[comp.os.cpm] ZSDOS on Xerox 820-II

sage@LL.MIT.EDU (Jay Sage) (01/08/91)

Mike Sprague described his travails with getting ZSDOS installed on his Xerox
computer.

>> So, I tried MOVCPM * *.  I kept getting the message SYNCRONIZATION ERROR,
>> and the computer locked up, forcing me to push the reset button.

   That shows that the system you were running at the time was not one
created by that version of MOVCPM, which checks the DOS serial number in the
first six bytes of code.  Digital Research punishes one for trying to use a
'borrowed' MOVCPM by locking up the system.

>> MOVECPM ... seemed to work this time, though it came up with the
>> following.
>>  
>>      CCP   0000H
>>      BDOS  0800H
>>      BIOS  1600H

   This may or may not be a problem.  I don't remember what those values are
supposed to be.  I'd recommend that you look at that image file and see where
the CCP, DOS, and BIOS appear.  Normal SYSGEN images have them at 980H,
1180H, and 1F80H, respectively.

   I would also suggest that you make up a new boot disk based on the system
generated by MOVCPM and make sure it works.  Then go back to the ZSDOS
installation.

   Chris McEwen at Z-Node #32 runs this stuff, I'm quite sure, on Xerox 16/8
computers.  If it will work there, it should work on your simpler machine. 
Also, I seem to recall that the clock module menu includes something for the
Xerox 820 (though I may be mistaken).  Good luck.

--- Jay Sage

donm@pnet07.cts.com (Don Maslin) (01/10/91)

sage@LL.MIT.EDU (Jay Sage) writes:
>   That shows that the system you were running at the time was not one
>created by that version of MOVCPM, which checks the DOS serial number in the
>first six bytes of code.  Digital Research punishes one for trying to use a
>'borrowed' MOVCPM by locking up the system.
>
That sounds like the basic information needed to patch MOVCPM to eliminate the
problem.
                                                 - don

Keeper of the CP/M System Disk | UUCP: {nosc ucsd crash ncr-sd}!pnet07!donm
Archives for the Dino(saur)SIG | ARPA: simasd!pnet07!donm@nosc.mil
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wilker@descartes.math.purdue.edu (Clarence Wilkerson) (01/11/91)

To be fair, most MOVCPM`s incorporate at least minimal BIOS type code
to boot the system, so for a general user to use a different version
of MOVCPM than the one intended for the system would be pointless and
confusing to diagnose. Obviously this doesn't apply to hackers, who find
their own workarounds.

sprague.wbst311@XEROX.COM (01/15/91)

Thanks again Jay, and others, for the info.

If my MOVCPM and operating system do not match, then I am afraid they will
NEVER match.  However, I still think it might have had something to do with
CONFIGUR.  I kept getting the synchronization error until I formatted a floppy
with the master, sysgened it BUT did not configure it.  Formatting, sysgening
and configuring it, even using the master, resulted in a synchronization error.

Anyone know the patch for defeating the serial number check for MOVCPM?  I may
need it here.

>> Chuckle it's the same machine, not a simpler one.  A 16/8 is nothing more
>> than an 820-II with the 16/8 board (8086 CPU w/128K RAM) installed!!

>   Yes, but I would call a machine without the extra board and the software
> complications required to deal with it a "simpler" one.  Even more reason to
> contact Chris McEwen if you are still having trouble after generating a
> clean, new system disk.

What I meant to say is that CP/M is CP/M is CP/M.  Unless you start using the
16/8 board, with concurrent CP/M-80 and CP/M-86, there is NO difference between
running CP/M on a 16/8 or the 820-II.  Even so, I suspect the changes for ZSDOS
might be no different for CP/M-80, than for CP/M, assuming it could even be
installed.  CP/M-80 is NOT sysgened onto the boot tracks of the bootable floppy
(nor is CP/M-86).  Normal CP/M is what gets installed.  You have to run an
application (I don't remember what it is off the top of my head) to shift from
CP/M to CP/M-80.  Thus, I suspect you can't even install ZSDOS on the 16/8's
CP/M-80.

I may not be exactly correct here, as it's been a while since I messed with a
16/8 board.  It seems that there is so little software for CP/M-86, that it's
really not worth my time.

This does not mean, however, that I will not contact Chris McEwen.  Is there a
way I can contact him, besides the Z-nodes?  Someday I'm gonna hook a modem to
one of my computers ... someday.  :-)

				~ Mike  (Sprague.Wbst311@Xerox.Com)