Date : Tue, 18 Apr 2006 19:49:58 +0100
From : "Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Subject: Re: CPFS and MOVE
Copying DOSBOOT to CPFS is just an example I gave as I happened
to have the M512 boot disc in the drive at the time. Obviously there is
no point in copying the "DOSBOOT" file into CPFS because in order to
use it, the co-processor must be enabled and therefore CPFS is not
available!
However I was struggling with my usual method of transferring files
from PC to BBC due to the file size. Call me a glutton for punishment/
sadist/old romantic etc. but I always try to find a BBC based solution
for BBC-related matters.
So to get a file from my PC to a useable format on the Beeb this is what
I usually do:
1. Format a 3.5" 720K DOS disc on the Master 512 (or use one I already have!)
2. Copy the file from the PC hard drive to the floppy
3. Fire up the Econet
4. Load the "1770DOS" ROM image into the Master 512 (which just happens
to have the dual 5.25"/3.5" drive attached.)
5. Mount drive 1 in 1770DOS and then *LOAD filename 3000 (or similar)
6. Go into DFS or ADFS and mount drive 0
7. Do *SAVE filename 3000+length
That usually takes about 10 mins altogether. I have to do the load & save
rather than a MOVE/XFER etc. because I find 1770DOS very unreliable and it
gets confused if you change filing systems in between a disc operation.
That's all very well unless the file is too large to fit into RAM. I was trying
to transfer a 37K file and I didn't want to go into splitting it up into sections
and transferring it bit by bit so I thought I could transfer it from the DOS disc
into CPFS and then from there into ADFS but I encountered the cassette problem.
So in the end I connected up a 6502 cheese wedge, loaded HiBASIC and then I
had 45K of RAM available to load the file.
Simple really!!
Best wishes,
Ian
----- Original Message -----
From: David Harper
To: <bbc-micro@...>,"Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Sent: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:52:35 +0100
Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] CPFS and MOVE
Just a couple of asides to Ian Wolstenholme's last post (the main issues I
have replied to separately):
> I just tried again, even with:
>
> *CPFS
> *MOVE -ADFS-DOSBOOT DOSBOOT
I am fascinated to know why you want to do this?
> I wish I'd known about *TRANSFER earlier, that could have been the
> answer. It took me an hour and a half this morning to transfer a 37K
> file from PC to BBC! In the end I had to dig out the retired cheese
> wedge (see previous post) to have enough RAM to do it!
What method of file transfer were you using that needs to take this time,
and how does having extra RAM help?
If you have compatible sized disk drives (a 3.5" that works on the BBC, or a
5.25" on a PC, and a "normal" one on the other) then you can copy files
easily with the 512 using the DOS-Plus MOVE command (or GETFILE / PUTFILE if
you must). It speeds things up, especially if you have several files to
copy, to set up a memory disk first, and stick MOVE.EXE in it.
If you only have one drive on the Beeb (not a good idea for the 512!) then
set up a large enough memory disk, copy into it MOVE.EXE (from the boot
disk) and the file you want to copy (from your transfer disk), and then use
MOVE to copy the file from there onto the destination disk.
The only problem comes if the file is too big to fit on a PC disk (say you
are using 5.25" disks - 360kb on a PC - and you want to copy a 400kb file
onto a 640kb ADFS disk). In that case you need to split the file into two
and rejoin the two halves at the other end - easy to do but fiddly. (I
usually use HJ Split - http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/ - to divide/join on
the PC. A simple BASIC program will do it on the Beeb.)
The other obvious alternative is to transfer via a serial link. If you are
doing that, I cannot see why you need the extra RAM at all. A program like
Xfer will write the file straight to the disk. Serial transfer is a wee bit
slow, but doesn't take anything like this time.
Of course if you have neither compatible drives nor a serial link, then you
will have to have some more subtle way of transferring files.
Has anyone ever tried the technique of printing a file out in hex, and then
typing it in on the other machine? Now that is slow!
David Harper
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Ian
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Harper
> To: <bbc-micro@...>
> Sent: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 18:22:48 +0100
> Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] CPFS and MOVE
>
> Ian Wolstenholme wrote:
>
>
>> Has anybody tried to copy files from one filing system into CPFS
>> (ie. Master 512 co-processor filing system) using *MOVE in the
>> Master MOS or *XFER in ADT? When it comes to try to write to
>> CPFS, I get "Record then Return" and the cassette motor comes on!
>
> You get that if you miss out the "P" from the filing system name. The
> Master
> MOS understands "-CFS-" as an alternative to "-TAPE-" (short for "Cassette
> Filing System" I believe).
>
> You might just also get it from having duplicate filing system ID numbers.
> Use *OPT 7 in CPFS to set the Filing System ID to something unique. The
> default is 5 (same as *NET - the documentation explains why), but you can
> change it to whatever you like and it is preserved in the Master's CMOS
> memory so you don't need to repeat it once changed.
>
> (*MOVE works perfectly well with CPFS, but it is limiting because it only
> allows you to copy one file at a time. That is why I included the command
> *TRANSFER in the CPFS ROM.)
>
> David Harper
>
>
>
>