Re: Ultima, ADT and Mockingboard Problems

[Linards Ticmanis <ticmanis@gmx.de>]

greathierophant@gmail.com wrote:

> Speaking of which, slot 3 was traditionally reserved for Z-80
> softcards.

That's new to me. The softcard CP/M itself reserves slot 3 for Terminal
output, and most people ended up putting a Videx-style 80-column card in
there on the II/II+, rather than a serial card connected to an external
80-column Terminal.

> Do those cards still work in that slot?

Yes, if you don't need 80 column output.


> If not, will the
> software that supports it work with it in another slot?

Standard CP/M 2.20 and 2.23 work with any slot. Not sure about other
software using the card (if it even exists, maybe some patched CP/M
version would require a specific slot).

> Is there a
> typical use for slot 3 in the IIe

Slot-based accelerators like the Transwarp. These use the slots in a
special way (basically taking control of the whole system through it)
which is compatible with slot 3.

> or should its use be avoided unless
> absolutely necessary?

AFAIK it would be usable for cards which need only the C0x0 - C0xF
"register" space (x = Slot# + 8), not the Cx00 - CxFF (x = Slot#) or the
C800 - CFFF ROM spaces. But even many cards without ROM, such as the
Z-80 Softcard, use the ROM address spaces for register-like functionality.

You could probably use a second 5.25" controller in there that you don't
intend to boot from, but you'd have to modify it to disable the boot
ROM, and you'd also have to modify DOS and/or ProDOS which detect the
card based on its boot ROM content.

I'm currently not aware of any other card that is functional with only
the "register" space. Maybe some simple D/A converter or a simple
parallel output or relay-switching card that's intended to be used only
from machine language.

-- 
Linards Ticmanis