Bootstrapping a CP/M system to usability :)

From: Ross Archer <archer_at_topnow.com>
Date: Wed Jul 17 20:22:05 2002

I'm suffering from what one might call the
"first program" problem. That is, I want to
download CP/M programs (editor, assembler,
and BASICK for starters) from the 'net and
transfer them from my PC to my "CP/M"
machine (A Commie 128 running CP/M+) to save
on floppy for later use.

I can boot CP/M+ on Commie, but the distribution
is very minimal. It doesn't even include ED.
It does have PIP, if this is useful, but no
MAC, BASIC, or any other goodies that might be
used to pull in xmodem or some other
file transfer program into the machine and
thus create a mechanism for transferring binary
files into the machine from the PC.

This must be a common problem, but
surprisingly a web search yielded little insight
on how to get the "first file" in.
My extreme ignorance of CP/M at this point in time
is not helpful either.

With Apples, I know there was a trick to
basically feed a BASIC program in from the
serial port as if it were entered by the
keyboard. With Commie-doors, there's the XE1541 cable and
software to do the trick (but I don't think it can write MFM
as needed by C128 CP/M mode.)

Is there any similar "tricks" for CP/M?
Without an assembler I would need to get a
binary file into the CP/M floppy somehow.

I don't have a 5 1/4" floppy drive in any PC
but would consider scouring the Junque places
for one if that could write files on my PC
readable on CP/M.

Or maybe I'm missing something and it's all
so simple that nobody bothers to document it?

Thanks for any clues. I want to be conversant
with CP/M. Something to put on my resume. ;)

-- Ross











which is surely very
common but oddly websearches have yielded no real insight as
to how to fix it.
Received on Wed Jul 17 2002 - 20:22:05 BST