Concurrent CP/M-86™ Operating System Concurrent CP/M-86™ Operating System User's Guide Copyright © 1982 Digital Research P.O. Box -579 160 Central Avenue Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (408) 649-3896 TWX 910 360 5001 All Rights Reserved COPYRIGHT Copyr ight © 1982 by Digi tal Research. All r igh ts reserved. No part of this pUblication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or compu ter language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written permiss ion of Digital Research, Post Off ice Box 579, Pacific Grove, California, 93950. This manual is, however, tutorial in nature. Thus, the reader is granted permission to include the example programs, either in whole or in part, in his own programs. DISCLAIMER Digital Research makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any ,implied warranties of merchantabil i ty or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Digital Research reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes f rom time to time in the content hereof wi thou t obligation of Digital Research to notify any person of such revision or changes. TRADEMARKS CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research. ASM-86, CP/M-86, Concurrent CP/M-86 and DDT-86 are trademarks of Digital Research. ED and TEX are utilities of Digital Research. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. The IBM Personal Computer is a trade name of International Business Machines. Digital Equipment Corporation is a registered trademark. The VT-52 CRT is a product of Digital Equipment Corporation. of The Concurrent CP/M-86 Operating System User's Guide was prepared using the Digital Research TEX-80 Text Formatter and printed in the United States of America by Commercial Press/Monterey. ********************************* * First Edition: August 1982 * ********************************* Foreword Welcome to the world of microcomputers opened to you by your IBM Personal Computer. Welcome also to the world of application T software accessible through Digital Research Concurrent CP/M-86 ,M,. Digital Research desi2ned this version of Concurrent CP/M-86 especially for the Intel 8088 microprocessor that is the heart of your IBM Personal Computer. Concurrent CP/M-86 lets you do two or more jobs with your computer at the same time. If you want to edit a paper (or two!) and also look at another, Concurrent CP/M-86 takes care of the details, lets you switch from one task to another with a touch of a key. You can even print one or more documents while you edit or review others. Concurrent CP/M-86 lets you make the most of your IBM Personal Computer and makes you more productive. What Concurrent CP/M-86 Does For You Concurrent CP/M-86 manages information stored magnetically on your diskettes by grouping this information into files of programs, which are sequences of computer instructions, and data, which is the raw material programs use to do work. Concurrent CP/M-86 can copy files from a diskette to the IBM Personal Computer's memory, or to a peripheral device such as a printer. Concurrent CP/M-B6 performs these and other tasks by executing various programs according to commands you enter at your keyboard. Once in memory, a program runs through a set of steps that instructs your computer to perform a certain task. The advantage of using Concurrent CP/M-86 on your IBM Personal Computer is that you can create your own Concurrent CP/M-B6 programs to entertain, educate, or solve your own commercial or scientific problems. What You Need To Run Concurrent CP/M-86 On The IBM Personal Computer The minimum IBM Personal Computer consists of a System unit wi th 16K of memory, a keyboard, and a screen device. However, Concurrent CP/M-B6 needs some additional features to operate properly. To star t, Concurrent CP/M-86 needs at least two diskette drives. You can have up to four diskette drives. You also need at least 256K bytes of memory. If you expand your system beyond these minimum requirements, you will appreciate that Concurrent CP/M-B6 support many other f ea tures that can be added to your IBM Per sonal Computer. For example, Concurrent CP/M-86 supports the maximum amount of memory you can install--544K bytes. Concurrent CP/M-86 supports both low­ and high-resolution color displays, and monochrome displays. iii How This Book Is Organized This book introduces you to Concurrent CP/M-86 and tells you how to use it. The book assumes you have read the Guide to Operations that accompanied your IBM Personal Computer and are familiar with the parts of your computer, how to set it up and turn it on, and how to handle, insert, and store diskettes. However, it does not assume you have had a great deal of exper ience wi th computers. Section 1 tells how to start Concurrent CP/M-86 and enter commands. Section 2 discusses diskettes, files, diskette drives, and other devices associated wi th your IBM Personal Computer. Section 3 develops the Concurrent CP/M-86 command concepts you need to understand the command summary in Section 4. Section 4 lists all commands in alphabetical order, descr ibing every command and program supplied with Concurrent CP/M-86. Section 5 tells you how to use ED, the Concurrent CP/M-86 file editor. With ED you can create and edit program, text, and data files. When you become more familiar with your IBM Personal Computer's 8088 microprocessor instructions and you decide to write assembly language programs, will find that ASM-86~M. , the Digital Research Assembler, simplifies the process. The companion program to ASM-86 T M is DDT-86 . ., the Dynamic Debugging Tool. DDT-86 makes it easy to track down and eliminate errors in your assembly language programs. The companion manual of the Concurrent CP/M-86 Operating System User's Guide, the Concurrent CP/M-86 Operating System Programmer's Guide, describes ASM-86 and DDT-86 in detail. Appendix A lists the error messages Concurrent CP/M-86 displays when it encounters special conditions. If the condition requ~res correction, Appendix A can also tell you what actions you should take before you proceed. Appendix B is a glossary of computer terms that explains the concepts you encounter in learning about your Personal Computer. Appendix C summar izes Concurrent CP/M-86 commands, and Appendix D summar i zes Concurrent CP/M-86 control characters. Appendix D also describes the way some Concurrent CP/M-86 control keys differ from their counterparts in CP/M-86~M. • Appendix E describes the various Concurrent CP/M-86 filetypes. Appendix F is a list of items to check if you have problems with your files. Appendix G summarizes the kinds of drive and file status information Concurrent CP/M-86 returns to you. AppendixH lists the console escape sequences. If you are new to computers, you might find some of these topics confusing. Hang in there. Half the fun of an IBM Personal Computer is learning more about how to use it in your home, business, research, or school. This book proceeds step-by-step, so you can readily understand each Concurrent CP/M-86 operation. iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction to Concurrent CP/M-86 1.1 What Concurrent CP/M-S6 Is . 1 1.1.1 Virtual Consoles 1 1.1. 2 Dynamic Mode 1 1.1.3 Buffered Mode • • . 2 1.2 How To Get Concurrent CP/M-S6 Started 2 1. 2.1 System Reset 2 1.2.2 Sign-On Message . 2 1. 2.3 Status Line • • 3 1.2.4 System Prompt . 5 1.3 Concurrent CP/M-S6 Commands 5 1.4 Concurrent CP/M-S6 Line-editing Control Characters • 6 2 Files, Diskettes, Drives, and Devices 2.1 What is a File? 9 2.2 How Are Files Created? • . 9 2.3 How Are Files Named? . 10 2.4 How Are Files Accessed? 13 2.4.1 Wildcard Characters • 13 2.4.2 Start-up Files 15 2.5 Passwords 15 2.6 How Are Files Organized And Protected? . 17 2.6.1 User Numbers 17 2.6.2 File Attributes 17 2.7 Back Up Your Files! lS 2.7.1 Single- and Double-Sided Diskettes lS 2.7.2 Initializing Diskettes . •• lS 2.7.3 Copying Diskettes .••• 21 2.7.4 DSKMAINT Error Messages 23 2.S How Are Files Stored On Diskettes? 24 v Table of Contents ( continued) 2.9 Changing Diskettes • 24 2.10 Changing The Default Drive. 25 2.11 More Concurrent CP/M-86 Drive Features . 26 2.12 Other Concurrent CP/M-86 Devices 27 3 Concurrent CP/M-86 Command Concepts 3.1 How Concurrent CP/M-86 Searches for Commands 29 3.2 Control Character Commands • 30 3.3 Programmable Function Keys • 31 3.4 Concurrent CP/M-86 Command Summary . 32 4 Concurrent CP/M-86 Command Summary 4.1 Command Specifications • . 35 4.2 How Commands Are Described 37 4.3 The ABORT Command 40 4.4 ASM86 (Assembler) Command • 41 4.5 The CONFIG Command 43 4.5.1 Interactive Mode • • • • . 43 4.5.2 Command Line Mode • . • • • 44 4.5.3 Serial Port Connection 45 4.6 The DDT86 Command 46 4.7 The DIR Command 48 4.8 The DSKMAINT Command • 51 4.8.1 Single- and Double-Sided Diskettes 51 4.8.2 Formatting Diskettes • • • • • • • • • • 51 4.8.3 Copying Diskettes • • • • • • • 53 4.8.4 DSKMAINT Error Messages • • • • • • .