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MSX: CP/M compatible?

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Telic

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Oct 2, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/2/97
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Hi Gang,

From reading some technical data, it appears that MSX-DOS is somewhat
compatible to CP/M-80 version 2.2.

My first question is: Has anyone gone through the exercise of trying
various CP/M programs and utilities on their MSX system, to determine
just how compatible the two are?

I'm asking because I've dug my Yamaha CX5M out of the closet to work on
a project (see "Re: RS-232 (COM) port add-on" in this newsgroup), and am
limited to its ROM BASIC and an audio cassette for storage. I'd like to
have at least one floppy drive. But, MSX-DOS won't be too useful to me if
my favourite CP/M tools (such as Turbo Pascal) won't run on it.

Years ago, I wrote a CP/M-80 v2.2 compatible operating system for the
SpectraVideo SV-328 computer. The SpectraVideo system was the design
model for the MSX system, so I'm tinkering with the idea of porting
my CP/M to MSX.

Second question: Is there much interest in a "true" CP/M for MSX?

Greg_


erik de boer

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Oct 2, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/2/97
to

Telic wrote:
>
> Hi Gang,
>
> From reading some technical data, it appears that MSX-DOS is somewhat
> compatible to CP/M-80 version 2.2.
>
> My first question is: Has anyone gone through the exercise of trying
> various CP/M programs and utilities on their MSX system, to determine
> just how compatible the two are?

MSX is 95% compatible (95% of the cp/m software runs on a msx)

>
> I'm asking because I've dug my Yamaha CX5M out of the closet to work on
> a project (see "Re: RS-232 (COM) port add-on" in this newsgroup), and am
> limited to its ROM BASIC and an audio cassette for storage. I'd like to
> have at least one floppy drive. But, MSX-DOS won't be too useful to me if
> my favourite CP/M tools (such as Turbo Pascal) won't run on it.

Turbo Pascal works fine on a MSX

>
> Years ago, I wrote a CP/M-80 v2.2 compatible operating system for the
> SpectraVideo SV-328 computer. The SpectraVideo system was the design
> model for the MSX system, so I'm tinkering with the idea of porting
> my CP/M to MSX.
>
> Second question: Is there much interest in a "true" CP/M for MSX?

Real cp/m 3.0 is available for msx

>
> Greg_

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Randy Simons

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Oct 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/4/97
to

As Erik already mentioned, there are CP/M versions available for MSX, and
they work quiet well. WordStar, Devpac 80 etc, it's all there. There is a
utility to convert CP/M files to MSX-DOS files (even executables). This
isn't SO hard since only the file-format is different. In fact, MSX-DOS is
just CP/M, with a MS-DOS file-format. So, it's really a piece of cake to
port your CP/M programs to MSX...

Btw, have you ever tried the Modula-2 compiler from Borland for MSX? It has
some nice features, not to be found in Turbo Pascal... As for Turbo Pascal,
MSX Club Enschede has bought the rights, and made a new version, Turbo
Pascal v3.3 I guess there's more info on their homepage.

Good luck,

Randy
--
Due to an overload of spam mail I've removed all my e-mail addresses from
this message. Jump to http://huizen.dds.nl/~lokii to obtain my e-mail
addresses.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Telic wrote in message <610oht$pcv$1...@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>...


>
>Hi Gang,
>
>From reading some technical data, it appears that MSX-DOS is somewhat
>compatible to CP/M-80 version 2.2.
>
>My first question is: Has anyone gone through the exercise of trying
>various CP/M programs and utilities on their MSX system, to determine
>just how compatible the two are?
>

>I'm asking because I've dug my Yamaha CX5M out of the closet to work on
>a project (see "Re: RS-232 (COM) port add-on" in this newsgroup), and am
>limited to its ROM BASIC and an audio cassette for storage. I'd like to
>have at least one floppy drive. But, MSX-DOS won't be too useful to me if
>my favourite CP/M tools (such as Turbo Pascal) won't run on it.
>

>Years ago, I wrote a CP/M-80 v2.2 compatible operating system for the
>SpectraVideo SV-328 computer. The SpectraVideo system was the design
>model for the MSX system, so I'm tinkering with the idea of porting
>my CP/M to MSX.
>
>Second question: Is there much interest in a "true" CP/M for MSX?
>

>Greg_
>

Telic

unread,
Oct 5, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/5/97
to

In article <616278$7ad$1...@pandora.cs.utwente.nl>,
"Randy Simons" <do...@spam.me> wrote:

Hi Randy,

RS>In fact, MSX-DOS is just CP/M, with a MS-DOS file-format. So, it's


>really a piece of cake to port your CP/M programs to MSX...

Has anyone installed ZCPR3 into MSX-DOS -- for the named directories,
search paths, custom menus, flow control, shells, etc? I'm somewhat
spoiled for such features, which I have added to my CP/M-clone.

To port my o/s to MSX I'd need a floppy drive, and would ultimately
want a hard-drive. Is there a HDD version of MSX-DOS, perhaps for the
latest IDE drives?

My basic CX5M system doesn't support 80-column video (being beyond
the ability of its inboard TMS9918A video display processor). The
Spectravideo systems used an add-on board which contained a 6845
CRTC chip, the same chip used for CGA video in early IBM PCs.

How do MSX systems get an 80-column display for MSX-DOS?

I'm thinking that the best long-term solution may be to create an
adapter to allow the use of IBM PC ISA-slot cards. I could then use
existing PC floppy/HDD, i/o, and video cards for my CX5M.

Has an ISA (or PCI) card adapter already been made for MSX systems?

RS>Btw, have you ever tried the Modula-2 compiler from Borland for


>MSX? It has some nice features, not to be found in Turbo Pascal...

I'm a major fan of Modula-2, and still use it for creating DOS-based
utilities. Specifically, I use the shareware FST Modula-2.

I was disappointed that Borland didn't take their CP/M Modula-2 to
DOS. However, I noticed that every significant upgrade of their DOS-
based TP took it closer to being M2 -- e.g. modules with INTERFACE
(DEFINITION) and IMPLEMENTATION parts.

Is CP/M Turbo Modula-2 still available, and its documentation?

RS>As for Turbo Pascal, MSX Club Enschede has bought the rights, and


>made a new version, Turbo Pascal v3.3 I guess there's more info on
>their homepage.

What is their WWW URL ?

Greg_

erik de boer

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Oct 5, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/5/97
to

Telic wrote:
>
> In article <616278$7ad$1...@pandora.cs.utwente.nl>,
> "Randy Simons" <do...@spam.me> wrote:
>
> Hi Randy,
>
> RS>In fact, MSX-DOS is just CP/M, with a MS-DOS file-format. So, it's
> >really a piece of cake to port your CP/M programs to MSX...
>
> Has anyone installed ZCPR3 into MSX-DOS -- for the named directories,
> search paths, custom menus, flow control, shells, etc? I'm somewhat
> spoiled for such features, which I have added to my CP/M-clone.
>
> To port my o/s to MSX I'd need a floppy drive, and would ultimately
> want a hard-drive. Is there a HDD version of MSX-DOS, perhaps for the
> latest IDE drives?
>

The main problem with cp/m programms onder msx dos is that programms
who want to manipulate the floppy disk (asking the file size or getting
the
amount of free disk space) will not always work correct. this is
becourse of the
different file format.

msx-dos(2) will work with a harddisk (ide or scsi interfaces are
available)

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