The monthly news magazine of the Tampa Bay Kaypro User's
Group and the DataCOM Super Systems(tm)
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News and reviews of programs, hardware, and peripherals for users
of microcomputers with CP/M, MP/M, MS-DOS, PC-DOS, or TurboDOS
multi-user operating systems.
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may be downloaded while online, CP/M users call (813) 791-1454
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-==( DISCLAIMER )==-
Articles and reviews of microcomputers, hardware, software, and
other peripherals reflect currently advertised prices as released
by the distributors and are included here for YOUR INFORMATION
ONLY. The TBKUG/DataCOM Super Systems(tm) is NOT being paid
to advertise these products and we cannot be held
accountable for the actual retail price and/or performance
of said products.
-={ Distribution/Copyright Notice }=-
This magazine and its articles may be freely distributed on other
remote systems as long as this title page and all copyright
notices remain intact. We readily accept material submitted from
outside sources for inclusion in future issues (subject to
editorial review of course.)
-={ CP/M - It's Alive & Well in England! }=-
(The following text was taken from a letter to Steve Sanders)
Dear Steve,
Hello from England! I am a regular reader of your Read Only
magazine, which one of my fellow BB users regularly uploads and
transfers to a local RCP/M system. I have been reading your
magazine since October 1985 and, as one who earns his living by
writing for computer magazines, may I compliment you on a very
readable product!
What prompts me to put pen to paper, however, is the article
headed 'The CPM Connection' in your Sept. '86 issue. To those of
us on this side of the pond, it appears rather whimsical, since,
over here, CPM is anything but dead and is in the the throes of a
full-scale revival!
The responsibility for this activity is entirely due to one
British computer manufacturer - AMSTRAD. From launching their
first machine in October 1984, they have now sold over 1 million
machines worldwide. Amstrad is the biggest supplier in the U.K.,
France, and Germany (in France, their market penetration is a
whopping 44%!) and their machines are to be found in most
countries, including Australia. The range extends from a 64k
games unit up to a 512k business machine and all have one thing
in common - they all come bundled with CPM.
My own machine is called the PCW 8256 and Amstrad have sold
over 350,000 of this model in the last eight months! It
comprises a Z80-based system with 256k RAM, expandable to 512k on
board. Included in the 399 pound (all prices are pounds
sterling) price tag is a monochrome monitor, an Epson-compatible
printer and a single disk drive (there is space to add a second
one.) The disk drive is a 3" type (which is probably as unusual
over there as it is over here, but the units are cheap), using a
flip-over disk with a formatted capacity of 173k per side. The
second drive option is a double-sided type with a formatted
capacity of 706k. The monitor has a 14" screen and displays text
in a 90 x 32 format and graphics with a resolution of 720 x 256
pixels. The 256k RAM includes a 112k RAM drive - adding the
extra 256k expands this RAM disk (drive M:) to 368k.
The printer has automatic paper loading, a removable tractor
feed and a paper guide. Printer control is done entirely by
software, the usual switches being replaced by a special key
(PTR), which brings up a menu of the printer switches on-screen.
An unusual feature is the ability to do screen dumps at any time,
just by pressing two keys.
The keyboard is of reasonable quality, with 83 keys
including 8 function keys, a numeric keypad and some special
keys. It is totally 'soft' and attaches to the main unit via a
long coiled cable. The bundled software can be split into two
sections. (1) Word-processing with a program called LocoScript,
this is a very comprehensive WP with drop-down menus and
dedicated keys. (2) CPM-Plus which provides for a 61k TPA
(transient program area) and auto-boots on power-up. As well as
the OS, you also get Digital Research's LOGO and their GSX
graphics system, along with a host of other utilities such as
MAC, RMAC, DUMP, and other programming aids.
Third party suppliers have also been quick to provide
hardware expansions and you can now get serial and parallel
ports, battery-backed clocks, hard disk units, networks, mice,
joysticks (there is a growing games market for this 'business'
machine!) and ADC interfaces. My own machine sports a 5-1/4"
second drive (706k) along with software to read/write some 60
different disk formats.
On the PD (public domain) side, there is a lot of activity.
NSWEEP attracts fans daily, MEX is far and away the most popular
communication program, and DAZLSTAR is the most popular
disassembler. A new program that you won't yet have seen over
there is SCRIVENER, which is such a different concept that the
author couldn't find anyone willing to market it, so he placed it
into the public domain! You will not have seen anything like it.
It's sort of a spreadsheet, sort of a text processor and has some
database commands and some programming structure and ... well, I
guess that it's as radical a concept as VisiCalc was when it
first appeared!
This isn't all academic, by the way, because the AMSTRAD
computer is on sale in America, through the Sears-Roebuck chain.
The reason that you might not have heard about it is because,
over there, it's called the Amstrad Typewriter.
In England, the machine took the market by storm, because it
was sold as a replacement for the office typewriter. Its bundled
WP capability was stressed and the computing aspect played down.
However, users were quick to realize that there was also a
powerful computer with their WP and the marketing has taken this
into account.
Not so in America, where it cannot compete as a computer,
since its US $799 price tag makes it a lot more expensive than
the domestic competition. So, Sears sells it just as a dedicated
WP system and the computing side is not even mentioned. Next
time you pass a Sears store, take a look at this strange beast!
Incidentally, the Commodore C128 fares badly over here for
much the same reason that Amstrad can't compete over there -
price. A basic C128 cost 500 pounds here - that's without
monitor or printer. For that price, you can get the Amstrad PCW
8512 (512k RAM) and twin disk drives!
Yours truly,
Barry Pickles, 13 Norman St., Manchester M12 5PR, England
-={ Review: RUN/CPM(tm) Z80 Co-Processor }=-
Copyright 1986 - Steve Sanders
If you have moved from a CP/M machine such as a Kaypro, Osborne,
Morrow, Xerox, or the like to a MS-DOS machine, I'm sure you have
acquired quite a few programs that are now useless. And there's
always that one "special" CP/M program you wish you could find in
a DOS version but just can't seem to locate. The answer just
might be to put a CP/M-engine inside of your DOS machine! This
is very easily done with an IBM-PC or compatible clone, all you
need is a plug-in co-processor board like Micro Interface's
RUN/CPM(tm) Z80 board.
The RUN/CPM Z80 board requires a full-size slot even though it
falls somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3-size, it's just a bit to long
for most 1/2 slots located behind the drives. It contains a Z80B
CPU running at 6mhz and has the necessary chips to interface into
the PC bus. Installation is simple, just plug the board in!
The RUN/CPM system may be purchased in one of three different
configurations depending on your current hardware and software
and also whether or not you want Z80-opcode compatibility:
1. RUN/CPM software by itself for users with IBM-PCs or
clones with a standard 8088 CPU chip installed. This
combination will only allow you to run 8080-coded
programs, any program with Z80 opcodes will "jam" up
the system causing you to re-boot.
2. RUN/CPM software and a NEC V20 CPU chip.
3. RUN/CPM software and the Z80 co-processor board for any
PC, XT, AT, or compat clone. The Z80 board also allows
you to run ANY CP/M program, whether it has Z80 opcodes
or just 8080 opcodes.
This review deals with the #3 package as installed in my AT
6/8mhz clone. As mentioned above, the installation is simple,
just remove your PC's cover, locate an empty full-size slot,
remove the blank plate, install the board, and replace your
cover. Took me all of about 10 minutes and requires only a
phillips screwdriver. Then just copy the software from the
diskette supplied to your hard disk (or working disk if you have
a floppy-only system.) You need to add one line to your
CONFIG.SYS file as follows: DEVICE=READCPM.BIN This will
load a special DOS device driver that allows your PC's disk
drives to READ, WRITE, and FORMAT over 180 different CP/M disk
formats when used with the RUN/CPM software.
I don't know if it is my particular hardware or software set-up
but, the actual use of my floppy drives as CP/M drives is very
slow under the RUN/CPM (v7.4) software. I prefer to use UNIFORM
to transfer programs from CP/M diskettes to my hard drive as it
operates as fast as vanilla DOS to DOS file transfers. The
RUN/CPM software allows you to set either one or BOTH of your DOS
floppies to emulate the selected CP/M format. RUN/CPM also lets
you run CP/M programs from the CP/M disks directly or you can
move them to any DOS drive (floppy or hard) and run them from
there. RUN/CPM will let you specify any DOS drive/sub-dir as a
logical CP/M drive for the running programs, this is handy when a
program expects to find its data files on a pre-specified drive.
When running CP/M programs from DOS drives, you do need to rename
the *.COM files to *.CPM before they can be executed however.
This is a minor inconvenience but it keeps you from accidentally
trying to load and run a CP/M program when the RUN/CPM software
is not resident. CP/M programs will execute much faster from DOS
drives and it is a simple task to create a special sub-directory
on your hard disk especially for your CP/M files.
Now for the real benefit of the Z80 co-processor card, full on-
screen terminal emulation of any one of over 96 different popular
CP/M computers. You can even specify the colors to use for
foreground, background, and inverse video if your PC is equipped
with a CGA card and color monitor. While RUN/CPM is active, the
regular DOS prompt "A>" will be displayed in inverse video to
remind you that it is still resident and ready. You can have any
DOS memory-resident program like SIDEKICK loaded before calling
RUN/CPM into action and it will be available even while your CP/M
program is running! A status line is printed on the bottom of
your screen indicating the current format selected for the A or B
floppy drives. The floppy-drive status line display may be
toggled ON/OFF at any time and RUN/CPM has a pull-down menu plus
a help system that is always available.
I took one of my Kaypro CP/M disks that contained Wordstar 3.30
configured for the Kaypro 10, copied it onto my DOS hard disk,
fired up RUN/CPM, told it to emulate a Kaypro 10, and ran
Wordstar! Just that easy... Then I tried SuperCalc 2, dBaseII,
and many other CP/M programs, they all worked 100%. Needless to
say, I am satisfied with my purchase and look forward to many
hours of running CP/M programs on my DOS machine.
RUN/CPM software for NEC V20 or V30 ..................... $ 99.95
RUN/CPM software & NEC V20 CPU .......................... $124.95
RUN/CPM software & Z80 co-processor board ............... $199.95
(All products sold are backed by a 30-day money back guarantee)
FREE LOCAL ACCESS TO PACKET SWITCHING NETWORKS MAY BE ELIMINATED
Copyright (C) 1986, by BBS PRESS SERVICE, INC.
by Tim Elmer
(BPS) -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote
on a proposal to reregulate packet switching networks that, if
approved, would eliminate free local telephone access to those
networks.
"If this occurs, it might eventually double or triple the costs
to those using packet switching networks to access commercial on-
line databases and information services and triple or quadruple
the costs to those using Telenet's PC Pursuit," said Philip M.
Walker, vice president and regulatory counsel for Telenet
Communications Corp.
Predictably, the initiative to reregulate packet switching net-
works comes primarily from the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs)
and secondarily from AT&T. These companies provide local tele-
phone service to vast majority of telephone customers throughout
the U.S. and will benefit the most from FCC reregulation of the
packet switching networks.
Under current FCC rules formulated in 1980 in the FCC's Second
Computer Inquiry, called Computer II, a distinction is made
between "basic services" and "enhanced services."
"Basic services" are those that don't offer protocol conversion
such as local and long-distance voice telephone services.
"Enhanced services" are defined in an open-ended fashion as
computer-based services that are more than a "basic service," in
other words, services such as packet switching networks, database
and on-line type services, and remote computing services that
offer protocol conversion, according to Walker.
Under the 1980 Computer II Inquiry, the FCC ruled that "basic
services" would continue to be regulated as they had always been.
However, the FCC also ruled that "enhanced services" would be
deregulated, which opened up the industry to competition. This
resulted in numerous companies entering the packet switching
business, including BOCs, AT&T and at least a dozen others. The
competition resulted in significant price reductions for packet
switching services.
To prevent monopolization of the packet switching industry by
the Big Boys (the BOCs and AT&T), the FCC ruled that they had to
keep separate accounting figures for their "basic services" and
for their "enhanced services," and that they could
not use
revenues from their lucrative "basic services" to cross-subsidize
their "enhanced service" packet switching networks.
The FCC also ruled that if the BOCs and AT&T used their "basic
service" telephone lines for packet switching services, then they
must let their competitors have access to those lines on the same
basis, which would preserve true competition in the industry.
"Now, under the FCC's Computer Inquiry III, the FCC is asking,
should we redefine protocol conversion services as 'basic
services' rather than enhanced services? Should we redefine all
those companies as common carriers? This would, in effect,
subject them not only to federal regulations but, even worse, to
state regulations," Walker said.
The result would eliminate comparable interconnection require-
ments currently imposed on BOCs and AT&T, allowing them to charge
their packet switching competitors local dial-in fees to access
packet switching long-distance line networks.
It would also allow BOCs and AT&T to offer their own packet
switching services on a non-compensatory basis and, finally,
allow them to cross-subsidize those services with revenues from
their much more lucrative voice telephone service revenues. In
short, it would allow BOCs and AT&T to monopolize the packet
switching industry and probably drive out most competitors.
"In terms of cost impact," Walker said, "if we had to pay local
access charges, it would cost us about $3.60 an hour at the
originating end, for calls made by users to on-line databases and
information services like CompuServe and The Source."
"And with PC Pursuit, for which we have out-dial modems, we
would have to pay not only 3.60 per hour access fees at the
originating end but also $4.80 at the terminating end, a total of
about $8 or $9. Obviously, to survive, we would have to add
those additional charges to our current fees and pass them on to
our consumers," Walker said.
That would almost certainly spell the end of PC Pursuit, and it
would likely put out of business not only many independent packet
switching networks but also many on-line databases and
information services.
Walker said that is was not clear exactly when the FCC would
vote on the proposal, but that it would probably be the latter
part of January or early part of February, 1987. "They are
moving very fast on this," he said.
Low-Cost packet switching Service Threatened
by Alan R. Bechtold
As described in our lead news story this issue, the FCC is now
considering a major change in the way packet switched phone
services are defined. This change is likely to lead to the
demise of many of these services, and to much higher prices for
the use of the few that will eventually remain in business.
At the risk of over-simplification, I think I should first
describe just what a packet switched networking service is.
These are the services you use to access online databases and
commercial online services, such as CompuServe and The Source,
with just a local telephone call. Once you call the local
Telenet or Tymnet number, for example, and a connection is made,
you are then connected with a computer that puts you in communi-
cation with the online services with which you wish to
communicate.
This computer is handling a number of calls into the main system
computer at the same time. It takes information you send and
delivers it in "packets" to the proper destination, picks up
information from the online service computer you called, and
sends it, also in "packets," back to you. All of this communi-
cating is done in these so-called "packets" because this allows
the network's computers to offer protocol conversion and handle
several ongoing communications sessions at the same time.
FCC regulations allow AT&T and Bell Operating Companies (BOCs)
to engage in packet switching network operations, but they must
also maintain completely separate accounting of their voice and
packet switching operations. They must also offer free local-
calling access to their lines to any competitors engaged in the
packet switching service industry.
The above regulations have allowed Telenet and Tymnet, among
others, to operate at a reasonable cost in a competitive
atmosphere. This is a case of regulation of a business actually
RESULTING in increased competition and lower prices to consumers.
As things stand now, you can call any local Telenet or Tymnet
access number and use these services to inexpensively access such
online services as CompuServe, The Source, Delphi, and countless
others. In addition, GTE's new PC PURSUIT service now offers you
access, through their Telenet packet switching service, to
literally hundreds of local bulletin boards in cities all across
the country--for a flat charge of $25 per month.
But, the FCC is now being asked to REREGULATE this segment of
the communications industry, eliminating the FCC requirements
that AT&T and BOCs keep separate accounting records of their
voice and packet switching services, and eliminating the stipula-
tion that the BOCs and AT&T must offer their competitors in the
packet switching business free access to their local telephone
connection lines.
Mark Fowler, Chairman of the FCC, has been hailed by the press
as a "fair-market zealot." The chances are very good that he
views this proposed reregulation as the magic road to increased
competition and fairer pricing for consumers.
Unofficially, the word is out that the FCC advisory committee
now considering this matter is indeed leaning in favor of the
proposed reregulation of the packet switching industry. If the
committee recommends these changes, it's likely that a majority
of the five voting members on the Federal Communications
Commission will vote in favor of the changes.
I have talked to sources within the industry who say it is the
BOCs who are pushing VERY HARD for this reregulation, because
they want to get into the packet switching service business in a
big way, and they would like to rid themselves of needless
competition on their way to success.
Here we have an industry that is currently populated with plenty
of competition. Prices are already reasonable. Reregulation of
the packet switching service industry will IMMEDIATELY give giant
corporations the upper hand, and will allow them to cut off free
access to their local access phone lines to their competitors,
namely Telenet and Tymnet and other similar services that now
offer you high-quality service, in a competitive marketplace, at
reasonable prices.
The proposed reregulation, however, would force all packet
switching services to compete with the BOCs and AT&T, companies
that would be able to use the enormous profits they earn with
their voice telephone services to cross-subsidize their packet
switching services and offer them on a non-compensatory basis, at
least until their competitors are eliminated. When that happens,
they are then sure to jack up their fees to any level they want.
It would also force their packet switching competitors to pay
access fees for connection to local phone lines. The access fees
alone could add as much as $4.00 per hour to the fees packet
switching companies would be forced to pass on to their
customers. This will be added to your hourly connect-time
charges for accessing ALL online databases through these
services.
So--this is ONE TIME you MUST use your word processor to produce
some letters opposing this proposed reregulation! Write to:
Honorable Mark Fowler
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Washington D.C. 20554
Refer to Computer Inquiry III in your letters. State clearly,
in your own words, that competitive packet switching services
should not be reregulated or subjected to carrier access charges,
and then explain why not. Tell Mr. Fowler that reregulation of
packet switching services will completely destroy the existing
fair market for these services, and eventually increase costs,
not DECREASE them. I have heard this matter will be going before
the FCC for a vote in January or the early part of February.
-={ WHATSNEW in Public Domain }=-
[CP/M]
LT17.LBR LT (library TYPE) displays the contents of ASCII files
from inside of .LBR type files. LT17 will work with regular,
squeezed, or crunched file formats.
DOS+25.LBR A complete replacement for CP/M 2.2, includes file
timestamping, paths, DU: addressing, archive control, public
files, wheel support, and more. Ready to install on Kaypro 2/4
'83 machines and easily relocated for other CP/M 2.2 systems.
SCRIVNER.LBR This is a unique program that is actually several
in one, a word processor, and a spreadsheet-like environment.
This program is very popular with the AMSTRAD users in the UK.
AF5.LBR Address Filer v5.0, a name and address database,
rolodex, and phone filer. Compiled Turbo Pascal.
FCRUNCH.LBR Yet another CP/M file cruncher/uncruncher system
using the LZW compression techniques. Compresses files smaller
than the standard squeeze/unsqueeze programs.
B29V304.LBR B29 is a NewSweep-type file maintenance program, now
has a built-in library sweep mode as well as all standard NSWEEP
features like mass COPY, ERA, REN, etc. Uses circular buffer to
"step" through the files in any drive/user area on your disks.
DZ-MAY86.LBR The May '86 update to DazzleStar, the CP/M
disassembler that works like Wordstar on your CRT screen. Simply
the easiest to use and most fun disassembler ever, has on-screen
help and user-configurable display windows for hex and ASCII.
KPLD515.LBR Kaypro video-oriented line display utility.
Displays ASCII files line by line with/without line numbers, go-
to line ability and built-in DIR display. For video Kaypros.
LD400.LBR Generic CP/M line display utility, converted from the
Kaypro-only version. See KPLD515 description above.
SPY-8611.LBR Investigates the use of disk calls by a program.
SPY relocates itself to high memory, loads and runs another
program, reports all calls to the BDOS and BIOS. Requires a Z80
processor.
KPGRFCL1.LBR Graphic clock display for Kaypros with internal
clocks. Kaypro 2-84, 4-84, 10-84, 2X, new 1, etc...
CHECK25.LBR This is a compare & copy utility for hard disk
users. Compares a source du: against a destination du: &
produces a sorted display of names each marked with a "flag"
character indicating: match found, no match, files equal, or
files not equal. Allows you to step through the source du:
circularly like NSWEEP and test for equivalence, copy, or delete.
[IBM-DOS]
CHKPRO.ARC Check Processor (Chkpro) is especially designed for
use on the IBM PC and compatibles and the Heath/Zenith Z-100
series computers. Chkpro can be used for balancing your
savings passbook, checkbook, or credit card accounts.
STYLED.ARC STYLED charts patterns in texts. The program can
help a writer spot patterns to preserve and patterns to expunge,
as well as places to pattern. The program can freshen the air
for those who know little to do with a text except to check for
"mistakes."
TT097.ARC Turbo-Term,v0.97 a small, fast, Qmodem-like clone
modem program. The major advantage of Turbo-Term is size and
speed. By no means as capable as recent versions of Qmodem, this
subset may be all you need. For some reason, this one remains
perpetually in beta state and shows up without any documentation,
but if you know Qmodem, you know TurboTerm.
EXPUNGE.ARC Menu-driven del/copy routine Small/Fast. A subset
of more sophisticated sweep utilities (like Qfiler), this allows
you to tag multiple files for copy or erasure. Limited in
functions, it's also limited in size, which makes it fast!
FORM.ARC FORM-GEN is designed to quickly and easily produce
forms for home and office use. Many advanced features aid in the
creation and printing of forms, price lists, maps and other
useful items.
LW.ARC LetterWriter version 2.0, an electronic address book and
a whole lot more. Use LetterWriter to perform all of your
mailings to all of your addresses. The designers of LetterWriter
made every effort to make envelope and letter printing and
address maintenance as easy as possible.
QMODEM24.ARC Latest version of QMODEM, support added for 9600
bps users with 2 new protocols: YMODEM-G and IMODEM An absolu-
tely great modem program with every feature you'd ever want
including some that you've never even dreamed of.
POPEDIT2.ARC Allows you to design your own mem-res COM files
that will pop-up a screen. Both a small and a large screen are
supported, taking roughly 3.5 and 7K respectively of memory. You
can load more than one of these COM files at a time, and they'll
be presented in the order you loaded them.
MDIR.ARC MDIR is a small, memory resident dir program. MDIR
gives both an "automatic" mode, where the current directory is
shown sorted alphabetically, and a "command line" mode, where
MDIR will "screen" files (like the DOS DIR command does), and
display the file list with your choice of sort mechanism (by
date/time, name, extension, unsorted). This routine takes about
14k of memory when installed. This routine uses the "alternate"
screen if two monitors are available. ASM source included.
