10 December 1984 ZCPR3 NEWSLETTER 102 Z3 TIPS: Latest updates to programs are on the ZCPR3 BBS: CLEANDIR, DPROG, DU3, FINDF, HELP, LDR, MCOPY, MENU, MKDIR, MU3, VFILER, VMENU, ZEX. If having bug troubles with any of these utilities, you may wish to download them from 415/489-9005. ZCPR3 Super Shell: Those who own Ampro Bookshelf Series of Z80 computers are using Friendly, a polished file manipulation shell running under ZCPR3. Friendly is a refined VFILER with extended menu-driven macro command ability. It comes with a comprehensive User Manual, better than anything you've seen from Echelon. Those running ZCPR3 on other computers who would like to obtain the program, please contact Ampro Computers, P.O. Box 390427, Mountain View, CA 94039, telephone 415/962-0230. Order from them with your check, money order, Visa or Mastercard. Price is $49.00 plus shipping and handling. ZRDOS shipping date set! Planned shipments start 14 January 1984. Those who would like to upgrade to a super BDOS and no longer be dependent upon Digital Research can now be fully free. ZCPR3 combined with ZRDOS does it all and with complete development system utilities: super-fast macro assembler, linker and librarian, with simple or full-screen debuggers, and translators (Intel/Zilog/TDL/CDL) and disassemblers. Some ZRDOS features: Downward compatible with CP/M-80, ZCPR3 full-compatibility Takes advantage of Z80 and Z800 Instruction Sets and Memory Address Space Uses ZCPR3 Wheel Byte to write-protect selected files from non-Wheel users Changed Disks automatically logged in Read/Only Disk status maintained after warm boot Read Console Buffer Function (10) treats rubout (DEL) same as backspace File Archive Attribute Bit set by Function 30, compatible with MP/M and CP/M 3 Support Utilities Copy (useful for archiving and backup) plus Set and Display File Attribute programs included Enhanced Error Messages with non-cryptic announcements Extended Functions include set/reset warm boot trap Z800 version has over 47 non-CP/M Functions added to achieve easy MS-DOS program migration Z80 version in hex code to patch existing CP/M system @ $49.50 Z800 version pricing not yet established Your eyes wet...and bugs of CP/M eliminated, even Function 37. Documentation is 35 pages of tight, unambiguous language describing each DOS function. We are only handling ZRDOS on 8" SSSD disks at present; if demand is high for other formats, we will download. The Z80 software development system package is $200.00 complete; again, Z800 version pricing not yet established. Write (please don't call) if you have questions about this Lasting-Value Software. No one wants to bring out or hear this kind of news but ZCPR3: The Manual is scheduled for delivery second week of January 1985. Book-production delays has caused this greater-than-expected additional delivery delay. More patience from us indicated here! We need this book badly; and from what we know, it's worth the waiting. ŠNew-Users-of-SYSLIB3_(S3)_Corner: Our ZCPR3 utility MAC files are excellent examples of S3 usage. No need to create new wheels when there are so many there for the rolling (S3 is so inexpensive, on four disks for $29.00, plus S&H). With S3 you raise your level of programming abstraction, think of user functionality instead of so much time spent bit fiddling. And produce dense and fast running code, much faster than similar C language programs. A neat submit file (M80.SUB) that automates assembly and link processes and works under both CP/M SUBMIT and ZCPR3 ZEX: ; ; M80.SUB -- Microsoft MACRO-80 Assembler and L80 Linker ; M80 =$1 ERA $1.BAK ERA $1.COM L80 /P:100,$1,A:VLIB/S,A:Z3LIB/S,A:SYSLIB/S,$1/N,/U,/E ERA $1.REL ; ; Assembly Complete ; Your assembly command line would be: SUBMIT M80 . The filename is passed to the command processor through $1 variable. VLIB and Z3LIB is included in case you use their features; no harm is done if you don't. Understanding M80/L80 command-line syntax comes from Microsoft MACRO- 80 User's Manual. A similar, but extended for ZEX, file (M80.ZEX using FINDERR, on ZCPR3 BBS) that is more console operator interactive: ; ; M80.ZEX -- MACRO-80 Assembler and Linker ; with M80 Error Checking ; ; ^& Suppress FALSE IF Printout ; if nul $1 ;note Print Error Message echo ^G**** No Parameter Specified **** else ;note Perform Assembly if ~exist $1.MAC ;note Print File Not Found echo **** File Not Found **** else M80 =$1 FINDERR if 0 ;note No errors found, link file ERA $1.BAK ERA $1.COM L80 /P:100,$1,A:VLIB/S,A:Z3LIB/S,A:SYSLIB/S,$1/N,/U,/E else if 0 2 ;note see if the errors are warnings echo ^G***WARNING ERROR*** if input Type T to Continue or F to Abort (Warning Errors) ERA $1.BAK ERA $1.COM L80 /P:100,$1,A:VLIB/S,A:Z3LIB/S,A:SYSLIB/S,$1/N,/U,/E fi ;note on IF INPUT else ;note error is fatal Šecho ^G***FATAL ERROR IN ASSEMBLY*** fi;fi ;note IF REG 0 and IF REG 0 2 ERA $1.REL fi;fi ;note on IF NUL and IF ~EXIST ; ; Assembly Complete ; Richard Conn is presently finishing up a draft of ZCPR3: The Libraries and we intend to make it available (all 300 to 400 pages) to those interested. Price should be about $40.00. We are self-publishing it as loose-leaf. Buy yourself a three-ring binder and be ready to read. Or use same binder holding SAMPLER and Discat manual. Term3 is going into beta testing this week. Won't be long now before this program is shipping. Some bells and whistles are: 1) Auto-answering your phone allowing the caller to access your computer files, no BYE needed; 2) dual windows for simultaneous sending and receiving in the Conversation Mode, without interference; 3) main-frame protocol, KERMIT, plus TERM, CompuServe CIS and XMODEM; 4) ZCPR3 menu control; 5) four online editors to create and alter multiple telephone-number tables, communication sets, translation tables, macro text and command generation with Z3-type IF-ELSE-FI conditional testing, wild-card sequential telephone number dialings; 6) hooks to EMSG, a new message and electronic mail system; 7) and more! Operations and procedures are truly fantastic! Even if you presently use Modem7, Mdm7, MEX or a commercial program, you'll want to own Term3--a truly elegant communications package from brilliant, thoughtful mind of Richard Conn. So those of you who have placed orders, on faith, will have your desires fully satisfied soon. We thank you for patience! Staying abreast of the fast moving hardware field is no easy task, especially if interested in high-resolution graphics and the like. (We notice advances in the S-100 bus microcomputer field are impressive. Dual processor cards, dense RAM, high clock rates.) One interesting card produced by Illuminated Technologies (P.O. Box 83348, Oklahoma City, OK 73148, telephone 405/943-8086) provides 3 million pixel display at a rate of 1.3 million pixels per second! Complete re-writing of console screen in less than 3 seconds; that's really good for only an 8-bit bus computer! The S-100 board sells for from $895 to $1195, monochrome/single plane to 8 color/3 plane, respectively. If you're interested in single-board graphics, contact them. Industry Brief: Dealers of IBM PC's, XT's and PCjr's are discounting so deeply, it's hard to project how smaller companies can stay in the hunt. Tandy has taken up the search with their Model 1100. Apple will have to do even more to advance in business circles. The new year will see many companies going belly-up. We encourage extreme energy expenditure to stay alive...little companies' activities are life-blood to commerce muscle and tissue. Something about the Season (Winter Solstice): The planet Earth and its biological life universally acknowledge this season above the other three. New beginnings are possible; time to eliminate undesirable habit patterns in our lives; time to sense the moment for potential change and make change part of our life. Will it to happen...there's only a few moments in any earthly cycle for our will to truly express itself, or to even have one! To each season its will; give me no roses in winter or snow in summer, Šeach season has its place, power, and influence. But believe, know opportunity for useful change is now! Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. Please use imagination! (Next newsletter is dated 14 January 1985, missing a fortnight, a beat, our window for change.) See you down the lines... Echelon, Inc. 101 First Street Los Altos, CA 94022 Telephone: 415/948-3820 ZCPR3 BBS & RCP/M: 415/489-9005 Trademarks: CP/M, MP/M, MAC, RMAC, Digital Research; Z3-Dot-Com, Alpha Systems; Friendly, Bookshelf, Ampro Computers; Z80, Zilog; Unix, AT&T Bell Laboratories; ZCPR3, Syslib3, Term3, Richard L. Conn; Discat, Lasting-Value Software, Disk7, Echelon; PC-DOS, IBM, Int'l Business Machines; MS-DOS, MACRO- 80, Xenix, Microsoft; WY-50, Wyseword, Wyse Technology; ZRDOS, Dennis L. Wright; Metal, Delphi Data Systems.