Date   : Thu, 15 Dec 1983 20:28:15-PST
From   : Ed Mills <capn@uw-vlsi>
Subject: The response on BIOS's I promised.

David,
       Here is a response to some of your requests of DEC 8.


2.  Buffered keyboard.  Followed with avid interest a column in Byte where
some brave adventurers were trying it, and they (I think) finally gave up
or found a simplistic solution or something.  Any pointers to articles,
public domain stuff, etc.  (I'm running a Liberty Electronics Freedom 100
terminal, and it won't give me that onboard the terminal alone either.)
RESPONSE:
       I have a BIOS which does just that and it's a very nice feature.
It also gives some meanings to control characters such as sorted directories,
flushing the track buffer, kill input or printer queue, etc. It also has memory
disk, disk track caching, and some stty stuff. Unfortunately it's based on
Ithaca Intersystems version 4h BIOS. If you happen to have access to the beast
I can send you my version without it being a copyright violation.
       I haven't heard of any public domain BIOS's. Do such things exist?

4.  Implementing a (new?) CP/M call (ho, boy - no flames about tampering
with the sacred, please) -- Check Status of Reader and/or Punch.  Reason:
Wanna use that third serial port (1 for terminal, 1 for printer, 1 for modem)
as a fully capable port simultaneously with the other two so I can (a)
relay between two modems, simultaneously print to printer and a bar code
printer, and other daydreams.  And NOT have to write specific software to
check the third port (like I have with MDM714 and KERMIT) - just use STAT
and other common utilities.
RESPONSE:
       To do what you want I think there is a better way. Just modify the ConSt
entry to return the remote status as the high four bits and the console as the
low four. If there is nothing on the remote every thing is ok. If you want to
be really safe, get the source to CP/M and have the BDOS always do an ani 01
in its status call. That way only programs which call the BIOS will see
the remote
status. If you want the CP/M source write me and I'll send you the address
of the
man who sells it. you might also consider one of the ZCPR's.
       There are other reasons for adding BIOS entry points. I use mine to
enable control interception, and to enable XON/XOFF handshaking on the remote.
What I did was to place 3 distinctive bytes just after the new entry so
programs
trying to use it could verify its existance.

5.  Stuff in some more memory.  Who can GUARANTEE a nice fat 256- or
512-Kb memory board (static like I presently have or good dynamic) that'll
work with my buss and CPU board and DMA and all the other Morrow goodies?
RESPONSE:
       I have a Compupro 128K static board and it does everything except talk to
my front panel. I think they also make a 256k board. Guarantee?

6.  Stuff in a 68000 CPU board.  Read wonderful things about Compupro's
board, but all configurations seem to indicate ALL Compupro boards on the
bus (and preferably a Compupro buss too!).  What Morrow stuff would I have
to yank out and replace to make such a wonderful thing happen?  (Would like
to keep the Z80 right where it is for some sort of dual-processor capability.)
RESPONSE:
       Compupro and Morrow are both good boards so they SHOULD talk. You would
have to hack together the two BIOS's.
       If you have any luck running the two processors in the same buss PLEASE
tell me, and maybe the net too, I'ld love to do the same thing but haven't
worked
out a way. (I'm really a software type.)

GENERAL:
       There seems to be very little on the net about nice features in BIOS's.
If people have ideas, this might be an interesting topic of discussion.


                                               Ed Mills

                                               Capn@uw-vlsi