QP/M under RomWBW WARNING message

[Derek Cooper]

Hi everyone,

Just playing with QP/M on RomWBW 3.2.1

After seting it p and rebooting you get the HBIOS mismatch WARNING. Does this imply the QPM.SYS file is out of date? If so anyone no how to re-build it?

The error/message is:

Small Computer SC130 [SCZ180_sc130] Boot Loader

Boot [H=Help]: 4.2

Booting Disk Unit 4, Slice 2, Sector 0x00008200...

Volume "Unlabeled" [0xD000-0xFE00, entry @ 0xE600]...

CBIOS v3.1.1-pre.172 [WBW]

*** WARNING: HBIOS/CBIOS Version Mismatch ***

Configuring Drives...

        A:=SD0:2
        B:=MD0:0
        C:=MD1:0
        D:=SD0:0
        E:=SD0:1
        F:=SD0:3
        G:=SD0:4
        H:=SD0:5
        I:=SD0:6
        J:=SD0:7

        1513 Disk Buffer Bytes Free

CP/M-80 v2.2, 54.0K TPA

[Wayne Warthen]

Hi Derek,

Essentially yes, QPM.SYS is out of date.  However, the warning message is caused because the system tracks of hd1k__qpm.img and hd512_qpm.img are also out of date.

The problem occurs because QPM is not distributed with source or generic CCP and BDOS images.  QPM is installed by running the QPM tool called QINSTALL on an existing CP/M disk.  Since QINSTALL is an interactive application, I have no straightforward way to update the RomWBW CBIOS component during a build.

In thinking about this, I believe I may have a way to work around this for RomWBW builds.  I am working on this right now.  Probably easiest to wait for the next Development Snapshot.  However, it you want to update your existing QPM boot disk, you can do the following:

1. Boot to ZSDOS in ROM
2. Update the QPM drive's system tracks with ZSDOS (SYSCOPY X:=B:ZSYS.SYS)
3. Boot to QPM drive (it will now be running ZSDOS)
4. Run QINSTALL to reinstall QPM.  Observe notes in the RomWBW distribution found at "\Source\Images\d_qpm\ReadMe.txt".

Thanks,

Wayne

[Wayne Warthen]

I have published "RomWBW Development Snapshot v3.3.0-dev.51" at https://github.com/wwarthen/RomWBW/releases.  The build process has been modified to keep the QPM disk images up to date.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Derek Cooper]

Thanks i'll try that build a little later. But for now I tried the method you suggest, I tried with both ZP/M and CP/M boot from the ROM, everything looks ok, see bellow - but it does not seem to work?

I boot "c" or "z" from rom

do a syscopy to the drive (in my case it's E, (sd0.2))

***  Creating 59k QP/M image  ***



QINSTALL will now execute A:SYSGEN.COM.
You must instruct A:SYSGEN.COM to read the system tracks.


When the READ is complete, exit the SYSGEN program.
The message "*** QINSTALL searching for system image  ***"
will appear followed by further instructions.

Press <C> to continue  -OR-  <A> to abort --  

ROMWBW SYSGEN VER 2.0

SOURCE DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO SKIP): a
SOURCE ON A:, THEN TYPE RETURN
FUNCTION COMPLETE

DESTINATION DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO REBOOT):



***  QINSTALL searching for system image  ***

System image found starting at 0O00H.  Installing QP/M.

Your SYSGEN program will now resume execution.
You must instruct the program to WRITE the system tracks.

Press <C> to continue  -OR-  <A> to abort --

ROMWBW SYSGEN VER 2.0

SOURCE DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO SKIP):

DESTINATION DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO REBOOT): a
DESTINATION ON A:, THEN TYPE RETURN
FUNCTION COMPLETE

DESTINATION DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO REBOOT):

boot the slice 4.2

then run qinstall

changed the user drive area from 0008 to 000E, leave the RTC disabled.

this is the screen shots:

[Wayne Warthen]

It looks like you are doing it correctly.  I don't see any screen shots.  It you are referring to the banner that says "CP/M 2.2" when you boot, that is an anomaly of QPM.  Since it uses the CP/M CBIOS, that message persists.  Try running QSTAT.  If that works, you are fine.  QSTAT will complain and abort if QPM is not resident.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Derek Cooper]

ok qstat works, but in the cmds file it says the ccp should have different in-built commands like 2dir, they don't work. So the CCP is not the right one maybe?

as in:
A>type qpmcmds.txt                                                              
                                                                               
        2QPM Commands0                                                          
        2============0                                                          
The QCP command processor has the following built-in commands;                  
afn=wildcard filename(s); ufn=filename; []=optional                            
                                                                               
2DFD [drive[:]]0      - Sets the default drive (A: at startup)                  
2DFLT0                - Shows the default drive and user (@=disabled)          
2DFU0                 - Sets the default user (0 at startup)                    
2DIR [afn]0           - Simple directory listing (D.COM is recommended)        
2ERA afn0             - Erase specified file(s)                                
2GET addr ufn0        - Load file at address                                    
2GO [params]0         - Reruns the program in TPA (with params)                
2JUMP addr [params]0  - Run the program at address (with params)                
2LIST ufn0            - Print the specified file on the LST: device            
2REN ufnnew=ufnold0   - Rename ufnold to ufnnew                                
2SAVE n ufn0          - Save n pages from the TPA into file                    
2TIME0                - Display the current date and time                      
2TOF0                 - Sends top-of-form character to LST: device              
2TYPE ufn [option]0   - Display file on console, with page pauses              
2USER [n]0            - Set user # to n (0 if no value given)            

Derek

[Wayne Warthen]

You're all good!

If you look at a hex dump of qpmcmds.txt (or qpmutils.txt), you will see imbedded escape codes.  Probably intended for a specific video console or printer.  Anyway, where you see "2DIR", in the file it is actually "<esc>G2DIR".  Your terminal emulator is swallowing the "<esc>G" part of the sequence which makes it very confusing.  The same thing explains the extraneous "0" at the end of the command syntax.  In the file, it is actually "<esc>G0".

I don't know what the author intended for these files.  Perhaps I should just cleanse them of the escape codes to avoid confusion.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Derek Cooper]

That explains it, thanks. Just looked at the docs on https://www.microcodeconsulting.com/z80/qpm.htm

and it's all good. Works a treat!

Derek

[Wayne Warthen]

I realized I may not have been totally clear about something.  When you run QINSTALL, it has no mechanism to retain previous non-default settings.  So, you need to be careful to reapply any non-default settings.  Note that the pre-built RomWBW QP/M disk image has a couple of non-default settings already applied.  These settings will be lost unless reapplied each time QINSTALL is run.  These settings are important to ensure full functionality under RomWBW.  You should look at "\Source\Images\d_qpm\ReadMe.txt" for a description of these settings.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Derek Cooper]

Yes got those thanks, the doc in the qpm directory is pretty good.

Derek