EI Z-NEWS 707 4 May 1987
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Of Significance. ZCPR, Version 3.3, is shipping. It's $49.00 on two disks,
plus standard shipping and handling charges. Revised RCP and FCP packages are
included, along with a comprehensive up-date manual. Documentation supplied
combined with ZCPR3: The Manual and Z-System User's Guide provide complete
description of present ZCPR/ZRDOS implementation. Expect a continuous stream
of updates to the command processor as well as the segment packages, all
coming from Jay Sage, Z-Node #3 Sysop, Good-Neighbor Helper, and new Z-Team
Member.
More good news...DT42 with up to 57.5k-byte TPA is shipping from SemiDisk
Systems of Beaverton, OR (Z-News 502-1), 503/626-3104. This machine runs with
no wait-states at 9.2MHz and 12.3MHz clock rates, is fastest of the HD64180
implementations, has the most flexible I/O of any SBC we know of. Uses
enhanced Z-System (written by Z-Team member John Forker), interim until ZOS,
with DMA bank switching. Contact SemiDisk for ordering information and status
of The SemiDisk, their 8- and 32-megabyte complementary RAM disk board.
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From The Mail Box. From Gar Nelson, Olympia, WA, "...I would rather miss a
bottle of Zinfandel than an issue of the newsletter. I would also like to
thank you for the Good-Neighbor Helper listing. Rick Swenton [Bristol, CT]
has given me extremely valuable assistance [with my Heath and Ampro
machines...]" Gar, our G-NH's are a good place to go for help in learning
more about the Z-System. They are a welcomed resource and an indication of
the spirit of our community.
"Will Echelon support the new Z280 chip with ZCPR?" writes John Grosen,
Moorhead, MN. Yes, we intend to support Z280 in parallel with continuing to
work on Z-System for Z80, Z180, and HD64180.
Okay, we forgot. Contact-point for perpendicular recording, 4-megabyte
3.5" floppy disk drive mentioned in Z-News 705-3 is: Toshiba America, Inc.,
3910 Freedom Circle, Suite 103, Santa Clara, CA 95054, 408/727-3939.
Software Update Service Report. EDITND comes from Sysop #2, Al Hawley, Los
Angeles, CA. New utility permits editing name directories with a flair.
ACOPY, written by Terry Hazen of Los Gatos, CA, favorably competes with ZRDOS
author Dennis Wright's AC for general file copy usefulness. SUS #11 ships in
June.
Disk: F User: 0 Name: BACKUP, File Attributes: Non-System
Filename.Typ Size K RS Filename.Typ Size K RS Filename.Typ Size K RS
-------- --- ------ -- -------- --- ------ -- -------- --- ------ --
-SUS .011 0 R ACOPY14 .LBR 26 EDITND .LBR 36
SH11 .LBR 22 SHVAR11 .LBR 14 WDRAW .LBR 62
WINDOM2 .LBR 70
7 Files Using 230K, 7 Files on Disk and 386K Left
Z-Node Activity. Being late is better than not being at all...congratulat-
ions to Z-Node #15 Sysop, Richard Jacobson, Chicago, IL, on expanding his two
nodes to hard-disk storage of 42 megabytes each. Both are Ampro Little Board
Z80 computers, which speak well for the hard-disk support of the LBs, and
Richard's tenacity in supporting CP/M-compatible software and his RAS
subscribers. Give a call, either 312/649-1730 or 312/664-1730, with your
modem set for adventure.
Z-Node Central has moved to Echelon's Los Altos offices, because US
Sprint's PC-Pursuit could not economically handle Fremont "489" exchange from
San Francisco. PC-P is now mainstay of those heavy into modem communications.
New Z-Node Central telephone number is 415/948-6656, a no-charge San Jose
TeleNet connection. Incidentally, service should be better from new location.
Turbo Modula-2 Benchmarks. Phil Hess, Lafayette, IN, prompted us to run
classic "Savage" math benchmark, mentioned in March 1987 BYTE magazine, on two
of our 9.2MHz HD64180 computers, SB180FX and DT42, to compare with his Z80
Morrow MD5 computer results. Speed and accuracy are largely determined by
number of bytes used for calculation. Value calculated should be exactly
2500.
Real TIME in
COMPILER COMPUTER BYTES seconds VALUE Calculated
Turbo Modula-2 v1.0 Morrow MD5 4 184 2397.247
" " " " " 8 871 2500.000000523
" " " Micromint SB180FX 4 78 2397.247
" " " " " 8 426 2500.000000523
" " " SemiDisk DT42 8 329 2500.000000523
FTL Modula-2 v1.22 Morrow MD5 8 937 2499.99999851149
HD64180's multiply instruction, MLT, speeds computation over Z80, but
SB180FX's wait-state is 30% counter productive. (SemiDisk's DT42 runs "Z80"
but not "SB180" Turbo Modula-2. FTL v1.18 doesn't run Savage benchmark
because of a bug.) See Z-News 607-2 and 704-3 for more Modula-2 benchmarks.
And, Phil, thanks for your testing. Phil's source code and table of results
are on Z-Node Central (number is 415/948-6656) as file SAVAGE.LBR.
Z-User's Corner. Many letters we have received lately prompts us to think of
what is necessary to better understand computing. We concluded its an
improved mental image of what we are doing, or trying to do. Some have thank-
ed us for getting them into assembly language programing and what it has done
for their attitude towards themselves and their hardware. Well, we describe
here our image of our computing system and our contact with it. Maybe it is a
help to overcome some barrier that has been holding you back. We know what
barriers are like and what a simple catalyst can do to get us over one or two.
Limitations self-imposed produce image of action that restricts action.
We see a picture of where storage occurs, in each user number (area).
Drive A, User 0, is our baseline, upper left-hand corner of picture. From
there to User 1, we go down one level in our hardware storage. To Drive B,
User 1, we move horizontally in our picture. From B1, to B0 requires moving
up to 0. Same philosophy applies to making other moves: higher lettered
drives are to the right of A and higher numbered user areas are down from user
0. Highest drive and user area occupies lower right-hand corner of mental
picture. Such a picture permits us to see our software. It is a concept of
where everything is. We must know this else we never get a feel of our system
and its levels. (Re-read Z-News 501-4,5.)
Assembly level programming requires the programmer to understand his CPU,
central processing unit, more than high level language programming requires.
From here we understand a little more than otherwise. Understanding the
hardware gives a glimpse of our own brains and how we think--the subject of
present intense thinking and what it means to the field of AI, artificial
intelligence.
Many times, a picture is worth thousands of words, but the picture we
speak of is in our minds and not on paper or canvas. Words are not used to
describe this picture. This picture is the same used by those superior in any
field of human endeavor to see what must be done and to do it with lighting
speed--words are not used to describe what is seen, the image in the sub-
conscious does the work. Our mental eye sees, and on seeing permits rest-of-
us, our being, to carrying out our version...dream becomes reality!
Publishing with Microcomputers. Where does it end...we started with 5 by 7
dot matrix printers, then came 7 by 9 and fully-formed-character daisy wheels,
9-wire double-pass, 24-wire, now laser 300-dots per inch xerographic laser-
beam printers and 2400-dpi digital photochemical typesetters...and, of course,
it seems we must have full color from our printers connected to our micro-
computers...where does it lead? Where does it end? It does not end! To that
we say: good! Soon, exclusive power won't just be in the hands of mainline
publishers, the rest of us will have publishing power too. Get set! Prepare
to publish--publish!
Since Gutenberg's press, information has been spreading such that some
people see (understand) some issues sometimes...before long, we will be over-
loaded, even more than we are now, with contrasting points of view from every
clime, from small presses that sit on desks...we will be free!
There are many ways to get a job done...using a copy machine like the
Toshiba BD-8412, with its reduction and expansion capability, from -65% to
+154%, you have power to change size of text, sketches, and half-tone photos,
before sending to the offset, either sheet- or rotary-feed, press for volume
reproduction. Color photocopiers are available now, but pricey. Text and
half-tone (grey-scale) digital scanners are here. We wait for a wide-
carriage 720-dot-per-inch laser printer. Is all of this necessary to get us
through the day?
Enough is enough! What is enough, to be sufficient to do what needs to
be done? Seems the more shallow people are, the more impressed they are with
cosmetics...certainly color and high-resolution printing has it place, but
whatever happened to content of what is being produced? Is form and surface
to dominate substance? Not if we have anything to say about it, to our last
Sufic warble...we continue to use appropriate tools to produce, to reproduce
what needs be said to inform, to educate, to learn what needs to be learned,
both by those doing the reading and by those doing the writing. Thank you...
Addressing United States of America, our debt and imbalance of
trade, "The American empire is in decline. What do you want us
to do about it? We should not continue to be the scapegoat for
your failures."--Moritaka Matsumura, Tokyo publisher.
Hardware Beat. In June, NAOG--Bruce Morgen's North American One-Eighty
Group--starts shipping ETS-180-IO+, an add-on board to Micromint's SB180.
Board is designed to unlock all the potential of HD64180 making combination
ideal for efficient software development, personal computing, and real-time
applications. Add-on provides two additional serial ports (each up-to 115.2
kilobaud, with full hardware handshaking), 24-bits of user-configurable
parallel I/O, complete SASI/SCSI interface, extended banked BIOS providing TPA
(user program memory) of up to 58k-bytes with full Z-System implementations,
and battery-backed real-time clock integrated with DateStamper for time and
date. And board is all CMOS for low power consumption. Special introductory
price is $299.95. Get full details from NAOG, P.O. Box 2781, Warminster, PA
18974, 215/443-9031.
Wyse Technology sells 281,000 ANSI/ASCII and graphics display terminals
during calendar 1986; Digital Equipment, 200,000; and TeleVideo Systems,
83,500.
More on Zilog's Z280 super chip, Z-News 705-4...benchmarks being used to
compare various CPU performance are the EDN (Electronic Design News magazine)
standard suite, fully developed by Carnegie-Mellon Institute. These should
strike terror in the hearts of those aligned with chips developed by Intel and
to some extent, Motorola. Why? Suite is comprehensive, and no one company
has been able to show superior performance across all aspects of the bench-
marks. Now the Z280 shows superior to the Intel 80186 and 80286. So what do
you think? The same people that designed the Z80,000 designed the Z280.
Of course, you think, being the Z-People, we are biased? Check out the
facts and performance for yourself.
Want more information on the Z280, contact Ms. Dottie Wanat, Director of
Communications, 408/370-5543, at Zilog, 1315 Dell Ave., in Campbell, CA 95008.
We showed the block diagram of the Z280 in Z-News 705-4; this time we add
drama by showing the chip itself out of its carrier.
Big photo of Z280 chip here, in printed editon.
Zilog's new Z280 MPU brings advanced performance and high integration features
to both Z80-based and a broad spectrum of new systems--controller, work-
station, and consumer product designs.
Software Beat. After reading IBM's announcement of Personal System/2, with
Operating System/2 and its expected delivery late this calendar year and
beyond, in increments no less, we don't feel too badly with our own unintent-
ional lateness in enhancing Z-System. (And notice PS/2 keyboards, so like
those from Wyse Technology.) Multitasking and multiprocessing certainly
separate men from boys. For now, we stay with an Oneac ON! or SemiDisk DT42
for speed and all around usefulness, for the work we do.
Turn-around is fair play. Three months ago Lotus Development sued Mosaic
Software Inc., and Paperback Software International for infringing "look and
feel" of 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Now SAPC Inc., formed from remnants of Software
Arts Inc., company that created first spreadsheet, Visicalc, sues Lotus and
its founder, Mitchell Kapor, for $100 million for breach-of-contract and mis-
appropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. Touche'!
In Other Words. As decades go, the 1960s were a truly memorable period of
our lives. The Beatles, the lunar landing, the Vietnam War, the assassinat-
ions of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the pill, Hippies,
Yippies and Cassius Clay: all left an indelible mark on an incredible ten
years. Yes, a remarkable decade.
The 1970s had similar character: microwave ovens, Richard Nixon,
Watergate and the Plumbers, gasoline shortages, Japanese motorcycling,
integrated circuits, microcomputers, software gurus, "the paperless society."
Present decade offers "computers for the rest of us," spreadsheet and
other productivity software, VCRs and video home movies, dear Ronald Reagan,
national monetary debt we can not imagine repaying, Yuppies and me-firstism, a
space program gone astray, terrorists, Iran-"contra" (Oliver North, et al) and
Wall Street insider-trader scandals (Ivan Boesky, et al), AIDS, Japan's rise
to industrial superiority in select markets.
America, its people, north and south, east and west, our hemisphere,
100's of years of indoctrination and mind "bleeping." Where is community as
opposed to enemy? And we know who the latter is, Z-News 609-5. Indoctrinat-
ion occurs whenever an individual has not sufficient interest to acquire suf-
ficient knowledge to understand issues and their meanings.
We address me-firstism, in which self-interest takes on priority of
unprecedented heights. Self-interest is a necessary characteristic of each
member of a species, if the species is to survive. But when the individual's
interest always takes precedence over the group's, survival is far from
assured.
This year, America celebrates the bicentennial of its Constitution, a
document of simple parchment sheets, but synonymous throughout the world with
the ideals of liberty, justice, and equality. This document has touched the
lives of most people on Earth. We as ordinary citizens complain, as is the
way of humans, but we should think what it would be like if our founding
fathers had not the wisdom of far-sightedness, to see good, to see better, to
see ideals. We pray that that stuff still remains in some few of us to be
light for the rest of us.
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Of Angels
and Eagles. "To bear up under loss, to fight the bitterness of
defeat and the weakness of grief, to be victor over anger, to smile when tears
are close, to resist evil people and base instincts, to hate hate and to love
love, to go on when it would seem good to die, to seek ever after the glory
and the dream, to look up with unquenchable faith in something evermore about
to be, that is what any person can do, and so be great."--Zane Grey, 1875-
1939, American novelist. Now for a sip of Zinfandel and a spin on our BSA 3-
cylinder. See you down the lines...
Echelon, Inc. 885 North San Antonio Road Los Altos, CA 94022 USA
Telephone: 415/948-3820 Telex: 4931646 Z-Node Central (RAS): 415/948-6656
Z-News 707 is Copyright MCMLXXXVII Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Permission to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source
credit is given to Echelon.
