Date   : Mon, 07 Jan 1991 14:15:45 PST
From   : sprague.wbst311@xerox.com
Subject: ZSDOS on Xerox 820-II

Jay, thanks much for the info!!!

>> So, I tried MOVCPM * *.  I kept getting the message
>> SYNCRONIZATION ERROR, and the computer locked up, forcing
>> me to push the reset button.

> That shows that the system you were running at the time was
> not one created by that version of MOVCPM, which checks the
> DOS serial number in the first six bytes of code.  Digital
> Research punishes one for trying to use a 'borrowed' MOVCPM
> by locking up the system.

Hmmmm, seems strange that DR would try to keep you from using MOVCPM, when it
*seems* to be standard utility on a CP/M System Disk.  Odd!

I'm not sure if that was the case here, however.  My normal System/Boot disk
was created using the original System/Boot disk.  Using my normal System/Boot
disk, I had formatted, sysgen'ed, and configured the disk on which I was trying
to put ZSDOS.  MOVCPM is not on my normal System/Boot disk, because it's
something I never use (normally).  I grabbed MOVCPM for the ZSDOS disk from the
original system/boot disk.  (And yes, I do have a backup of the original system
disk  :-)

Does this then mean that only a disk formatted and sysgened by the original
System/Boot disk can be used by MOVCPM?  Or does this mean that the version of
MOVCPM supplied with my System/Boot disk is useless with that disk?

I was wondering if the problem was in that I had configured the system.  Xerox
supplied a utility called CONFIGUR which allows you to set the defaults upon
booting.  Things like the floppy drive step rate (the default 30mS is a tad
slow), options for the serial ports, 7 or 8 bit keyboard, and things like that.
I usually run it when I sysgen a disk, to set a faster floppy step rate,
changed the printer to 9600 baud, and the keyboard to 8 bits.

> Chris McEwen at Z-Node #32 runs this stuff, I'm quite sure, on
> Xerox 16/8 computers.  If it will work there, it should work on
> your simpler machine.

Chuckle it's the same machine, not a simpler one.  A 16/8 is nothing more than
an 820-II with the 16/8 board (8086 CPU w/128K RAM) installed!!  The software
is slightly different, in that you get CP/M, CP/M-80 and CP/M-86.  CP/M-80
itself might be more complex than CP/M, in that it is meant for concurrent
operation with the 16/8's CP/M-86.  Even so, when you boot the machine, your
booting CP/M, not CP/M-80.

                               ~ Mike  (Sprague.Wbst311@Xerox.Com)


End of INFO-CPM Digest V91 Issue #5
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