13 January 1986 Z-NEWS 402 Comment Line. Time invested in learning software and money spent on hardware makes us all want to continue pushing 8-bit computing. We don't quickly or easily discard what has served so well, provided base to think freely, open our minds, learn. It's fact! You notice we go against grain, don't troop (Z-News 304), offer an alternative that's upward-compatible with CP/M, similar to UNIX, but fast and efficient: Z-System, an 8-bit OS soon to have multitasking capability added to its other present big-system features. By summer we should have new elements in place (Z-News 401), debugged, to permit 8-bit systems to communicate over local area networks and to control and be controlled by 16/32/64-bit machines running other OSs. And coming from others, industry-standard bit-mapped graphics interface packages will be available. Z-System multitasking means low-priority tasks get processed when main processor unit has time to work with them. Top priority is always given to task the console (keyboard and CRT) is associated with. Nonetheless, operator is alerted through screen status window when background tasks need attention, i.e., input from keyboard. FLASH. Ready now! We have ZCPR3 extended TCAP business-graphics (straight- lines, squared corners, intersects, and boxes) provided by modern ASCII terminals, e.g., TeleVideo 950/955, Wyse 50, Qume 108, etc., in GRXLIB.REL library, written by Z-Team member, Dennis Wright. Plus windows! Yes, up to 16 of them using new GRWLIB.REL library, also from Dennis. (Small windows are used to monitor concurrent task status in multitasking OS.) Primitives handle everything for you, make job intuitive. Simple syntax: function call followed by (in decimal notation) row, column, length, height, direction, etc., as appropriate for particular drawing. Next newsletter shows what our kind of graphics and windows look like--beautiful. Price is $49.00 for the two REL libraries on disk and online and printed documentation. We ponder impact of graphics and windows on our tools and utilities, on 8-bit application programs in general. Z-Nodes presently have a demonstration file (GRXDEMO.LBR) to show what can be accomplished with graphics and windows. Presently over 32 subroutines exist to handle new functions. Functions like DRVERT, DRHORZ, DRBOX, OPENW, WXYMSG, and CLEARW for draw vertical line, draw horizontal line, draw box, open window, write text at window row, column, and clear contents of an open window, respectively. Windows are numbered from 1 to 16. Windows may overlap on screen, be used as panels and tiles, or be pop-up style. Example (sample code fragment placed in utility or application program): ext wxymsg ;reference routines to fetch at link time.. ext drbox ;..from GRXLIB and GRWLIB libraries ... call drbox ;draw a box using graphics characters db 2,3,6,34 ;box upper left row, column, box height, width ... call wxymsg ;print message at window row and column db 5,2,4 ;window number, window row and column db 'After selecting options, please' ;msg first line db 'Strike Any Key to continue... ',0 ;msg ending DOUBLE FLASH! No later than 15 February ZCPR3: The Libraries ships. Loose- Šleaf, 3-M ring plastic binding, 8.5" by 11.0", 300+ pages, comprehensively cross indexed by subroutine name, chapter-named logical function, and relocatable library name. Extensive Table of Contents (TOC), 5 pages. Dozens of examples make learning easy. Now there's no excuse to not learn the advantages of structured assembly language programming. Author, Richard Conn, using both Reference Manual and User's Guide sections of The Libraries, takes reader by the hand, and together, walk the path of learning efficient design and coding techniques. We are taking orders now for The Libraries. Price is $29.95, plus $4.00 shipping and handling if within USA. Incidentally, manual covers Rick's recently completed subroutine expansions, SYSLIB Version 3.6, Z3LIB Version 1.3, and VLIB Version 1.1. Loose-leaf book makes it easy to keep up with changes--simply add and replace pages as changes occur. New price for 9 to 12 diskette set (number depends on computer disk size and format), including source code and online documentation, is $69.00. Entire libraries package, book, graphics documentation, SYSLIB, Z3LIB, VLIB, GRXLIB, and GRWLIB, is discount priced at $129.00, a saving of $18.95 from individual package purchases. Order now. Z TIPS. ZRDOS COMP utility, Version 2.8, with trailing T option for setting Register 9 (of ZCPR3 REG utility) with codes 0 to 3, indicating files (source and destination) not found, and files are either identical or different, makes for some interesting possibilities. Updating backup-disks from RAM disk, and loading or re-loading RAM disk from hard or floppy disk, come to mind. Using GOTO loop, AC36 archive-bit file copy, and IF13 wild card file matching capabilities, it should be possible to create a ZEX file completely automating all-important disk backup chores. Single file copy offering (COPYIF.ZEX, on Z-Nodes) from Dennis Wright: COMP $1 $2 /T ;note compare two files with test-only option IF 9 1 ;note if source not found ECHO -- $1 NOT FOUND ELSE IF 9 2 ;note if destination not found ECHO -- DESTINATION FILE DOES NOT EXIST, COPYING $1 TO DESTINATION AC $2=$1 ELSE IF 9 3 ;note if difference found ECHO -- FILES ARE DIFFERENT, UPDATING $2 WITH $1 AC $2=$1 ELSE ECHO -- FILES ARE IDENTICAL, UPDATE NOT REQUIRED FI ;note if 9 3 FI ;note if 9 2 FI ;note if 9 1 Syntax is COPYIF . Script works as alias or, as Dennis suggested, ZEX file. Now, think of another level, that uses above script to process one file, that allows wild card declared files, each file handled by Dennis's script as nested alias in GOTO loop. Okay, we think! New subject. A neat CMD command line we use under VFILER to edit and auto back-up files you might wish to experiment with (also try in a MENU or VMENU command line, but don't forget to alter for syntax differences between VFILER and menus): 1 %d%u:;nw %f;if12 %f=z.?0?;ac BACKUP:=%f /a;fi Š Pointer file (%f is full file name) is called to load under Newword (or any other word processor or editor). After edit session, if file matches wildcard name (using IF12 or later version to determine), it is auto copied (using ZRDOS AC) to BACKUP directory disk, but only if file has been altered by editing. Notice how we hard log into current directory--make current the default--before calling editor. Such allows moving from user area to user area, finding pointer file, with BAK file created by edit process placed where it logically should go: on current drive in current user area. (See page 4 below for another assembly automation script.) PRODUCT REVIEW. Newword word processor (Version 2.17 sells for $125.00 plus $4.00 S&H) from Newstar Software, Inc., 1601 Oak Park Blvd., Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, telephone 415/932-2526, looks good to us because, among other things, it tells of useň areas. And has lots of printer support, including HP LaserJet (though not with justified, proportional spacing) and late-model dot matrix types. And after using WordStar for years, to use Newword Sketch of White Knight and is like coming home to a freshly painted Queen Alice. house, like finding a little of El Dorado. NW is a superset of WS. Newstar supports 8-bit computing; Sorcim is another! (Ashton-Tate and MicroPro go way of DRI, forget their origins?) In this one package there's Mergeprint, like WordStar's MailMerge but more conditional IF, THEN, ELSE testing possibilities available, up to three lines for header and footer text, and most importantly, an undelete command. The latter (command is ^U) lets you recover a word, line, or block of text accidently erased, something WS has needed from its beginning. And a ^QS save quickly brings you back to exactly where you were in the file. You don't end at beginning of file and have to enter ^QP to return to where you were before save. Another feature is automatic whole- document reform, in addition to paragraph-at-a-time, with ^QB command. In find (search) and replace function there's an option R for "rest of document," in addition to global; latter starts at beginning of file and is not always desired. Command ^QP finds a numbered page. The column replace (^KI in addition to ^KN, WS's column mode) command requires no reformatting when moving columns around. And there's six, instead of four, user functions (^PQ,^PW,^PE,^PR,^P[, and ^P]) to control the printer. If you are in a user area other than zero, sorted file directory and main menus (but not status line) show both area and drive. Main menu L command permits logging into any user area. And PUBLIC ZRDOS Plus makes using NW from Šany directory, as with WS, a snap, with but one copy of main program and overlays on disk system. Incidentally, NW can be installed to have internal directory not display COM, REL, OVR, and other files a text editor shouldn't be used on. WS directory function seems to fall apart after about 70 files are included, shows all files in strange sort. A feature hard to describe, must see to appreciate fully: the .RM and once, WS only one. These two commands permit many indents and different right margins to exist in a single file. The below-status-line ruler showing left, right margins and tab stops in effect automatically change as you, within a file, cross over an RM or LM dot statement--real video magic! Number of copies to print is built-in and selected as response to prompt (default is one copy). Multiple printer drivers are also built-in, so only one copy of installed program need be resident to control several printers you use. One thing lacking is ability to print a file from within the edit session--that we miss! (Feature in not included because of concern for data security; NSI is a conservative company.) And also the tight spacing of punctuation provided by WS is not performed by NW; that too we miss. But NW microjustify algorithm more closely follows classical typographical standards than does WS. To justify right margin, white space is added between words rather than between characters of words. Overall effect is more pleasing to the eye in former case; WS uses latter. Compare printing of Z-News 402 with 401. Newword impresses as refined product, developed by people who knew how to design a super word processor. Though NW and WS operations are similar-- commands are near identical--we know NW to be an original work of art and recommend it to anyone wishing a full-feature word processing program. We have seen none better, few as good. (Next, we review a super spelling checker from CompuView.) From Our Mail Box. Mike Lambert, 1153 Dublin Place, Herndon, VA 22070, signs up as Good-Neighbor Helper. He runs an Eagle IIE and has full knowledge of what it takes to install ZCPR3. Give Mike a call if you need assistance getting Z3 installed. His voice telephone is 703/471-0429. Mark Little, Z-Node #50, also signs up as Good-Neighbor Helper. Mark's new address and home voice phone is 1 Waving Court, Alice Springs, N.T., Australia 5750, (089) 528 230. Down-under folks needing help with understanding Z-System should give him a call, especially if using Big Board I. "ZCPR3 is great and I don't know how I ever lived without it this long!" from Art Carlson, publisher of The Computer Journal. Art, if more writers and editors took the time, as you have, to get Z-System running on their machines, they too would understand what we have been reporting for so long. Alas, such people are too busy with bigger and more important things than 8-bit software. "I am glad you are still in business and supporting the non-IBM world. You have spent a lot of money on newsletters to me and I am enclosing a check... " comes from Bob Chappelear, Cincinnati, OH. Thanks for money and words of encouragement, Bob; we could use a little more of both. Another writes to add his name to Good-Neighbor Helper Roster: Mike Blackwell, for Otrona assistance, One South 135 Eliot Lane, Villa Park, IL 60181, 312/882-4673. Thanks, Mike, for joining list of helpers--we need assistance from all corners. Amateur Z User's Corner. Lots of you are getting your feet wet with assembly language programming using Z-System source code as a base. A neat CMD command line we use here, instead of a ZEX file, you may wish to try when next developing a changed program. It's our number 2 macro command used by VFILER.CMD in ASM directory: Š 2 %d%u:;if12 %f=*.z80;zas %n;if ~er;zlink %d:%n,a:z3lib/,a:vlib/, a:syslib/;era %n.rel;era %n.bak;echo done;else;echo errors - link cancelled;fi;else;echo file not z80 type;fi We use Version 2.2a of ZAS which sets the ZCPR3 error message flag if an assembly error occurs. (Any who bought or upgraded to 2.2 may receive a free update, if original diskette is returned along with $4.00 to cover shipping and handling.) Simply point to the file to be assembled and linked from REL to COM and VFILER does the rest. If you point to a file not of type Z80, you are informed; general housekeeping is automatic, erasing BAK and REL files not normally required. Of course similar command script can be used to do just about anything you need to do, greatly reducing the number of required keystrokes (and inevitable typing errors) from you. Notice we log into current directory as script is executed. We have found this generally better than staying with the default being other than current. Using many directory areas, moving freely from one to another, and still have CMD script work correctly with a wide variety of application situations is what we seek. Don't forget command line (CL) length limitation (SHOW utility tells length available; use #1 menu.) of approximately 200 characters. Also, remember alias parameters are expanded and actual command stings usually are longer than script character count. Z-Node Activity. Another node online--Peter Glaskowsky, 13421 SW 69 Court, Miami, FL 33156, signs as Z-Node #53. Remember from Z-News 309, Pete is a Lobo MAX-80 expert. Dial, hopefully using Term3 *.TXD telephone library, 305/235-1645 to reach him. Jim Altman, Z-Node #46, with his 200 megabyte hard disk system (see Z- News 309), signs up as downloader of EI proprietary software. Atlanta area computerists wishing to buy Z-System packages, and also those wishing to check-out such a big system, should give Jim's node a call: 404/627-7127. And, Sysop Richard Jacobson adds another telephone line to his Z-Node #15, has two RAS numbers. New, second line is devoted to Z-System software; original line is more general. Try 312/664-1730 for pure Z, 312/649-1730 for normal node. Announcement. Trenton Computer Festival (conference and swap-meet) occurs 19, 20 April this year. Richard Conn is a featured speaker with two subjects scheduled: (1) Ada Language and (2) Z-System Evolution. Trenton, in its 11th year, is the oldest of such microcomputer gatherings. Plan to attend. Who knows, you may see Dennis Wright, Dave McCord, or other members of Echelon's team there, along with, for sure, Steve Ciarcia, Steve Leon, and Sol Libes, and maybe, Irv Hoff. Doings. High level language, Modula 2, being developed to take full advantage of Micromint SB180 computer and Hitachi HD64180 processor features, includes use of large memory address space and hardware multiply (MLT instruction, see Z-News 208). In beat test now, designed by none other than Borland International, Scotts Valley, CA, 408/438-8400. If consistent with Borland's normal pricing, should be economical to buy. (Early testing indicates it's much faster than Tubro Pascal on a Z80.) Mr. Robert Andrews, Zilog marketing manager for new products, recently told us of progress made with their Z800 chip, the one code-compatible with Z80. He reports giving up design of NMOS product because of internal micro- thermal hot spots, have converted the product to low power CMOS. First Šversion will run at 10 mHz with execution through-puts of from 1.1 to 5.2 MIPS, depending on instruction mix (sounds like a 5 or 6 stage pipeline design). Chip has on-board MMU, DMA, cache memory, UART, and CTCs. Perhaps Hitachi HD64180 will have competition in third quarter of 1986, when Z800 full-production is scheduled. What a wait this is! One More Time. Many computer magazine editors have little or no investment in or emotion for our industry or its hardware. But they heavily influence the reading majority. Yet these same editors seem to realize not the importance of their leadership positions, seem to take the easy, shallow way to living. They sense not the opening available to each of them; they don't go for IT! They tread, they grind; but what a drag! You notice they seldom say anything that offends anyone; you notice they remind melba toast. If you follow their recommendations and you happen to come up short, what have they lost? They simply recommend another of the many similar products available. They show little love! Remember, their revenue comes mainly from advertisers, not from you their readers. But increasingly, anything that is not IBM compatible won't fly well in corporate America, or with these editors and their reporting staff. What do estimated over-2-million CP/M users read? Not much! What grade are we in? Do we troop, live deeply; are we less than high- grade? See you down the lines... Echelon, Inc. 101 First Street Los Altos, CA 94022 Telephone: 415/948-3820 Z-Node Central (RAS): 415/489-9005 Trademarks: SB180, COMM180, TKBBS, Micromint; HD64180, Hitachi; Z80/800, Zilog; NSC800, National; Z-System, ZCPR3, ZRDOS, Z-Tools, Z-Com, Zas, Zlink, ZDM, Revas4, Z-Msg, DSD, Term3, Lasting-Value Software, Echelon and their respective owners and authors; CP/M, Digital Research; WY-30/50/75/85/350, Wyse Technology; PropStar; Civil Computing; WordStar, MicroPro; Newword, Newstar; SCSI/Plus, AMPRO Computers. big thumb * here Z F r e e s ! * * Z-News 402 is Copyright 1985 Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source credit is given to Echelon.