• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Search results

  1. W

    "Best" CP/M Z80 C compiler suite?

    Is anyone doing C work ON a native machine? Which compiler and other tools are you using? Which ones have a decent I/O library? Which are faster at building than others? Not interested in cross compilers, looking for something platform, and it's running on a period Z80 (4Mhz, not one of those...
  2. W

    Anyone ever hear of a "Florida Computer Graphics" computer?

    Back in the day, early 80s ('83 or so), at the office we had a machine that, as I recall, was called "Florida Computer Graphics". It was notable for two reasons. First, it had a very nice, full color, square pixels screen. This was very novel for the time. Second, it had the first inkjet...
  3. W

    How were business apps done in BASIC?

    How were business apps done in BASIC back in the day? Nowadays, and even back then, there are/were more specialized tools focused on doing things like Inventory, and Accounting, and other back office systems. A key component of most, if not all, of these systems was some kind of (likely)...
  4. W

    Source code culture

    I was watching a video, the details of which I can not recall. But the speaker was talking about how computing, historically, was a source code culture. He was citing IBM specifically, about how the relationship with the customer was focused on that hardware more so than the software, so they...
  5. W

    OpenVMS on x86 becoming available for the hobbyist program

    Looks like VMS Software is finally opening up the x86 version of OpenVMS for hobbyists. Details here: https://raymii.org/s/blog/OpenVMS_9.2_for_x86_is_finally_available_for_hobbyists.html
  6. W

    Encoded software scanner

    Back in I'm going to say about 1985, a company released a bar shaped scanner specifically for loading software from the printed page. A program would encode a file as a series of encoded bars, roughly 10" x 1", with encoded blocks that look much like a QR Code today. You would place the device...
  7. W

    CP/M source more open now

    https://retronic.us/cp-m-is-now-really-open-source/ Rather than a formal license, it's a clarification from Bryan Sparks about the status of CP/M source code. A real license would be better, who knows if that's forthcoming. But the intent from the post is at least clearer as to the status of...
  8. W

    How does the Kaypro video work?

    I looked about on the web a bit, and it seems that the Kaypro video is an isolated, standalone system from the main board. Does it interface simply through standard Z80 I/O ports? It has its own RAM, it's own clock, etc. It seems like it's more like an embedded serial terminal, without the...
  9. W

    New Forum tips

    Starting a new threads for tips and tricks for the folks using these new forums. First, I suggest you click the "mark all forums read", because when you start NONE of the forums are read, including the ones you never read before, or the ones you read last week. Zapping them all gives you a...
  10. W

    New Forums nits

    Looks like the new forums are up and running, and writable. So, figured I'd start a topic folks could use to post their nits and nags about the new ones. Should obviously give the admins some time for things to settle. My first nit is, simply, there's no search button! Not when you're logged in.
  11. W

    Multi module CP/M assembly programming question.

    I have a couple simple routines. HELLO.MAC .z80 extrn print start: ld hl, msg call print ld c, 0 call 5 halt msg: db 'Hello',0 end start And PRINT.MAC .z80 public print print: ld a, (hl) cp 0 ret z inc hl push hl ld e, a ld c, 2 call 5 pop hl...
  12. W

    SB180 Floppy Disk capacities

    The SB180 supports Double Sided, Double Density, 40/80 track 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 floppies. 48 tpi and 96 tpi. How big are these floppies? 720K? Are the 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 the same capacity? Can't seem to get a solid number anywhere.
  13. W

    CP/M file limits

    CP/M 2.2 had a 64 file directory limit, across users. Were there any that allowed more? Did CP/M 3 allow more? Or was it a floppy limitation and hard drives had a different limit?
  14. W

    DUNE Screenplay written in MS-DOS

    Saw this interesting anecdote: https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxdeay/the-dune-screenplay-was-written-in-ms-dos It's a program called "Movie Master". I thought it was curious to only handle 40 pages at a time. That seems like something you'd hear about an 8-Bit program, not something for a...
  15. W

    Setting up a IIGS simulator

    I want to set up a Apple IIGS simulator (not write one, use one). Specifically, what I'm interested in is, ideally, looking at how C and Pascal were compiled on the 16b '816. I have no interest in compiling for the 6502, but for the 65816 with its banks and new addressing modes. What I want to...
  16. W

    VAX in an FPGA

    Someone has a VAX CPU running in an FPGA and has passed some early diagnostics. Not my project, but thought there'd be folks potentially interested in following along with this. http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-vax/2021/07/03/msg003899.html
  17. W

    My Profile->Customize My Style->Content->Text->Font Size->Medium does not SAVE

    My Profile->Customize My Style->Content->Text->Font Size->Medium does not SAVE I changed My Profile->Customize My Style->Content->Text->Font Size to Medium, click SAVE, get the "Your customizations have been saved" dialog, and yet, it does not take effect.
  18. W

    What do you think the minimal vintage system would be that can run HTTP over TLS?

    The major barrier to interacting with the modern internet is HTTPS and the TLS encryption requirement. It's simply very expensive to do, especially on older slower systems. So, I'm curious what others may think would be a viable system that could communicate with the internet (assuming it had...
  19. W

    Late 70s HP Marketing magazine

    I've seen examples of an internal HP technical magazine (who's name escapes me). It was regularly published and had articles by the engineers doing deep dives on current or new products etc. But, in the late 70s, my Dad got an HP magazine that was less technical, more marketing focused. It...
  20. W

    Anyone remember FIL on RSTS/E?

    Back in the day on the 11/70 at school running RSTS/E, they had a utility, File Maintenance Utilty (I think), invoked with the command "FIL". It basically let you go from file to file, essentially presenting a file name with a prompt. It let you delete files, rename them, copy them, I think...
Back
Top