Date   : Mon, 25 Mar 1991 18:25:50 GMT
From   : comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix!ewen@uunet.uu.net (Ewen McNeill)
Subject: Re: Flame returned (was Re: VT100KAY.LBR problems)

In article <XX000000bd@nowster.UUCP> pm.nowster@tharr.uucp (Paul Martin)
writes:
> Ewen McNeill (ewen@actrix.gen.nz) wrote these words:
> > [About certain programs not working too well for some reason on a
> > Amstrad CPC6128 running CP/M+]
> 
> Voila! Non-standard system. I have an Amstrad CPC 464 with 512K 
> banked RAM, and the 6128 ROM. I have used David Goodenough's 
> UNZIP program every day for the last 9 months without a single 
> problem, even with 200K ZIP files.
This is depressing. Although it doesn't prove anything.  However, it
does sound as though there is something special about your banked ram,
or something.  Do you unzip things off the ram drive (I would do this
anyway because it is faster -- I only discovered the problem when I had
a small ram drive (one bank, instead of the usual two))?  This has no
problems.  It is only off the floppy disks, and it needs to be a pretty
big file (in another post I mentioned it happening in 15 128-byte blocks
out of about 2000 in a file) for the "random" chance to happen.

> May I hazard a guess that you're running ZCPR or similar, or 
> something else non-standard?
I am running CP/M+, as supplied, with a serial interface (no special
patch), and a ram disk (and the patch for it).  The ram
disk consists of both banks of ram, although I have had the same problem
with just one bank plugged in. I think I may even have had problems
without any ram plugged in, but the patch installed.  The serial
interface is a possibility, I guess -- who else of those with problems
has a serial interface attached to their system?
 
This does make me think of the ram patch as being the problem, so I have
started to disassemble it again. If anyone is interested in helping
work on this, you will need a copy of PATCHER.COM (out of the ram disk
rom), and a copy of DazzleStar.  I will send a copy of the DazzleStar
temporary file, which defines the symbols, etc.

Anyway, it is amazing how many Amstrad users there are out there.  Three
of us have had problems, and one hasn't. There seems to be little
difference between the setups.  We have, however, learnt that there is
no problem with using the ram drive, but there appears to be with using
the floppy drives.  On a random basis.  Does anyone know different?

-- 
Ewen McNeill.                          Email: ewen@actrix.gen.nz