thanks to :
mich...@jake.unsw.edu.au
llo...@cs.unc.edu (Noel Llopis)
l21b...@rz.unibw-muenchen.de (Robert Steindl)
a...@siva.bris.ac.uk
km...@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz (Kenneth Crawford)
sim...@cvcge.ic.ac.uk (Dr S.J. Harris)
ml32...@dingo.cc.uq.oz.au (Ben Williamson)
rr...@ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu (rrotz)
n...@kom.auc.dk (Peter Sorensen)
da...@altavista.net (David Long)
ksw...@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Klaus Weber)
i...@caliban.org (Ian Macdonald)
i...@aber.ac.uk (IAN RODERIC IZETT)
ktha...@krisalis.co.uk (K.E.W. Thacker)
sl...@cix.compulink.co.uk (Roger Bradley)
matthew....@christ-church.oxford.ac.uk
ric...@systemed.u-net.com (Richard Fairhurst)
hub...@lcs.wn.bawue.de (Steffen Huber)
d...@dix.teuto.de (Dirk Eismann)
ma...@cip.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de (Martin Krausse)
guer...@ecoledoc.lip6.fr (Pierre Guerrier)
prh...@dyson.brisnet.org.au
gbla...@jonque.ens.fr (Gilles Blanchard)
cli...@amstrad.com (Cliff Lawson)
phil_s...@yahoo.com
+ s.j.ma...@btl.lhmc.ac.uk (Simon Matthews)
------------
Table of Contents
Introduction
A - Amstrad CPC
A0) Amstrad CPC(+) and GX 4000 presentation
A1) Emulators and utilities
A1.1) emulators
A1.2) utilities
A2) Sources of emulators, ROMs and programs
A2.0) IRC
A2.1) FTP sites
A2.2) WWW
A2.3) BBS
A2.4) Using programs with emulators or real CPC
A3) Transfer between CPC and PC
A3.1) 3" drive on PC
* A3.2.1) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC
* A3.2.2) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC+
A3.3) parallel cable
A3.4) RS 232 / RS 422 (Macintosh)
A3.5) Companies
A3.6) Tapes
A4) Maps, solutions, pokes, basic loaders
A4.1) Maps
A4.2) Solutions
A4.3) Pokes
A4.4) Basic loaders
A5) Hardware problems
A5.1) Internal drive
A5.2) Components
A6) How can I help the CPC/PCW world ?
A6.1) Updating the FAQ
A6.2) Commercial games becoming freeware
A6.3) Adding files to ftp.lip6.fr
A6.4) Updating ALL_CPC, ALL_HW, ALL_ROM, ALL_UTIL
A7) Programs
A7.1) Commercial programs wich are now PD, freeware or shareware
A7.2) New non commercial games
A8) Useful address and information
A8.1) Snail mail addresses
A8.2) information
A8.3) Email addresses
A9) Fanzines
A9.1) on paper
A9.2) on disk
A10) Additionnal hardware
A10.1) Hard disk
A10.2) Multiface II
A10.3) ROMCARD and RAMCARD
A10.4) Sound Player 1 and 2
A10.5) Network
A10.6) Future-OS
A10.7) 2 Mo MemCard (by RAM7)
A10.8) Vox card (by RAM7)
A10.9) CPC ISA
) Amstrad MP3 (television)
A11) Upcoming CPC meetings
A12) Amstrad scene news
B - Amstrad Notepad (NC)
B1) What is it?
B2) How can I buy one?
B3) What peripherals can I use?
B3.1) Printing
B3.2) Extra Memory
B4) How do I connect it to a PC?
B5) BASIC
B5.1) Where can I find programs for it?
B5.2) Can I use the Word Processor to enter listings?
B5.3) Can I make a program auto-run?
B6) Other Programs
B7) I've just crashed it...
B8) I've just broken it...
B9) Help! Where to ask.
B10) Internet resources.
C - PCW
C0) PCW presentation
C1) Emulators and utilities
C2) Where can I find emulators, ROMs and programs ?
C2.1) FTP sites
C2.2) WWW
C3) Transfering between PCW and PC
C3.1) Disks
C3.2) RS 232
C4) Shops supporting PCW
C5) Hardware
C6) PCW 16
Annexe 1 : Amstrad is dead, long live to Betacom...
---------------------------
Introduction
This unmoderated newsgroup comp.sys.amstrad.8bit is open to
discussions about the Z80 Amstrad computers : CPC (464, 664, 6128,
464+, 6128+), GX4000, PCW (8256, 8512, 9256, 9512, 9512+, QUibble) and
NC-100 notepad. It was created in august 1994 from an idea by Marco
Vieth and David Long (maintainer of the now dead UK Demon PD library).
Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to :
- CPC, GX4000, PCW, NC-100 hardware and software,
- emulators,
- specific Amstrad CP/M files, overlays...
- ads for selling/buying the relative hardware and software.
etc...
The only topic that is excluded :
discussion of Amstrad PC-compatible (1512, 1640, 2x86, 3x86 and
others Amstrad compatible I don't know) because these computers
are really compatible, so comp.sys.ibm.pc.* newsgroups must be
used.
For questions about these computers see
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm
A0) Amstrad CPC(+) and GX 4000 presentation
Amstrad made the following CPC systems :
- 1) CPC 464 (Arnold 1),
- 2) CPC 664 (Arnlod 2),
- 3) CPC 6128 (Arnold 3), there was also a CPC6128 cost down (Arnold 4
which was identical in operation to the original 6128 but had a new
PCB and ASIC that reduced the board size and chip count to a mere
fraction of the original size. If you open up a 6128 and the board
fills the entire space you've got one of the originals. If you open
one up and the board only occupies about 1/4 to 1/3 of the available
space with a LOT of surrounding fresh air then you've got an Arnold 4.
- 4) CPC 464+ (Arnold 5),
- 5) CPC 6128+ (Arnold 5),
- 6) GX 4000, the Amstrad 8 bit console. The "new" console ran enhanced
graphics and sound. It had a colour palette of 4096, hardware
sprites, hardware scrolling, and used 128K carts. Yes games were
made for it, there are about 10-20 still available in England.
A1) Emulators and utilities
All the following emulators and utilities can be found on
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator, or use the HTML frontend :
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/emulator.htm
A1.1) emulators
For the moment, there are 6 emulators for PC, 4 for Amiga, 2
for Acorn RISC OS machines, 1 for Unix (SUNos) and MAC (Power MAC
and 68k MAC).
There is a commercial spectrum emulator for the CPC, reviewed in
Amstrad Action.
A1.1.1) CPCEMU (PC) 06/25/98
CPCEMU by Marco Vieth, last version is 1.5, get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcemu15.zip
A1.1.2) CPE (for PC and Amiga) 05/30/98
CPE, written by Bernd Schmidt and now maintained by Ulrich Doewich
(reports bugs, suggestions to ulrich....@shaw.wave.ca) since v5.1
Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpe52.zip, or if you have a
386, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpe51.zip
For sources : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpesrc52.zip
Amiga CPE (68000, 1 Mo), last version is february 95, get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/acpe_new.lzh
Ulrich is programming a new 32 bit version of CPE in 1998.
A1.1.3) A-CPC (PC) (06/01/97)
The Amstrad CPC emulator (v0.55beta) by Herman Dullink on PC, get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc055.zip
Current beta version is v0.56
A1.1.4) PC-CPC (PC)
A PC v0.40 of AMI-CPC by Ludovic Deplanque (see A1.1.7), get
PCCPC040.LZH, and AMICPCUT.LZH for conversion between .CPC and .DSK
images disks. See http://www.chez.com/deplanque
A1.1.5) NO$CPC (PC) 02/21/98
Another german emulator, by Martin Korth, last version is 1.5, get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/no$cpc15.zip and
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/no$cp15a.zip (XT version). see
http://www.work.de/nocash
A1.1.6) RWCPC and CPC emulator for windows (PC) 08/12/97
Two emulators by Richard Wilson (author of ParaDOS), the first one is
for msdos, the second for windows wich comes with a debugger and an
assembler.
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/rwcpc.zip
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcwin10.zip
A1.1.7) AMI-CPC (Amiga) 02/15/98
A french CPC emulator for Amiga, by Ludovic Deplanque. Last version is
v0.46, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/amicpc46.lzh,
includes sources. See http://www.chez.com/deplanque
V0.47 will add the support for snapshots.
A1.1.8) A-CPC (Amiga)
The CPC emulator for Amiga is by K.E.W. Thacker. Get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/acpcde20.lha
A demo/evaluation version of the real shareware. Don't forget the web
page of Kevin (see A2.2), it's the best and biggest.
A1.1.9) Emu-CPC (Amiga)
Another french CPC emulator on AMIGA by Stephane Tavenard, get EmuCPC
v0.7, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/emucpc07.lzx
Ami-CPC author states that Emu-CPC is better (at time of Ami-CPC 0.46).
* A1.1.10) !CPC (Acorn) 07/06/98
!CPC is a CPC emulator for Acorn RISC OS machines (Archimedes/RISC PC)
* by Mark RISON. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc0728.zip
Get the sources at http://www.acorn.com/~mrison/en/cpc/ or from lip6
as usual.
A1.1.11) !CPCemu (Acorn)
This emulator for Acorn RISC OS machines is written by Andreas
Stroiczek, aka Face Hugger. Get v1.10 as
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcem110.zip
or on ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/acorn/long/emulator/
ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/acorn/riscos/emulator/
A1.1.12) CPC++ (Unix and MAC) 10/06/97
This emulator for SunOS, Linux and MAC is written by Brice Rive.
PowerMAC v1.3.2, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc132pm.arj
MAC v1.3.2, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc13268.arj
SunOS v1.3.0, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc130su.zip
Solaris v1.4, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc140so.zip
Linux v1.2, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpp120lx.zip
http://www.worldnet.fr/~brice/cpc/cpcpp.html
A1.1.13) SIMCPC (PC)
Presumably the first CPC emulator written, for PC/XT/AT (c) 1989, 90
by GHE, Aachen. It is only black and white, but with additional ROMs;
only a "beer humour". Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/simcpc.zip
A1.1.14) Multi-Machine, or MTM (win95, other ports later) 06/27/97
Get MTM v1.30b by Paul Hodgson (paul.h...@multi-machine.demon.co.uk)
at ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/mtmw130b.zip
MTM is a win95 muli-machine emulator. Currently implimented emulation
cores are Amstrad CPC (+ included), Sinclair ZX80/81 and Spectrum,
Jupiter Ace and Elan Enterprise. Other cores in the pipeline are
Mastersystem/Gamegear, MSX and Gameboy.
A1.1.15) XCPC (unix) 02/23/98
An Unix/Linux emulator by Mark Conmy (m...@scs.leeds.ac.uk). Emulation
is fine (without sound) apart from some interrupts errors with some
games and supports DSK files. The tape support and snapshot support
were almost there, but not quite.
It works under Irix (4,5 and 6), SunOS 4.1.3/4, Solaris and Linux.
It will be posted to c.s.a.8 if/when Mark get it properly running
The full source code _will_ be made available (not just binaries)
under the GNU GPL. No availability date.
* A1.1.16) Arnold (win95) 07/19/98
* A CPC/CPC+ emulator by K.E.W. Thacker for win95 and directX5, needs a
* pentium for enough speed as written in C. Get a preview at
+ http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~amstrad/arnold/arnold.zip
A1.1.17) Zsim (PC) 02/17/98
Zsim v2.41 by Jürgen G. Weber, it simulates a CP/M Z80 machine. It
DOES NOT simulate CP/M. But in the ZSIM package are included a PD CP/M
compatible operating system and a program to format CP/M disks, so you
can run CP/M programs. It can directly read DATA and SYSTEM disks. Get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/cpm/zsim241.zip
+ A1.1.18) Yage (PC) 07/19/98
+ Yage v0.90 by Antoine Pitrou, a CPC emulator which handles demos like
+ 'The demo' and 'divine megademo'. Get
+ ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/yage090.zip
* A1.1.19) Other emulators
- CPCEMUII (?) : in development since October 1993 by Paco Lopez
(Spain). Still unavalaible. It uses the same disk format as CPCEMU.
- a linux emulator by Noel Llopis, as 02/21/98, it's indefinitely on
hold as Noel is working on his doctorate.
A1.2) Utilities
A1.2.1) SNA2GIF (PC)
SNA2GIF v1.1 by Marco Vieth, is included in CPCEMU14.ZIP, it extracts
screens from snapshots to GIF format.
A1.2.2) SNAP GRAB (PC)
SNAP GRAB v1.1 is a freeware by Georg Schwarz to extract screens from
snapshots to Multiface II format, which can be seen on real CPC even
with a multiface. If you want to see the picture on your PC, you will
need CPC2x (see a1.2.3), get SNAPGR11.ZIP.
A1.2.3) CPC2x (was CPC to TIFF) (PC)
CPC2x v2.0 by Michael Stroucken converts Amstrad CPC screens to the
graphic TIF and GIF format. Get CPC2X.ZIP with sources and
binaries for MSDOS and CP/M.
A1.2.4) CPC file system (PC) 02/21/98
CPC fs v0.85.3 by Derik van Zutphen transfer CPC files between .DSK
files and DOS files, in the two ways, look for CPCFS085.ZIP.
Don't forget to RTFM, there is a useful batch mode.
See http://home.t-online.de/home/derik/cpcfs/
A1.2.5) Multiface II to Snapshot (PC)
M2TOSNA v1.1 by James McKay converts CPC Multiface II files to 64
Ko and 128 Ko snapshots files. Look for M2TOSNA1.ZIP.
A1.2.6) CPDread & CPDwrite (PC) 10/22/97
Copy Protected Disk reader v3.24 by Ulrich Doewich, for transfering
CPC disks into the common DSK file format of CPC emulators. It uses
the extended DSK format which manages better copy protected disks.
Look for CPDR324.ZIP
CPDwrite v1.0, for writing back .DSK to a disk, even with protected
games, look for CPDW100.ZIP
A1.2.7) MACTerm (MAC)
Transfer files between CPC and MAC with a parallel cable, look for
CPCTERM.ZIP
A1.2.8) 22disk (PC)
22disk is a shareware utility by Sydex (http://www.sydex.com) which
can read/write/format CP/M disks on PC. It can read CPC disks formats
with a definition file called CPMDISKS.DEF which comes with CPCEMU, or
EURO.DEF (EURODEF.ZIP). You shouldn't use it under OS/2 or win95,
unless you have the last version, v1.44 (22DSK144.RAR).
A1.2.9) DIC (PC) 06/14/97
Disc Image Copier by Tim Rieman, transfer DATA and SYSTEM disc from
CPC to PC with a parallel cable, look for DIC130.ZIP
For conversion from PC to CPC, see A1.2.11
A1.2.10) AIFF decoder (Unix, PC, Amiga)
AIFF decoder v1.1 by Pierre Guerrier, MSDOS port (DECODR11.ZIP) by
Ulrich Doewich, Amiga port (AMIAIFF.LZH) by Kevin Thacker, a tool for
retrieving data from sampled Amstrad CPC tapes, C sources included.
A1.2.11) PC2CPC (PC)
PC2CPC v2.0 by James Churchill converts CPC emulator EDSK images to 3"
disks via the CPCEMU parallel link, look for PC2CPC.ZIP
For conversion from CPC 3" disk to PC .DSK see A1.2.9)
A1.2.12) DSK-CPC (CPC) 06/05/97
* DSK-CPC by Divine Coding (div...@dcs.warwick.ac.uk ), it reads an
image (.DSK or .EDSK) from a 3.5" 720Kb DOS disc and writes the image
to a CPC disc, thus recreating the original software disc. The program
can cope with copy-protected software and is useful for transfering
software which isn't emulator compatible. Full instructions are
enclosed. Get http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~divine/dsk-cpc.bas
* lines removed
A1.2.13) CPCKEY (PC)
CpcKey v0.3 (see A8.1.1.1.) can :
- command/replace CPC keyboard with the PC
keyboard,
- send files between CPC and PC
- modify the CPC memory, poke during games
- automatic procedures, etc...
- compatible Intex HEX format
- compatible with CPCEMU parallel cable
http://home.aol.com/SLei777
french minitel : 3614 CHEZ*LEI
A1.2.14) SEND2 (CPC) 06/15/97
SEND2 v1.2 by J.GUEZENNEC (jgue...@icor.fr) is a complete parallel
transfer package which is an amelioration of CPCPARA.BAS :
- 3" disk transfer (DATA, SYSTEM, IBM),
- ROM transfers,
- tape transfers.
A1.2.15) TransCPC
CPC transfile project, a project aimed at simulating a small
filesystem on the Amstrad CPC with the files being stored on a PC hard
disk. The project is complete, there is no plan to improve it. Get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/transcpc.zip for the ASM code
to be compiled with Depvac or similar for the CPC part, and any PC
assembler for the PC part.
A2) Sources of emulators, ROMs and programs
ROMs are now included with CPCEMU and CPE, with the permission of
Amstrad and Locomotive Software.
If you have ROMs on a romboard, you can get them for use with an
emulator, get CPCEMU, it comes with a basic program to transfer a ROM
to a file.
A2.0) IRC
You can exchange files with Internet Relay Chat, but its primary goal
is to chat with other internet users, so come to the
comp.sys.amstrad.8bit IRC channel on IRCNet (try ircnet.demon.co.uk)
in channel #csa8 every Sunday at 3:00pm.
* A2.1) FTP sites 07/19/98
+ If you have problems accessing FTP sites, use the following method :
+ ftp://anon...@ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcemu15.zip
+ for getting v1.5 of CPCEMU for example.
- ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad, thanks to Remy Card,
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/menu.htm (HTML front end with
the list of all files, size and description included).
all questions about this site should be directed to
rou...@genesis8.frmug.org
All files comes from 'Genesis, the 8bit generation BBS' (see A2.3).
- ftp://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/pub/cpc, mirror of ftp.lip6.fr by
The Great Brubaker <ro...@aiind.upv.es>
- ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc, thanks to Arnt Gulbrandsen for
creating the site, and to Noel Llopis to maintain it, ROMs, CPC
programs, emulators. Send what you have in /pub/cpc/incoming, look
for the HTML frontend :
* http://members.xoom.com/tacgr
- ftp://sunshine.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/pub/joscho/cpcemu
mirror of ftp.nvg.unit.no, limit of ftp-users to 4 from 8-18 CET and
to 10 from 18-8 CET. Any questions, remarks and additions to
jos...@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de
- ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/cpm, thanks to Paul Martin, specific
amstrad CP/M related files. Paul Martin (p...@nowster.demon.co.uk)
will send anyone, who can give him proof (photocopy of the CP/M disk
with the serial number for example) that they have original Amstrad
CP/M Plus, the binary ROM images of his "CP/M Plus ROMs" for free.
A2.2) WWW 05/30/98
Sites sorted by address :
- ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/amstrad.htm, this FAQ in HTML,
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/menu.htm, lip6 HTML frontend.
- the biggest Amstrad web page is the one from Kevin Thacker, the
A-CPC author (Amiga CPC emulator).
http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~amstrad
and an UK mirror : http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~divine/~amstrad/
- http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~sergio/cpc
Amstrad CPC poke database (for CPCEMU), you can submit your pokes to
be added in the database :
- http://home.pages.de/~Schlumpf
Schlumpf, of Frankenteam, makes CPC-Telegramm (german disk fanzine,
see section 9.2.10)
- Tim Rieman, author of DIC (Disc image copy), see 1.2.11), 05/30/98
http://tcs.home.pages.de/
- http://www.classicgaming.com/cpe
Ulrich Doewich, added GUS support to CPCEMU & CPE, and new SB sound
& better FDC code to CPE. 05/30/98
- http://stewart.connect-2.co.uk/AllTCPC.html
Phil Stewart's 'All Things CPC' page
- http://tick.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/~rdbarthe/html/Bollaware.html
Bollaware demos, games and utilities 03/10/98
- http://transrapid.simplenet.com/pdt/cpc.htm
Prodatron CPC's productions
- http://users.ox.ac.uk/~chri0264/wowww.html
Wacci, an U.K. CPC paper zine (see section 9.1.2).
- http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm
Official Amstrad site with informations, files for all the Amstrad
computers (CPC, PCW, PC)
- http://www-asim.lip6.fr/users/pg/CPC/CPC_english.html
Pierre Guerrier web site, author of XTI and AIFF
- http://www.chez.com/arkos/garde.html
Arkos, a french demo group
- http://www.chez.com/futurs/
Futur's, a french group, see A8.1.1.2)
- http://www.cix.co.uk/~mtilley/protext/
Protext web page
- http://www.cmiag.com/~bsc/
BSC web page, all his .ST and .128 songs, Soundtrakker source code
- http://www.cmiag.com/st/
Thorsten Mitschele (aka Kangaroo) music web site, get Soundtrakker
128K free, with a lot of songs
- http://www.cs.unc.edu/~llopis/cpc/cpc.html
Noel Llopis web page with :
- History of spanish software for the Amstrad CPC,
- Amstrad CPC documentation (under construction),
- ACE (Amstrad CPC Emulator), soon a page for it.
* - http://members.xoom.com/tacgr
The Amstrad CPC Games Resource, an HTML frontend for
ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc and a list of all
'Amstrad Action' reviews
- http://www.dur.ac.uk/~d70sw0/
Nicholas Campbell, Otto disc zine
- http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1044/
Siou web page, informations about new hardware for CPC
new look as 10/12/97
- http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6129/start.htm
VN96, Virtual Net 96, a network for the Amstrad CPC, see 10.5)
- http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/1842/
The Electronic Monk homepage, with his games (they are on lip6)
- http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~virtech/index_amstrad.html
All Amstrad CPC Virtech programs
- http://www.internetica.net/amstrad/
A Web based Museum for all Amstrad CPC hardware and software
including a software search engine
- http://www.kom.auc.dk/~nwc/
Peter Sorensen (Aka NWC)
- http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/amstrad.html
Tolkien computer games for Amstrad CPC
- http://www.mygale.org/04/ipmage/
Imperial Mage, a french demo maker, download CPC music
- http://www2.psyber.com/~tcj/
The Computer Journal (TCJ)
- http://www.rrze.uni-erlangen.de/~sz3222/astrogirl.html
Weee web page
- http://www.systemed.u-net.com/
STS homepage, the British CPC group, is now on-line, with also the
BTL fanzine (see 9.2.5), maintained by Richard Fairhurst, includes
Amstrad PCW Hardware Reference.
- http://www1.pitt.edu/~mxsst1/cpc/
Michael Stroucken, author of CPC2x (see 1.2.3), with technical data
about repairing CPC monitor and power supply.
- http://www.ThePentagon.com/NukeEmUp/uaug/index.html
http://www.ThePentagon.com/NukeEmUp/tech/cpc.html
United Amstrad User Group (UAUG), software, firmware guide
in HTML, see sections 8.1.3.3) and 9.1.3)
and David Cantrell site with online firmware guide and Arnor ROMs
- http://www.tribal-mag.home.pages.de
online version of the former Tribal Mag (discmag), see A9.2.6)
- http://www.worldnet.fr/~brice/cpc/cpcpp.shtml
Brice Rive, author of the CPC+ emulator (MAC and SunOS)
A2.3) BBS 29/06/98
* - Genesis the 8bit generation (2:320/220) : +33 1 53 95 32 43
* (modem/ISDN) & 44 (modem), Paris (FRANCE), sysop : Emmanuel Roussin.
Last versions of emulators, qwerty and azerty 6128 ROMs, freeware,
shareware, PD, disk zines, pokes, solutions, demos and a few
commercial games (with the permission of their authors).
For the moment, there is about 68 Mo of compressed programs. For
fido users, you can file request ALLFILES.ZIP, and then what is
interesting you. Many thanks to Kangaroo, Tom&Jerry and Juggler for
the files they sent me.
- ZNODE 51 : +49 89 961 45 75, in Germany, from 15:00 to 3:00 CET
(MEZ), up to V32b, CPC files.
- The Dream Machine (2:442/600) : +44-1222-689812, Cardiff, Wales,
U.K., V21 throuph v34/VFC, sysops : David J. Thomas and Rachael
Munns, this bbs carry CPC and CP/M files, and the c.s.a.8 newsgroup.
- Chill out zone : +49 821 2290356, Augsburg, Germany, v21 to v32b,
sysop : Dark Sector, CPC files (coming from Razormaid).
- SchnickSchnackBBS (FidoNet: 2:2448/615): +49-234-9620318, Bochum,
Germany, V34, X75, sysop: Armin Schaefer, this bbs carry cpc files
and it is the home of the CPCNet, a german speaking network for
amstrad 8bit-users (CPC,PCW,etc.) based on Fido- and
ZConnect-technology. For infos on the CPCNet write a mail to
CPC...@p2.zebulon.ftg.donut.de
- Chaos Cottage : +44 1736 756633, Hayle, Cornwall, U.K., V34,sysop :
Nigel Woolcock (ja...@spuddy.mew.co.uk), CP/M file area (mainly PCW)
with 5 Mo, AMSTRAD, CPM, CPMTECH fido echos and the csa8 newsgroup
available.
A2.4) Using programs with emulators or real CPC
A2.4.1) DSK files
These files are images of a disk, you "insert" a disk with F3 in
CPCEMU, and F6 with CPE, then you can type CAT to see the files,
A2.4.2) CPC files
You can either put these files in the TAPE directory of your emulator,
or inject them in a .DSK file (see A1.2.4).
A2.4.3) How to run programs with a CPC or emulator ?
Type CAT to get the directory of the disk, mostly programs are runned
with a BASIC loader, so looks for *.BAS, then type RUN"name.BAS" (.BAS
can be omitted). If there isn't a basic loader, run directly the
.BINary program, type RUN"name.BIN" (.BIN can be omitted).
Some disks doesn't have a real directory, and must be launched with
the CP/M command : |CPM.
For running tapes on a real CPC, type RUN", the CPC will launch the
first program on the tape.
A3) Transfer between CPC and PC
Later mentions of DDI-1 can also be remplaced by FD-1 (which comes
without the interface for the 464)
A3.1.1) 3" drive on PC (part one)
Porting files across from CPC to PC for use in CPCEMU is easy, at
least, if you have a DDI-1 disk drive it's easy! You need to follow
these instructions. Follow them exactly. As is usual with things like
this, you do everything entirely at your own risk. I have done this on
my own PC without damaging it, but can not guarantee that it will work
with yours. If you do damage your computer, it is YOUR FAULT.
Note of the FAQ keeper, I have a report of someone trying the
following instructions, who had his controller burnt, so beware, do it
only if you have another controler in case where the first controller
would burn.
These instructions only apply to the DDI-1 package. They MAY work with
the FD1 3" second drive, and will definitely NOT work with the
internal drives on 6128s, 664s, and 6128+s.
Install 22DISK! You will need to tell it you have no A: drive, and
that B: is a 360K drive, physical unit 0, on the Primary adapter, with
step-rate of 12 milli-seconds. You will also need the CPMDISKS.DEF
file from CPCEMU.
0 Install 22DISK with CPMDISKS.DEF coming with CPCEMU or the one from
EURODEF.ZIP
1 open your PC, following all usual precautions such as turning off
the power and discharging any static electricity on your body!
2 Unplug any floppy drives. This step is important. (See note 1)
3 Find the connector which is meant for the B: drive. (It is probably
on the same cable as the connector for the A: drive. The A: connector
has a twist in it. The B: connector is the other one!)
4 Plug it into your DDI-1 drive unit. You may have to file the keyway
on the connector off. (Different PCs have different keyways on their
connectors, so you may not have to attack it with a file. So much for
standardisation!)
5 Turn the DDI-1 drive on first, then the PC. When it does the
Power-on test, press DEL to enter the setup menu (you have got an AMI
BIOS haven't you?). Tell it you have no A: drive and a 360K 5.25" B:
drive. (See note 2)
6 Use 22DISK to read (not under OS/2 or windows 95), write and format
your 3" disks to your heart's content ! You could also use ANADISK I
suppose.
7 When you've finished, restore the machine its original state. As
well as using CPC disks, you'll probably be able to use Spectrum 3
disks if you have an appropriate CPMDISKS.DEF. If of course you want
to use Speccy disks...
Note 1 : Amstrad's disk drive is reasonably standard, but not quite!
When you install it, it claims to be both your physical drive 0 and
physical drive 1. As such, if you expect it to be just drive 1 (B:),
and leave unit 0 (A:) still plugged in, it will promptly ram the heads
of unit 0 hard against the end stop, promptly trashing your unit 0. I
found this the hard way, and had to buy a new 3.5" floppy drive.
Note 2 : If you don't have an AMI BIOS, then this will be different.
You may have to run a program from a system disk which came with your
computer.
-------------
The pinouts of the 3" drive are _identical_ to the ones of a 5.25"
drive - it will just plug in. It's a long time since I was inside my
Einstein, but I'm pretty sure that drive is a 40track SS unit - what a
PC would call a 180K drive. Things like the Disk Change line may be
different, but if you set up your PC to ignore that (and possibly tell
it it's a 360K drive), you should be OK.
I've used a 3" drive (actually a Double-sided model) with an original
IBM XT in this way.
A reply to the last two paragraphs :
It actually depends on the type of 3" drive. Some of them had a 34 way
connector like the IBM PC 5.25 " drive (i.e. PCB gold plated edge connector)
and are compatible. Genuine Amstrad drives on the other hand have a
26 way PCB header which contains all the useful signals, although some
have been removed.
I remember, that the 34 way connectors are only nearly compatible. In
those days arround 1985, I connected a CPC 464 External drive to
another CPM computer with standard 5.25" drives like the PC-drives. It
was necessary to swap the lines since the pin numbering was mirrored
compared to the standard.
I also think that the exact layout depends on the version of the
computer (CPC 464/664/6128). So be careful and do not ruin your
hardware by building sh circuits! (It shouldn't be very difficult to
verify which are the GND-lines )
A complement to this reply
The amstrad and PC disk connections are as follows:
24 pin Amstrad disk drive:
Index 2 * * 1 GND
DS0 4 * * 3 GND
DS1 6 * * 5 GND
Motor 8 * * 7 GND
Dirn 10 * * 9 GND
Step 12 * * 11 GND
Wdata 14 * * 13 GND
Wenable 16 * * 15 GND
Track0 18 * * 16 GND
WProt 20 * * 19 GND
Rdata 22 * * 21 GND
Side 24 * * 23 GND
N.C ? 26 * * 25 GND
34 pin Standard disk drive:
Head Load 2 * * 1 GND
In Use ? 4 * * 3 GND
DS3 6 * * 5 GND
Index 8 * * 7 GND
DS0 10 * * 9 GND
DS1 12 * * 11 GND
DS2 14 * * 13 GND
Motor 16 * * 15 GND
Dirn 18 * * 17 GND
Step 20 * * 19 GND
Wdata 22 * * 21 GND
Wenable 24 * * 23 GND
Track0 26 * * 25 GND
WProt 28 * * 27 GND
Rdata 30 * * 29 GND
Side 32 * * 31 GND
N.C. ? 34 * * 33 GND
Note that on the Amstrad drive, DS3 and DS2 are missing.
The pins marked with a ? may have been redefined on some
drives (e.g. on high density PC drives, one of them is used
to change the drive current - I can't remember which now),
also on very old single sided drives, the Side signal used to
be used to reset the drive. If you are using a 34 way
connector drive in an Amstrad, you may want to hard wire
Head Load to be permanently enabled (if it is used - not
all drives do).
A3.1.2) 3" drive on PC (part two) 02/17/98
Here are other informations by Juan Perez Delgado, as I know nothing
in hardware, be cautious. This doesn't apply for Schneider drives.
1. Read all first
2. Then you open your PC, and unplug and take off the cable that goes
from the FD controller to the FD drives. The cable looks something
like this: (including the twist between the B: and A: connectors)
to FD ctler to B: drive to A: drive
/-\ /-\ /-\
2 -|---------|-|---------|-|2
4 -|---------|-|---------|-|4
6 -|---------|-|---------|-|6
8 -|---------|-|---------|-|8
10-|---------|-|-\ /----|-|10 ) 16 of ctler, A: thinks it is 10
12-|---------|-|- \/ ----|-|12 ) 14 of ctler, A: thinks it is 12
14-|---------|-|- /\ ----|-|14 ) 12 of ctler, A: thinks it is 14
16-|---------|-|-/ \----|-|16 ) 10 of ctler, A: thinks it is 16
18-|---------|-|---------|-|18
20-|---------|-|---------|-|20
22-|---------|-|---------|-|22
24-|---------|-|---------|-|24
26-|---------|-|---------|-|26
28-|---------|-|---------|-|28
30-|---------|-|---------|-|30
32-|---------|-|---------|-|32
34-|---------|-|---------|-|34
\-/ \-/ \-/
3. Using a screwdriver and a cuttex I reordered the wires that go to
the A: drive (I left some of them not connected):
to FD ctler. to B: drive to A: drive
/-\ /-\
2 -|---------|-|------- You can see that signals
4 -|---------|-|------- 2,4,6,10(16 from the ctler)
6 -|---------|-|------- are not used.
8 -|---------|-|---------\
10-|---------|-|-\ /-nc \-|-| 2 (connected to ctler pin 8)
12-|---------|-|- \/ -------|-| 4
14-|---------|-|- /\ -------|-| 6
16-|---------|-|-/ \-------|-| 8
18-|---------|-|------------|-| 10
20-|---------|-|------------|-| 12
22-|---------|-|------------|-| 14
24-|---------|-|------------|-| 16
26-|---------|-|------------|-| 18
28-|---------|-|------------|-| 20
30-|---------|-|------------|-| 22
32-|---------|-|------------|-| 24
34-|---------|-|------------|-| 26
\-/ \-/ |-| 28
|-| 30
|-| 32
|-| 34
\-/
Of course, odd pins must be connected to wires of ground (odd
pins in the drive with odd pins in the ctler, doesn't matter the
number).
4. Next, you open the CPC6128, and get the 3"FD, unplug only the cable
that comes from the controller (the one in the 26 pin connector).
5. Plug-in the cable you have 'build' in step 3 to the FD cntler (as it
was before you disconnected it), and connect the CPC 3"FD to the
connector witch wires you have reordered. As the connector is 34 pin
wide, and the drive is 26 pin, there will be a side not connected
(corresponding to pins 28 to 34).
Now you have the controller cable from the PC controller connected to
the 3" drive. I think you can still connect another driver to the other
free connector, but I didn't try it because I read somepeople have
burned its controller doing similar things.
You leave the power cable of the 3" drive connected to the CPC, as
it was before.
6. Now, you switch on your CPC (monitor, then keyboard). The FD will start
running continously.
7. Now, you switch on your PC. If all is Ok, nothing should burn :), and
the 3" FD will stop running. Then in the bios setup you tell you have a
360Kb 5.25" drive A. You boot the PC again if needed.
8. In order to use with CPDRead, you must set your drive
(cpdread.cfg) as a 360Ko drive with 360Ko disks, and you must set
#STEP to 2)
#STEP set to 1 worked for somebody else.
* A3.2.1) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC 06/29/98
You can use a 3.5" or 5.25" drive on a CPC. You have to take care
about the cabling, as some 6128s use a 36 pin port and the drive only
has 34. A normal PC floppy cable (5 connector) can be used to connect
drives, although some connectors may need changing. The six problems
which can arrive are:
- The drive has no ready signal. That is true for some older PC
drives. In this case, forget it, if you are not able to solder some
IC's to simulate the signal.
- You can only use one side of the disk (180k). If you want to use
both sides, you have to solder in a switch, or get another DOS
(Vortex XDOS or Dobbertin X-DDOS), the best DOS is ParaDOS.
- High density drives have a hi/lo signal not present on CPCs which
may cause problems, it is probably best to use older 720k drives.
- Some 5.25" drives, namely 720k QD drives, may cause problems,
however these are not very common and so shouldn't be a cause for
concern.
- Drives may not work properly on the CPC by giving read errors and
seek errors, etc. The first thing to do in this event is to clean
the edge connector on the CPC with some IPA (head cleaner fluid),
and then clean the drive heads in the same way if necessary.
- The jumper setting on the drive is wrong. On older 5.25" drives you
may find that they have been set to Drive 0 (DS0), in which case
you need to set the drive to drive 1 (DS1) or use a PC drive cable
which has a twist in it.
To copy disks from 3" in drive A to 3.5"/5.25" in drive B the best
method is to use Disckit2/3 that comes with CP/M, depending on which
version you have. If Disckit3 doesn't work, Procopy can tackle most
disks, and runs from drive B so you can copy it across to your CPC
fairly easily. You can read the CPC disks on the PC with 22DISK from
Sydex, or Ulrich Doewich's CPDRead (see A1.2.6 and A1.2.8).
The following diagram is a pin table comparing a modern 1.44Mb 3.5"
drive to the drive B connector on a CPC, which you may find useful.
Note that although the CPC connector is numbered backward, it is still
directly compatible.
1.44Mb 3.5" drive: CPC drive B connector
All odd pins: Ground -------------> All even pins: Ground
2: Hi/lo density -----------------> 33: N/C
4: N/C ---------------------------> 31: N/C
6: N/C ---------------------------> 29: N/C
8: Index -------------------------> 27: Index
10: Motor enable A ---------------> 25: N/C
12: Drive select B ---------------> 23: Drive select 1 (B)
14: Drive select A ---------------> 21: N/C
16: Motor Enable B ---------------> 19: Motor On
18: Direction select -------------> 17: Direction Select
20: Head Step --------------------> 15: Step
22: Write data -------------------> 13: Write data
24: Write gate -------------------> 11: Write gate
26: Track 00 ---------------------> 9: Track 0
28: Write protect ----------------> 7: Write protect
30: Read data --------------------> 5: Read data
32: Head select ------------------> 3: Side 1 select
34: Disk change ------------------> 1: Ready
A detailed guide more specific to 5.25" drives can be found at the All
Things CPC website, and there is also information at the other CPC
sites (see A2.2).
+ A3.2.2) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC+ (by Simon Matthews)
+ Adding a 3.5" drive to the CPC 6128 was a doddle - 34 way card edge
+ connector on one end, 34 way IDC on the other end and you were away.
+ The numbering on the pins was pretty easy, too. Looking at the
+ connector from the BACK of the machine, Pins 1 to 33 (odd) ran from
+ left to right along the bottom, pins 2 to 34 (even) ran from left to
+ right along the top. All of the top pins were grounded, and pin 1
+ (bottom left) was the READY line, which by convention would be denoted
+ by the "stripe" of the ribbon cable. At the other end, a simple IDC
+ plug connected to the external drive, usually with the "stripe"
+ nearest to the power connector.
+ The problem with the CPC+ is that the connector on the back of the
+ computer is 36 way, not 34 and is numbered back to front as well. So,
+ looking at the connector from the BACK of the machine again, pins 1 to
+ 35 (odd) ran from RIGHT TO LEFT on the top of the connector, and pins
+ 2 to 36 (even) ran from RIGHT TO LEFT on the bottom of the connector.
+ Again, all of the even pins were grounded. Here's where it gets
+ tricky...
+ This time, pin 33 is READY, pin 31 is SIDE 1 SELECT all the way to pin
+ 7 which is INDEX. In other words, the lines are in the same order,
+ but different pin numbers. It all sounds quite hectic, but it's easy
+ to sort out in practice.
+ Firstly, take a length of 34way ribbon cable and crimp the 34way IDC
+ connector on as usual. At the other end, peel away the cable on the
+ other side of the "stripe" for a few centimetres. Now place this
+ cable in the 36way Amphenol connector so that the stripe corresponds
+ to pin 33; in other words, make sure the LEFTMOST 3 blades are left
+ empty. The other edge of the cable should be lying on the RIGHTMOST
+ blade, with the wire you peeled away not connected to anything.
+ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
+ "stripe" --->|||||||34 WAY RIBBON CABLE||||||||
+ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
+ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| \
+ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| \ <--- Peel away
+ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
+ Goes to pin 33->||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| <--- Goes to pin 1
+ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
+ pin 35 --------------------------------------- pin 1
+ \ /
+ \ 36 WAY AMPHENOL CONNECTOR /
+ pin 36 ------------------------------------- pin 2
+
+ * LEFTMOST 3 pins (36,35,34) NOT CONNECTED *
+ Double check all is Ok, then crimp together. Now you can test the
+ cable on your external drive. If the drive is unresponsive, or just
+ spins constantly, try plugging the IDC cable in the other way around;
+ most drives want the "stripe" nearest to the power connector, but a
+ few want it the other way around.
+ I know it sounds complex, but have a look at the pinout diagrams and
+ it's not too bad.
A3.3) parallel cable
The CPCEMU v1.4 package contains documentation on how to make such a
cable yourself and includes utilities for both the PC and CPC that
allow two-way communication and file transfer. However the CPCPARA.BAS
file supplied in this package is to extract files from CPC disk
drives, not those saved on cassette tape. For files on tape, see
A1.2.14)
See section A8.1.1.1) for getting this cable in France.
If you have a problem with PCPARA.BAS, coming with CPCEMU, load the
program into the emulator (put it in the TAPE directory) and save it
as an ascii file with this command : SAVE"PCPARA.BAS",A
A3.4) RS 232 & RS 422
The CPC nor the PCW have a RS 232. You can buy it, you then
just need a communication program on PC and CPC/PCW and a null modem
cable to exchange files between the computers.
Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/rs232cpc.lzh for a circuit plan for
a RS 232 interface, by Tim Riemann.
A3.5) Companies
Commercial companies can transfer your files
A3.5.1) Locoscript Software (was Locomotive Software)
See C3.1)
A3.5.2) Rowansoft
Contact Tony Gill at tg...@alystra.win-uk.net for rates.
ROWANSOFT, ROWANCRAIG, ARDFERN,
BY LOCHGILPHEAD, ARGYLL, PA31 8QN
Tel. 01852 500 257
A3.5.3) Holland Numerics Ltd 09/07/97
Converts PCW data to PC format. A price list can be obtained by email
from <phil.h...@bcs.org.uk>, on the web page :
http://www.hollandnumerics.demon.co.uk/PCWPRICE.HTM
or by post from:
Philip R Holland
Holland Numerics Ltd
94 Green Drift
Royston
Herts SG8 5BT
United Kingdom
A3.5.4) David Simpson
David Simpson ( D...@picknowl.com.au )
PO Box 187
Mitcham Shopping Centre
South Australia 5062
Contact me for rates.
I also supply belts and/or do the replacement for 3" drives
I am the contact for Amstrad Computer Club Incorporated in South
Australia.
The club meets weekly on Tuesday evenings between 6:30 and 9:00pm at
Torrensville Primary School, Hayward Avenue, Torrensville, SA While
the club is primarily a no-brand PC compatibles club, I and several
other members are familiar with CPC and PCW machines and are only too
happy to help.
A3.6) Tapes
See A1.2.10) and A1.2.14)
A4) Maps, solutions, pokes, basic loaders ?
A4.1) Maps
A message from llo...@cs.unc.edu (Noel Llopis)
What do you mean you liked so much as to draw a map??? I did draw a
map of almost every single game! And I still have them around (will
have access to them in Xmas) so if somebody has a request... I do
have all the Ultimate Filmation ones, Batman, Head over Heels, etc,
etc... A LOT OF THEM!
A4.2) Solutions
http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.de/inside/angl/people/pdd/advent.html
("PDD's adventure page")
It features many informations about the beginnings of these cool text
adventures on our good old 8-bit computers, classed by companies, and
gives a lot of links towards other related pages which should interest
everybody who once enjoyed playing these games (want to play "Colossal
cave" on the web?). All major companies are mentioned whith a brief
historical explanation (Infocom, Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9, Melbourne
house...). To be especially noticed is a link towards the ftp
"IF-archive" which contains tons of informations, in particular
solutions of most classic adventures, and also the really cool
original cluesheets from Level 9!
A4.3) Pokes
Starting with CPCEMU 1.3 you can easily poke games with an external
database file of pokes. Here is the structure of the database :
- part, 1 character (0 to f), 0 for one poke, for multi-pokes 1 for
the first, 2 for the second, etc...
- name of the game, 20 characters,
- description, 20 characters, blank when it's infinite lives, when
there is a multi-pokes, only the description of the first poke is
written.
- type, 1 character, 't' for tape, 'd' for disc and 'a' for tape and
disc, it's only an indication,
- address, 4 characters, the poke address in hexadecimal,
- byte to poke, 2 characters, a hexadecimal value, or '??' when you
must type something, at this moment the explication is in the field
description,
- old byte, 2 characters, a hexadecimal value if a check is needed or
'??' for no check,
Here is an example of a DBF file saved with the command :
COPY ALL TO file DELIMITED WITH "
"0","Chuckie Egg 2","255 lifes","t","67c2","ff","??"
"0","Combat Lynx","# choppers","t","5899","00","??"
"0","Cybernoid","255 lifes","t","0227","ff","??"
"0","Defenders OE","","t","8461","18","??"
"1","Defenders OE","","t","8462","08","??"
"0","Devils Crown","inf oxygen","t","863b","00","??"
"1","Devils Crown","","t","863c","00","??"
"2","Devils Crown","","t","863d","00","??"
Do not hesitate to post pokes on comp.sys.amstrad.8bit, I will
concatene them, and post them regularly.
Amstrad CPC poke database (for CPCEMU), you can submit your pokes to
be added in the database : http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~sergio/cpc
And last, simply post solutions in the newsgroup, I will keep them,
and repost them when asked. But put a CTRL-L, as some people won't
want to see them.
A4.4) Basic loaders
see http://privat.schlund.de/OppererSascha/CPCCHEAT.htm
A5) Hardware problems
A5.1) Internal drive
If you have the error : 'disk missing', the drive belt should be the
problem. The best solution is to come with your old belt in an
electronics shop and to see the available belts. You should look for
one with the dimensions 72mm x 3 mm x 0.5 mm (although I believe it is
OK to use belts in the length range of 69-72 mm long and either 3 or
4mm wide).
Cibotronic at Paris (France) used to sell them, but they
don't have them anymore. The reference was MASTER type CR 4092,
dimensions 71.0 x 0.6 x 2.8 mm.
An U.K. address : Andre Howard at 65 Altyre Way, Beckenham, Kent BR3
3ED. Price is #2.25 (UK pounds) including P&P.
Still in U.K., CPC components sells them as reference AVBELT3 for 18
pences. Phone (01772) 654455.
Pinboad Computers can supply belts, ask Pinboard...@btinternet.com
A working reference in U.K. : maplins reference RK99.
Now how to replace it, in my example I am talking of a 6128, open it,
detach the cable from the main board to the drive, unscrew the screws.
You can now take the drive in your hand, look at the down of the
drive, you see the green printed circuit, remove it, you see now the
belt, which has certainly slipped, put the new belt, and replace all
the elements.
The other possibility is a fault with the index hole detection. As
well as the large shutter on a 3" disc, there is also a smaller one
through which the disc drive can watch for the index hole to go past.
There is a LED and an associated detector that watch for this, and if
either has gone wrong or got covered in dust you may get disc missing
messages.
5.2) Components
The place to go for CPC spares is (coincidentally) a company called
CPC Spares in United Kingdom, at +44 1772 654477.
There are 3 Gate Array, two types beeing used on 464 (a very old cpc uses
400007, the newer ones have 400010).
The AM40007 is the type used in most CPC464's and they should be
available from CPC Ltd. +44 1772 654455. They're gonna be expensive
though, probably about 25-35 pounds.
A6) How can I help the CPC/PCW world ?
A6.1) Updating the FAQ
By sending corrections, modifications, new informations for this FAQ
to rou...@genesis8.frmug.org
A6.2) Commercial games becoming freeware
If you know addresses of authors who wrote programs on CPC/PCW, send
me their address, I will write them to ask the persmission for letting
their games to become freeware or shareware (they still will retain
the copyright, even after all these years).
Look for section A7.1.1) , for the games which already became freeware,
or almost freeware (authors stating that they don't care for the
distribution of their games).
A6.3) Adding files to ftp.lip6.fr
You can send me your latest production, whatever it is. As there is no
upload directory on lip6, you will need to send me your programs
uuencoded, or send them to ftp.nvg.unit.no and write me, or use my
snail mail address :
Emmanuel ROUSSIN
115 avenue de Paris
78000 VERSAILLES
FRANCE
I will then put it on my BBS and on the french FTP site (ftp.lip6.fr). I
will of course send you back your disks. I can read 3"; DD 3,5" and 40
tracks 5,25" with the formats known by the PARADOS ROM, MAGIC DOS, and
those defined in 22disk. Don't forget to precise which one you use,
thanks. I can read the following PC media : 3,5"; 5,25"; QIC-80 tapes,
ZIP disks and CD-ROM.
A6.4) Updating ALL_CPC, ALL_HW, ALL_ROM, ALL_UTIL 07/27/97
Frederic Herlem (her...@dr.gdf.fr) is writing the complete inventory
of the CPC programs. You can get this inventory at
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/all_cpc.zip, you will be able them to
help him to update it. Last version is 06/04/97.
Kevin Thacker (ams...@aiind.upv.es) is writing :
- inventory of all hardware produced for the CPC, look in the same
directory for ALL_HW.ZIP, v1.0 is 02/04/97,
- inventory of all CPC ROM software, look for ALL_ROM.ZIP, v1.0 is
02/04/97,
- inventory of all CPC utilities, commercial and non-commercial, look
for ALL_UTIL.ZIP, v1.0 is 02/04/97.
A7) Commercial programs wich are now PD, freeware or shareware
A7.1) Games
A7.1.1) Vortex Software
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, one of the three persons of Vortex Software
with Costa Panayi and Luke Andrews, has released the "Vortex Emulation
Package", all the games of the company for Amstrad CPC, but also for
C64, Spectrum and ZX 81. Attention, the games are now FREEWARE, so
Vortex Software retains the copyright. Please, do not alter them
or make money with them. Look for VTX_*.ZIP
A7.1.2) Design Design
Design Design Software have released all their CPC games (Tank
Busters, Dark Star, Forbidden Planet) as freeware. With the permission
of the author (Simon Brattel, cr...@cix.compulink.co.uk).
A7.1.3) Jon Ritman
Some almost freeware : batman, Head over Heels, Matchday I and II, I
have word of Jon Ritman which is the author, that Ocean doesn't bother
to see these programs to be available. Thanks to them. Don't forget
that they still own the copyright, please don't modify the programs.
A7.1.4) Radical Software
Radical Software released "Fluff" (Plus-only game, FLUFF.LZH on
ftp.lip6.fr) and "Smart Plus" (Plus-only art package, supports new
features and overscan) to freeware. Does someone have Smart Plus ?
A7.1.5) Transoft (France)
Transoft published three games, Bad Max (3d adventure), Atuahalpa
(arcade) and 'Les dents de sa mère' (adventure), available as
BADMAX.LZH, ATAHUALP.LZH and DENTMERE.LZH
If you have documentation, send me it to add it to the archives,
thanks.
A7.1.6) Sapiens and 'le 5e axe' (12/08/97)
These two games were written by Didier and Olivier Guillion, edited by
Loriciels, they have now the rights back. Get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/sapiens.lzh and
5EAXE.LZH, Sapiens exists also for MAC/WIN95.
A7.1.7) Cobra Soft (France) 12/08/97
CPC versions as the Oric ones of Cobra Soft programs are now freeware,
get CPINBALL.LZH, TURLOGH.LZH, ATLANTIS.LZH
A7.1.8) Melbourne House 10/19/97
Some of the Melbourne House games are now freely available with the
permission of Beam Software (http://www.beam.com.au) :
- fighting warrior, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/fighwarr.lzh,
- the hobbit, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/hobbit.lzh,
- lords of the rings, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/lordring.lzh,
- terror molinos, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/terrmoli.lzh,
- starion, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/starion.lzh,
- rock'wrestle, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/rockwres.lzh,
- the way of the exploding Fist,
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/wayofexp.lzh,
- return of the exploding fist,
- the way of the exploding fist,
- mugsy's revenge,
- sherlock holmes,
- Mystery of arkham manor,
- shadows of mordor.
A7.2) Utilities
A7.2.1) Prowort (06/06/97)
Following recent requests, I (Brian Watson) have now spoken to Peter
Campbell (co-owner of Protext etc) and we are making Prowort, the
German version of Protext in its AMSDOS version on disc, freeware. The
program will be supplied on one 3" disc, and the manual will be
supplied as text files on the other 3" disc. The text files will
probably require editing to provide a properly formatted printout on
the owner's printer. User support is not included. The program will
not be supplied on any other disc format, but permission is given for
its conversion by a user to run under an emulator on his/her
computer(s) only. To get it, see Brian's address at 8.1.3.4)
on the two options of terms above, that is;
1) 5 pounds enclose no discs, or
2) 1 pound, enclose two 3" discs.
Please apply using a padded envelope, enclose a return label, and
please send payments as sterling cash or cheques/postal orders/IMOs
payable to "BA Watson"
PLEASE NOTE: COMSOFT DOES NOT HAVE READY COPIES OF PROWORT SO CANNOT
SUPPLY THE PROGRAM UNDER THIS PROCEDURE.
E-mail me at pro...@spheroid.demon.co.uk for any Protext-related
enquiries.
A7.2.2) Tuss and Pro-Ext by Sentinel Software 06/01/98
Tuss : utility to find sprites in games.
Pro-Ext : Protext enhancement providing clip art and headline
facilities.
A7.2.3) Arnor ROMs
Arnor ROMs are now free for use with emulators ONLY, yes that doesn't
mean you can blow these ROMs to use them on a real CPC, only with
emulators.
A8) Useful addresses and information
A8.1) Addresses
See A3.4) for a PCW address.
A8.1.1) FRANCE
A8.1.1.1) L.E.I.
For a CPC to PC cable, to be used with CPCEMU, send 80 FF to (you can
also write to the pseudo 'idem' on 3615 RTEL1), you will also get
CPCKEY v0.3 (see A1.2.12) which lets you command the CPC with the PC
keyboard, transfer text files and automatic procedures :
L.E.I.
46 Bd Chezy
35000 RENNES
FRANCE
A8.1.1.2) Futur's
Futur's is a french group, they do many things, one good thing is the
Soundplayer CPC, which is a better Digiblaster. The Soundplayer is
used by Protracker and Digitracker, for a little sum of money if you
are making it yourself : 25 FF (2.5 pounds, 5 dollars). The
electroninc plan is in the paper zine Quasar issue 9, see 9.1.4)
So, with this little marvelous thing, you can have 8bit samples,
instead of 4bit samples, it is connected to the printer port.
A SoundPlayer II exists now, more information later.
See http://www.chez.com/futurs
A8.1.1.3) Sebastien BROUDIN
Sebastien BROUDIN
4 bis avenue Gambetta
Apt 30
60600 CLERMONT
FRANCE
He sells Megablasters, a game made by Odiesoft, released on january
1995. It's like bomber man on Amiga, but really better. The price are
- 170 FF for two 3" disk, box, documentation,
- 155 FF for two 3.5" disk, box, documentation,
- 137 FF for box, documentation, if you send two 3" or 3.5" disks.
A8.1.1.4) Association des Fans de CPC (AFC) 07/28/97
AFC is alive once again, a french association whose aim is to be a
link between the various CPC users.
For more informations, write to :
Associations des Fans de CPC
GEREY Yves
Les Pataudes
87220 BOISSEUIL
More informations soon, like the inscription bulletin.
A8.1.2) U.S.A
A8.1.2.1) Sinotech Ltd.
A source for Amstrad PCW, PC 1286/2286, PC1386/2386, PC 1512/6400, and
PC 1640 disks, ribbons, memory and drive upgrades, etc. in the USA is:
Sinotech Ltd.
218 Terrace Drive
Mundelein, Illinois
USA 60060
phone: (708) 566-0504
A8.1.3) United Kingdom
A8.1.3.1) Comsoft (was Campursoft) 12/08/97
I bought them a rombox and the ParaDOS ROM, the best disc OS ROM CPC.
This company is held by Peter Campbell (ca...@cix.compulink.co.uk).
Now on internet, http://www.systemed.u-net.com/cpc/comsoft.html
Comsoft
10 McInstosh Crt.
Wellpark
Glasgow
G31 2HW
United Kingdom
Tel/fax (044) 0141 554 4735
World wide credit card (visa, mastercard) are accepted, you can also
send an international postal money order, and of course checks (U.K.
only).
- ParaDOS, a ROM operating system, the best CPC OS, was available too
on cartdridge for 6128+
- DES (Desktop Environment System), graphical interface for CPC, like
on MAC or PC Windows, on disk or ROM,
- ProPrint, protext text enhancement program, fonts, font editor, on
disk or ROM,
- MicroDesign Plus, DTP package,
- MicroDesign Extra, disc of clip arts for MicroDesign,
- Maps for MD, british isles and worlds maps,
- 2in1, PC to CPC, runs under CP/M,
- The Basic Idea, tutorial of 42 pages and disc of examples for the
aimed basic programmer,
- Xexor, file management/disc backup utility (also for protected
discs),
- Soft-Lok v2.3, tape 2 disc, especially for speedlock protected
games.
- RoutePlanner PCW is now available as 10/22/97.
World copyrights on the CPC/PCW versions of the Protext word processor
(and derivatives), Maxam assembler and Utopia utility programs, formerly
published by Arnor Ltd, are now owned by WACCO and sold by ComSoft and
Brian Watson.
AS OF 21 APRIL 1996: PERMISSION IS GIVEN BY BRIAN WATSON OF WACCO
(BR...@SPHEROID.DEMON.CO.UK, VOICE: 044 1353 777006, FAX: 044 353
777471) FOR LEGITIMATE OWNERS OF PROTEXT (AND DERIVATIVES), MAXAM,
UTOPIA AND OTHER WACCO PROGRAMS TO CONVERT THEM FOR USE WITHIN
EMULATORS. CONTACT WACCO FOR MORE INFORMATION.
A8.1.3.2) United Amstrad User Group 06/01/98
Martyn Baldy
Sherwood
13 Rodney Close
Bilon
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV22 7HJ
United Kingdom
The group has been going for 10 years now. We publish a magazine
called "CPC User" every couple of months, and have other services
for members - a disk and tape library, book library, and helplines.
The magazine carries occasional articles on using CPCs in conjunction
with PCs (how to set up emulators, share files, and so on), and other
articles range from those aimed at beginners to experienced users,
with competitions, type-ins, tutorials, and fiction.
See section A2.2) for web address and A9.1.3) for fanzine.
8.1.3.3) Brian Watson
Brian Watson
39 High Street
Sutton-in-the-Isle
ELY
Cambs
CB6 2RA
England
Tel (and FAX by arrangement, phone first): +44 (0)1353 777006
E-mail: br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk
Supplier or distributor of a number of products and services
for users of CPCs, CPC Pluses, PCW/PcWs and some other
computers. Fuller details with prices on application
- The Protext family, including Proprint, Protext Office,
Maxam, Utopia etc for the CPC and PCW (also the PC and
Atari versions and the Prodata PC database). Free user
support at normal phone rates is included with all items
- Montrac: a new monitor/tracing program to work with Maxam
- PcW16 operating system upgrades. Free for a DS/HD disc and
return postage with your address in a padded bag
- Pipeline Tutorials for the CPC: a printed tutorial course in
parts (and firmware guides) with free example files on disc
- Secondhand Software: an extensive range for the CPC, all
originals with documentation. From 50 pence UK.
Also editor of 8BIT magazine, and is the Publicity Officer of
WACCI CPC club and IEBA (Independent Eight Bit Association)
Send large SAE or two IRCs for Brian Watson Software catalogue.
A8.1.4) Germany
They are only a small number of CPC-ware traders in Germany.
A8.1.4.1) Karl-Heinz Weeske
Karl-Heinz Weeske
Potsdamer Ring 10
D-71522 Backnang
Tel +49 7191 60078
Fax +49 7191 60079
supply of:
CPC hardware and software, printer ribbons (NQL401 & DMP), circuit
diagrams, manuals, etc..., demand an offer list !
A8.1.4.2) Walter Kuhn
Walter Kuhn
EDV-Zubehör
Hessenstrasse 7 (Frohnhausen)
D-35684 Dillenburg
Tel./Fax +49 2771 32688
supply printer ribbons Schneider/Amstrad, DMP 2000...3160 DM 6,50, NLQ
401 DM 6,50, Joyce, LQ 3500, PCW 8256/8512 DM 7,5, PCW 9512,
Multistrikeband DM 7, Maxell 3"-Disks 10 pack DM 83,
P & P (Germany): DM 9,50
out of Germany: pay in advance only, orders over DM 5,- only
A8.1.4.3) Wiedmann 06/15/97
A german company which provides somes Amstrad Support/spares, see
http://www.wiedmann.com
A8.2) information
A8.2.1) the firmware guide
The unofficial (not the proper SOFT 968 guide) Amstrad CPC Firmware
guide is available now! Thanks to Bob Taylor and Thomas Defoe for
allowing the distribution.
David Cantrell has scanned and reformatted the electronical version!
Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/firmware.zip
A8.2.2) pinout for colour monitor
u
5 1
6
4 2 (viewed from rear)
3
1 = Red 4 = Sync
2 = Green 5 = Gnd
3 = Blue 6 = Lum
A8.3) Email addresses
You can found other email address on Kevin Thacker web page, see A2.2)
A8.3.1) Amstrad/Locomotive
- Cliff Lawson (Amstrad), cli...@amstrad.com,
- Richard Clayton (was Locomotive Software Ltd), Ric...@Turnpike.com,
- Howard Fisher (was Locomotive Software Ltd, now MD of LocroScript
Software), how...@locomotive.com
- Roland Perry (was Amstrad, now Technical Director of PR with
Purpose), arn...@perry.co.uk, http://purpose.co.uk
A8.3.2) Emulators authors 06/30/98
- Marco Vieth, a...@uni-paderborn.de, CPCEMU,
- Bernd Schmidt, cr...@Pool.Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE, CPE,
- Ulrich Doewich, ulrich....@shaw.wave.ca, CPE, utilities,
- Mark Rison, mri...@acorn.co.uk, !CPC,
- Herman Dullink, dul...@castel.nl, CPC,
- Kevin Thacker (Morpheus), ams...@andercheran.aiind.upv.es, A-CPC,
- Brice Rive, br...@world-net.sct.fr, CPC++,
- Ludovic Deplanque, depl...@chez.com, AMI-CPC and PC-CPC,
- Paul Hodgson, paul.h...@multi-machine.demon.co.uk, MTM.
A8.3.3) demo makers 05/30/98
- Sebastien Bernard (Arkos), sber...@hp1.esiea.fr
- Andreas Stroiczek (aka Face Hugger), n96...@pbhrzx.uni-paderborn.de
DOSCOPY, Face Huggers Ultimate MegaDemo, !CPCEmu for Archimedes, and
more...
- Doc Bartlet, rdba...@trick.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de
Bollaware demo/game coders
- Antoine Pitrou, pit...@Email.ENST.fr, Cheese, Turbo Monitor, etc...
- Mage, demo maker, Imperi...@mail.dotcom.fr,
- Georg Odenthal (Odiesoft), od...@soz.psychologie.uni-konstanz.de
Megablasters, demos
- Ilias Fotopoulos (KOD), fot...@ceid.upatras.gr, demos, SEX disk
fanzine
- Oliver Mayer (BSC), a288...@smail.rrz.uni-koeln.de
Demos, Soundtrakker
- Simon Matthews (Ratz), ha3...@qmw.ac.uk, Demos
- Prodatron, p...@uni-duisburg.de, Demos, Digitracker, X-treme
- DREAMER of TGS/CRT, Hei...@wendt.westfalen.de,
Heiner de Went
Tannenweg 1
48727 Billerbeck
GERMANY
- Benjamin Fall, be...@altavista.net
A8.3.4) Zines 05/30/98
- Brain Blaster & Schlumpf of Frankenteam,
ma...@cip.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de, CPC Telegram Disczine
- Gert Genial of Frankenteam, hsc...@mail.uni-freiburg.de
- Richard Fairhurst (CRTC), ric...@systemed.u-net.com,
AA, BTL, RoutePlanner etc
- 8BIT magazine, 8b...@spheroid.demon.co.uk
- Juggler, editor of TRIBAL MAG ONLINE, depp...@adv-boeblingen.de
- John Bowley, WACCI magazine editor, jebo...@wacci.demon.co.uk
A8.3.5) Games
- Keith A Goodyer, kgoo...@mag-net.co.uk
R-Type, f16, Dynamite Dan II, Speedzone, Gilbert Escape from Drill,
Grid Iron I,
- Mark Haigh-Hutschinson, m...@lucasarts.com, Vortex Software, see 7.1)
18 Raffles COurt
Petaluma
CA 94954
U.S.A.
A8.3.6) Others
- WSX/INICRON, nwil...@rz.uni-hildesheim.de
- Offset (Futur's group), new address in october 1997
Plus software and Hardware, CPC software and hardware too
- Paul Gargan (Gliceas), c1pg...@CompApp.DCU.IE, Amstrad User
- Richard Wildey (Wild Thang), cs9...@brunel.ac.uk
Sentinel Software, TUSS
- Simon Forrester (Hairy), simon.f...@futurenet.com
Amstrad Action, BooTracker
- Spike, klle...@tcd.ie, Game reviews
- Mark Ray, M....@UEA.ac.uk - Amstrad Notepad (NC100)
- Frederic Herlem, her...@dr.gdf.fr, see A6.4
- Brian Watson (Protext, Montrac, Robot Software, Parados
cartridge, Pipeline Tutorials, 8BIT magazine, PcW16 o/s
upgrades, IEBA, WACCO) br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk
A9) Fanzines
If french people are interested, don't forget to send stamps to get
back your disk or paper fanzine. For foreign people, International
Reply Coupons are available from post offices in all EU countries, US,
Canada, and most others. A single IRC can be exchanged by the
recipient for enough postage stamps to cover airmail for a letter
weighing up to 10 grams. For heavier letters, such as those
containing disks or 'zines, simply send more IRCs!
A9.1) on paper
A9.1.1) Rundschlag
address : BIOS, Postfach 27
88475 Schwendi
Germany
Articles are mostly in german, but many are translated into english or
french. Price for one issue is 7DM, you can also subscribe for five
issues by sending 35 DM or an euro-cheque, or 17 IRC. You also will
receive disk, state the format you use : 3" 3,5" 5,25"/40 5,25"/80
(one/doublestep) or VDOS/XDOS.
You can send your own articles about the CPC scene, the best
solution would be a file typed on word for windows.
A9.1.2) WACCI 06/22/97
Issues are 2 pounds each in the UK, 2 pounds 50 pences in Europe and 3
pounds elsewhere. Special yearly rates : 22 pounds UK, 27.50 Europe,
33 elsewhere. Cheques and postal orders payable to WACCI at
97, Tirrington
Bretton
PETERBOROUGH
PE3 9XT
United Kingdom
The Editor is John Bowley, at the above address.
They have a Book Library, Tape library, "Homegrown" Disk Library and
PD Disk Library, 3" Disks supplied at 1 pound 50p each, alternative
Firmware Guide and Disk, 6 pounds. Look at 2.2) for their www
address.
For a free sample copy of the clubs magazine either Email at
br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk with your name and address, or send your
name and address to the snail mail address above.
A9.1.3) CPC User
A magazine published every couple of months by the United Amstrad User
Group (UAUG), see section 2.2) and 8.1.3.3)
A9.1.4) Quasar
A french zine, especially about programmation on CPC and CPC+. Last
issue is number 12 (may 1997) is available with 6,70 FF of stamps.
See A8.1.1.2
Philippe Rimauro (Futur's/Quasar)
8 chemin des Maillos
09200 SAINT-GIRONS
FRANCE
A9.1.5) 8BIT
New copy each 3 months. Last issue is number 19. Ends with issue
25. Editor: Brian Watson of Protext etc. Articles (and
advertisements!) are in English and for users of all 8-bit computers,
especially CPC, PCW and PcW16. Price for one issue is 3UKP anywhere in
the world. You can also subscribe to any 10 issues for 25UKP. Payments
to BA Watson, see address at 8.1.3.4)
A9.1.6) Eurostrad
A french paper zine, most of the articles are translated in english.
Last issue is no 10 (september 96-april 97).
Thomas FOURNERIE
La Hamelinière
50450 HAMBYE
FRANCE
A9.2) on disk
send me addresses, or better send me your last issue at the address
given in 6), I will of course send you back your disks.
A9.2.1) Boxon 07/28/97
Nicolas Ader (Nicky one)
Place du Donjon
32320 BASSOUES
FRANCE
Boxon issue 3 is out (07-96 to 02/97).
A9.2.2) Demoniak
Anthony Nevo (orphee)
Le Louya
35290 GAEL
FRANCE
You will find issues 3, 4 and 5 on ftp.lip6.fr, as dmk3.zip, dmk4.lzh
and dmk5.zip
A9.2.3) Dracula Fanz
Miguel Fremeaux (Dracula)
1 rue de la Viale
11610 VENTENAC-CABARDES
FRANCE
the last issue (number 5) of december 1995 is out with articles
translated in english, on 2 disks, available on ftp.lip6.fr :
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/dracula5.lzh
A9.2.4) Phaser
Sebastien Broudin (Seb)
1 rue Emile Combes
60600 FITZ-JAMES
FRANCE
A9.2.5) Better Than Life
An English disc fanzine, with around 40 articles (all in English) in
each issue covering a huge range of subjects : opinion, humorous
articles, comprehensive news coverage, demo, game, fanzine and utility
reviews, and much more. It's been described by some people as the
best-coded disc fanzine ever: it won't work on CPC emulators, though.
Issues 1 to 4 are out.
You can e-mail the editor Richard Fairhurst (CRTC / Systeme D) at
ric...@systemed.u-net.com, and BTL is now on the web pages at Kevin
Thacker's site, and also on Richard Fairhurst site.
A9.2.6) Tribal Mag 01/29/97
A good german zine, with some english articles, issue 8 is the last
one. Since issue 8, available on internet, see A2.2)
All issues are on ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/zines, look for
tribmag?.* (ZIP or LZH).
Jan Deppisch
Lechstr. 10a
76437 Rastatt
GERMANY
A9.2.7) Art of Fantasy
A TGS/Creators production. It's a discmag which is mainly about
non-computer stuff, but instead about stuff like roleplaying games,
fantasy books, science fiction, stories, etc. Collapse, the editor,
gets nearly no contribution, so it would be good to point his mag out
a bit... The first issue (the only one out up to now) was German only,
but if he gets English stuff, this mag could become international
soon! The address:
Collapse of TGS/Creators
Tobias Zimmermann
Augsburger Weg 3
59439 Holzwickede
GERMANY
A9.2.8) Guten TAG
A new disc german-only mag by the group "TAG". I don't know much to
write about it now... ask the editor! His address:
Gremlin of TAG
Thomas Schilling
Rebenweg 28
79793 Wutschingen-Horheim
GERMANY
A9.2.9) Coders Paradise
A disc mag for all the programmers out there. All Routines the editor
(Steve of Wizcat) gets are published with many explanations
(normally). Steve has many problems getting enough stuff for each
issue, so pointing him out would be good again... The address:
Steve of Wizcat
Christian Stengel
Ihnbergstrasse 9/1
73479 Ellwangen
Germany
A9.2.10) CPC-Telegramm
German two-monthly DiskZine "CPC-Telegramm"
http://home.pages.de/~CPC-Telegramm
The DiskZine is issued by
Andreas König Harald Schoen
Hutstr. 7 Hindenburgstr. 68/702
D-91056 Erlangen D-79102 Freiburg
A9.2.11) Digital Press 07/28/97
At first a german zine with english articles, now a french-german
production with issue 3 (08/96-04/97) which is 2 disks ! Get
DIGIPRE2.LZH and DIGIPRE3.LZH from ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/zines
A10) Additionnal hardware
For using older additionnal hardware on a CPC+, you will need an
adaptator called a widget, as connections are not the same. They use
the same connectors as german CPC (Schneider). All hardware should
work with this adaptator, except the standard multiface, see A10.2
(06/09/97)
Look A6.4) for a list of hardware made on CPC.
A10.1) Hard disks (no more produced)
A10.1.1) MFM hard drive
- a Dobbertin MFM interface with 20 MB HD for 1000 DM (400 UKP),
- in the very early years a Vortex Filecard with 20 MB MFM HD for 3500
DM.
A10.1.2) AT IDE hard drive
A10.1.2.1) GIDE
The GIDE is a generic Z80 device which allows easy connection of any
AT (16 bit) IDE hard drive to a Z80 computer. If your Z80 is
socketed, you simply unplug it, plug the GIDE into the Z80 socket, and
plug the Z80 into the GIDE.
You need to write your own driver software, however.
Details on http://www.psyber.com/~tcj
No GIDE for CPC, but look below for another project which is for CPC.
A10.1.2.2) IDE Drives (by RAM7, see 10.3)
It uses an ISA IDE controler and an adaptator card wich plugs in the
expansion connector. It will be able to use IDE hard drives, CDROM
(certainly) and disk drives (1.44 Mo).
It should be available in mid 1997.
A10.2) Multiface II
A useful add-on, connected to the expansion port, its primary use is
to make snapshots, exactly like the emulators. See 1.2.7), an utility
to transform multiface snapshot to emulators snapshot.
There is a special multiface for the CPC+, standard multiface doesn't
work on a plus, even with a widget. (06/09/97)
A10.3) ROMCARD and RAMCARD
DOS SANTOS Francisco (RAM7)
123 boulevard Strasbourg
94130 NOGENT SUR MARNE
FRANCE
You can contact him by email : ra...@genesis8.frmug.org
The ROMCARD is sold 300 FF, with its cable. The RAMCARD is sold about
400-450 FF. Don't expect short delays.
The ROMCARD can have four 32Ko EPROMs : so that's 8 ROMs on the CPC as
it uses 16Ko ROMs. Other ROMCARDs can be put in parallel, to add
another four 32 Ko EPROMs each time.
If you order one ROMCARD or RAMCARD, say to RAM7 where you heard of
his production.
A10.4) SoundPlayer 1 and 2
See A8.1.1.2 and A9.1.4
A10.5) Network
Virtual net 96, a network for Amstrad CPC, made by germans, look at
(english and german page) :
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6129/start.htm
Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/VN96xxx.LZH (xxx as ENG or GER)
for informations about VN96.
A10.6) Future-OS
Not exactly hardware, an alternative OS for the CPC, look at (in
german for the moment) :
http://www.home.pages.de/~futureOS
A10.7) 2 Mo MemCard (by RAM7)
For 6128 and 6128+, it's compatible with Dk'tronics memory extensions,
it is plugged on the expansion connector. It uses the same memory
gestion of the second 64 Ko bank of the 6128.
It comes with two parts :
- a main card,
- a card with the memory, 256 Ko to 2 Mo, it accepts static (4 slots
of 128 Ko or 512 Ko) and dynamic (2 slot of 256 Ko or 1 Mo for SIMM
used on PC) RAM,
If you are interested in informations about this card, contact RAM7,
see A10.3
A10.8) Vox card (by RAM7)
It's a sound card wich can digitalize with compression, about 20
seconds of sound with 64 Ko. It's plugged on the expansion port.
It's not compatible with digiblasters cards.
If you are interested in informations about this card, contact RAM7,
see A10.3
A10.9) CPC ISA
Connect ISA cards on your CPC, by Siou (si...@polux.freenix.fr), look
at his web page : http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1044/
A10.10) Amstrad MP3 (television) 09/07/97
An Amstrad MP3 is used to look at TV on your CPC monitor. Currently
available from Computer Cavern in the UK: price 30UKP.
Telephone +44 1628 891022.
A10.11) Inicron ROM-RAM-BOX 06/01/98
The RRB is a ROM box which doesn't need EPROMs. Up to 32 EPROMs can be
simulated in the 512Kb big RAM (if build the enhanced RRB). Additional
to this you can use a normal EPROM from 8-64Kb in a normal EPROM
socket. See http://pages.vossnet.de/wsx
A11) Upcoming Meetings
+ A11.1) Byte 98
+ It will be held at Marck in France (near Calais), starting the 31 july
+ and fisnishing the 2 august, see http://www.mygale.org/10/byte98/
None for the moment.
A12) Amstrad scene news
These informations comes from the AFC bulletin, see A8.1.1.4),
which is only one of the services from AFC.
- Odiesoft is making two new games,
- new disk zines are coming, not only about CPC : HD Mag, Jabber and
M.A.T.,
- the group MORTEL will release the disk zine DRACULA issue 6 (see
A9.2.3), the demos BYTE96 & VIRUS (nice ones as I saw the previews),
a slide show NO REALITY, the game PRIMAL FIGHT (a prehistorik 3 !),
- several megademos are coded, one of these by ROUDOUDOU with the
participation of MADE (graphism).
- the latest release from Systeme D: Sanko, an extension command for
CPC Protext which saves the current document in Rich Text Format
(RTF), a cross-platform format devised by Microsoft and supported by
many PC and Mac word-processors.
B - The Amstrad Notepad (NC)
B1) What is it?
The "User-friendly" Notepad is Amstrad's idea of a what a simple word
processor should be like. It is _not_ a PC-compatible and is _not_
the PenPad PDA. Its main flavours can be recognised from the
following characteristic markings: The NC100 is about A4 size with a
LCD "letterbox" screen, nearly full size keyboard, a PCMCIA memory
card slot on the right-hand side and four coloured keys; The NC200
has a fold-down LCD screen instead and a built in 3.5" disk drive.
The NC150 appears to be a French version of the NC100, but I've never
seen one.
B1.1) What came in the box?
In the original NC100 pack, as sold to me, was the NC100 itself, an
Amstrad Power Supply Unit (UK plug), a leatherette carry case, a grey
manual and a lithium battery. The lithium battery is to keep the memory
contents while the machine is switched off. The NC100 can also be
powered by AA batteries. Depending on the frequency of usage, the
batteries can last for several months.
B2) How can I buy one?
Unfortunately, Tandy finally stopped selling them in November 1996.
The best way to buy one now is probably second-hand, via the normal
magazines, etc.
B3) What peripherals can I use?
The Notepads have standard Centronics parallel ports and RS232 9-pin
serial ports. The system has drivers for 9 and 24 pin dot matrix,
Canon inkjet and Laserjet printers. The serial port claims 9600 bps,
but I can only make my NC100 work reliably at the full speed using
Xmodem and the AC adapter. This seems to be a common problem probably
because the AC adapter supplies 10 volts and the batteries only 6.
B3.1) Printing
The NC can use dot matrix, inkjet and laser printers with its built-in
drivers (for emulating Epson, IBM, Canon and LaserJet), but does not
support changing font sizes (at least on the NC100). If anyone fancies
writing the necessary software, we'd love to hear about it...
B3.2) Extra Memory
A battery-buffered PCMCIA Memory Card will preserve you from data loss
even if your Notepad crashes and increases the available memory. It
also allows you to create a file with BASIC bigger than 1024 bytes.
This is because BASIC allocates all available memory on startup except
1024 bytes.
B4) How do I connect it to a PC?
Brief instructions are given in the manual, which also mentions the
LapCat parallel port system (if anyone's using that, I'd love to hear
from you!). But you need a "Null Modem Cable" (as below), a suitable
PC terminal program and a following wind :-)
B4.1) What's the cable?
The cable is a standard, off the shelf, "Null Modem Cable", available
from most computer parts shops. If you really want to make your own,
the NC serial port is a 9-pin RS232, and the PC cables are:
25 pins at PC 9 pins at PC
NC PC NC PC
2 ----------- 2 2 ----------- 3
3 ----------- 3 3 ----------- 2
4 ----------- 6 4 ----------- 6
5 ----------- 7 5 ----------- 5
7 ----------- 5 7 ----------- 8
8 ----------- 4 8 ----------- 7
B4.2) Settings
A bit of trial and error is usually needed, but generally, 9600 baud,
8 data bits, No parity, 1 stop bit, handshaking on (RTS/CTS) works
well. You can do XModem transfers, but the NC's XModem isn't the
normal type, so you may have to wait for the PC to "fall back" to the
NC's version (can be up to 1min!)
B4.3) Converting Word Processor Files
Converter programs for both PC and NC to convert from the NC's word
B5) BASIC
Oddly enough, the Notepad includes a copy of BBC BASIC. This allows
you to create your own programs and download other peoples'. However,
some people have found that using the WP to look at a BASIC file can
crash the machine, so backup your important files first.
B5.1) Where can I find programs for it ?
Try ftp.maekong.york.ac.uk in /pub/BBC or
http://www.uea.ac.uk/~u9428232/NC/files/ for starters!
B5.2) Can I use the Word Processor to enter listings?
Certainly ! To go from WP to BASIC type "*EXEC filename" into BASIC
(don't forget line numbers!). To go from BASIC to WP, load the program
and then type:
*SPOOL document
LIST
*SPOOL
B5.3) Can I make a program auto-run ?
Of course - just save it with the name AUTO and whenever you start
BASIC, it'll run...
B6) Other Programs
CP/M is available for the Notepad from ftp.nvg.unit.no (& mirrors) in
/pub/cpc/nc100/. It needs you to have a PC-compatible linked to your
Notepad and a memory card ready for it. I haven't tried it but I'm
told it works on all the NC machines.
B7) I've just crashed it...
If you're lucky, switching it to standby and back will get you out. If
you've got context-saving on then it definitely won't. Try these:
switching on while holding Function; switching on while holding
Function, Stop, Del and the right-hand Shift; removing all the
batteries (including the lithium cell) and the power adapter and
trying to switch on. The last two definitely blank the memory. The
first two don't always.
B8) I've just broken it...
Try CPC supplies on +44 1772 654455 (Main switchboard) or Email their
fax machine on remote-pri...@6.6.4.4.5.6.2.7.7.1.4.4.tpc.int
and ask them to 'phone you! Failing that, call Amstrad (see A2.2)
B9) Help! Where to ask.
Since the demise of Amstrad and Tandy stopping to sell the Notepad,
the best places to ask for help are this newsgroup
(comp.sys.amstrad.8bit) or email me at M....@UEA.ac.uk (until summer
1997) and I'll do my best.
Free user support on Protext, the NC series word processor,
from Brian Watson (pro...@spheroid.demon.co.uk).
B10) Internet resources (10/09/97)
Amstrad Notepad Users' Web - http://wwwmjr.base.org/NC/
Amstrad's homepage - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm
Mirko's NC100 page - http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~mir/amstrad.html
NVG FTP site - ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/nc100
C - Amstrad PCW
C0) PCW presentation
Amstrad made the following PCW systems :
- 1) PCW8256
- 2) PCW8512
- 3) PCW9512
- 4) PCW9512+
- 5) PcW10
- 6) PcW16
1 had 180K drives, 2 had a 180K A drive and a 720K B drive, 3 had only
720K drives. All subsequent models had 3.5" disks using CP/M format at
720K until 6 when it switched to 1.44MB in MS-DOS format. The + of
model 4 was that it had a "real" parallel interface so could be sold
with an external printer such as the Canon BJ10. The PcW10 wasn't
really anything more than 4 in a more modern looking case.
The PcW16 is a radical digression who's sole "raison d'etre" was to
make a true WYSIWYG product but this meant a change in the screen and
processor (to 16MHz) etc. which meant that it could not be kept
compatible with the previous models (though documents ARE compatible)
C1) Emulators and utilities
C1.1) Emulators
C1.1.1) Joyce 06/01/98
Joyce v1.22 by John Elliott, a PCW 8000 series emulator for PC. Get
ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/joyce122.zip
1.1.2) Joyce MAC 07/28/97
MACOs port of Joyce by Richard Bannister
Go http://internetter.com/titan/software/
C1.2) Utilities
Nothing in this section
C2) Where can I find emulators, ROMs and programs ?
C2.1) FTP sites
C2.2) WWW
- http://webserv.futurenet.co.uk/computing/pcwplus.html
PCW Plus magazine's, pretty new and not a lot of info on it yet.
- http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm
Official Amstrad site with informations, files for all the Amstrad
computers (CPC, PCW, PC)
- http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/ai/index.html
Ansible informaiton, makers of AnsibleIndex for LocoScript and
AnsibleIndex Pro
- http://www.cus.umist.ac.uk/~octopus
PCW page by Jake Last
- http://www.euronet.nl/users/fvempel/
PCW Joyce Computer Club : PCW serial communication with a PC,
mouting a 3.5" drive on a PCW, repairing a 3" drive, upgrading
memory to 512 Ko, club news, PCW ads.
- http://www.locomotive.com
or http://www.locosoft.demon.co.uk
Locomotive Software, co-author of the Amstrad CPC and PCW ROMs, for
the PCW
- http://wwww.net-shopper.co.uk/creative/PcW16/
PcW16 On-line magazine
- http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/
John Elliot's CP/M page, he is the man behind some of the finest PCW
freeware around and provides links to many generic CP/M resources.
He's also put up exhaustive information on the PCW's XBIOS
- http://www.systemed.u-net.com/pcw/hardware.html
Richard Fairhurst page about PCW hardware referece
- http://www.xs4all.nl/~ianmacd/PCW.html
Ian Macdonald, about PCW,
C3) Transfering between PCW and PC
C3.1) Disks
Protext is available in PCW and PC versions and Protext files transfer
intact from the PCW version for editing on a PC. Also PCW and PC
Protext make clean ASCII files for importing into other PC word
processors for "finishing".
More details from Brian Watson (pro...@spheroid.demon.co.uk).
The following lines comes from an article from Howard Fisher
(Locoscript Software).
There are two things to be considered when transferring files between
PCWs and PCs :
- the transfer of the information;
- the use of the information after it has been transferred.
Transferring the Files
3" PCWs to PCs
If the PC and PCW are side by side, LocoLink provides the easiest way
to transfer information between Amstrad 3" PCWs and any PC with
LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy; and LocoLink for
Windows from LocoScript on the PCW to most Windows word processors.
LocoLink consists of a special cable and software for the PCW. The
cable plugs into the expansion port of your PCW and the parallel
printer port of your PC, with different versions of the cable for UK
and export models of PCW.
At the PC, LocoLink works within LocoScript and provides a view of a
PCW disc as if it were a disc on the PC. LocoLink for Windows provides
a File Manager style view of the PCW disc and lets you use the mouse
to copy and convert documents.
At the PCW, you simply need to run the LocoLink or LocoLink for
Windows PCW software.
If you cannot get your PCW and PC side by side, you can transfer
between 3" and 3.5" discs by either adding a 3.5" drive to your PCW,
or adding a 3" drive to your PC. In both cases you will also need to
run suitable software to transfer between PCW format and PC format
discs.
LocoScript Software can supply a DIY 3.5" PCW drive kit - call (01306)
747756 for details. You can then copy any files to 3.5" discs and use
one of the methods listed below to transfer to the PC.
To add a 3" drive to your PC you will need a 3" Disk Kit which
includes both the drive and software to copy files from a 3" disc to
a DOS disc. This is available from Eureka on 01329 239953.
3.5" PCWs to PCs
No physical link is required when transferring files between a 3.5"
PCW and a PC with a 3.5" drive, or between a 3" PCW with an added 3"
drive and a 3.5" PC. The discs can be switched between the machines
but the file formats must be changed between PCW format and DOS
format, so that they are readable by the other machine.
Depending on if you want to do the transfer on your PCW or your PC you
need different software:
- To convert the files on your PCW, you need Moonstone 2-in-1.
- To convert the files on your PC, you need DDriverPCW. Both of these
are available from LocoScript Software.
2-in-1 is a program you run under CP/M to write PC format discs on
your PCW, whereas DDriverPCW is a DOS "device driver" which enables
any software on the PC to read a PCW format disc directly.
For information about adding a 3.5" disc drive to your PCW, see our
information sheet 'Using 3.5" Disc Drives with the PCW - Using the
Transferred Files'
Working with PCW files on a PC
LocoScript 1, 2 and 3 documents can be used with LocoScript
Professional and LocoScript PC Easy simply by editing them.
LocoFile datafiles need to be "squashed" by LocoScript Professional or
PC Easy before they can be used.
LocoScript 1, 2 and 3 documents can be used with Windows word
processors by using LocoLink for Windows to convert the documents to
the form required by the Windows word processor. For other PC software
first transfer to a PC format disc, then use LocoScript Professional
or LocoScript PC Easy to "export" the document in a suitable format:
- WordPerfect 5.1 (not PC Easy),
- Wordstar,
- DCA RFT,
- ASCII.
You will need to ask the manufacturer of the software you intend to
use which of these formats are suitable. With ASCII all formatting is
discarded.
To use the data from a LocoFile datafile with other PC software you
will need to use LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy
Mailmerge commands to output the data to a LocoScript document. You
should then export the document as above. Or LocoLink for Windows can
be used to convert datafiles to DBase or FoxPro formats.
To use any non-LocoScript PCW files (such as spreadsheet or accounts
data) with other PC software you should consult the manufacturer of
the PC software you intend to use for advice on how you can use the
files - if this is indeed possible.
Working with PC files on a PCW
Except for LocoLink for Windows and DDriverPCW, the various methods
above also allow files to be copied from PC to PCW discs. If these
files are LocoScript documents, you can edit these documents with
LocoScript 3, but not directly - first, you must use LocoScript
Professional 2 or LocoScript PC Easy (version 1.01 or later) to e
xport the document to LocoScript 2/3 format. This can be done directly
onto a PCW disc with LocoLink or onto a DOS format disc and then
converted using the other methods.
Then LocoScript 2 (Version 2.50 or later) or LocoScript 3 will be able
to work with the exported version of the document.
LocoScript database files on a PC cannot be exported to LocoFile on a
PCW directly. The information in the PC datafiles must be extracted
into a data document and then transferred to LocoScript on the PCW as
a normal document, as described above. On the PCW this data can then
be inserted into a pre-created datafile. More information on this can
be obtained from LocoScript Software.
Software Versions and Requirements
To use LocoLink, LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy is
required. The above information applies to versions since 1 st January
94 - LocoLink for LocoScript Professional, Version 1.08 or later of
LocoScript Professional and Version 1.01 or later of LocoScript PC
Easy. To export from LocoScript on the PC to the PCW you need Version
2.50 or later of LocoScript on the PCW. LocoLink for Windows can
convert documents and datafiles produced with any version of
LocoScript.
LocoLink for LocoScript Professional and DDriverPCW cost GBP 39.95 each,
LocoLink for Windows costs GBP 69.95,
LocoScript Professional 2 costs GBP 59.95 and
LocoScript PC Easy costs GBP 39.95.
We can also supply LocoLink for Windows PC only version at GBP 39.95.
This just contains the PC conversion utilities - not the PCW-PC cable.
If you have earlier versions of any of these products, call LocoScript
Software on (01306) 747756 to upgrade.
Prices include UK VAT at 17.5% and UK postage.
Orders sent to Europe, add 10% postage.
Orders sent outside Europe add 30% postage.
Orders from outside the EEC deduct VAT.
Disc Transfer Services
Alternatively, you can use a disc transfer service both to copy the
discs and if necessary convert the files to other PC word processor
formats.
Both LocoScript Software and Dave's Disc Doctor Service can do t his
for you.
If you have purchased LocoScript Professional our charges can be as
low as GBP 1 per disc. See the following details:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Use this form to order our 3" disc copying service. Simply fill in the
details of the 3" discs you want copied, the sort of disc to be copied
to and if appropriate the PC word processor format. Calculate the
price for the service and return the form with your payment
and the discs to be copied to:
LocoScript Software,
10 Vincent Works, Vincent Lane, DORKING, Surrey RH4 1YL
The price per disc (including the supply of the 3.5" disc) is:
GBP 1 (minimum GBP5) if you have purchased our 3.5" disc drive kit, a
PC package or LocoScript Professional or LocoLink for Windows; or
GBP5 per disc (minimum GBP10) if you have not purchased these items.
Each side of a PCW8256 low density disc is charged as a separate disc.
WE DO NOT RETURN THE 3" DISCS, though we can do so for a supplement of
GBP4 per disc.
You should typically allow about a week for us to supply the copied
discs.
If we can't read any of your discs we will try on several PCWs, but if
we still cannot read the disc we will simply return the 3" disc with a
note. We will still charge the full fee for discs we cannot copy as
the price covers the time spent carrying out the service, which can
if anything be greater if disc faults occur.
We will retain your old 3" discs for at least 30 days. Please ensure
that you can check the copied discs within that time. We will remedy
any problems (including recopying if necessary) free of charge during
this period, but cannot accept responsibility for problems discovered
later.
Number of discs to be copied ____
(count each 180K disc side as a separate disc)
Format of disc to be copied to
PCW format ____
DOS format: ____
if DOS format:
copy to LocoScript/Unchanged ____
Windows format
word processor ____
(If Windows format, select format from:
- for LocoScript Documents:
Word 3, 3.1, 4, 5, 5.5, 6;
Word for Windows 1, 2, 6;
Wordperfect for Windows 5.1, 6;
Ami Pro 1.1, 1.2, 2. 3;
Wordstar 3.3, 3.31, 3.45, 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7;
Wordstar for Windows;
Windows Write 3, 3.1;
ASCII;
RTF
- for LocoFile datafiles:
dBase III, III+, IV;
FoxPro for Windows 2.5
Note: Non-LocoScript/File files will be copied across unchanged.
Price per disc
if Disc Drive Kit/LocoScript PC/LocoLink for Windows
has been purchased GBP1
minimum order value GBP5
otherwise GBP5
minimum order value GBP10
Number of disc sides _____ at _____
If 3" discs to be returned at 4GBP per disc, add _____
Amount payable _______________
Payment
Cheque payable to LocoScript Software
Please charge my Access/Mastercard/Visa/Switch account
C3.2) RS 232
PCW is Internet capable. Fifty quid does, indeed, mean fifty British
pounds. SCA can be contacted at 146 Ham Road, Worthing, Sussex, BN11
2QS, England. Tel: +44 903 821128 or Fax: +44 903 821120.
In addition to a special, high-speed serial interface (which can
handle speeds of up to 38,400 baud!), they also supply many other
products, such as parallel ports and memory expansions. They even sell
two complete modem kits for the PCW: a slow 2400 baud model and a fast
14k4 model. Both kits come with a serial interface, but the faster
modem comes with a special interface (normal ones can only handle up
to 9600 baud on the PCW), better software and fax facilities. I can
highly recommend this deluxe kit. I use it myself and have astounded
friends by using a humble PCW to send faxes! The cheaper kit costs 169
pounds and the deluxe one 299, although you can get a twenty pound
discount by mentioning that you're a 'PCW Plus' reader. Be warned,
however, that you'd have to contend with the dreaded three-pronged
British plug.
C4) Shops supporting PCW
Elliam Associates still supports the Amstrad 8256, 8512 and 9512 in
the US with software, hardware, supplies and repairs. Their address is
P.O box 2664, Atascadero, CA 93423, USA
Phone (805) 466-8440
Fax (805) 461-1666
C5) Hardware
C5.1) Printer
The original PCW printer can't be used on another computer, being
controlled by the PCW itself.
C6) PCW 16
This computers is still supported by Comsoft, Creative technology and
Locomotive.
If you know a PcW16 owner who cannot download the operating system
upgrades from Cliff Lawson's Web site, Brian Watson will supply a free
upgrade for a DS/HD disk, return postage, and an address label. Send
disk in a reusable padded bag to the address wich is in 8.1.3.4)
The following lines comes from a csa8 article by Cliff Lawson.
Unlike all previous 4MHz Amstrad Z80 machines this has a 16MHz Z80
core (hence the 16 in PcW16). I know a lot of people "hate" us for not
making it binary compatible with the previous PCWs but the fact is
that we couldn't do it and design the architecture optimised for
graphic word processing software (which means that it is optimised for
BitBlt type graphics). The screen is actually kind of VGA compatible
in that it is 640x480x2 with a straight raster mapping rather than the
character scan raster map and roller RAM of previous PCW (in fact a
lot like the 640x200 mode on the CPC I suppose).
The main thing that makes this machine such a dream to develop for is
the graphic OS (windows, icons, mice are all in there in the core OS).
The OS was developed in the main by Simon Hargreaves of Creative who
is reknowned for MicroDesign on the previous PCWs.
The Rosanne operating system that he has put together is just so
advanced compared to the other Z80 operating systems that we have been
responsible for in the past that it just seems a shame that any Z80
development talent out there isn't considering writing stuff for the
system - you'd enjoy it, believe me.
Apart from the graphic stuff, message based event system (a la
Windows) you've got window, menu, dialog, scroll bar, radio button,
checkbox, etc. etc. all immediately available in the OS.
The OS also has a rich set of disk/flash disk filing stuff. The system
read/writes MS-DOS format files/disks and can also read (not write)
CP/M format files/disks.
It has fairly advanced memory alloc/dealloc routines and OS support
for 24 bit banked addressing.
There's an RTC in there so functions exist for that.
Even the spell checker in the WP is exposed as an OS callable
function.
Perhaps best of all is the huge support for variable typefaces for
output to both the screen and printer using Swiss and Times in 6, 8,
10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 24, 36, 72 point.
The machine has an unused RS232 on the back so there's a possibility
for developing email/news software - perhaps even a web browser!
The system is, after all, based around a Z80 core so some bright spark
could even write a CP/M emulator for it. Either just a simple thing
that implements the BDOS 5 interface and offers a simple CCP through
to a full implementation of CP/M 3
There's a help engine in the OS so adding Help support to your apps is
also very very easy.
For doing maths there's a 5 byte floating point system in the OS so
sin/cos/tan/log/exp are all provided.
If you want to read more about this operating system then get:
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/bin/rosandoc.zip
or email me direct and chat about it.
John Elliott
[PCW16 - quoting Cliff Lawson]
> The system is, after all, based around a Z80 core so some bright spark
> could even write a CP/M emulator for it. Either just a simple thing
> that implements the BDOS 5 interface and offers a simple CCP through
> to a full implementation of CP/M 3
IMO that section needs updating; I can assure you that CP/M 2 and CP/M 3
work very well on the PCW16 ;-)
And in the course of implementing CP/M 3, I have determined never to use
Rosanne to read a CP/M disc if I can use the CP/M BDOS instead.
------------- 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
:-------------------------------------------------------------------------)
Brian Watson
<900960185.11882.1...@news.demon.co.uk>...
>I can assure you that CP/M 2 and CP/M 3
>work very well on the PcW16 ;-)
CP/M 3 on the '16? Wow! That will be popular. I'll have a look on your site
this evening and see if it's there.
On what basis can it be distributed, John?
--
Brian
John Elliott
>John Elliott wrote in message
><900960185.11882.1...@news.demon.co.uk>...
>
>>I can assure you that CP/M 2 and CP/M 3
>>work very well on the PcW16 ;-)
>
>CP/M 3 on the '16? Wow! That will be popular. I'll have a look on your site
>this evening and see if it's there.
It won't be, because I haven't uploaded it. I won't until I can get the
redistribution details sorted out. I can't include the CP/M Plus BDOS,
because Caldera owns it, and I can't include the ZPM3 BDOS, because its
distribution conditions say it must only be distributed in the form I
found it (ie, I can't put it in a CPM3.SYS file).
In theory, I could just hand out BNKBIOS3.SPR and GENCPM.DAT, and the user
would supply the CCP, BDOS and GENCPM.COM, and build CPM3.SYS themselves.
But that's much too technical a solution.
>On what basis can it be distributed, John?
In the long term, there are two possible options. Either use the original
BDOS, CCP and utilities (all owned by Caldera) or the ZPM3 BDOS, ZCCP and
the Z-System tools (all freely available, but less familiar to users).
Brian Watson
>"Brian Watson" <br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>John Elliott wrote in message
>><900960185.11882.1...@news.demon.co.uk>...
>>
>>>I can assure you that CP/M 2 and CP/M 3
>>>work very well on the PcW16 ;-)
>>
>>CP/M 3 on the '16? Wow! That will be popular. I'll have a look on your
site
>>this evening and see if it's there.
>
> It won't be, because I haven't uploaded it. I won't until I can get the
>redistribution details sorted out. I can't include the CP/M Plus BDOS,
>because Caldera owns it,
I'm damn sure I have read that Caldera have declared officially that, as
long as it is not *sold*, CP/M in all the versions for which they own
copyright, can now be freely distributed.
> and I can't include the ZPM3 BDOS, because its
>distribution conditions say it must only be distributed in the form I
>found it (ie, I can't put it in a CPM3.SYS file).
Can't help you there, sorry.
>
> In theory, I could just hand out BNKBIOS3.SPR and GENCPM.DAT, and the
user
>would supply the CCP, BDOS and GENCPM.COM, and build CPM3.SYS themselves.
>But that's much too technical a solution.
Is it? With instructions?
>
>>On what basis can it be distributed, John?
>
> In the long term, there are two possible options. Either use the original
>BDOS, CCP and utilities (all owned by Caldera) or the ZPM3 BDOS, ZCCP and
>the Z-System tools (all freely available, but less familiar to users).
But with a "step-by-step" printable instruction file...
This *must* be soluble, surely?
--
Brian
Richard Fairhurst
> I can't include the ZPM3 BDOS, because its distribution conditions say it
> must only be distributed in the form I found it (ie, I can't put it in a
> CPM3.SYS file).
That always pissed me off about CP/M freeware licensing. I wanted to
include Maxisweep in the Robot PD collection, many years ago - but the
licence said that it must only be distributed in its original .LBR form.
I can see the rationale behind it, but it's not very useful for those
who aren't CP/M whizzes and don't know the ins and outs of NULU (or LT,
or whatever)...
Anyway, excellent news about CP/M '16, once again. What (if any)
terminal are you emulating on it? I'm sure there'd be plenty of interest
in preconfigured freeware for the system.
--
| Richard Fairhurst
| The point is not to put poetry at the disposal of the revolution,
| but to put the revolution at the disposal of poetry.
John Elliott
>I'm damn sure I have read that Caldera have declared officially that, as
>long as it is not *sold*, CP/M in all the versions for which they own
>copyright, can now be freely distributed.
I know you can download it from approved mirrors. But if you look at
the license agreement on those mirrors
(see <http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm/>) it says:
# This means that you may not sell it. Unless you have obtained
# permission from Caldera, you may not re-distribute it.
>> and I can't include the ZPM3 BDOS, because its
>>distribution conditions say it must only be distributed in the form I
>>found it (ie, I can't put it in a CPM3.SYS file).
>
>Can't help you there, sorry.
I've asked Simeon Cran and he is amenable to my using the ZPM3 BDOS. I
should be able to get something together in the next couple of weeks.
>> In theory, I could just hand out BNKBIOS3.SPR and GENCPM.DAT, and the
>user
>>would supply the CCP, BDOS and GENCPM.COM, and build CPM3.SYS themselves.
>>But that's much too technical a solution.
>
>Is it? With instructions?
The problem is: GENCPM.COM belongs to Caldera, just like the BDOS, and it
isn't included with the old PCWs so most people won't have it.
Philip Stewart
Elliott) wrote:
>"Brian Watson" <br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>John Elliott wrote in message
>because Caldera owns it
Are Caldera getting a bit moody here? I know that they give away the
IBM CP/M for free on their website so surely they wouldn't have
problems with the rest of CP/M. I wouldn't have thought so anyway.
From Phil
All Things CPC - http://stewart.connect-2.co.uk/AllTCPC.html
____________________________________________________________
"Oh, it's largely intuitive, Archchancellor," said Ponder.
"Obviously you have to spend a lot of time learning it
first, though..."
John Elliott
>Anyway, excellent news about CP/M '16, once again. What (if any)
>terminal are you emulating on it? I'm sure there'd be plenty of interest
>in preconfigured freeware for the system.
VT52 (as on the old PCW), with some of the CRTPLUS codes
(grey, bold, italic etc.) I've pinched the font from Slackware Linux, so
at the moment the characters 80h-FFh match those on a PC rather than on
either sort of PCW. This may well change in the future.
Brian Watson
>"Brian Watson" <br...@spheroid.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>I'm damn sure I have read that Caldera have declared officially that, as
>>long as it is not *sold*, CP/M in all the versions for which they own
>>copyright, can now be freely distributed.
>
> I know you can download it from approved mirrors. But if you look at
>the license agreement on those mirrors
>(see <http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm/>) it says:
<<difficult situation follows>>
Well, on behalf of those several PcW16 users without newsgroup access who
have expressed their enthusiasm via phone calls for your efforts, please
stick with it!
There were two things '16 users were saying they were desperate for, and
this is one of them.
I understand the other one is nearly ready too, although I'm sworn to
secrecy on that.
--
Brian (read all about it in the last 8BIT until Martyn Sherwood revives it)
Watson
Andreas Beckh
> A8.3.4) Zines 05/30/98
> - Gert Genial of Frankenteam, hsc...@mail.uni-freiburg.de
Harald finished his studies, he will not receive any massages going
there...
> A9) Fanzines
> A9.2.10) CPC-Telegramm
>
> German two-monthly DiskZine "CPC-Telegramm"
> http://home.pages.de/~CPC-Telegramm
>
> The DiskZine is issued by
> Andreas König Harald Schoen
> Hutstr. 7 Hindenburgstr. 68/702
> D-91056 Erlangen D-79102 Freiburg
Same as above. He's no longer living in Freiburg.
Maybe the "two-monthly" should also be deleted...
Andreas
Simon Matthews
>
> I understand the other one is nearly ready too, although I'm sworn to
> secrecy on that.
Geez. How long does it take to code a vertical scroll bar anyway? ;-)
--
+------ Simon Matthews -------+-- Guns --+- I'm your reason, alibis --+
| s.j.ma...@btl.lhmc.ac.uk |don't kill| I'm inside, open your eyes |
| remove "btl" to reply | People | I'm you, sad but true |
+- hardcore paintball whore! -+-- kill --+--------- Metallica --------+
Richard Fairhurst
> Geez. How long does it take to code a vertical scroll bar anyway? ;-)
With most screen layouts, vertical ones are dead easy. Horizontal ones
are the tricky bit...