ZPM3

[Marco Maccaferri]

Hi,

I'm testing the ZPM3 operating systems, it looks really good with many
"advanced" features, however seems I can't find much documentation about it.

For example, it can assign names to user numbers to simulate directories
but I can't find how to define the names (I see they are stored in
NAMES.NDR but I can't find a tool to set them). At boot it runs some
"autoexec" file (not PROFILE.SUB) but can't find where it is defined.

Is there a reference site with more documentation about it ?

Best regards,
Marco

[Wayne Hortensius]

If you're using ZCCP or Z3PLUS as well as ZPM3, the following will
likely apply:

What I use on ZCPR33 to edit the named directories is MKDIR:

<http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/cpm/zcpr33/a-r/mkdir32.lbr>

On startup, your system is probably running an alias file, likely
STARTUP.COM for Z3PLUS or STARTZPM.COM. I use SALIAS to edit alias
files:

<http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/cpm/zcpr33/s-z/salias13.lbr>

Regards,
Wayne

[Wayne Warthen]

On Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 11:47:00 PM UTC-7 Marco Maccaferri wrote:

Is there a reference site with more documentation about it ?

Quite simply, no, there is not.

The author provided some minimal documentation in the distribution which has been included in the RomWBW distribution in the Source\ZPM3 directory.  Specifically, the files "zpm3.txt", "bios.txt", "scb.txt", "makedos.txt", and "zpm3ldr.txt".  Of these, the only one that is actually user oriented is "zpm3.txt".  Additionally, there is some more minimal documentation for the companion component ZCCP by the same author.  ZCCP is the command processor included with ZPM3.  The documentation provided by the author for ZCCP is in the Source\ZCCP directory of the RomWBW distribution.  Specifically,  "read.me", and "zccp.txt".

The others are more related to implementing ZPM3 which has already been done as part of RomWBW.

The author generally indicates that ZPM3 is a rewrite of CP/M 3 enhanced with ZCPR 3.3 capabilities.  So, basically, the documentation for ZPM3 is the CP/M 3 documentation and the ZCPR 3.3 documentation.  Both of these are included in the Doc directory of the RomWBW distribution.  What is cool about ZPM3 is that it will basically run anything that is either CP/M 3 or ZCPR 3.3 compatible.  The RomWBW disk slice with ZPM3 includes most of the standard CP/M 3 applications and a few important ZCPR applications.  There are literally thousands of ZCPR applications, so it is left to the user to pick and add those that are desired.

Related to ZPM3 startup, this process is documented in "read.me" of ZCCP.  Here are the relevant paragraphs:

When ZCCP starts, it reads ZINSTAL.ZPM (which must be on the 

default boot drive (usually A:) in user area 0). This file can 

be patched to set initial values for MHZ (speed of the computer), 

MAXU (maximum user number) and MAXD (highest disk drive). These 

values are set near the start of the ZINSTAL.ZPM file and there 

are ASCII pointers to them (which can be seen with a debugger 

such as SID.COM).

After ZINSTAL.ZPM has been read, ZCCP attempts to run the command 

STARTZPM.COM. This is usually an "alias" containing a number of 

commands used to put the system into a useful state. Typically 

STARTZPM.COM would contain commands to load a TCAP and named 

directory file, to set the path, and to set an error handler.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Marco Maccaferri]

Il 15/03/21 17:55, Wayne Hortensius ha scritto:

> What I use on ZCPR33 to edit the named directories is MKDIR:
>
> <http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/cpm/Software/WalnutCD/cpm/zcpr33/a-r/mkdir32.lbr>
>
> On startup, your system is probably running an alias file, likely
> STARTUP.COM for Z3PLUS or STARTZPM.COM. I use SALIAS to edit alias
> files:

Ah, yes, now I see it runs startzpm.com, I tought aliases where
something else.

Lot of things to look on the Walnut CD.

Thanks.

Best regards,
Marco

[Marco Maccaferri]

Il 15/03/21 20:08, Wayne Warthen ha scritto:

> more minimal documentation for the companion component ZCCP by the
> same author. ZCCP is the command processor included with ZPM3. The
> documentation provided by the author for ZCCP is in the Source\ZCCP
> directory of the RomWBW distribution. Specifically, "read.me", and
> "zccp.txt".

I didn't realized that ZCCP is the command processor, most of the
informations I was searching are there. Good.

> The author generally indicates that ZPM3 is a rewrite of CP/M 3
> enhanced with ZCPR 3.3 capabilities. So, basically, the
> documentation for ZPM3 is the CP/M 3 documentation and the ZCPR 3.3
> documentation. Both of these are included in the Doc directory of
> the RomWBW distribution. What is cool about ZPM3 is that it will
> basically run anything that is either CP/M 3 or ZCPR 3.3 compatible.
> The RomWBW disk slice with ZPM3 includes most of the standard CP/M 3
> applications and a few important ZCPR applications. There are
> literally thousands of ZCPR applications, so it is left to the user
> to pick and add those that are desired.

Yes, CP/M 3 documentation is good, I was searching more informations
about the ZPM3 specific additional features. The Walnut CD also has a
lot of utilities, I'll spend some time looking at them.

> Related to ZPM3 startup, this process is documented in "read.me" of
> ZCCP. Here are the relevant paragraphs:

Thanks, now it is much more clear, and I believe I see a bug in the path
set from startzpm: the first path $$ I think should be $$$$ (four
dollars) to indicate the current drive and user. Otherwise it sets the
current drive but always user 0.

Now I need to understand why salias keeps reversing the screen attributes...


Best regards,
Marco

[Marco Maccaferri]

Il 16/03/21 07:58, Marco Maccaferri ha scritto:

> Now I need to understand why salias keeps reversing the screen
> attributes...

Well apparently is the TCAP.Z3T that doesn't work correctly with my
VT-100 emulation (the file say it is VT-525).

FYI, here

http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/cdrom/walnut_creek_cdrom/jsage/znode3/z3new/tcsel32b.lbr

is an archive with a number of terminal configurations, including DEC
VT100 and VT52, in case you want to replace the default. I haven't yet
found a tool to create or edit these files.

Best regards,
Marco

[Wayne Warthen]

On Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 5:08:47 AM UTC-7 Marco Maccaferri wrote:

Well apparently is the TCAP.Z3T that doesn't work correctly with my
VT-100 emulation (the file say it is VT-525).

FYI, here

http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/cdrom/walnut_creek_cdrom/jsage/znode3/z3new/tcsel32b.lbr

is an archive with a number of terminal configurations, including DEC
VT100 and VT52, in case you want to replace the default. I haven't yet
found a tool to create or edit these files.

 

Thanks Marco.  I have substituted the VT100 definition with the one you found tcsel32b.lbr.  Seems to work nicely.  I also added the TCSELECT application and the corresponding Z3TCAP.LBR in case anyone wants to easily swap the terminal definitions.

These changes are checked into the dev branch of RomWBW on GitHub.

-Wayne