EI Z-NEWS 809 14 March 1988 ============================================================================== Standards. We have spoken of user interface consistency being important to reduce harshness and promote tool transparency. Many have asked what is our standard. Not suprisingly, Echelon promotes, with varing degrees of success, ZS (Z-System) log-on banner and built-in "//" help system as aspects, VFILER and VMENU general appearances are others, of our standards. , Version x.n [brief description of utility's function] Syntax: <[/][options]> Options: By convention, text between brackets, "[" and "]", is optional. Here are some existing examples, all acceptable, but none exactly follow- ing the standard except for PATH: ERASE Version 5.1 (loaded at 8000h) Syntax: ERASE dir:filename.typ,dir:fn.ft,... [/]o... Options: I -- Inspect Mode (Give user approval option) R -- Erase R/O Files without prompting user S -- Include SYS Files SHCTRL Version 1.0 SHCTRL - Control Shell Stack Syntax: SHCTRL C or SHCTRL CLR - Clear Shell Stack SHCTRL D or SHCTRL DIS - Display Shell Stack SHCTRL P or SHCTRL POP - Pop Shell Stack DIR, Version 1.4 Syntax: DIR dir:afn o Options: A=All, S=Sys, H=Horiz, V=Vert, P=Print, T=File Type/Name Sort PATH, Version 3.1 Syntax: PATH <-- Display Path PATH expr <-- Set Path ERASE, here a Type 3 utility loaded at and running from address 8000h, comes close to meeting standard. It needs the comma following its name and separat- ing word Version (fully spelled out; in print we usually use " vx.n" instead of full word) but correctly has multi-space indent to Syntax and Options. Additionally, there is little or no need to have two hyphens for a dash, one would do, spacing option letter and its description. PATH uses arrows to explain command-line syntax variations. In most cases only first line of "//" help shown above is used as a program log-on banner. Another kind of consistency to promote, watch for during coding is how the tool displays its collected data. And, what do several tools look like when displayed one after another as in a multiple command alias at cold boot (hardware reset) time? Below, two displays show some seen from one of our STARTUP aliases used during boot. PATH, Version 3.1 Symbolic Form: A15: --> A0: --> A15: DU Form: A15: --> A0: --> A15: DIR Form: ROOT: --> BASE: --> ROOT: PUBLIC, Version 1.0 Public User Drive(s): A: Public User Area(s): 6: DIR Form: Drive A: PRIVATE: The user sees a certain grace, at least that is the way we see it, in how the single-space indents are handled at the left margins...very pleasing to our stressed-out eyes. We present these standards to those who modify and enhance our Z-System utilities, both Z-Team members and the community at large. Please study the standards and do your best to adhere to them. You will have the whole commu- nity thanking you. We understand there are cases in which the standards don't really apply, like for those programs not using the "//" built-in help techni- que. VMENU and ZFILER are good examples, because of their unusually broad set of functions. Thanks for hearing us out... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Software Update Service. "Using EASE, you can step backward through your commands or search for a specific command, no matter how long ago it was typed. You can then edit it and re-execute it." Error and Shell Editor, needs ZCPR v3.3 but functions as full-screen editing error and command history shell, replaces Z33VERR (or any other error handler) and HSH or VCED. (LBR includes Z33LIB in case you wish to re-assemble and link EASE.) Error handler works from ZFILER internal command line but command history shell does not (hint to Paul and Jay). Always load EASE before loading other shells on your system. EASE E installs only error handler; EASE S, only command history shell; and, EASE, both. EASE, the best we have seen in a combi- national tool--full editing of command lines and any errors that have resulted plus command recall from "way-back." Our thanks to Paul Pomerleau and Jay Sage for such a Z-System masterpiece. DIRectory, Version 1.4 01/22/86 -SUS .015 0 | EASE14A .LBR 50 | LAP .LBR 6 | LLDR11 .LBR 14 LX18 .LBR 20 | MCOPY47B.LBR 20 | VLU102 .COM 16 | VLU102 .Z80 6 WS4PRNDV.LBR 6 | Z33TRC11.LBR 16 | Z3LOC15 .COM 2 | ZFILRCMD.LBR 20 F0:BACKUP -- 12 files using 176k (210k remain of 386k total) LAP (Loader and Path), written by Bob Andersson, Gloucester, England, is a neat way to configure your system after a cold boot. Paul Pomerleau's Library Loader, LLDR, quickly loads group of system segments from a library-- really works fast in a STARTUP alias. Our cup runs over, how do we choose between using LAP and LLDR? LX18 is Howard Goldstein and Bruce Morgen's latest handiwork updating Rick Conn's Library eXecute to full Z33 compatibility. MCOPY47B, by very active Bruce Morgen of Z-Sig and NAOG, brings utility into modern world. Bruce, next PRINT III v2.0? Michal Carson fixes a few little bugs in super VLU102 library management utility. Michal is upgrading VLU with delete and krunch functions, likely ready in early Spring. John T. Brown has been super busy creating polished ZFILER user-macros and WordStar v4.0 printer driver utilities, ZFILRCMD.LBR and WS4PRNDV.LBR. Here we have multiple-command aliases and lines carried to upper echelons of usefulness, automation. Much energy went into designing and documenting these 36 or so routines. Give a look--we can all learn something. Z33TRC11.LBR contains ZSDOS-(co)developer (Z-News 807-1) Cameron Cotrill's RCP extension loading under the CCP instead of in buffer space in high BIOS memory. Called Transient RCP, works much like Backgrounder ii and CP/M v3.0 RSX programs. Z3LOC v1.5 contains Joe Wright's handiwork, expands the information shown by this Z3 system location utility. (Z3LOC complements SHOW v1.2 for telling about OS characteristics.) See Z-User's Corner below for what Z3LOC can do. We applaud quality of these utilities and thank each of you for your contribution at making them great. Keep up the good work! Z-Node Doings. Lots of call-ins, message exchanges, up and downloads. A thought...do you use VLU to see inside libraries to view members? At 2400 bps action is good (even for we who use 38,400 baud terminals on a regular basis), but a little too slow at 1200, and not at all useful or acceptable (especially to sysops) at 300 baud. How times change! Many of us remember (you around, Irv Hoff?) using hardcopy 45-baud Teletype and thought that was fast information transfer. James DeMauro, Plainview, NY 1803, Pro-Gram RAS, takes over Z-Node #59, 516/932-7674, ready to install ham radio packet capability. Welcome to Robert Cooper, Sysop for new Z-Node #81, 805/942-5669, Lancaster, CA 93535, Coop's RAS, with H89/90 and CDR SuperRam. Robert, like James, is readying for packet radio. Up-to-date Z-Node roster (along with Good-Neighbor Helper roster) is to be published on 4 April, both hardcopy and uploaded to Z-Nodes. From The Mail Box. Gerald McMullon, Cambridge, England, regrading philo- sophy, lets us know he is "less interested in nationalism than humanity." He also sent along over a megabyte of public domain programs from the UK. Thanks, Gerald, for PDS programs. And, we try in the future to view things more from a whole-world point-of-view. Mental images aroused by language we usually use is quite different from country to country. Prime movers are not necessarily similar because of dis-similar cultural upbringings. But, we still express opinions, take sides, we are seldom in the middle... From Elmhurst, IL, James Ott passes along a fix for VID7.Z80 of VLIB v1.1 for Wyse terminals used in 132-column mode. James we will use your code when we upgrade The Libraries. Thanks! Russell Greene, London, England, writes for information on using ZCPR v2.0 with ZRDOS v1.7 and ZCPR v3.3 utilities. Our advice is to bite-the- bullet and install ZCPR v3.3. It's likely less work to go that way than to modify v2.0 for a System Environment Descriptor, needed by the utilities and ZRDOS's PUBLIC directory feature. We don't support ZCPR v2.0 anymore--it was dropped about five years ago in favor of the more powerful ZCPR v3.0. From downunder, Aubrey Keightley, Albany, W.A., Australia, sends a VFILER CMD file using all 60 available characters for user macro commands. We like "3" command 3!get 100 %$ ;go 'Source/data file ' 'Options ' best. Easy to convert to equivalent ZFILER syntax. Why is macro so useful? You tell us! Yes, Dorothy, Kansas City, we soon distribute Bridger Mitchell's new JetLDR, linker/loader replacing LDR and LLDR; loads conventional ZS segments plus nine types of REL and special ZRL relocatable files. Z-User's Corner. As promised, here's what Z3LOC v1.5 shows when entering command Z3LOC Z: Z3LOC, Version 1.5 System Elements Base Addresses ---------------- --------------- CCP BC00h (ZCPR 3.3) (16 recs) BDOS C406h (ZRDOS 1.9) (28 recs) BIOS D200h (Z80/NSC800) IOP F300h (RECORDER) (12 recs) RCP EB00h (16 recs) FCP F900h (4 recs) NDR FC00h (28 names) Z3ENV FE00h (Type 80h) Z3TCAP FE80h (Wyse-WY60) SHSTK FB00h (4 32-byte entries) Z3MSG FB80h EXTFCB FBD0h EXPATH FBF4h (5 elements) Z3WHL FBFFh (On) Z3CL FF00h (203 chars) EXTSTK FFD3h TOP-1 FFFFh Version 1.5 shows if 8080/8085, Z80/NSC800 or HD64180/Z180 cpu runs, if new Z- Com, lowest RSX and if DateStamper, name of IOP loaded, and type of terminal defined in Environmental Descriptor. Display above is for 52-megabyte Ampro Bookshelf Z80 computer, running what we call "full-up" Z-System. Notice features beyond what v1.1 and 1.2 showed. Version 1.5 begins support for dynamic Z-Com v2.0 environments and their implications. You have seen term RSX used lately, here and in other places in the community. Well, yes, it comes from DRI's CP/M v3.0 (aka CP/M Plus) legacy. Resident System eXtensions are simply programs that Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) in local RAM, i.e., a Memory Resident Package (MRP), generic term EI promotes for add-function filters/processors that locate themselves either under existing CCP or above DOS to extend OS, either CCP or DOS, functionality. However... An RSX doesn't permit overwriting the OS's CCP memory space (2k-bytes, 16 records) by an application program. An RSX loads (places) itself just under the base of the CCP, taking as much memory space downward, i.e., from CCP base to a lower address, as it needs to do its job. But system memory economy is greatest by strategically, dynamically using RCP and above-BDOS buffers, adjusting their size and functionality as required to get your job done. Under Z-Com v2.0 this is easy: RCP, FCP, NDR, IOP, and custom buffer space is adjusted to accomplish task functions. As task requirements change, segments change--now that's dynamic! With so many tools at hand, we in 1988 think more about TASKs than APPLICATIONs. When creating a menu, what with fast disk-memory, ZEX, and ALIAS.CMDs calling aliases controlled by ARUNZ, it's no longer enter "wordprocessor" but "create business letter," "create short letter to friend," "connect to Z-Node Central." In each case, much more occurs than just enter- ing WordStar, LZED and Term3. Hardware/Software Beat. RAM disks are important to Z80 computes and auto- mated-TASK execution speed. (It's much quicker to access solid-state rather than rotating magnetic media in those multiple command aliases.) If you have an Ampro Z80 Little Board or Bookshelf, have you upgraded to Terry Hazen's MDISK (n/SYSTEMS, Z-News 806-2,3)? Now's the time to do it what with all the dynamic things happening in our community. By the way, Ampro Computers has moved to greatly expanded facilities at 1130 Mountain View/Alviso Road, Sunnyvale, CA 94089, 408/734-2800. If you haven't contacted them lately now may be the time to do it. EMEX 2400 bit-per-second (bps) modem comes through our testing with fly- ing colors (Z-News 807-3). As good as the best, a super value! If you are still using a 1200 bps communications machine and wish to double your speed, get your 2400 unit from Bruce Morgen at NAOG--support those who support you! While on the subject of modems, "baud" terminology dies slowly. Original meaning was applied to slow-speed electro-mechanical signaling devices. Now term is usually applied incorrectly to multi-level high-speed electronic modems. A modern 2400-bps modem uses "Phase Shift Keying" as the subcarrier modulation technique and 600 baud signaling, four levels at each binary condition; 1200-bps, two levels. A different modulation technique, "Frequency Shift Keying," is used with 300 baud modems--here 300 baud equals 300 bps-- with only one level for ones and zeroes. When stating speed of modems you can't go wrong if you use bits per second, bps, to indicate transfer date rate. And by the way, if you use Term3, get file TI24-23.Z80 for use with 2400 bps modems, on Z-Nodes. Original TI (Telephone Interface) was only for 1200- and-below modems. ============================================================================== Of Angels and Eagles. You know, from our perspective high in these 10,000- foot mountains, it seems we are always getting close to a final solution to our problems using computers as productivity tools. It is so seductive amongst this clear and clean air--air angels and eagles breathe--to think these machines are going to solve our problems; they do move problems further into/down the horizon so we are less conscious of what reality is. Seems we are very asleep even when we are fully awake... You know, if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to find things to bang on, put nails into. If we don't understand how what we use works, how can we understand the product produced by the thing. How can we further understand ourselves if we don't dig into the subject. How can we so coverup the inner workings of our computers that we are unable to write aliases that automate our TASKs, much less write code to change the OS or its utilities. We come to believe the impossible is possible when it comes to solving our problems. Solutions are not along directions of conventional wisdom. Getting more money makes us more comfortable physically, gives us more toys that occupy more of our time, but does having money equate to happiness or fulfillment? We see no evidence that supports money and fun exclusively going together. Remember Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and evolution of people's problems: First, how to get food to eat? Next, why do we need to eat? Then, where do we have lunch today? Survival then inquiry followed by sophistication. Remember Socrates' protagonists the Greek Sophists? If so, you know to where sophistication leads. "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Everybody knows that something is eternal, must be! It's not Earth or even Sun or Stars...when they are gone, we are left with, well...see you down the lines... Echelon, Inc. P.O. Box 705001-800 South Lake Tahoe, CA 95705 USA Telephone: 916/577-1105 Telex: 4931646 Z-Node Central (RAS): 408/432-0821 Trademarks: Little Board, Bookshelf, Ampro Computers; SB180, SB180FX, GT180, Micromint; ON!, Oneac; DT42, The SemiDisk, Deep Thought 42, SemiDisk Systems; XLR8, M.A.N. Systems; Z80/180/280, Zilog; HD64180, Hitachi; Z-System, ZOS, ZRDOSn, ZSDOSn, ZCPR3n, Z-Tools, Zas, Zlink, Z-Msg, Term3, Quick-Task, NuKey, Lasting-Value Software, Echelon; CP/M, Digital Research; TurboROM, Advent; LZED, Zivio; Graphix Toolbox, Turbo Pascal, Turbo Modula-2, Borland Int'l; WordStar, Newword, MicroPro Int'l; DosDisk, Backgrounder ii, DateStamper, PUBlic, Plu*Perfect; JetFind, Bridger Mitchell. * * Fly with Z! * * Z-News 809 is Copyright MCMLXXXVIII Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source credit is given to Echelon.