I was able to transfer a file to/from H8 CP/M over the serial port with PCPUT.COM and PCGET.COM
Eric Mack
It’s been an adventure to figure this out and I have a stack of post it’s to document, but here’s the basic workflow as best as I can remember:
There are two programs, PCPUT.COM and PCGET.COM that you need to compile under CP/M
PCPUT.COM will SEND a file from the H8 using xmodem on the designated port 320Q @ 9600 baud (There is an option for 330Q)
PCGET.COM will RECEIVE a file from the H8 using xmodem on the designated port 320Q @ 9600 baud (There is an option for 330Q)
You can get the source code for these tools here: https://deramp.com/downloads/heathkit/H89/PCGET%20and%20PCPUT/
Note: Although the above site includes complied versions you won’t be able to transfer those to the H8/H89 as they are binary.
Enter PIP, the CP/M Peripheral Interchange Program:
Connect your PC to the H8 console port 350Q and use an emulator that supports file transfer – I used TeraTerm because that is what an example I found used.
On the H8, type PIP PCGET.ASM=CON: to tell pip to receive a file from the console port and save it as PCGET.ASM.
On the PC, connected to the H8 Console port, open TeraTerm and choose FILE, SEND FILE, navigate to the file you want to upload to the H8 and then select BINARY and add a 10ms delay to each character. Once you choose these settings, the file transfer will begin. (You may have to send a CTRL+Z at the end, I forget)
Repeat the above steps for PCPUT.ASM so that both files will be on the H8.
Now, we need to compile these two programs for use under CP/M
On the H8, type: ASM PCGET and wait for the compile to finish. This will create an interim .HEX file
Now, type LOAD PCGET to create the compiled program that is ready to use.
Repeat the above steps to compile the PCPUT program.
OK, at this point, you should have the compiled versions of PCGET.COM and PCPUT.COM on your H8.
You can erase the .prn and .hex files produced by the compiler as these are not needed.
Now, to use PCPUT and PCGET, first reconnect your H19 terminal back to the H8 Console port 350Q. Then, connect your PC using terminal emulator software to port 320, which I think is the alt terminal port.
To use PCGET to RECEIVE a file on the H8 from the PC, type PCGET filename.ext where filename.ext is the file you want to SAVE. Follow the on-screen instructions and in your TeraTerm terminal emulator on the PC choose FILE, TRANSFER, XMODEM, SEND and follow the prompts
Likewise, to use PCPUT to SEND a file from the H8 to the PC, type PCPUT filename.ext where filename.ext is the file you want to SEND. Follow the on-screen instructions and in your TeraTerm terminal emulator on the PC choose FILE, TRANSFER, XMODEM, RECEIVE and follow the prompts to give a name for the saved file.
That’s it. Not very fast, but if you have no other way, this seems to work.
I’m grateful for the many web sites where I found bits and pieces that I could ultimately put together to pull this off. It was actually fun and brought back memories boot strapping computers.
I hope this helps someone (or myself) in the future.
Eric Mack
Boy, do I feel silly. After all that work to get PCGET and PCPUT onto my H8, I now see that the default programs on the CF Card include XMODEM. So I guess my steps will still help someone without XMODEM.
Eric
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Wow. Nice work. good indoctrination back into development on the H8… thanks for sharing.
From: 'Eric Mack' via SEBHC <se...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2025 7:52 PM
To: Se...@GoogleGroups.com
Subject: [sebhc] I was able to transfer a file to/from H8 CP/M over the serial port with PCPUT.COM and PCGET.COM
It’s been an adventure to figure this out and I have a stack of post it’s to document, but here’s the basic workflow as best as I can remember:
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Joseph Travis
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/056701dbc85a%240dc72b50%24295581f0%24%40gmail.com.