mccann@puff.UUCP (10/17/85)
I recently purchased the Wordstar/StarCard package for my //e. My
only complaint is that the documentation did not include any specific
technical information about the StarCard (aka PCPI Appli-Card). I'm hoping
that some of you good folk out there can help me by answering one or more
of the following questions (as my two letters to PCPI have gone unanswered):
1. How can I access the Apple's main memory (specifically the
ROM routines) from the StarCard? Does PCPI sell a technical reference
manual for the card that gives such useful tidbits? If so, where do I
write to order it? I am particularly interested in using Turbo Pascal
to access the memory; any pointers in that direction would also be
appreciated.
2. How can I make use of the 64K on the StarCard as a RAMdisk
for use under ProDOS? The CP/M utilities disk provided the program that
allowed the memory to be used as a RAMdisk under DOS 3.3, but did not
include a program to produce the same result under ProDOS. I know that
ProDOS allows for the installation of new device drivers, but without
knowledge of how to access the StarCard's RAM, I can't get very far.
3. Is there a way I can use the Apple's main memory as a RAMdisk
under CP/M? Currently, after the CP/M disk finishes booting, I have a
82K printer buffer (which is nice, but I really don't need that large a
buffer). Surely there must be a way of using some of that memory for a
RAMdisk.
For those of you who are wondering, I am very happy with the card.
Watching Turbo 3.0 compile on that 6MHz Z-80 the first time is quite a thrill.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Lester McCann