umsmit72@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Kenneth G. Smith) (03/20/91)
I have recently obtained a CP/M card for my Apple II+ computer (without
documentation) and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few
questions...
1) The card has four binary switches on it. They are all set to the
OFF position. I was wondering what exactly these switches are for.
2) Of the several disks I obtained with the card, I have a program
called 'NULU' which deals with libraries. I was wondering what the
purpose of a library is and how you go about using one. I have
only one '.LBR' file on the disks called 'LUX42.LBR' (on the modem7
program disk) and haven't been able to manipulate the data in it to
any great extent (other than listing it's members using 'NULU').
I believe the card is refered to as a Z-80 Softcard and doesn't appear
to have any manufacturer's markings on it. Therefore, I don't believe
it is actually an Apple made card.
Can anyone enlighten me soas I may get the maximum use out of this
system. I have used the CP/M OS with some success and really like what
it does for my rather modest system.
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= umsmit72@ccu.umanitoba.ca =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean
you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."
----------------------------------------------------- Edward R. Murrow --Tom.Rieger@f242.n260.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Tom Rieger) (03/20/91)
-> 2) Of the several disks I obtained with the card, I have a program
-> called 'NULU' which deals with libraries. I was wondering what the
-> purpose of a library is and how you go about using one. I have
-> only one '.LBR' file on the disks called 'LUX42.LBR' (on the modem7
-> program disk) and haven't been able to manipulate the data in it to
-> any great extent (other than listing it's members using 'NULU').
NULU will also allow you to extract the member files. Use the -H
command to see a listing of the various options available in NULU.
A library file is simply a method of grouping certain files together
into one file for transfer or storage. Often the files are also
compressed in some way as well (squeezed, crunched etc...)
T_RIEG@f242.n260.z1.fidonet.org
--
Tom Rieger - via FidoNet node 1:260/230
UUCP: {smart-host}!ur-valhalla!rochgte!242!Tom.Rieger
INTERNET: Tom.Rieger@f242.n260.z1.FIDONET.ORGianj@ijpc.UUCP (Ian Justman) (03/21/91)
umsmit72@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Kenneth G. Smith) writes: > > I have recently obtained a CP/M card for my Apple II+ computer (without > documentation) and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few > questions... > > 1) The card has four binary switches on it. They are all set to the > OFF position. I was wondering what exactly these switches are for. Two turn interrupts on and off, one deals with memory mapping (the Z80 card remaps the system's memory rather radically to take into account that Pages 0-3 are sacred to the 6502, but you can alternatively switch that mapping off to make the Z80 see it as the 6502 sees it; for CP/M to work properly, you MUST turn mapping on because you don't want the 6502 and the Z80 throwing each other curves... (grin). Also, the point needs to be made that the card in question, the Softcard, distributed by Microsoft, as in the ORIGINAL Softcard, not the Softcard //e, talks DIRECTLY to the Apple hardware just like the 6502 does. In fact, when the Z80 has control, it puts the 6502 to sleep (I believe it does nothing more than execute wait states).), and the remaining one controls how the card interfaces to the Apple DMA daisy chain. The switches are like this: sw1 sw2 sw3 sw4 MEM MAP DMA IRQ/INT NMI <--- SAME ON BOTH DAISY ^ ^ CHAIN | |_ Z80 NAME |_____ 6502 NAME Sw1: On: Disables memory remapping Off: Enables memory remapping (Apple CP/M default) Sw2: On: When DMA daisy chain input is dropped low, the Z80 will drop what it's currently doing to let a high-priority device do some DMA and relinquish control back to the 6502 Off: Won't stop at all no matter what priority device is requesting DMA ___ ___ Sw3: On: Hooks the Z80's NMI line up with the Apple's NMI line on the expansion bus so the Z80 will be interrupted upon receipt of a non-maskable interrupt. The Softcard recommends that interrupts, maskable or not, should be handled by the 6502 which also sees the interrupt, so it can clear its interrupt status and return control back to the Z80. Off: Disconnects the line. ___ ___ Sw4: On: Hooks the Z80's INT line up with the Apple's IRQ line on the expansion bus. Discussion is the same as above. Off: Disconnects the line. The default settings for the switches should be all of them off for Apple CP/M to work properly. > 2) Of the several disks I obtained with the card, I have a program > called 'NULU' which deals with libraries. I was wondering what the > purpose of a library is and how you go about using one. I have > only one '.LBR' file on the disks called 'LUX42.LBR' (on the modem7 > program disk) and haven't been able to manipulate the data in it to > any great extent (other than listing it's members using 'NULU'). LUX will deal with libraries too, but they're designed for RCP/M's. To extract the LBR's contents (provided they're not compressed), type "-x" and then a drive/file specification, most often times the file specificaiton will be "*.*" to extract everything. If you were to type "-x b:*.*" at the NULU prompt in an open library, that means to extract all the files to drive B:, but it won't unsqueeze the files if they're squeezed (those files, often times, will have a "Q" as the second letter of the file's extension). For those files, use "-q" instead of "-x". To unsqueeze all files with Q as the second letter of the file type, type "-q b:*.?Q?" which will unsqueeze (or try to) all files with the letter "Q" as the second letter in the file type. Most CP/M programs with multiple files are in the .LBR format, but there are the occasional .ARK, .ARC, and .ZIP files. > I believe the card is refered to as a Z-80 Softcard and doesn't appear > to have any manufacturer's markings on it. Therefore, I don't believe > it is actually an Apple made card. As I said a couple of paragraphs ago, they were distributed by Microsoft. > Can anyone enlighten me soas I may get the maximum use out of this > system. I have used the CP/M OS with some success and really like what > it does for my rather modest system. If you have used CP/M on other computers, then using CP/M program on the Apple will be more or less the same as you have used them on, say an Osborne, a Kaypro, an SBC, or an S-100 box. However, if you plan to do a lot of stuff between operating systems, particularly in ProDOS, I very much suggest that you get a program called "Chameleon" which runs under Apple ProDOS and will transfer between all four major diskette formats, i.e. DOS 3.3, ProDOS (you'll need this to run Chameleon), Pascal (it will only support the 5 1/4" variety, I believe), and CP/M. Have fun!
pittman@mwk.uucp (03/21/91)
In article <1991Mar19.213708.706@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, umsmit72@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Kenneth G. Smith) writes: > I have recently obtained a CP/M card for my Apple II+ computer (without > documentation) and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few > questions... > > [...] > 2) Of the several disks I obtained with the card, I have a program > called 'NULU' which deals with libraries. I was wondering what the > purpose of a library is and how you go about using one. I have > only one '.LBR' file on the disks called 'LUX42.LBR' (on the modem7 > program disk) and haven't been able to manipulate the data in it to > any great extent (other than listing it's members using 'NULU'). The .LBR file is CP/M's old analog of the .ARC and .ZIP files for PC, except that no _automatic_ data compression takes place in the .LBR file. It is possible to put compressed (*.?Q? and *.?Z?) files in a .LBR file, but that is a separate step, and is not required. Try the following with NULU... First, put the disk with NULU in drive A:, then give the following command (the A> is CP/M's prompt): A> NULU NULU is now waiting for your commands. Put the disk that has LUX42.LBR in drive A:, and a blank, formatted disk in drive B:. Then, try the following command: -O A:LUX42 -E B:*.* -X The -O command tells NULU to open A:LUX42.LBR, and the -E command tells NULU to extract all members to drive B:. The -X command tells it to close the library and exit the program. At that point, you should be able to do a "DIR B:" and see all the files that got extracted. Another command you should try is the -F command, which puts NULU into "filesweep mode". It steps you through the members of a library and lets you apply one-key commands to them. For example: A> NULU -O D:XYZ.LBR -F Also note in the above example that NULU commands can be spelled out in the CP/M command line. I can't remember the exact command (perhaps -H?) but there is an online help screen available. Sorry I can't help you with your Z80 SoftCard. Regards... Darrell Pittman ------------------------------------------------------------- --- Darrell Pittman pittman@mwk.uucp --- --- M. W. Kellogg Co. pittman%mwk@lobster.hou.tx.us --- --- Houston, TX (713) 753-4410 --- -------------------------------------------------------------