Date   : Thu, 21 Mar 1991 10:01:16 GMT
From   : csusac!sactoh0!ijpc!ianj@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Ian Justman)
Subject: Re: Z8001 and C900...

MONTARON@FRP8V11.BITNET (Alexandre Montaron) writes:

> Hello|
> 
>  First thing... about ZP/EM (Media Master)... i haven't test it at all,
> but it emulat really faster than Z80MU... In Z80MU each BIOS function and
> BDOS entry point are replaced by the HALT instruction (which is trap)
> i think it's also true for ZP/EM but i've not look at |
>  What's the price of Z80MU commercial release?

I've never heard of that one.  Who puts that one out?  I would
like to kick the tires on that one.  As for the "HALT"
instruction, it does seem a logical way to write a software
emulation of the BIOS.  As for how MS-DOS picks it up, curious
how that would work.  Nick Sayer wrote someting similar, but this
is under UNIX.

> To the person who have a Amstrad CPC 6128 (like me) where are you?
>  In europe i suppose... In U.K. ? In Frence (like me...) ?
> Does a HARD DISK exist for the Amstrad ???

You might want to try either Emerald MicroWare (whose address I
could go and snag) if anyone wants it) or any type of controller
that plugs into the Z80 slot.  Most of these controllers come
with software that will talk to the hard disk no matter what kind
of machine it's running on.  I've seen such a setup which even
comes with source code for its BIOS so it's possible for me to
get a system like this for my Ampro (for which I have source for
its BIOS _AND_ main ROM) such that the entire BIOS which will
talk to both hard and floppy disks is entirely self-contained,
and can even boot from the hard disk and not have to boot only
from the floppy and manually (or semiautomatically) run a hard
drive initialization program (not format, but put routines up so
the system can talk to the hard drive).

> Other thing... I perhaps will bought a prototype Unix machine made by
>  COMMODORE... His name is C900, it works with a Z8001 (i suppose you know
>  it?), it has a HD 20Mo, one floppy 5"1/4, 512Ko de RAM... OS: Unix Beta0.9
>  this is also four RS232C, a monochrome terminal...
> The price is 3000Fr so about $600 ...
>  Doesany one ever heard of this machine... i'll ask in the COMMODORE group |
> Bye| Alexandre Montaron <MONTARON@FRP8V11.BITNET>

Gads, you have me salivating!!!!!  I know this part of the
message belongs elsewhere, but I thought I'd ask this:  Will it
be available in the US?  If so, that could finally put purely
UNIX machines in the hands of commoners.  Then I could gloat as
my pro-MESSY-DOS friends are dumbfounded of what it could do.


End of INFO-CPM Digest V91 Issue #61
************************************