tcamp@ecsvax.UUCP (Ted A. Campbell) (12/07/87)
For those of us who still work with CP/M programming, something I've always wished for would be a largish book giving terminal escape sequences, disk formats, asynchronous communications info, and other related computer-specific info for the plethora of CP/M machines. This would make it much easier for us to develop pro- grams with a somewaht braoder market than heretofore possible. Judging from Micropro's sales of CP/M Wordstar 4.0, there's still something of a market. I wondered if this could be something we could undertake as an online project. We could develop a template of requested info, allow places for further information, send the info to a central gathering point, and gather it all into an ASCII text file (or files) that we could put out on various BBS's. Maybe while we're at it, we could include basic stuff like 8080 and Z80 mnemonics, CP/M and CP/M Plus BDOS and BIOS entry points and the like. Maybe this would give us an opportunity to develop something like an RSX that could deal with a standard TERMCAP, allowing the development of near-universal screen-oriented CP/M programs. Any interest out there? -- Ted A. Campbell | Duke Divinity School | Durham, NC 27706 | email: tcamp@ecsvax |
ruiu@tic.UUCP (Dragos Ruiu) (12/09/87)
In article <4276@ecsvax.UUCP>, tcamp@ecsvax.UUCP (Ted A. Campbell) writes: > > For those of us who still work with CP/M programming, something I've > always wished for would be a largish book giving terminal escape > sequences, disk formats, asynchronous communications info, and > other related computer-specific info for the plethora of CP/M > machines. This would make it much easier for us to develop pro- > grams with a somewaht braoder market than heretofore possible. > -- > Ted A. Campbell | > email: tcamp@ecsvax | It has been done to an extent. From my old CP/M application programming days I have a book that lists 145 terminals and PC's one per page listing: -Screen Layout in rows and columns -Row, col numbering scheme -Cursor addressing and examples -Erasure -Video Attributes -Cursor keys -Character Set -Emulation -Function keys It's invaluable (and was when you could make money in CP/M). It has a few weaknesses because it doesn't know about any real bells and whistles, and some of the info on wierd 'magic cookie' HP terminals and such doesn't even begin to describe the Twilight Zone design of them, but on the whole the book is very accurate. It has just about every PC and terminal that existed in 1985. It's: A Programmer's Guide to Video Display Terminals by David Sthephens 1985 Atlantis Publishing Corporation P.O. Box 59467 Dallas, Texas 75229 ISBN 0-936158-01-8 I haven't a clue wether this company exists anymore, or if there is a newer version. I've got mine and it would take a $lot$ of money to take it away. It has been invaluable on a number of occasions. I mean where else could you find the cursor movement sequences for a Franklin Ace ? :-) Perhaps we could find the author and persuade him to post his term database ? -- Dragos Ruiu Disclaimer: My opinons are my employer's, I'm unemployed! UUCP:{ubc-vision,mnetor,vax135,ihnp4}!alberta!edson!tic!dragos!work (403) 432-0090 #1705, 8515 112th Street, Edmonton, Alta. Canada T6G 1K7 Never play leapfrog with Unicorns...
tom@pedsga.UUCP (12/11/87)
In article <4276@ecsvax.UUCP> tcamp@ecsvax.UUCP writes: > >For those of us who still work with CP/M programming, something I've >always wished for would be a largish book giving terminal escape ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >sequences, disk formats, asynchronous communications info, and >........... info deleted ........... Check out a book called: A Programmer's Guide to Video Display Terminals by David Stephens Atlantis Publishing 1985 ISBN 0-936158-01-8 It has the escape sequences indexed by Manufacturer, Terminal, Curson Address Lead-in, Clear Screen, etc. It also has some info on the ANSI X3.64 standard. > ......... Maybe this would give us an opportunity >to develop something like an RSX that could deal with a standard >TERMCAP, allowing the development of near-universal screen-oriented >CP/M programs. Any interest out there? I think it would be terrific. I use a Perkin-Elmer terminal w/ my CPM system, and have had to go into a PD program and figure out it's hard- coded escape sequences and replace or null them out. Would terminfo be a start?
bill@sigma.UUCP (William Swan) (12/11/87)
In article <4276@ecsvax.UUCP> tcamp@ecsvax.UUCP (Ted A. Campbell) writes: >For those of us who still work with CP/M programming, something I've >always wished for would be a largish book giving terminal escape >sequences, disk formats, asynchronous communications info, and >other related computer-specific info for the plethora of CP/M >machines. [...] >I wondered if this could be something we could undertake as an >online project. [...] >Maybe while we're at it, we could include basic stuff like 8080 >and Z80 mnemonics, CP/M and CP/M Plus BDOS and BIOS entry >points and the like. Maybe this would give us an opportunity >to develop something like an RSX that could deal with a standard >TERMCAP, allowing the development of near-universal screen-oriented >CP/M programs. Any interest out there? Sounds like a nice idea, and I could contribute info about one machine, but I wonder how useful this might be in the long run. I suspect that most CP/M users are now fairly knowledgeable (the dummies have gone to MSDOS now :-), and certainly those who would be calling the BBSs would have the knowledge to apply overlay patches for their system. The fear I have is the plethora of terminals (take a look at the Unix termcap files - you could extract a *lot* of info right there!), and of weird disk formats that would require very specific knowledge of *in advance* to handle. For example of the latter, my Alspa machine (8") ALWAYS makes track 0 single density, track 1 double, and the rest of the disk as selected (unless you are dealing with what it calls an IBM format, which is all SSSD). Now to confuse the issue, it does not translate double-density sectors in the BIOS, it pre-formats them skewed!! (It will work if the disk is formatted with the sectors in order, but oh, how slow it runs!) I have no idea what the 5-1/4" disks are like. As far as termcap capabilities, doesn't ZCPR3 make this available? Are you proposing to collect the information? -- William Swan {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!sigma!bill
kenw@noah.arc.CDN (Ken Wallewein) (12/14/87)
>all SSSD). Now to confuse the issue, it does not translate double-density >sectors in the BIOS, it pre-formats them skewed!! (It will work if the I've been working on a format program to do exactly that for my own 8" DSDD system (S100, SD Systems controller with WD 1791, Jade Z80 CPU) so I could change skew factors without messing around in the BIOS or figuring out some scheme to tell it what skew to use. I do skew calculation 'on the fly' now, rather than having to re-build the tables, and a little experimentation has convinced me to adopt a skew of 2 for most situations. The person from whom I bought the system had used no skew at all. It loaded programs very quickly, but re-logging the directories after rebooting was almost painful :-). Unfortunately, I have a LOT of disks already recorded in that format, and would really rather not have to go back and copy the lot over... although, come to think of it, it might be simpler... I can see no reason why a PROPERLY SELECTED skew would not work very nicely in a pre-formatted configuration. Do you know whether there might be some reason _other_ than the choice of skew factor, which could be causing the problem? If you have the source for the format program and wouldn't mind sending me a copy, I would very much appreciate it. /kenw