EI Z-NEWS 704 9 March 1987
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Of Significance. Bridger Mitchell, Santa Monica, CA, has been quietly
working on a Z-System compatible command processor for nearly the last two
years. Called BackGrounder II, it fills a gap in our system capability dearly
needed. Here's how Bridger describes what BGii can do for ZCPR3 and Z-System
users:
o Compose a message with your full-screen editor while online with your
telecom munications package.
o Export data from one program into another by cutting and pasting the
screen, e.g., from spreadsheet or string-search result to editor, while
both tasks are active, if desired.
o Use the Z-System structured HLP files while in the midst of a program.
o Calculate in decimal or hex while in a program, and export the result
with one keystroke to the program.
o Bi-directionally type an ASCII (or a squeezed, forward only) file while
in a program.
o Save the console screen to the printer or to a file.
o Write notes into a notepad while in the midst of a program.
o Redirect printer output to a file while macro key definitions are still
available.
o Print any number of files, in priority order, in background mode while
regular programs proceed and while key macro definitions are still
available.
o Add customized foreground and background commands to the BGii command
processor.
o Customize the macro key definitions for individual programs and load that
key environment automatically or from within a program.
All these things are possible with full compatibility with Z-System environ-
ments, including ZRDOS v1.7 and beyond, and ZCPR v3.3 soon to be released. We
consider BGii a major extension to Z-System. Richard Conn's ZCPR3 added
another dimension to CP/M, communications between successive tasks; BGii adds
communication between co-active tasks plus the availability of background
operating system commands.
BGii is a virtual-memory extension (requiring about 100k-bytes of RAM or
hard disk) that works with straight CP/M systems, giving such systems all the
benefits of task suspension, context switching, and use of over 100
standardized Z-System utilities. (Virtual memory techniques, like those used
by WordStar and Newword, extend available active program memory into disk-
based storage.) Occupies 4.75k-bytes of TPA in a conventional CP/M system,
2.25k in a ZCPR3 one. Installation is straight forward, in four (4) quick
menu-driven steps, requiring no assembly or coding knowledge. Comes with
easy-to-read/understand loose-leaf, 140-pages, laser-typeset manual in beauti-
ful 3-ring binder.
Putting it another way, we like BGii's task-to-task data transfer, task
switching, background commands and multifile background printing. These are
the things that enhance the Z-System! Additional details in coming issues...
With BGii we now have more ways to do things than ever before, to
personalize environments that work our way. That's more than can be said
about most operating systems. Bravo, Bridger!
A demo version of BGii is on Z-Nodes and on SUS #10, as files in
BGIIDEM3.LBR, with complete installation instructions for use on your
computer's Drive A. Echelon offers full-use BackGrounder II for $75.00 plus
$4.00 shipping and handling, continental USA. It's Item 10 on our Price List.
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Kref's TASK-MASTER Announced. British OEM, Kref Computer Services, Caerau,
Llansadwrn, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd LL59 5SN, telephone 0248 810748, offers CMOS
6mHz Z80 processor compatible with all versions of the British Broadcasting
Computer computer supporting the Acorn TUBE interface. Expansion interface
provides one-megabyte of paged memory. Keith France, one of Kref's business
partners tells us, "A one-megabyte RAM card and HD64180 version are on the
drawing boards." Task-Master package includes Z-System, ZAS, ZDM, Turbo
Pascal, and several custom utilities to handle European disk formatting and
file transfers. Priced at #325.00, complete; software only, #130.00; post and
packing charge (S & H) is #6 and #4, respectively; VAT (Value Added Tax) is
15%. The BBC computer is used by Department of Education schools and in
universities as laboratory engines and has been a primary tool for eliminating
computer illiteracy in the UK. A substantial number are in homes also. Here
now, the power of Z on BBC computers!
If in United Kingdom, those interested in Z80 Turbo Modula-2 should
contact Mr. Ian Rangely, Grey Matter, Ltd., Prigg Meadow, Ashburton, Devon
TQ13 7DF, telephone 0364 53499 for quick, economical delivery. GM advertises
in International version of BYTE magazine.
From Our Mail Box. "Now that I have had time to sit down and play with
things for a while, you might as well get your score card..." writes Daniel
Brooks, Duluth, MN, about Z-System and SB180 documentation. "Yes, you're one
of the few people that I swear by, not at. You have done an excellent job on
your [Micromint and EI] products. This has made things quite a pleasure to
work with. You will get first consideration when I start looking at future
purchases."
Gary Marc Remson, Sherman Oaks, CA, asks us to include a command line
editor in our next version of Z-System. Gary, we feel HSH (SUS #2) and VCED
(SUS #3) shells do all that most want command line editors, re-call history
shells, to do. Give them a try and let us know if anything more is needed.
Answering John Waterman, Troy, NY--yes, XtraKey works with ZCPR3 and
ZRDOS. We are not so sure SmartKey does. Our NuKey is best if you have IOP
installed, like SB180 does. And Z-Com presently does not have PUBLIC ZRDOS
Plus installed in it. Item 12 is used to overlay, semi-automatically, the Z-
Com package to obtain public directory capability.
SUS Report. Software Update Service diskette #9 nears completion.
Filename.Typ Size K RS Filename.Typ Size K RS Filename.Typ Size K RS
-------- --- ------ -- -------- --- ------ -- -------- --- ------ --
-SUS .009 0 R C/VIDLIB.LBR 30 CALRCP11.LBR 12
CRC22 .LBR 16 HD-ARC2 .LBR 40 JETPRIME.COM 2
JETPRIME.Z80 4 PDGUID02.LBR 14 RESTORE2.LBR 20
SHUTILS2.LBR 22 TM2NOT10.LBR 20 Z3VARS .LBR 18
ZPATCH10.LBR 22
13 Files Using 220K, 13 Files on Disk and 562K Left
C/VIDLIB contains Ed Schram's neat set of video screen routines for use with
C/80 compiler--VLIB in C Language! CALRCP11 comes from Carson Wilson and is
an RCP version of Eric Meyer's HP calculator with some bugs removed and
improved built-in help. ^], i.e., <Control-]>, enters and exits CALC.RCP
after it's loaded. CRC22 is latest official Z3 CRC utility. HD-ARC2 is
ingenious hard disk backup technique of Rick Charnes. JETPRIME is Bridger
Mitchell's fast assembly language routine for running BYTE's sieve benchmark.
PDGUID02 covers Terry Smythe's much-needed recommendations for public domain
RAS (Remote Access Systems) submissions.
RESTORE2 is a desirable utility that makes your disk, especially hard
disk, "new" by eliminating file allocation-block fragmentation, from Steve
Dirickson, Poulsbo, WA. Please carefully read the DOC file associated with
RESTORE. If your computer hardware is not absolutely stable, reliable, do not
use RESTORE.
SHUTILS2 and Z3VARS are Dreas Nielsen's updates for his powerful shell
utilities and a new REL library. TM2NOT10 is Steven Hirsch's white paper on
his experiences using FTL and Turbo Modula-2 with a big software project for
his company.
ZPATCH10 is sophisticated screen-oriented file-patcher, best we have
seen, from Steven Cohen, Chicago, IL. Its a full Z-System shell (returns to
itself after executing external commands) with edit and string-search capabil-
ity and ease of use, in our opinion, without equal. Has full HLP file with
internal chaining as an option. But put it in your ROOT, i.e., last to be
searched, directory to start with. Online HLP file tells how to patch ZPATCH
using itself, if you want other than as distributed, default options. ZPATCH,
programming at its finest, is state-of-the-art.
More Modula-2 Benchmarks. Dr. Mark Boyd, Asheville, NC, benchmarks some
Modula-2 packages using his 5mHz Kaypro and Atari 1040ST (full comparative
article appears in upcoming issue, hopefully April/May '87, of Micro
Cornucopia magazine):
Compiler Code Size Compile & Link Run
Sieve of Eratosthenes:
Turbo Modula-2 9984 11.2 6.9
FTL Modula-2 2367 9.0 12.0
Turbo Pascal 8498 1.5 18.9
TDI on 1040ST 3166 28.0 5.7
File I/O and Copy 24k-byte file:
Turbo Modula-2 18k 51 80
FTL Modula-2 12k 80 99
Code size is in bytes or k-bytes. Compile & Link and Run (time) are in
seconds. TDI is a Modula-2 compiler for Atari 68000 (16/32-bit) machines.
Sieve is classic BYTE benchmark. File I/O and Copy is file transfer
program written in respective compilers' language and then timed for copying a
24k file. Note Turbo Modula-2 on a Z80 is nearly as quick running BYTE's
sieve as TDI is on an Atari 68000.
More testing with Modula-2 by Phil Hess, Lafayette, IN, indicates
superior performance from 8-bit systems. Phil uses a 4mHz Z80 Morrow MD5 for
his benching of Reinhold P. Weicker's Dhrystone as reported in January '87
BYTE. William Miller provided the Modula-2 version of the benchmark. The
Dhrystone standard "represents as closely as possible the actual mix of state-
ment types and data accesses found in real programs, except I/O statements."
Phil obtained the source from BYTE, but had to debug it, "which was quite an
ordeal," of obvious and not so obvious typographical errors. "The FTL compil-
er does not appear to be as sound as its version number would suggest. In the
course of working with it on this benchmark alone, I discovered what appears
to be two rather serious bugs as well as some odd linking problems." Steven
Hirsch (in TM2NOT10) has similar things to say about FTL, the reason he
switched to Turbo.
Code Size in bytes, Compile & Link in seconds, and Speed is Dhrystones per
second (D/s, the higher the better). Here Turbo shows its compactness and
overall speed. As programs get large Turbo shines. Source code for FTL and
Turbo versions, as developed by Phil, is on Z-Nodes as file DHRYS.LBR.
Three Modula-2 compilers for standard IBM PC's ranged from 44,000 to
74,000 bytes for Code Size, 35 to 114 seconds for Compile & Link to EXE (COM)
file, and 55 to 232 Dhrystones per second for Speed. The slowest compile and
link was for the compiler producing the speediest code, but also produced the
most compact (see Jan '87 BYTE, pages 333-336, for more details). A 5mHz Z80
produces 235 D/s; a 9.2mHz DT42 or SB180FX, over 500 D/s.
Incidentally, introductory period for Turbo Modula-2 ends this month, 31
March. After that date price of TM-2 goes to $89.95 plus $6.00 S&H. Orders
received before then are processed for original $69.95 plus $6.00 S&H. So if
you are planning to get TM-2, now is the time before price goes up.
Z-Node Activity. Two Z-Node Sysops stay busy writing magazine articles. Jay
Sage, Z-Node #3, Newton Centre, MA, 617/965-7259, has his informative column
in The Computer Journal this month, Issue #27, starting page 28, about ZSIG,
command line generators, and aliases under Z-System. TCJ is reached at
406/257-9119. Jay goes into more detail about latter two subjects than pre-
viously has been seen in print--excellent column! (As an aside, don't over-
look ZSIG as source for Z-System support and user-created programs. Bruce
Morgen is Chief with Jay Sage as Software Librarian. Write NAOG/ZSIG, P.O.
Box 2781, Warminster, PA 18974, if interested.) And do read Art Carlson's
editorial on micromarket development, company success and failure, source code
availability, hard drives versus RAM disks, and general 8-bit developments.
In same TCJ issue, Jon Schneider, Z-Node #39, El Paso, TX, 915/592-4976,
has enlightening piece on using Hitachi HD64180 chip and its DMA (Direct
Memory Access) and linear memory of 512k-bytes. Starts on page 23, with
tables and diagrams to make features and operations clear. Shows HD64180 to
be better than Intel 8088/8086 in managing memory. (See also EI's HD64180.WZ
file written by Richard Conn on using Hitachi's HD64180, on Z-Nodes every-
where.) Jon runs an XLR8 (Z-News 703-1) board to give his TRS-80 Model 4
computer advanced performance.
Z-User's Corner. Scanning crunched files has turned out to be more difficult
than first thought. Code to uncrunch a file is extensive, much more than
required to unsqueeze, and it's nearly impossible to back up through the text,
bi-directionally. Utilities like VTYPE will never be able to uncrunch and
scan text in both directions, the way it presently does for uncompressed
files. So, we have to get used to price paid for disk space saved by compres-
sing files. JetFind, the string-search utility, does the best job we know of,
because of programming excellence of its author, Bridger Mitchell, of typing
compressed text files, individual files and files from within libraries, to
screen, file, and printer. We use JetFind for most crunched file management.
Aliases, TLF2 and TLIB (SUS #8), are other lines of defense scanning text in
libraries containing crunched files.
We tripped over ourselves the other day. You may find situation
interesting as it shows how easy it is to go astray: we changed ZCPR3
on one of our office computers from always checking current disk and
current user, i.e., current directory, for COM file search to one that
does not. Then we used PATH in our STARTUP alias to initialize our
computer environment and used, declared "$$" to indicate "current disk
and current user". After alias ran some of our CMD marcos and other
aliases did not work correctly. (Many of them cause logging into
current directory and from there execute commands.) Well, to make a
long story shorter, we forgot something we normally do so well:
declare the "$" correctly. ALIAS, MENU, and VMENU use the $ as a
trigger (flag, indicator) for passing parameters. (VFILER uses
percent sign, "%".) Now, PATH uses dollar sign, $, to indicate
current disk/user. In alias or menu lines, to pass a $ character
requires entering two, not one. So our PATH command expression in
STARTUP alias should be $$$$ for current disk and current user is to
be searched. The complete command we use is "PATH $$$$ A0 A15". All
our aliases now work correctly again.
We are always mentioning files that are available from Z-Nodes. Most
nodes have such large disks and so many directory
areas its time consuming to
find the files of interest. Here's how we do it when accessing Z-Node
Central. After logging in, we are in Z-Msg area. We enter "J" command at
message prompt which takes us immediately into files side (ZRDOS) of RAS node.
Typing "K" cancels introduction message and puts us at Z-System prompt. Then,
we use FIND command to location the files we seek to download. FIND has
filelist and wildcard capability, meaning in one command we can find all the
files we logged-on to get, if they are physically available. An example:
What you type is in lower-case light print; RAS prompt, upper-case bold.
Notice the use of commas to separate files, and the use of the "*" to define
the tail of the name and type. Using * means a match is found even if you are
not sure of, e.g., the version number or exact spelling of a file. Just enter
enough of the leading portion of a name to be reasonable certain of finding
what you are looking for. Then when FIND (FINDF, Richard Conn's super quick
file search program) lists all the locations of the requested files to your
screen, write the directories down, or better yet have your printer on to
auto-record the response. Now you can sequentially log into each directory
and use XMODEM to download to your computer the sought-after treasures. Or
use KMD/Term3 batch (Z-News 609-2) to transfer all files with one command
line. The old MODEM7 batch is not quite the same as KMD batch and it does not
work with Term3.
While on a Z-Node's file side, do type PWD<cr> at command-line prompt to
see all the name directories. Don't forget and have your printer on so you
get a hardcopy for future reference.
"I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge
than the one who sold it."--Will Rogers, 1879-1935, American humorist
Software Beat. Those into structured high order languages welcome a copy of
Journal of PASCAL, ADA, and MODULA-2 into their offices and homes every other
month. Hundred-page magazine is published by Jonas Rosenthal of
John Wiley & Sons. Major columns each issue include "Pascal Report" by James
F. Peters III, "Ada Info" by Do-While Jones, and "Module Musings" by John M.
Craig. Lots of source code listings, too. Costs $25.00 per six issues, sent
air mail, continental USA. If interested, contact Wiley Periodicals, 605
Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158, 212/692-6026.
BD Software is shipping Version 1.6 of their C compiler (Z-News 506-2).
It's the first upgrade in over four years. (And we wonder what are the
elements, how we at EI can get so far behind schedule. We wonder no more--
it's all people related. Next issue we will tell of some recent experiences
at attempting to control our destiny.) BDS-C was the first C compiler
marketed for 8-bit systems. Sells for $150.00 and comes with Ed Ream's C
Language editor, RED. Write or call BD Software, Inc., P.O. Box 2368,
Cambridge, MA 02238, 617/576-3828. Leor Zolman, compiler's author, appreci-
ates your business.
"The only good is knowledge,
and the only evil is ignorance."--Diogenes
"He that increasth knowledge increasth sorrow."--Ecclesiastes, 1:18
In Other Words. Acceptance of the artificial over the real. What do we
learn of a tree from looking at its photograph? Can we gain from other than
first-hand experience? Patrick Henry thought not, Z-News 703-5...but you say,
he didn't live in our high technology world. Does technology have anything to
do with reality? We think not! Remember, technology comes from root word
technique, meaning "way of doing things"--crude oil to gasoline engines to,
e.g., motor cars, that move people from point A to B. Technology has such
emotional connotations these days, a mystique as it were, it has very little,
no certain meaning!
The power of not defending your position...consider what we have here. We
defend because we are not sure of our stance, uncertain of what comes next!
Defend and insecurity increases? Not necessarily...as we defend we become
aware of weakness in our position, learning from our opponent's argument. Next
time we defend, our position is different, and we get closer to not needing a
defense. Friendly, non-combative debate--helpful for personal and global
development.
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Of Angels and Eagles. It matters not who wins, it's how the game is played.
That, from the philosophy "the road is more interesting than the inn." The
path you take (the way) is more important than the destination.
The might of Right, the right of might; doing the Right things, doings
things right. Who or what is our guide? Our personal empirical experience,
there is none else. What works for you, works! If it works, continues to
work, you have found your Road.
Echelon, Inc. 885 North San Antonio Road Los Altos, CA 94022 USA
Telephone: 415/948-3820 Telex: 4931646 Z-Node Central (RAS): 415/489-9005
Z-News 704 is Copyright MCMLXXXVII Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Permission to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source
credit is given to Echelon.
