AUTOMATION! LET YOUR OLD CP/M KAYPRO DO IT FOR YOU. by Dave Green, KUAFC, September 1987 (Tips on auto-start at bootup) The dedicated word processor I use at work starts automatically. Well, almost automatically. I turn on the switch, pop in an 8" disk, wait a few seconds, and the machine presents me with a blank page, ready and waiting for the words to start flowing (sometimes it gets just a trickle, though). But until recently, my old Kaypro II had no idea what I wanted when I went through the same procedure. I would turn on the switch, pop in a disk, wait a few seconds and find an A> waiting in the corner of the screen. Then if I wanted to use Wordstar, I'd tell it to load Xtrakey (to redefine my keypad for Wordstar), then load Wordstar, log Wordstar onto the B: drive to find my text files, and finally tell it which file I wanted to work on. It's a simple procedure, but it's always the same. Why not let the machine do it for me and speed up the whole process? There's a simple way to set up a system so your CP/M Kaypro starts up automatically. The secret is to use a function of CP/M's "Copy" program to mark a file on each disk to load automatically when you cold boot the system. If you've upgraded to Advent's TurboRom system, you can configure that system to always look for a particular file name with a cold boot. With either system, you can make that startup file a submit file which executes all of the steps you normally go through to start computing. SUBMIT.COM is a public domain program which executes a series of commands you put together in a "submit file". EX.COM is a similar program which works better in some applications because it keeps the submit file in memory. (SUBMIT.COM writes a temporary file to disk, so you have to leave room on the disk.) But I've had better luck with SUPERSUB.COM. It, too, writes a temporary file to disk, but I'm using it because EX.COM upset the apple cart with Wordstar--my left arrow cursor control required two keystrokes to move the cursor one space. SUBMIT.COM wouldn't complete the entire set of commands, so save yourself some time and trouble and use SUPERSUB.COM. SUBMIT.COM, EX.COM (EX15.COM), and SUPERSUB.COM are all available in the KUAFC library. In order to automate my system, I've written a submit file for each disk of software I use. Here's the file I use for Wordstar named WSTART.SUB: B: Logs the B: drive for text files SD SD.COM displays directory of disk in B: and space available A:XTRA A:WS;WS Runs Xtrakey redefinition program and or WS loads Wordstar. If you don't use Xtrakey or another key definition program, use the second line instead. ERA *.BAK Erases all backup files on B: drive after exiting from Wordstar. Leave out this step if you want to save backup files. A: Logs the A: drive ERA *.BAK Erases all backup files on A: drive. Leave this out if you want to save any backup files that end up on A:. The command to run this procedure is SUPERSUB WSTART. And that brings up another problem. Try to tell the computer to automatically run SUPERSUB WSTART when you do a cold boot and you won't get any farther than before. The trick is another free public domain program you can get from the KUAFC library called SYNONYM.COM. Synonym lets you give the command SUPERSUB WSTART a new one-word command file name. I've used START.COM, but you can call it AUTOEXEC.COM if you want to pretend you're running MS- DOS. With my TurboRom system I put a file on every disk named START.COM. I've already configured the TurboRom system to look for START.COM every time I do a cold boot. To make cold boots easier, I moved the reset button to the front panel of my Kaypro II. Now when I switch from Wordstar to another software package, I simply insert the new disk, punch reset, and the Kaypro looks for a file called START.COM to tell it what to do. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a step-by-step review of the process: 1. Write a submit file (xxxxx.SUB) listing all commands you want your Kaypro to automatically perform. Use the non- document mode in WordStar or any text editor to create the file. Don't leave any blank lines in the middle of the file, but end the file with a blank line with just a carriage return. The sample file above includes explanatory notes in the right column. Don't include that column in your file. 2. Run SYNONYM.COM to rename SUPERSUB xxxxxx.SUB with a one-word command such as START.COM. The form of the command to run SYNONYM is "SYNONYM newname.COM SUPERSUB xxxxxx" where newname is the name you pick for your startup command file (START.COM or AUTOEXEC.COM) and xxxxxx is the name of your submit file. 3. Configure your system to look for newname.COM when you cold boot (either power up or push reset). With a conventional CP/M operating system, copy each disk using CP/M's COPY.COM utility. After the system copies the entire disk it will show you a list of files on that disk and ask you which one you want to run automatically when you cold boot the system. Enter START.COM or AUTOEXEC.COM or whatever name you picked when you ran SYNONYM.COM. If you have a TurboRom operating system, run the TurboRom TURBOCFG.COM program to configure your system to look for START.COM or AUTOEXEC.COM or whatever you plan to name your startup procedure. It's easier if you use the same file name for all disks. Number 8 on the TURBOCFG.COM menu is the selection to specify your automatic cold boot command. Don't forget to write the new system image to a file and then write the system tracks on any disk you want to autoload. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Automation is the name of the game in industry today. Why not automate your Kaypro and let it make things a little easier? -30-