CFX

[Martin A]

It should already boot as 18. But probably will also have C and maybe F configured I can't remember.

But if it isn't, booting into CPM with return held down bypasses the disc boot and runs the monitor instead, from that command prompt type

BB18

And that should boot off the B drive configured as type 18. Where 18 is the drive type for the first 8 meg on the CF.

For a permanent configuration for just the one drive the command be something like

STARTUP RECONFIG B:18.

[stephen_usher]

CFX just says "Drive not found" and CP/M hangs when I try 'BB18'

Never mind. I've ordered a 64MB CF card from eBay.

[stephen_usher]

After loading a program from a .MTX file you cannot save it as a .BAS file.

Example:

USER MTX "KOMMAND.MTX"

This doesn't auto-run but loads the BASIC program and returns to the "Ready" prompt.

If you type USER SAVE "KOMMAND.BAS" system writes a file but doesn't close it or fully write the data.

If you then reset the MTX and use USER LOAD "KOMMAND.$$$" (as it's not saved it as a .MTX file) it will read it but it's partly corrupted as the file seems incomplete.

[Dave]

But can you RUN it after loading the .mtx?

[stephen_usher]

But can you RUN it after loading the .mtx?

Yes. You can edit the program and do everything normally too.

[Dave]

Martin will know better, but I don’t think it’s a problem with CFX, as much as it is a problem with the .mtx files.

Andy makes a comment about some .mtx files not auto-running on REMEMORizer too

http://www.nyangau.org/memu/memu.htm

[Martin A]

USER MTX is basically the original Memotech code for USER LOAD tweaked to account for the differences between disc basic and tape basic. It only works for single file MTX files, as any 2 stage loaders are going to be calling the rom's tape loader directly, and patching the rom isn't an option.

That means USER MTX has 2 things to deal with:

• Tape basic stores the file name at the start of the file, disc basic doesn't as the file name is already in the catalogue.

• Disc basic stores an extra 2 bytes for the length of the system variables that tape basic doesn't.

This is the output from the assembler for the start of USER LOAD, as written by Memotech

Code: Select all

     (2804)                 .DLOAD
C804 (2804) 13              INC     DE
C805 (2805) DD 21 E8 D8     LD      IX,CHNL5
C809 (2809) CD 02 2E        CALL    GETUFN
C80C (280C) 1B              DEC     DE
     (280D)                 .AUTORUN
C80D (280D) DD 21 E8 D8     LD      IX,CHNL5
C811 (2811) D9              EXX
C812 (2812) 21 85 FA        LD      HL,USER+-4
C815 (2815) 11 12 D9        LD      DE,USERSAV
C818 (2818) 01 07 00        LD      BC,7
C81B (281B) C5              PUSH    BC
C81C (281C) D5              PUSH    DE
C81D (281D) E5              PUSH    HL
C81E (281E) ED B0           LDIR
C820 (2820) D9              EXX
C821 (2821) DD 36 27 05     LD      (IX+&27),5
C825 (2825) CD 66 29        CALL    SIOPEN
C828 (2828) CD 1D 2D        CALL    STARW
C82B (282B) 21 7A FA        LD      HL,LSTPG
C82E (282E) 7E              LD      A,(HL)
C82F (282F) F5              PUSH    AF
C830 (2830) E5              PUSH    HL
C831 (2831) CD 95 28        CALL    GETBC
C834 (2834) 60              LD      H,B
C835 (2835) 69              LD      L,C
C836 (2836) CD 95 28        CALL    GETBC
     (2839)                 .load_common
     (2839)                 ;USER MTX rejoins here
C839 (2839) CD 7E 28        CALL    READIN

And this is the modified code used by USER MTX

Code: Select all

     (318A)                 .MTX
D18A (318A) 13              INC     DE
D18B (318B) DD 21 E8 D8     LD      IX,CHNL5
D18F (318F) CD 02 2E        CALL    GETUFN
D192 (3192) 1B              DEC     DE
     (3193)                 ;AUTORUN
D193 (3193) DD 21 E8 D8     LD      IX,CHNL5
D197 (3197) D9              EXX
D198 (3198) 21 85 FA        LD      HL,USER+-4
D19B (319B) 11 12 D9        LD      DE,USERSAV
D19E (319E) 01 07 00        LD      BC,7
D1A1 (31A1) C5              PUSH    BC
D1A2 (31A2) D5              PUSH    DE
D1A3 (31A3) E5              PUSH    HL
D1A4 (31A4) ED B0           LDIR
D1A6 (31A6) D9              EXX
D1A7 (31A7) DD 36 27 05     LD      (IX+&27),5
D1AB (31AB) CD 66 29        CALL    SIOPEN            ;sequential file open        
D1AE (31AE) CD 1D 2D        CALL    STARW             ;pre-I/O setup routine
     (31B1)                 
     (31B1)                 ; now need to throw away 16 bytes of the "tape" header
D1B1 (31B1) 06 10           ld b,16
     (31B3)                 .throwaway
D1B3 (31B3) CD 72 2C        call bget
D1B6 (31B6) 10 FB           djnz throwaway
     (31B8)                 
D1B8 (31B8) 21 7A FA        LD      HL,LSTPG
D1BB (31BB) 7E              LD      A,(HL)
D1BC (31BC) F5              PUSH    AF
D1BD (31BD) E5              PUSH    HL
D1BE (31BE) CD 95 28        CALL    GETBC           ;get the variables start address
     (31C1)                 ;LD      H,B
     (31C1)                 ;LD      L,C
     (31C1)                 ;CALL    GETBC                                                                             
     (31C1)                 ; SDX basic stores the block length next, MTX files don't have that word, it has to be calculated
D1C1 (31C1) C5              push bc                ;save the variables start address
D1C2 (31C2) 21 4B FB        ld hl,start            ;system variables are saved to this point
D1C5 (31C5) B7              or a                   ;clear carry flag
D1C6 (31C6) ED 42           sbc hl,bc              ;block length calculated
D1C8 (31C8) 44              ld b,h
D1C9 (31C9) 4D              ld c,l                 ;length to BC
D1CA (31CA) E1              pop HL                 ;start to HL ready for the next call.
D1CB (31CB) C3 39 28        jp load_common         ;now go back to the load routine as there are no further differences.

I would assume any issues with autorun stem from the file, rather than the code. As autorun for disc basic files is working, and that's not altered by the changes I made.

However:

2 things to thing about.

• A lot of the Continental games deliberately corrupt the system variables.

• Different memory sizes might have an effect on auto run.

The first one is actually easy to get around. While he MTX OS CHECKS the break key under interrupts, but doesn't ACT on that while disc I/O is happening (and this applied to the real FDX and probably SDX too). So if you type in USER MTX "file" or USER LOAD "file" and then hold down break after hitting enter. as soon as the loading finishes you should get "Ready" appear, even if the program normally auto runs. Saving a program at that point should have more chance of success though it might still need a dive into panel to check/alter some of the pointers.

The second has come to light when trying some autorun programs on the MTXplus where the memory available to basic can be tweaked to be between 32k and 448k. That seems to occur with large arrays saved. Since the code used is exactly the same (as the MTXplus and CFX us the same CF hardware) it's likely there's an issue in the original Memotech code when dealing with programs that extend over multiple ram "pages". However none of the game files I've tested on the MTXplus are affected - presumably because they all fit into a single "page" of the ram.