[comp.os.cpm] modern Z80 operating systems

tech@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Richard Loken) (05/10/89)

From an accumulation of postings and a recent subscription to the Computer
Journal I am slowly learning that it is to my advantage to get one of the
replacements/overlays for CP/M and run it on my dear old Trash 80 Model II.

I have accumulated an assortment of names such as TurboDos, ZDOS, ZCPR3,...

Can any of the enlightened explain what all these are?  For instance: 

    Do they replace the CP/M CCP?  Are they total CP/M replacement or what?
    What do I need to get such animals running on my little grey box?
    Why would I want to get one or more of these?
    What is the history behind these packages?
    Any reading material you can recommend on the subject?
    Any thing else that is relevant?

These things are very inexpensive - as is almost anything CP/M so I am inclined
to spend a little money and experiment.

     *********	    73
    **********	    Richard Loken VE6BSV
   .      ****	    
  ..      ****	    Athabasca University
 ....     ****	    Athabasca, Alberta Canada
..........****	    tech@athabascau.ca    alberta!auvax!tech

jahr@hprnd.HP.COM (Steve Jahr) (06/09/89)

Of those you mentioned, my favorite is TurboDos.

This particular CP/M look-alike supported full blown multi-tasking,
print spooling, networking, disk cache buffering, and came in a neat
package.

One of the more interesting architectures implemented was all of the
various S-100 multiprocessor systems.  These systems used a seperate
slave processor with it's own CPU/memory/io "networked" across the
bus to a master processor that did io server duties.

If you have a choice get a 1.41 or later version as these versions
supported banked memory: a user program bank and a system bank of
almost 64k each.  With this option you could get one of the largest
TPAs available.  Otherwise all of the nice features take up memory
and limit the TPA.

One nice feature of Turbo was that all commands were written as 
programs, there are no "built-in" commands.  The command processor
was only a program loader.

I could go on and on but to implement this wonder you will need the
Turbo Implementors Guide, be comfortable/have with assembler, and
go for it.  The os resides in normal disk files, so you could bootstrap
with CP/M and then go for Turbo.  Also the *whole* OS is packaged as
a *bunch* of relocatable "REL" files.  A nice link and patch facility
is provided so adding new drivers in is a breeze!

Well have fun...

Steve "a Turbo GURU in a past life" Jahr
(916) 785-4275