CAUTION: Remove the packing material from inside the computer and put the cards in their proper slots before turning on the power!

Unpacking & Setup

Since I’m not using card guides on the IO cards I moved them to slots that do have guides before shipping. The I/O cables probably won’t reach them where they are now so I suggest you move them pack to their original positions. Here are some quick guid elines on repositioning the cards in the system and reconnecting the cables. I’m referring to the slots by number with number 1 being the leftmost slot when looking inside from the front of the computer.

All references to left and right are while looking at the front of the computer or diskette drives.

1. 3P+S – the two green card edge connectors attach to it. The connector with the F written on the top of the connector goes to the front connector, the connector with the B written on the top of the connector goes to the back connector. Both arrows shou ld be pointing to the front of the computer.
2. VIO-X Video Card – Two cables attach to it.

1. The coax cable. Attach to the back most pins on the J3 connector with the inner conductor of the coax towards the front.
2. The speaker cable. Attach to the J2 connector. The wire with the black tape on it should be on the front pin.
3. Disk Jockey controller card. Three cables attach to it:

1. The flat ribbon cable. Attach it so the cable is going to the left.
2. The serial port cable. Attach this so the cables are in the front with the writing on the connector facing right.

1. This slot is bad – don’t use it

11. Omniram 64KB memory card
12. Z80 CPU Card. Make sure the rats nest of cables running to the front panel are connected to this board. Connect the DIP header so the wires are running downward.

Connect the big ribbon cable to the Diskette Drives so that the cable runs towards the right.

Cabling

Here’s what the connectors on the back of the computer are used for:

Modem (DJ): Connection to the Disk Jockey on-board serial port. Wired up so you can use a straight thru standard cable with DB25 connectors on both ends when connecting to a modem. You’ll need a cross over cable (null modem) if you want to attac h it to another DTE device like a terminal or PC. Configured for 9600 baud, 8 bits, and no parity.

Term (3P+S): Connection to the 3P+S serial port. Wired up so you can use a straight thru standard cable with DB25 connectors on both ends when connecting to a terminal or a PC. You’ll need a cross over cable (null modem) if you want to attach it to a DCE device like a modem. If you will be using a terminal as your console this is where you should connect it. A LSI ADM-3 emulator will work best. Configured for 9600 baud, 8 bits, and no parity.

Lprinter: Attach a printer with a parallel Centronics interface. There was no standard for a DB25 to Centronics cable when I wired this up so you’ll have to make up the cable yourself. I can’t find the cable that I used.

KYBD: Attach a keyboard here. Goes to the 3P+S parallel input port. If there is a standard for parallel attached keyboards, I’m not aware of it. You’ll probably have to make up your own cable.

Misc: A mish-mash of spare bits from the 3P+S ports. I used this for off the wall stuff – like reading TRS-80 cassette tapes, interfacing to a ham radio, etc. You’ll find my best guess at what’s hooked up to this later in this document.

Video Connector: Connects to the VIO-X board. standard 1Volt 75 ohm video signal. Use a Type F Connector on one end of a RJ59 cable, a connector that matches the video input on your monitor on the other.

Start-up

Remember: This isn’t a PC… It is not safe to leave diskettes in the drive when turning the power on or off!

• Make sure the diskette drive doors are open
• Turn on the diskette drives
• Turn on the computer power, wait about 30 seconds before continuing
• Toggle the Stop/Run switch to Stop
• Toggle the Reset/Clear switch to Reset, the address LEDS should show an address of 0
• Toggle the Stop/Run switch to Run, the drive activity LED on drive A: should begin to toggle on and off
• Put a bootable diskette in drive A:
• While the drive activity LED is off close the drive door (this process is documented in the Disk Jockey manual).
• The system should boot up, the message CP/M 2.2 56K should be displayed on the console screen.

Programs on the Diskette

This is just a short description of some of the non-CP/M distributed files on the diskette – enough to get you started.

This is the format utility provided with the Disk Jockey 2D. You can use it to format single or double density diskettes. Double density diskettes can be formatted with 256, 512, or 1024 byte sectors. Just type FORMAT and follow the prompts.

Two copies of Ward Christenson’s classic MODEM program that you can use to transfer files between computers. MODEM96 uses the serial port on the Disk Jockey card (the socket marked MODEM on the back of the computer). MYMODEM uses the serial port on the 3P+S (the socket marked TTY on the back of the computer). There are two different versions of Modem, MYMODEM is the newer version and has more function and fewer bugs.

This is a program I wrote myself. It loads the directory for a diskette into unused memory in the system. This speeds up IO operations a good bit. This can also be dangerous. It you mount a diskette and then change the diskette you are really asking fo r trouble! If you are using the VIO-X as your console the current mount status is displayed on the status (25^th) line.

MOUNT A: Load the A: drive directory into memory, B: can also be specified.

MOUNT Unmounts any mounted diskette.

The source for this program is MOUNT512.ASM

A neat little program that I downloaded from a BBS. It displays a sorted directory listing showing the size of each file along with the amount of space used and free on the diskette. Use SD A: to list drive A: and SD B: for drive B:

This is a program I wrote. It’s used to place a drive in single or double density mode. In single density mode the CBIOS supports the standard 128 byte sector diskettes used in the CP/M world. In double density mode it uses diskettes formatted with 512 byte sectors. This format is unique to my system.

SETDEN A: $S Put drive A: in single density mode, B: can also be specified

SETDEN A: $D Put drive A: in double density mode , B: can also be specified

SETDEN without any parameters will most likely hang the system!

STAT

This is the normal CP/M command. Here is how it is used to control the devices used as the console.

CON:=CRT: Uses the VIO-X and a parallel attached keyboard

CON:=TTY: Uses the 3P+S serial port (marked TTY on the back of the machine)

CON:=BAT: Uses both the VIO-X/Keyboard and the serial port on the Disk Jockey card simultaneously.

ZAP – A disk sector editor

Use this program to look at and change diskette sectors. The documentation for it is on the SYSGEN diskette as DU-V75.DOC.

Creating a Customized Copy of CP/M

Use the editor of your choice to make your changes to the file CBIOS512.ASM

Assemble your customized CBIOS

To skip the source listing: MAKRO CBIOS512.AA5

To get a source listing: MAKRO CBIOS512.AA7

Rename the assembler output: REN CBIOS512.HEX=CBIOS512.REL

Create the new CP/M .COM File

DDT

• ICBOOT512.HEX
• R2180
• ICCPZ56.HEX
• R4580
• IBDOS56.HEX
• R4580
• ICBIOS512.HEX
• R4580
• Press Control-C
• SAVE 37 CPM512.COM

Write the new copy of CP/M out to diskette

SYSG512 CPM512.COM

You’ll be prompted for the destination diskette, reply with A or B, whichever is appropriate.

Put the diskette you want to write on in the appropriate drive, then press Enter

If necessary, put the CP/M Boot diskette in drive A then press Enter. I’ve called the CBIOS that uses the VIO-X and parallel keyboard as the console CPM512A.COM. CPM512.COM contains the CBIOS that uses a device connected to the "TTY" connecto r.

SYSG512 – Write CP/M to a boot diskette

SYSG512 is a modified version of the CP/M SYSGEN command (it you look at the source code you’ll see it was created by a disassembler). It was updated to contain the correct sector count, number of sectors per track, etc. used on my diskettes with 512 byte sectors.

If you invoke it without specifying a file name it will ask you for a source drive. Then it will read an existing copy of CP/M from tracks 0 and 1 of the bootable diskette in the drive you specify. Using it in this way allows you to create a bootable diskette.

If you invoke it by specifying a file name on the command line (as shown in the previous section) it will obtain CP/M from that file.

System Memory Map

System I/O Map

0. 3P+S parallel port status, misc bits
1. 3P+S parallel port data
2. 3P+S serial port status
3. 3P+S serial port data
4. VIO-X status and control
5. VIO-X data

Misc Port on Back Panel

This information may or may not be correct. I pulled it together from some of the cryptic notes I made to myself many years ago.

Pin Signal

1 Ground

2. TTY Current loop, current sink output
3. TTY Current loop, output postive
4. TTY Current loop source, receive
5. TTY Current loop, rcv input

8 logic 1

9 logic 0

10 PCD Positive Current source ??

12 EIA Output 4

13 EIA Output 2

14 Ground

15 Port A Input bit 1

16 EIA/RS232 Input 1

22 PCD Negative Current

24 Ground

25 Ground