30 December 1985 Z-NEWS 401 Background Tasks. Echelon on the move! (1) We finish Phase 2 of TERM3 with addition of T3DO, T3SERVER, and T3MASTER, and porting to SCSI/Plus bus. It should be in hands of users by mid-January 1986. (2) ZCPR, Version 3.3, should be ready for distribution sometime in February. It has many new features suggested by Jay Sage, Z-Node #3, and others, plus more enhancements: no re-assembly of CCP source or installation of utilities required, and ex- panded TCAP database, including straight-line drawing ability, and WHEEL byte functions. (3) At same time we will offer ZCPRS3, a simple Z-System for those situations not requiring full OS capabilities, but full TPA. (4) ZCPRB3, with banked memory capability and usable TPAs of 62k-bytes, should be available in late March. (5) ZRDOS, Version 3.0, adds about 15 new function calls, e.g., get and set file date and time and file stamping, modem control, get and set memory bank, load or execute a program, get free disk space, etc. This new DOS should be ready in late February. (6) Full integration of Z-MSG with TERM3 by mid-January. (7) Multitasking, single user, multiuser through TERM3 master-server distributed OS networking, ZCPRM3 should be ready for delivery to OEMs by summer. (8) Real Time multitasking Executive, called QUICK-TASK, should be ready by end of January. Uses re-usable task concepts and high- level language; powerful and easy to use! (9) Major upgrade to DISCAT out by end of March. Wow! Lots of OS and application activity. High performance 8- bit systems continue to be enhanced, staying up with hardware technology. All programs continue to run on Z80 based machines. Our super OS with multitasking and extended DOS functions runs natively on HD64180-based computers, some porting required on banked Z80 systems. Implementations include concurrent processing as well as background task suspension. Number of tasks active is controlled by available memory, 64k-bytes per task. Run WordStar printing formatted text, monitor your modem answer the phone, assemble and link a program under development, while you edit a text file, with, e.g., five open but suspended files, working with one then another: Z- System concurrent processing! DISCAT SALE. Purchase present $39.99 Version 1.3 of Discat between now and end of March and receive free new version in April...changes coming include many asked-for enhancements...but price goes back to original $49.00. Order now, save $9.01. Z TIPS. Interactive Code (or menu script) Writing. Several compiler packages are now including built-in or bundled compatible editors. Such programs provide for quick change-over speeding program development, long recognized as desirable by Echelon staff. Assembler and menu program develop- ment (and Pascal or C) under Z-System can be automated by using available Z utilities. (1) From a simple menu declare file name using one-of-four resident system file names, then go from edit to assemble to run, back to edit. Or (2) make two chaining command line aliases that loop from function to function for iterative source modifications. Here's how (we use VMENU, SAK, IF, and SETFILE as tool set): (1) The VMENU method -- #x Arrow Key Move File Pointer Enter "+" and "-" if More Files +++ INTERACTIVE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT MENU +++ Current File is $f2 Š 1 - EDIT Current File (non-document mode) (WordStar) - 1 2 - ASSEMBLE Current File: (.Z80's only) (ZAS & ZLINK) - 2 3 - (.ASM's only) (MAC & MLOAD) - 3 4 - (.MAC's only) (M80 & L80) - 4 5 - Enter Pointer File Library (file must be LBR type) (NULU) - 5 C - Current File to Edit and Run (System File #2) (SETFILE) - C D - Delete Pointer File E - Execute (run) Current File # 1get 100 ws.com;poke 392 ff;go $f2 2!zas $n2;sak /p6 Errors, cancel link (^C)? ;era $n2.bak; zlink $d:$n2,A:VLIB/,A:Z3LIB/,A:SYSLIB/;era $n2.rel 3!mac $n2 $$-s pz;sak /p6 Errors, cancel link (^C)? ;era $n2.bak;mload $n2; era $n2.hex 4!m80 =$n2;sak /p6 Errors, cancel link (^C)? ;era $n2.bak; l80 /p:100,$n2,A:VLIB/S,A:Z3LIB/S,A:SYSLIB/S,$n2/N,/U,/E;era $n2.rel 5!if $pt=lbr;nulu -o $pn -f;else;echo --> file is not a library <-- ;fi e!if $pt=com;$n2;else;echo --> file is not com type <-- ;fi dera $pf csetfile 2 "Enter file name (fn.ft) to edit (and later run): " ## More is added to produce a complete menu--we show edit, assemble and link, run-file aspects. Incidentally, we included enter-library-file command. This VMENU VMN is great for developing itself--real recursion! Run VMENU *.* fn.VMN, then try setting Current File to name of VMN file and go from your editor to menu. Add your own ideas. Chapter 5 of ZCPR3: The Manual describes menu production. Using $f3 as your current file is interesting since that system file number is used to return to VMENU after a menu execution. Try it and see what happens. Using $f2, as we have done here, makes pointer file same as system (current) file; more details in Manual. It's simple to make an infinite loop between commands 2, 3, or 4 and command E, with SAK used to permit breaking out. Notice how it's done in the aliases below. (2) The TWO-ALIAS method (using BALIAS or VALIAS to create) -- first the Edit Alias and Assemble File Alias; let's call it BUILD. Command syntax: BUILD . get 100 ws.com;poke 392 ff;go %1.z80;zas $1;sak /p6 Errors, cancel link (^C)?; era $1.bak;zlink $d:$1,A:VLIB/,A:Z3LIB/,A:SYSLIB/;era $1.rel;try $1 Second, make the Run Alias which we call TRY. Command syntax: TRY . $1;sak --> any keypress continues development, ^c cancels <-- ;build $1 You may wish to put above aliases into file COMMAND.LBR, using NULU library manager. Rename your LRUNZ3 file to default extended command processor name of CMDRUN (see Z-News 209 for more description of CMDRUN usage). By the way, all your aliases can be used from such a command file. (New ZCPR33 permits use of ECPs, like ARUNZ, simultaneously with error handlers, like VERROR, and declaring with ECPSET which ECP is default.) Such techniques permit small floppy systems to shine. Yes, we appreciate what it Štakes to effectively use small computers. Many other ways exist within Z-System context to automate tasks. Send in your ideas and we will publish them; others benefit from seeing your work. We_Get_Letters. Ronald L. Hiles, Dale City, VA, writes, "OK, so I am hooked on Z! Finally, a system is here that provided the flexibility and adaptability that was needed in the Z80 microprocessor environment...last but not least you will find my 'free-ware' contribution... " Thanks for kind words and financial support, Ronald. We need more like you who understand what we do. New things on the drawing boards should get lots of attention and, hopefully, approval. Glenn Brooke, a molecular biologist, corrects us on our Z-News 308 description of drug effect in the brain. He states individual neurons are not programmed by genetics but by each person's experience. Scientists continue to learn about these matters. Boost For Print Quality. QMS Inc., P.O. Box 81250, Mobile, AL 36689, 205/633-4300, offer Cannon LBP-CX laser printer with 40 stored character styles and sizes. Diablo, Qume, and Epson FX-80 software compatibility, with 256k-bytes of ROM and 78k-bytes of user RAM, sells for only $1,995 with Centronics parallel interface, serial RS-232C optional. Printer--named KISS, Keep It Smart and Silent--makes Apple LaserWriter at $5,995 look foolish; even HP's LaserJet at $3,495 doesn't effectively compete. THE COMPUTER JOURNAL. "For Those Who Interface, Build, and Apply Micros." Stated purpose of the magazine on its cover makes sense. The more we read TCJ the more we are impressed. Both software and hardware is covered from more than how-to-use but how does it do what it does perspectives. At $14.00 a year, 6 issues, it's hard to go wrong. Subscribe by calling or writing Art Carlson or Donna Carlson, 190 Sullivan Crossroad, Columbia Falls, MT 59912, 406/257-9119. Big Dealer of Z Software. Larry Herring and Tamara Watson, The Micro Store, 610 James Street, Richardson, TX, 75080, 214/231-1096, become enthusiastic sellers of Echelon Z-System software. TMS, a major computer book store, are dealers for Kaypro and Bondwell CP/M machines. North Texas 8-bit computer users interested in expanding should drop-in and visit. Here, see demo of Z fly like eagles. Year's End. We waiver not, continue to learn; you drive us...puffed with pride from opportunity and successes, we move ahead. We trust 1985 has been a good year for you, that you have much, as we have, to be thankful for. We appreciate opportunity and privilege of serving you during this past year, and hopeful we will be able to say the same at this time next year. Without you we are nothing. Now, we order bottles of 1981 White Zinfandel and prepare with family for year's change-over. Happy New Year! See you down the lines... Echelon, Inc. 101 First Street Los Altos, CA 94022 Telephone: 415/948-3820 Z-Node Central: 415/489-9005 Trademarks: SB180, COMM180, TKBBS, Micromint; HD63484/64180, Hitachi; Z80/800, Zilog; NSC800, National; WY-30/50/75/85/350, Wyse Technology; Z- ŠSystem, ZCPR3, ZRDOS, Z-Tools, Z-Com, Zas, Zlink, ZDM, Revas4, Z-Msg, DSD, Term3, Lasting-Value Software, Echelon and their respective owners and authors; CP/M, Digital Research; PropStar, Civil Computing; WordStar, MicroPro; SCSI/Plus, AMPRO Computers. big thumb * here F L Y w i t h Z ! + * Z-News 401 is Copyright 1985 Echelon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source credit is given to Echelon.