Re: Apple][+ 48K w/ MS Z-80 softcard CP/M to Gateway Win95

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <3A7774B3.8A99F2B9@erols.com>,
Bert Morris  <bertmorris@erols.com> wrote:
 
> Thank you so much! You've given me hope and lots of work to do. I will
> definitely try to use PIP to send the file from B: drive to the modem
> and out to Gateway (out come the PIP and STAT books). Question: which
> 'physical device' is the internal modem likely to be designated, and
> which 'logical device' should I be 'PIP-ing' to?  I am currently set:
> 
> CON:=CRT:
> RDR:=PTR:              I haven't a clue which of these 'might' be the
> modem.
> PUN:=PTP:
> LST:=LPT:
 
CON: (=CONsole), RDR: (=ReaDeR), PUN: (=PUNch) and LST: (=LiST) are
CP/M logical devices: CON is your console, LST is your printer,
and PUN and RDR are extra I/O devices.
 
CRT: (=Cathode Ray Tube), PTR: (=Paper Tape Reader), PTP: (=Paper
Tape Punch) and LPT: (=Line PrinTer) are CP/M physical devices.  Note
that when CP/M was designed, paper tape was still a common I/O medium.
Today paper tape is rarely used, but these devices sitll bear that name.
 
> The APPLE][+ expansion slots/assignments are:
> 
> Slot Number                   Expansion card
>     0                   Microsoft RAMcard (16K) 
>     1                   Grappler+ Centronics Printer Interface
>     2                   ZOOM/Modem (Hays Micromodem compatible)                         
>     3                   Videx VideoTerm 80 Column Display
>     4                   Microsoft SOFTcard (Z-80)
>     5                   (Vacant)
>     6                   Apple Disk][ Drive Interface Card                       
>     7                   (vacant)
> 
> Beyond this I am at a loss -- I don't know how to ask the right
> questions. But thanks Anonymous!
 
The Apple CP/M system has some default assignment, which means there's
little need to patch in your own drivers.  Unless you're using some
exotic hardware, the Apple CP/M system, is usually able to handle
I/O through that hardware.
 
So here we go...
 
Whatever you insert in slot 1 becomes the LPT: physical device, i.e.
the LST: logical device.  Usually a parallell printer card is inserted
here, but if you inserted a serial card, you'd be able to output data
through that serial port - but you culdn't input data from the same
serial port.  This is OK for hooking up serial printers though.
 
Whatever you insert into slot 2 becomes the PTP: (for output) and
PTR: (for input) physical devices, i.e. the PUN: and RDR: logical
devices.  Usually a serial card is inserted here, but you can also
insert a modem card.  Inserting a parallell printer card could
work too, but then you'd only have a PUN; device, no RDR: device.
 
Whatever you insert into slot 3 becomes the CRT physical device, i.e.
the CON: logical device.  If slot 3 is empty, the regular Apple
keyboard and screen will become the CON: device.  If you insert a
serial card here, you could hook up an external serial terminal to
it, and that would be your CON: device.  But most people insert an
80-column card here instead: they your Apple keyboard and that
80-column card will become your CON: device.

Note that the "Whatever you inser" here has some restrictions: it must
be some kind of I/O card with on-board firmware.  The Apple CP/M
system examines a few bytes of this firmware to determine what
kind of I/O card it is.  So if you insert e.g. the Z-80 softcard
itself into slot 1, 2 or 3, the Apple CP/M system will NOT
attempt to use it as some I/O card, because the Z-80 Softcard
lacks on-board firmware.
 
 
Disk controller cards have their own story: a disk controller card
support two disks.  A disk controller card inserted into slot 6 will
appear as disks A: and B: to your Apple CP/M system.  Note that disk
A: is required; Apple CP/M won't work without it.  A disk controller
card inserted into slot 5 will appear as disks C: and D:, and finally
a disk controller card inserted into slot 4 will appear as disks E:
and F:.  If you insert a disk controller card into slot 4, your Z-80
Softcard must be moved elsewhere -- any free slot except slot 0 can
be used for the SoftCard (watch out for European Apple II+'es though,
which may have their Slot 7 patched for a "PAL card" to give you
color video output in PAL format: on such machines slot 7 shall be
used for NOTHING BUT the PAL card -- unless you remove the strap).
 
 
 
If you're interested I have a pretty long text file describing
Apple-specific features of Apple CP/M.  There you'll find stuff you
need to know if you e.g. want to modify your Apple CP/M BIOS (which
is written partially in Z80 assembly and partially in 6502 assembly).
Just send me a mail if you're interested.
 
 
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter,  Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
Grev Turegatan 40,  S-114 38 Stockholm,  SWEDEN
e-mail:  pausch at saaf dot se   or    paul.schlyter at ausys dot se
WWW:     http://hotel04.ausys.se/pausch    http://welcome.to/pausch