============================================================================== [ THE KAY*FOG RBBS | Filename=CPM-CC26.ART | posted 07/05/86 | 183 lines 10k ] The CP/M Connection Originally published in by Computer Currents Ted Silveira 5720 Hollis Street (copyright and all rights reserved) Emeryville, CA 94608 May 6, 1986 LIVING WITH Z ZCPR3 offers so many features and utilities that it's easy to lose sight of its main benefit. ZCPR3 helps you do more of the work you bought your computer for by letting you automate many of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks of everyday computer use. We all know how much of our computer time is spent not producing useful work but rather taking care of the computer itself--switching disks, finding files, reconfiguring the system for the next task, backing up the day's work, and so on. With ZCPR3, you can turn many of those tiresome functions over to the computer or at least reduce them to a couple of keystrokes. [Using the Z-System] The particular system I'm going to describe runs on a typical 8-bit CP/M computer--a Morrow MD3 with 64K RAM (random access memory) and two double-sided, double-density floppy disk drives holding 384K bytes each. You'll notice this computer doesn't have a hard disk. ZCPR3 runs much faster on a hard disk (because _everything_ runs much faster on a hard disk) and is a great help in managing the hard disk's extra space (with named directories and so forth). But the dual floppy system is really the standard CP/M computer, so that's what we'll talk about. [ZRDOS] One enhancement I've added to ZCPR3 on this computer is ZRDOS Plus. ZRDOS Plus (for Z80 Replacement Disk Operating System) replaces the standard CP/M BDOS (basic disk operating system) segment just as ZCPR3 replaces the standard CP/M CCP (console command processor). With ZRDOS Plus, I gain four major benefits: First, and perhaps best, I no longer have to warm boot (by hitting ^C) after I change disks. Second, ZRDOS can put an archive mark on files so that a ZRDOS utility, AC.COM, will know if a file has been changed since it was last backed up, allowing me to automatically backup only the files I've been working on (especially useful on a hard disk). Third, With ZRDOS Plus, I can also restrict access to data files and text files as well as programs, providing a new level of security. Fourth, ZRDOS Plus has a "public directory" feature. If I place program overlays and similar files in a public directory, then programs that need them (like WordStar, which uses two overlays) can find them no matter which directory I'm currently in. Combined with search paths, this feature makes managing a hard disk much easier. ZRDOS Plus is a commercial package, written by Dennis Wright and marketed by Echelon, Inc.. Once you add both ZCPR3 and ZRDOS Plus to your system, you're no longer running CP/M (though you're still CP/M- compatible) because you've eliminated both the original CCP and BDOS from Digital Research, creators of CP/M. Instead, you're running the Z- System. Let's take a look at how I've set up my Z-System. [Good Morning, Z] Most mornings, I sit down at my desk, turn on the computer, and, since I'm primarily a writer, stick my WordStar disk in drive A and the disk with my current project in drive B. I snap the drive doors shut and hit return, and the computer cold boots. A few seconds later, the opening menu and a list of B drive files appear on my screen--Z is at work. The opening menu, run by the Z-System utility Vmenu, offers me a choice of four sub-menus--Brainstorm (for beating new ideas into shape), Manuscript (for magazine articles and similar things), Letter, and Housekeeping (for copying files and other maintenance tasks). From here, I can also jump to another disk or give any command I could give at the A> prompt. If I were starting a new project, I'd go to the Brainstorm menu, but this morning I'm working on an article in progress, so I hit [M] for the Manuscript menu. The new menu appears _immediately_ (half a second, the time it takes to rewrite the screen). In Figure 1, you'll see that the lower part of the screen shows the menu options, my own arrangement created with a simple WordStar text file. The upper third of the screen shows 16 of the files on my B disk. Using the WordStar-style ^F and ^A keys, I can page through the B disk files, 16 at a time, until I find the file I want. Once I have the right page, I use the arrow keys (or the WordStar cursor diamond keys) to move the cursor (indicated by -->) to the file I want to work on. This file (CC26 in Figure 1) becomes the _pointer file_. Once I've selected my pointer file, most of the menu options (E, S, C, P, W) will act on it automatically--no need for me to remember the file name exactly, no chance of an accidental misspelling that will cause WordStar to open a new file when I didn't want it to. I hit [E] to edit the pointer file, CC26, and there's a flurry of activity. Z loads my key-definition program along with the set of definitions I use for manuscript editing, and then it loads WordStar, patches it on-the-fly to my standard manuscript format (double-spaced, justification off, and so on), and runs it using CC26 as the file name. Eleven seconds after I hit the E key, I'm looking at the first screen of text. I'm ready to work with all WordStar's defaults set the way I like and all my special keys defined the way I want them. Once I've polished up the article, I exit WordStar with ^KX, and I'm dropped straight back to the Manuscript menu, with the cursor still pointing to file CC26. I now hit [S] and then wander off for a few minutes, while Z calls up The Word Plus and runs a spelling check on my just-completed file. When I come back, I run through the unrecognized words, making any corrections I need to. If I do make corrections, Z will automatically run WordStar and call up the file. If not, I'm just returned to the menu again. I run through a punctuation check (C) and a style check (P) using Oasis' Punctuation and Style programs, and the file is ready to go. Next, I jump to the Letter menu to write a cover letter for the article. The Letter menu _looks_ just like the Manuscript menu, but when I hit [E] to edit the letter, Z loads a different set of key definitions and patches WordStar to the defaults I need for writing letters (single-spaced, right margin 76, 12 pitch printing, and so on). Same keystroke, same speed, different configuration. Once I've finished the letter and cranked it through the spelling, punctuation, and style checks, I jump to the Housekeeping menu. Here I can check disk space, erase or rename files, and do other maintenance chores. I pick the archive option here to backup my work. Z loads the archive program, prompts me to put the right backup disk in drive A, and then copies only those files I've created or changed today from B to A. Once that's done, it prompts me to put the WordStar disk back in and then returns me to the menu. On a hard disk system with lots of space, I could also link any or all of these menus to other menus--a Communications menu, a Spreadsheet menu, a Database menu, a Programming menu. You can, in fact, do the same thing with a floppy disk system--you just need to have Z prompt you to change disks when necessary. Though you don't gain any speed by doing this on a floppy system, you do gain a little ease because you can have Z automatically reconfigure your system (load new key definitions, load a new resident command package, change the directory names, etc.) to suit your new menu. I've given you only a brief tour of part of my Z-System, but I hope it gave you some feel for what Z can do. There's more, of course--you should see my communications disk--but that's all I have room for now. Next issue, I'll talk about installing ZCPR3 and about some possible drawbacks. Information on ZCPR3 and accompanying programs: Echelon, Inc. Main Echelon/ZCPR3 bulletin board: 855 N. San Antonio Road Z-Node Central - 415/489-9005 Los Altos, CA 94022 415/948-3820 Figure 1 B0:Currents VMENU, Version 1.6 [Z80 Code] CC26 . [More Files] AD-CC . AD-CC .BAK ATOM .BMB BOOKS .RVW BOOKS .BAK CC19 . CC20 . CC21 . CC22 . CC23 . CC24 . CC25 . -->CC26 . CC26 .BAK CC26 .TL INTECH . MANUSCRIPT MENU E - edit current file S - check spelling in current file C - clean up punctuation in current file P - check style and phrasing in current file W - count words in current file R - run WordStar no-file menu B - go to BRAINSTORM menu L - go to LETTER menu H - go to HOUSEKEEPING menu Z - give ZCPR3 command Command (CR=Menu, ^C=Z3, *=1st Menu, <=Prev Menu, >=Next Menu) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ted Silveira is a freelance writer and contributing editor to several computer-oriented publications. He appreciates suggestions or feedback and can be reached through the KAY*FOG RBBS (415)285-2687 and CompuServe (72135,1447) or by mail to 2756 Mattison Lane, Santa Cruz, CA 95065. ------------------------- End of CPM-CC26.ART Text -------------------------