Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tikal!sigma!bill From: bill@sigma.UUCP (William Swan) Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm Subject: Re: An Idea: An Omnibus Reference Work for CP/M Message-ID: <1444@sigma.UUCP> Date: 11 Dec 87 00:18:58 GMT References: <4276@ecsvax.UUCP> Reply-To: bill@sigma.UUCP (William Swan) Organization: Summation Inc, Kirkland WA Lines: 39 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