essential CP/M files

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Fri Sep 14 13:28:19 2001

Yeah, you're on the right track, though I'd certainly include everything that
was in the original CP/M distribution package.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Battle" <frustum_at_pacbell.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 12:34 AM
Subject: Re: essential CP/M files


> Allison wrote:
>
> At 07:05 PM 9/13/01 -0400, Jim Battle wrote:
> > >If you were stuck on an island with a solar-powered CP/M machine and
> >only
> >one floppy disk in CP/M 2.2 format, which programs and utilities would
> >you
> >want on that disk?
> >
> >
> >I'd have two floppies.
>
> Actually, my emulator can be configured for zero to four drives, and as
> many disks as you want to create.
>
> >Any opinions of what I should distribute with the emulator? Here is what
> >I
> >am planning on so far:
> >
> >STAT
> >PIP
> >ASM
> >MAC
> >DDT
> >ED
> >DUMP
> >LOAD
> >SUBMIT
> >XSUB
> >
> >
> >How about a decent editor?
>
> I used CP/M just a bit back in the day, and I'm only now learning a bit
> more about it. Do you have any recommendations? I've seen TED in one of
> the CP/M archives, but I haven't gotten far enough along to see if I can
> get it to run on a Sol.
>
> I have a half-completed project from a couple years ago to try and write a
> "vi" editor in z80 assembly that would run in 8K-12K or so, but it got
> interrupted by my work on the Sol. Maybe someday I'll get back to it and
> make a CP/M vi.
>
>
> > >Unfortunately, I don't have FORMAT, MOVCPM, PUTSYS, GETSYS, or SYSGEN
> >since
> >
> >
> >None of those are very meaningful for an emulator.
>
> I agree, other than just for completeness.
>
>
> > >Although there are lots of replacement programs for those listed above
> >that
> >are undoubtedly better than the stock CP/M 2.2 programs, I am going to
> >use
> >the originals from D.R. and leave it up to any user who cares enough to
> >customize it as they see fit.
> >
> >
> >Why? will the emulator provide a way to create a new disk drive?
>
> I assume you mean disk, not just disk drive. If you really mean drive,
> then yes, you can have up to four.
>
> If you meant disks, you can make as many disks as you want. Each lives as
> a "virtual disk" on your actual hard drive as a binary image. Floppies can
> be single or double sided, single or double density. What you put on them
> is limited only to what software wants to put on them in the real software.
>
> In the real hardware, so in my emulated format too, sectors are actually a
> bit bigger than the 512 bytes so that if someone had drivers that
> understood some non-standard format (such as storing the track and sector
> information in the header instead of just counting it in the driver) it
> would work in the emulator too. Preamble and sync bytes are maintained in
> the disk image as well, so if the driver doesn't write an adequate
> preamble, the emulator can detect that and give a warning (if you want it
> to). Does your driver use a non-standard checksum? No problem, the
> emulator does what the hardware would.
>
>
> >Allison
>
> In time I hope to add emulation for the Helios disk subsystem
> too. Actually, I think I have enough information to emulate the hardware
> right now; the harder part will be getting the disk images onto a PC. Bob
> Stek has some old PT-DOS disks, and in time, he or I will try to dump the
> disk image out to a PC.
>
> I think it would be a real archeological find to get PT-DOS running
> again. Getting CP/M running on Solace is OK, but there really isn't much
> mystery in CP/M.
>
> If anybody already has a PT-DOS disk imaged somewhere from ages ago, please
> let me know about it. I'd love to use it to get that phase of the emulator
> project underway.
>
> -----
> Jim Battle == frustum_at_pacbell.net
>
>
Received on Fri Sep 14 2001 - 13:28:19 BST