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  • Cpmtools doesn't work as expected

    From Sabre Chen@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 5 22:24:57 2023
    Description:
    Cpmtools[1] 2.23 built in MinGW.
    For IBM-3740 format images from Z80Pack[2], cpmls works well but cpmcp add extra 0s (IIRC three extra zeros in every occurrence) in the middle and at the end of the file.
    For 88-DCDD format images from Z80Pack[2], even cpmls doesn't work well.

    Other notes:
    AltairZ80[3] in SimH[4] has R.COM and W.COM which can be used to transfer files from/to host PC (Windows for me).
    Altair Tools[5] can be used to copy files from/to 88-DCDD images.
    AltairSim in Z80Pack[6] do have R.COM and W.COM, but I failed to build a workable Z80Pack 1.37 in Cygwin while the prebuilt binary for Windows is too old.
    I'm emulating Altair 8800 for historical interest. Thanks all for providing all these emulators, manuals, tools, builds, guides.

    Links:
    [1] Cpmtools: http://www.moria.de/~michael/cpmtools/
    [2] Z80Pack Images: https://www.autometer.de/unix4fun/z80pack/ftp/altair/
    [3] AltairZ80: https://schorn.ch/altair.html
    [4] SimH Build: https://github.com/bscottm/open-simh/releases
    [5] Altair Tools: https://github.com/phatchman/altair_tools
    [6] Z80Pack: https://www.autometer.de/unix4fun/z80pack/

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  • From Udo Munk@21:1/5 to Sabre Chen on Thu Apr 6 00:25:35 2023
    Sabre Chen schrieb am Donnerstag, 6. April 2023 um 07:24:59 UTC+2:
    Description:
    Cpmtools[1] 2.23 built in MinGW.
    For IBM-3740 format images from Z80Pack[2], cpmls works well but cpmcp add extra 0s (IIRC three extra zeros in every occurrence) in the middle and at the end of the file.

    I just had a look, I have installed cpmtools 2.20 on OSX from the source tar ball, which doesn't have such
    a problem. Don't know what the problem is in 2.23 though.

    For 88-DCDD format images from Z80Pack[2], even cpmls doesn't work well.

    This format is not supported with cpmtools, for the MITS format disks you can use:
    https://github.com/udo-munk/altair_tools

    Other notes:
    AltairZ80[3] in SimH[4] has R.COM and W.COM which can be used to transfer files from/to host PC (Windows for me).
    Altair Tools[5] can be used to copy files from/to 88-DCDD images.
    AltairSim in Z80Pack[6] do have R.COM and W.COM, but I failed to build a workable Z80Pack 1.37 in Cygwin while the prebuilt binary for Windows is too old.

    I have build z80pack 1.37 and 1.38-dev numerous times in Cygwin, so not sure which problem you had.
    The old Windows binary is not supported anymore, that was build on a Windows XP system years ago.

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  • From Sabre Chen@21:1/5 to Udo Munk on Thu Apr 6 05:58:39 2023
    On Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 3:25:36 PM UTC+8, Udo Munk wrote:

    I just had a look, I have installed cpmtools 2.20 on OSX from the source tar ball, which doesn't have such
    a problem. Don't know what the problem is in 2.23 though.
    It works now, built in Cygwin. That shows incompatibility with MinGW.

    This format is not supported with cpmtools, for the MITS format disks you can use:
    https://github.com/udo-munk/altair_tools
    Yes, I have used Altair Tools for this format. There is `simh format` in diskdefs of Cpmtools, which I thought would work with SimH format image (88-DCDD but 254 tracks), but it doesn't.

    I have build z80pack 1.37 and 1.38-dev numerous times in Cygwin, so not sure which problem you had.
    The old Windows binary is not supported anymore, that was build on a Windows XP system years ago.
    Something related to Cygwin/X. I'll try later. Thanks

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  • From Sabre Chen@21:1/5 to Sabre Chen on Fri Apr 7 06:42:53 2023
    On Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 8:58:41 PM UTC+8, Sabre Chen wrote:
    I have build z80pack 1.37 and 1.38-dev numerous times in Cygwin, so not sure which problem you had.
    The old Windows binary is not supported anymore, that was build on a Windows XP system years ago.
    Now it works. The problem is, the speed of copying files is only about 20 bytes per second in MITS format CP/M.
    I'm running `mitscpm22` in altairsim of z80pack 1.37, built with no changes. And system.conf is modified, `tarbell_rom_enabled` to 0, `boot` to ff00. I copied LS.COM (4K) R.COM (2K) W.COM (2K) to other disks several times, all in low speed (from 50
    seconds to more than 3 minutes).
    And running `cpm22` seems in normal speed.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Udo Munk@21:1/5 to Sabre Chen on Fri Apr 7 08:51:32 2023
    Sabre Chen schrieb am Freitag, 7. April 2023 um 15:42:55 UTC+2:
    On Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 8:58:41 PM UTC+8, Sabre Chen wrote:
    I have build z80pack 1.37 and 1.38-dev numerous times in Cygwin, so not sure which problem you had.
    The old Windows binary is not supported anymore, that was build on a Windows XP system years ago.
    Now it works. The problem is, the speed of copying files is only about 20 bytes per second in MITS format CP/M.
    I'm running `mitscpm22` in altairsim of z80pack 1.37, built with no changes. And system.conf is modified, `tarbell_rom_enabled` to 0, `boot` to ff00. I copied LS.COM (4K) R.COM (2K) W.COM (2K) to other disks several times, all in low speed (from 50
    seconds to more than 3 minutes).
    And running `cpm22` seems in normal speed.

    The other way arround, the 88DCDD controller is emulated with realistic disk timing, you could change timings
    in iodevices/altair-88-dcdd.c.
    The Tarbell controller doesn't emulate correct disk timings, the mechanics move in zero time, so software
    seems to run faster.

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