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| Vector Graphic Extended CP/M
Vector Graphic's EXTENDED CP/M is a single/multiple user, high-performance operating system for use on Vector systems having two 64K banks of memory, serving the needs of both end user and programmer, regardless of the experience level involved. EXTENDED CP/M has been standardized so that one operating system will drive either floppy or hard disk systems.
EXTENDED CP/M USER'S REFERENCE MANUAL (Excerpts)
FORWARD
... The EXTENDED CP/M USER'S REFERENCE MANUAL has been written and compiled into two parts:
Part I, consisting of Section I, ll, and Ill, has been written for the end user and the programmer not familiar with the EXTENDED CP/M operating system.
Part II, consisting of Sections IV and V, has been written for the programmer already knowledgable in the CP/M-based operating system but needing more technical information about EXTENDED CP/M for programming purposes.
This manual replaces the following Digital Research manuals:
CP/M 2.2 INTRODUCTORY MANUAL
AN INTRODUCTON TO CP/M FEATURES AND FACILITIES
CP/M 2 USERS GUIDE FOR 1.4 OWNERS
CP/M 2 INTERFACE GUIDE
PART I -CP/M FOR USERS
PART I CP/M FOR USERS
Vector Graphics EXTENDED CP/M (Extended Control Program for Microprocessors), Version 2.5, is an operating system adapted for use on Vector Graphic computer systems. It represents a considerable advancement over the earlier CP/M 2.2 version offering two 64K (65536 bytes) banks of memory each (giving 55.5K of user program memory, 7.5K more than CP/M 2.2), software compatibility between floppy and hard disk systems, and more efficiency, due to complete Z-80 coding, allowing better speed techniques to support an overall faster system. Further, because Vector Graphic owns and adapted CP/M 2.2, you benefit from complete manufacturer support. The CP/M you will be using is specially configured for the particular disk drives you have. EXTENDED CP/M 2.5 is designed for use in a system having multimegabyte hard disk storage, as well as floppy diskette storage; therefore, users can be confident that software written under EXTENDED CP/M is fully compatible between hard disk and floppy diskettes.
Generally, an operating system can be defined as the interface between the computer' and the computer user. Its purpose is to provide the user with a flexible and manageable means of control over the resources of the computer. The following three primary function are fulfilled by an operating system:
1. Provide an orderly and consistent Input/Output (I/O) environment for the various computer elements to work in (i.e., terminal, printer, hard or floppy disks, magnetic tape, etc.).
2. Provide file management and status reporting for the data being stored in the system. A file management system will allow a user to find out what files are on a disk, how large the files are, how much unused space is left on the disk, as well as managing the reading and writing of information to and from the disk.
3. Provide for the loading and execution of user programs. Part I, conisting of Sections I, 11, and III, has been written for the purpose of introducing the EXTENDED CP/M operating system to the novice user, including programmers new to CP/M, dealing with those non-programming aspects of CP/M any user would need on a daily basis.
1.7 DESCRIPTION OF EXTENDED CP/M (Page 1-10 to 1-12)
1.7.1 General
EXTENDED CP/M 2.5 is a high-performance operating system which uses table driven techniques to allow field configuration to match a wide variety of disk capacities. EXTENDED CP/M is available as a single and/or multiuser version; a multiuser operating system is one that allows more than one user (terminal) to be controlling the computer at one time. Each user in a multiuser system operates as if he had the complete attention of the computer to perform his task. All of the fundamental file restrictions are removed, while maintaining upward compatibility from previous versions. The directory size can be field configured to contain any reasonable number of entries, and each file is optionally tagged with READ-ONLY and READ/WRITE system attributes. Users of CP/M can be physically separated by user number, with facilities for file copy operation from one user area. to another. Powerful relative-record random access functions are present in CP/M which provide direct access to any of the 65536 records of an eight megabyte file.
In the multiuser EXTENDED CP/M environment, each user is given a bank of memory to use exclusively. Additionally, each user has access to the single copy of the operating system in his own bank. Although a computer can only perform one single operation at a time, it operates at such high speed that it can service several users at one time; this is done by switching between users, giving a portion of time (called a time slice) to each user. When that user's time slice is used up, the system will suspend the operation of that user's task and allow another user to have a time slice. This time slice operation happens constantly between whatever number of users are on the system; however, because a computer operates at very high speeds, this sharing of time is generally transparent to the user. A user may lose his time slice if, for any reason, he is waiting for an input or output process to complete, or if he is waiting for a shared resource, such as a printer. The purpose of EXTENDED CP/M is to execute commands and allow the user convenient access to all of the hardware and software resources provided by the computer. CP/M provides rapid access to programs through a comprehensive file management package. The file system supports a named file structure, allowing dynamic allocation of file space as well as sequential and random file access. Using this file system, a large number of distinct programs can be stored in both source and machine executable form.
EXTENDED CP/M can support up to five individual users concurrently. Each user can be running their own program totally independent of all the other users on the system. This facility is available through a feature implemented in EXTENDED CP/M known as multitasking. In a multitasking environment, the system will keep track of the state of the machine for each user, including the registers, the currently accessed disk unit, track, sector, etc. By controlling the swapping of the state of the machine for each user at regular intervals, the only effect noticed by the user is the slowing of processing speed of the computer, since more than one person is using the system. Only one person has access to the computer at any given point in time, and only for a limited amount of time, before another user is given access to the computer.
The part of the operating system that switches (swaps} users is called the scheduler. The scheduler is responsible for saving all the registers, the stack pointer, and program counter of the current task (user} into the Task Control Block (TCB). The scheduler will look for a task that is ready to run and, once found, will reload all the registers with the values that were saved for that task when it was swapped out. If, while the scheduler is looking for a task that is ready to run, it finds a task that is waiting for an event to occur, the scheduler will check to see if the event has occurred, and if it has, the task's status will be set to ready.
When the Vector system is turned on, or powered up, the following banner and prompt will display from Vector's EXECUTIVE monitor program, for either single user or multiuser system:
VECTOR GRAPHIC EXECUTIVE 5.X
Exec>
The 'Exec' prompt will only display on the 'master' terminal, in a multiuser system; all other terminals will simply display the Vector banner. The master terminal, with the 'Exec' prompt, is the only terminal which will boot the system. Once booted, all other terminals will boot automatically. EXTENDED CP/M, once booted, will display the following messages on all terminals:
VECTOR GRAPHIC EXTENDED CP /M -VERSION 2.5
PRINTER 1 LOADED WITH x
PRINTER 2 LOADED WITH x
A>
where 'x' is equivalent to one of the following printer driver messages, depending on what kind of printer is available and what printer configuration has been enabled (through the CONFIG P or CONFIG program):
A DRAFT DRIVER
A WORD PROCESSING DRIVER
NO DRIVER
AN UNKNOWN DRIVER
The following is a typical display after enabling the printer drivers:
VECTOR GRAPHIC EXTENDED CP /M -VERSION 2.5
PRINTER 1 LOADED WITH A DRAFT DRIVER
PRINTER 2 LOADED WITH A WORD PROCESSING DRIVER
A>
HARDWARE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (Excerpts)
WHAT EXTENDED CP/M UPGRADE ENTAILS (Page 1)
Summary: The Upgrade kit comes with a 64K Dynamic Memory Board, one 2732 PROM and a System Disk. These components are added to certain Vector Graphic systems providing them with expanded memory capabilities.
Extended CP/M give you many new features:
- 55.25K of User memory (see Exhibit 1-1).
- File spooling and despooling capabilites.
- Faster system operation due to better software design.
- Four new resident commands.
- One transient utility command (GENSYS) which replaces all MOVCPM programs
- as well as SYSGEN and PUTSYS.
These features are discussed and described in the EXTENDED CP/M USER'S REFERENCE MANUAL.
There are five hardware components that your Vector Graphic system must have for it to be able to use the Extended CP/M Upgrade Kit. These include:
- Any revision of the ZCB Board.
- 64K Dynamic RAM Memory Board.
- FD, FD/HD or 8 inch HD Disk Controller Board.
- Revision 2 or later of Flashwriter II Board.
- One or more Tandon floppy drives or a winchester type hard disk.
- If your system doesn't have these components you can purchase them separately (with manuals) from Vector Graphic.
NOTE FOR WORD PROCESSOR USERS: Extended CP/M requires Extended Memorite Ill (version 2.0)
References:
The text above was scanned from:
EXTENDED CP/M USER'S REFERENCE MANUAL
Version 2.5, Revision A, MARCH 1,1982
P/N 7200-1660-00-00 EXTENDED CP/M HARDWARE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Version 2.5, Revision A, January 22,1982
P/N 7200-1660-00-00
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