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Technology/Z80/Space, (sdf.org), 11/26/2018
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Got the z80 SBC going again on Saturday night. At first it
wouldn't post properly (grant searle's ROM), but I re-seated
the CF expansion board and that seemed to help. CP/M came up
and I was able to explore the drives without trouble.
While it was down, I had setup an emulated environment for
CP/M on my linux box. It works very well, and transfering
programs and files in/out is simple. You can control
emulation speed, to keep it closer to hardware, but I have
found this to be buggy/inconsistent. In any case, it does
work, and it emulates a z80, so it's suitable for compiling
(tried it with something, I think it was just an mbasic
program.)
Sometimes I wish I had unlimited space. I know that I'd have
unlimited junk if that were the case, so I count my
blessings, but I can't help but want more space for my
projects and hobbies. Right now, the z80 lives on a desk in
the basement. I'm remodelling down there, and don't have the
heat piped in; because of the ground it has been pretty
constant near 60F, but that's a bit cool for my taste. Maybe
I'll drop a space heater by the desk to see if that helps.
I read an article recently about a sci-fi writer that writes
in Wordstar (can't recall if it was under DOS or CP/M.) WS
is a nice program (I have two versions installed, both work
well with my terminal, but have different advantages for
me.) I don't know if I quite trust my little computer enough
to write a book on it though; I think I'd have to have a
good backup solution going.
My system is installed on CF, and I can mount it with the
cpmtools on my linux box, and copy files directly off/on.
Unfortunately, I soldered the CF connector myself, and the
pitch on the connectors is very small; I don't trust it
much, and I don't like removing the card. In short, I don't
want to have to take it out daily to back things up...
I could just write stuff on my main computer, or some other
device, but I really enjoy the z80 SBC and terminal. I do
have two serial ports, but I haven't really had much success
with the second serial port yet (it's been odd...)
I think it might be time to reach out to Grant Searle and
ask him about programming that second serial port in mbasic.
Or, maybe I can find some resources. I'd like to write a
little file transfer program. I've had poor luck getting the
ones I've found for CP/M working right; maybe if I have
something really barebones, I can get it going.
