Micro_Cornucopia_#24_Jun85 Micro Cornucopia #24 Jun85

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No. 24

June-July 1985 .

TABLE OF CONTENTS
C'ing Into Turbo Pascal .......................................
Soldering: The First Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Eight Inch Drives On The Kaypro ..............................
Kaypro BIOS Patch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Alternative Power Supply For The Kaypro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
48 Lines On A BBI ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
Adding An 8" SSSD Drive To A Morrow MD-2 ...................
Review: The Ztime-I .......................................... .
BDOS Vectors (Mucking Around Inside CP 1M) ................. .
The Pascal Runoff

4
36
38
40
42
44
50
55
62
77

Regular Features

The S-100 Bus
In The Public Domain... ..
C'ing Clearly ............ .
The Xerox 820 Column ... .
The Slicer Column ........
The KayproColumn ..... .
Pascal Procedures ........ .
FORTH words
On Your Own ........... .

9
13
16
19
24
33
57
61
68

Technical Tips ........... .
Culture Corner. . . . . . . . . . ..

70
76

Future Tense
Tidbits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..
68000 Vrs. 80X86 .. . . . . . ...
MSX In The USA . . . . . . . ..
The Last Page ............

79
83
84
88

NEW LOWER PRICES!

NOW IN "UNKIT"* FORM TOO!

"BIG BOARD II"
4 MHz Z80·A SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER WITH "SASI"
HARD·DISK INTERFACE

$795 ASSEMBLED & TESTED

$545 "UNKIT"*

Jim Ferguson, the designer of the "Big Board" distributed by Digital
Research Computers, has produced a stunning new computer that
Cal-Tex Computers has been shipping for a year. Called "Big Board II", it
has the following features:

• 4 MHz Z80-A CPU and Peripheral Chips
The new Ferguson computer runs at 4 MHz. Its Monitor code is lean, uses Mode 2
interrupts, and makes good use of the ZaD-A DMA chip.

• 64K Dynamic RAM + 4K Static CRT RAM +
24K E(E)PROM or Static RAM

$245 PC BOARD WITH 16 PARTS

SIZE: 8.75" X 15.5"
POWER: +5V @ 3A, +-12V @ 0.1A
• "SASI" Interface for Winchester Disks
Our "Big Board II" implements the Host portion of the "Shugart Associates Systems
Interface." Adding a Winchester disk drive is no harder than attaching a floppy-disk
drive. A user simply 1) runs a fifty-conductor ribbon cable from a header on the board to
a Xebec controller that costs only $29S and implements the controller portion of the
SASI interface, 2) cables the controller to a Seagate Technology ST-S06 hard disk or
one compatible with it. and 3) provides power for the controller-card and drive. Since
our CBIOS contains code for communicating with hard-disks, that's all a user has to do
to add a.Winchester to a system!

"Big Board II" has three memory banks. The first memory bank has eight 4164 DRAMs
that provide 60K of user space and 4K of monitor space. The second memory bank has
two 2Kxa SRAMs for the memory-mapped CRT display and space for six 2732As, 2Kxa
static RAMs, or pin-compatible EEPROMS. The third memory bank is for RAM or ROM
added to the board via the STD bus. Whether bought as a bare board, an "unkit"*, or
assembled and tested, it comes with a 2732 EPROM containing Russell Smith's superb
Monitor.

With a Z8D-A SIO/O and a ZaD-A CTC as a baud-rate generator, the new Ferguson
computer has two full RS232-C ports. It autobauds on both.

• Multiple-Density Controller for
SS/DS Floppy Disks

The new Cal-Tex single-board computer has one parallel port for an ASCII keyboard
and four others for user-defined 1/0.

The new Cal-Tex single-board computer has a multiple-density disk controller. It can
use 1793 or aa77 controller chips since it generates the side signal with TTL parts. The
board has two connectors for disk signals, one with 34 pins for S.2S" drives, the other
with SO pins for a" drives.

• Vastly Improved CRT Display
The new Ferguson SBC uses a 6845 CRT controller and SMC 8002 video attributes
controller to produce a display rivaling the display of quality terminals. There are three
display modes: Character, block-graphics, and line-graphics. The board emulates an
ADM-31 with 24 lines of ao characters formed by a 7x9 dot matrix.

• STD Bus
The new Ferguson computer has an STD Bus port for easy system expansion.

• DMA

The new Ferguson computer has a ZaD-A DMA chip that will allow byte-wise data
transfers at SOO KBytes per second and bit-serial transfers via the ZaD-A SIO at a80 Kbits
per second with minimal processer overhead. When a hard-disc subsystem is added.
the DMA chip makes impressive disk performance possible.

CAL·TEX COMPUTERS, INC.
780 E. TRIMBLE ROAD #504· SAN JOSE. CA 95131 • (408) 942·1424

• Two Synchronous/Asynchronous Serial Ports

• A Parallel Keyboard Port + Four Other Parallel
Ports for User I/O

• Two Z80-A CTCs = Eight Programmable Counters/Timers
The new Ferg uson computer has two ZaD-A CTCs. One is used to clock data into and
out of the ZaO-A SIOIO, while the other is for systems and applications use.

• PROM Programming Circuitry
The new Cal-Tex SBC has circuitry for programming 2716s, 2732(A)s, or pincombatible EEPROMs.

• CP/M 2.2**
CPIM with Russell Smith's CBIOS for the new Cal-Tex computer is available for $1S0.
The CBIOS is available separately for $2S.

* The "unkit" is a fully-socketed, wave-soldered "Big Board "". It requires
NO soldering. All an "un kit" purchaser must do is carefully insert the
prime ICs we supply in the proper sockets and systematically proceed to
bring up and test the board.
"CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research.

Terms: Orders paid for with a cashier's check or bank card will be shipped within three
working days. Orders paid for with a personal check will be shipped within three weeks.
Add $S for packing & shipping in North America.

MICRO CORNUCOPIA
P.O. Box 223
Bend, Oregon 97709
503-382-5060 Orders Only
503-382-8048 Tech. 9 - Noon

IICIO COINUCOPII
June-July 1985

The Micro Technical Journal

No. 24

Editor & Publisher
David J. Thompson
Operations Manager
David Pogue
Assistant Editors
Rebecca Ozrelic Gary Entsminger
Accounting
Sandra Thompson

On Your
Mark!

Graphic Design
Craig Lannes
Michael Odell
Technical Department
Dana Cotant
Eric Roby
Bruce Berryhill
Laine Stump
Advertising Director
Alice Holbrow
Staff Assistants
Dorcas Dsenis
Tracey Braas
Cary Gatton
Carla Miller
Laura Pendley

Typography
Patti Morris & Martin White
Irish Setter
MICRO CORNUCOPIA supports systems
programming languages and builders of single
board and 5-100 systems.
Application to mail at second class postage
rates is pending at Bend, OR 97701 and additional entries. Published bimonthly by Micro
Cornucopia Inc., 155 NW Hawthorne, Bend,
OR 97701. Postmaster: Send address change
to Micro Cornucopia Inc., PO Box 223, Bend,
OR 97709.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
1 yr. (2nd Class)
$16.00
1 yr. (Canada & Mexico)
$22.00
1 yr. (Other foreign)
$30.00
Make all orders payable in U.S. funds on a
U.S. bank, please.
ADVERTISING RATES: Available on request
(call Alice Holbrow).
CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please send your
old label and new address.
SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, AND BOOK
VENDORS: We would very much like to review your software, Single Board, and 5-100
products. Send materials to the Review Department, Micro Cornucopia.
Copyright 1985 by Micro Cornucopia Inc.
All rights reserved

ISSN 0747-587X

A Contest To Start All Contests
Usually people announce contests to
end all contests. This one is a beginning.
We've been sitting around trying to decide how best to do it and, meantime,
nothing has happened.
We kicked around the idea of leaving it
open. You know, anyone can use any
language, create any length program, on
any subject.
"Too general," was the reaction from
all the reactionaries in the office. (What
else are they good for?)
We kicked around the idea of specifying the language, the version of the language, the subject, the program length,
and the color of the programmer's eyes.
"Too specific," was the reaction (from
you-know-who).
It was immediately obvious that we
were going to have to compromise on
this contest (or get rid of the reactionaries). So we're specifying the language
(Turbo Pascal), but not the version.
We've sort of narrowed program length,
but not the subject. As for eye color,
we've chosen "bleery red streaks" so all
inveterate hackers will qualify easily.
Check out the contest article in this issue. (Dr. Dobb's just held a contest and
had four entries. Let's see what we can
do.)
10,000 Subscribers
I remember when Lifelines magazine
announced they had 5,000 subscribers. I
was green with envy because Lifelines
and Micro C started about the same time.
We had around 500 circulation at that
time (5,000 seemed an impossible
dream), and I was still working at Tektronix. I figured that about the time we
hit 1,000 I could quit Tek and cut my
workday back to 20 hours.

When we printed labels for the AprilMay issue this year we had over 9500
subscribers, and we celebrated the
10,000 mark in mid-April. We hit 5,000
almost exactly a year ago. (Now, if you'd
all come to SOG IV ... )
Speaking Of SOG IV
Don't forget to send in your SOG registration form. Let us know if you're
coming (or at least maybe coming), even
if you're not planning on rafting, dining,
staying in the dorms, or feeding the
chipmunks. (The dorm has been full
since mid April, but you'll find plenty of
space in local motels and camp
grounds.)
There is an Experimental Aircraft Association meet every year. During August, every home-built, antique, and
non-antique private aircraft that isn't
cruelly tethered, takes its family and flies
to Oshkosh.
The airplanes park on a grass field next
to the airstrip, and the families camp for
a week under the wings of their craft (everyone wanders around meeting everyone else).
I'd like to make the SOG into a similar
event. All I need to do is find an appropriate field and equip it with basic necessities, and we could make SOG a real experience (not that a lot of families don't
already camp out when they come to the
SOG).
In fact, the EAA brags that it has the
largest collection of porta-potties in one
place, at one time, in the world. They
might even have 5,000 of them. (Of
course, 5,000 potties seems like an impossible dream for Micro C, but ... )
32032 Support
The National 32032 and 32016 chips
have been languishing in the shadow of
the 8088/8086 and the 68000. Well,
Trevor Marshall, well known among the
Micro C crowd for his BBI winchester designs, has spent the last year working on
a 32032 based co-processor board.
Trevor not only designed the system
(with the help of two friends), but he has
also written two articles (hardware de(continued on page 72)

LITTIRS
Rebuttal For Kamas
I write to take friendly but spirited exception to Jack Rodenhi's lukewarm review of Kamas (by Kamasoft, formerly
Compusophic Systems). My disagreement is mostly on the degree of usefulness of an outline maker. In the few
months I've had Kamas, it's been a huge
help in getting me started on writing
projects.
To illustrate how I've integrated Kamas into my own writing process, here's
my list of steps:
1. Make my outline with Kamas.
2. Enter as much text as I want into
text leaves.
3. Rearrange, fix stuff, and do general
editing.
4. Output a WordStar compatible file
to disk.
5. Call up WordStar for correcting and
final editing.
6. Call up The Word + for checking
spelling.and typos.
7. Switch back to WordStar and print
the thing out!
One other thing: Kamas is the only
outline making program available right
now for the CP/M-80 Kaypro. It's not as
if we had a choice. It's either Kamas for
my Kaypro II or nothing.
Lucian W. Minor
Box 1101
Wellfleet MA 02667

dBASE Advice
I read Issue 22 and wanted to comment on your problems with using
dBASE II to print your mailing labels. I
have been programming in dBASE for
about 21/2 years, but the version numbers you mentioned were new to me.
Are they Kaypro dBASE version numbers? CP/M-80 dBASE II is currently up
to version 2.41. Version 2.3B was full of
bugs. 2.40 was a good improvement,
and 2.41 added a little more. If you're not
using at least 2.40, I'd suggest you get it.
It could be your problem. I wouldn't use
2.313 for anything!
I am about 90 percent finished re-writing The Master Check Register program.
(Version 2.0 will ·be called "Turbo
Cheques.") I started programming in
Turbo Pascal last summer, and saw the
advantages of switching over from

dBASE to Turbo P. I decided to re-write
the entire program in Turbo Pascal. The
speed improvement is unbelievable! In
addition, there are many things Turbo P
has that dBASE II lacks: Procedures and
Functions, no 32 field limit, no 64 memory variable limit, etc. I feel free to be more
creative in my programming designs.
The 8-bit CP/M Compiler from WordTech is a flop! It is far too slow to compile
and link, and the finished application
runs SLOWER than in dBASE II. It is
worth the effort to learn to program in
Turbo Pascal to do 8-bit CP/M programming. The speed improvements over
dBASE II are enough by themselves.
And remember, Turbo P only adds 8K to
your total applications file size! (For the
RunTime library.)
Ralph E. Freshour
7 Silver Eagle Road
Rolling Hills Estates CA 90274

Editor's note:
Thanks for the comments, Ralph. The version numbers were errors (mine). I am using
2.3b and 2040. I know that 2.3b is buggy, but
it leaves a little more space for memory variables so some of my programs run under it that
won't run under 2040. For instance, adding a
record to a large indexed file is much faster
under 2 .37 than under 2 040. Also, my copy of
2040 won't recognize the decimal point in the
picture clauses, so the gals prefer entering receipts under 2.37.
We're currently futzing over all our
dBASE routines to Turbo. I'll keep everyone
posted on how it works out.

Composite Video Update
Last week one of the local dealers sent
me to the Kaypro service clinic. You just
can't stay on top of things in this biz.
Since submitting my "Composite Video" article (see Issue #22, page 50), I
have found that you can't use that approach on the 10. Now I've delved into
the 2-84/4-84 boards and the new "universal" board and found the same video
circuits as the 10. The graphics are nice,
but the hi-res method of achieving them
nukes my cheap video approach. However, my board does work on Xerox 820s.
Richard Bugg
2703 N.W. 20th
Oklahoma City OK 73107

Kaypro Goes Arabic
This is in response to a question in Issue 22 about Arabic capabilities for the
Kaypro. Zadian Research has an Arabic
conversion package which runs on the
Kaypro 2, 2X, 4, and 10. The package includes software to convert CP /M, WordStar, CalcStar, and other programs to
Arabic. It also comes with a set of programs for Arabic text processing and
printing and full documentation.
Zadian Research has also developed
an arabization kit for the Prowriter dotmatrix printer. It allows the Prowriter to
print Arabic without losing any of its
English capabilities. Interspersed Arabic
and English and enlarged Arabic are also
supported.
The bilingual Kaypro models and the
arabization kit for the Prowriter printer
are available from the International Marketing Department of Kaypro Corporation, 533 Stevens Avenue, Solana Beach,
CA 92075.
Zadian Research
1749 Jonathan Avenue
San Jose CA 95125

Selling Prototypes
I'm wondering if there is some way to
profit from my ideas without having to
do everything myself. Is Micro C, or
some company that advertises in Micro
C, interested in buying working hardware prototypes to be finished (e.g.
packaging, purchasing volume parts,
making PC boards, and writing software) in exchange for royalties or something? Frankly, a $15 diskette of software
is poor compensation for several days
worth of work. Is there some other possibility I haven't thought of?
Phil Hunter
655 S. Fair Oaks #E-317
Sunnyvale CA 94086

Editor's note:
Sure, we'd be glad to look at any projects
you are working on. Give me a call and let's
discuss what you're doing. Maybe we can do
a combination article, circuit board, etc. It
could also be a straight product.
Also, the disk is not the only payment for
an article. When we receive an article we send
out a disk, pronto. Then when we print the
article we send out additional goodies: the

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

LITTIRS
special feature for each issue is worth $75, five
copies of Micro C, and an author's T-shirt
(great for wearing at the SOG). The regular
articles are worth $25, three magazines, and
the author's T-shirt.
Tri-Flow Triumphs
I am in a group of nine engineers
working for Xerox, providing technical
hardware and software support to about
1300 technicians in four states for our
copier and duplicator lines.
A while back, in your Kaypro Column
of Issue 15, you stated that Xerox Service
Centers use WD-40 to lubricate disk
drives. To bring you and Micro C readers
up to date, in early 1984, Xerox cancelled
the use of WD.:.40 and began using TriFlow in its products.
There were some good reasons for this
decision. Several fires in our copier/duplicators were caused when WD-40
spray came in contact with a high voltage
component, created an arc, and ignited.
In addition, we felt that although WD-40
did a good job of washing the old lubricant from a bearing, its own lubricating
properties were very short lived.
The only good application I can think
of for WD-40 in any of our products is to
clean nasty, dirty drive chains
I am very much in favor of lubricating
the lead screws and slides with Tri-Flow.
The standard CP/M-80 that comes with,
the 820-11,8" SS, is configured for a head
step rate of ISms, which is too slow.
Any 8" drive in good shape will step
reliably at 10,6, or even 3 ms. I have seen
cases where new 8" drives out of the box
would not read at 6ms, but after the lead
screws were lubricated with Tri-Flow I
could change this time to 3ms and boot
99+ percent of the time.
It wquld be wise, however, to keep a
disk in the archives with the step rate left
at ISms just in case the drives get gummy and you can't boot. All of my working disks have been at 3ms since I did the
Tri-Flow trick over a year ago.
Another tip: the oilite bearings found
in most drives should not be lubricated.
This is a porous metal which is impregnated with oil during manufacturing. Adding oil will free the bearing for a
short time, but will cause the pores to
clog and accelerate the wear of the bearings.

The best way to remove dirt and gum
from these bearings is with a clean, dry,
lint-free cloth.
If an oilite bearing is properly manufactured and, more importantly, stored
correctly prior to drive assembly (paper
or other absorbant packaging materials
will leach the oil from the bearing),
enough oil will remain after the bearing
is cleaned.
Doug Felton
1215 Oxley Rd.
Columbus OH 43212

Arizona Kaypro Users Group
As owner of a Kaypro dealership in
Phoenix and sponsor of the Arizona
Kaypro Users Group, I wrote to tell you
what tremendous success I've had with
the mods and upgrades for Kaypro suggested in Micro C. I did nearly 100 5MHz
upgrades last year, and installed more
, than 30 disk drives behind Pro-8 ROMs
just last month. I find the instructions for
the upgrades very complete and quite
clear.
During this month's AKUG meeting
the club's officers demonstrated their 4drive Kaypros. Two of our officers (John
and Sharon Wertz) have 'his-n-hers'
Kaypros, each sporting four Mitsubishi
quads.
Our RBBS/RCPM is tagged "Lost
Dutchman's Gold Mine #2" and is devoted exclusively to Kaypro support and
utilities. The number is (602) 863-1435.
The board operates 30011200 baud, 24
hours a day. There is no fee, and our only request is that users log on with real
names, not handles.
Kelvin Paul Giles
13829 North 19th Ave.
Phoenix AZ 85023
TPA Program Fix
In Issue #23 Tom Geldner (in "Running In CP/M's TPA") gave a programming example in SBASIC that was suppose,d to dynamically size an array
according to available memory. His example works, except that the way he did
it, the array will always have a maximum
size of 32767 even if more room is available.

Micro CornucopIa, Number 24, June-July 1985

The problem lies in the way SBASIC
uses the signed value of INTEGER variables when dealing with FOR. .NEXT
loops. (FOR. .NEXT uses signed integers
rather than unsigned integers like
WHILE.) The solution is to use a
WHILE .. DO structure.
x =0
WHILE x <> max. memory DO BEGIN
x =x + 1
sample.array(x) = 0
END

Richard Levine
3105 Meadow Grove Dr.
San Diego CA 92110

Packet Power
Maybe you already know this, but the
820 is becoming the standard for packet
radio mailbox systems. WORLI has written an excellent package that includes,
among other things, automatic forwarding of mail to other mailboxes based on a
table of users for each mailbox. There's
also an add-on HDLC chip board to allow using it for a TNC. In our area the
packet users have grabbed about 20 of
them for various types of experiments.
Fun stuff!
Jon Pearce, WB2MNF
109 Pine Cone Trail
Medford NJ 08055

U.S. Robotics Modems OK
While leafing' through your Kaypro
Users C;atalog, I noticed on page 11 there
is a statement written about the U.S. Robotics modems being unreliable for dialing from preloaded directory files.
I have two U.S. Robotics modems, an
AUTODIAL 212A and a PASSWORD,
and in the past six months I have not experienced any difficulties in dialing from
the phone directories of TELPAC,
MDM712, KM300, KM1200, NDM730,
PHONE.001, etc. This is true for the
Kaypro 2-83 and Kaypro 2X.
George J. Parker
P. O. Box 14911

C'ing Into Turbo Pascal
By Ron Miller

Like a great number of hackers, I am
convinced that for really getting down to
manipulating the system, C is the only
way to fly.
Not only does C offer the means to attack a problem at the byte level, but C
syntax is also more elegant, more
straightforward, and more readable the
morning after than any of the alternatives.
When Not To C
However, the complex sequence of library searching, compiling, assembling,
and linking that gives such hands-on
control when writing a utility program in
C becomes a genuine pain when crafting
an inventory system or typing out a loop
to average grades. And reading and
writing records to a random-access file is
not something one does casually in C
straight out of the box.
The answer for me, and apparently for
lots of people, is Turbo Pascal.
It's good, it's fast, and it's inexpensive. Debugging can actually be fun
when the full screen editor places the
cursor right on the trouble spot.
Absolute Addressing & More
I remember opening my package from
Borland over a year ago, wondering if I'd
been a fool to buy something with such a
silly name. Well, for 50 bucks, what can
you lose? Your cynicism, for one thing.
My prior Pascal experience with JRT
didn't prepare me for the delights to follow. These folks, I immediately recognized, think like C programmers.
There were structured constants
(read: initialized variables); free placement of variable declarations, functions,
and procedures (read: libraries); absolute addressing (read: pointers to the operating system); interconversion among
scalars (read: casts); and bit manipulations (read: packed fields, tagging, and
all the rest).
Turbo has never threatened to replace
my beloved C/80 for getting down eyeball-to-eyeball with my Z80. Pascal's
syntax is just too cumbersome when I get
serious about manipulating bytes.
Incrementing A Character Pointer
For examp,le, to increment a character
pointer in C after printing the current

1157 Ellison Drive
Pensacola FL 32503

character, all one writes is:
putchar(*charptr++);

Whereas in Pascal the best one can do is:
write(charptr A ) ;
charptr := PTR(SUCC(ORD(charptr»);

But Turbo does give you the transfer
functions to do the job.
At times, I'm even willing to put up
with ORDs, SUCCs, PREDs, CHRs, ADDRs, and PTRs rather than give up Pascal's set variables, arithmetic-style string

operations, interactive debugging, and
compilation in the twinkling of an eye.
And there are even lower-level tricks
lurking in Turbo Pascal.
Beginners may find these sample routines an encouragement to get a little
closer to their operating systems. Experts will undoubtedly see better ways
and assure themselves smugly that
FORTH or C or assembly language does
it better. I can only echo Dr. Johnson'S
comment on dogs walking on their hind
legs: it's amazing not that it's done well,
but that it's done at all.

Figure 1

PROGRAM directory;
CONST
ADDRESS = $bOOO;
fcb:array[1 •• 13] of char=IOO'Z??????????'IOO;
{wlldcarding fcblock}
VAR
i,j:byte;
charptr:"char;
BEGIN
bdos(26,ADDRESS);
{setting the dma}
bdos(17,ADDR(fcb»;
{ftseek firstft; structured consts have addressesl}
charptr := PTR(ADDRESS); {setting the char ptr to beginning of dma}
FOR i:=O TO 127 DO
BEGIN
IF i mod 16 = 0 THEN writeln;
{rows of 16, ddt-style}
IF (i mod 32) IN [1 •• 11] THEN write(charptr A , ' , ) {if in filename}
ELSE
{write out hex numbers for other chars}
BEGIN
j := ORD(charptr A ) div 16; {high nibble of hex byte}
IF j < 10 THEN
WRITE(CHR(j+ORD('O'») ELSE WRITE(CHR(j-10+0RD('A'»);
j := ORD(charptr A ) mod 16; {low nibble}
IF j < 10 THEN
WRITE(CHR(j+ORD('O'»,' ') ELSE WRITE(CHR(j-10+ORD('A'»,' ');
END;
charptr := PTR(SUCC(ORD(charptr»);
END;
END.

Figure 2

(Contents of ARGREAD.LIB}
CONST {Don't let ·CONSTft fool you: these are initialized statics. See below.}
argv:array[l •• ~] of string[15]=(",",",");
argc:byte=1;
{the COM file itself is number 1}
PROCEDURE argread;
CONST
place:byte=$82;
{simply the initial memory address in the dma}
BEGIN
WHILE(mem[place] <> 0) DO
{just as in C: loop until a null}
BEGIN
{since a blank/non-blank pair always begins a new argument}
IF (mem[PRED(place)] = 32 ) AND (mem[place] IN [33 •• 126]) THEN
argc := SUCC(argc);
IF mem[place] <> 32 THEN .
argv[PRED(argc)] := argv[PRED(argc)] + CHR(mem[place]);
place := SUCC(place);
{See? These CONSTs act just like VARs.}
END;
END;

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Looking Into File Block Allocations
Let's practice a little Pascal string work
by applying it to a common enough lowlevel operation-the extraction of directory information by using a BDOS
"seek" function.
Suppose I want to examine the file
block allocations within the first directory sector listing a file beginning with the
letter Z. I would read a 128-byte sector
into an unused spot in memory and then
scan the sector to extract the file names
and locations (in hex) from the 32-byte·
file records. (See Figure 1)

With a little gymnastics, even Pascal
can speak hex (better than Post Office,
anyway).
The address here is noteworthy. I
would ordinarily use the 80H junk area
for this sort of work, but Turbo won't let
me. It "Y'rites over that convenient
dumping ground from 80H+20H onward. This can be quite disconcerting if
you are using BIOS read and write functions.
Extracting Directory Info
Move the DMA address to some area

Figure 3
BEGIN
mem[3] := mem[3] AND $3f; {setting IOBITE to serial}
ConOutPtr := LstOutPtr;
{CON: file pointer becomes LST: pointer}
END;
REPEAT
READ(dumpfile,c);
WRITE(UPCASE(CHR(ORD(c) AND $7f»);
{first strip off parity bits}
UNTIL EOF(dumpfile);
{50 UPCASE works: Wordstar, maybe?}
CLOSE(dumpfile);
END.
PROGRAM toggle;
{$I ARGREAD.LIB}
{Using the code above as a library file}
VAR
c:char;
dumpfile:TEXT;
{An unstructured ASCII file}
BEGIN
argread;
ASSIGN(dumpfile,argv[1]);
RESET(dumpfile);
IF(argv[2] = '>LST:') THEN

{possible redirection with second argument}

Figure 4
PROGRAM disker;
TYPE
param=RECORD
SPT:integer; {sectors per track}
BSH:byte;
{block sh1ft--actually, 3+log@-(2)(block size in k's)}
BLM:byte;
EXH:byte;
DSM:integer;
{one less than the block count on disk}
DRM:integerj
AL:integer; {allocation field for directory blocks}
CKS:integer;
OFF: integer; {number of reserved tracks}
END;

VAR
dpbptr:"param;
reserved,disksize,blocksize,allocptr,i:integer;

BEGIN
allocptr := bdoshl(27,0);
dpbptr := PTR(bdoshl(31,0»;
WITH dpbptr" DO
BEGIN
blocksize := 1 shl (BSH - 3); {i.e. 2@+(BSH-3)--in k's}
reserved := 0;
FOR i:=O TO 15 DO reserved := reserved + (AL shr i) AND 1;
disksize := blocksize*(DSM + 1 - reserved);
writeC"M"J'Disk size = ',disksize,'k"s --- I);
FOR i:=reserved TO DSM DO disksize := disksize blocksize*( «mem[allocptr + i div 8] shl (i mod 8» AND $80) shr 7);
END;
writeln('Room left = ',disksize,'k"s');
END.
(Listing continued on page 7)

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

in free memory and you can extract directory information, and read tracks,
sectors, and the like with abandon.
Leave the DMA at 80H and you'll either
become hopelessly hung up, or find
you've just crashed back into the operating system.
To load a COM file, CP/M puts the
command line arguments into a string
beginning at address 82H in the default
memory area. Unlike C, Turbo doesn't
offer readymade facilities to extract the
string or strings so they can be used by
the program. But they can be extracted.
The trick is to trot through Turbo's
predefined "mem" array (consisting of
all the 64K bytes in memory) from 82H
onward until a null is located, reading
the non-blank bytes into strings within
your applications program. Imagine it's
a library file (see Figure 2).
I could pull it off more elegantly in Cbut then in C, I wouldn't need to pull it
off at all. What we are creating is essentially a standard-issue C program written in Pascal.
Notice I allow only four arguments. I
could have allocated them one by one
with NEW. But if I'm that crowded for
space, I wouldn't be putting up with
Turbo's 7K+ of overhead. Besides, if the
command line is more than 30 bytes long
(see above on Turbo's treatment of the
DMA), the CCP's calling card is trimmed
along its edges.
Redirecting 110 Unix-style
Unix-style redirection doesn't work
unless the runtime package is prepared
to channel the standard I/O to and from
files and devices. Turbo lets you approach this. Like C, it treats peripherals
as files that can be reassigned.
Suppose you occasionally want to divert CRT output to a printer. You could,
of course, write a dual set of "write(x)"
and "write(lst,x)" routines with an attendant array of "IF" statements. But
that can be a pain and often means a larger source file. There's a better way.
Turbo contains a set of predeclared I/O
pointers that can be redirected with a
simple equals sign.
The example in Figure 3 reads a file indicated by the command line, strips the
(continued on page 7)

The industry standard
With more than 250,000 users worldwide Turbo
Pascal is the industry's de facto standard. Turbo
Pascal is praised by more engineers, hobbyists,
students and professional programmers than any
other development environment in the history of
microcomputing. And yet, Turbo Pascal is
simple and fun to use!

TURBO
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The best just got bener:
Introducing 7ilrbo Pascal 3.0
We just added awhole range of exciting new
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.
• First, the world's fastest Pascal compiler just got
faster. Turbo Pascal 3.0 (16 bit version) compiles
twice as fast as Turbo PascaI2.0! No kidding.
~ Then, we totally rewrote the file 110 system, and . .
we also now support 110 redirection.
.
• For the IBM PC versions, we've even added
'1.urtle graphics" and full tree directory support:
•. For all 16 Bit versions, we now offer two. additional options:. 8087 math coprocessor. support·
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. .. Decimals (BCD) for business applications.
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C'ing INTO TURBO PASCAL
(continued from page 5)

high bits off, and then capitalizes the
characters before sending them to the
console. Easy redirection to the serial
printer.
In this case, the space saved is trivial,
but it looks like Unix. Moreover, since
this is a text file, we don't even have genuine binary stream 110. Things will halt
with the first ASCII 26. To scan a binary
file byte by byte in Turbo, the file must
first be read into a buffer sector with
BLOCKREAD and then scanned by
" mem" or a character pointer. Things
just aren't as easy as in C.
Manipulations And The Operating
System
Suppose you wanted to test the capacity of a disk-perhaps as a warning to
the operator of a database.
The disk information is stored in two
places:
1. Disk information is stored in the
disk parameter block (the address of
which is returned in the hI register after a
BDOS 31 call).
2. Disk information is stored in the allocation vector bit field (the address of
which is returned by a BDOS 27 call).
The parameter block itself is a string of
bytes defined in the "type" listing in Figure4.
Turbo provides both the system calls
and the tools necessary to extract the information. The resident bitfields are
scanned by Turbo's shift functions and.
bitwise-ANDing.

The rather complex left and then right
dance while scanning the allocation vector is necessary because the allocation
field length is not necessarily a multiple
of eight bits. Therefore, we may need to
test only the leftmost bits on the last
byte.
Note that in the last loop, "i div 8" is,
the displacement in bytes past the beginning of the array; "i mod 8" is the bit in
question on that byte.
Bitfield Operation Solution
Actually, there's an even neater,
though not so general, solution for bitfield operations.
Since a set on the stack is nothing
more than a 32-byte bitfield, the "IN"
operator will scan any bitfield of up to
256 bits if a pointer to a numerical set is
directed toward the beginning of that
field. Figure 5 shows what the program
becomes, using this kludge.
In either case, Pascal syntax hardly
gets in the way at all.
The C version of the more general bitfielq, operation is only minimally cleaner:

I%8 & Ox80)

7);

Irritations And Impossibilities
The inelegance forced upon the programmer by Pascal's strong typing remains little more than an irritation as
long as low-level work is a minor portion
of a program. I find string operations the

(continued from page 5 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _
Figure 5
TYPE
f1eld=set of 0 •• 255;
param=RECORD
{see above}
END;
VAR
dpbptr:"'paramj
f1eldptr:"'f1eld;
reserved,d1sks1ze,blocks1ze,1:1nteger;
BEGIN
dpbptr.:= PTR(bdoshl(31,O»;
blocks1ze := 1 shl (dpbptr .... BSH - 3);
reserved := OJ
f1eldptr:=PTR(ADDR(dpbptr .... AL»;
FOR 1:=0 TO 15 DO IF 1 IN f1eldptr'" THEN rese~ved := SUCC(reserved);
d1sks1ze := blocks1ze.(dpbptr .... DSH + 1 - reserved);
wr1te("'H"'J'D1sk s1ze = ',d1sks1ze,'k"s --- ,);
f1eldptr := PTR(bdoshl(27,O»;
FOR 1:=reserved TO dpbptr .... DSH DO

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

most consistently frustrating, since I've
become accustomed to C's delightful increment and decrement operators and
its treatment of characters as short integers.
But Turbo's "byte" variable definition
gives you partial relief if you juggle
things a bit to subvert Pascal's attempts
to protect the programmer from typological confusion. At times I'd give anything to be able to do something useful
inside a control structure rather than
having to waste time with booleans.
Considerably more limiting is Turbo's
way of requiring you to enter assembly
language routines in machine code.
Now there's entertainment that rivals
Howard Cosell.
The other day I was working up a
"mail merge" program for Perfect Writer. I needed a routine in high memory to:
1. Load the printer program at the bottom of the TPA.
2. Read addresses byte by byte from a
mailing label file.
3. Feed them into a formatted letter
that is printed repeatedly by Perfect
Printer running at 100H.
A bit of tinkering with raising the origin and lowering the stack of my C/80
runtime package generated the driver,
program, along with the necessary diversions for Perfect Printer's attempts to
call the BIOS and terminate with a warm
boot. With a little help from a dozen-byte
assembly language LDIR and JP routine,
I was up and running at OAOOOH.
Try doing that with Turbo. But then
again, have you ever tried to write a set
variable routine in C?

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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

The 5-100 Bus
By Dave Hardy

One of the most frustrating things
that can happen to a small computer is
the notorious "dead box" problem. If
you own or use any kind of machine, it
has probably happened to you.
What Is A Dead Box?
"Dead box" is a composite termkind of a cross between dead machine
and black box, and is a perfect description of what can happen to a computer
that has no (or very little) self-diagnostic
ability. A good example of this is a machine that auto-boots from a floppy disk,
and simply gives you a blank screen if it
is unable to read the disk.
I usually solve these problems with a
small axe or short-handled sledge. However, if you would like to confront your
dead box problems in a more constructive manner, the following circuits may
come in handy.
Many of the older 5-100 machines
have LEDs on their front panels so you
can monitor, examine, and modify the
machine's memory. In the days before
floppy disks, the purpose of these front
panels was to help you bring up the machine. But the front panel indicators are
also a valuable debugging tool. By
watching the lights, you can tell, more or
less, what's going on in the machine.
Normally, these flashing lights on the
front panel of an 5-100 machine are almost useless. Unless your machine has
features like a run/stop switch, an examine circuit, and a few other things, all the
lights can do is indicate some kind of bus
activity. But, if your machine is dead, the
lights can at least let you know if there's
SOMETHING going on.
Bus Line Monitor
For that reason alone, you many find
the circuit in Figure 1 useful. It is a general purpose bus line monitor that can be

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5-100 machine, and most of the status
and control lines. For 25 cents, you can't
go wrong.
If you have an X-Y oscilloscope and
want to see a more descriptive picture of
what your computer's bus is up to, try
the circuit in Figure 2. Using two inexpensive 1408-L8 digital to analog converters, this circuit will provide a twodimensional display of your machine's

address bus activity. Although it is not as
sophisticated as a $10,000 state analyzer,
it isn't as expensive, either. By watching
the display when the machine is working properly, you can get a pretty good
idea of what part of RAM the machine is
operating in, and also see areas that the
machine "hangs" in, or where the PC
spends most of its time.
Dead Software
Almost as bad as a dead box is a program that makes your machine act like
one. If you write your own programs, especially in assembly language, you have
probably, at one time or another, loaded
up some code that sent your machine's
program counter into another galaxy,
far, far, away.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Figure 3 shows a circuit that won't
help after the program blows up, but it
will at least tell you if your program has
reached a certain address. The circuit is
the equivalent of DDT's "break" command, only this is implemented in hardware. It is from the book "Interfacing to
5-100/IEEE-696 Microcomputers" by Sol
Libes and Mark Garetz, and it will stop
an 5-100 system if a hardware error occurs on one of the slave processors.
Multiple Processing
The future of the IEEE-696 (5-100) bus
seems most promising in the field of
multi-processing. Operating systems
like TurboDos, that allow up to 16 slave
(but functionally independent) processors to exist in a single frame, are making
the 5-100 bus a much-used base machine
in many multi-processor applications
that were formerly restricted to minicomputers or expensive networking systems.
Ironically, the thing most users object
to (the high cost of an 5-100 machine) is
the biggest advantage of an 5-100 multiprocessing system. Although the initial
cost of starting an 5-100 system is relatively high compared to an equivalent
"starter" machine (e.g., Kaypro or Xerox), the benefits of multi-processing
quickly become apparent when additional users are added to the 5-100
frame.
After setting up the main 5-100 frame
with the required operating system, the
net cost of each additional user in a
multi-processing 5-100 system can be as
low as $300, which is significantly cheaper than anything else around.
Unlike many popular multi-user systems (that is, systems that share a single
processor among all of its users). multiprocessing systems don't bog down with
heavy user demand. Each processor is
available exclusively to its user, so no
CPU time-sharing is necessary.
The only thing that can slow down a
multi-processing 5-100 machine is
heavy use of its shared resources, especially its disk drives. In my experience,
this has not been a problem with TurboDos-based machines.
There are great advantages to being
(continued on page 77)

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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

+5 V

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THE 5-100 BUS

~OOless

AClClress

SWI,enes

Sw,tches

(continued from page 9)

able to perform multiple jobs at the same
time, even in a home computer. If you
have an 5-100 machine and want to expand your computing power without
taking out a new mortgage, look into
multi-processing.

Next Time
In the next 5-100 Bus, we'll continue
examining multi-processing, and look at
some alternatives to it that can run in an
5-100/IEEE-696 environment, including
some ways to simultaneously run different types of processors in the same 5-100
box.
I look forward to reader mail with
questions, suggestions, hints, and tips
about the 5-100 Bus.

TRAP

Open SWItch to 1 rao
74LS38

o
-:-

7&LS74
CI(

CLR

74LS04

24
~~~-------or~--------~
pSYNC D.;..:76:...-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~

____________________________________________

POC,C>9~9

Figure 3 - An 5-100 Breakpoint Trap Circuit

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*Times courtesy of Dr. David Clark
CNC - Could Not Compile
NIA - Does not support floating point

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'Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

In The Public Domain
By Sol Libes

Call me crazy. I'm back in the magazine publishing biz-something I swore
I would never do again. After Ziff-Davis
closed Microsystems magazine I was depressed for weeks. Countless letters and
phone calls from subscribers (there were
over 31,000 plus another 25,000 news-'
stand) made me feel even worse. Everyone kept urging me to start it up again.
I kept remembering what my wife,
_Lennie, and I went through when we
started Microsystems in late 1979, and I
thought, "No, not again." After all, we
wanted to live normal lives. But there
has been something missing from my life
the last several months. The passing of
Microsystems left a void. There was no
other magazine catering to advanced micro users the way Microsystems did.
Ziff-Davis would not sell Microsysterns back to us, so we decided to start all
over again at square one-down in the
basement, on the ping-pong table.
This means, I regret to say, that this is
my last column in Micro C-for a while,
I at least. I think Micro Cornucopia is a terI rific magazine. However, publishing
and editing my own magazine is very
Itime consuming, so I must withdraw
from other commitments wherever I
can.
Adventures In Publishing Land
Let me tell you about some of my adventures in the world of big time magazine publishing.
Six years ago I realized there was a
need for a magazine for users of CP/M
and S-100 systems (this was long before
Kaypro, Xerox, and Osborne entered the
marketplace). I tried to interest several
magazine publishers in the idea, but
they all just laughed. I believed in the
need for such a magazine, however, so I
decided to do it myself. The first issue of
Microsystems came out in January 1980.
In late 1980, it was apparent that the
magazine was becoming a big business. I
decided to sell it to Creative Computing
and remain as the editor. Microsystems
was published six times a year, and thus
left me with time to pursue my other interests. My wife and I returned to our
primary occupations at the community
college where I teach electronics and she
teaches math.
My avocations included being founder

Box 1192
Mountainside NJ 07092

-how many advanced micro users are
and president of the Amateur Computer
there?) But this was just not enough for
Group of New Jersey (1,400 members
Ziff-Davis, and in late '84 they decided to
strong), and being active in the SIG/M
close Microsystems down.
and PC/Blue Public Domain Software Libraries. I also kept myself occupied by
Have You Ever Wondered About ...
writing a column in Byte magazine and
Having spent two years in the world of
writing a few books (e.g., Interfacing To
big magazine publishing, I have learned
the S-100/IEEE-696 Bus, published by
something about the publishing biz. I
Osborne McGraw-Hill).
could probably write a book on the subIn late 1981, Ziff-Davis, which pubject, but I thought I would give you a few
lished 60 magazines at the time, bought
insights here.
out Creative Computing, and as part of
Have you ever noticed that many
the deal acquired Microsystems magamagazine publishers offer huge diszine. Microsystems had a circulation of
counts to get new subscribers, and then
about 25,000 and was a small (but prestiseldom, if ever, offer discounts to subgious) book in an organization in which
scribers who renew? In other words,
most magazines had circulations of well
once they suck you in they zing it to you.
over 100,000 and as high as 600,000 (e.g.,
Also, do you realize how far in advance
"Popular Electronics," which changed
you've been receiving your renewal nonames last year to "Computers & Electices? I recently got a magazine renewal
tronics," and which Z-D also canceled
notice 12 months before it was due to exthis year).
pire!
Z-D decided to invest in Microsystems
to try and make it into another "big selJ.- A Few Other Tidbits
er." We went monthly, and our staffHave you ever wondered why so
went from two people (myself, working _
many publishers say "allow 6-8 weeks
part-time, and an assistant) to ten people
before you receive your first issue"? And
(four of whom sold advertising). We
why so many have a subscriber address
continued to grow in circulation and
in Boulder, Colorado, while their offices
size. From a 90-page issue published biare actually somewhere else? Let me tell
monthly, we expanded to 180 pages
you some of the reasons.
monthly, and reached a circulation of
over 55,000. (I was amazed that we
reached this high a circulation. After all, (continued next page)

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Ever Wondered What Makes CP/M

TIck?

Source Code Generators
by C. C. Software can
give you the answer.
"The darndest thing
I ever did see ••• "
" .•. if you're
at
all interested in
what's going on in
your system,
it's
worth it."
Jerry Pournelle,
BYTE, Sept '83

'S.C.G. programs produce
fulLy- commented and labeled
source code for your CP/M
system
(the CCP and BOOS
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To modi£y the system to your liking,
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CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc.

IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
(continued from page 13)

First of all, most of these publishers
use a subscription service. This turns out
to be much cheaper for them (if they
have 100,000 or more readers) and relieves them of the problem of dealing
with subscribers.
The largest such company is A. C.
Neilson, located (as if you didn't know
already) in Boulder, Co~orado. They are
highly automated, dealing with hundreds of millions of subscriptions annually. They are more concerned with providing low cost service to publishers
than they are with providing good service to subscribers. A publishing executive once told me that they can live with a
20% subscriber complaint rate from the
subscription service they used.
Most large subscription services send
the subscription cards they receive out of
the country (typically to the Far East) for
keyboard entry. This usually introduces
a 2-3 week turnaround time, causing
most of the 6-8 week delay. Also, since
most of the operators keying in the data

InClosing
For a sample copy of my new magazine, Micro/Systems Journal, send me $3
(cover price is $3.50) and I'll send it out
first class. You will not have to wait .6-8
weeks. A subscription is $18 (1 year/6 issues) or $32 (2 years/12 issues). I, like
Dave Thompson, do not use any pub-

THE LITTLE BOARD®

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a
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a:

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F

lisher's gimmicks. Dave and I are publishers, not because we're out to make
our first million, but because we believe
there is a need for our magazines;

are unfamiliar with our language, they
make a lot of data entry errors. Needless
to say, the data is rarely checked for accuracy.
Thus, if you want to avoid problems,
type your name and address on the subscriber card, or print very clearly, and do
not write any messages on the cardthis just confuses the operators.
If your address label is incorrect, don't
try dealing with the subscription service.
Instead, write directly to the publisher.
His or her name and address is usually
on, or right after, the table of contents
page. Always write to a specific person
and complain loudly.

So long ... and keep hacking!

David Thompson's note: I have mixed feelings about Sol's disappearance from Micro C.
I've really enjoyed his interesting and easyto-edit offerings, and he is definitely an authority on public domain software. However,
Micro C is not Microsystems-they are different animals, both in style and content.
There is still a need for Microsystems, espe- .
dally as Sol moves strongly into MS-DOS
and UNIX. You have only to read PC Tech
Journal to see the need for another magazine
in this arena.
I wish Sol and Lennie the very best.

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ALL ORDERS: Please add 55.00 for
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CP/M-80 C Programmers . ..

Save time
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Reviewers everywhere have
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If you're a C language
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BOS C is designed for
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Tim Pugh, Jr.
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"Performance: Excellent.
Documentation: ExceUent.
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Info World
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• Ultra-fast compilation, linkage and
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• A comprehensive debugger that
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interactively displays both local and
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• Dynamic overlays that allow for runtime segmentation of programs too
large to fit into memory.
• A 120-function library written in both
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source code.

" ... a superior buy ... "
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in LifelineSIThe Software
Magazine

BYTE Magazine placed BOS
C ahead of all other 8080/Z80 C
compilers tested for fastest
object-code execution with all
available speed-up options in use_
In addition, BOS C's speed of
compilation was almost twice as
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(benchmark for this test was the
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Plus ...
• A thorough, easy-to-read, 181-page
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• An attractive selection of sample
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CPI M is a trademark of Digital Research

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

80S C is designed for use with CP/M-BO
operating systems, version 2.2. or higher. It is
not currently available for CP/M-86 or MS-

DOS.

BO Software, Inc.
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C'ing Clearly
By Gary Entsminger

C'ing Clearly will take a slight detour
this time from its usual path to examine
computer recreation with a practical
twist. Next trip we'll return to C'ing seriously.
Two subjects: "The C Puzzle Book" by
Alan Feuer and pre-processor macros.
Macroing In The C Puzzle Book
Tony mentioned he'd be reviewing
The C Puzzle Book but he didn't get to it, so
here goes. Obviously, the book is not
new-it's been around since 'S2, but it
still offers insight into this high-level,
low-level language, and illustrates the
use of the macro.
To sum it up quickly, it's a fun workbook for "The C Programming Language',' by Kernighan and Ritchie. It's
written in a very similar style, which
means it's a little stiffer than it needs to
be, but very informative. And recreational. (If you like puzzles, you'll love
this.)
The puzzle in Figure 1, entitled "The
Pre-processor Doesn't Know About C,"
should give you a feeling for the book's
flavor and illustrate the dangers of parameterized macro processing. But first, a
little background on macroing (or how to
keep yourself in knots while eating
brown rice).
Macro Processing
Every C compiler has a pre-processing
phase that alters source code before
passing it on for compilation. Its two
most important functions are macro substitution and file inclusion.
Macros can improve a program's readability and efficiency, and can be handy
as building blocks for parsing command
line arguments, debugging large programs, and writing compilers.
The fundamental macro allows no arguments, and simply substitutes a token
fora name:

Micro C Staff

Argumentative Macros
It's harder to write a macro processor
that allows arguments. Neither the Code
Works' Q/C, Small C, nor Software
Toolworks' C/SO supports parameterized #defines (Aztec C does). But since
all three of these compilers provide compiler source code, you could expand
them to allow arguments. Here's the
form:
'define indentifier(indentifier,
indentifier) token-string

...

'define then
Idefine begin {
'define end
;}
and then
if (i

> 0)

then
begin
a
b

end

But beware! Parameterized #defines
are tricky.
When the compiler sees a macro call, it
places the name and definition (or translation) into an evaluation area.This area
looks like a stack. All arguments to the
macro are also placed in this area unless
the argument is itself a macro. (This is a
nested macro-note that macros rarely
nest in captivity.)
When the compiler sees a nested macro it creates a new stack, and the inner
(new) macro is evaluated completely. Its
output is then placed on the original
stack, and work is resumed on the outer
macro. The outer macro never sees the
inner one, just its translation. Of course,
the inner macro may have called other
macros. (This process of calling oneself is
called recursion.)
Conditional Macroing
A third level of macro processing allows conditional #defines of the form:
'ifdef indentifier
'else (optional)
lendif

'define X 25

A conditional #define checks to see
whether a name has been defined, and if
it has, compiles designated parts of the
program. (Q/C, C/SO, Small C, and Aztec C permit conditional #defines.)

where "X" is the name and 1/25" is the
token (or substitution). On this level a
macro isn't much different from a constant definition, except both name and
token are character strings.

C'ing Pascal Clearly
Macros have few grammatical restrictions, so if you were a Turbo Pascal programmer by nature and wanted to retain
your favorite stylistics, you could by
# defining.

For example, you could use Pascal
block delimiters in C.

= 1;
=2

Compiler controllin,es of the form:
linclude ""filename"

are also available in C. The call, #include, replaces the line with the contents
of the file "filename."
Turbo Pascal includes a similar compiler directive also called "include"
which performs a similar substitution.
Included files cannot be nested in Turbo
Pascal, but can be with some C compilers-Aztec C is the only CP/M-SO compiler I know of that comes with #include
nesting.
The Wrap Up
If you prefer textbooks with a serious
bent (as opposed to seriously bent textbooks) then The C Puzzle Book is probably
not your cup. But if you want to try your
hand at some serious C play this might
be for you. It's a reasonably priced
$12.95, and a terrific learning tool. Available from Prentice-Hall.
The Challenge
An expanded pre-processor that handles macros would be a great addition to
the Small C compiler-a great Micro C
community project. Anybody up for it?

•••

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 19S5

Figure 1 - The Puzzle
What does this program print?
'inolude
'define FUDGE(k)
k+3.14159
'define PR(a)
printf("a= %d\t",(int) (a»
'define PRINT(a)
PR(a); putohar('\n')
'define PRINT2(a,b)
PR(a); PRINT(b)
Idefine PRINT3(a,b,0)
PR(a); PRINT2(b,0)
'define MAX(a,b)
(a
tor divide by 256
tor falling edge
tor rising edge
tor automatic start ot timer
tor CLK/TRIG pulse to start timer
it no time constant tollows (rare)
it time constant tollows (usual choice)
tor continued operation (rare)
tor sottware reset (usual choice)
tor vector (Channel 0 only)
tor control word (usual case)

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

1000K RAM disk Plus
+ 8.5" x 13.75"

FOR BB-I and XEROX 820: 2·piece system using Z·80 daughter board
expansion board for on·the·bus memory and I/O at 2.5 or 4 + MHz.

BANK-SWITCHED MEMORY: Add 4 rows of 64K or 256K dynamic RAMs +
32K (four 8K x 8) EPROMs qr CMOS battery· backed static RAMs. FAST "HOLE"
memory mapping. High·performance "delay· line" memory timing.

Again using bit designation, we enabled interrupt for this channel (to tell the
rest of the computer about the one second tick); counter mode (the signal
comes from the CLK/TRG pin connected
to the ZC/TO pin of the previous channel); pre-scalar 16 (does not apply); falling edge (could also be rising edge in this:
case); automatic trigger (does not apply);
time constant follows (the counter value); software reset; and control word.
The value of 93 is the counter value.
A full-blown interval timer is now active which flags the microprocessor every second. This flag is known as an interrupt, and I'll talk more about that next
time.

•••

110 PORTS: 1 SIO, 1 CTC, 2 PIO, MM58167 real·time clock, ADC0808 8·bit,
8·channel ADC, two DAC0800 8·bit DACs, AY·3·8910 sound chip.
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domain computer music play/compose program uses DAC for output; great sound quality
and fun to use! Includes printed installation gl!ide.
Bare daughter and main boards (silk·screened and solder·masked);
full documentation, 8" SSSD software disk
Delay line (required for RAMdisk)
New RAMdisk software with ZCPR + keyboard translator
Computer music program: program + songs (2 disks)
above + source (3 disks)

$99.95
16.95
24.95
15.00
20.00

Shipping add $5.00 (U.S.A.), $8.00 (Canada); no other exports. Check or MO only; no
CODs. CA residents add 6% tax. Delivery: stock to 8 weeks. NOTE: All proprietary
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with BB·I\ and other computers. Software furnished on 8" SSSD; 51f4" (Xerox) for extra
charge. User's group discounts available.
See review in MicroCornucopia Issue #22 (Feb 1985).

For free 6-page spec sheet, please write or call.

Rivendell Audiocomp

P.O. Box 28937

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Telephone (203) 355-3178

The Slicer Column
By Laine Stump

I was amused by Dave's admission in
the February issue to listening to music
while typing. For some time now, I have
been listening to music while writing.
There isa slight difference, though.
While Dave is listening to crashing
waves and harps, I am typing to the
sound of decadent punk rock on the
campus FM station (that's the only thing
they play at 3 in the morning). And you
all wondered what was wrong with me
Give Me A Break
Finally, some first hand news about
great new toys. After spending three
days in Yellowstone Park in the middle
of a snowstorm (spring break), I packed
up my Slicer, my PC Expansion Board,
and my Memory Expansion Board (and a
genuine IBM keyboard and monitor borrowed from the local computer store)
and holed up in a spare bedroom to play.
I came out of the room with four things:
an opinion, a Pascal program that uses
the SC2681 UART chip to send and receive files, a story to tell, and a big, fat
smile.
MS Is NOT A Disease
I don't know if I should admit this, but
I played around with MS-DOS quite a
bit, too. I'm not sure what to make of the
current trend toward badmouthing MSDOS. It has a few inconsistencies, but
the concept is just wonderful. Besides,
every mother's dog is using it, and that
makes it a great development environment if you want to make a lot of money
(open your eyes and smell the royalty
checks, people ... ).
Anyone who has ever used UNIX long
enough to get used to tree'd directories
(like a tree'd raccoon, only not quite as
cute), command search paths, and byte
oriented files can appreciate my frustration with CP 1M and my interest in MSDOS. On the other hand, anyone who
has ever tried to read the MS-DOS Programmer's Reference Manual (Hebrew I
American edition) can understand why I
still have reservations about MS-DOS.
Half of the manual is filled with documentation of version 1.x function calls
that are annotated with "Don't use this
function, use function z instead." If you

Micro C Staff

want to do any assembly language programming for MS-DOS, you'll first have
. to spend $85 extra to buy MASM (or figure out where to get CHASM, a
"freeware" assembler) and then take
about a month off from everything else
to decide which system call you REALLY
want to use to open a file. I think I'll just
stick to C and Pascal on MS-DOS (at
least for now).
Back to my defense of MS-DOS. I
haven't noticed any glaring problems
with it (although I've heard others say
they have), and it DOES exist and must
be dealt with. The Slicer implementation
is clean and ·well done (although disk accesses are 'slightly slower than a Slicer
running CP 1M-86), and I can think of no
better way to ease the pain of entering
the real world (you know, the one where
you actually get paid money for your
work) than to use MS-DOS on the Slicer
as a development system.
Touchy subject. I won't say any more
for fear of bodily injury.
The Problem
I have evaluation copies of several
programs (editors, compilers) written
for the IBM and wanted to spend my
time "in hiding" checking out just how
compatible the Slicer video board is. As
luck would have it, all the programs
were for MS-DOS and, although I have
MS-DOS, all my pre-written source
code is on CP/M disks. My commitment
to the "never type anything twice" philosophy meant that I needed to transfer
the files onto MS-DOS electronically,
but I had no communications programs
for MS-DOS and no utilities for reading
CP 1M disks on MS-DOS (or the other
way, either).
The Solution
Since my Big Board was sitting sadly
in the corner and I had Turbo Pascal for
MS-DOS, I decided to write a simple
communications program called SHIP
(Figure 1) to send files out a serial port
and receive files from a serial port. It
would show a complete lack of spirit and
enthusiasm to use one of the ports on the
Slicer board that is already supported in
the Slicer ROM, so I decided to use Port
A of the SC2681 on the Expansion Board.

The Weapons
Some of you may balk at my choice of
Pascal for writing a hardware control
program, and I would agree if this were
any old Pascal. But it's not. Turbo has a
predefined array of type BYTE called
"port." This is the programmer's gateway to the 8086 110 space. It works very
simply; to output a byte to an 110 port,
just use the Statement:
port[x] := y;

To input a value from a port use:
z := port[x);

Using Turbo Pascal and the port array
makes writing 110 type routines trivial
and allows you to easily add lots of bells
and whistles (since you have all those
predefined procedures for positioning
the cursor, formatting output, etc.). I
have used this feature of Turbo extensively for experimenting with new chips
and have found it nearly invaluable. I almost always convert the final result to
assembly language and put it in ROM,
but Turbo shortens the investigation
stage quite a bit.
SHIP includes the standard "Big
Four" routines of interfacing: initialization, read, write, and status. Other than
these four procedures, the rest of the
program is totally hardware independent. This means that I can compile and
run it without modification on the Slicer
under CP/M-86 or MS-DOS, and I have
to change only four procedures to run it
on my Big Board.
Details Of The Quest
Before blindly spitting characters out a
,port, you must set it up for the mode of
operation you want to use (bits/character, stop bits, interrupts, etc.). The
SC2681 has more modes and features
than I could describe in two columns, so
I'll just talk about the important ones.
The first thing I do in the InitPort routine is tum off all interrupts. This is done
by sending a byte of all Os to the Interrupt
Mode Register (IMR). Each bit in the IMR
indicates that the SC2681 should generate an interrupt on a certain condition.
Interrupts would just cloud the issue, so,
for now, I'm not using them.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

After turning off the interrupts, I set
the number of bits/character, stop bits,
and type of parity. These, and other
modes, are controlled by the SC2681's
two "mode registers." These registers
are accessed by first setting the "mode
pointer" to mode register 1 with a command sent to the command register,
then outputting the two mode bytes in
sequence to the mode register.
Finally, I set the baud rate. This involves two steps-selecting the baud
rate set, and then selecting the baud rate
within that set. The function of all the
registers is covered in the SC2681 spec.
sheet (you received a copy with your
Slicer), so I won't go into any more detail
here.
Due to time limitations, I chose to
"hardwire" all of the initialization except
for the baud rate. But the stop bits, etc.
could all be set when running the program, just like baud rate. I leave this enhancement as an exercise for the reader
(oh, how I Love to say that!).
On Speaking Terms
Once the port is initialized, input and
output are simple. You just wait until the
TxRdy (Transmit Ready) or RxRdy (Receive Ready) bit goes on in the status register, then output to or input from the
data port.
To test these routines, I put in the Terminal procedure to allow the Slicer to be
a dumb (?) terminal to the Big Board. After some fooling around with the initialization mode bytes, I had the Big Board
and the Slicer talking.
Wait ForMe
The Send and Receive procedures
were simple extensions of the existing
routines. Send worked with MODEM740 on my Big Board right away,
but Receive lost characters while it was
busy writing to the disk. Fortunately,
MODEM740 has options for using XON/
XOFF protocol during informal file
transfers. I took advantage of this in Receive by saving each line of the file in a
buffer, sending an XOFF, writing the
line, then sending an XON to start the
Big Board up again.
First I tried stopping every 128 bytes
instead of every line, but I still lost char-

acters, so I had to use a special mode of
MODEM740 that automatically stops at
the end of every line, waiting for XON.
After I did this, I got perfect transfers every time.
.
Just to be consistent, I put XON /XOFF
checking in Send, too. I automatically
stop and wait for an XON at the end of a
line. This is because I know the other end
wants to stop at the end of the line anyway. If I didn't anticipate this, I could
send some characters that would arrive
after Receive had sent the XOFF, but before Send had received it. Receive would
assume that it had stopped all transmissions and would then probably lose the
extra characters. Not good.
The Finished Product
SHIP has a few problems. The worst
are:
1. I must type at both keyboards to get
anything done.
2. It only works with text files.
3. It has no error checking.
Since I need an MS-DOS modem program anyway, I'll probably end up adding XMODEM file transfer capability to it
someday. For now, though, it does ev. erything I need. I wanted to transfer
source files from CP/M to MS-DOS, and
I can. I have used it at 9600 baud without
dropping characters.
As written, SHIP runs on port A of the
expansion board, but this can be
changed to any other SC2681 port by just
changing the port address equates. I
have used it on port A of the Slicer ($80$8A), and nothing should prevent it
from running on port B of either board.
Sidelines
Doing all this fooling around gave me
a good chance to check out the Slicer PC
Video Board. I tried out three different
editors written specifically for the IBM
PC, and all of them ran. There was a minor problem when scrolling backwards
with the Turbo Pascal editor and Z (a VI
clone included with Aztec C), but that
problem will be corrected long before
you read these words.
The real shining light of editors was
the PC version of VEDIT, though. It is
incredibly fast. The other editors took a
small, though noticeable, period of time

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

to repaint the screen after a "page" command; VEDIT seemed to respond instantly (like mashed potatoes, but more·
impressive and less filling). Rather then
relying on ROM calls, VEDIT places
characters directly into video memory.
This makes the program very hard ware
specific, but using ROM calls is hardware specific, too. The best way to output a character is through an operating
system call, but that isn't nearly as fast,
and we must outdo the competition,
mustn't we?
Of course, the main reason VEDIT is
so fast is that the memory on the video
board has a 16-bit data bus and is running at 8MHz. This makes it considerably (about 2 times) faster than any of the
PC clones around. After three days I was
thoroughly spoiled.
Out Of The Blocks
The first time I plugged everything in,
I couldn't get the video board to sign on
as the console device. But for once I had
read the manual (several weeks earlier)
before diving in. I remembered something about needing a jumper somewhere, so I took a quick scan back
through the manual. I found I had to
jumper pins 1 and 2 of JB2 (and UNjumper pins 3 and 4) on the main Slicer board
in order to allow using the video board as
the console device. After I made this
change, everything worked just fine.
The manual states incorrectly that
ESC> E clears the screen and homes the
cursor. This is not so. The screen is
cleared, but the cursor remains in the
same place. The cursor must then be
homed with ESC> H. This may seem
like a trifling point, but if you tell SETUP
only about ESC> E, many of the programs using ROM calls to clear the
screen (e.g., SLIFORM and SETUP itself) will not work properly. I asked
about this when I told Earl (Hinrichs)
about the scrolling problem, and he said
the clear command originally did home
the cursor, but it turned out to be much
more useful to allow clearing without
homing, so he changed it. Anyway, remember to tell SETUP that the clear
screen command is ESC> E ESC> H.
(continued on page 27)

Figure 7 - SHIP.PAS

begin
ReadPortStat := «port[statusreg] and RxRdy)
endj
{ReadPortStat}

Purpose: To allow simple communications between the Slicer and
another system capable of sending and receiving characters
on an RS-232 port.
Method: In Receive mode, SHIP accepts characters from port A
of the Expansion Board and puts them into a file. This
continues until a key is struck (on the Slicer). The
file is then closed. No error checking can be done with
this primitive method, so you should check the file for
errors after you have received it.
In Send mode, SHIP simply opens the requested file and
sends it out port A of the Expansion board, one character
at a time until the entire file has been sent.
Terminal mode is mainly for debugging and making sure that
both ends are cooperating. Terminal mode just gets
characters from the keyboard and sends them to the other
end while receiving characters and displaying them on the
screen.
PROGRAM ship (input, output, workfile)j
CONST
XON
XOFF

= AQj
= AS;

modereg
statusreg
baudreg
commandreg
datareg
ACRreg
!HRreg

{ codes for stopping/starting character stream }
$200;
$202j
$202j
$204j
$206j
$208j
$20Aj

TxRdy = 4j
RxRdy = 1j
IHRBYTE
COHBYTE =
MODEBYTE1
MODEBYTE2
SET2
BAUD300
BAUD1200
BAUD4800
BAUD19200

SC2681 mode }
status
baudrate }
" command
}
"
data
}
" baudrate
set
"
" interrupt mode

{-----------------------------------------------}
{-----------------------------------------------l
FUNCTION ReadPort : charj

{ read a byte from port and return it to caller 1

begin
REPEAT UNTIL (ReadPortStat)j
wait for char }
IF bits7 THEN
ReadPort := chr(port[datareg] and $7F)
ELSE
ReadPort := chr(port[datareg])
endj
{ReadPort}

{-----------------------------------------------}
{
write a byte to port
}
{-----------------------------------------------}
PROCEDURE WritePort ( thisbyte : char )j
begin
REPEAT UNTIL (port[statusreg] and TxRdy) <> 0;
IF bits7 THEN
port[datareg] := ord(thisbyte) and $7F
ELSE
port[datareg] := ord(thisbyte)
end j
{ Write Port }
{ - - - beyond here is hardware independent

{-----------------------------------------------}
prompt for a baudrate and init the port
}
{-----------------------------------------------}
PROCEDURE SetBaud (var baudrate : integer)j
{

var yn : char;
begin
writeln;
write ('Baudrate: I);
readln (baudrate);
InitPort(baudrate)j
write ('Strip high bit? ')j
read (kbd,yn); writeln (yn);
bits7 : = (upcase (yn) = 'Y I)
end;
{SetBaud }

status mask for Transmit Ready }
status mask for Receive Ready }
$00;
$15;
$93;
$1F;
$80;
$44;
$66;
$99;
$CC;

turn off all interrupts }
pOint to HR1, enable Tx & Rx }
use RTS/CTS, no parity, 8 bits
2 stop bits }
select baudrate set 2 }
BAUD600
BAUD2400
BAUD9600

$55;
$88;
$BB;

YAR
workfUe : text;
{ ct & ct2 are global so they will be static variables
{ this is because static variables are sometimes faster
ct, ct2 : integer;
buffer : array[1 •• 2048] of char;
baudrate : integer;
bits7
: boolean;
selection : char;

{---------------------------------------}
send chars typed at console to port }

{
{

}

YAR done
boolean;
ch
: charj
begin
writeln('Terminal Mode, baudrate is ',baudrate);
writeln('Type control+_ to end');
writelnj
done := FALSE;
REPEAT
IF (KeyPressed) THEN
{char typed ? }
begin
read(kbd, ch)j
IF (ch = A_) THEN
done := TRUE
ELSE
WritePort(ch)j {send it }
endj
{if keypressed }

{-----------------------------------------}
{-----------------------------------------}
PROCEDURE initport ( baudrate : integer );

{-----------------------------------------------}
{
return TRUE if char ready, FALSE if not
}
{-----------------------------------------------}
FUNCTION ReadPortStat : booleanj

while echoing received chars

{---------------------------------------l
PROCEDURE Terminal;

{ initialize port for reading and writing }

begin
port[IHRreg]
:= IHRBYTE;
turn off ints }
port[commandreg] := COHBYTE;
point to modebyte1
port [modereg]
:= MODEBYTE1;
set modes I
port[modereg]
:= MODEBYTE2j
port[ACRreg]
:= SET2j
{ use baudrate set 2
CASE (baudrate) OF
{ set requested baudrate
300
port[baudreg]:= BAUD300;
600
port[baudreg]:= BAUD600j
1200
port[baudreg]._ BAUD1200j
2400
port [baudreg] ._ BAUD2400;
4800
port[baudreg]._ BAUD4800j
9600
port[baudreg]._ BAUD9600j
19200
port[baudreg]:= BAUD19200
end
{ case baud rate }
endj

<> 0)

IF (ReadPortStat) THEN
write(ReadPort)
UNTIL (done);
endj
{terminal}

{ char received ? }
{ display it }

{----------------------------------}
receive a file from the port
}
{----------------------------------}
PROCEDURE Receive;
{

var filename: string[80]j
begin
write('Name for Received file: ')j
readln(filename)j
assign(workfile, filename);
rewrite (workfile)j

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

write ('Start sending from other end, ,);
writeln ('press a key on this keyboard wben done');
ct := 0;
WHILE (not Keypressed) DO
IF (ReadPortStat) THEN
begin
ct := ct + 1;
buffer[ct] := ReadPort;
save in buffer }
IF (buffer[ct] = ~M) THEN
begin
WritePort(XOFF);
turn off other end}
FOR ct2 := 1 to ct DO
{dump buffer to f1le
write (workfile, buffer[ct2]);
ct := 0;
WritePort(XON);
{ turn back on }
{if received char = ~M }
end;
end;
{if character ready }
IF (ct > 0) THEN
{ write out partial line
FOR ct2 := 1 to ct DO
write(workf1le, buffer[ct2]);
close (workfile)
end;
{Receive }

{--------------------------------}
{
send a f1le out the port
}
{--------------------------------}
PROCEDURE
Send;
var ch : char;
filename: str1ng[SO];

THE SLICER COLUMN

begin
write('Name of File to Send: ');
readln(f1lename);
assign(workf1le, filename);
reset (workf1le);
write ('Set up other end to receive, ,);
writeln ('press a key on this keyboard when ready');
REPEAT UNTIL (Keypressed);
WHILE (not EOF(workfile» DO
begin
IF (ReadPortStat) THEN
{ check for XOFF }
IF (ReadPort = XOFF) THEN
REPEAT UNTIL (ReadPort = XON);
read (workf1le, cb);
{ get a char }
WritePort (ch);
{ send it }
{ IF eoln wait for XON
IF (ch = ~M) THEN
REPEAT UNTIL (ReadPort = XON)
end;
{ while not eof }
close (workf1le)
end;
{Receive }
{---- main ----}

begin
SetBaud (baudrate);
REPEAT
writeln;
write ('audrate, erminal, end, eceive, uit: ,);
read(kbd,select10n); writeln(selection);
CASE (upcase(selection» OF
'B' : SetBaud (baudrate);
'T' : Terminal;
'R' : Receive;
's' : Send;

'Q', 'E', 'X' : ;

(continued from page 25)

CSick
The underlying reason for writing
SHIP (besides giving the PC board and
the expansion board a workout) was to
send over some C programs that I had on
CP/M to compile them with different C
compilers on MS-DOS. Unfortunately, I
spent so much time writing SHIP that I
never got the time to do any C work.
Next time for sure, though. I have been
having too much fun writing C programs
lately to pass up such a great opportunity. Yes, that's right. I have (gasp!) C Sickness! (That's it, Martha! Pack up the
kids, we're getting OUT of here!!) I'm
sorry, Philippe ...
Now that I have an expansion board to
play with, I would also like to figure out
how to use its other two serial ports (Zilog Z8530). Naturally, this chip isn't included in the Zilog manual I have, and
for some reason, I didn't get any sheets
for it with the expansion board. Maybe I
can get some info on that soon, though.

Self Congratulations
About the time you're reading this, I'll
be graduating from college. I would like
to take this opportunity to tell myself
what a fine job I've done and wish myself
well in the future. (Thank you.) (You're
welcome.) I just hope I don't lose my humility after I leave school. (Editor's note:
I'm speechless.)

•••
Micro Cornucopia,Number 24, June-July 1985

ELSE
writeln ('Bad Option, Try Again');
end
{case selection }
UNTIL (upcase(selection) in ['Q','X','E']);
writeln ('Bye now, have a good afternoon.')
end.
End of Listing

HARDWARE SPOOLER and INTERFACE CONVERTER
• 128 K PRINT BUFFER
• CENTRONICS OR SERIAL
INPUT/ OUTPUT
• MULTIPLE PROTOCOLS
• 53/4 X 7112 INCH BOARD
• +5Voltsat.75Amp
± 12 Volts at .1 Amp
The L-BAND SYSTEMS hardware spooler is a Z80 based unit that
provides a 128 K byte buffer and interface conversion between Centronics and serial. Input and output may be either parallel or serial at
various baud rates and with several protocols. Multiple copy and single
sheet feed are supported.
BARE BOARD with EPROM (2732) and program listings ..... $ 39.95 .
DISK with program source, 8-inch SSSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10.95
MINI KIT board, EPROM, headers, crystals (less disk) ....... 59.95
*PARTIAL KIT all parts EXCEPT RAMS .................... 109.95
*ASSEMBLED and TESTED BOARD (128 K) ............... 259.95
WALL MOUNT POWER SUPPLY ......................... 39.95
California Orders Add 6.5% Sales Tax
Shipped via UPS - Check or Money Orders to:

L-BAND SYSTEMS
1037 E. Lemon Ave.
Monrovia, CA 91016
(818) 357-0566
"Not available for export.

SLICER. • . Growing to meet your needs!
The Slicer

The Slicer
System Expansion Board

REAL 16-BIT POWER ON A SINGLE BOARD
Featuring the Intel 80186
• Complete 8 MHz 16-bit microprocessor on
6"x 12" board
• 256K FJAM, plus up to 64K EPROM
• SASI port for hard disk controller
• Two full function RS232Cserial ports with
individually programmed transmission rates
50 to 38.4K baud
• Software compatibility with the 8086 and 8088
• 8K of EPROM contains drivers for peripherals,
commands for hardware checkout and software
testing
• Software supports most types and sizes of
disk drives
• Source for monitor included on disk
• Bios supports Xebec 1410 and Western Digital
WD 1002 SHD controller for hard disks
Fully assembled and tested only .... April Special $895

The Slicer
PC Expansion Board
~.

FOR EXPANDED MEMORY, ADDITIONAL
PORTS, AND REAL TIME CLOCK
• up to 256K additional dynamic RAM
• 2 RS232C asynchronous ports with baud rates to
38.4K for serial communication
• 2 additional serial ports for asynchronous RS232C
or synchronous communication (Zilog 8530 SCC)
• Real Time Clock (with battery backup) for
continuous timekeeping
• Centronics type parallel printer port
Fully assembled and tested only .... April Special $650

The J-L Slicer 188
~\~

REAL 8/16-BIT POWER ON A SINGLE BOARD
Featuring the Intel 80188

•

GIVES YOUR SLICER HIGH PERFORMANCE
VIDEO CAPABILITY
•
•

I BM compatible monochrome video
Video memory provides 4 pages of text or special
graphics capability
• 2 I BM type card slots for color video, I/O
expansion, etc.
• I BM type keyboard port
Fully assembled and tested only . . . . . . . . . . . . • $600

SLICER COMPUTERS INC.
2543 Marshall Street N.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55418
(612) 788-9481

Complete microcomputer on high quality
5-3/4" x 7-3/4" multilayer board
• 256K RAM, plus up to 8K EPROM
• SASI port for hard disk controller
• Two full function RS232C serial ports with
individually programmed transmission rates
50 to 38.4K baud
• Software compatibility with the 8086 and 8088
• 8K of EPROM contains drivers for peripherals,
commands for hardware checkout and software
testing
• Software supports 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" disk drives
• Source for monitor included on disk
• Bios supports Xebec 1410 and Western Digital
WD 1002 SHD controller for hard disks
Fully assembled and tested only ..... ... . ... $700

All products are available in several kit forms:
Operating Systems are:
CP/M-a6 by Digital Research, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . .. $85
MS-DOS by Microsoft Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . $175

MasterCard, Visa, Check, Money Order or C.O.D.
Allow four weeks for delivery. Prices subject to change without notice.

SLICER Special April Prices!
(Continued through June 30)

Slicer Single Board Computer

NeWt!

April Specials!
Assembled and Tested 8 Mhz . . . . . . . .. $895!
Full Kit ......................... $715!
Easy Kit ......................... $400!
Bare Board ....................... $125!
DOS KIT includes Bare Board,
CPU and choice of
MS-DOS or CP/M-86 ......••....... $295!

The Slicer System
Expansion Board
April Specials!
Assembled and Tested .............. $650!
Full Kit ......................... $450!
Memory Board Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $300'
3-Port Kit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $200!
Bare Board .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. $75!

The Slicer
PC Expansion Board
Assembled and Tested ...............
Full Kit ..........................
Easy Kit ..........................
Not-So-Bare Board ..................

$600
$550
$400
$200

New!!

Western Digitall002-SHD
Hard Disk Controller
Assembled and Tested .......... Only $200!

Newll

The }J, Slicer 188
Assembled and Tested .......... Only $700!

Slicer Enclosure System
Enclosure (alone) ...................
with 135W Power Supply ...........
with P.S. and two 80 track
5%" Disk Drives ..................
10MB (formatted) 1/2 height
5%" Hard Disk .....................
PC Compatible Keyboard ..... 'f' • • • • • •
PC Compatible Amber Monitor ........

$125
$245
$695
$700
$150
$175

New!!

Super Enclosure System
Enclosure, Power Supply, 1/2 height
80 track floppy, 10 MB (formatted)
5%" Hard Disk, Western Digital
1002 SHD Controller
All for Only ..................... $1395!

8087 Math
Co-Processor Board
New!!

(Requires removel of CPU socket)
This board requires a C-Step CPU and an
8 Mhz 8087. Kit with all parts except
CPU and 8087 .................... $300!
8 Mhz 8087 ........................ Call

Try our New SLICER Bulletin Board System 300/1200 Baud at (612) 788-5909

SLICERT.M

SLICER COMPUTERS INC.
2543 Marshall Street N.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55418
(612) 788-9481

PAYMENT METHOD: Mastercard, Visa, check, money order; or COD
(certified funds or cash). Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery ARO.
Minnesota residents please add 6% Minnesota sales tax. Normal shipping
within the continental USA (via standard U.P.S. service) is now included
on all boards and software.

MeRE Listing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
This is the listing that was left out of Issue 23's Slicer column. MORE was written by Laine Stump as an example
8086 assembly language program. It lists a file to the screen a page at a time.
; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• It ••••

;'
I'
;'
I'
I'
I'

MORE.A86 - print a tile to the console 1 page at a time
s1m1lar to UNIX's 1D0re.
AsselDble witti:
A)alllD86 1D0re
A)genCIDd 1D0re
•
La1ne StUlDP 2/6/85

LDlES

equ
equ
equ
equ
equ

;

•

........................................................................

CR
LF
ESC
EOF

24
'H'-611
'J'-64
,[ '-611
'Z'-64

I lines per page
I carriage return
I line teed
I escape

t·············································tI•...••..••.••.•..•..•..••
send 1211 characters flCB to cOlUlole, keeping track ot lines

rnE128:

TYPE2:

Detine a 'BDOS' instruction to save

Coc1eMacro
DB
DB
DB
DB
ENDH

BDOS
OB1h
FTHNUM
OCDh
2211

typi~

and trees

FTHNUM:Db
lHOV CL,
lINT
Ito BDOS

TYPEIl:

BDOS funotions
COlfIHF
COKOUTF
PRIHTF
OPElfF
READF

equ
equ
equ
equ
equ

1
2

9
15
20

linput trolD console to register AL
loutput DL to console
; print string @DI until '. '
;open tile with FCB IDI
lsequential read trolD tile w/FCB IDI

OPEN:

CMP
JHZ

FCB+1,' ,
OPEN
DI,ottset IHFO
PRIHTF

lIF no tileDalDe
lTHEN give cOllllland line syntax
I and return to CCP

HOV
BDOS
CMP
JHZ

DI,ottset FCB
OPElfF
AL,255
TYPEFILE

lattempt to open the tile

HOV
BDOS
RETF

DI,ottset KOFILE
PRIHTF

1255 it unsucoessful
lIF we can't open
lTHEN say so
land return to CCP

type out the tile 211 lines at a time

TYPE1:

DOHE:

HOV
BDOS
OR
JNZ
CALL
JMPS

DM!
AL,EOF
TYPE5

1get a byte trOlD DM! into AL
lIF oharacter is EOF (AZ)
lTHEN we are done with tile

LIlfECT, LINES-1
DI,ottset FeB
READF
AL,O
DONE
TYPE128
TYPE1

RETF

lreset line count
lread a record trolD the tile
I see it EOF yet

I IF not, THEN type these 128 chars.
land go get sOlDe 1D0re
ldone with tile, go back to CCP

"CIBO.

HOV
DL,AL
PUSH 11 I PUSH ex f PUSH SI
BDOS
COKOUTF
POP SI f POP ex f POP 11

lPut character into DL tor BDOS
I save important registers

loutput the charaoter
lrestore registers
I IF character is LineFeed

AL,LF
TYPE4
LIlfECT
TYPEIl
PAGE
TYPE2

CMP
JNZ
DEC
JNZ
CALL
LOOP

;THEN upc1ate line oounter
lIF done with page THEN wa1t
19o output another

RET

;

wa1t tor character trolD console, then reset LIHECT

ISH it they typed a tileDalDe

HOV
BDOS
RETF

TYPEFILE:
HOV

CLD
LODS
CMP
JZ

I CI is LOOP oounter
lSI points to data to output

........................................................................

TYPES:

;. AGE:

CSEG
START:

CI,128
SI,ottset DM!

lend ot tile character
TYPE3:

HOV
HOV

PAGE1:

PUSH
HOV
BDOS
BDOS
HOV
CMP
JZ
HOV

f PUSH SI
DI,ottset HORMSG
PRIHTF
COlfIHF
LIHECT, 1
AL,CR
PAGE1
LIHECT, LIHES-1

HOV
DI,ottset COVER
BDOS
PRIHTF
POP SI f POP CI
RET

I save evel'1th1ng important

lsay ' - More - '
lwa1t tor a character
lIF CR THEN Just show 1 more line
lELSE show an entire new page
lerue -

More -

lrestore evel'1th1ng

.I·····················································..................
DSEG

5Ch

ORG
RB

ORG

80h

DM!

128

ORG
RB

100h

LINECT
IHFO
HOFILE
HORHSG
COVER

DB
DB
DB
DB

FeB

ldetault CPIH FCB
I detaul t DM! address

1
'Usage: HORE d:tid.ext$'
'File does not exist$'
CR,ESC, '80- More - ' ,ESC, 'CO.'

CR,'

',CR,'.'

END

. the best software buy in America!"

Now available in MS-DOS

-MICROSYSTEMS
In
reviews
published
worldwide
the amazing $49.95
Other technically respected publications like Byte
and Dr. Dobb's have similar praise for The Software C/BO from The Software Toolworks has consistently
Toolworks' $49.95 full featured IC' compiler for CP/M® scored at or near the top -even when compared with
compilers costing ten times as much!
and HDOS with:
The optional C/BO MATHPAK adds 32·bit floats and
• 110 redirection
longs to the CIBO 3.0 compiler. Includes 110 and trans·
-command line expansion
cendental function library all for only $29.95!
• execution trace and profile
• initializers
CIBO is only one of 41 great programs each under
• Macro-80 compatability
sixty bucks. Includes: LISP, Ratfor, assemblers and
- ROMabJe code
over 30 other CP/M® and MSDOS programs.
• and much more!

"We bought and evaluated over $1500
worth of 'c' compilers . .. CIBO is the one

we use."

- Dr. Bruce E. Wampler
Aspen Software
author of "Grammatik"

For your free catalog contact:

CJlte Software croolwork$'
15233 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1118,
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 or call 818/986·4885 today!
CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Z sets you FREEl

Integrated BIOS
for BB II

Z - yes! Synergistic combination of ZCPR3 and ZRDOS2 produces

This BIOS adds special features
for floppy and winchester users.

flexible state-of-the-art Z80 operating system with tremendous productivity features.

Floppies

Z-System consists of software modules, dynamic loading segments,
and tools permitting optimum computer usage ranging from production program development to turnkey, password-contrOlled, end-user
installations. Facilities include: multiple commands per line, file search
paths, named directories, I/O redirection, command flow control,
screen-oriented menu generators, complete housekeeping file and
directory management, shells, alias (scripts) and nested-alias generation, and complete online help.
Seventy-six support utilities, five tool packages, and two application
programs available now! Fully upward compatible with CP/M-80.
Z can now be purchased as auto-install program (Z-Com) or as
manual-install ZCPR3 with semi-auto install ZRDOS package (ZSystem). Our latest versions, to be released this year, support Zilog
Z800 and Hitachi HD62801/64180 high-technology chips, chips run
existing 8080 and Z80 programs!
Echelon eight-bit operating systems written in Assembly Language,
using linkable macro subroutine libraries, offer performance paralleling best single-user 16/32-bit microcomputer systems.

Read and write almost any 5"
and/ or 8" disk format
40 formats included
(Kaypro, Osborne, IBM ... )
Use any type of 5" and/ or 8" drive
(SS, DS, 40- 77- or 80-tracks)
New SYSGEN works directly
between 5" and 8" disks.
May be configured for our new
256K RAM disk, ZCPR2,
Centronics, CP/M in ROM, etc.

Winchester

1. Z·Com Full-up Z Operating System with input/output redirection
running under CP/M-80, online command and utility documentation
and help system ....•••.....•.....••...•....•...•.... $219.95

Winchester formatter and new
Winchester SYSGEN (can make
the Winchester drive A:)
Supports XEBEC and
ADAPTEC controller.
Subdivides into any specified
number of drives.

2. Z.System Manual-install ZCPR3 and ZRDOS2, easily tailored by
programmer to custom needs; source code to core and utilities; similar
to Item 1 ............................................ $199.95

Also includes code for
the New BB II monitor

3. Z· Tools Four software development system packages permitting
advanced, structured program design, macro relocating assembler;
linking loader, librarian, cross-reference generator, debugger, mnemonic and pseudo-op translators, and interactive disassembler. Super
$315.00 package value •..•.•.....•..••.•••••..•..•..•• $200.00
4. DSD Dynamic Screen Debugger offers high-level features never
before found in microcomputers; simultaneous display of dual-memory
segments, stack, cpu states, and flags, with software In-CircuitEmulation ........••...••.......•••.•..••.•.•.••.••.• $149.00
5. The Libraries Linkable ZCPR31ibraries (Vlib, Z3lib, and Syslib3)
of over 400 subroutines used for Assembly Language program writing.
Simplifies structured, efficient code production; online help system
and full source code provided ••..•.•..•..•••••••...•.•.• $45.00
Sysllb3 alone ................•..........••.•.....•...•. $29.00
6. Term3 New generation communication program permits menu
control of computer/modem operations between operator and timeshare services, bulletin-boards and other remote computer systems;
auto-answer to command-line prompt •.•..•..•......•...• $99.00
7. Discat Fancy file and disk catalog program running under ZSystem, menu driven and easily customized by operator ..... $49.00
Fortnighter newsletter, 24-hour BBS Z-Node System keep Z users
informed of microcomputer happenings. Write or call for brochure or
order now! State disk format desired; add $3.00 shipping & handling;
Californians please add 6-1/2% sales tax. Visa/MC, check, money or
purchase order accepted. (Program names are trademarks of their
respective owners.)

[E iJ Echelon, Inc.
101 First Street. Los Altos, California 94022 • 415/948-3820
Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

(with all known bugs fixed)
Price:

$99.95

BIGBOARD II
256K RAM card
less memory chips
includes test software
Price:

$99.95

SASI Interface for
BB I and Xerox 820 I
Includes pcb with components,
BIOS, Formatter. and Sysgen.
Winchester formatter automatically
assigns alternate track(s) for track(s)
with bad sector(s). Using the Xebec
controller version F.
Price:

$99.95

Ask us about a biosfor CP/M 3.0!!!
Banked version plus time and date
clock for the Bigboard II.

Meet me at SOG for a systems
generation workshop and good
deals on software.

ANDYBAKKERS
De Gervelink 12
7591 DT Denekamp
The Netherlands
(,,31-5413-2488)
Please pay with US-$ Money Order.

Create graphics masterpieces with •••

()~mCranJt

Complete Business Graphics ToolkifM
NEED GRAPHICS? You don't need a new computer. You need REMBRANDT. The software
package that unleashes all the graphics power built Into your Kaypro Computer.
Until now, accessing Kaypro graphics required advanced programming efforts. Now the
REMBRANDT Business Graphics Toolkit gives you three easy-to-use tools that allow even the
most inexperienced user to quickly master Kaypro graphics.
KGRAPH™ enables quick and easy creation of business
KBOARD™ is the full-screen graphics editor for your
graphics including horizontal and vertical bar charts, pie
Kaypro computer. Create graphic screens, save and recall
charts and xy plots (scatter-graphs) - KGRAPH uses hand
them to and from disk. Layout forms, design logos, draw
entered data or reads numerical data from just about any
pictures. It's easy and fun to use!
source including dBase II, spreadsheet, Mbasic and
Wordstar files.
KBRIEFTM produces electronic on-screen "slide shows" with absolutely
no programming required! KGRAPH and KBOARD files are
easily sequenced using nine special effects!

REMBRANDT is complete with printer routines so graphics can be reproduced on virtually every
dot-matrix or daisy-wheel printer.
REMBRANDT, the Complete Business Graphics Toolkit costs Just S79.95.
A demonstration disk Is Just S5.00 applicable to the purchase price.
See your K.-ypro dealer for a demonstration.
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Zenith Z90
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ORDERING INFORMAnON:

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Kaypro Column
By Dave Thompson

William Fankboner stirred up a good
deal of controversy with his letter in Issue #21. A number of folks suggested
that if he didn't like our documentation,
then he should do something about it.
Well, he did. Very nicely, I might add.
Figure 1 is a copy of the illustration that
he drew to show the II t04 modifications.
We have put it in the latest Pro-8 manual
and we are publishing it here.
Is It A 11-831
Before you start digging into your
board, make sure your Kaypro II-83 is
really a II at heart. Remove the top from
your Kaypro and look closely at the
board. There will be two 20-pin ICs with
paper stuck on top. The one nearest the
front of the computer will be marked 81149 or 81-232. 81-149 means you have all
board. 81-232 means you have a 4 board.
(If you have neither, then you have an 84
board.)
If you have a 4-83 board you don't
need to modify or purchase anything to
use two 390K drives (double-sided, double density). Just get a formatter from
someone who has a 4-83, and you are on
your way. Or you can purchase a Pro-8
ROM and run any mix of single-sided,
double-sided, or quad density disks. If
you purchase or build a decoder board,
then you can use three or four drives
rather than just two. (See our ad for info
on the Pro-8 version 2. Dana's made it
even better.)
If you have a II-83 board (81-149) you'll
need to do the II to 4 upgrade before you
can use the Pro-Monitor 4 or the Pro-8.
\Ve have the 74504 ICs for $1.50 each,
postpaid.
5MHz Revisited
This is another spot where a picture is
worth at least a thousand words. Most
people who are planning on speeding up
their 83 Kaypro II or 4 get a plug-in board
from someone, and off they go. The
boards usually cost between $75 and
$100.
Otherwise you can add the jumpers
shown in Figure 2 (or Figure 3 if you are
unsocketed) and spend your money on a
faster ROM (only needed if you really
have a II, see above) and Z80B. We have
the Z80Bs for $12. For a faster ROM you
have your choice of the Pro-Monitor II,

Pro-Monitor 4 (if you have a 4 or are doing the II to 4 upgrade in Figure 1), or
Pro-8.
Double Duty
A lot of folks do the speedup and the
Pro-8 at the same time, since the Pro-8
ROM is a fast part. I highly recommend
that you do the II to 4 upgrade (if necessary) first. Connect your board to the
power supply, drives, etc. to check out
your work.
Once you've verified that the Pro-8 is
running, then do the speedup. If there's
a problem, you won't have to check both
mods to find it.
One part of the speedup that many
people leave out (including the speedup
kit manufacturers) is the CAS-MUX
change. You could do the CAS-MUX
change even if you aren't speeding up
your system. Your Kaypro will run more
solidly at 2.5MHz after this simple
change.
IBM's Kaypro Clone
I understand that at a Washington,
D.C. show during the first week of
March, Kaypro displayed its 286i AT
clone. IBM had a very large booth, but no
ATs to demonstrate. Some people (wise
guys, no doubt) stopped at the IBM
booth asking to see the Kaypro clone.
IBM didn't see any humor in the question, no humor at all. However, the story
is definitely generating some chuckles
around Kaypro.
A lot of anxious people placed orders
for the 286i contingent on delivery within 90 days. It seems they had tried placing orders with IBM, but the delivery
dates were too far out (and who knows if
an IBM will work-what with their reputation and all ... ).
The rumor I'm hearing is that IBM has
warehouses full of XTs because sales of
the 8088 system with a winnie died when
the AT was announced. So, hoping to
clean out the XTs, IBM stopped shipping
the hard disk version of the AT. But dealers were adding winnies to the floppybased ATs, so the XTs still sat.
Finally, IBM simply shut down all AT
shipments in hopes that within nine
months the XTs will disappear. Those
warehouses full of XTs might be just the
medicine for Kaypro's financial ills.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

286i
Speaking of Kaypro's AT clone, I
thought you'd like some details. The 286i
retails for $4550. It comes with 512K of
RAM expandable to 15 meg. (Yeah, I
know, there is absolutely no way anyone
could ever use or afford 15 meg of RAM,
but then I felt that way about 256K just a
year ago.) The system comes with color
graphics standard (it's not standard on
the AT), MicroPro software, and 8 slots,
5 of them empty.
It comes with two floppies, 1.2 meg
each. The drives can supposedly read
360K disks, but as far as I understand
they can't write them. A number of
shops have started offering to "upgrade" your AT to 360K drives so you'll
have total compatibility with PCs and all
those warehoused XTs.
The 286i comes with a built-in hard
disk controller card. Kaypro is refusing
to get into the hard disk battle, so it is
letting you add your own. I'll be taking a
look at the drive market to see if there are
any reasonably priced drives that are also dependable.
I saw Kaypro's AT clone at the West
Coast Computer Faire and was surprised
at how close a copy it is to the real AT. If
you saw both of them with their lids off,
you'd be excused for not knowing which
one was which. The physical design of
the 286i appears identical to the AT.
Kaypro has already shipped about 500
units (as of early April) with major shipments scheduled for June 1.
Kaypro Sales
Kaypro sales says that its number one
product (about 60-70 per day) is the 2X
Business Pack. The second most popular
product is the K16. They announced that
the K16/2 (has two 360K floppies, no
winchester) is $2550 vrs. about $3200 for
the K16 with one floppy and a 10 meg
winnie.
K16 Problems
A number of K16s, both winchester
and floppy based units, have video circuits that go to lunch on random occasions (we're not talking short coffee
break here). Those displays that are flaky
appear to be very sensitive to static elec(continued on page 35)

,...w:
.....
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...
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y . . . . . . . . ., . . . . . , . . . . . . .

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Incredible speed and efficiency are offered using MicroSphere's dual
operation Electronic RAM disk and printer buffer. No longer will you
need to wait for your Kaypro to slowly finish mundane tasks such as
running a printer or waiting for floppy drives to turn when you have
better things to do.
RAM disk size
Configuration
price
256K
215K RAM disk 32K printer buffer.$e5:OO"" $395.00
512K
470K RAM disk 32K printer buffer -ese.CO- 545.00
512K
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International add $15.00 shipping
When ordering, please include the model of Kaypro to be used. Boards
can be upgraded should yours need change.
Typical speed increases you can· expect to see using MicroSphere's
RAM disk:
4M'IJen K aypro
Floppy Disk
RAM Disk
Recalc 14K Perfect Calc
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1:17.78
9.38*
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*Time in seconds
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TLC LOGO is an exceptionally complete logo with vectors, multiple
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TWO versions offered:
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16,000 pixel resolution.
DELUXE version for all Kaypro Computers that have the Micro,
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pixel resolution and utilities such as screen dump to printer or disk.
Time comparison of 3 common Logo programs currently
offered:
DR LOGO
TLC LOGO Apple LOGO
320k IBM PC
64k Z80
64k Apple lie
Circle test
10 seconds
3 seconds
22 seconds
Poly Spiral 1
17
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11
PolySpiral2
out of stack
7
out of stack
Square Test
27
10
41
Four Bugs
78
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Times provided by The Lisp Company ... (note: out of stack indicates
inadequate implementation offttail recursion") DR LOGO is copyright
Digital Research Company, Apple Logo is copyright Apple Computer
Company~ and TLC Logo is copyright the Lisp Company.
Standard Version ofTLC Logo ..................................... 99.95
Deluxe Version ofTLC Logo ........................................ 129.95
Special: Color Board and Deluxe TLC Logo ..~ 199.95
A NEW DIMENSION FOR KAYPRO COMPUTERS: Color
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graphics. 16K of RAM on the color board itself allows creation of
graphics without losing internal memory of the Kaypro.
Software includes 3 editors, drivers and routines to access graphic
system. Utilities include screen dump to disk and printer. Dual screen
operation features internal Kaypro screen for text and commands,
external graphics screen for results. A TV set can be used with addition
of RF Modulator.
Color board/Kaypro II, 4, 2 ..84, 2X, 4 ..84,
10 &. Robie, ............................................. ~ 145.00
INSTANT GRAPHER 2.1 (For use with Color Graphics Board)
Creates bar charts, stacked bar charts, hi/low, line graphs from
keyboard, Perfect Calc, CalcStar or text files. Single and Double size
dumpscreen to printer, each color prints a different pattern on a
standard dot matrix ptjmef ............................ ....$59.eo- $40.00

Mag Media Disks:
SSDD ...................... $20.00 box of 10
DSDD ..................... $24.00 box of 10
100 SSDD Bulk ........................... $160.00
These are great disks! You will love them! We
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64k Dynamic RAM Chips:
2ooNS ................................ $1.75 ea.
TMS 9918 Color Chip
& Crystal............................ 29.95
Infocom ADVENTURE Games
Kaypro or CP/M 8" Available
2
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2
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Zork 2 . .. . .. .. . .... . .. .. . .. .. ... .... . ... . ... 39.95
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Planetfall................................... 44.95
Enchanter ................................. 44.95
Infidel...................................... 39.95
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Seastalker.................................. 34.95
Cutthroats................................. 34.95
Hitchhikers ............................... 34.95
Suspect..................................... 39.95
LEVELS: 1=Jr., 2=Standard,
3=Advanced, 4=Expert
Invisiclues ................................ $7.95 ea.

6MHZ ZSO Support Chips
Z80B CPU ........ , ........................... $12.00
Z80B PIO ................. ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Z80B SIO/O ... ...................... ,. . . .. .. 20.00
RF Modulator for Color Board
and TV operation ................ , ....... $25.00
MicroSphere's Composite video generators
allow connection of a STANDARD external
monitor to the Kaypro Computer. Custom
moni tors or modifications are not required.
Composite video generator:
Kaypro II and 4 ....................... $49.95
Kaypro 2,84, 4,84,
~~
2X and 10 ........................... $89.95

~ IBM,TTL Compatible Monitor Adapter, Kaypro
2,84, 4,84, 10 and 2X ............. $49.95

Zenith Monitors
ZVM 122 Composite Amber ....... $119.00
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ZVM 124 IBM,TTL Amber ........ $179.00
ZVM 135 Composite Color IRGBIGreen
Hi Res. . ...................... $500.00

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503 ..388.. 1194
9 ..5 Pacific Time
Dealer inquiries invited.

r==l

L:::Z:J

THE KA YPRO COLUMN _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
(continued from page 33)

tricity. If you shuffle across the rug and
touch any part of the K16-keyboard,
cabinet, printer cable-the screen image
disappears.
Kaypro purchased a static zapper and
installed it at the end of the assembly
line. Now that they're zapping all assembled units, it should stem the flow of
defective ones.
If you have the problem, as MicroSphere did, Kaypro will send you a new
video board. That swap didn't totally
cure MicroSphere's K16, but it made the
unit a lot less sensitive to static, and the
screen doesn't go away nearly as often.
Kaypro 2000
Just when you thought that Kaypro
had released all their new systems they'
surprise you with another (actually, this
is one they've been working on for well
over a year, so I can't say I'm too surprised).
Anyway, this one is an 11 pound system that's very similar to the Data General. Like the Data General it has the Citizen 31/2 inch drive and an 80 by 25 LCD
display. It runs 123 and flight simulator
and comes with the Star Burst software
package (whatever that is). Screen contrast (a real problem for the LCD units) is
supposed to be better than on the early
Data General displays.
The 2000 comes with batteries (4 hrs.
per charge), charger, 256K of RAM, and
a removable keyboard for $1995.

They are finishing up a separate base
unit that will include a power supply,
standard video, and a 360K 51/4" drive,
and they will also offer a built-in 1200
baud modem.
84 Video Fix
The Kaypro 2-84 and 4-84 have a very
slow video scroll because the processor
is readdressing video RAM every time it
sends it a character. This is slow. So
slow, in fact, that some can't display serial data at 1200 baud without dropping
characters. Plus, an original Kaypro II
running at 4MHz is a lot snappier than
the new 2s because the new processor is
spending so much of its time dinking
around in screen memory. (Let's see
now, tell the 6845 that I'm going to send
a character to RAM, send a couple bytes
of address, and send the character. Now
tell the 6845 that I'm going to send a
character to RAM ... )
However, the 6845 video controller (or
pin compatible 6545) is very smart. It
knows how to automatically increment
the video RAM address so the processor
can dump characters into video RAM
just as fast as it can output them. So why
didn't Kaypro take advantage of this feature? Bad timing.
Some video controllers work just fine
in this auto-increment mode. Others get
out of step, seem to lose track of what
the processor is doing, and characters
'start showing up in strange places. It's

Figure 2

MONITOR

ROM

Z808

• ••

Figure 1 - Kaypro /I To Kaypro 4 Upgrade

12:3 4 5

FAST

this timing problem that Kaypro was
trying to avoid when they wrote the very
slow video code.
Remember the slow disk write code on
the old 11-83 and 4-83? That was another
example of a hardware timing problem
that they tried to solve by slowing down
the software. They fixed the hardware
with the modification to U87 (see issue
#11), but the only way to get around the
slow code is with a Pro-Monitor.
Anyway, there is still a video timing
problem on the 84 boards, which makes
the choice of video controller very important. On the Pro-884 Max ROM we
give you a choice of fast or slow video. If
your controller and processor work well
together, then you can use the fast video
(the system acts like it's running
10MHz). If not, then you use the slow.
You'll see garbage on the screen if fast
doesn't work (though the file you are editing will be clean).
With all this in mind, you'll understand why I was excited when Chuck
Weingart called to say he had fixed his
garbagy video. Cold.
He replaced his original 6845 with a
faster 6545A. Then he replaced the Z80A
with a Z80B. Separately, neither helped,
but together they work flawlessly. No
guarantees, of course, but when you see
how responsive the Kaypro becomes
with the fast scroll you'll understand
what drove Chuck to find a solution.

uu~iuu
\

(Make these changes if your original monitor ROM is marked 81-149.)
Heavy solid lines show the three jumpers you need to add on tht top
of the board. The dotted line is a jumper that goes underneath the
board from U73 pin 6 to /6 pin 32. There are asterisks ( ..) next to
the three pins that must be pulled up before you connect jumpers
to them. (Don't forget to change U73 from a 74L504 to a 74504.)._

CUT PINS

Figure 3 - If U66 is soldered

P74LS24

ZI' PI"

f __. . .

u5· ....

-----_.•

U5I L..f_ _-I

,",
3 4

~e_:u_B

U47 '"--_ _ _ _--' un!L_ _ _

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

---'I""

___

lf_7~_~

fL.___

_ _ _ _....I

Soldering: The First Steps
535 NW 15th
Corvallis OR 97330

By Lewis Sternberg

One of these days you'll want to do
an upgrade, and good soldering techniques will save you time and money.
What You'll Need
Solder
Soldering iron·
Sponge
Forceps
Knife
Diagonal wire cutter
Wire stripper
Desoldering tool
Isopropyl alcohol
Small stiff plastic brush
Luck

Solder
The solder should be 60/40 with multiple core rosin flux. (Flux facilitates flowing.) Don't use acid core solder-the
acid will corrode the joint.

Editor's note: Cheap solder (i.e., 50150),
large old irons, corroded tips, and tins of flux
(even radio flux) are no-no's. The only thing
wrong with this article is that Lewis can't
take a bit botter to you (it's a baseball bat with
spikes commonly used to straighten out programmers who write buggy code) when you
use acid flux and a plumber's torch on your
board.
When you purchase a new soldering tool,
read the instructions on tinning the tip. Tinning the tip properly is almost as important
as using the correct solder. I prefer an iron tip
instead of copper, as they don't corrode as
quickly. But with either tip, you must tin the
tip (coat it with solder) the instant it is hot
enough to melt the solder.
Irons, Not Guns
For $10 you can get a 15 watt pencil
iron or one with a 15/30 watt switch.
More watts heat the iron faster and can
handle heavier soldering jobs, but most
professionals use 15 watt units (or soldering stations) exclusively.
If you can afford it, a Weller soldering
station is the best. It has a built-in stand,
interchangeable temperature controlled
tips, and an isolation transformer.
Soldering guns are too hot, too clumsy, and they are dangerous to ICs. Guns
are for old Heathkit radios and subway
riders, not for PC boards.

Sponge, Etc.
Use a clean, damp sponge to remove
old solder and burned flux, which prevent new solder from flowing properly.
You'll also need hand tools-forceps
(hemostats), an X-acto type knife, diagonal cutting pliers, and a wire stripping
tool. Also, a little vice is handy for holding small parts. (A little vice might be
kinda fun if they don't put the clamps to
you.)
If you never make mistakes and never
change circuits, then you won't need a
desoldering tool. I do. My favorite is a
"Solda-pullit" desoldering pump. The
conductive model doesn't hold a static
charge, so it won't zorch those spendy
little ICs.
Wire
You'll need two kinds: stranded and
solid. Solid wire is easier to use, but
stranded wire is best if the wires will be
flexed.
Insulation
You can buy wire insulated with either
enamel, plastic, or teflon. I strongly recommend teflon. It doesn't scratch off,
isn't too expensive, and doesn't smell
bad. My favorite is Wire-Wrap wire.
Surface Preparation
Soldering involves a strange alchemy
of several metals (copper, tin, lead) and
flux.
There's no room for dirt, oxidized solder, or burned flux on the tip of your iron
or on your circuits. Quickly wipe the
iron's tip across a damp sponge when it
first reaches soldering temperature and
then immediately coat the tip lightly
with solder. You will need to repeat the
wiping and coating process while you
are working so that the tip remains
bright and shiny.
Clean up the circuit with isopropyl alcohol and a stiff plastic brush. Isopropyl
alcohol evaporates readily so you won't
need to dry off the board, but this alcohol
is not good to breathe, so work in a well
ventilated place, preferably outdoors. If
the joint you're soldering is really corroded, it may be necessary to scrape it
clean with a knife or small file.
Remember, the first thing that gets
soldered is the iron. When it gets hot

enough to liquefy the old solder, clean
the tip with the sponge.
Also, solder is miserable glue. Make
sure the pieces being soldered don't depend on the solder to stay together.
Surgery
Assemble your tools and parts on a
clean work surface (Formica is very
good) in a well-lit area. Prepare the surfaces for soldering. (For your first few
solder joints try something disposable,
like two pieces of wire.)
While the soldering iron is heating up,
cut off a piece of solder 5" to 50" long.
Wrap it around your index finger so it's
firm but doesn't cut off your circulation.
Extend it about an inch from your finger.
Test the temperature of the iron by
touching the tip with the end of your solder. The solder should melt immediately
on contact. If it doesn't, wait a bit.
As soon as the tip's hot enough (and
it's bright and shiny), touch the tip of the
iron to the surface to be soldered. Take
your strand of solder and touch it to the
tip of the iron as close to the soldering
surface as possible. As soon as the liquid
solder wicks onto the surface, remove
the soldering iron and inspect your
work. The solder should be hard already, and should look like the wax
around the wick of a newly lit candle.
You shouldn't be able to tell where the
solder ends and the wire begins.
If a solder blob is just sitting on top of
the joint, then the joint didn't get hot
enough. This situation is called "the cold
solder joint." Experts ruin their eyes
looking for cold joints before (or sometimes after) they apply power to newly
assembled boards.
Unsoldering
The trick to unsoldering ICs is to get
the joint good and hot (even use a little
added solder to help conduct the heat
AND KEEP YOUR TIP CLEAN AND
SHINY). Then force the Solda-pullit
(solder sucker) down over the top of the
iron, jerk the iron out of the way, and hit
the button on the sucker. Once you get
your timing down on this operation you
can sometimes lift 16-pin ICs off the
board with your fingers after you've finished. Usually a couple of pins will still
stick after the first pass, and you can ei-

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

ther heat the holes and try to wiggle the
chip out, or res older the stubborn pins
and then use the solder sucker again.
If you don't plan to reuse the IC, you
can cheat by simply cutting all the pins
off the chip and then remove the pins
one by one by heating them and then
pulling them out.
Heat Damage
ICs, transistors, diodes, and plastic of
all kinds can be damaged by high temperatures. If you know that it's going to
take more than one second to solder a
joint-for example where a semiconductor lead is soldered to a large ground
line-then "heat sink" the semiconductor's· leads by clamping a forceps between the component and the joint.
Finally
Now that you've read all this you're
probably wondering if soldering is totally beyond you. You've got to get a tiny
joint hot enough to take solder without
cooking a delicate board or Ie.
.
But are you going to hang up your new
iron and trudge down to your local computer shop for that long-anticipated 5
MHz speed-up? Of course not! At least
not without a fight.
You just need a little heat and a little
practice (which is what they told you
when you bought the yogurt maker last
year). Just get a surplus PC board with
ICs soldered to it ($5 max at a swap meet)
and away you go. Try adding components to the board. Try pulling up single
pins and running jumpers to other pins
or pads. Then, for your final exam try
unsoldering several ICs from the board
without damaging them and without
lifting runs on the board. Pretty soon,
you'll be an expert.

•••

~ ~.

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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985 ' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -.....

Eight Inch Drives On The Kaypro.
By Dana Cotant
I've received numerous requests for
an eight inch adapter board for the Kaypro. A couple of boards are already available, but they're limited to single density, and usually support only one eight
inch drive. I wanted a system that would
support two eight inch drives-singlesided single and double density, and
double-sided double density. And I
wanted to make the same upgrade available for Big Board users, so they could
use five and eight inch drives simultaneously. Well, I've done it.
Why Eight?
There's only one "standard" format in
floppy disk drives-an eight inch single
density called IBM 3740. CP/M public
domain software is almost always distributed in this format (SIGM and CPMUG software is distributed only in IBM
3740), and anyone marketing CP/M software provides it first in IBM 3740. So if
your computer can read and write the
standard, you can obtain virtually any
CP /M software.
More Storage
Another advantage of eight inch
drives is storage capacity. Until the recent development of high density five
inch drives, eight inch drives offered the
highest capacity of any floppy disk
drives. On a single-sided disk, single
density offers only 241K, but double
density increases that to about 600K.
Double-sided double density disks have
a capacity of over 1200K (1.2 Meg.).
Disk I/O is faster on eight inch drives.
Five inch double density drives transfer
data to and from the processor at a rate of
250 Kbits per second. Eight inch double
density do it twice as fast. The faster
transfer rate provides a dramatic speed
improvement in disk operations.
Hardware
The most unusual feature of the board
is the two sets of drivers for the interface
lines. One set powers the five inch
drives, and the other set powers the
eight inch drives. For this reason, both
types of drives have their own terminators. This eliminates compromises in the
terminator's position on the cable. It also
allows the Kaypro to be disconnected
from the eight inch drives for easy portability.

Micro C Staff

The heart of the board is an SMC 9229
which handles data separation, write
precompensation, and head load timing.
I chose it because of its similarity to the
9216 data separator used in standard
Kaypros. It is 100 percent digital, so
there is no chance of drift from analog
components. Its digital design also lets
you change write precompensation
without an oscilloscope.
The board can be installed with no soldering, and provides all the signals for
the eight inch and five inch interfaces as
well as four drive select signals. Drives
A: and B: are the Kaypro five inch drives,
and C: and D: can be either five inch or
eight inch drives.
The eight inch drives you use can be
any kind, but they'll need their own
power supply because their requirements cannot be met by the Kaypro's
supply.
Software
The software is ROM based and Pro-8
compatible.
The single-sided double density format uses 16 512 byte sectors for a total
data capacity of 596K. This format is also
compatible with the Big Board II and the
Slicer.
The double-sided double density format has the same sector configuration as
the single-sided double density, but every other track is on the opposite side of
the disk. This "cylindrical" configuration is the fastest method of implementing double-sided operation since it reduces the amount of track to track
seeking required. All formats including
eight inch are automatically determined
when the disk is accessed.
The ROM
The ROM for the Big Board is much
closer to the Kaypro ROM than to the
PFM monitor. Most of the low and intermediate device drivers are located and
executed in ROM. Thus Big Board owners ca~ have a 63K CP/M system even
with double density and multiple drive
types.
Both the Big Board software and the
Pro-8 support the same disk formats.
Five inch 48 tpi drive capacities are 191K
(single-sided) and 390K (double-sided).
Five inch 96 tpi drives have a 784K capacity.

The eight inch formats are the same as
previously described. The drive types
can be mixed and in any order. CP/M can
be booted from either five inch or eight
inch in any of the six formats.
Operation
At reset, the monitor sets up the keyboard and the floppy disk controller for
interrupts. Then the processor waits for
the first interrupt. If there's a disk in
drive A:, the monitor autoboots CP/M. If
you hit any key before a disk is inserted
into drive A:, a debugging monitor is
loaded into RAM and executed.
The debugger is a subset of PFM with
memory dump, edit, and port I/O commands. You also have access to all the
ROM based functions from the RAM
based debugger.
The BIOS supports interrupt mode 2
including CTC disk drive time out and
interrupt driven keyboard operation. It
also implements the I/O byte. Other options include serial or parallel printer
drivers and function key translation on
keyboards that send special characters
with bit seven set.
Sy~tem

Requirements
New Kaypros (2-84, 4-84, or 2X) are
ready to run the board and software
without any modifications. Old Kaypro
4s or Kaypros that have already been upgraded to a Kaypro 8 can run the board
with no modification for single density
eight inch, but will need to be sped up to
4 or 5MHz to run eight inch double density. Kaypro 2s will also need to be upgraded to Kaypro 4. Instructions for the
upgrades are included with the board.
Big Boards will also need to be running
at 4MHz or faster to run double density
eight inch. Since the adapter board has
its own 16MHz oscillator, it is very easy
to upgrade to 4MHz.
The system will reside in the first two
ROM sockets. If you want, you can plug
a modified PFM ROM (that will run with
the adapter board in place) into the third
ROM socket. It will be available soon
from Micro C. It will operate single density eight inch only. ZCPR 1 in ROM will
also be available for the fourth ROM
socket.
The modifications are outlined in the
system manual.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

PROGRAMMER/4+
Other Considerations
The market is swamped with inexpensive disk drives you can use with this
system. Eight inch single-sided drives
are selling for less than $100, and double-sided for about $200. All of the five
inch drive types go for around $100. Stay
away from Remex and Tandon 100-4
drives.
You can pick up a switching power
supply for less than $50, but make sure
you know the power requirements of
your drives before you buy the power
supply. Tandon 848 drives require more
+24V than other eight inch drives. If you
are a novice at putting together disk
drive subsystems you might want to
purchase an enclosure with the power
supply and cables included.
Micro Cornucopia cannot possibly
support the large number of different
double density formats. According to
Brian Garrison of Emerald Microware,
Micro Solutions is working on a version
of their UNIFORM program to support
some other eight inch formats, but it is
not yet available.
In the meantime, if you are transferring software between different eight
inch computers, go to IBM 3740 single
density format. After all, that's the reason for having a standard format.

•••

DriveLiner
Check Floppy Drive Alignment
No tools or interfacing needed
SSSD Runs on All
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&TM Oysan Corporation

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

A LOW COST ALTERNATIVE
TO EPROM PROGRAMMING
Reads and programs 2716, 2732, 2764, and 27128 EPROMS.
Reads 2-16K ROMS.
Direct connect to any RS232C terminal or computer.
Plug selectable as either a data set or data terminal.
All voltages made on board, (no power supplies needed).
(User supplies power Xformer, 25.2 to 30 VAC C.T.1 Amp.).
Power electronically switched, (can't damage EPROMS).
Zero insertion force socket for EPROM.
Programs, verifies, and dumps in both ASCII and hex.
Edit buffer (like DDT).
Saves hex and/or image files to and from disk.
Saves or loads all or partial buffer.
Completely menu driven for ease of operation.
Commands of Test, Read, Display, Save, Load, Program and more.
Check sum calculation.
All software on disk including well commented source code.
Detailed owners manual including schematic
All chips socketed.
Not a kit! Completely built and tested.
48 hour dynamic burn-in and test before shipment.
90 day limited warranty on parts and workmanship.
24 hour return policy on repairs.
Delivery from stock.
NOTICE TO PREVIOUS CUSTOMERS: Send us your old disk and a
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CP/M 8" IBM format, KA YPRO II, XEROX 820, OSBORNE I, others.
Please specify method of shipment, UPS or Postal Service.
California residents add 6')" Sales Tax. Dealer Inquiries invited.

_III

Kaypro BIOS Patch
By Ray Rizzuto

I recently bought a quad-density,
double:"sided drive and installed it as my
A drive, leaving my B drive single-sided.
I had previously modified my Kaypro for
new drives, and had been using the Pro8 ROM for several months.
Once I had the system all SYSGENed,
I started transferring information from
my single-sided disks to the quad drive.
Trouble. Occasionally, the drive "locked
up" while accessing the single-sided
drive. I checked out back issues of Micro
C, and found that someone had written
about the same problem (Issue 21, Tech
Tips).
I couldn't find the pattern-but I did
notice that it locked up only on drive B. I
even had the problem while using Wordstar to edit a file on drive B.
Later I surmised that my Kaypro was
getting stuck trying to read the back of
the single-sided drive. I put my logic
probe on the side select signal (E40) during a file transfer, and found that .the

450 Forrest Ave. Apt. N311 '
Norristown PA 19401

lock-up occurred after the system accessed the back side of drive A and then
tried to write to drive B. Although the
disk in B is single-sided, the side select
was still set for the back side. So the system looks on the back side of a singlesided disk for the next sector, and not
finding it, simply times out (15 seconds),
and then resets the drive .. Once the drive
is reset, the controller looks on the front
side of the disk and away it goes.

correct track and sector before doing a
read or write and selects the back if the
correct sector is on the back side.
The patch does slow down the first access to a reselected drive if the wrong
side is selected (e.g., A bottom = > B top
= > Atop), butthedelayisn'tanywhere
near the 15 seconds you get otherwise.
The following listing is the patch I
used. It also contains the LISTST patch
which is already present in the CP/M
configured by PRO-8SET.

Fix

I patched CP/M's BIOS (basic input/
output system) to always select the front
side when it accesses a drive. If the track
and sector are not there, then the system
looks on the back, side. So I patched the
BIOS call SELDSK (select disk) so it always selects the front side of the disk.
Of course, if you really need to read or
write the back side of a disk, this BIOS
patch might seem counter productive,
but'the drive controller checks for the

•••

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CELL SCREEN GRAPHICS and SCREEN DUMP CHARACTER TRANSLATION. Both Install In minutes with no component
desolderlng·and are compatlble,wlth the Kaypro's existing hardware and software.
.
.
With the AT-1 installed, the video control codes are
compatible with those of the Kaypro 2, 3, and 10
models, the popular Televideo 925 terminal and the
IBM PC (Co Power 88). A patCh program is also
provided to automatically upgrade the standard
software that comes with the Kaypro to use these
new attributes.
The AT-1 comes ready to install, complete with
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system; demo, test, and configuration programs, plus
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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Kaypro LISTST BIOS and ProB Disk Patch (KPA TCH.ASM)
The Kaypro IV has a bug in the BIOS function 14, L1STST.
This bug causes the print buffer function in "D"7nn not to Nork
properly.
According to the DRI Alteration 6uide, this function is
supposed to return a value of OFFH in regi ster A if the printer
is available, and 00 if it is busy. The Kaypro BIOS (Nhich in
turn calls the RO") does not return the zero in A, but it does
return Nith the zero FLA6 set. This can be fixed by the BIOS
patch .hich folloNs:
The di sk patch forces the selecti on of the top surface of a di sk
Nhenever the drives are selected through bios call SELDSK. This
should fix the problel of a single sided drive (or a single sided
, disk in a double sided drive) "hanging the systea .hen transferring
; data frol a double si ded dri ve,
;
; 1/8/85 Ray Rizzuto
FAOO =

BIOS
EQU
OFAOOH; Beginning of BIOS jUlP vectors
; THESE 2 EQUATES ARE SPECIFIC TO THE CP" FOR A KAYPRO 11/4
L1STST
EQU
BIOS + 165H
SELDSK
EQU
BIOS + 180H
;
; BIOSO = BOOT (COLD BOOTI
;
EQU
BIOS15
BIOS + 3 • 15
EQU
BIOS9
BIOS + 3 • 9

FB65 =
FB80 =

FA2D =
FA1B =
FA2D
FA2D C3EEF9

OR6
J"P

BIOS15
PATCH

FAtB
FA1B C3F4F9

ORG
J"P

BIOS9
DSKPAT

; Put jUlp to patch here

; PATCH IS PUT AT THE END OF THE CCP. IF A TRANSIENT PROGRA" MKES USE' OF
: ALL OF THE CCP AREA, THESE PATCHES "AY BE DESTROYED. THIS IS AT BEST A
; "KLUDGE".
F9EE =

SPARE

EQU

F9EE
F9EE
F9Fl
F9F2
F9F3
F9F4
F9Fb
F9F8
F9FA

ORG
PATCH:
RNZ
IRA
RET
DSKPAT:
ANI
OUT
J"P

SPARE
CALL

CD65FB
CO
AF
C9
DB1C
E6FB
D31C
C380FB

A
IN
OFBH
lCH
SELDSK

BIDS - lB ; Hole for patch
LISTST
; Call the RO"
I OK except IIhen zero
; Clear accululator
; And return
lCH
; GET SYSTE" PORT
; LoliER SIDE SELECT
; RETURN TO SYSTE" PORT
; CONTINUE IIlTH NOR"AL DISK SELECT

Since the bug is in the BIOS, the patch requires
generating a nell version and placing it in the systea
tracks of your disk. To accolplish this, take the
follolling steps:
(1) Asselble the code above using AS" or "AC. The
output lIill be KPPATCH.HEX. Note that this file has all
text cOllented out, so it should asseable lIithout
; editing.
;
; (2) Use SYSGEN to get a copy of CP/" in lelory.
; To do this, insert a disk containing both SYSGEN
; and DDT into dri ve A. Then type:
;
•. SYSGEN

IIhen SYSGEN prolpts IIi th
SOURCE DRIVE NA"E lOR RETURN TO SKIP),
respond with an A. This lIill cause SYSGEN to
generate a copy of the systel tracks in 1011 RA".

IF YOU HAVE TWO

(3) When SYSGEN prolpts for the destination drive,
an slier lIith a RETURN to reboot. The CP/ft copy lIill
renin in RA".

OR MORE KAYPROS*

(4) Save the copy of CP/" to disk by typing:

THEY SHOULD TALK!

SAVE 36 CPft. CO"

(* & MORROWs OR XEROX 820-115 ALL IN THE SAME OFFICE.)

CONNECT THEM WITH THE LAN/ROVER™
The ADEVCO LAN/Rover is a full-feature Local Area Network system which enables KAYPRO CP/M computers to
work together. Information from disk drives (including
hard disks) can be exchanged with other computers (as
many as 60 computers on a network.)

• TRANSFER FILES TO OR FROM REMOTE DISK
DRIVES AND USE OTHER PRINTERS OVER
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The LAN/Rover provides a low cost. finely engineered and reliable network for your KAYPRO and
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Kaypro. Morrow [,. Xerox are regIStered trademarks of the KAYPRO Corp.. MORROW DESIGNS. (" XEROX.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

(5) Type the follolling cOllands exactly as they
appear:
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;

DDT CP". CO"
IKPPATCH.HEI
R2580
Thi s causes DDT to load CP", CO", then overlay it
IIi th the patches. The "2580" is the offset required
to cOlpensate for the fact that lie are using a copy
loved to 1011 RA". Just to be sure, typer
LlFAD
and E
LlF?
You should see JIIP F9EE at the first address, and
the short subroutine at the second.
(6) Exit DDT lIith GO (that's a zero) or "C.
The patched copy IIi 11 renin in RA".
(7) NOli run SYSGEN again. This tile, respond to the
first prolpt lIith a RETURN (the systel is already
in RAil). At the second prolpt, you can either respond
lIith an "A", IIhich will load the systel onto the
systea tracks of the sue disk, or ·8· to load it onto
any disk you dl!sire to put in drive B.
End of Listing

Alternative Power Supply For The Kaypro
By Eric J. Tomey

7 Hart Street
San Rafael CA 94901

Micro Cornucopia Issue 16 contained
a letter asking about alternative power
supply requirements for a Kaypro. I read
this with interest since my electricity had
been off for three days straight.
I can read by the light of a kerosene
lantern, and the fire burns whether or
not there is electricity. I was ready to
work, but my Kaypro just gave me a
blank stare.
Your note about a battery powered
Kaypro stuck in my mind all through the
rest of the year, and just in the past few
weeks the power failed again. I immediatelyordered +12 volt 5 amp, +5 volt 5
amp, and -12 volt 1 amp voltage regulators. I scrounged around through the
basement to see what I had on hand:
some 12 gauge romex house wire with
three conductors, some aluminum sheet
metal from an old panel, a metal electrical box, some wire nuts, miscellaneous
pieces of wire, wire clamps, two heat
sinks, a matched 4-conductor plug set
(disk drive power type), and miscellaneous hardware and capacitors.

Getting Started
I hooked up a charger to myoId boat
battery, and then got to work designing
a battery backup power supply.
When the voltage regulators arrived I
started assembling. It took just an hour
to make a cover for the wiring box. Then
I used a mica insulator and heat sink
grease as I mounted the -12V regulator
and its heat sink to the cover. (Editor's
note: Most +5V and + 12V regulators can
be mounted directly to grounded heat
sinks without an insulator since their
cases are normally grounded.)
Hooking Up the Batteries
Since I needed two batteries, I took my
newly charged boat battery and hooked
it up to my car battery via jumper cables,
yielding a + 12 volt, common, and -12
volt contact.
I nervously connected the romex
house wire from the batteries to the voltage regulators, still remembering the last
automotive/microchip circuit design I
made that turned into a burning glob.

Then, testing the connection with my
voltmeter, I was pleased to find + 12, +5
and -12 volts, right where they were
supposed to be.
Kaypro Connections
I took the cover off my Kaypro and
found a good connection point for splicing into the power lines. These contacts,
conveniently labeled +5, ground, +12,
and -12, were easy to solder to.
With short lengths of 16-gauge multistrand wire I carefully connected a female plug to these contacts, using the
same plug configuration that the disk
drives have for +5, ground, and +12.
The -12 was input to the otherwise unused location.
Then I assembled the output from my
power supply to the male plug to match.
I chose the male/female plug arrangement to avoid inadvertently inserting
the wrong plug into a disk drive.
I left the Kaypro end of the plug loose
inside my system, meaning that I have to
take off the cover to connect up. It would

When did we
print that letter?
Has the mailing
list been updated?
Which is the
latest version?

DateStamper™ keeps your CP1M computer up-to-date.!
• avoid erasing the wrong file
• back-up files by date and time

• keep dated tax records of computer use
• simplify disk housekeeping chores

OPERATION: DateStamper extends CP/M 2.2 to automatically record the date and time a file is created, read or
modified. DateStamper reads the exact time from the real-time clock, if you have one; otherwise, it records the order in
which you use files. Disks initialized for datestamping are fully compatible with standard CP/M.
INSTALLATION: Default (relative-clock) mode is automatic. Configurable for any real-time clock, with preassembled code supplied for popular models. Loads automatically at power-on. UTILITIES:. Enhanced
SuperDirectory • Powerful, all-function DATSWEEP file-management program with date and time tagging • Diskinitializer • Installation and configuration utilities PERFORMANCE: Automatic. Efficient. Invisible. Compatible.
Requires CP/M 2.2. Uses less than lK memory. Real-time clock is optional.

When ordering please specify format
8" SSSD, Kaypro, Osborne Formats ........... $49
For other formats (sorry, no 96 TPI) add $5.
Shipping and handling ........................ $3
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and Visa accepted

Specialized versions of this and other software available for the Kaypro.
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Write or call for further information

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be easy, though, to mount a connector
on the rear of the system so it is accessible from the outside.

added the cost of the parts I had around
the house, it probably wouldn't have
topped $40, excluding the batteries.

Testing My Work
After carefully examining all the battery connections, I took a deep breath
and made contact with the plugs. In a
few seconds I was rewarded with a message to insert a disk. After putting a disk
in, I made a few commands to fill up the
screen.
Unfortunately, the screen was all distorted and the display warped during
disk activity. I measured the voltages on
the main board and found +9. 5V on the
+12V contact, +5V and -12V supplies
were okay.
I had about 50 feet of wire between the
battery and the voltage regulators.
When I shortened the wire to approximately 10 feet, the + 12V supply increased to 11 V and everything worked
fine.
After finishing the project, I found that
my costs totalled $32.50. Even if I had

Parts List
1. 1 + 12 volt 5 amp voltage regulator
with heat sink
2. 1 +5 volt 5 amp voltage regulator with
heat sink
3. 1 -12 volt 1 amp voltage regulator
4. 3 0.33 mFd capacitors
5. 3 0.1 mFd capacitors
6. 1 male, 1 female 4-contact plug (disk
drive type)
7. several feet of 12 gauge (or heavier)
wire
8. wire nuts for #12 solid wire
9. length of #16 multi-strand wire for
connection to plugs
10. misc. hardware and metal box with
aluminum cover
11. two 12 volt batteries

•••

Out "keys" the
competition!
Thinking about buying a "key" program? (You know, the names all start with words
like "smart", "magic", "pro", etc.) Looking for a faster, easier
way to calc? Process words or databases? Yes? Then
you owe it to yourself (and your computer) to check
out XtraKey. Quite frankly, we think it's the best. At
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Just like those other "keys", XtraKey lets you
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and over again! Change or make' up new definitions anytime. Even while running a favorite program like WordS tar or
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XtraKey can also talk to your printer or video display. Change from pica to
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up your own custom help or menu screens (almost like having windows!)
There's more! Built-in screen dump**, keypad redefinition**, clear screen, printer
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one, neat little package that uses less memory AND disk space than the leading program.
Now, for $39.95, aren't you ready for real key power?
* to available CP/M TPA ** XtraKey Custom versions for Kaypro (all models) & Gnat 10 only

X~ ~

XtraKey will run on CP/M 2.2 based computers. To order, send check or
money order for $39.95 ($49.95 for XtraKey Custom for Kaypro or Gnat 10)
plus $3.00 shipping (U.S. & Canada). California residents MUST also add 6%
sales tax. Specify make and model of computer and disk format. VISA and
MasterCard accepted.
CP/M, dBASE II. WordStar and Kaypro are trademarks of Digital Research,
Ashton·Tate. Micropro and Kaypro respectively.

Xpert Software • 8865 Polland Avenue. San Diego, CA 92123 • (619) 268-0112

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

It's like having a friend to help:
Customize WordSta~ for
- Faster screen response
- Optimal printer output
- Custom patches
Get started with Communications
- Transfer files across the country or
across the room
- Communication Software on disk
with Examples
Connect Equipment
- RS-232 & Handshaking explained
- Cable Connection Examples for
over 70 printers
FastFacts Command Reference
- Quick access to commands for
common programs
Learn CP/M® Shortcuts
- Commands with examples
- Turn your Kaypro into an electronic
typewriter with PIP
- Modify programs with DDT
Understand the great Public Domain
Software included on disk
- Catalog and Organize disks
- Time and Date stamp files without
a clock
- Writers & Disk Utilities
Programmers Reference
- Software & Hardware Interface
points
SLIPCASED KAYPRO COMPANION
BOOK AND DISK PACKAGE $35.00
PLUS WORDSTAR!l RECOVERY
PROGRAM TO SAVE FILES WHEN
DISK IS FULL OR WHEN OTHER
SAVE PROBLEMS OCCUR
WSFIXCOM a $30 value

r-l~::T,~~~~~~
2990 ATLANTIC AVE.
Penfield, NY 14526
716 377-0369
Master Card and Visa Accepted
$3.00 Postage, NY residents add local
tax

48 Lines On A BBI
By David Griesinger

Lexicon
60 Turner St.
Waltham MA 02156

This mod is lots of fun and results in a
computer which is wonderful for programming. The mod requires extensive
hardware changes, a bunch of software
patches, a reconfigurable editor (I use
PMATE), and a medium or high persistence monitor (an Amdec amber or any
P39 green). If your green monitor smears
badly when you scroll, it's P39. If it
doesn't. you'll need a different monitor.
Note: P4 and P31 are the standard short
persistence phosphors.
Background
The idea for this modification began
with some observations about my Amdec.
The horizontal scan lines were painfully noticeable. With full vertical height
all the letters were too high, and in normal mode (amber characters on black
background) each character was composed of small disconnected dots. In
black on amber mode the characters
looked fine, but the background was full
of disconnected lines. It seemed my

choice was either dotty or caged characters. I wanted a better solution.
I turned down the vertical height to
compress the scan lines, but the text
filled only a little more than half the
screen. I wondered if I could use interlaced scan to fill the missing scan lines.
Interlacing
Interlace doubles the number of vertical scan lines by slightly displacing the
scan pattern on alternating scans. In other words, instead of writing every horizan tal line every time down the screen, it
writes half the lines (1,3,5,7,9 ... ) on the
first pass, and then the other half (2,4,6,8
. .. ) on the second pass.
Interlace reduces effective scan rate
from 60Hz (60 times per second) to 30Hz,
which is why it shouldn't be attempted
with a short persistence monitor. If the
alternate frames are identical, the interlace simply fills out the missing space between scan lines, considerably improving the display.
You can interlace by adding 74LS157

to control the extra section ofUS1.
This puts an adjustable extra delay in
the vertical sync pulse every other
frame. This modification is simple, and
highly recommended before you tackle
"48 lines."
I work from the top of the board by
lifting pins and soldering jumpers to the
ICs themselves. This is fast and reversible, but it requires a temperature controlled soldering iron.
Assuming you have a fully socketed
BBI, the will, and the equipment, you
can make this modification.
Preliminary Instructions
I'll describe which pins to lift and
which connections to make by using a
table, beginning with U10, and working
from the front to the back of the board.
As you go, you'll find many of the
changes have already been done. So the
table is only about half as long as it looks.
Any pin which needs to be lifted
(pulled out of the socket) will be flagged
with an L. Connections are shown by "_"

oetween entries. The piggyback chips
get the same U numbers as the chips beneath them (but the piggyback's number
has an apostrophe appended to it).
If you're fast at stripping hook-up
wire, you can make these changes in an
evening.
24 Lines Interlaced
Piggyback a 74LS1S7 on usa, connecting pins 8 and 16 only. This chip is now

usa'.

If you follow Figure 1 and you're
lucky, you'll have adjustable interlace.
Set the pot so the scan lines just disappear in the middle of the screen.

48 Lines
The real pay-off to interlace is to use
every scan line, and display 48 lines of
text. You'll need to add more video
memory, and change the character ROM
addressing, the scroll register, and the
software.
The extra screen memory is simply
piggybacked on the existing screen

memory, and mapped from 2000h to
3800h. If you're using two or more 2716
ROMs in the BBI you'll have to copy
them to 2732s, since the remapping affects the ROM sockets. 2732As are a
good idea at4MHz anyway.
The monitor software can be patched,
but even without changing the ROM,
you can use the screen. Most editors can
be re-configured to use the whole
screen. PMATE is easy to reconfigure
and quick to scroll using the BBIOPATCH from Sage Microsystems. The
new system runs most old programs
without any changes-Pacman, Aliens,
and Games simply run in the top half of
the screen.
You need four more 2114 screen memories, two 74LS1S7s, and one 74LS138.
The lS7s piggyback on U49 and USO
(connected only to power and ground),
and the 138 piggybacks on U47. The
screen memories should be soldered (every pin except pin 8) to the chip underneath. The combination runs quite hot,
but seems to work. I tried CMOS 6514s

as screen memories, but they don't
work.
The Mod
Figure 2 is the complete 48 line modification including the changes for interlace.
(continued on page 47)

.....

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System Requirements Any Z80 computer running 60k CP/M and
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MSC
301 North Harrison Street

Microcomputer
Systems
Consultants

CN 5279. Suite 228

Televideo 921 ............. '495 00
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~.·'I

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Terms Send check or money order for $29.95 + $5.00 s/h to
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and printer make and model. NJ residents add 6% tax.
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•

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Two Z·80A CPUs (main and secondary) with no·walt
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ChOice of 33-hne or 40-hne text mode
CP/M operating system with editor. assembler and
all 'ilandard utllilles.
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format disks from many computers including Operates as a standard 555-2 with two 360K
the IBM PC,the OEC Rainbow, and Tandy cirives

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Interfaces for one CentrOniCs prtnter and
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SortDir program to alphabetize and sort the Runs both MS· DOS 1.25 and MS-DOS 2.11
large directories that these drives can hold operating systems

•

ASCII Screen Dump program

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WORDSTAR 0 MAILMERGE
SPELLSTAR 0 CALCSTAR
INFOSTAR 0 BASIC

M Be 1200

•
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Calendar Program. a personal datebook which Michtron's Demon Seed and Cash Man
displays a two-month calendar on the screen

Clock/Calendar Board

Certificate to purchase a top-selling data
Sanyo Software:
base. Personal Pearl. for only $99.95. a
savings of $200.00. Personal Pearl is a product Wordslar. Easywriter. Calcstar, Sanyo Basic.
of Pearlsoft. Inc.
MS-DOS 1.25. MS-DOS 2.11
EasyPac or StarPac (optiona')

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Figure 1 - Chip Changes For An Adjustable Interlace

48 LINE VIDEO _ _ _ __

U10

(continued from page 45)

U11

P13L P12 solder
P3L -

U23P5 (or P11) ;this modifioation speeds up the display
U11P3L
15k in parallel with r5
U10P12

Test and readjust your monitor before oontinuing.

WrapUp
Plug in your new or old ROM in U68
and boot. If you use SWP you should
have already made the patches to the
video, and you'll be running right away.
If not, I'm making a new ROM available
which fits in the lower half of a 2732a.
You can plug it into socket U68.
The SWP monitor should be patched
as shown in Figure 3.
The steps with comments indicate
what to look for if you want to change
the source code in CRTOUT. You must
also change CRTBAS = 20h, CRTEND=38h, and CRTMEM=2000h.
Once you finish this mod, you'll have
a much friendlier programming environment.

•••

U21

P11 - U50'P1
P13L - U38P12

U37

P6 - U51P10

U38

P10L - U50'P4
P12 - U21P13L

U50'

P8
P1
P2
P3

U51

P5 - U50'P3
p6 - P8 - P9
P7 - .001uFd to P8
P7 - 6.8k + 10k trimpot to P16 (mount on top of ohip)
P10 - U37P6
P12 - U50'P2

P15 ;74LS157 solder P8 to U50P8 and P16 to U50P16
U21P11
U51P12
U51P5

Figure 2 - Interlace Wiring From The Interlace Modification

U9:

P1L-U10P4L-U21P1

U10: P3L-U21P4
P4L-U21P1-U9P1L
P12-U11P3L
P13L-U23P5
U11: P3L-U10P12
P5L
P6L

HIGH PERFORMANCE VIDEO
MONITOR

U21: P1-U10P4L-U9P1L ;character address reassign
P2-U22P12L
P4-U10P3L
p6-U22P10L
P11-U50'P1
P13L-U38P12
U22: P9-U37P5L-U36P3L ;LC5
P10L-U21P6
P11L-U23P9
P12L-U21P2
U23: P5-U10P13L
P9-U22P11L

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• Vertical Sync: 47-82 Hz
• Horizontal Sync (Jumper Selectable):
• PERFECT FOR BIG BOARD II
WHEN USING 9x11 CHARACTER SET
NEW with schematic shipping weight 10 Ibs

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as pictured above. Size 17x14x12". Room inside for
mounting above monitor, power supply, & S.B.C.
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NEW, SHIPPING WEIGHT 12 LBS

ENCLOSURE ONLY •.......... $40.00

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TERMS: Prepaid or UPS COD (CASH OR CERTIFIED
CHECKS ONLY)

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

U34: P10L-U49'P3

;soroll register re-wire

U35: P3-U49'P2
P6-U83P6
P7-U36P2L
P11-U48P5L
U36: P1L-P12-U37P2
P2L-U35P7
P3L-U37P5L-U22P9
P8-P11
P10-U48P6
Pll-P8
P12-P1L-U37P2
P15L-U37P3
U37: P2-U36P12-U36P1L
P3-U36P15L
;LC5
P5L-U36P3L-U22P9
P6-U51P10
U38: P10L-U50'P4
P12-U21P13L
U47: NO CHANGE
U47' :P1-U49' P4
P2-U50P4L
P4-P5-P8

;74LS138 MEMORY ENABLES

(Listing continued)

~~
CALENDAR/CLOCK

Windowing for CP/M!
$49.95 Basic Compiler

MTBASIC

$69

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Multitasking Windowing
Handles interrupts Interactive
Fast native code Compiles quickly
Floating point No runtime fee

KIT

- WORKS WITH ANY Z-80 BASED COMPUTER
- PIGGYBACKS IN Z80 SOCKET
- USES NATIONAL MM58167 CLOCK CHIP,
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The MTBASIC package includes all the necessary software to
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ORDERING: Specify format when ordering. We accept Visa, MC,
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COMPUTER
TECHNOLOGIES

P.O. Box 635, Kenmore, New York 101217 (716) H77·0617

Coming Soon to a SOG Near You:
"Project X"
- A NEW Single Board Computer with
the following features:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

8MHz or 10 MHz 80186 16 Bit Microprocessor - FASTI
256K to 1M Zero Wait State DRAM
SASI Hard Disk/Tape Controller Port.
5 1/4" Floppy Disk Controller, 40 Track, 80 Track, Single Sided,
Double Sided and/or PC-AT Type. - Up to 4, Any Type.
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INTRODUCTORY
Designed by Dean Klein and Earl Hinrichs
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MasterCard, VISA, Certified Funds or C.O.D.
Allow 6-8 Weeks for Shipment

48 LINE FIGURE 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-..,
(continued from page 47)

P7-U61P8
ithis is under U61' - solder carefully
P9-U63P8
P10-U62'P8-U63'P8
P11-U61'P8-U64'P8
U48: P5L-U35P11
P6-U36P10
U49: P1-U49'P1
P15-U49'P15

isolder pins 1&15 as well as 8&16
iwhen you piggyback these chips

U49':P1-U49'P1
P2-U35P3
P3-U34P10L
P4-U47'P1
P15-U49P15

i74LS157

U50: P4L-U47'P2
U50' :P1-U21P11
P2-U51P12
P3-U51P5
P4-U38P10L
P6-P8-P15
P7-U73P8L

i74LS157 - interlace delay select + inverter

iP6&P7 act as an inverter for the alternate
iframe signal from U21P11 - applied to char ROM

U51: P5-U50'P3
i15K IN PARALLEL WITH R51 (sweep speed-up)
P6-P8-P9
P7-(.001uf to P8)-(6.8k in series with 10k trimpot to +5 P16)
P9-P8-P6
P10-U37P6
P12-U50'P2
ivideo RAM
U61,U62,U63,U64 - solder all pins but 8 to U61',U62',U63',U64'
pin 8 as above to U47'
U73: P8L-U50'P7

icharacter ROM

U68: P21L-U70P21L-U83P2 imonitor ROM (low half 2732a)
U68P21 can be left high (not lifted) if you wish to use the old
2716 monitor ROM or a 2732a with the monitor in the upper half.
The old monitor ROM can still be used (with some difficulty)
with the 48 line display, especially if you patch the SWP
software to overlay the old monitor when you boot. The old
monitor must go in socket U68. Sockets U67 and U69 are not
useful after the changes to U84.
U70: P21L-U68P21L-U83P2 imonitor ROM #2 if used
U83: P2-U68P21L-U70P21L ;addresses for ROMS and video memory
P6-U35P6
U84: P1L
;This re-maps the memory space
P10-Ul04P12L
Ul04:P12L-U84Pl0
Figure 3 - Patching the SWP Monitor

Do ddsysgen to get the image in RAM.
28b9
28bb
299c
29aO
29a3
29a9
2geO
2ge3
2geb
2gee
29f5
2a16
2a65
2a69
2a6b

Now use DDT to change:

Of-lf f2b9 ;a little insurance
30-20
30-20
30-20
Oc-18 ;24-128
17-2f iLD A,23
30-20
3b-37
3c-38
30-20
If-3f ;LFEED: AND 1FH
If-3f ;AND lFH
18-30 ;sub 24
18-30 iadd 24
60-40 f46b

Now use ddsysgen to restore on disk.

CP/M86
8" CP IM-86 Disk

$15.00 each

DISK 86·1 - Di.k Utilitie.
D.CMDI A86.
SD.CMDI A86.
XDIR.CMDI A86: Three extended directory pro·
grams. Each does it differently, so we included all
three.
FlLE-EXT.CMDI A86: Disk status program with
good display format.
PAGE. CMDI A86: A text paging program. Dis·
plays 24 lines at a time.
PRINT.CMD/ A86: File printing routine. Puts a
header at the top of each page along with page number
and file name.
MUCHTEXT.CMD/ A86: Counts words and
lines in a text file.
ERQ,CMDI A86: Seh:ctive file erase program.
Dispfays al\ selected files and then asks you one at a
time for a YIN.
INUSE.CMD/ A86: Prints "In Use" on your
terminal and asks for a password. It will not release
the console until you enter the password.
FlNDBAD.CMD/A867. Finds and collects bad
sectors on a disk. If there are no bad sectors,
information on the disk is unaltered.
Di.k 86·2 - DU and Modem Prolram.
DU.V75.CMD/A86/DOC: This is the popular
disk utility from CP 1M 80. It lets you read, write, and
modify disk sectors.
MODEM4.CMD/ A86: This is a modem program
set up for the Slicer. This program includes a built-in
help file.
MODEM7SLCMDI A86/DOC: No modem disk
would be complete without this standard. This is
modem7 set up for the Slicer. It displays a menu when
it is called.
.
Di.k 86·3 - Small C
C86.CMD: This is the original Small C compiler
which appeared in Dr Dobbs Journal in 1980. It runs
under CPM-86 and generates 8086 source for the
ASM86 assembler.
C86. COM: This is the C86 compiler which runs
under CPM-80. This 8080 program produces 8086
assembly language.
C86L1B.A86: This is the C86110 library.
SMALLC86.DOC: Documentation on Smal\ C.
C?????C: Source of the C86 compiler.

DISK 86-4 -

IBM Mainframe Interchange/
RESOURCE 8086
XBIOS.A86: A new BIOS that supports a real time
clock.
RES86.CMD: A disk management program for
transfering files between CP/M-86 and IBM 374X
mainframe environments.
SDI86.CMD: An 8086 version of the RESOURCE
disassembler.
DISK 86-5&6 - FIG Forth
Disks 5 and 6 are a complete two disk set of FIG
Forth 83.
F83.CMD: The standard Fig Forth 83.
META86.CMD: The Forth compiler.
More ROMS: Fast monitor ROMs for speed freaks
and our famous 'better than Texas' character ROM
(V2.3) for screen freaks.
Fast Monitor ROM BBI .............. $29.95
Deluxe Character ROM BBl .... : ..... $29.95

BBIIDRIVEINTERFACE
For 51,4' and 8'" Drives
Andy Bakkers is making this special software package
available through Micro C. Complete source, HEX,
&. documentation files on an 8'" SS SD disk. Also
outlines on disk the hardware changes needed.
$29.95

Micro Cornucopia
P.O. Sox 223
Bend, OR 97709
503-382-8048
9-5 PaCifiC Time

Monday-Friday

End of Listing

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Adding An 8" SSSD Drive To A Morrow MD-2
By Mark Sihlanick

As popular as the smaller disk drives
are becoming, eight inchers still reign, at
least in the CP/M world. I'm a satisfied
owner of a Morrow Micro Decision MD2 with 5" drives, but I couldn't stand the
thought of being locked out of all that
public domain software on 8" disks. So I
modified my MD-2 to allow the addition
of a single density 8" drive as drive C.
Types Of MD-2s
There are two revIsIons of MD-2s.
While the following modification should
work on either, it has been verified only
on Revision 1. Significant changes in
board layout and circuitry will make my
instructions incorrect for REV 2 boards.
To help you tell which machine you
have, the Revision 1 board has an expansion drive connector on the rear and is
marked (strangely enough) REV 1.1. The
REV 2 board replaces the drive expansion connector with a Centronics printer
port and signs on with REV 2.x or 3.x at
turn-on.
Hardware Modification
The stock MD-2 uses an NEC 765
(same as Intel's 8272) with an external

121 Twin Creek Terrace
Forest VA 24551

TTL data separator. Rather than modify
the existing data separator, I used a new
one from Western Digital's FD179X Application Note. My only modification to
the original 1793 circuit was to invert the
RD DATA signal to match the 765 by using the other output on the 74LS123.
The circuit shown in Figure 1 detects
when drive C is enabled by monitoring
the HD load signal for drive C brought
out on pin 12 of the expansion drive connector. It then switches in the external
data separator and sets the 765' s clock to
the 8 MHz needed for eight inch operation.
For disk writes, the circuit forces the
MD-2's circuitry to act as though double
density 5" were being selected. The resulting 500 KHz signal to the NEC 765
WRITE CLOCK is what's needed for the
8" single density drive.
This design allows the 8" drive to be
turned off but remain connected without
upsetting the operation of the 5" system.

most certainly void anyway, so you may
as well dig in and go to it! A word of caution: believe everything you have ever
heard about static zapping expensive
electronic parts, and exercise caution
when making these modifications.

Construction
It should be obvious that this modification will void your warranty. But if you
have a REV 1 MD-2, your warranty is al-

Micro Cornucopia, Numb~r 24, June-July 1985

4 MHZ ON YOUR Z80 IS LIKE DRIVING 40 ON THE FREEWAY,

MD-2 Disassembly
1. Turn off the computer and remove
the power cord and any RS-232 cables
that may be connected.
2. Remove the four screws that hold
the cover to the chassis.
3. Remove the four screws from the
rear panel that hold the AC cord pan,
and remove the cord pan.
4. Carefully remove the three screws
that hold in each disk drive. (I do this by
dangling the computer over the edge of
the desk and carefully backing the
screws out from the bottom.)
5. As each drive is unscrewed, disconnect the DC power cable from the jack
near the power supply.
6. Disconnect the ribbon connector
from the back of the drive and carefully
lift out the drive.
7. Gently unglue the disk drive ribbon
cable from the PC board, disconnect it
from the main board, and put it aside.
8. Do not worry about keeping the A
and the B drives separate since they are
strapped identically and can be interchanged.
9. Disconnect the main power cable
from the PC board.
10. You now have gone too far to back
out, so stand the unit on end and remove
the four screws that secure the PC board
to the chassis.
11. Remember every warning you
have ever read about static.
Daughter Board
I chose to mount the board containing
the new circuitry in place of the cord pan
on the rear of the computer. The cut-out
in the rear panel gives room to bring out
the 50 conductor cable to the 8" drive
and the 34 conductor cable to the expansion drive connector. See Figure 2.
The circuit is constructed on perfboard
using point to point wiring.
MD-2 PC Board Changes
These changes allow the external
74LS157 to select between the internal
data separator, the NEC 765 clock
source, WRITE CLK, and the external 8"
equivalents.
Refer to Figure 1 and carefully cut the
traces as indicated by the Xs. Take your
time and be sure you have the right
point. Then carefully scrape off some of

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the solder mask to allow connection to
the runs.
When the daughter board is installed,
check the wiring and reassemble the
computer. You do not need the modified
software to access the 5" drives.
Jumper Settings For Shugart SA-BOO I
801
The disk drives used with an NEC 765
must have the stepper energized continuously. Therefore, be sure that jumper
positions HL and DS are open. In addi-

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

tion, the remaining jumper positions
are:
T1,T3,T4,T5,T6
OS1
OS2,DS3,OS4
RR,RI
HL,DS
Y
Z
C

A,B,X

PLUGGED
PLUGGED
OPEN
PLUGGED
OPEN
OPEN
PLUGGED
OPEN
PLUGGED

(continued next page)

8" DRIVES ON A MORROW _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
(continued from page 51)

Software Modifications
There are three areas of the MD-2 BIOS that must be patched: the Disk Parameter Header (DPH), the Disk Parameter Block (DPB), and what Morrow calls
the MTAB (which contains the constants
associated with the disk drive). Plus, you
need to add a sector translation table
(XLT) for 8" disk drives. We will first locate the patch (and add) areas, discuss
the contents of the patch, and finally
make the changes (and addition).
Finding The Patch Area Locations
First make a new copy of the Morrow
CPM distribution disk. Follow all the
steps outlined in the instructions, but
answer '3' when asked the number of
drives to be used. You must have DDT.COM and SYSGEN. COM on this disk.
Use this new disk for the rest of software
modification.
Morrow sets aside a portion of the BIOS to be used for foreign drive translation tables as well as terminal configuration space. This is the area that
Morrow-supplied programs such as
XER.COM or OSB.COM use. Its position varies depending also on how much
patch area was required to set up the BIOS for the particular terminal you are using. It is easiest to find this area by
snooping around with DDT.
Start looking at about FA80 and you
should see something like Figure 3. (The
symbol (R) signifies pressing RETURN.)
Write down the address of the FF that
just precedes the Room Left Byte (in this
case FB08) and the value of the Room
Left Byte (BE).
To find the location of the DPH and
DPB in the BIOS we will use Figure 4, a
program that uses the CPM SELDSK
function to return the address of the
DPH for disk C. Since the program is
short it will be keyed in directly in HEX
under DDT, then run, and the registers
examined.
Now that you've perused Figure 4,
let's have a quick recap. In this example
we have found for drive C, the DPH
starts at F76E, DPB is at F7CB, CSV starts
at F98B, ALV starts at F972, the Translate
Table starts at FB08, and MTAB starts at
F845.
Translate Table Patch
Morrow has a specific way of entering

extra sector translation tables. The first
byte is a designator for the type of drive
format, and the next word is the length
of the table. The table itself comes next,
followed by an FF and then a space remaining byte.
For SD 8" with six sector interleave,
the translation table for the Morrow MD2 is found in Figure 5.
DPBPatch
The DPB for 8" single density is:
HEX FOR PATCH
1AOO
DW
03
DB
07
DB
00
DB
F200
DW
3FOO
DW
CO
DB
00
DB
1000
DW
0200
DW

DESCRIPTION
026 isec per track
3
iBlock shift
7
iBlock mask
o
iExt mask
242 idsk size-1
63
idirect.size
192 ialloc 0
o
ialloc 1
16
icheck size
2
itrack offset

Note: The HEX patch data is in form
to be patched in, IE low byte
first for all DWs.

If you wish to change the constants for
different step rates, for example, refer to
a 765 or 8272 data sheet. Remember that
the switch to the 8" drive occurs after all
the head positioning. Therefore, SRTI
HUT and HLT should be figured for a 4
MHz clock rate.

Making The Patches
The symbol (R) signifies pressing RETURN. Use SYSGEN to create the disk
image of the CBIOS shown in Figure 7.
Now swap the disk from drive B into
drive A, press RESET, and reboot the
system. With the 8" drive hooked up,
and with a formatted disk in it, try to pull .
a directory listing. If there are problems,
reinspect the wiring. Use STAT, STATUS, INFO, or DUU to inspect the disk
parameters to confirm they were
patched correctly.
Other Sector Sizes
By changing the appropriate locations
in MTAB and changing the XLT and DPB
to match, single density 256, 512, and
1024 byte sectors can be supported.

For a full discussion of these parameters see Digital Research's CP 1M 2.2 Reference Manual.
DPHPatch
The DPH must be patched to show the
address for the new XLT, and the size of
the ALV must be increased by 7 to account for the larger number of 1K sectors
used in 8" SD.
Since the CSV space is larger than
needed, we can steal from it for the ALV.
This will change the CSV address in the
DPH from F98B to F992 (F98B + 7).
The new XLT address to be put into
the DPH is the address of the first sector
in the new table. Since the first three
bytes in the XLT are used for identification and table length, the first byte begins at FBOB (FB08 + 3) in this example.
(Be sure and use the value you found for
your system in place ofFB08.)
MTABPatch
Morrow packs a lot of information
about the disk drives in the table entitled
'MTAB.' Take a look at the distribution
copy of the BIOS that came with your
machine. You will note that there are 9
bytes for each drive. Figure 6 shows
what these bytes become for SD 8".

Formatting
The standard Morrow FORMAT. COM
will not format 8" disks. This means you
will have to buy formatted disks, or use
those formatted on another machine.
(One bright note: disks formatted with
either a 1771 or 1793 will work with the
NEC 765.) Single density 8" disks are
normally sold pre-formatted so the lack
of a formatter is not usually a problem.
Double Density 8"
The approach used in the Morrow to
access the disk is not fast enough to keep
up with the higher data rates associated
with double density 8". The simple data
separator described here will not work
for double density anyway.
Operation
After using the 5" drives, the 8 incher
seems painfully slow and noisy. Changing the sector size to 1K bytes brings the
speed up to parity with the five inchers.
This modification, in conjunction with
the use of a multiple format disk program such as Uniform, allows maximum
interchangeability of software.

•••

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Figure 3 - Finding Terminal. Configuration Data

NOW ONL Y $79.951

Room Left in Bytes
Figure 4 - Locating DPH and DPB in the B(OS

The current values are unimportant
-S100
0100 XX 2A
The program used is:
0101 XX 01
0102 XX OO
jGET WARM BOOT ADDR
LD
HL,( 1)
0103 XX 01
jOFFSET TO SELDSK
LD
BC,018
0104 XX 18
ADD HL,BC
0105 XX OO
jSELECT DSK C:
LD
BC,02
0106 XX 09
LD
E,1
0107 XX 01
CALL JUMPHL
jINDIRECT JUMP
0108 XX 02
jROOM FOR BREAK
NOP
0109 XX OO
jPOINT
NOP
010A XX 1E
JUMPHL: JP
(HL)
jINDIRECT JUMP
010B XX 01
JTO SELDSK
010C XX CD
010D XX 11
010E XX 01
010F XX OO
0110 XX OO
0111 XX E9
0112 XX .
THIS RUNS THE PROGRAM AND HALTS AT 010F
-G100,10F
·10F
DUMP THE REGISTERS, ADDR OF DPH IS IN HL
-X
COZOMOEOI1 A=10 B=F74E D=F7CB H=F76E S=0100 P=010F NOP
NOW INSPECT THE DPH FOR C:
-DF76E
F76E C3 FA ••
F770 00 00 00 00 00 00 60 F8 CB F7 8B F9 72 F9 C3 FA
This gives us the following information for drive C:
DPH ADDR F76E (Also addr of XLT pointer)
DPB ADDR F7CB
CSV ADDR F98B
ALV ADDR F972
HTAB is easy to find since Morrow places its address right
after the CPM jump table ••• so get warm start address ••
Warm Start
(Start of BIOS is Warm Start-3 or F200)
-DOO,04
0000 C3 03 F2 00 00
-HF203,041
F244 F1C2
-DF244,F245
F244 33 F8

ADD OFFSET TO HTAB(41H)
HTAB POINTER IS AT F244
HTAB FOR DRIVE A STARTS AT F833 BUT WE WANT
HTAB FOR DRIVE C SO MUST ADD 18 BYTES TO THIS
ADDRESS SINCE EACH MTAB ENTRY IS 9 BYTES LONG

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Function Keys. 'Virtual" disk system. Archiver (saves over
50% disk). extensive command language. 300;- variables. 100+
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Price includes manual. 8" disk. and user sup,port. &14" conversions
available. Cootact ySYSGEN
SOURCE DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO SKIP)A
SOURCE ON A, THEN TYPE RETURN
FUNCTION COMPLETE
DESTINATION DRIVE NAME (OR RETURN TO REBOOT)
A>SAVE 48 CPM64.COM
Then use DDT to find and patch the areas in the SYSGEN image.
A>DDT CPM64.COM
DDT VERS 2.2
NEXT
PC
Look for the start of CPM jump table • • •
3100
0100
D2300,2310
here it is as shown by all the C3 Jumps
2300 C3 C9 FC C3 52 F2 C3 DE F2 C3 E6 F2 C3 48 F3 C3
-HF200,2300
This calculates offset between SYSGEN and BIOS
addresses.
1500 CFOO
The offset is'CFOO
-HF76E,CFOO
C66E 286E
-S286E
286E C3 OB
286F FA.FB

Use the offset to find the DPH
This is it, now to patch, remembering that low
order bytes are first when patching words.
New XLT
ADDRESS

2870 to 2879

No changes

287A 8B 92
287B F9 .

Change size of ALV
Done with DPH patch

-HF7CB,CFOO
C6CB 28CB
-S28CB
28CB 28 1A
28CC 00 OO
28CD 04 03
28CE OF 07
28CF 01 OO
28DO 5E F2
28D1 00 OO
28D2 7F 3F
28D3 00 OO
28D4 CO CO
28D5 00 OO
28D6 20 10
28D7 00 OO
28D8 02 02
28D9 00 OO
28DA 28 .
-HF845,CFOO
'C745 2945
-S2945
2945 04 84
2946 5A 22
2947 58 01
2948 05 01
2949 6F BF
294A 03 23
294B 05 1A
294C 1C 07
294D FF .
-HFB08,CFOO
CA08 2c08
-S2C08
2C08 FF OA
2C09 B8 1A
2COA 00 OO
2COB 00 01
2COC 00 07
:
I : I
2C25 00 FF
2C26 00 A1
2C27 00 .

Calculate address of DPB
is 28CB

Change sectors per track
Change
Change
Change
Change

"
"

block shift
block mask
extent mask
disk size

Change directory size

Byte 0
Byte 1

84H
22H

Byte 2

01H

Byte
Byte
Byte
Byte
Byte
Byte

01H
BFH
23H
1AH
07H
FFH

3
4
5
6
7
8

Foreign Drive, Single Sided, Mot. Cont. 001
Non virtual drive, Single DenSity, 80 track
(although this makes no difference), 128 byte
per sector, single sided, drive C
Motor wait time to minimum since drive runs
continuous
Head settle time to minimum
SRT/HUT to 765
HLT/NO to 765
End of Track Sector Number
Gap Length 3
Current Track

Figure 8 - Parts List

Quantity

Description

34 conductor ribbon cable
about 8-10"
34 pin card edge ribbon
one
cable connector
34 pin header
one
34 pin ribbon cable socket
one
50 pin card edge ribbon
one
cable connector
50 pin header
one
50 pin ribbon cable socket
one
50 conductor ribbon cable
as needed
74LS74 dual D FF
one
74LS193 binary counter
one
74LS123 dual one-shot
one
74LS157 or 74LS257 quad 2 to 1 mux
one
4.7 K resistor
one
1 K resistor
two
220 Ohm resistor
one
10 K pot
one
33 pF mica capaCitor
one
.1 uFd capaCitor
four
10 uFd
one

Alloc 0 happens to be the same
Change check size

Track offset the same
Start of DPB for D: so stop.
Calculate position of MTAB
is at 2945

Start patching MTAB

Done with MTAB patch
Calculate position of XLT
Start patch

POWER THAT GOES ANYWHERE!
Single Board Computer
Continue patching in
the XLT until
End of table mark
Space remaining (be sure and use your value here)
Done I You may however wish to modify the
signon message (at FCOO in RAM, 2DOO in SYSGEN
image) to show the modifications.

-~C
Use Control C to exit DDT and
A>SAVE 48 CPM8.COM
Save the patched result.
And use SYSGEN to put ·the patched BIOS on a
formatted disk in drive B.
A>SYSGEN CPM8.COM
SYSGEN VER 2.0 MD1.2
DESTINATION DRIVE (OR RETURN TO SKIP)B
DESTINATION DRIVE (OR RETURN TO SKIP)
A>

Figure 6 - Byte Equivalents on 8" SD

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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Keeping Real Time: The Ztime-I
Review By Ron Biedenbach

One shortcoming of 8-bit computers
is their inability to time/date stamp files.
One solution is the Ztime-I calendarl
clock by Kenmore Computer Technologies.
Ztime-I is based on the National Semiconductor 58167 and is available in four
flavors: bare board, kit, assembled and
tested, and assembled, tested, and
trimmed for time accuracy.
Easy To Assemble
I assembled the kit, which includes the
PC board, all parts, instruction manual,
and support software on an 8" disk. It
was easy, and took about an hour. The
only thing that confused me was the value of the capacitors. They're marked
with the industry standard, but that's
Greek to me. Luckily, an EE friend was
nearby to translate.
When I finished the assembly, I un-

185 Hillcres t
Amherst NY 14226

plugged the Z80 from my Xerox 820-11
and plugged it into the clock board. Then
I plugged the clock board into the Z80
socket on the computer.
I turned the system on, booted (so far
so good), and ran the date configure program to modify DATE.COM and SETDATE. COM to the physical address port
to which the clock is tied. Then I ran
SETDATE.COM to set the time. From
that point on I had a battery backed realtime clock.
It's been running for over a month,
and it's lost only two minutes-about 20
seconds a week. (Editor's note: If you
find those two minutes you've lost,
please save them. You never know when
you'll need a couple of extra minutes.)

stalled and adjusted to improve the accuracy to within +- 8 seconds a month. I
haven't tried it.
Kenmore supports 8" single density,
Kaypro, Osborne, and Xerox. If you
have some other format, you can get
. support software via modem.
They also plan to develop and support
system specific programs which incorporate the Ztime board. It's rumored
that future software will include an archive program, an RCP/M-BBS system,
and dBASE II modules.
Available from: Kenmore Computer
Technologies, 20 Landers Rd., Kenmore,
NY 14217, (716) 877-0617. Prices for the
Ztime-I range from $29 to $99, depending on the package.

•••

Enhancements
Kenmore Computer Technologies
claims a variable capacitor can be in-

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Use our Order Form on page 86.
Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

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on hand. Prices subject to change without notice. NO OPEN ACCOUNTS / NO FOREIGN ORDERS, PLEASE!

SHUGART SA604 HARD DRIVES
At last! here is a chance to purchase a hard disk for your system at an affordable price.
Werecently participated in a buyout of Shugart's finished goods inventory of these drives. Brand new in
the original factory packing and guaranteed by us for 90 days. These 5 megabyte drives are considered by
some to be the most reliable in the industry. These units directly replace a ST506 or similar drive.
When installing your system's first hard drive, a hard disk controller card and appropriate software are required. For an IBM-PC with a 50 or 60W power supply, you will need a 130W supply.
Functional Specifications
Performance Specifications
Formatted (33 sectors track)
Cylinders
160
Tracks
640
Per Drive
5.40 Mbytes
RW Heads'
4
Per Surface
1.35 Mbytes
Disks
2
Per Track
8.45 kbytes
Per Sector
256 bytes
Index
1
Transfer Rate
5.0 Mbits sec
DC VOltage Requirements:
Access Time
+ 12Vdc ± 5% 1.8 A typical (4.0A max. starting for 6 sec.)
Track to Track
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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Pascal Procedures
By John P. Jones

Because there's so much Pascal software in the public domain, you often
need to sift the wheat from the chaff.
If the software you find is not exactly
what you need, you are faced with the
problem of modifying the code to fit your
application. If the original was written in
Pascal/Q Version 7.342C (Infinity Vaporware, Atlantis) and you only use
Imaginary Pascal-7 (Thoughtless Products, Gotham City), you will most likely
have to translate portions of the code.
By the way, even though PascallQ is
only available on 12", half density, triple-sided diskette and requires that all
variable names be entered in Greek, at
$19,999.95 it's a reasonable buy. The
price includes shipping by Percolator
Timewarp.
'Not Getting Lost In The Translation
Here are some basics for translating
between compilers.
First, try compiling the code. If you're
lucky, the author will have used "standard" Pascal~ and it
compile correctly.
More likely, though, there will be compiler errors.
Especially if you are new to Pascal, get
a reference manual for the source compiler. It may be critical. The differences
are often subtle and difficult to find.
Getting the program to compile correctly involves changing syntax for similar but not identical procedures, writing
new procedures to emulate those your
present compiler lacks, and editing identifier names. For instance, some compilers use as few as eight significant characters in names, but an author will
occasionally use more than eight, so that
INPUTFIL and INPUTFILE may actually
be the same. You might even have to
break the source into "include" files.
Expect to find differences in file I/ O.
Some compilers use GET/PUT for sequential I/O, while others have extended READ/WRITE. Remember that GET
and PUT use a pointer variable to access
the file, so the statements:

6245 Columbia Ave.
St. Louis MO 63139

This may seem backwards, but there is
an implied GET when a file is reset, so
file input is a "look ahead" operation.
Some compilers may only allow writes to
files that have been opened with REWRITE.
More Differences
RESET /REWRITE will probably be different, and if any random file I/O is used,
expect to rewrite an entire section of the
program.
You will have to totally reconstruct
non-text data files. Text files and untyped files (which some compilers don't'
support) are the only means of transferring data between compilers, since all
other files are written using the same binary format the compiler uses for internal data storage.
String procedures are another prob-

Comparisons
JRT (now Nevada) Pascal source is
particularly difficult to translate because
of its non-standard syntax and relaxed
type checking. Translations among Pascal/MT +, PascallZ, and Turbo Pascal are
somewhat easier, but can still be a chore.
PascallM to MT + or Turbo translations
are somewhere in between. Sad to say,

(continued next page)

Figure 1 - Comm Program Rewrite

will

fA := var;

lem area because they lack a defined
standard and have unique extensions.
Some compilers allow the" +" operator
to concatenate strings, while others use
only the CON CAT procedure. The range
of allowable operations between
STRINGS, character arrays, and CHAR
variables will also differ widely.

put(f);

are equivalent to: write(f,var);

are equivalent to: read(f,var);

Uc-}
{Disable otl cbar interpretation }
program basio;
oonst
2400 baud using COH8116 }
baudrate = 10;
SIO ohannel A baud rate register
brport = 0;
SIOIA data 1/0 }
serialio = 4;
SIOIA oontrol/status
serialstat = 6;
serialctl = serialstat;
initialization values
initvals : array[3 •• 5) of byte = ($c1,$44,$ea);
for register 3-5 }
{ reoeive data available status bit }
rdabit = 1;
{ transmit buffer empty status bit }
tbebit = 4;
var
cb : obar;
function txok:boolean;
{ Read SIO status, return TRUE if xmit buffer empty }
begin
txok := port[serialstat) and tbebit <> 0;
end;
funotion rxok : boolean;
{ Read SIO status, return TRUE if receive cbar available
begin
rxok := port[serialstat) and rdabit <> 0;
end;
prooedure sioinit;
{ initialize sio registers
var i : byte;
begin
port[brport] := baudrate; {set COH8116 rate register
port[serialotl] := 0;
{ disable SIO interrupts}
for i := 3 to 5 do
begin
port[serialotl] := i;
register address
port[serialotl] := initvals[i);
register data}
end;
end;
prooedure send_to_8052;
{ send a disk file to BASIC
var
line: string[128];

longer than needed for insuranoe

(Listing continued)

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

PASCAL PROCEDURES
(continued from page 57)

I've had the most trouble translating
from 16-bit (MS-DOS) Turbo to 8-bit
Turbo.
Once the program compiles correctly,
it MIGHT run correctly. If not, you'll
have to look for the subtle differences
noted above. Example: for Turbo Pascal,
input from a TEXT file "looks ahead" at
the following character to determine
EOF and EOLN. Some other compilers
do not.
The final step in translation is optional. After the program is running correctly, it can be optimized for your compiler.
Procedures can often be replaced with
"built-ins" not available in the source
Pascal. Using them can save code and increase efficiency.
By this time, you may be wondering if
it's easier to just start from scratch and
write your own code. In some cases it is,
but often the algorithms and logic in the
source program are a real help.
Communications
My current project at work involves a
custom micro based on the Intel 8052. To
debug the hardware, it was cheaper for
us to use the version of the chip which
has BASIC in the mask ROM (8052 AHBASIC) since the interpreter has all the
facilities needed to directly access memory. (It uses memory-mapped I/O.) To
use the BASIC interpreter, all you need,
in addition to program RAM for the
8052, is a serial terminal.
An alternative to a dedicated terminal
is another computer running a terminal
emulator program. I first brought up the
board using a communication program
r'unning on a Kaypro 4.
As testing became more involved, we
needed to be able to load/save BASIC
programs from the Kaypro's disk. Unfortunately, the program's send/receive
facilities were incompatible with the
BASIC. Rather than try to modify the
comm program (no source) I wrote the
program in Figure 1.
A Word Of Explanation
The comments should explain most of
the program, but I should point out a
couple of things. Because of its lack of
hardware scroll assist, the Kaypro can't
run this program faster than 2400 baud.
My Big Board will run it happily at 9600

baud. The Save command buffers the
program in memory rather than writing
directly to disk for two reasons.
First, since the ROM BASIC does not
toggle output on and off with ctl-S, ctl-Q
the way CP/M does, writing to memory
was an easy way to avoid missing char-

acters during disk writes. Second, the
memory buffer provides an opportunity
to strip the echoed "LIST" command
and the trailing "READY" from the BASIC source. Of course, I can save the
memory file to disk once the transfer is
completed. The saved input files can be

(Listing continued)

bas-prog : text j
fn : string[14]j
i : integer;
ch2 : char;

use text files
file name}
temp storage }

begin
repeat
writeln;
write('Name of BASIC program file: ');
clreol;
readln(fn);
{ get BASIC program filename}
if pos('.',fn) = 0 then fn := fn + '.bas'j
{I don't like to type
assign(bas-prog,fn)j
{$i-}
disable I/O check since don't want to }
reset(bas-prog) j
halt program if file not there }
Ui+}
loop til get good file name }
until ioresult = OJ
repeat
readln(bas-prog,line)j
get a line of BASIC}
line := line+Amj
{ append a as terminator}
for i := 1 to length(line) do
{ send line, char by char
begin
while not txok dOj
{ empty loop waiting for xmit ok
port[serialio] := ord(line[i])j {ship out the char}
end;
write( ,+.);
{ let us know a line was sent }
delay(500) j
{ give BASIC a chance to store the line
until eof(bas-prog)j
{ send the whole file }
close(bas-prog);
{ clear SID input buffer
while rxok do ch2 := chr(port[serialio])j
writelnj
{ signal done }
writeln('File sent')j
{ echo last char BASIC sent to screen }
ch := ch2;
write(ch) j
end;
procedure get_fro~8052j
{ capture BASIC program from a LIST command
const
buffsiz = 8191j
only have 8K ram on the beast
var
line: string[127]j
longer than needed}
bas-prog,temp : textj
fn : string[14]j
i,j : integer;
input & output capture buffer pOinters
ch2 : charj
buffer: array[O •• buffsiz] of charj
procedure getlinej
{ pull a line of source from the input buffer
begin
line := "j
{clear assembly area}
while (buffer[j] in [AJ,AM]) and
(j < i) do j := succ(j)j

{ skip leading and }
{ check to be sure don't overrun buffer}

while (not (buffer[j] in [AJ,AM]» and (j < i) do {copy til or }
begin
line := line+buffer[j]j
{append the char}
j := succ(j)j
{ bump the buffer pOinter}
endj
endj

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

sent practically verbatim to BASIC.
I have since extended the program to
display the disk directory, "TYPE" files,
and dump files to the printer. The program could be further extended to become a full blown communication utility. In fact, the Borland SIG on

CompuServe has a Turbo version of
MODEM7 available for downloading
(it's specifically written for 16-bit Turbo!). A print program translation to Turbo that I mentioned in an earlier column
is also available on the Borland SIG.

begin
writeln('Reading BASIC program into memory.');
fn := 'LIST'+~m;
{ set up and send LIST command to BASIC
for i := 1 to length(fn) do
begin
while not (txok) do;
port[serialio] := ord(fn[i]);
end;
input buffer pointer }
i := 0;
repeat
char by char capture of program }
if rxok then
begin
buffer[i] := chr(port[serialio]);
i := succ(i);
if buffer[i-1] = ~m then write('+');
{if got

G,:)
~
~IV

COME SEE AND HEAR
GEORGE MORROW
ATSOG IV

BDOS Vectors (Mucking Around Inside CP/M)
By Tom Geldner

3746 29th St.

San Diego CA 92104

This month's topic is how to beat a
dead horse into the ground. Actually,
we're going to continue examining locations within CP/M. Next time, we'll do
something practical.
At least this column now has a focus.
We are going to dedicate our efforts to
"The Intermediate to Advanced Pascal
or BASIC or dBASE II or Something Programmer Who Wants to Learn More
About CP/M and/or How to Do Fancy
Stuff With It and lor Get Thoroughly
Confused."

may vary. In the case of the BDOS entry
vector, we can look at memory locations
0006 and 0007 to find the location of
BDOS.
The entry vectors are usually preceded
by an assembly language JMP (say
JUMP) instruction. JMP aaaa is similar to
BASIC's GOTO xxxx where xxxx is a line
number. In the case of the JMP instruction however, the aaaa is a memory address. For example, a disassembly listing
of the BDOS JMP in your CP 1M system
might look like:

Back To The Bee-Doss (BOOS)
Last issue, we talked primarily about
how much TPA (Transient Program
Area) was available for your programs.
Also, by locating the bottom of the
BDOS we were able to locate, by inference, the CCP and BIOS. In case you forgot how we did this, Figure 1 is a quick
review.
Note that the addresses in the memory
map are "offsets" from a known location: the beginning of the BDOS.
As you'll recall, we determined the location of the BDOS by examining its entry vector at memory locations 0006 and
0007, using the value at 0007 (most significant byte) to show where the BDOS
started.
Editor's note: Transient programs (WordStar, Perfect Calc . .. ) can use all the memory between lOOH and the bottom of BDOS
(called the transient program area or TPA).
These programs use the BDOS vector (at
0007H) as a pointer to the highest address
they can use.
Since the console command processor
(CCP) resides below the BDOS, its space can
be used by the transient program (that's OK,
since you won't need it again until you return
to CP 1M). When you exit a program the CCP
is read from the disk and written back where it
belongs. This action takes place during a
"warm boot."

JHP D406

What's A Vector, Mr. Wizard?
Here I was with my first article, talking
about vectors and addresses and stuff,
and a reader had the nerve to ask what a
vector was. The word doesn't come up
very often in high-level language programming, so the question makes sense.
A vector is a fixed location in memory
that contains a memory address that

And in HEX format:
C3 06 D4

Note that the address D406 is in standard byte-reversed format with the least
significant byte first, most significant
second. C3 is the HEX representation of
the JMP instruction. Any program that
encounters this instruction will continue
execution at address D406.
Tom Tackles Turbo
Now that we know what a vector is,
let's go back to figuring out what the
BDOS vector is. Last time, we were supposed to have had an S-BASIC example,
but somehow, typesetting gremlins sent
it to Source Code Heaven. (Editor's note:
that example is alive and well and residing at the end of this article.) This time,
we have a Turbo Pascal program that
does the same thing, but first, Figure 2
shows a procedure that makes things
easier to understand.
Unlike S-BASIC, Turbo Pascal has no
equivalent to a HEX$ function that returns a HEX string representation of an
integer value. So, we supply our own.
We take the most significant byte and divide it by 16. We convert this value to a
hex number or letter by locating its positionin the array constant HexLtr. The result is stored in HexStr at the first position. We'll do the same with the
remainder (mod 16). Then we repeat the
whole process on the least significant
byte.
Now that we have our little hex converter, we can make sense out of the example in Figure 3.

Absolute Variables
Some explanations. First, the integer
variable BdosJump is positioned at address 0006 (the BDOS jump vector) using
the reserved word "absolute." An absolute variable is a variable whose value
reflects that of a particular memory location. Absolute variables behave somewhat like PEEK or POKE depending on
what side of the assignment statement
they are on. Figure 4 illustrates this.
While it is safe for absolute variables to
be on the right of an assignment statement (:=), be careful when the absolute
variable is on the left since the wrong
value in the wrong place could have disastrous consequences.
OK, so moving right along. First, we
use our DisplayHex procedure to display
the HEX value of BdosJump. Then, the
most significant byte of BdosJump is obtained with the HI function and multiplied by 100H. We multiply by 100H because the BDOS starts on an even page
of memory (xxOOH).
Then, we again display the result using DisplayHex. The BDOS Entry Vector
(BdosJump) will usually be an address 6
higher than the start of the BDOS due to
the Digital Research serial number.
Fly In The Ointment
There's always a catch! Using the
BDOS entry vector as a method for determining TPA space is fine and, in fact,
is the correct way of doing it. But, it's not
always the correct way to actually locate
the BDOS! Here's why.
There are a number of programs (resident system extensions or RSEs) like debuggers, keyboard translators, or screen
dumps that have to reside in RAM while
other programs are running. (My company, Xpert Software, makes two such
products, XtraKey and XScreen.)
One thing these programs have in
common is that they relocate themselves
into high memory, just below the CCP.
They load at 100H just like any other program, look at the BDOS entry vector,
subtract 800H to find the beginning of
the CCP, and then relocate themselves
just underneath the CCP.
To keep from being overwritten by
subsequent programs, these programs
take the original BDOS entry vector,
subtract 800H (for the CCP), subtract the

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

size of the new resident (RSE) program,
and then stick the result back into address 6 (BDOS).
Figure 5 gives another example. Start
by assuming that the original BDOS
jump vector points to address D406.
Now, run an RSE that requires just under 2K worth of working code. (The values on the left side of Fig. 5 are actual
numbers taken from my computer, Zorba the Lunch Box.)
If the original BDOS vector is D406, as
in Figure 5, the RSE would change the
vector to C406. Programs that dynamically allocate storage space (WordS tar,
Perfect Writer, and others) will check the
(new) BDOS vector and determine how
much TPA there is so they won't crash
into the presumed BDOS. (Turbo Pascalcompiled programs won't do this automatically. They merely assume that the
BDOS is still in whatever location it was
in during compilation.)
Since C406 is obviously not the real
BDOS, any program trying to JMP to the
BDOS would get into trouble unless provision is made to redirect the jump to the
real BDOS. This must be done by the
RSE itself. What actually happens is that
whena program jumps to the fake BDOS
address, the RSE usually contains a JMP
instruction at that address to the real
BDOS (unless it does what the BDOS
was supposed to do).
OK, back to the fly in the ointment.
Since we have a fake BDOS vector, our
offset of 800H no longer applies to the
CCP, and our offset of EOOH no longer
(continued on page 65)

Figure 1

Figure 3

BIOS
I
--------------I
BDOS
I
--------------I
CCP
I
--------------I
I
TPA
I
I
I
I
--------------Base Page I
---------------

var BdosJump:
BdosStart:
xxOOH

EOOH

REPAIR SERVICE

CUSTOM PROTOTYPE WORK
NEW/USED 820 EQUIPMENT
DISK DRIVES
CASES
PWR SUPPLIES
LETTER QUALITY PRINTERS
IBM PC BOARDS
CALL

FOR

PRICE LIST

{insert procedure DisplayHex here}

xxOOH

begin
Wr1te('BDOS Jump Vector = ')i
D1splayHex(BdosJumP)i
BdosStart := H1(BdosJump)*$100i
Write(AMAJ,'BDOS Start = ');
DisplayHex(BdosStart)i
end.

xxOOH - 800H

0100H
OOOOH

Figure 4

Figure 2

procedure D1splayHex(InValue: Integer)i
var HexStr: Str1ng[4]i
const HexLtr: ar~ay[0 •• 15] of char =
'0123456789ABCDEF';
beg1n
HexStr := '0000';
HexStr[1] := HexLtr[(H1(InValue) d1v 16)]
HexStr[2] := HexLtr[(Hi(InValue) mod 16)]
HexStl'[3] := HexLtr[(Lo(InValue) div 16)]
HexStr[4] := HexLtr[(Lo(InValue) mod 16)]
WritelHexStr) i
end;

BASIC
SomeInteger = PEEK(6)
Turbo
SomeInteger := AbsoluteIntegerAt6
BASIC
POKE(6,SomeIntger)
Turbo
AbsoluteIntegerAt6 := SomeInteger

(Listings continued)

IT'S EASY TO USE!
Just enter "SPELLSYS", select which
disks you'll use, and file you're checking.
Then SpellSys takes over. Everything is
self-prompting-so sit back and relax.

Are you signing your name with an X
because spelling doesn't come easily?

Then you need SpeliSys!
XEROX 820-1111 SYSTEMS
BIGBOARD I
PC BOARDS

Integer absolute $0006i
Integeri

With this full-feature package, you can
write prose with the pros. SpellSys features a 42,000 word dictionary and all
the bells and whistles of those expensive
checkers-including rhyming, crossword
search, letter unscrambling, etc.
SpellSys is made up of a group of individual programs which you can use together or separately. With SpellSys you can
setup and maintain your own custom
dictionary (in addition to the main dictionary). These are real dictionaries, not
hash tables, so you edit or remove words
from your own dictionary at will.

Word Review Operations
C .• show Context in file
L _. Lookup word in dictionary
M .. Misspelled (correct file to ..... )
D •. put in user Dictionary
I .• Ignore
N .. Next word
p .. Previous word
E .. Exit review
.. (or any other key) displays menu
ORDER AT NO RISK!
Check out the manual
agree that SpellSys is
just return the package
opened within 30 days
your money.

and if you don't
a super bargain,
with the disk unand we'll refund

$29.95 ppd. in US & Can
Other Foreign add $5.00
Requires 32K CP/M*
Formats: 8" 55 50 or
5" SS DD for KayPro

SPELLSYS

·CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research

THE DA TA MILL
12 CRESCENT CT.
MONTGOMERY, IL 60538
312-892-6573

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

P.O. Box 65
Bend, OR 97709
MC
(503) 382-8048
Visa

BDOS _________________________________________________________________
(continued from page 63)

Figure 5

Zorba

begin
BiosStart := Hi(WarmBoot)*$100;
BdosStart := BiosStart - $EOO;
CCPStart := BdosStart - $800;
TpaEnd := (Hi(BdosJump)*$100)-$800;
Write(tBIOS Starting Address = t);
DisplayHex(BiosStart);
Write(AM-J,tBDOS Starting Address = I);
DisplayHex(BdosStart);
Write(AM-J,tCCP Starting Address = I);

Offsets

FFFF --------------I
BIOS
I
E200 --------------- xxOOH + EOOH
I
I
I
BDOS
I
D400 --------------I
CCP
I xxOOH
CCOO ------------- xxOOH - 800H
I
RSE.
I
C400 --------------- xxOOH - EOOH
I
TPA
I
I
I
------------I Base Page I 0100H

Figure 6

Integer absolute $0001;
Integer absolute $0006;

Integer;

{insert procedure D1splayHex here}

Still Searching
For FUes
Without

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= I);

'820 -1

--------------- OOOOH

var
WarmBoot:
BdosJump:
TpaEnd,
BiosStart,
BdosStart,
CcpStart:

DisplayHex(CcpStart);
Ending Address
D1splayHex(TpaEnd);
end.
Write(AM~J,'TPA

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learn and use. has more access and report choices, finds files
by many different ways, and has an attractive price. "
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820 reset switch ............................. $ 3.00
820 composite video adapter. Generates true
RS-170 compatible video for your 820. Outputs
to RCA phono jack and plugs directly onto the
25.00
820 video connector. Assembled and tested
820 video cable. 10 pin AMP to CRT edge card
10.00
w/power conn & provisions for brightness pot
8208" disk cable. 37 pin '0' to dual 50 pin
edge card ................................. . 45.00
20.00
820 5.25" disk cable, w /power conn ......... .
4.00
8209 pin power connector w/pins .......... .
4.00
820 9 pin PC mount power connector ....... .
1.50
8" disk DC power connector w/pins ......... .
.75
8" disk AC power connector w/pins .......... .
1.10
5.25" disk DC power connector w /pins ...... .
7.50
820 connector plate w/mtg hardware ........ .
18.00
820 "c" size schematics, set of 6, very legible
820 CBIOS source, ROM source, BOOT, and
formatter, all in source code. M 80 compatible,
conditional assembly flags for 8" or 5.25"
disk. 8" SSSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
820 compatible keyboard w/cable for 820,
complete w/schematics & source code for the
encoder ROM ............................. . 55.00
256 K RAM expansion kit for the 820-1 or the
BIGBOARD-1. Complete with schematics,
theory of operation, RAM DISK software,
installation and test instructions. Clean installation with no cables or jumpers. Good beyond
5Mhz.
KIT W /0 RAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 125.00
KIT WITH RAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 195.00

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add $2.50 shipping
Calif. residents add 6% sales tax

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accepted

A EUREKA! package is designed to run on only a single system.
Licenses for additional systems (for a single user) are $15 each.
EUREKA! is a trademark of MendoclnoSotlware Company, Inc
CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

applies to the BIOS! So how do we know
where the CCP or BIOS actually start? I
thought you'd never ask.

that may affect memory availability. So,
we have two different approaches:
1. Use the BDOS vector to determine
TPAspace.
2. Use the warm boot vector to find the
actual BDOS, BIOS and CCP.
Figure 6 illustrates the correct method
of locating the various CP/M working
parts. One final thought. By running this
program and comparing the values of
TpaEnd and CcpStart, you should be
able to tell how much room in memory a
. Resident System Extension is using. If
an RSE is not present, then TpaEnd and
CcpStart should be the same.

Warmus Booticus Vectolitis
We have another jump vector at memory locations 0001 and 0002. This vector
points to the warm boot routine in the
BIOS. Once again, by taking the most
significant byte of this vector (the byte at
address 0002) and multiplying it by 100H
(appending OOH) we can determine
where the BIOS starts. The BIOS warm
boot JUMP vector is rarely, if ever,
changed by a program.
Subtracting the appropriate offsets
from the warm boot vector, we can obtain the real locations of the CCP and
BDOS. So why didn't we do that in the
first place? Why fool around with the
BDOS vector? The answer is that we
were trying to determine TPA size, and
to do so, we needed to take into account
the possibility of RSEs or other things

Coming Attractions
Next time, we will do something practical with what we've learned. This will
include some direct BDOS and BIOS
calls as well as a mini-tutorial I call "Intro
to Assembly Language 1A."

•••

You may have noticed in Tom's last article, " "Running In CP/M's
TPA (Issue 23, page 67), that Figure l/was missing! This ~s It.
PRINT nTPA space (from 100H to CCP) in HEX =";HEX$«PEEK(7)-9H).100H)
PRINT nTPA space (from 100H to CCP) in DECIMAL =";256.(PEEK(7)-9)

h for the height of
. . YQ·ur .:craft ~~~fi;g~~~~~1f~~
I I I

craftsr:nan, y~u use
.... your mind like a skilled pair of
~:]t~I~t\;Nii!~;~n~~~i.~.:. hands. Y0l:! take hold of con,?epts,
"'~!~ft~r~~~"~~L then manipulate them to dis,...,
cover. refine, convey dynamic
new thoughts.
Now, the tool that can strengthen
your creative grasp is well within
. :: your reach.
:". KAMASTM a revolutionary outline
. . processor from KAMASOFT·,
.:.. supports your thinking process
.' .. ' and keeps you in touch with your
:: : ideas. That's because KAMAS is
· designed to work the way your
· mind works-naturally.
Begin by brainstorming. KAMAS
enables you to jot down ideas
~~~~~~~;~~:~~~~} quickly, as you think of them. If
· you want to elaborate, you can
add text with full screen editing.
Then develop your ideas using a
::;;;~~m;i~l' familiar outline format. Change
the structure as easily as you
change your mind. Move an idea
KAMAS. Z80. & CP/M are trademarks of KAMASOFr. Zilog. & Digital Research respectively.
and all attached text moves
• formerly Compusophic Systems.
.
with it.

' . . . As an

!de~

Get your hands on KAMAS now. Send $147 plus $4
for S/H. Or call (503) 649-3765 for VISA or MasterCard orders. KAMAS is available for many Z80.
CP/M computers. Ask about your system.

KAMASOFT"
2525 SW 224th Ave., Dept. 111
Aloha, OR 97006

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

.. .with

Then, expand the outline to devel·
op the specifics when you need
to. By collapsing and expanding
portions of the outline, you can
maintain an oveNiew and literally
see how your ideas fit together.
And KAMAS is fast. Your ideas remain at your fingertips. KAMAS
can locate and retrieve by
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one-in less than a second per
topic file.
Use as much of the power as you
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community and the KAMAS.
Report ~ewsletter keep you In
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applications.
Achieve a commanding vantage point ...

KlMAI~
65

FREE

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Write or call
for a free catalog
(also included with each order from)

MICRO CORNUCOPIA

P.O. Box 223 •

~Bend, OR 97709
(503) 382-5060

9-5 PST Monday-Friday

DISK 512.00 ea.
postage paid
KayPro Disk K1
Modem software
KayPro Disk K2
Utilities
Really oodles of spiffy little
(and big) programs to help you
get full use of your KayPro.
DASM: A true Zilog format disassembler for 8080 and Z80 object
(.COM) files. Now you can turn
.COM files into .MAC files

KAYPRQ USERS DISKS
for Kaypro II, 4 and 10

UNERA.COM: Simply enter "UN ERA"
followed by the name of the file you just
erased and presto, the erased file is backl
A lifesaverl

KayPro Disk K23
Fast Terminal Software & New BYE

FINDBS4.COM: Checks an entire disk, reports bad sectors, and then creates a special file containing those sectors. You save a
bundle on disks.
CAT2: This is a group of programs which create and maintain a
single directory of all the programs you have on all your disks.
Even keeps track of which programs are backed up and which
aren't.
UNSPOOL.COM: Use your KayPro II and print files at the same
time. Doesn't slow down system responsel

KayPro Disk K14
Smartmodem Program

DUMPX, DU-n, COMPARE, SUPERSUB, FORMFEED, DIRDUMP, ••• and all have documentation on disk.

KayPro Disk K15
Hard Disk Utilities

KayPro Disk K3
Games

KayPro Disk K16
Pascal Complier

KayPro Disk K4
Adventure
This disk contains orie 191K game. Adventure. ADVI.COM:
This is the latest, greatest, most cussed adventure ever devised
by half-mortals. This is the 550-point version so the cave is
greatly expanded and the creatures are much smarter.

KayPro Disk K17
Z80 Tools

KayPro Disk K5
MX-80 Graphics

KayPro Disk K12
FORTH
KayPro Disk K13
Source of fig-FORTH

KayPro Disk K18
System Diagnosis
Just as we finished editing the routines on this disk, we
received a copy of KayPro's diagnostic disk. The memory test
and drive exercise routines on this disk are more powerful than
KayPro's versions. (Plus, it's only $12) SetlJP for KayPro II & 4.

KayPro Disk K6
Word Processing Utilities

KayPro Disk K19
Prowrlter Graphics

KayPro Disk K7
Small C Version 2 Complier

KayPro Disk K20
Color Graphics Routines

KayPro Disk K8
Small C Version 2 Source

KayPro Disk K21
SBASIC Routines & Screen Dump
SBASIC: Finally a disk of SBASIC software. There are some
good examples of structured programming on this disk
(Including one program written both ways so you can see the
difference).

KayPro Disk K9
ZCPR

KayPro Disk K24
MBASIC Games & Kevboard Translator
We sifted through many, many games before coming up with
these gems. All will work on any KayPro and all come in
MBASIC source.
USOPEN shows you the fairway on the screen. You select the
club and direction for each stroke. After you reach the green
the display shifts to show details of the green and flag. For one
to four players.
DUCK is an offshoot of aliens (pardon the pun). Huntertries to
shoot down the ducks while ducks try to bomb the hunter.
(Much fairer than. real life.)
CASTLE Is an adventure- in which you select your attributes
(strength, dexterity, and intelligence), and you get to purchase
arms and protection. Great documentation and a very
interesting game.
KSTROKES is a keyboard translator similar to Smartkey. Bill
Forbes did an excellent job creating this program. You can
create and save translation files on disk. The program even
includes a table which generates WordStar commands from
the KayPro's keypad! You can define 8 keystrokes at up to 63
characters each.
KayPro Disk K25
Z80 Macro Assembler
KayPro Disk K26
EPROM Programmer & Character Editor
KayPro Disk K27
Typing Tutor
A complete typing tutor for beginners and experts. Written in
Australia, it comes complete with source. This was customized
for KayPro II, 4 and 10 by Barry Cole of WLAKUG.
The documentation says you can learn to touch type in 8 hours
(probably a little longer for mortals).

KayPro Disk K10
Assemblers

SCREEN DUMP: This is a screen dump for all KayPro's new
and old. You can buy a similar package elsewhere for $60.

KayPro Disk K28
Modem 730

KayPro Disk K11
Library & Checkbook Programs
CHECKS: This has been a very popular group of programs.
Categorizes checks so you can keep track of which are tax
deductible and which get charged to which projects. Includes
source and example check files. Very powerful.
LlBR: This Is a complete set of library routines which let you
group files into a single file called a library. Then CP/M sees
them as a single file, but with the library routines, you can list
them out separately, run them separately, or divide them up
again. Almost like a unix environment.
DISPLAY, VLlST, PGLST: Additional screen and print utilities.

KayPro Disk K22
ZCPR (Again)
This disk is filled with ZCPR files. You get ZCPR for the KayPro
II, KayPr04, and the KayPro 10. Thisversion is fixed sothatyou
can pass control characters from the keyboard to the printer,
and you can choose to have it recognize the semi-colon for
drive select (as well as the colon). So you can enter "B;" or "B:"
to select drive B. Super neat!
ZCPR, for those of you who don't know, makes CP/M a lot
friendlier. It searches drive A for any .COM file it doesn't find on
the current drive, the TYPE command scrolls text 24 lines at a
time, and a new LIST command outputs a file to the printer.

KayPro Disk K29
Turbo Pascal Games 1 With Source
KayPro Disk K30
Turbo Pascal Games II With Source
KayPro Disk K31
Turbo Bulletin Board
Complete Bulletin Board Package for only $12
KayPro Disk K32
Forth-83 Much Fancier Forth

UPGRADES
SchematIc Packages
Finally, a complete schematic for your portable Kaypro, logically laid
out on a single 24" by 36" sheet. pIuS a very complete illustrated
Theory of Operation that's keyed to the schematic. You'll get detail
information on your processor board that's available nowhere
else.
For instance, those of you with the 10 and new 84 systems get
a thorough rundown on your video section complete with
sample video control programs in assembly language and
Pascal. Of course, all packages contain serial and parallel
port details and programming examples as well as
complete coverage of the processor, clock, I/O, and
disk controller (information that is not even available in
Kaypro's own Dealer Service Manual~

Kaypro Schematic Packages
Kaypro /I & 4 (pre-84) .................. S20
Kaypro 10 (pre-84) .................... S20
Kaypro 84 series (/I & 4) ••.....•...... S20
All prices include postage.

With this nifty little plug-in board, your
Pro-8 ROM can access up to four 5'A"
drives. You just plug a four-drive 34-pin cable
into this board and }OU can add up to two
additional drives.
Now you can run any mix of 191~, 390K, and
784K drives as drives A. B, C, and D. You can run
your original drives as A and B then add 380K or
784K drives outboard as C and D. You can even run
four half-wides inside your original Kayprol
The Plus-4 Decorder Board for only '39'5
Watch for 4-84 and 10-84 compatible ROMs coming

SPECIA L PRO-884 NOTE:
The Pro-884s are sensitive to the version of CP/M you
are running,
1. Neither the Pro·884 nor the Pro-884 Max will run on
CP/M 2,2U. However, if you can locate a CP/M 2.2F or
2.2G system di!k (your dealer should have a copy) you
should be able to run our 884 monitors, (Don't try to boot
For G before you chunge monitors.)
2. There are two distinct versions of CP/M 2.2G. Only the
Pro-884 Max is sensitive to the version of 2.2G you have -It's
the ZCPR in ROM that's the problem. (If you have CP/M 2.2F
then you have a Normal CP/M.) So, before ordering the Max,
boot up your original system disk and read the sign-on, If it's
CP/M 2.2G then we need to know whether it is the high (normal)
version or the low (minus) version.
To determine your G version (you'll become a G WhiZ!):
A DDT cr
"L5 cr
(ddt's response)
The first line of the response will be a IMP 0600 or a IMP 0800. The
IMP 0600 means that you have a low (minus) version, and the IMP 0800
means that it's a normal version. When you order your Pro-884 Max. be
sure to specify whether you want the normal Max or the minus Max. Otherwise, we'll just guess that you need the normal Max.

OnYourOwn
By Hampton Miller

PO Box 816

Carpinteria CA 93013

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from
the "On Your Own" session at SaG III. Hampton
Miller led off by discussing the reasons he was
working through a broker rather than directly for
the client, and how he was going to be publishing
and promoting his book.
Of course, the SaG is not an official event (it's
only semi-official), so members of the audience were
free to pitch in with their own ideas and experiences, which, of course, they did. It was a very
enlightening session played to a standing room only crowd.
Here's Hampton's story followed by comments
from the audience. (If you're interested in what
Hampton is doing this year, attend his session at
SaG IV.)

When I first arrived in California I
was really hurting for work so I tied in
with a broker. I limited myself a lot when
I specified I wouldn't do anything related to the military, but the broker found a
place that was doing some interesting
communications projects, so I went to
work.
Plus 30 Percent
A broker collects his fee from the client' not from the engineer. So he just totals your charges, adds 30 percent, and
then bills the client. All three parties
seem mutually satisfied with this arrangement.
(Being a broker can be pretty lucrative
if you're getting 30 percent from 10 or
more people. Of course, you have to be
established and have really good contacts with the business community.
Businesses want stability.)
If you are a really good designer and
charge a lot, businesses usually won't
hire you directly. They'd much rather go
through a broker and pay the extra money. They trust a broker because they
know he won't put in a flake who would
hurt his reputation.
As a consultant, I work for an hourly
fee, fill out time sheets, get them signed
by the client supervisor, and give them
to my broker. A week later I have a check
in hand. The broker bills the client
monthly. If there is any question about
the work, the client talks to the broker,
not me.
All I have to do is what I'm very good
at-software engineering. Without the
broker, I'd have to be a negotiator, law-

yer, and engineer, and I'd still get
burned. But problems with clients rarely
get out of hand because the hroker mediates disputes.
What causes problems? Misunderstandings, mostly. A good way to help
prevent misunderstandings (whether or
not you're working for a broker) is to get
everything in writing. Sam Baldwin said
that verbal agreements aren't worth the
paper they're written on. Even (especially) when you are working for friends,
you really need to have a written agreement. If you don't, you'll lose a friend.
Anyway, how do you find a good broker? One way is to ask around. Almost
everyone has a friend, or a friend of a
friend, who works or has worked
through a broker. Personal references
are your best clue to who's reliable and
who's not. My broker is Mini-Systems
Associates, 634 Venice Blvd, Marina del
Rey, CA 90291.
A lot of executive recruiters keep resumes on file, and they sometimes function as brokers, but you need to watch
them with a jaundiced eye.
Books
So you've decided to start writing and
publishing your own books. What do
you write about? Look at the computer
market right now. On one hand, there is
the flood of beginner's texts, and on the
other hand, there are the incomprehensible tomes by people trying to convince
you how smart they are. There is almost
nothing in between.
That leaves a very large market of all
those people who have read all those introductory texts and are sick of them.
They are waiting to go one step farther.
At the very least, you can take some clever program you've written, or some neat
piece of hardware, and narrate it step by
step. Don't leave anything out, and let
them in on special tricks you use that
make all the difference.
Pricing
By self-publishing, you don't have to
charge $34.95 per book. You can charge
$12 or $15, still tum a handsome profit,
and reach far more people. A 200-page
book costs $2.16 each when you print
10,000. If you only print 200, they cost $9
each.

Get the price sheet from Ken at Maverick Publications in Bend, OR. The number is 503-382-6978. I publish through
Maverick, and they do the whole thing
for you-typesetting, printing, binding,
the whole works-for not a whole lot of
money. If you send them everything on
disk, it's 20 percent off. Ken does it out of
his house (he has a building in the back).
He has a Z80 system and three typesetting machines-good stuff.
Audience Questions And Comments
"Once you write your book and publish it, how do you sell it?"
Hampton: Advertise, advertise, advertise. Micro Cornucopia has very reasonable rates. Second, sharply aim your
books and then do direct mail.
A member of the audience added that
book reviews are very important. Most
magazines are looking for books, so send
copies to key places like Byte. Send releases to smaller publications, and be
sure to follow up with phone calls.
Computer shows are great, according
to another SaG attendee who sold about
350 copies of his book at the LA Computer Show. He paid expenses the first two
days, and then made money the next
two days. He also sells books via his bulletin board.
The consensus was to do it any way
you can. It's very hard to get mass distribution from the major publishers. In
fact, they've hired a bunch of writers to
knock off whatever they need, and they'll put it out for less than you're charging.
You can approach them, but you may be
better off on your own.
Distribution
An audience member told of an experience he had with a guy who was supposed to be distributing a book for him.
"The only response we saw through him
was while we were advertising in Publisher's Weekly at $2,000 per page. That
was real expensive. After the ad stopped
(it sold 1,500 copies the first two weeks)
we didn't sell a single copy through the
distributor. He was supposed to be national, but he didn't push it."
Keep as much control of your book as
possible, because once it gets into someone else's hands there is no guarantee it
will be distributed, or that anyone will

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

ever see it. Pushing your own book is
very important. You need ads, reviews,
and testimonials. You can get testimonials before the book even gets published.
Then keep track of who purchases the
book and use that information with the
testimonials in your ads.

Often, you can work out some kind of
deal with a small printer. Don't settle for
royalties-you want a bigger chunk. So
make a cooperative deal with the printer.
But remember, distribution is the hardest thing to do, and can rarely be trusted
to an outside party.

Putting Together A Book
Parachute Press prints an excellent
book on self-publishing by Dan Pointer.
He says that if you are compiling a lot of
information from magazines, books, or
whatever, you should layout all your
material on the floor, cut it up, and make
a huge outline out of it. Then gather it up
section by section, enter and edit the information, add your own comments,
and you have a book. If you don't quote
directly, then you don't have a problem
with copyrights.

Information Sources
Finally, Hampton recommended everyone read "The Secret Money Machine" by Don Lancaster. Filter what he
says down to what is applicable for you,
and carry a small salt shaker-he's very
opinionated.
Another good book is "New Start
Publications." It's four years old, so it's a
little dated, but still worth reading.

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DDTing Inverse Video
I really like the new 3.3 version of
WordS tar that came with my new '84
Kaypro 2, but the inverse video menus
don't work on my older, non-graphic
Kaypro 4. Anyone who doesn't want the
inverse video may be interested in how
to turn it off using DDT. Here's how the
session should go:
A>DDT WS.COM
DDT VERS 2.2
NEXT PC
4600 0100
-D267 26D
0267 06 1B 42 30 1B 42 31 •• BO.B1
-S267
0267 06 00
0268 1B •
-GO
WARM BOOT
A>SAVE 70.WS.COM

The sequence of bytes at address 0267
says to send 6 bytes, (Esc)BO (Esc)Bl, to
the screen, turning the inverse video on
in the graphics Kaypro. Changing the 06
to 00 tells it to send zero bytes. No more
inverse video!
Michael Snyder
1010 Grayson
Berkeley CA 94710

Resetting BBI's Reset
I know it's only a minor nuisance, but
some of us BBI owners have to to hit RESET every time we turn on our computers.
All it takes to correct this is to extend
the automatic power-on reset. I increased C141 from 68uF to 150uF and the
job was done. There is no reason why
the same effect couldn't be achieved by
increasing R48 instead, but the capacitor
is easier to get to.
Hal Vikks
Address Withheld by Request

Ringing Your Bell And ...
The following suggestions will get the
"bell" working in dual density (mine only worked in single density), and will put
the Olivetti PR2300 printer on line with
improved print quality.
BELL: If you can't ring your bell (in
dual density) try the bell circuit in Micro

C, Issue #13, pg. 36 (it works fine in single density). Then add a jumper from
TBI-8 or pin 10 (Ulll) to pin 2 (trig.) of
the 555. The bell should now work in
both single and double density.
Evidently dual density uses pin 10 (bit
4) instead of pin 9 (bit 5) of the system
PIO, and opposite logic as well. The logic
to ring the bell is:
Single Density
Dual Density

Pin 9
Lo to Hi
HiZ

Pin 10
HiZ
Hi to Lo

PRINTER: The Olivetti PR2300 has
worked reliably for many months; the
print quality is so-so. Ink ampules have
been hard to find, but it's fast and very
quiet.
The SWPprinter driver (supplied with
dual density) works well and the "Parallel Printer Cable" connections and jumpers from Appendix A may be used as
shown with one modification: you must
add a Timing Circuit to the STROBE IN
line such as the one in Issue #18, pg. 57.
Use the jumper connections shown in
Appendix A (not issue #18). Install the
Timing Circuit between pin 34 (5) and
Pin 1 on the printer connector. Get +5V
from pin 18 on the printer connector.
You can wire wrap the Timing Circuit,
and attach it to the printer cable near J5
with double-back tape.
PRINT QUALITY: The print can be
made darker (it was too light) by adding
a 10k parallel resistor to the circuit board
(the resistors on the board are not numbered). In the upper left corner of the
board:

~
rS-ADDTHIS

You can now control the print intensity from very light to reasonably dark.
Lynn P. Smith
3051 Shirley Drive
Newbury Park CA 91320

Loading KSTROKES On A 4-84
A few. months ago I purchased your
Kaypro disk #24 primarily for the
KSTROKES program, but was dismayed
to find it wouldn't run on my Kaypro 484. The Micro C techies suggested the
problem might be caused by a nonstandard version of CP 1M 2.2G I got
from Kaypro.
The problem goes like this: originally,
none of the KSTROKES programs
would load. Whenever I tried to load one
of the KSTRO*.COM programs, I received the message "Cannot load
KSTROKES-reset system and try
again." The problem is in the value given
to the address FBASE in the conditional
EQU on lines 18 to 20 in the KSTROKES.
ASMfile.
I now have a fix that might help others:
on line 19 of the KSTROKES.ASM file,
change OE806H to OE606H. Make sure
you set KAYPR02 EQU FALSE on line 7,
KAY484 EQU TRUE on line 8, and KAYTEN EQU FALSE on line 9. Then assemble and load this source file to get
KSTROKES.COM. Fixing the COM file
with DDT is possible but tedious, as
FBASE is used to define several other addresses in the source file, and finding everything with DDT takes a while.
Richard M. Warner
430 O'Keefe, Apt. 210
Palo Alto CA 94303-2140

Z-time For BBII
The Z-time calendar/clock from Kenmore Computer Technologies works fine
on a Xerox 820, but when I hooked it up
to my Big Board II, no go. I contacted
Dave Schnabel at KCT, and he suggested
the following fix:
1. Remove PAL U23 from its socket
and bend out pin 8 which is the signal
NOTBIORQ.
2. Connect a short piece of wire (about
4.5 inches) to pin 8 of PAL U23. Replace
the PAL in its socket, or better yet, connect the piece of wire to the bent-out pin
8 of a second 20-pin socket. Replace the
PAL in the new socket with the "flying
lead" and plug the entire assembly into
the existing socket for U23 on the BBII.
3. Connect the other end of the wire to
the pad labeled liB" in the NOT
IORQBRD line on the KCT board.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

4. Jumpers are also required from pad
A to the unmarked pad in the NOT
IORQBRD line, and from pad C to the
unmarked pad in the NOT RDBRD line,
all on the KCT board.
This whole process takes about five
minutes. A remarkable piece of silicon,
the 58167 chip used in the KCT board
makes for a very accurate calendar/clock
which does not need to be reset after everyboot.
Robert Bose
6821 Sally Lane
Edina MN 55435

Matter Of Grave Concern
I recently installed your updated version of ZCPR for Kaypros (disk K-22) on
my older (pre '84) Kaypro 4. The submit .
file made the process a snap. The enhancements and additional built-in commands all worked perfectly, but I discovered one small compatibility problem.
All of the messages sent to the console by
ZCPR were followed by an accent grave
which gave DIR displays a very messy
appearance.
A look at the source code showed that
ZCPR marks the end of its character
strings by setting bit #7 of the last character HI. According to Bill Kennedy's
modification comments, this led to some
problems with Kaypro lOs (because of
the graphic characters), so he altered the
messages. Instead of adding 80H to the
last character in the string (DB
'ALL,"?' +80H) each string is followed
by an 80H (DB 'ALL?',80H). This results
in a NULL (OOH) being sent to the console as the last character in the string.
This NULL is sent even if you are using the PRO-8 monitor ROM. The only
reason for this I can think of is that the
PRO-8 system probably does not clear
bit #7 before checking for a NULL character.
I assume (from other comments in the
ZCPR source code) that a NULL sent to
the console is represented with a space
(20H) on most Kaypros. On my Kaypro
4, however, it is represented with an accent grave (60H). This is even documented in the user's guide (vers.· 5, rev. 1,
page 56).
I eliminated these extra NULLs (thus
clearing up my messy displays) by sim-

ply changing the source code back to its
original condition (adding 80H to the last
character in message strings) and then
reassembling it. You could also either
change the string terminating character
from 80H to OAOH (space + bit #7 set
HI), or replace the character ROM to alleviate the problem (my character ROM is
labeled 81-146).
Joe Fitzpatrick·
257 W. Laurel Drive
Altadena CA 91001

Cheating Linefeed
Borland's TLIST.COM program (the
one that comes with Turbo Pascal) will
print without the extra linefeed per page
if you fool it with a page-length directive
on the top line of your program listing.
Put (*.PL65 *) (one line less than the actual page length for 11" paper) on the first
line, and TLIST behaves quite properly.
Joseph Mortensen
4214 Chelsea Court
Midland MI 48640

BBII ROM Monitor Fix
The Big Board II contains an error in
the ROM monitor that will drive word
processing users crazy. Likewise, any
program that uses "Clear-To-End-OfLine" or "Clear-To-End-Of-Screen" will
experience the same trouble.
The two Clear functions erase the data, but they also can reverse the video
attribute, creating stripes. When you're
editing in WordStar, for instance, you
can get reverse video patches all over the
screen during editing.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

The cause is the Vertical Sync interrupt routine which may occur during the
clear process. When this happens it is
likely that the incorrect attribute will be
stored in the video memory. A change to
the CLRLINE routine in the monitor will
correct this. The change is shown in Figure 1.
In order for any change in the ROM to
work, the code at memory locations 0009
hex through OOOD hex must be NOPed
out (replaced with OOH). This code is
used to perform a CRe check on the
ROM. When any changes are made, the
CRC check will no longer work. If not
removed, it is not possible to get the system to come up.
The fix changes the order in which the
screen is cleared. In the original software, the cursor position is cleared first,
then all others in order. In the new software the order of clearing is reversed, so
the last byte to be cleared is cleared first,
and the cursor position last.
The fix shown may be changed directly in ROM if so desired, but don't forget
to Nap out the code between 0009h and
OOODh.
Also, don't forget that 2-byte values
are entered in reverse order. For example, the code at 035E should be entered
as follows:
035E 11
035F FFO
0360 5F

Joseph L. Kappes
880 Reynard Avenue
Cincinnati OH 45231

• ••

Figure 1 - BBII ROM Monitor Fix
035E
0361
0362
0363
0364
0367
0368
036B
036C
036F
0370
0371
0372
0373
0374

0375
0376
0377
0378
0379
0379
037C
0370
037E
037F
0380
0382

11 5FFF
19
09
EB
21 1000

FFAB
12
3A FFAC
77
0B
78
Bl
C8
05
C5
54
50
lB
ED B8
Cl
El
54
50
lB
ED 88
C9

LD
ADD
ADD
EX
LD
ADD
LD
LD
LD
LD
DEC
LD
OR
RET
PUSH
PUSH
LD
LD
DEC
LDDR
POP
POP
LD
LD
DEC
LDDR
RET

DE, CHRMEM-l
HL,DE
HL,BC
DE,HL
HL,4096
HL,DE
A, (BLANKI
(DEI,A
A, (ATTRIBI
(HLI,A
BC
A, B
C

Z
DE
BC
D,H
E, L
DE
BC
HL
D,H
E, L
D~

ICOMPUTE LAST POSITION
I TO BE CLEARED
IDE - CHAR MEMORV
;HL - ATTRIBUTE MEMORY
ISTORE A BLANK IN LAST
ISTORE ATTRIB IN LAST
I DEC BYTECOUNT
I RETURN OF DONE
IELSE SAVE POINTERS

IFILL LINE WITH ATTRID
I RESTORE POINTERS

;FILL LINE WITH SPACES

EDITORML ___________________________________________________________
(continued from page 1)

sign and software) which are scheduled
to run in the July and August issues of
Byte.
The board, called the DSI 32 (DSI
stands for Definicon Systems, Inc.), will
be sold as a kit, which when assembled
will plug into and run with any IBM PC,
XT, or AT clone. The 32032 will run under MS-DOS so you can use WordS tar to
write your source code, then compile,
assemble, and run your software under
the 32032. All the data files will be completely PC compatible.
He will be selling two kits:
1. For $995 you can purchase a 6MHz
version complete with floating point
processor, 256K of RAM, and a selection
of public domain software.
2. For $1495 you get the 10MHz kit
with a floating point processor, 1 meg of
RAM, and the public domain software.
Trevor says that the 6MHz version of
the 32032 is really loafing at 8MHz (National rates them at 6MHz so it can sell
the more expensive 10MHz parts), so we
will have to look at a speedup mod for
the slower boards. (Micro C continues as
the magazine for speed freaks.)
The public domain software includes
the Small C compiler and a Pascal P-code
interpreter.
C, Fortran, and Pascal are the commercial compilers currently running on
the board. FORTH and a BASIC interpreter should be available shortly.
Trevor has found that the 32032 running under MS-DOS is three to four
times faster than the same processor
running under UNIX. Nevertheless, he
is planning to make UNIX available for
his system.
Benchmark
Trevor did a floating point benchmark
processing an array of 40,000 32-bit floating point numbers. He got the following
times:
IBM IT

IBM
DEC
DEC
DSI

AT
11-750
11-780
32

11.46
17.73
.83
.50
.97

seconds
seconds
seconds
seconds
seconds

All of the systems have hardware
floating point, and the 68000 has times
very similar to the AT. The AT is slower

partially because its floating point processor is running at 4MHz instead of 4.77
(the 80287.is not as fast even at the same
clock speed as the 8087). The time shown
for the DSI 32 was while running at
10MHz. The 6MHz version would still be
under 2 seconds.
The 32032 has a fully linear architecture (no segmented addressing, hurray),
and it has a very powerful instruction
set. For instance, the C compiler turns
most C commands into one or two assembly language instructions. And, because the compilers are highly optimized
for the instruction set and the instruction
set has been optimized for compilers, the
compiler output is as clean as hand written assembly language.
32032 At The SOG
Trevor and his group will be doing
four sessions at the SOG.
1. 32-bit processors in general. What
they can do, benchmarks, strengths,
weaknesses.
2. 32032 assembly language. A detailed look at the instruction set and the
architecture of the chip.
3. A designer's eye view of the DSI 32.
4. Dave Rand, a member of Trevor's
group, will discuss the latest Z80 and
other public domain software including
NSWEEP (which he wrote). He will concentrate on the little known features in
NSWEEP. (Come to the SOG-you
might be very surprised what you'll take
home with you.)
A Second Class Magazine
If you'll look closely at the bottom of
the masthead on page 1 (you know, the
who's currently who at Micro C), you'll
see a long, convoluted message that says
we have applied for a second class mailing permit (and you thought the bulk of
this operation was first class).
Second class is delivered almost as fast
as first class (the post office says it gets
the same handling) at the price of bulk
rate. We will be sending out the $16 subscriptions second class as soon as they
approve our application (could be as
long as six months). Of course, they
could choose not to approve it (they are
the government, after alIt but according
to the local staff there shouldn't be any
problem.
The only difference between first class

and second class, as far as you are concerned, is that first class is forwarded
free. Second elass costs you.
Anyway, for those of you lucky
enough to live in the U.S. I'd suggest
you renew (or subscribe) at the $16 rate.
It'll save you money, and as Micro C continues to get bigger, it'll save us money,
too.
Multi-year Subscriptions
Three gripes have turned up pretty
consistently on the renewal forms.
1. The return envelope is too small.
This is really a test of your mental acuity.
(The trick is to fold the form in half, then .
in thirds-but don't tell anyone I told
you.)
2. Micro C is getting too thick to threehole punch.
3. We don't offer a multi-year subscription, so people have to keep filling
out our silly renewal form (the one I read
every comment on).
4. We should go monthly (but this is
#4 and I promised you only three).
All right, already. Those of you in the
U.S. (that's us) can have one year for
$16, two years for $30, and three years
for $42. That's not much of a break, but it
will save you a lot of trauma trying to get
that large form into that small envelope
once a year.
Now it's possible that within the next
three years we might go more than 6
times a year. If that happens we'll have
to come up with an equitable way to raise
our prices so everyone gets treated
(overcharged) equally.
Note to the weird person who folded
his renewal form into a paper airplane:
Straighten up and fly right, fella. (It's
people like you who encourage weird
editors like me.)
Selling Out
"Do~'t sell out to Ziff-Davis!" is a frequent comment on the renewal forms
lately. Don't worry. A few days ago,
three Micro C staffers (Dave Pogue,
Gary Entsminger, and I) went to Eugene, Oregon, to visit a computer magazine. The magazine is called "Programmer's Journal," and it's aimed at the
collegiate PC programmer.
Programmer's Journal (PJ) is two years
old and is having major financial problems (it has no money and its current

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

owner probably won't continue to finance it after the next issue).
The story goes like this: at the end of
its first year, PI's founding editor sold
the magazine to A vante Garde (an Apple
software house). Avante Garde purchased the magazine because it thought
it could immediately resell PJ to Hayden
(you know, the book publisher).
Well, Hayden didn't buy. Reportedly,
it wanted to broaden the mag rather than
keep it PC specific, so when it encountered resistance from PI's staff, Hayden
backed out.
So Programmer's Journal has remained on the block. Its staff of three includes Greg Estes (who has stayed on
part-time as editor), a circulation person,
and an advertising sales person. It has
aboutl,700 subscribers, and the latestissue is 40 pages. Subscription rate is $24
per year (6 issues). Advertising is $700
per page. They have no money in the
bank to fulfill current subscribers. And,
of course, they are looking for a buyer.
Greg mentioned some ideas he had for
expanding PJ. He is writing a formal
journal-definitely not a light, bright
piece. However, the marketing gal has
been pushing him to aim at a less formal
audience, since she's been pitching to a
light, bright (PC World) audience.
Greg tried to get someone in A vante
Garde to listen to his ideas about marketing (how to reach the real audience), but
he struck out. So he has continued to
produce a formal journal, while market-

Drives
Every day two or three people call to
ask what kinds of drives I recommend.
Well, I lean toward the cheapest drives
(there is a lot of abject poverty in my recent past).
We have a lot of drives around Micro C
and use most of them daily. We have a
lot of Tandons (from the original Kaypros), but most of them now occupy
shelf space. We have a lot of Japanese
drives, and all of them have been good,
some of them outstanding. (You know
Shugarts are now made in Japan by
Panasonic, and I understand the latest
Tandons are made somewhere over
there.)
Anyway, I'll rate our drives for you.
Please understand that there is more
fantasy in this than fact (look, I'm an editor and this is an editorial, so it's only
reasonable). I've set an absolute range of
oto 10 with only a few excursions.

ing has continued to pitch the novice audience. (Sounds like a large corporation,
doesn't it?)

The Microsystems Experience
It turns out that Sol had the same experience with Ziff. He disagreed with
the way Microsystems was being run.
He wanted his magazine to remain a
journal-plain and meaty. Ziff made it
pretty.
I've talked to other ex-editors, and
universally they've said that the only
thing businesses understand is mass appeal (which means they homogenize
anything controversial or unique into
me-too bland). These editors have also
said that anyone who sells a magazine
should clear out completely-immediately.
"Don't make the mistake of keeping
any part of the action," they tell me.
"Clean out your desk and disappear.
Don't even let them send you a copy.
You won't be able to stand it."
Well, it'd be next to impossible to clean
out my desk (Chris has given up even
trying to organize it), I'm not moving out
of Bend, and I couldn't stand the
thought of someone homogenizing Micro C (much less beating it senseless).
Plus, I really enjoy doing Micro C. You
should hear the ideas that go through
this office in one week. It's an incredible
experience-like rummaging through
the universe's possibilities box (if not
better).

The Ratings
TEAC-A bit noisy, but really dependable. I've run some of these for over
a year and they haven't flinched. The data connectors on the 55 series are backwards from other drives, but that's usually just a nuisance. They rate an 8.5.
Mitsubishi-Generally quiet and
quite solid. Rate a 9.
Shugart-Very quiet, flawless per(continued next page)

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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

EDITORIAL
(continued from page 73)

formers, so far. I haven't run these very
long yet, but Bruce loves his. If they
stand up well (they should) they are a
definite 10 in my book. I'll give them a 9
until they've had a few more months to
prove themselves. Shugart has just gone
out of business, but they are reportedly
selling the quads for $70 each (in lots of
10 or more) and the double-sided double
density for $75 each (they have fewer of
the double-doubles). I'm working on a
phone number, but you should find
them if you talk to the marketing department at their main plant (wherever that
is). Shugarts are rebranded Panasonics,
so choose either brand.
TEC-We've had good luck with a
couple of them, but.other people haven't
been as happy. Because of the gossip,
give them a 7.
Tandon-The early full-heights were
pretty good (look how many are still
rasping around in old Kaypros). But
they're noisy and eventually die. They
get a 5. The later half-heights have had
head problems (can't read or write)
which limits their usability (a bit). They
rate a -1. (The Japanese models may be
better. If not, Big Blue is in for a surprise,
as they just signed a contract for a
bunch.)
Remex-I rate the ones we got about
equal with my Tandon half-heights (-1).
Epson-Really solid little performers
that are laying data on most of the Kaypro disks we ship (and have been for a
-year). The push-button sometimes
doesn't eject the disk, but that's no biggie. Very quiet and absolutely reliable.
Give them a 9.5.
Double-Sided Vrs. Single-Sided
If you have a Kaypro II and plan to replace your drives, I suggest you get double-sided 48 tpi drives-even if you
aren't planning to upgrade to a 4 or 8.
The single-sided drives have a felt pad
which shapes the disk around the head.
That pad needs to be replaced every so
often, and I haven't found anyone who
stocks them. On the double-sided
drives, the two heads simply press the
disk between them.
Theoretically, the single-sided drive
should write data more solidly on the
disk. However, I have seen worn and
dirty pads that not only don't hold the
disk properly, but that also do nasty

things to its back side.
Don't worry about compatibility. Just
plug a double-sided drive into a singlesided machine and it will run single-sided. Then if you want to upgrade to a Pro4 or8 ...
Fairely Poor
MicroSphere didn't go to the West
Coast Computer Faire-which is no big
deal, I suppose, but I thought you'd like
to know why.
MicroSphere's 6 by 6 foot booth was
$504 this year, the same as last year (they
paid in advance, so not going was no
small decision), but everything else had
changed.
The Faire had been moved from the
Civic Center to the Moscone Center. MicroSphere's booth was moved four times
(the latest relocation was behind a large
post). This year's Faire was Saturday
through Tuesday rather than Thursday
through Sunday. The charge for power
was $60 (it was free last year), the cost of
a phone doubled, the table and chairs
were extra (they were free last year), and
every time something was moved to or
from the booth it had to be handled by a
union member. The major forums cost
extra (they were free before), and the user groups weren't contacted until the last
minute about holding meetings (those
who were even contacted).
Micro C held user meetings the last
three years, for instance, and we weren't
contacted at all. When I called them the
first of March to ask about the schedule
of user group meetings and regular forums they said they hadn't finished
working it out.
In fact, they didn't release a schedule
until March 13, and then only to people
who yelled and screamed. How are they
supposed to attract attendees when they
don't even know what they are offering?
I can't give you an actual figure on the
comparative numbers of booths, but I do
know that there was a lot of empty space
in the Moscone Center. I also know that
the prices will be higher next year and
that the rules have changed.
Next year exhibitors will pay $15 per
square foot rather than $12. Also, anyone who has a booth this year will not be
able to have a 6 by 6 foot booth next year.
The minimum size for old-timers will be
8 by 10 (for $1200). This year the 6 by 6

booths were about $500.
I heard several reports of exhibitors
going into the office to register for next
year, only to turn tail when they heard
the new rules.
Of course, these are the little guys,
and who needs them? Right?
dBASEd Findings
I received a number of cards, letters,
and calls from helpful souls who have
themselves faced the dragon (dragon
Tate) and have survived. One suggested
I make sure my dBASE had been installed on the copy of CP/M I was running (you know, run the install program). 'Others commented on my
strange version numbers. For the record,
I am running versions 2.4 and 2.3b. The
1.4 and 1.37 listed in issue #22 were errors (my own).
Well, I have been able to make the systern. work properly (no more dropping
back into CP/M) and in the process discovered three things.
1. Although you are supposed to have
over 1,000 bytes space for variables,
mine dies when the variables take over
830 bytes in version 2.3b. It's less than
that for 2.4.
2. When I run a program that uses
most of the variable space, "ESC" out of
the program, and then re-start with a
DO command the program will bomb. If,
instead, I "QUIT" dBASE after the
"ESC," re-start dBASE, and then restart the application, the program will
run.
3. We can make new entries in a large
indexed file much more quickly using
version 2.3b than using 2.4.
I got a call from a dealer who said that
version 2.43 (the latest) had been recalled by Ashton-Tate and that there was
no word on when it would be re-released
(probably as version 2.5). Ashton-Tate
had promised me the 2.43 upgrade (I've
bought three copies already), but maybe
I'm glad they haven't sent it. On the other hand, if I had zillions of users and
could charge $200 for copies of bug fixes
I'd be tempted to come out with a new fix
every few months.

. A"1§

/DaVidJoThOmpson
. . Editor & Publisher

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

lINT IDS
The following folks are reaching you for only 20
cents per word. If you would like to reach the same
audience, send your words and 20 cents for each to
Micro Cornucopia.
Disk Service Manual, disk drive tutorial, printer &
plotter manual, copier manual, computer phreaking!! Much more! FREE information. Consumertronics Co., Attn: Computers, 2011 Crescent,
Alamogordo, NM 88310.
Keyboards for Computer Builders - 83 keys, full
ASCIT; upperllower case, all control characters, numeric pad, CAPS-LOCK, REPEAT, self-test! Brand
new, hundreds sold already to builders of Apples,
Big Boards, Xerox 820s. Parallel output, positive TIL
logic, strobe. Uses only 106mA of +5 volts. Custom
case available. 90 day warranty unmodified. Keyboard $35. Documentation (21 pgs.)/cable package
$5. Spare custom CPU/ROM $4. UPS included. Call/
SASE for detailed spec sheet. Electrovalue Industrial Inc., Box 376-MC, Morris Plains, NJ 07950. (201)
267-1117.
Superb Mailing List Program stores and manages
names and addresses that can be revised at any time.
Its size is limited only by the disk storage available.
The address labels may be code selected and printed
in five different formats on your computer paper or
on label rolls. In addition to the name and address
fields, there are four more fields in each record for
telephone number, date, and two amount fields if
desired. At any time the entire roster may be printed
out. For CP/M 2.2 based systems with two disk
drives and printer capable of 132 columns for maximum usage. Terminal installation program module
included. Supplied on 8" SSSD, 5.25" Kaypro and
many others (please write). Special introductory offer by ABLE DATA SOFTWARE, INC., PO Box
86923, Station C, North Vancouver, BC V7L 4P6.
Only USA $19.95 postpaid check or money order.
Public Domain UG Software Rental: CP/M UG Vol
1-92 on 468" Flippies, $45, SIG/M UG Vol 1-209 on
1008" Flippies, $99.50, PICONET Vol 1-34 on 178"
Flippies $25, Pascal-Z UG Vol 1-25 13 8" Flippies
$25, UG Games 20 Vols of the best $25, UG Business
. 20 Vols of the best $25, UG Utilities 10 Vols of the
best $25. Rental is for 7 days after receipt with 3 more
days grace for return. Credit cards accepted (preferred). 5" disk formats, 170 available. Downloading-disk format conversions. Call. User Group Software Automatic Update Service, $7.50 per 2 volume
set PP.619-727-1015 24 hrs. 619-941-0925 info. 9-5.
P.J.'s National Public Domain Software Center, 1533
Avohill, Vista, CA 92083.
8" Drive Cleaning Kits - 12 cleaning disks and carrier jacket made by Datalife, regular price, $29.95.
Close out price just $6.00 each plus $2.00 postage.
Limit 2. P.O. Software, 1533 Avohill, Vista, CA
92083.
Motorola 68000 Versabus Systems. Include CPU, 1/
0, 512Kb RAM, disk controller, 13 Mag hard disk$3,000. Hugh Shane, 7 Green Meadow Road,
Pleasantville, NY 10570. (914) 769-4299.
Lomas Data Products Thunder-186 S-100 Board for
Sale: Includes 8MHz 80186, 256Kb memory with
parity, floppy disk controller, I/O ports = two serial,
one parallel, concurrent CP/M-86 and MS-DOS, all
manuals. Brand new. $750 or best offer. Dan Blumenfeld, 3900 Chestnut Street #803, Philadelphia,
PA 19104. (215) 898-1956.

New 5.25" Half Height Disk Drives. TEC-FB 501
SSDD with documentation $89.00 each-2 Drives in
cabinet with power supply and connectors $225.00.
Shugart SA 800-2 Disk Drives reconditioned 60 day
warranty with documentation $79.00. LDL Electronics, 1-305-747-7384.
BBI, 5MHz, All Options, 2 Shugart Drives, Power 1
switching PIS, Odd Ball Electronics cabinet with fan, .
keyboard, user disks, Pascal, Forth. Very reliable
system-$500. Okidata 82A printer-$310. Kevin
Tyrrell, 1221 Colorado SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506.
(616) 241-1902.
For Sale: Slicer computer: Assembled complete
(less 80186 & RAMS). ROMS, source disk and documentation. $450 or best offer. BBI computer system:
Assembled 2.5 MHz, system and disk power supplies, enclosure, fan, power line filter, 2 Shugart 8
inch drives, disk cables, source disk, Big Board CPt
M, JRT Pascal, user disks Nos. 1, 2, 7, 8, 20, B10, B15,
B17, B18, 9, and blank diskettes. All documentation.
System needs slight work. $650 or best offer plus
shipping. Xerox Computer: Assembled and complete, untested. $300 or best offer. Slicer and Xerox
systems prices include shipping. Miscellaneous
chips and boards for sale, write for list. Warren E.
Greenberg, 145 Cottage Road, West Roxbury, MA
02132.
Spring Salel Sale/Retail: IBM/XT 10mb controller
590/250, Otrona Attache 1800/2995, Quantex 150 cps
matrix printer 700/1195, Qume Sprint 9-45 cps
daisywheel 2495/1265, Shugart 712 10mb 1/2 height
5" 465/695, Xebec S1410 250/495, BBII A & T 450/995,
Ferguson cabinet 5",8", & BB 100/400, Morrow MD2650/1299, Smith-Corona TP-1 daisywheel 250/595.
Polygon Industries, P. O. Box 24615, New Orleans,
LA 70184. (504) 282-5372.

Yet another computer "garage sale": Qume 5.25"
OS DO half-height floppies, $70 each. Dysan alignment disks, new, $25. Tandon 602 5M hard drive,
ST-506 equivalent, $150. The stuff works; no as-is"
surprise packages. Monitors, chips, etc., cheap.
Please request list. Noor Singh, P. O. Box 807, Santa
Cruz, NM 87567. (505) 753-2211, eves.
II

5¥4" hard disk controller, DTC-510A, BIOS source
on 8" floppy, $125. Qume 51/4" DSDD half height
floppy, 2 for $125. Many S-100 boards, please request listing of excess equipment, Noor Singh, P.O.
Box 807, Santa Cruz, NM 87567. (505) 753-2211.

•••

THE ULTIMATE
SOFTWEAR
IS IN ...

Teeny-Weeny Basic-A 1K BASIC interpreter/editor. How much power can fit into 1K? A LOT! Full
integer arithmetic functions with 26 variables, random function, single-dimension array, parenthesis
nesting, string variable I/O, abbreviated commands,
multiple statement lines, error handling. PRINT,
INPUT, IF, GOTO, LET, RUN, LIST, SYSTEM. External LOAD and SAVE. Full documentation. Sample programs show TWB's power. Source available.
Convinced? Try it! Just $17.50 postpaid (Texas add
5.25%). Specify 8" SSSD or Kaypro SSDD. Glen
McEowen, 3801 Glenmont Dr., Fort Worth, TX
76133.
Compilers-Used MicroSoft Basic Compilers MSDOS $199. CP/M $189. Mike Loth, Box 847, Steamboat, CO 80477. (303) 879-2056.
WD2797 Floppy Controllers, 12.00 U.S. (Surplus,
not used). BBI modification doc included. Complete
Dynadisk kit (sockets soldered, never used) $40.00
U.S. M. Voakes, 555 Brookhaven Cres., Waterloo,
Ontario N2L-4R6.
Mince-Scribble no longer distributed commercially.
Want legitimate copy with source and documentation for Kaypro/CPM if the price is right. Also want
BDS-C. Write: Mike Perry, 6035 40th NE, Seattle,
WA98115.
300/1200 auto-dial auto-answer smartmodem.
Hayes compatible. $199. KEYTRONIC keyboards.
New. Parallel ASCII. $10 each. Two for $18. B.W.
Systems, Box 9791, Austin, TX 78766. (512) 2558350.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

ORDER YOUR
MICRO C
T-SHIRT TODA YI
These user-friendly tan shirts
are formatted in mahogany border
with black enhanced mode design.
The fully integrated system is compatible to size 5, M, L and XL, for
only $6.95 ppd. ($8.50 all foreign).

MICRO
CORNUCOPIA
P.o. Box 223
Bend, Oregon 97709

TIlE CULTURE
C

NER
Starting At

$695.00

Subndssion RequireDlents
In the last few months we've been reorganizing the submissions section
of Micro C. We've hired a couple of ex-computer salesmen to categorize
submissions before the editorial staff sees them. (1bis is a make-work
project, folks - the used car lot wouldn't take them back.) Since these guys
don't have the slightest idea what the articles are about, we askyou to print
the proper category at the top of your submission.
Categories
Every article must fit into one or more (or none) of the following
categories. (There can be exceptions.)

o Technical Fiction
Nearly all ofthe material published on computers fits under this category,
and Micro C is no exception. Material which seemed reasonable when we
thought it up is often wrong by the time we hit (liter) the streets. The
problem is that designers are no longer creating systems to match our
descriptions. nus is why there are so many undocumented features and so
many unfeatured documents.

o Humor
Humor has no place in a formal technical magazine like Micro
Cornucopia. It may show up because of an editorial oversight (by our very
active editorial oversight committee), but all of our humor is intentionally
unintentional.

o Reviews (Rave)
See Technical Fiction.

o Reviews (Unbiased)
See Reviews (Rave).

o Inscrutable Tomes
You can always spot someone who has just finished a long, arduous,
exhausting, debilitating, confusing, boring stint in academia. He's the guy
who appends a 20K bibliography to his techtip.
He has two measures for his work - obscurity and length. He has spent
three or four years ofhis life learning how to turn a simple idea (his research
project) into a book-length epistle that will be read by two people: his
advisor and his typist. Neither will understand it.
Academics have written manuals on such graduate level topics as
"Distinguishing CP/M's Ed from Mister Ed" (it's a horse of a different
color), and "Communicating with Surley Waiters in Assembly Language" (a
hex on your baud, bud).

o Practical Topics
These really don't fit in a publication such as ours. Send these to Digital
Navel Review (ifyou ,can stomach it) or Micro Fillings Amalgamated (areal
mouthful).
Meanwhile, keep those cards and letters and articles coming, folks. Ifyou
dredge up something really good for this column, PLEASE send it in. After
seeing this, the entire staff is signing up for a refresher at the funny farm.

•

.........'. • .:'.!."-...

'::-

CO-PROCESSING
The most cost effective way for Z80
system owners to obtain 16/32 bit
processing power and software
compatibility is via the HSC CO-16
Attached Resource Processor.
CO-16 is compatible with any Z80
system running CPM 2.2 or CPM 3.
A few examples include:
• KAY PRO 2/4/10. TRS 2/3/12/16
• AM PRO LITTLE BOARD
• HEATH 89. SUPERBRAIN
• XEROX 820 • TELEVI DEO 802/803
• MORROW • EPSON QX-10
• LOBO • OSBORNE 11 EXEC
• CROMEMCO. Plus many more
CO-16
Every CO-16 is delivered with
• 16/32 bit micro processor • 16 bit
Operating System • 256 Kilo RAM
• Z80 interface • 16 bit RAM disk
driver • CPM80 2.2 RAM disk driver
• CPM 2.2 or CPM 3 compatibility
• sources with tools • hardware
diagrams • board level or case with
power supply.
CO-1686
The only Z80 16 bit co-processor
include$ • INTEL 8086 • 6Mhz no
wait states • MSDOS 2.11 • IBM
BIOS emulator • Memory expansion
to 768K • 8087 math co-processor
• 3-channel Real Time Clock • Runs
many IBM PC applications • Shares
hard disk space with CPM80 • PC
diskette compatilibility on many
systems • CPM86 • Concurrent
CPM is coming.
CO-1668
The only Z80 16/32 bit co-processor
includes • MOTOROLA 68000
microprocessor • 6 Mhz no wait
states • CPM68K • Full "C" compiler with UNIX V7library and floats
• Memory expansion to 1.25 million
bytes • NS16081 math co-processor
• Real Time Clock. Complete software development environment
• 100% file compatible with CPM80
• OS9/68 UNIX look alike coming
in February.
Dealer, Distributor and OEM's invited
Hallock Systems Company, Inc.
267 North Main Street
Herkimer, N.Y. 13350
(315) 866-7125

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

The Pascal

Runo~

I'm not going to beat around the
bush about this contest (see the Editorial
for bush beating). In short, we're having
a contest, you're invited (in fact, we're
not inviting anyone else), and the prizes
are really spiffy.

This contest is intended to encourage
concise, clear programming style.
Contest deadline is November 1, and
we'll announce the winners in the
February-March '86 issue of Micro C.

So Let's Get To The Prizes
The Grand Prize is your choice of a
Microsphere 1 Megabyte RAM DISK or
Trevor Marshall's 32032 Coprocessor kit.
It's the full 1 megabyte 32032 board that
plugs into the K16 or any other PC clone.
Each of the Next Five Scorers receive
the following:
Choice of two products from Borland
(including the Modula 2 Compiler) AND
... choice of $100 worth of products from
Micro C.

Scoring
Programs will be judged by Philippe
Kahn and the Micro Cornucopia staff on
a point system. Total points decide the
winner.

What To Do To Get A Prize
To enter just write a program in Turbo
Pascal and send it to Micro C. Make sure
you specify ''Turbo Pascal Contest" on
the envelopes, so we'll know it's an entry.
If possible, include a listing on paper
along with your disk.
We're not looking for a magnum opus,
just something useful or interesting (or
both). It doesn't have to be long - a lot can
be said in Turbo in 100 lines.

0-15 for ALGORITHM
0-15 for READABILITY OF CODE
0-30 for FUNCTIONALITY
(including ease of use)
0-20. for ORIGINALITY
0-20 for DOCUMENTATION

So Start Programming ... An editor, a
business application, a game, a utility,
something educational - anything that
interests you probably interests us. Just
make sure the program you submit is
original, unpublished, and written by
you in Turbo Pascal during 1985.

PS Hackers in other languages, stay
tuned. Your contest is coming.

......... ---------------------------------------------..,..-=-.
Program
NOTE: I hereby release this
program to the ru blic Domain
and give Micro Cornucopia the
right to print this listing.
Signature ____________________

Title:
Purpose:

Free Pascal Runoff T-shirt
Size: OS OM OL OXL
(For the first 100 entrants.)
Please list all people involved in the development of this program
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Ph: (
Address
City _______________ State __________ Zip
MICRO CORNUCOPIA • P.O. Box 223 • Bend, Oregon· 97709
Order No. (503) 382-5060

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Tidbits
By Gary Entsminger

Bulletin Board
Bruce has Micro C's first public bulletin board up and running. It's written in
Turbo Pascal, and the source is available
on Kaypro Disk K31. Micro C is now online 24 hours a day at 300 or 1200 baud.
Call us at 503-382-7643.
Program listings referred to in Micro C
and new programs will be available on
the bulletin board. To find out what's
new, exit to CP/M with the C command
(from the BB), type
CD NEW
and then D
for a directory. You'll be able to
download what you need. Make sure
you're using 8 bits per character.
Several new programs are on board already-all in source.
SHOW.MAC, written in 280 assembler, is a TYPE lookalike that scrolls forward and backward. If you'd like to expand it into an editor, give it a try.
LINK.MAC, also written in 280, links
.REL files. It's very primitive-won't
handle embedded DS statements-but
it should be fun to expand.
PRINT. MAC, also 280, loads as much
of a file mto memory as it can, then prints
it (allowing your disk drives to shut off).
It's only 2K.
SHIP.PAS, written in Turbo Pascal, is
a simple communications program for
sending and receiving files through serial ports. For more info, see Laine's Slicer
column this issue.
There's lots more, so check it out.
We'd like to hear from you.
DSD-Full Screen CP/M-80 Debugger
Soft Advances has lowered the price
on their sophisticated CP/M debugger
from $195 to $125.
DSD maintains a full screen of six independent windows: displaying instructions, registers, stack, memory,
command line, and echo line.
For more info, contact:
JohnOtken
Soft Advances
P.O. Box 49473
Austin, TX 78765
512-478-4763

Future Tense Editor

Submissions-Writing For Micro C
We're hearing from lots of you-so
many, in fact, that a few submission
guidelines will improve our information
exchange.
First-if you're sending an article,
please submit it on disk as well as on paper. As usual, we'll acknowledge your
submission with a free disk of software
(your choice). This will let you know
your hard work has reached us safely. If
you forget to tell us which disk you
want, we'll send you a coupon which
you can use when you feel like it. Also,
put your name, address, and phone
number on the disk and on the printout
so we can get in touch with you if we
need to.
About content-overexplain everything (let me repeat that: overexplain everything), and show us every step. We
want to make sure we understand what
you're doing. It's a lot easier for us to cut
than to add. We especially like illustrations and schematics, but make sure references to the art work are clearly stated
in the article.
About subject-we'll look at anything
(we might laugh under our breaths, especially if it's from Laine, but certainly
not out loud).
Surplus
Jim Ferguson (you know, the BBI designer) has several hundred Otrona Attache 8086 16-bit add-on processor
boards designed to work with their 280A
system. With 256K already soldered onto the board, they look like bargains at
only about $45 each. Call Jim for details.
In order to use this board you'll have
to either find or write the software to enable it to talk to the main board, and vice
versa. (If you get it talking to the BBI,
Kaypro, or Xerox write in and tell us how
you did it!)
Ferguson Engineering
P.O. Box 300085
Arlington TX 76010
817-640-0207
Also, Syntel has 300/1200 baud auto answer modems (not auto dial) for $129.
They're going like hotcakes (they're
priced like them, too), but you still might
be able to get one.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Syntel
530 Pylon Dr.
Raleigh NC 27606
919-828-4626
An II-Pound Baby Kaypro
Just when you thought David Kay was
misleading Kaypro into oblivion (1985
first quarter earnings at Kaypro were
$72,872 down from the 1984 first quarter
$2.8 million), he responds with masterful touches. In March, he introduced the
AT clone, and now he's out with a portable PC clone.
"It has everything an IBM PC has except a standard CRT," he says.
It's the Kaypro 2000, and it has 256K
RAM (expandable to 640K), an 80 character, 25 line LCD screen, 3 1/2 inch disk
drive (with 720K capacity), and a rechargeable battery-all for $1995.
The microprocessor is an 8088, and
standard software includes MS-DOS.
BuggMusic
Richard Bugg's Band (Richard wrote
"Kaypro Composite Video Output" in
#22), Cosmic Debris, has released its
second album, While You're Asleep. It's
a warm electronic album. The group's
first (3.7K) was a hit in Oklahoma City
and in parts of the Midwest. Can't wait
to hear it.
AmproAtSOG
Dave Pogue and I spoke with Rick
Lehrbaum, founder and vice president
of engineering at Ampro, this week, and
I'm delighted to report that they're planning two workshops for SOG IV: one on
the SCSI multi-master bus expansion for
any 280, and one on their new Little
Board/186. '
The new Little Board has the SCSI/
Plus Multi-master Bus and an 8MHz
80186 microprocessor, and is the same
size as the original Little Board. Even the
connector locations, pinouts, and I/O
signals are essentially identical to those
of the other Ampro board.
This looks like a real hummer in a
small package. Look out, IBM.
Rick expects to be in full production by
mid-summer, with a 128K board selling
for $549, and a 512K board selling for
(continued on page 81)

DSDBO
FULL SCREEN SYMBOLIC DEBUGGER

\\ IHE SINGLE BEsI
DEBU
R
FOR CP/M-aO.
alRULY
ING
P · ODUCI
II

LEOR ZOLMAN
AUTHOR OF 80S C

D Complete upward compatibility with DDT
D Simultaneous instruction, register, stack &
D
D
D
D

memory displays
Software In-Circuit-Emulator provides write
protected memory, execute only code and
stack protection.
Full Z80 support with Intel or Zilog Mnemonics
Thirty day money back guarantee
On-line help & 50 page user manual

P.O. BOX 49473

AUSTIN, TEXAS 78765

(512) 478·4763

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

TIDBITS _ _ _ _ _ _ __
(continued from page 79)

$749. They'll have boards at SaG IV, so
you'll be able to put together a super little system (Z80 or otherwise) for a reasonable price.
He's sending one to Micro C, so we'll
have our little system together by SaG.
C Language Conference
OK, East Coast C'ers, if Bend's too far
for you, or if you're just dying for a follow up to SaG IV, Computer Language
is sponsoring a C seminar/workshop
September 16-18 in Cambridge, Mass.
C has just been standardized by a special committee of the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), and committee chairman Jim Brodie will be
speaking at the seminar on the state of C.
P.J. Plauger, co-author of "Elements
of Programming Style," heads an early
list of speakers. Attendance fee for the
seminar is $695 ($595 until June 30). (On
the other hand, if you sent your $600 to
Ampro ... ) For more information contact:

Little Board

Canon Drives On The Kaypro
Note: To use Canon drives on a Kaypro you need to set the DIP switches on
the units as follows:

Proportional Spacing For WordS tar
If you're using WordS tar 3.3 and need
proportional spacing, Chaucer Software's little program might be your ticket.
It requires a letter-quality printer, and
runs on all Kaypros including the 16. It's
$19.95 from:

No Z800, But ...
We've just heard about a new processor from Hitachi that is upwardly compatible with the Z80. (Thanks to Allan
Emord of Albuquerque, NM.)
This microprocessor, dubbed the
64180, is a high integration VLSI containing a 64K Z80 CPU, serial port, two
16-bit timers, onboard MMU, and two
DMA channels that can directly address
the 512K of physical memory (bypassing
theMMU).
Due on the market soon, it should sell

186 shown with a 10 MB Xebec OWL

for around $20. Who knows-this could
be the beginning of a Z80 revival (and the
demise of $20 bills from general circulation).

Computer Language
131 Townsend St.
San Francisco CA 94107

Chaucer Software
P.O. Box 2308
Princeton NJ 08540
609-734-9016

1M /

' '-CATALOG AND

SIGNAL PROCESSING BOOKLET
/

CIRCUIT ANALYSIS
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•

Version

2.0

S69.95

S59.95

• Compatible Data Files
• Calculates Component Power
• 30 Nodes / 200 Components

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

""',GRAPH PRINTING

S59.95

Linear/Non-Linear Analysis
FFT/Inverse FFT
La Place Transforms
Transient Analysis
Time Domain Manipulation
Spectra Manipulation
Transfer Function Manipulation
Editing and Error Trapping
Free Format Input
ASCII and Binary Files
Fast Machine Code

VISA. MASTERCARD
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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

•••

AFFORDABLE
CP/M ENGINEERING TRSDOS
MSDOS
SOFTWARE PCDOS

SPP

Any Size Circuit
Input / Output Impedances
Monte Carlo AnalYSIS
Transients (with SPP)

DCNAP

And that's about all the tidbits fit to
print in this issue. See you at the SaG.

", SIGNAL PROCESSING

Fast Machine Code
Complete Circuit Editor
Free Format Input
Worst Case/Sensitivities
Full Error Trapping

ACNAP

SWI is the drive select.
SW2-set 1,5,6 on.
SW3-set 2,4,5 on.

•
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Lirear/logarithmic
Multiple Plots
Full Plot Labeling
Auto/Forced Scaling
Two Y-Axes
ACNAP/SPP Compatible

PLOT PRO

S49.95

• Any Printer
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PC PLOT

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• Screen Graphics
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IEEE·488 GPIB Multifunction Board
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DATA BIT (BUSY LINS) - 9 WIRBS AI'[) A GROUND

Waveform Synthesizer Board

* * CONTROL PROGRAM COMMANDS * *
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PROGRAM SPROM(S) PROM DISK
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R8AD DISK PIL8 INTO RAM
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RBAD BPROM(S) INTO RAM
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Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

Benchmarking The 68000 and 80X86
By Luis Basto

W hat's the fastest 16-bit chip
around? It depends on whom you're listening to.
Intel has published reports comparing
the speeds of its 80*86 family and Motorola's 68000. Their reports claim the
iAPX286 is three to six times faster than
the 8086 and three times faster than the
68000. Motorola decided to study Intel's
benchmark results, and they found
some inconsistencies in Intel's comparisons. Here's food for thought:
1. Intel used the fastest iAPX286 they
make (8MHz), but not the 12.5MHz Motorola 68000.
2. Intel used a record area of 64K for
the linked list benchmark (which is the
maximum memory all 80*86 chips can
address without segment switching) and
used a 16 Megabyte area for the 68000.
3. None of Intel's benchmarks handled the case of crossing a segment
boundary. Obviously, many applications require more than 64K RAM.
Crossing a segment boundary means
more overhead (slower operation) for Intel's parts.
Intel Vrs. EDN Benchmarks
EDN published a list of benchmarks
which the major chip manufacturers can
use to compare parts. Figure 1 gives the
results used in the Motorola report, using the fast chips.
From these results one concludes that
the 286 can't be three to six times faster
than the 8086. In fact, the 8086 beats the
iAPX286 in the I/O Interrupts benchmark and finishes close behind in three
others. In all cases, the 12.5MHz 68000
was faster than the iAPX286.
It's worth noting that the iAPX186 is
slower than the 8086 in five of the seven
benchmarks. Even if you extrapolate the
iAPX186 to 10MHz, it's not much better
than the older 8086. (What about the
8088? It's in their benchmark report for
the Z80.)
EDN asked Intel to send in the code for
their benchmarks, but Intel refused. Motorola interpreted Intel's refusal to mean·
that the code for the iAPX286 was so long
and clumsy Intel would be embarrassed
to see it in print.
Why The Discrepancy?
One explanation might be the seg-

12707 Poquoson Dr.
Austin TX 78759

Figure 1 -Intel Vrs. Motorola Benchmarks

MC68000 MC68008
10
12.5
A I/O Interrupts
B I/O Processing
E String search
F Bit Manipulation
H Linked List
I Quicksort
K Bit Matrix

25.6
259.2
127.0
55.4
116.8
13.9
289.1

57.6 43.2
573.6 396.0
372.6 201.0
116.1 127.1
281.6 269.0
31.0 38.3
555.6 938.5

mented architecture of the 80*86 family.
The maximum memory address in that
case is 64K. Since the iAPX286 has an onboard MMU (memory management
unit), the MMU takes over and updates
the segment registers when the software
addresses an out-of-boundary location.
This creates a significant overhead when
compilers operate on large data areas.
The 68000 can address anywhere in its
16 Megabyte address space without any
overhead. Even when an external MMU
was added to the system, the 68000 ran
faster than the 80286 in five ot the seven
benchmarks.
Benchmarks are, well, they're benchmarks, and obviously they're only one
consideration for designers. But they're
food for thought.
Editor's note: Of course, there's more to a
microprocessor's success than benchmarks.
The Intel-Motorola battle illustrates how
marketing moxy can outweigh performance
in the battle for industry's pocketbooks.
In 1981, when the Motorola 68000 was
gaining momentum, Intel president Andy
Grove called in Regis McKenna, a public relations hotshot from Palo Alto, California.
Grove, McKenna, and six Intel managers
met to develop a new marketing strategy for
Intel. Their project was codenamed CRUSH.
Very simply, its intention was to stop the
movement of designers from the Intel chips to
the newer 68000 series.
After surveying the market, they concluded that if customers compared the 8086 to the
68000, chip to chip, "Intel would have trouble." The 68000 was becoming more and more
popular among software-oriented companies,
while the 8086 was holding its own among
hardware-oriented companies. (See "The
Last Page" this issue for details.)
The CRUSH strategy was to play on customers' fears. They wanted people to worry
about the consequences of committing them-

Micro Cornucopia, Number 24, June-July 1985

8086 iAPX186 iAPX286
10
8
8 MHz
50.0
446.2
249.8
158.2
259.2
45.2
724.7

96.8
357.3
128.4
97.9
199.8
36.1
508.8

us
us
us
us
us
IDS

selves to Motorola. After ail, the 68000 had
very little software, no peripheral chips, and
no development system. And Motorola
hadn't clearly defined its future. Would customers get stuck with an orphan if they went
68000?
During the next quarter, Intel gave 50
half-day seminars to potential customers,
and thereby won the positioning battle. Motorola is only now beginning to catch up in
the home computer market, with new machines coming from Amiga, Atari, and Apple.

• ••

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MSX In The USA
By Trey Weaver

Msx is a new operating standard for
home computers in the U.S. that specifies everything down to the physical addressing of the I/O devices, integrated
circuits, and the size of the cartridge slot.
Hardware
CPU-Z80 Running at 3.58MHz.

Memory-ROM 32K (MSX system software), RAM 64K.
Video-Yamaha 9938 video display
processor.

8428 Lacebark Lane
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Text 1-40 characters per line, 24 lines
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Sound-GI AY-3-8910 (3 voices and 8
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Graphic III-Same as graphic II but with
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Joystick-Atari type.

Graphic IV -Bit mapped, 256 x 212 pixels, 16 colors out of 512 colors, 8 sprites
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Printer-8 bit parallel.
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Please call for current prices. Prices subject to change. Please expect higher or lower prices on
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MICRO CDRNUCDPII
The Micro Technical Journal

P.O. BOX 223

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