The ResiDOS User's Manual
Contents
1.2. The commands to map drives to partitions are e MOVE drive IN name gt MOVE drive IN name ASN Similar commands are available to remove mappings from drives Using the ASN keyword here means that any permanent assignment associated with the drive will also be removed e MOVE drive OUT MOVE drive OUT ASN Finally you can obtain a listing of the current drive mappings with the following command CAT ASN Using files in ResiDOS The filesystem used by ResiDOS is the same as that used by the ZX Spectrum 3 ZX Spectrum 3e and various Amstrad computers and is a version of the popular CP M filesystem If you are using a 3e then you can use the same disk and files with ResiDOS as with 3e BASIC Filenames Filenames consist of an 8 character name optionally followed by a full stop and an extension of up to 3 characters The characters allowed are e letters A to Z upper or lower case there is no distinction e numbers 0 to 9 e the following characters _ Although extensions are not needed by BASIC or ResiDOS you may find it helpful to name files in a consistent way so that all BASIC programs have an extension of BAS for example As well as the filename itself you can specify a drive letter followed by a colon to identify which drive the file is stored on A to P if this is not done then the default drive will be assumed this is drive A unless you change i
3. Removes any auto RUN file setting RUN Loads and runs the auto RUN file ROM management commands LOAD filename FORMAT Loads a ROM image from the hard disk and installs to the interface as an Interface I type ROM NB you must first CLEAR 29999 or lower LOAD filename FORMAT n Loads a ROM image from the hard disk and installs to the interface as a type n ROM NB you must first CLEAR 29999 or lower Values for n are made as the sum of the following e 0 for an Interface II ROM or any other ROM that does not require ResiDOS support e 1 fora BASIC ROM e 16 to install the ROM into the writeable RAM part of the interface memory e 32 to disable the NMI button for this ROM only affects BASIC ROMs CAT FORMAT Shows a list of all installed ROM formats the location ROM RAM and the type Interface 2 BASIC System CAT FORMAT EXP Shows a list of all installed ROM formats the location ROM RAM and the type Interface 2 BASIC System including hidden formats ERASE formatname FORMAT Erases format from ROM or RAM You do not need to change write protection for this command FORMAT formatname Restarts computer using selected format FORMAT Restarts computer using internal ROM ResiDOS Programming From v1 40 it is possible to access some of the features of the operating system from machine code programs so that utility programs which access files can be written Calls are available in R
4. add hl sp ld ERR_SP hl set the error handler SP rst RST_HOOK invoke the version info hook code defb HOOK_VERSION pop hl ResiDOS doesn t return so if we get JE noresidos here some other hardware is present detect_error pop hl ld ERR_SP hl restore the old ERR_SP ld a ERR_NR inc a is the error code now OK JE nz noresidos if not ResiDOS was not detected ex de hl get HL ResiDOS version push hl save the version ld de 0140 DE minimum version to run with and a sbc hl de pop be restore the version to BC ret nc and return with it if at least v1 40 noresidos ld bc 0 no ResiDOS ld a Sff ld ERR_NR a clear error ret Package calls The facilities of ResiDOS are divided up into packages each of which provides its own set of calls Two packages are currently provided the ResiDOS package itself and the JDEDOS package The first of these provides only one call at the moment to cause a new ResiDOS error code in BASIC the other provides all the useful calls for accessing partitions and files Making a package call involves the following steps e setting up registers required by the call e switching to the alternate set and loading B with the package ID and HL with the call ID e invoking the package call hook code e checking for errors if the carry flag is reset Fc 0 e examining the registers returned by the call Here is some generic code to make a package call Note that
5. Partition Management The IDEDOS system used by ResiDOS allows you to divide your hard disk up into many separate partitions which can each be assigned to a drive letter and used for storing files You can have as many partitions as you like on your disk but currently there are a maximum of 6 that can be assigned to drive letters at any one time Partitions can be one of two types data for holding files and swap for use as temporary workspace by programs or the operating system Other types may be added in the future Note that no programs currently require swap partitions but there is no harm in creating one for future use Commands exist to allow you to create and delete partitions and assign them to drive letters Unlike some inferior operating systems this can all be done from BASIC and there is no need to reset your Speccy at any point Creating deleting and listing partitions You can create a partition using one of the following commands which create data and swap partitions respectively e FORMAT DATA name size e FORMAT EXP name size To identify which unit master or slave a partition is to be created on the number can be included at the start of the name followed by the unit number eg 0 gt Documents or 1 gt Games If you don t specify the unit then the master drive is assumed Names can be up to 16 characters long this doesn t include the unit identifier and are not case sensitive The size for a parti
6. if you are intending to return to BASIC at any point you should always preserve the alternate HL register pair H L as this is required by BASIC set up any entry parameters here exx ld b package_id ld hl call_id rst RST_HOOK invoke the package call hook code defb HOOK_ PACKAGE jr nc process error handle error if Fc 0 handle any return values here The ResiDOS Package This package currently provides a single call which takes a ResiDOS error code in A such as returned by any call in the IDEDOS package and generates a report message returning to BASIC Here is an example use of this call ld a rc_noswap no swap partition exx switch to alternate set ld b PKG_RESIDOS ResiDOS package ld hl RESI_REPORT ResiDOS call ID rst RST_HOOK invoke the package call hook code defb HOOK_PACKAGE The IDEDOS Package This package provides many of the calls available in 3DOS used on the 3 and 3e and IDEDOS used on the 3e The calls all use the same input and output parameters but there are some gotchas e 128K memory configurations are not supported You should always specify 0 for the page number in calls which expect it e Some calls return addresses in page 7 such as DOS REF HEAD Data at these addresses cannot be accessed directly since it is not in main memory Instead you must use the IDE ACCESS DATA call detailed later 3DOS Calls The following 3DOS calls may be used Full details are i
7. mapping permanent Additional calls An extra call IDE ACCESS DATA is provided so that data which exists in the ResiDOS memory can be read or written by programs Such addresses are referred to in the 3DOS documentation as being in page 7 Instead use this call with the provided address as the source or destination and your own buffer as the other address IDE_ACCESS DATA IN HL source DE destination BC length OUT s Fc 1 Register status on return Bo 6 ig nS IX same AFBCDEHL different From IDEDOS v1 02 onwards available in ResiDOS v1 60 the following additional calls are available IDE_ PARTITIONS returns the number of open partitions excluding the system partition which is always open on the unit specified IDE_PARTITIONS IN A unit 0 or 1 OUT s A number of open partitions excluding system HL free partition handle or 0 Fo 1 Register status on return er Pe ae hee same AFBCDEHL IX different IDE_IDENTIFY reads the 512 byte drive identity information which can be examined to determine the drive type and manufacturer as well as other information IDE_IDENTIFY Low level IDE 512 byte drive identity read IN B page for transfer C unit 0 or 1 HL address OUT s Fc 1 HL end address 1 in segment 3 A RC_READY drive not ready A RC_SEEK seek fail A RC_UNKNOWN unknown disk error Register status on return BCDE IX same OUT f Fc 0 AF HL different
8. M into the writeable RAM part of the interface memory the non writeable ROM part is used by default e 32 to disable the NMI button for this ROM only affects BASIC ROMs If you don t specify a value then the default of 0 will be used Note that it is generally advisable to only store BASIC ROMs only into the non writeable ROM part of the memory since unless they have been specifically patched they tend to overwrite themselves However if you are running short of ROM space on a ZXATASP interface you may specify RAM instead This is not a concern on ZXCF interfaces since the memory can be configured automatically by ResiDOS to be ROM or RAM as required A couple of examples are LOAD SEBASIC FMT FORMAT 1 LOAD c jetpac rom FORMAT 0 Managing alternative ROMs You can see a list of all the installed formats in your interface by using the following commands the second version includes hidden formats used by the system but not selectable by the user CAT FORMAT CAT FORMAT EXP The names of the formats except built in system formats will be the same as the filename used when loading them except that any extension is ignored For example the formats loaded in the previous section would be named SEBASIC and jetpac You can erase any installed format using the following command this only erases it from the interface memory not from the hard disk ERASE formatname FORMAT Remember that SE BASIC uses DIR i
9. The ResiDOS User s Manual ZLxXCF 2003 Sami Vehm Res ib b0S Sees G ry Lan aster Wersion 1 68 Memory 1024K Total 325K free 193852 Amstrad Introduction ResiDOS is an extension to ZX Spectrum BASIC that operates with either the ZXATASP IDE compactflash interface or the new ZXCF compactflash interface Both interfaces were designed by Sami Vehmaa ResiDOS installs itself into your interface s onboard RAM together with a modified copy of the Spectrum ROM and then provides you with extra BASIC commands for accessing files on the hard disk or compactflash card and using the extra RAM on your interface It also provides a comprehensive task manager which can be reached using the NMI button and allows you to instantly switch between a number of programs or games running on your Spectrum ResiDOS Installation Installing for the first time Installing ResiDOS is simple First download the appropriate version of the installation software for your interface from the downloads page and load it into your Spectrum The software is provided in the form of an emulator TAP or TZX file so you will need to transfer it using software such as playtzx or an emulator You ll find suitable software on the World Of Spectrum site Once it s transferred just LOAD it into your Spectrum and follow the simple on screen instructions During installation the program will confirm the size of your interface s RAM usually 128K 512K or 1024K and give you t
10. The string can also contain a filename or wildcards and will display only those files which match the string Additionally you can add the EXP keyword at the end of the command to show all files including system files which are normally hidden together with the attributes for each file Some additional information is also given for BASIC and CODE files saved by ResiDOS Finally you can specify a stream number so that you can for example print the catalog listing This also applies to all other CAT commands in ResiDOS Some examples are CAT d CAT 15C CAT bas CAT e test EXP CAT 3 3 c Note that on some versions of BASIC notably SE BASIC the CAT command has been renamed to DIR Deleting files To erase files from the hard disk use e ERASE filename You can use wildcards in order to erase many files at the same time but be careful if using this facility Note that in SE BASIC the ERASE command has been renamed to DEL Copying files You can make a copy of file to a new file with a different name or copy one or more files using wildcards to a different drive and or user area Some examples are SAVE letter doc TO letter2 doc SAVE rom TO b SAVE 0c TO 3e SAVE manic sna TO e You can use the LOAD keyword instead of SAVE if you prefer the effect is exactly the same Renaming files To rename a file use e MOVE filename TO newname This must be a si
11. ace or set the upload or disable jumper this is useful for 128K Spectrums and 3s To do this use the command FORMAT The ResiDOS Task Manager 3 z For help on ResiDOS commands to turn off Spectrum Resibos Bnapshot Aquaplane Hobbit 5s Hename Tatworde Manichiner Border rie bbit trotis Resibos copy Be w Tair Fs Worp y CEITA Burge The Task Manager When you press the NMI button on your ZXATASP or ZXCF interface the Spectrum immediately stops whatever it was doing whether you were in BASIC a word processor a commercial game or whatever and enters the Task Manager The Task Manager screen shows a list of the current tasks running on your Spectrum together with the menu options that are available to you When you first enter the task manager the task list will consist of just a single task named Task 0 which is whatever you were doing at the time To return to it simply press ENTER Using the RAM in your ZXCF or ZXATASP interface you can store several tasks at the same time and switch between them instantly from the task manager screen The number of tasks you can have running at once depends on the amount of RAM in your interface Since ZXATASP interfaces have their memory strictly divided between ROM and RAM they can only run about half the number of tasks as a ZXCF interface With 512K memory depending upon what else is using your RAM you can have up to 10 tasks running at once on a ZXCF interfac
12. artup Otherwise user area 0 on drive A will be the default drive when you switch on You can also use the SAVE keyword for this command File management commands CAT Shows a list of all files on the default drive in the default user area CAT EXP Shows an expanded listing of all files on the default drive in the default user area CAT filespec Shows a list of files that match the file specification provided This can include a user area drive filename extension and wildcard characters and CAT filespec EXP Shows an expanded listing of files that match the file specification provided LOAD filename Loads a BASIC program from hard disk LOAD filename CODE Loads a CODE file from hard disk LOAD filename CODE a Loads a CODE file from hard disk at a specific address LOAD filename CODE a Loads a CODE file from hard disk at a specific address and with a specific length LOAD filename SCREEN Loads a screen from hard disk LOAD filename RESTORE Loads a snapshot from hard disk SAVE filename Saves a BASIC program to hard disk SAVE filename LINE n Saves an auto starting BASIC program to hard disk SAVE filename CODE a Saves a CODE file to hard disk SAVE filename SCREEN Saves a screen to hard disk LINE filename line Changes the auto run line number for a BASIC program If the line provided is 0 auto running is disabled for the program ERASE filespec Erases a file f
13. ash cards while the Spectrum is still on FORMAT ERASE unit maxpartition Completely erases the hard disk unit 0 for master 1 for slave and initialises it with the IDEDOS structure Following this you will be able to use the partition management commands to add partitions for storing data on the disk The maxpartition number is approximately the total number of partitions you will be able to create don t make this too large hundreds of partitions or other disk management routines will be too slow Don t make it too small or you may not be able to create all the partitions you want some partitions are used to keep track of free space etc Suggested values are between 15 63 Partition management commands CAT TAB Displays a list of all the partitions on your disk also showing any permanent drive mappings CAT TAB EXP Displays an expanded listing of all the partitions on your disk including their physical positions on the disk FORMAT DATA name size Creates a new data partition on your disk for storing files Partition names are not case sensitive and can be up to 16 characters long and include a unit identifier 0 gt or 1 gt The maximum partition size is 16Mb Sizes can be specified in kilobytes numbers larger or equal to 256 or megabytes numbers up to 255 FORMAT EXP name size Creates a new swap partition on your disk for temporary use by the Spectrum These are not currently used by ResiDOS itself but
14. e or 5 on a ZXATASP interface The maximum number of tasks allowable is 16 this is only possible on a 1Mb ZXCF interface The menu options described below allow you to manage your tasks quickly and easily Managing Tasks The options available are shown on the task manager screen Simply press the highlighted letter to select the option Cursor keys up and down Use these to move the highlight up and down the task list ENTER Re enters the highlighted task New Creates a new task activates it and resets the Spectrum into BASIC Don t worry all the other tasks are still there Copy Makes a copy of the highlighted task Delete Deletes the highlighted task Purge Deletes all tasks except the highlighted task Rename Renames the highlighted task Task names are up to 16 characters long Border Sets the border colour for the highlighted task Since it isn t possible for ResiDOS to know the border colour it makes a guess which is sometimes wrong You can change that here before saving a snapshot Snapshot Saves a snapshot of the highlighted task onto the hard disk This can be reloaded later using the LOAD filename RESTORE command Other options Help Shows a series of pages giving help on extra BASIC commands provided by ResiDOS NB This feature is temporarily unavailable due to a lack of space Turn off Spectrum This takes you to a special shutdown screen from which you can turn off the Spectrum in safety W
15. esiDOS using hook codes which are invoked using the RST 8 instruction followed by a hook code There are two main hook codes available to programmers the version information hook code which detects which version of ResiDOS is available if any and the package call hook code which is used to access all other facilities All the following pieces of code are provided in the format used by Interlogic s free z80asm assembler which is available for many platforms at Z88 Forever Binaries are provided for several platforms and most others including MacOS X can compile the source package Additionally instead of using magic numbers for the various call IDs etc these are defined as meaningful words You should download the following file which contains the necessary include files together with an example utility program assembly file and pre built TAP TZX e resitools zip Detecting ResiDOS Any program which is going to use ResiDOS facilities must first check that it is installed and that a suitable version number is available Currently you should check that at least v1 40 is available since no packages or calls were available in previous versions Some suitable code for testing the version follows It can be called from BASIC and returns the version number in BC or 0 if not installed residetect ld hl ERR_SP push hl save the existing ERR_SP ld hl detect_error push hl stack error handler return address ld h1 0
16. hen you switch back on the Task Manager will start up again and you will be able to continue exactly where you were with all your tasks still running ResiDOS Command Reference The following is a complete list of commands currently provided by ResiDOS Hard disk refers to CompactFlash cards for ZXCF interfaces or ZXATASP interfaces with a compactflash adapter Note that in SE BASIC and some others CAT is replaced by DIR and ERASE is replaced by DEL All the CATaloguing commands can send their listings to other streams by specifying a stream number For example if stream 3 is attached to your printer you can use CAT 3 e bas to print a list of all the BAS type files on drive E Disk management commands FORMAT unit cyl head sec Specifies the parameters number of cylinders heads and sectors of your hard disk Unit is 0 for the master drive or 1 for the slave drive Only needs to be done if the auto detection fails to work FORMAT unit 0 0 0 Disables any detection of unit altogether This might help improve boot speed slightly if for example you never have a slave drive attached FORMAT ounit Changes unit to use auto detection again rather than manually set parameters FORMAT Unmaps all current drives and re initialises IDEDOS causing disks to be re detected and drives mapped back again without losing any of the program or data currently in memory This is useful to allow swapping of compactfl
17. itialise the disk Note that doing this erases everything currently stored on the disk The command to use is FORMAT ERASE 0 15 This initialises the master drive unit 0 allowing up to 15 partitions to be created You can specify any number you like for the number of partitions but note that the more you allow the slower certain partition management commands will be Each partition can be up to 16Mb in size I d recommend calculating the number you would need to completely fill the disk and adding several more for a bit of elbow room So a 1Gb disk could use about 1000 16 63 partitions and you might wish to specify around 80 Once the disk is initialised you only ever need to do this once you can use the partition management commands to add some partitions for storing your files Switching disks or CompactFlash cards To switch to using a different hard disk or CompactFlash card you can use the following command FORMAT This will unmap all existing drives and re detect your disks cards automatically mapping any drives back again as it would do on boot Your BASIC program and all other data will be unaffected by this process so it s a very useful command for transferring files from one CompactFlash card to another Note that once your disk is initialised ResiDOS stores its details about cylinders heads sectors etc on the disk itself so when swapping disks or CompactFlash cards there is no need to set these details again
18. may be used by applications in the future The maximum partition size is 16Mb Sizes can be specified in kilobytes numbers larger or equal to 256 or megabytes numbers up to 255 FORMAT BIN name Deletes a partition together with all the files it contains This can only be done if no drive is currently mapped to it MOVE unit gt name TO newname Renames a partition The unit identifier must be present in the original name in this command Drive mapping commands CAT ASN Displays a list of the current drive mappings MOVE drive IN name Maps a drive A to P to the partition specified A maximum of 6 drives can be mapped at any time MOVE drive IN name ASN Maps a drive and makes the assignment permanent so it will automatically be restored each time you switch on MOVE drive OUT Unmaps the drive A to P specified MOVE drive OUT ASN Unmaps a drive Additionally removes any permanent assignment for the drive LOAD location Makes the specified location the default The location can be a user area 0 15 or a drive A P or both If you only specify one of these the current default for the other will be retained Any filenames that don t include a drive letter or user area will now refer to this default You can also use the SAVE keyword for this command LOAD location ASN Makes the specified location the default and makes this permanent so that it will also be the default on st
19. n the 3 manual which can be obtained from The World Of Spectrum Calls marked with an asterisk probably won t work as expected or be very useful DOS_INITIALISE DOS_VERSION DOS_OPEN DOS_CLOSE DOS_ABANDON DOS_REF HEAD DOS_READ DOS_WRITE DOS_BYTE_READ DOS BYTE WRITE DOS_CATALOG DOS_FREE_SPACE DOS_DELETE DOS_RENAME DOS_BOOT DOS_SET_DRIVE DOS_SET_ USER DOS_GET_POSITION DOS_SET_POSITION DOS_GET_EOF DOS_GET_1346 DOS_SET_1346 DOS_FLUSH DOS_SET_ACCESS DOS_SET_ATTRIBUTES DOS_OPEN_DRIVE DOS_SET_MESSAGE DOS_REF_XDPB DOS MAP B DD_SET_RETRY DD_SEL_FORMAT DD_ENCODE DD_L_XDPB DD L DPB IDEDOS Calls The following IDEDOS calls are provided Documentation is provided at the 3e website IDE_VERSION IDE_INTERFACE IDE_INIT IDE_DRIVE IDE_SECTOR_READ IDE_SECTOR_WRITE IDE_FORMAT IDE_PARTITION_FIND IDE PARTITION NEW IDE_PARTITION_ INIT IDE_PARTITION_ERASE IDE_PARTITION_RENAME IDE_PARTITION READ IDE_PARTITION_WRITE IDE_PARTITION_WINFO IDE_PARTITION_OPEN IDE_PARTITION_CLOSE IDE_PARTITION_GETINFO IDE_PARTITION_SETINFO IDE_SWAP_OPEN IDE_SWAP_CLOSE IDE _SWAP_OUT IDE_SWAP_IN IDE SWAP EX IDE_SWAP_POS IDE SWAP MOVE IDE SWAP RESIZE IDE DOS_MAP IDE_DOS_UNMAP IDE DOS _MAPPING IDE_DOS_UNPERMANENT One slight difference is that for the IDE DOS MAP and IDE DOS _UNMAP calls the FLAGS3 variable is not used it doesn t exist on all Spectrums Instead you can provide a drive letter as lower case to make the
20. ngle file you cannot use wildcards It is possible to use this command to change the user area for a file but not the drive simply by specifying the same name with a different user area Changing file attributes You can add or remove various file attributes from a file or group of files using wildcards The possible attributes are e P protected or read only e S system or hidden e A archive doesn t have any real use Protected files cannot be erased or changed and system files cannot be copied and are not normally listed in catalogs only in expanded catalogs You can add or remove a single attribute at a time by using a or character as in the following examples e MOVE Of Ne a TO p e MOVE sys TO s e MOVE letter doc TO p Accessing old ResiDOS filesystems Before v1 40 ResiDOS used a very simplistic filesystem If you have a disk containing this old filesystem you can still access files on it by using the LOAD SAVE CAT and ERASE commands but adding an extra For example LOAD Program SAVE screen SCREENS CAT ERASE Jetpac Note that this facility exists in v1 43 only and is not present in current versions so if you need to transfer files from an old filesystem please download v1 43 to do this and then upgrade to the current version when you have transferred all your files onto the new filesystem Customising ResiDOS As well as being able to configure ResiDOS t
21. nstead of CAT and DEL instead of ERASE Using alternative ROMs Once you have installed some formats as described in the previous section they are available for instant use whenever you switch on the Spectrum To activate a particular format use the command FORMAT formatname For example having installed the ROMs in the previous section we could use either of them like this FORMAT SEBASIC FORMAT jetpac If the format is an Interface II ROM it will immediately start Pressing the reset button will reset the ROM To return to ResiDOS you will need to either reset your interface and the Spectrum together or switch off the power completely and then switch the system back on If you are activating a BASIC format the Spectrum will restart using that BASIC You can then use ResiDOS commands as normal and the additional features of the particular BASIC you have chosen The new BASIC will remain as the default one even if you switch off the Spectrum and turn back on again To return to the original BASIC you can simply select the Standard format which is automatically created as part of the installation process for example FORMAT Standard Alternatively hold down the CAPS SHIFT key while the Speccy is booting up and the standard format will be automatically re selected One final feature is the ability to switch off the interface memory altogether and use your Spectrum s built in ROM without having to unplug the interf
22. o automatically set up drive mappings and default drives when you boot up you can customise it in other ways Custom colours You can choose custom colours which will be set every time the Spectrum starts up rather than the usual boring old black on white To do this use the normal colour commands but followed by By using the percentage sign you specify that the current colour scheme including the new colour you are just setting will be used whenever you boot Additionally you can use the new ATTR command to specify all colours together this is calculated as ink paper 8 bright 64 flash 128 The commands are INK n PAPER n BRIGHT n FLASH n ATTR n Note that because the sets all the current scheme as default the following examples have the same effect and set a default colour scheme of yellow ink on blue paper e INK 6 PAPER 1 e INK 6 PAPER 1 AutoRUN files You can also set an auto run file This must be a BASIC program which can do whatever you like which will run automatically on boot or just whenever you enter the special RUN command To set an auto run file use one of the following commands e RUN filename e RUN filename ASN You may specify a drive and or user area with the filename otherwise the defaults will be assumed These two commands differ because with the second case the auto RUN file will automatically be loaded every time you reset or NEW your Spectrum The fir
23. rom the hard disk The filespec can include wildcards to erase multiple files at once MOVE filename TO newname Renames a file wildcards are not allowed This command can be used to change the user area a file is located in but not the drive MOVE filespec TO attrib Adds the attribute P protected S system or A archive to the file or group of files specified MOVE filespec TO attrib Removes the attribute P protected S system or A archive from the file or group of files specified SAVE filename TO filename2 Copies a single file to a new file which may be in the same location or a different one You can also use the LOAD keyword for this command SAVE filespec TO location Copies one or more files if using wildcards to another location You can also use the LOAD keyword for this command Customisation commands INK n Sets ink colour to n and saves the current colour scheme as the default PAPER n Sets paper colour to n and saves the current colour scheme as the default BRIGHT n Sets bright to n and saves the current colour scheme as the default FLASH n Sets flash to n and saves the current colour scheme as the default ATTR n Sets attributes to n and saves them as the default colour scheme RUN filename Sets the auto RUN file which will only be executed with RUN RUN filename ASN Sets the auto RUN file which will be executed automatically on boot or with RUN RUN A Ahh
24. ry time you switch on use e LOAD E ASN Note that it is not currently possible to change the default user area from 0 although this may be possible in future LOADing and SAVE ing files You can load and save files to and from the hard disk or CompactFlash card using the standard LOAD and SAVE syntax but adding a sign after the command name For example e SAVE hello bas LINE 10 e LOAD piccy SCREENS Note that DATA files are not currently supported although BASIC programs CODE files and SCREENS are If you attempt to SAVE a file when one already exists with the same name the existing file will be renamed by changing its extension to BAK before the new file is saved If there was an existing BAK file of the same name it will be automatically deleted Additionally snapshot files saved by the Task Manager can be reloaded using the command e LOAD snapname RESTORE Changing BASIC auto run status It is not possible to MERGE files in ResiDOS but you can change whether or not a BASIC program auto runs using the LINE command e LINE filename line If you specify a line number of 0 then the BASIC program will no longer auto run Cataloguing files To show a list of all files on the current drive in the current user area use e CAT You can also specify a string containing a drive or a drive and user area to see files in that particular location otherwise the default drive and user area are assumed
25. st command stores the filename but will not load it unless you enter the following command e RUN Note that you can hold the CAPS SHIFT key down when booting to stop drives from being automatically mapped so any auto RUN file will not be able to be loaded You can disable the auto RUN file with the following command RUN Using alternative ROMs in ResiDOS fez pas S TTE petty Pine ter Version 1 26 Memory 1824K Total 344K free CF Cautojy CH97F H 18 5 17 7 Copyright 61982 857 Amstrad ple The RAM in your ZXCF or ZXATASP interface can be used to store alternative versions of BASIC or Interface IT ROM images Once they have been added you can start them up at any time using a simple command Adding ROM images to the interface memory The first stage is to transfer an image of the ROM BASIC or Interface II that you wish to use and save it on the hard disk or CompactFlash card using the SAVE command You can get these ROMs from various places but a good starting point is always World Of Spectrum Next you must type the following command which reserves memory space for the installation process CLEAR 29999 Now install the ROM using the following command LOAD filename FORMAT n In this command the parameter n is a number made by adding the following values together e 0 for an Interface II ROM or any other ROM that does not require ResiDOS support e 1 fora BASIC ROM e 16 to install the RO
26. t Finally you can also specify a user area number just before the drive if you don t then the default user area usually 0 is assumed The user area can be between 0 and 15 This facility allows you a sort of primitive directory system on each drive Some example filenames are prog TEST BAS c puzzle Se screen scr test21 z Wildcards Some commands can have wildcards provided in their filenames These are used to match multiple files The following wildcard characters are allowed e matches any sequence of characters e matches any single character Wildcard characters can be used in either the name or extension part of the filename Some examples are e x ok e bas e c test b Setting the default drive and or user area You can set the drive which is used by default to any you like if you don t use this facility then ResiDOS will use A as the default drive and 0 as the default user area To set the default drive and or user area use the commands e LOAD c e LOAD 3 e LOAD 5d As these commands show you can alter the default drive without affecting the default user area and vice versa or you can set both together You can use the SAVE keyword instead of LOAD if you like it doesn t make any difference If you wish you can make your preference permanent by adding the ASN keyword to the end of the command For example to make E the default drive and have ResiDOS remember this preference eve
27. tion can be given in kilobytes K or megabytes MB with a maximum size of 16 megabytes allowed A number smaller than 256 is assumed to be a size in megabytes a number larger or equal to 256 is assumed to be a size in kilobytes You can delete a partition together with any files that are stored on it using the command e FORMAT BIN name A partition can only be deleted if there are currently no drives mapped to it You may also rename a partition using the following command e MOVE unit gt name TO newname Note that you must include the unit identifier for this command otherwise it will assume you want to rename a file not a partition Finally you may display a list of partitions in a normal or expanded form using the following commands e CAT TAB e CAT TAB EXP Mapping drives to partitions Before you can access files on a data partition you must map it to a drive letter Up to 6 drive letters can be in use at a time and you can use any drive from A to P By default RestDOS saves and loads files to drive A so you may want to map your most frequently used drive to this letter however it is also possible to change the default drive to something other than A When mapping a drive to a partition you can make the assignment permanent which means that ResiDOS will automatically make the Same assignment every time the Spectrum starts up This is done by adding the ASN keyword to the end of the mapping command
28. wo main options The first option is to use the standard ROM or an alternative one Using the standard one means that your Spectrum s existing ROM will be copied into the interface RAM and modified If you select an alternative ROM you will be asked for a filename to LOAD in containing the ROM image This allows your interface to start up with a different ROM for example you might choose SE BASIC The second option allows you to decide whether the NMI button will have any effect You should enable this unless you have a specific reason not to if for example you are using an alternative ROM that has it s own NMI routine that you would prefer to use If you enable the NMI then you will be able to use the powerful ResiDOS Task Manager Once you have made your choices and changed the jumpers on your interface as instructed the Spectrum will reset and you should see the ResiDOS boot screen appear Upgrading to a new version of ResiDOS When a new version of ResiDOS becomes available installation is even easier Just load the installation program from tape as normal and it will automatically detect your existing version You can then choose to upgrade and the system will be automatically updated leaving all your installed ROMs and tasks still in the interface s memory If you choose to re install the normal installation procedure will occur This will wipe all the ROMs and tasks from your interface s memory Note that the upgrade will onl
29. y work if you already have ResiDOS version 1 20 or higher already installed since earlier versions cannot be detected Setting up your hard disk or CompactFlash Before you can use your hard disk or CompactFlash it needs to be initialised with the IDEDOS system ResiDOS can work with two different physical drives normally known as the master and slave unit in all the following commands the first number given identifies the unit number which is 0 for the master and 1 for the slave The first thing to do is make sure that ResiDOS understands the structure of your disk Normally it automatically detects this and displays the details on the boot screen However if for some reason this doesn t work you can manually specify the parameters shown on the drive itself or to be found on the manufacturer s website with the following command FORMAT 0 977 10 17 The above command assumes your hard disk is the master drive unit 0 and has 977 cylinders 10 heads and 17 sectors Once you have entered this command the details are permanently stored in your interface s RAM You can re enable auto detection for the master drive unit 0 with the command FORMAT 0 If you want to disable detection of a drive altogether to save a bit of time on boot you can do so with the following example command which disables detection of the slave drive unit 1 FORMAT 1 0 0 0 When you re sure that ResiDOS knows the correct details you need to in
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