Date   : Sun, 03 Jun 1984 02:42:00-EDT
From   : ABN.ISCAMS@Usc-Isid.ARPA
Subject: Re: New CPM Version?

Chuck (et al),
When I hacked my Decision I CBIOS, I implemented a serial port as a modem port.
Just kind of duplicated what the console calls do, and tried calls to RDR and
PUN - worked fine!  Donno why new calls are needed provided you have source
for your own BIOS.

Agreed, many systems do NOT have such a wealth of information about their
own innards, and then you're kind of stuck with a disassembly (tried that
on a Franklin Ace 1200 the other night with IOBYTE implemented, some tricky
memory switching, etc. - ugh!  Never DID find port addresses!).

Of course, if you have an IOBYTE switching things around, you can do other
fancy calls and do things with a modem too.

Just a comment - not too familiar with other systems and their strengths/
weaknesses - and I never mind more built-in functions ... SO LONG as they
don't bloat things even bigger than they already are!  Those BDOS fiddlings
slow things down enough as it is - that's why I use direct CBIOS calls so
much.

Regards,
David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall