Micro_Cornucopia_17_Apr84.pdf

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April 1984

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Big Voice For The BB I

Pascal Procedures

Kaypro Column

SBASIC Column

FORTHwords

C'ing Clearly

No. 17

The Xerox 820..II and the Dynadisk

000

0000000000000000000000000

000

86: A Close Look

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Xerox 820 and Up

BBI Dual Density: New Version From SWP

A Very Calculating BB II

On Your Own

Technical Tips

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Morse Code Interface For The Kaypro

0000000

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

M68K Single Board Computer

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00000000

"THE ORIGINAL BIG BOARD"

OEM - INDUSTRIAL - BUSINESS - SCIENTIFIC

SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER KIT!

Z-80 CPU!

64K RAM!

(DO NOT CONFUSE WITH ANY OF OUR FLATTERING IMITATORSI)

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THE BIG BOARD PROJECT: With thousands sold worldwide and over two years of field experience, the Big

Board may just be one of the most reliable single board computers available today. This is the same design that

was licensed by Xerox Corp. as the basis for their 820 computer.

The Big Board gives you the right mix of most needed computing features all on one board. The Big Board was

designed from scratch to run the latest version of CP/M·. Just imagine all the off-the-shelf software that can be

run on the Big Board without any modifications needed.

$259

(64KKIT

BASIC I/O)

FULLY SOCKETED!

FEATURES: (Remember, all this on one board!)

64K RAM

SIZE:

8'12

x 13

3/.

IN.

SAME AS AN 8 IN. DRIVE.

REQUIRES: +5V @ 3 AMPS

+ - 12V @.5 AMPS.

r---------------------~2~4-x~8~0~C~H~A~R~A~C:T=E=R~V~ID~E~0=---------------------~

I-

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Uses Industry standard 4116 RAM's. AII64K Is available to the user, our VIDEO

and EPROM sections do not make holes In system RAM. Also, very special care

was taken In the RAM array PC layout to eliminate potential noise and glitches.

Z-80 CPU

Running at 2.5 MHZ. Handles all 4116 RAM refresh and supports Mode 2

INTERUPTS. Fully buffered and runs 8080 software.

With a crisp, flicker-free display that looks extremely sharp even on small

monitors. Hardware scroll and full cursor control. Composite video or split video

and sync. Character set Is supplied on a 2716 style ROM, making customized

fonts easy. Sync pulses can be any desired length or polarity. Video may be

inverted or true. 5 x 7 Matrix - Upper

Lower Case.

FLOPPY DISC CONTROLLER

Uses WD1771 controller Chip with a TTL Data Separator for enhanced reliability.

IBM 3740 compatible. Supports up to four 8 inch disc drives. Directly compatible

with standard Shugart drives such as the SA800 or SA801. Drives can be

configured for remote AC off-on. Runs CP/M" 2.2.

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SERIAL

1/0

(OPTIONAL)

Full 2 channels using the Z80

510

and the SMC 8116 Baud Rate Generator. FULL

RS2321 For synchronous or asynchronous communication. In synchronous

mode, the clocks can be transmllted or received by a modem. Both channels can

be set up for either data-communication or data-terminals. Supports mode 2lnt.

Price for all parts and connectors: $39.95

TWO PORT PARALLEL

1/0

(OPTIONAL)

Uses Z-80 PIO. Full 16 bits, fully buffered, bl-dlrectlonal. Uses selectable hand

shake polarity. Set of all parts and connectors for parallel I/O: $19.95

BASIC

1/0

Consists of separate parallel port (Z80 PIO) for use with an ASCII encoded

keyboard for Input. Output would be on the 80 x 24 Video Display.

REAL TIME CLOCK (OPTIONAL)

Uses Z-80 CTC. Can be configured as a Counter on Real Time Clock. Set of all

parts: $9.95

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BLANK PC BOARD -

$99.95

CP/M* 2.2 FOR BIG BOARD

The popular CP/M" D.O.S. to run on Big Board Is available for $139.00.

...J

The blank Big Board PC Board comes 'complete with full

documentation (including schematics), the character ROM,

the PFM 3.3 MONITOR ROM, and a diskette with the source

of our BIOS, BOOT, and PFM 3.3 MONITOR.

PFM 3.3

DOUBLE DENSITY ADAPTER BOARD -

$149.95

(A&T~

Requires no cuts or MODS to an existing Big Board. Gives up to 670K storage on

a single sided 8 in. diskette. With software to patch your CP/M· 2.2.

2K SYSTEM MONITOR

The real power of the Big Board lies In Its PFM 3.3 on board monitor. PFM commands Include: Dump Memory, Boot CP/M", Copy, Examine, Fill Memory, Test Memory, Go To,

Read and Write I/O Ports, Disc Read (Drive, Track, Sector), and Search PFM occupies one of the four 2716 EPROM locations provided. Z-80 Is a Trademark of Zilog.

Digital Research Computers

(OF TEXAS)

P.O. BOX 461565 • GARLAND, TEXAS 75046 • (214) 271-3538

TERMS: Shipments will be made approximately 3 to 6 weeks after we

receive your order. VISA, MC, cash accepted. We will accept COD's (for the

Big Board only) with a $75 deposit. Balance UPS COD. Add $4.00 shipping.

USA AND CANADA ONLY

*TRADEMARK OF DIGITAL RESEARCH. NOT ASSOCIATED WITH DIGITAL RESEARCH OF CALIFORNIA, THE ORIGINATORS OF CPM SOFTWARE

··1 TO 4 PIECE DOMESTIC USA PRICE.

MICRO CORNUCOPIA

P.O. Box 223

Bend, Oregon 97709

503-382-8048

IICID CDIRUCDrll

April 1984

The Single Board Systems Journal

No. 17

Editor

Publisher

David]. Thompson

Assistant Editor

Eric Belden

Graphic Design

Sandra Thompson

Technical Department

Dana Cotant

Advertising Director

Alice Holbrow

Staff Assistants

Dorcas Dsenis

Tracey Braas

Typography

Patti Morris

Martin White

Irish Setter

MICRO CORNUCOPIA is the

single board systems journal sup-

porting systems programming lan-

guages and single board systems-

including the Big Board, Big Board

II, Xerox 820, Kaypro, and Slicer.

MICRO CORNUCOPIA is pub-

lished six times a year by Micro Cor-

nucopia -of Oregon, P.O. Box 223,

Bend, Oregon 97709.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

1 yr.(6 issues)

$16.00

1 yr. (first class)

$20.00

1 yr. (Canada

Mexico)

$20.00

1 yr. (other foreign)

$26.00

Make all orders payable in U.S.

funds on a U.S. bank, please.

ADVERTISING RATES: Available

on request.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please

send your old label and new ad-

dress.

SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, AND

BOOK VENDORS: We would very

much like to review your CP/M

MSDOS compatible products. Send

materials to the Review Depart-

ment, Micro Cornucopia.

CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc.

1983 by Micro Cornucopia

Read

AGood

CP/M

Book

Lately?

You may have noticed that the e"dito-

rial is often a collection of things that

probably should have been put else-

where in Micro C, but I just didn't get

around to prettying them up enough for

a formal presentation. This editorial is no

exception for herein is a book review and

a plea for help (a little self-help, that is).

Book

I purchased a book called

A Program-

mer's Notebook

by David Cortesi at my lo-

cal bookstore. This is a bit unusual for me

because publishers are constantly offer-

ing to send me every imaginable (and

unimaginable) kind of book, free. I

should have saved some of the more "in-

teresting" titles such as

A Review

Busi-

ness Programs for the VIC 20.

(I'm sorry,

that was a bit facetious.)

Anyway, I bought the book and, with

it, an 8" disk containing the programs

developed in the book, and I'rn delight-

ed with it. Cortesi is a first rate program-

mer and writer. You get to participate as

he works his way through the designing,

coding, and debugging of a number of

complete CP/M utilities in 8080 code.

You'll learn really good assembly lan-

guage programming methods, you'll

learn a lot about interfacing with CP/M,

and you'll feel like you've gotten to

know a very interesting person.

You'll need to have some program-

ming experience first, for he notes at the

beginning,

"If

you are a complete novice

at programming you might enjoy read-

ing this book, but you will learn little

from it.

will probably seem that we are

continually leaping from problem to

conclusion without any intermediate

steps. The programs will seem to grow

up of their own volition, like plants.

you have some experience with pro-

gramming, perhaps in BASIC or Pascal,

things will make more sense."

The only complaint I have about the

book is that Cortesi is writing in 8080 as-

sembly language rather than Z80. I

mean, who has an 8080? Of course any-

thing written for the 8080 will run on the

Z80 but Z80 nmemonics are much easier

to learn and the Z80 instruction set is

more powerful. However, with my

trusty little 8080-Z80 translator, I can

change all those source files into some-

thing more intelligible.

Meanwhile, this is a super book and

Cortesi has another book called

System

Programming Under CP/M-80

which

sounds very interesting. After all,

The

Programmer's Notebook

is better reading

than most novels.

A Programmer's Notebook

David Cortesi

Reston Publishing Company

Reston Virginia

$16.95 (without disk)

Self-Help Anyone?

Support has turned into a real prob-

lem here at Micro C. You see, Dana and I

have been scrambling to keep systems

running, build new systems (the Little

Board and the Latest Slicer), modify our

present systems (the Big Board, the Big

Board II, the new Kaypro 4, and old Kay-

pro II), and tryout all those software and

hardware packages (the PROM pro-

gramming packages for the BB II, for in-

stance) that people send us and plead

wi th us to review.

Meanwhile, we are spending well

over half of our working hours answer-

ing calls for help. Mondays and Fridays

are the worst with Tuesday, Wednesday,

and Thursday a little lighter (usually).

Some people have suggested that we

set specific hours when we will handle

technical calls, say, afternoons on Tues-

days and Thursdays. Others have sug-

gested that we limit each call to 3 min-

utes.

I don't like either of these options. Mi-

cro C is at its best when it helps people

(continued on page

52)

LITTIRS

Dear Editor,

With a few minor problems I got my

BB I running.

First, there weren't any display sync.

signals, vertical or horizontal. A 74S04

for

got the 14.318mhz oscillator run-

ning, instead of a 74LS04. Still no sync.

I found the C external pins on the

74LS123 one shots grounded. Even on

the schematic it showed this. Most appli-

cations I found didn't ground them. Af-

ter cutting away the Pc ground path, the

display took right off.

My ORBIS 76 Disk drive wanted to see

10ms step rate. So I had to change loca-

tion FF6A from 00 to 02.

When interfacing the centronics 700

printer to channel a PIO, a oneshot had

to be added on the "Ready out Line."

seems the 700 wanted to see the positive

going trailing edge, before it would send

back the ACK or strobe.

Chris Gentile

3256 Roxborough Ave. N.

Clearwater FL 33520

Dear Editor,

Wow! the gang at Micro C is making

the humble little Kaypro into one hot

machine. First 5MHz and now 800K per

drive. Those PC clones better watch out!

There is one modification that many of

us would love to see on the Kaypro-a

256K RAM disk.

ought to make PW

swap files and TW work like a dream.

Why not get together with Tony Ozre-

lic of LA Software and produce a Dyna-

Disk for the Kaypro at a reasonable price.

I'm sure you'd have a lot of interest-

especially those of us who can't afford

(and see little need for) a full blown co-

processor.

One question ... will the Pro-Monitor

ROM's (II, 4 and 8) work with the Uni-

form software and still enable the Kay-

pro to read and write disks formatted for

other machines?

Mike Perry

6035 40th Ave NE

Seattle WA 98115

trated after running out of ideas of what

try.

Of course, the solution will seem

obvious, and we'll wonder why we nev-

er thought of it.

(The food is for quieting the fierce cave

bear. Be sure to bring the keys along.

Have you wondered why the emerald is

the size of a "plover's" egg? Don't be

afraid of whirlpools. WD-40 is nice, but

oil still works.)

David A. Satchell

Manitowoc Surgical Association

600 York Street Suites 5 and 6

Manitowoc WI 54220

Dear Editor,

I noticed in issue #15, page 2, editor's

note to Chris Paulson, the installation of

the IFORTH monitor (user disk #18) was

not in the recommendation. Everyone I

know who has used this monitor has

considered, it a big improvement over

PFM so why was it not included in the

list?

I have considered sending in some im-

provements to IFORTH but I have seen

little feedback on it in recent issues of Mi-

cro C so I wonder

it is worth my time?

Raymond

Buvel

Box 3071

Moscow ID 83843

208-885-8818

Editor's note:

Check with MicroSphere for an inexpen-

sive RAM disk for the Kaypro.

Uniform (as shipped by Kaypro) requires

that both A and B drives be correct for that

version of Uniform. Since we are also sup-

porting two additional drives, you can make

and

trackers and still have full use

of Uniform.

Also, the CO-power board expects to see

Kaypro

drives as A and B. So by put-

ting

track drives on

and

you willstiTl-

be totally compatible with these add-ons.

Editor's note:

I've been trying to tread the fine line be-

tween saying too much and not saying any-

thing about Adventure. For some people the

goal is the struggle, for others, the goal is 550

points.

I'm tempted to include hints (such as

yours) in Micro

and mark them plainly so

that people can avoid them if they wish. You

need the sword to get past the ogre, by the

way.

I'd like to know what to do with the broken

up skiff.

Dear Editor,

I dropped you this note just to let you

know that I am happy to renew my sub-

scription to Micro C.

I have installed the 256K RAM on my

BB I as described in issue #12 and it

works fine.

At the same time, I installed the 4 MHz

modification described in issue #1.

works fine too.

One thing readers should know about

the 256K mod. is that you must install all

256K RAM chips in order to run just as

before.

took me awhile to realize this.

One 64K segment is spread over the 4

rows.

R. Warichet

Av. de la Jeunesse 4

1030 Bruxelles

Belgium

Editor's note:

Sorry, Ray.

guess we are as guilty of no

feedback as anyone. Yes there has been a lot of

interest in IFORTH. We have been recom-

mending it to many BB owners. You should

take a look at making it available on the 820.

think that would be very popular. Especially

since you are offering inexpensive ROM pro-

gramming for

f~lks.

Since

don't program in FORTH

haven't

put it on my system though it is a very nice

extension to the PFMmonitor.

Dear Editor,

My sons and I are at an impasse with

Adventure. We can accumulate 262

points, but have not learned to kill the

ogre or to avoid paying an onerous tax to

the troll.

Since there aren't any user groups in

our town, we saw your note in Micro C

and thought you might be willing to ex-

change some hints. The advice on what

to with the food is in the last paragraph

in case you wouldn't want to sully the

purity of your one man Adventure.

There can be many saved games, not

just one, as your column indicated. Just

type "SAVE OGRE", or any other four

letter name, and the name will be ap-

pended to the ADVD.SAV file, making it

ADVDOGRE.SAV.

As you recommended, that file can be

made durable by PIPing it under a new

name to the same or different disk to be

re-PIPed as needed.

Anyway, we're stuck and getting frus-

Dear Editor,

I would like to correct some informa-

tion in the letter from Charles Woodard

published in issue #15.

Yes, I can supply parts and informa-

tion on MFE 8" floppies. However, the

correct daytime phone is 603-893-1921.

The evening phone (preferred calling

time) is 603-329-5838. Please see my

Want Ad in this issue.

Richard H. Breinlinger

51 Wash Pond Rd.

Hampstead NH 03841

Micro Cornucopia, Number 17, April 1984

Dear Editor,

I have been salivating at the possibility

of having a 5 MHz Hotrod-Kaypro since

I received the issue of Micro C (June

1983) with your column describing the

speed-up modificatioI}.

First, let me say that since performing

the speed-up operation two weeks ago, I

have been much happier with my com-

puter. The performance at 4 MHz with

all my programs has been substantially

improved. But I would sill like to in-

crease the speed to 5 MHz if possible.

However, I was not able to increase

the speed to 5 MHz. When I switched the

toggle to the 5 MHz position, garbage

characters filled the screen and the sys-

tem would neither boot nor would key-

board commands have any effect. I as-

sumed that although I checked the

connections and wires that I added, I

had made an error in following the in-

structions.

At this month's user's meeting, I met

another gentleman that had also fol-

lowed the instructions in your column

and likewise was not able to get beyond 4

MHz. So I am writing to you.

I purchased an 'SGS' brand Z80B and

'SGS' brand monitor ROM. I inserted

the Z80B into the socket at U63 and the

ROMatU43.

Next, rather than soldering to the pins

on U66 (as I was advised not to by a good.

friend who is also an electronics tech.

and the half-willing overseer of the job) I

cut the leads in the board to pins 4 and 5,

and ran trace wires to the destination

pins.

As I noted above, the 4 MHz speed-up

is great. I cannot imagine doing anything

on my computer at the slower speed. Al-

so I have been very pleased that I have

not found a single program that would

not work at the faster speed. Even with-

out 5 MHz I am a much happier Kaypro

owner.

Matthew Kesner

6345 Lochmoor Drive

San Diego CA 92120

•

COLOR GRAPHICS

•

$2995:~~~d

•

TMS 9918A Based

Graphics System

256H-192V

16 Colors

•

*32 Simultaneous Fast Moving Sprites

* Composite Video Output

*Highest Quality PC Construction

* Software Includes Character

Sprite Editor

Demo Program In Pascal

Basic

* Drivers Are Above The Monitor For Use

With High Le·.Jel Languages

•

BIG BOARD

•

Requires 1 trace cut and 1 jumper (see adding 6K of Ram MicroC#7)

Plugs Into U70 (U70 Still Available for Prom with Jumper)

TMS9918A Graphics Chip

'34

Check

Money Order

COD

:~j

•

GRAPHTECH

Dear Editor,

I am impressed. I expected the usual 4

to 6 week waiting period between the

time when you order a magazine and

when you receive the first issue and was

really surprised, as well as pleased,

when I received my first issue within two

weeks.

came yesterday and I have already

read it once. I am assuming this is a state-

ment of the quality of services you strive

to provide to your subscribers. Keep up

the good work.

I am a newcomer to the computer

world and am basically an illiterate with

lots of questions. What is an EPROM? Is

it edible?

It's

with tabasco sauce if you

•

• •

•

• •

•

P.o. Box 1185, Mcpherson, KS 67460 - (316) 241-6330

Call for Availability

Price of Parts Kit

Kansas Residents Add 4% Tax/Include $3 For Postage

Handling

Allow Four to Six Weeks for Delivery

•

watch out for the legs.

After reading what my manuals had to

say about HEX I felt as though I had been

hexed. Is a Slicer any good for cutting

tough tomato skins?

Yes, and it is fast.

One reader, in your letters column in

issue #15, talked about stepping in and

stepping out at 3ms on a 1771 while

forcefully interrupting. Is that a new

dance where you

try

to make more noise

than the band?

Is a MONOSTABLE a place where

they keep one legged horses?

Seriously, I realize that these things

will become clearer as I go along but I can

also appreciate why some people are put

off by the bewildering array of strange

items, jargon and concepts that they are

confronted with when they peek into

this field.

I would like to know where I can get

some good resource material that is com-

prehensible to the lay person? I would

appreciate any contacts from Kaypro us-

ers in my area.

What are the advantages of turning

my Kaypro 4 into an 8?

I purchase your

Pro-set 4 (or 8) do I need to upgrade my

machine first? What needs to be done?

How is it done? How much will

cost?

Larry D. Ruddell

214 E. Euclid

Spokane WA 99207

•

• •

•

Editor's note:

Some

SGS

parts have been slow, especially

the ROMs. Get a 250 ns

2732

and burn the

ROM data into the top half. Then plug that

in place of the 2716-1-that'

what we are do-

ing and it has solved the ROM problem com-

pletely.

Also, some sources of

SGS

Z80Bs have

been shipping poor quality parts. I haven't

tracked down the culprits but some of the

SGS's people are getting won't run

MHz.

Micro Cornucopia, Number 17, April 1984

Editor's note:

You can pop our PRO-8 monitor into your

Kaypro

without making any changes. You

will get faster disk accesses and the setable

cursor. You can, of course, alsq do the speed

up to

MHz. You will need a copy of issue

#12, a Z80B, some wire-wrap type wire and

a switch.

With the PRO-8 monitor you can go to the

quad density drives if you wish but you cer-

tainly don't have to.

(Letters continued on page 50)

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