Is it possible to copy from a tape to a MicroDrive?
George de Bouter
--
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to copy for example The Hobbit
to a MicroDrive cartridge? If so, is there something like Mr Copy
to do the thing?
An other question is what the letters ZX (as in ZX81 en ZX Spectrum)
stand for???
-- George de Bouter
Lorenz Glatz
>
>--
>
>Can anyone tell me if it is possible to copy for example The Hobbit
>to a MicroDrive cartridge? If so, is there something like Mr Copy
>to do the thing?
It is possible. Besides doing it with one of these nice interfaces (to bad
I never had one back then !), you can do it manually. The microdrive needs
memory at the beginning of the memory assigned to basic when loading or
saving. In case of the Hobbit you should have enough memory left below
RAMTOP so that you can have a little Basic-Loader there in addition to
the microdrive buffer. I tried that years ago and it worked fine if my
memory doesn't fail.
With programs like 'Lord of the Rings' things are more difficult.
Their RAMTOP is so low, that there isn't enough memory left to have
Microdrive buffer plus a Basic loader. I loaded the first 4K of the
Program from Microdrive into the Display memory (just Load the code from tape
to a higher memory address and save it to MD 1st.) and the rest to where
it had to be. After the MD stops, the memory allocated to the MD is
returned to Basic, so now you can run a little MC-program (to be loaded
e.g. into the Printer buffer) which puts the 4K back into place from the
display memory. (You need to set the RAMTOP to the right value 1st.)
The MC routine moving the memory back from the display memory can start
the main prog as well...
To do all of that you usually need to crack the copy protection
1st. Refer to the excellent manual on that topic posted here on
comp.sys.sinclair.
Hope I could help you a little....
>
>An other question is what the letters ZX (as in ZX81 en ZX Spectrum)
>stand for???
>
> -- George de Bouter
>
Good question ! I'd like to know that, too !
Lorenz
briang)
syntax like *KEYWORD "m";1;1"file"
Lerm do one still that is a bit more sophisticated, or just get
a Multiface!
Brian
Brian Gaff - B G Services The Spectrum lives on in Z80!
Feed Me!
Take a look at the bottom-left of your QWERTY keyboard...
I suspect it's that simple.
Andrew
--
Ian Collier
>Well there is a copier with All Microdive expansion packs Uses
>syntax like *KEYWORD "m";1;1"file"
Yep, there's
*MOVE "m";1;"foobar" TO "t:"
I wrote another one using a similar syntax and incorporated it into my
modified Interface-1 ROM. I can't remember what its advantages and
disadvantages were though.
Ian Collier
Ian.C...@comlab.ox.ac.uk | i...@ecs.ox.ac.uk
Andrew Fitzgibbon
#
# *MOVE "m";1;"foobar" TO "t:"
#
Ha!
And I thought UNIX was unfriendly :-)
A.
PS. It is silly that the easiest way to plot a line using X Window is to
run xzx and use plot and draw.
--
Andrew Fitzgibbon (Research Associate), andr...@ed.ac.uk
Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University. +44 031 650 4504
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - traditional (c1950)
"A stitch in time saves nine." - traditional (c1590)
Tom Karlsson
> >An other question is what the letters ZX (as in ZX81 en ZX Spectrum)
> >stand for???
> Take a look at the bottom-left of your QWERTY keyboard...
> I suspect it's that simple.
Z for Zilog and X for... hmmm... eXtended or eXtra or... :-)
/Tom
--
| Tom Karlsson email: to...@csd.uu.se phone: +46 18 260097 |
| Student of Computer Science @ Uppsala University, Sweden. |
| Secretary of Update. email: to...@Update.UU.SE |
| "Intelligence is to do stupid things in a smart way" |
briang)
andr...@ed.ac.uk "Andrew Fitzgibbon" writes:
>
> In article <4504...@uk.ac.ox.prg>, i...@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier) writes:
> #
> # *MOVE "m";1;"foobar" TO "t:"
> #
>
> Ha!
>
> And I thought UNIX was unfriendly :-)
This only works if you have the andrew Pennell copier given away
with the Microdrive kit. It works fine under Z80
briang)
amplifiers called Z12, speakers called Q14, and many other
things like that.
I think it was just a whim, personally.
John Elliott
: *MOVE "m";1;"foobar" TO "t:"
:
This certainly isn't an Interface 1 command, nor a +3DOS command. No IF1
command has the * there, and without the * it would copy the sequential file
"foobar" on drive 1 to the RS232 output.
The +3DOS uses "MOVE" for renaming, so that wouldn't copy files to/from
tapes.
I think that Sinclair provided a program on the introductory cartridge which
copied files from tape to microdrive - if they were normal BASIC or CODE files.
Changing the subject slightly: The +3 has a few error messages which never
appear, although they can be provoked by the usual POKE 23610, n command.
The messages are:
"Cannot copy to/from tape" - if you try COPY "example" to "t:" you'll get
an "Invalid drive" error
"Drive must be A: or B:" - Again, "Invalid drive" error used instead
"+2A does not support format"
and all the 128 silicon disc error messages, and "8 End of file"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Elliott |BLOODNOK: "Why have you got such a long face, Seagoon?"
m93...@ecs.ox.ac.uk |SEAGOON: "Heavy dentures, Sir!" -The Goon Show
:--------------------------------------------------------------------------)
Ian Collier
>In article <4504...@uk.ac.ox.prg>, i...@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier) writes:
>:
>: *MOVE "m";1;"foobar" TO "t:"
BTW, "m";1;"foobar" might not be the easiest way to type a filename, but it
was the standard, oddly enough. "m" is the device name (microdrive), 1 is
the device number, and "foobar" is the file name.
> This certainly isn't an Interface 1 command, nor a +3DOS command. No IF1
>command has the * there, and without the * it would copy the sequential file
>"foobar" on drive 1 to the RS232 output.
Let me clarify that a bit, just in case it wasn't clear enough (which I
thought it was but never mind).
One poster mentioned a program on the introductory cartridge which can copy
files between tape and microdrive (I assumed it was two-way, but I might be
wrong). I see that you mentioned it yourself. Anyway, I replied by quoting
the syntax of that program. The "*" indicates that it is a command that has
been artificially added, but nevertheless it was a command that you could
type in after loading this particular piece of code.
As for the "t:" on the end, that is an error. I believe the single
character "t" refers to the RS232 as you say, so it must have been "c"
instead. It's been some time since I used the Interface-1 as you can
see.
Of course, I now type
COPY "foobar" TO "t:"
(this time the "t:" is correct). That works as long as I am in my 48K disk
BASIC, which I mentioned in one of today's other postings...
Ian Collier
Ian.C...@comlab.ox.ac.uk | i...@ecs.ox.ac.uk
PR_OR_414557
ell...@teaching.physics.ox.ac.uk (John Elliott) writes:
[...]
> I think that Sinclair provided a program on the introductory cartridge which
>copied files from tape to microdrive - if they were normal BASIC or CODE files.
that cartridge was destroyed. So there is with just an interface I no other
possibility?
-- George
Obermayr
ZILOG Z80, just add the X which is next on the keyboard and you got it.
Richard Kettlewell
Obermayr) writes:
>The first ZX was the ZX80 and the processor was (as in all the other ZXs)
>the ZILOG Z80, just add the X which is next on the keyboard and you got it.
That's a very plausible suggestion. However, you fail to provide any
references --- has anyone got any _evidence_ (e.g. knew someone at SRL and
asked them, etc.) as to the origin of 'ZX'?
Richard Kettlewell rjk...@phx.cam.ac.uk