cwr@pnet01.cts.com (Will Rose) (07/16/90)
This is in response to Jay Sage's recent reply to Will Rose's recent message. >>> I decided the best way to play it was to move the BDOS down, and put the >>> ZCPR buffers between the BDOS and BIOS. >> Even if you could figure out how to do this, it does not result in the >>best solution. There are quite a few CP/M programs that calculate addresses >>on the assumption that the BDOS is 0E00H below the BIOS entry point. They >>will fail after you have made your modification. Thanks - just as well I didn't continue... Where do you put the buffers, then - under the fixed memory area and above the BIOS? I passed on that one, because I couldn't see how to move the BIOS. >>> However, I couldn't find out how (where) the QX10 kept the location of >>> the BDOS for use in eg. the warm-boot code; >> Is it not kept on the system tracks of the diskette the way it is on >>other CP/M computers? Yes, but there are a lot of bytes out there, many of them different... >>> I recently got a price for the current ZCPR/ZRDOS to run on a QX-10 from >>> Jay Sage's company (~$140 total) and decided it just wasn't cost >>> effective. If you ran the new ZCPR with NOVADOS (is that possible?) it >>> would only cost you ~$75; pricey, but might be worth it. >> There was apparently a major misunderstanding here. The cost of NZCOM is >>$70, and that provides a COMPLETE, automatically installing, and fully >>reconfigurable (statically and dynamically) Z-System, INCLUDING the ZRDOS >>disk operating system replacement code. I should have said 'the current ZCPR/ZDOS ... ($130 plus tax and postage where applicable)'. I use ZRDOS 1.7, and consider it a step back from CP/Ms BDOS - I'm very tired of 'ZRDOS error no. ??' messages. I should have said it auto-installed, too - sorry. >> The finest replacement DOS, in my opinion, is ZDOS (the ZSDOS/ZDDOS pair >>of datestamping DOSs). True - if you're upgrading, this is the one to have. I very much want date- stamping. The Z-system would be especially useful, I imagine, on the Amstrad (since this machine is also under discussion). I never did like CP/M 3.0; seems awkward to use somehow, tho' there's a lot of power in there. Good luck - Will ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "If heaven too had passions | Will Rose even heaven would | UUCP: {nosc ucsd hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!pnet01!cw grow old." - Li Ho. | ARPA: crash!pnet01!cwr@nosc.mil | INET: cwr@pnet01.cts.com UUCP: {nosc ucsd hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!pnet01!cwr ARPA: crash!pnet01!cwr@nosc.mil INET: cwr@pnet01.cts.com
SAGE@LL.LL.MIT.EDU (07/17/90)
This is in response to Will Rose's recent reply to Jay Sage's recent reply to Will Rose's recent message. >> Thanks - just as well I didn't continue... Where do you put the buffers, >> then - under the fixed memory area and above the BIOS? I passed on that >> one, because I couldn't see how to move the BIOS. One wants to put the buffers above the BIOS. If you have a complete version of MOVCPM, this is easy. Just create a "smaller" system. If you presently have, say, a "61K system" and want 4K for ZCPR buffers, then create a "57K system". You will still have to add a patch to the BIOS coldboot code to initialize the buffers. That is pretty easy to do. >> Yes, [the DOS is kept on the system tracks of the diskette,] but there >> are a lot of bytes out there, many of them different... I'm not sure I quite followed this comment. Usually there are a couple of boot loader sectors and then the operating system in one contiguous block. The CCP occupies 16 records (2k), the DOS 28 records, and the BIOS whatever it takes. There are characteristic signatures that allow one to identify each of the three components. >> I use ZRDOS 1.7, and consider it a step back from CP/Ms BDOS - I'm very >> tired of 'ZRDOS error no. ??' messages. I've never been a fan of ZRDOS, either, but the cryptic error messages were not the worst thing. After all, one can look them up, and the program DOSERR would convert the number into a full-text message. What I really objected to was the way public directories were (mis)implemented. ZDOS handled that matter nicely (and managed to fit in full error messages nevertheless -- nothing like good coding!). ZRDOS does have some good features. I am told that it does run noticeably faster than BDOS. Also, deficient as the public directory implementation might be, it still makes possible some things that could not otherwise be done. In any case, as I mentioned in my earlier message, it is quite trivial to replace the ZRDOS that comes with NZCOM with either NOVADOS or Z80DOS. The latter, I know, comes in the ZRL relocatable format so that it can be installed without any effort at all. One other comment about ZDOS. At $60 (for NZCOM owners), it is not very much more than DateStamper ($50). So for only $10 more, you get a superior form of datestamping (less memory used and more flexibility) and a superior DOS. -- Jay Sage