GST Computer Systems Limited 68K/OS User Manual 68K/OS
Contents
1. Y deletes all files on the current data default device without further confirmation DELETE PROG GST438 CAR PIC causes DELETE to request confirmation that the file CAR PIC should be deleted from the directory e g microdrive cartridge called GST438 68K OS User Manual 31 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A 5 DRAW draw pictures The file DRAW PROG contains a program which draws pictures on the screen You may save pictures as you draw them in microdrive files It is possible to edit pictures using DRAW and the editor but this is a fairly crude process DRAW is a toy rather than a computer aided design system The program has two main modes menu mode in which you specify what you want to draw and cursor mode in which you specify where you want to draw it Don t worry about the flashing cursor in the menu field labelled window you are unlikely to want to use this so don t type anything there yet Initially DRAW is set to draw black dots on a black background which is not terribly useful Pressing Fl selects different shapes to draw and pressing F2 selects different colours in which to draw them Apart from the four or eight solid colours DRAW can deal in stipples formed by mixtures of two of the solid colours Holding down CTRL or SHIFT when you press F selects different stipple colours and patterns with a little experimentation you will discover how to select any particular pattern P2. the base of the QL until you feel some resistence and the flat section ef the black handle stands proud from the edge of the keyboard by between 3mm and 5mm The board may be a tight fit because of the front guide If the board is very difficult to insert check that it is correctly located in the board guides and that the metal plate of the front guide allows the board to slide freely When the board is almost fully inserted you may need to ease the board from side to side or up and down very slightly in order to mate correctly with the internal connector you will feel when the two connectors are aligned Apply steady but firm pressure to the handle and the board should mate with the connector inside the QL pushing in a further 3mm to 5mm with the flat section of the handle now flush with the keyboard edge Testing the 68K OS Printed Circuit Board Between the black plastic handle on the board and the front of the QL is a three position switch that protrudes from the board select the switch position closest to the handle Plug the QL into your monitor or television and the mains power supply and switch on The QL should power up into QDOS as usual Now select each of the remaining switch positions in turn this may be done safely with the power connected and press the QL reset button at the right of the machine In the central switch position the QL should reset into QDOS but in the position closest to the front of the of the machi
3. a report on the amount of space on that cartridge E g SPACE PROG MD PETER reports on the amount of free space on the cartridge called PETER 68K OS User Manual L47 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited ULTLERY PROGRAMS A 15 TIME set date and time and start clock The file TIME PROG contains a program which performs various functions concerned with the date and time It uses the associated file CLOCK PROC which it will look for on the default program directory If you just give the command TIME PROG the program will tell you the date and time and then offer you the opportunity to change them If you do not wish to change the date and time just hit ENTER in response to the questions or CTRL Z meaning end of keyboard input file Alternatively you may give the new date and time on the command line for example TIME PROG 25 7 84 11 46 When the date has been set the TIME program will load the procedure CLOCK PROC which will continuously display the time in the bottom right hand corner of the screen instead of the flickering red dots Note that this clock is only updated when the machine has nothing else to do so if the machine is very busy the colon will stop flashing and the time will eventually become out of date the clock will be corrected as soon as the machine has time to do so There is no way to get rid of the clock without restarting 68K 0S When giving the new time and date on the command line you may
4. at the start of the variable field these keystokes are ignored ALT CTRL cursor left Causes the current variable field to be cleared The cursor is placed at the start of the field TABULATE This keystroke moves the cursor to the next alterable field Note that the order of the fields is defined by the program so the next field need not be the next one on the same line or the first one on the next line although this will usually be the case m SHIFT TABULATE This keystroke moves the cursor backwards to the previous alterable field 68K 0S User Manual 26 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited The Menu Handler ENTER This keystroke causes the menu handler to stop talking to the user and pass the contents of all the variable fields to the applications program which will decide what to do next function keys F1 F5 These are ignored unless the calling program has indicated that they are valid function options for this menu When valid they act in the same way as the ENTER key except that the program will also be told which function key was pressed and can do something different for each function key The function keys F1 F5 are also acceptable in combination with SHIFT or CTRL cursor up and cursor down If there is a second window containing a list of options then the cursor in the second window may be moved up or down Otherwise these keys are ignored ESC If there is a second window containing a li
5. directed by the system to the current program as selected by the user with system mode commands described in 7 2 above Programs can read the keyboard in two ways either line by line or character by character Most of the utility programs supplied read most channels which can usefully be connected to the keyboard in the line by line mode except when a more powerful piece of software such as the menu manager is being used Reading the keyboard character by character causes the keystrokes to be read by the user program exactly as they are typed except of course for system mode commands The keystrokes are not reflected anywhere on the screen so the user can t see what he is typing unless the program does something about it itself Reading the keyboard line by line causes the keystrokes typed to be reflected on the screen and some line imaging commands are available The following keystrokes are acted on as described all others being ignored i e not copied to the user s buffer and not displayed on the screen a Displayable Characters ASCII Values hex 20 to hex 7F All displayable characters are reflected on the screen and are copied to the user s buffer b ENTER The ENTER key terminates the line of input placing the end of line character in the user s buffer The cursor moves down to the beginning of the next line on the screen c Delete Character Left CTRL cursor left The celete character left keystroke del
6. enter in place of either the time and date and no changes will be made For example TIME PROG will tell you the current time and date and will not ask you to give a new time and date It is good practice to ensure that your QL always has the correct time and date set as creation and modificattion dates of files are recorded in nicrodrive directories and some programs such as the assembler print the date and time on their output listings 68K OS User Manual 48 9992 1 GST 35 1 09
7. name The green asterisk indicates whether program or data defaults will be used F2 determines whether read access is required or not and F3 determines whether write access is required or not These are used when opening channels IOOPEN or modifying directory entries IOPUTDIR F4 determines whether the access mode required is sequential or random this is used when opening channels IOOPEN F5 will switch the list of function names on or off You may want to switch it off if it obscures some of the menu fields This will depend on the screen mode you have chosen note that the menu rearranges itself to some extent to cope with different screen widths put it can t always get it completely right Shift F5 will terminate the IOSSMENU program All numbers required or displayed by IOSSMENU are in hexadecimal Leading zeros may be omitted If you need to enter a zero value you may leave the entire field blank 68K 0S User Manual 38 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A brief description follows of where on the menu the parameters and results for each IOSS call are displayed IOSETDEF New default string in path name field Fl determines whether program or data defaults to be set Current defaults displayed on screen will be updated IOGETDEV IOGETPRE Result is displayed in the path name field It will be the same as the default displayed above IOOPEN Settings of Fl F2 F3 F4 are
8. of the Motorola M68000 series processor architecture and instruction set we recommend the official Motorols handbook M68000UM AD M68000 Programmer s Reference Manual Motorola An excellent programming primer which also gives details of the M68000 architecture and instruction set suitable for the inexperienced assembler programmer and alsc valuable for experienced programmers who have rot used the M68000 before is Addison Wesley Programming the M68000 Tim King and Brian Knight For the experienced M68000 programmer details of advanced 68K 0S systems programming including internal data structures system traps and inter program communication are given in 9992 1 GST 54 Systems Programmer s Reference Manual All these manuals and books are available from GST by mail order Disclaimer Under no circumstances will GST Computer Systems Limited be liable for any direct indirect incidental or consequential damage or loss including but not limited to loss of use stored data profit or contracts which may arise from any error defect or failure of 68K 0S hardware or software either during installation or cperation GST Computer Systems Limited has a policy of constant development and improvement of their products We reserve the right to change manuals hardware software and firmware at any time and without notice Copyright and Trade Marks The 68K OS operating system software held in EPROM and on microdrive cartridge together with
9. omitted if a the device is omitted in which case a user supplied default see below is used b the device does not support the directory component name may be omitted if the device does not support the name component or if an operation on a directory is being performed if the name is omitted then no extension component is permitted a extension is optional at all times and not allowed in some cases if the extension is omitted and then name is present the separating period may optionally be present 68K 0S User Manual 18 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Path Names 8 3 8 4 Path Name Defaults The two different sets of default strings are provided so that programs can be loaded from one microdrive and data files can be accessed on another microdrive with no device or directory names needing to be specified by the user The SET DEFAULT option in ADAM will set either the default program device and directory or the default data device and directory depending on which is the current default as indicated by the white cursor The string supplied by the user is combined with the previous default to make the new default for example if the previous default is MD GST and the user resets the default to NEWTAPE then the previous default device MD will be preserved and the new default will be MD NEWTAPE When a new program is started it inherits the defaults belonging to the parent program Thus
10. the default data directory unless you specify otherwise We recommend that all picture files end in PIC but no software actually insists on this you cpen s a log file a file that already exists then any more figures you draw will be added to the end of that log file If you make a mistake and want to delete a wrong figure or change the wording of some text or something like that you may EDIT the log file This is a fairly nasty business and we do not give any details here but it shouldn t take you too long to work out what is going on ixperiment with the file handling until you ere sure that you understand it before expending a large amount of effort in drawing a complicated picture and make really sure that you do have a log file open The only way to get rid of the DRAW program is to kill it from system mode 68K 0S User Manual ta ww 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A 6 DUMP print a copy of the screen The file DUMP PROG contains a screen dump program which will print a copy of the screen on an Epson FX 80 printer or on an Epson JX 80 printer but only in monochrome Note that the Epson FX 80 still sends you XON and XOFF charcters even when you have set all available switches to use the handshake lines instead and as this upsets the QL fairly seriously it is necessary to cut jumper J8B on the Epson serial card or whatever else is necessary if you serial card works dif
11. the on board switch in the QDOS positions the QL will power up and reset into QDOS In this mode the 68K 0S printed circuit has no effect on QDOS operation so your QL will operate exactly as before Switching Between QDOS and 68K 0S You may operate the on board switch at any time even when you have programs running The next time you press reset the QL will start up according to the switch position Remember to remove your cartridges from the microdrives before pressing reset because the QL hardware may write on them Note also that QDOS and 68K OS microdrive formats are not compatible 68K OS Startup Screen After starting 68K 0S the QL will display a red screen with a white border with eight lines of information indicating the following a The 68K 0S logo b The GST software revision number second line to the left c Your serial number second line to the right a Sereen mode choices these are Fl Four colours 85 characters across monitor F2 Four colours 80 characters across TV or monitor F3 Four colours 60 characters across TV F4 Eight colours 42 characters across monitor F5 Eight colours 40 characters across TV e GST copyright notice Experiment with the screen modes pressing the reset button on the right hand edge of the QL as necessary until you find one that suits the monitor or television that you are using Note that the utility and applications programs supplied with 6
12. used Name of device or file to be opened should be typed in path name field Channel number field will be returned IOCLOSE Requires channel number field IOLOAD Requires path name and Fl setting as usual The entrypoint and the size of RAM needed to run the procedure as a program are displayed The procedure identifier is displayed IOUNLOAD Requires procedure identifier as returned by an earlier call of IOLOAD or IODEFPRO IODELETE Requires path name IORENAME The old name is supplied in the path name field and the new name is supplied in the buffer field 68K OS User Manual 39 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS IOGETDIR Requires path name and magic number The path name may contain wild card characters and The magic number must be zero or a magic number returned by a previous call of JOCETDIR operating on the same directory A particular matched path name is returned in the buffer field and the magic number field is updated The file position field contains the size of the file in bytes The time and date of creation end last modification are also displayed The read and write access bits for the directory are beneath the last modified date and the read and write access bits for the file are displayed in the fields that are normally changed by the user with F2 and F3 IOPUTDIR Requires path name Uses current settings of F2 and F3 to update the read and write acces
13. 8K 0S will work with any screen mode but are designed to work best with a screen width of at least 80 characters Fl or F2 In particular the 68K OS command program ADAM will display two directories at the same time only if there is a screen width of at least 80 characters Note also that the single line menu which is at the bottom of the screen during 68K 0S operation is always truncated to the screen width 68K OS User Manual 9 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Conmana Reagrat Moteriar COMMAND PROGRAM TUTORIAL Command Program Screen After selecting your screen mode with one of the function keys 68K 0S will start the main command program which is called ADAM and is held in ROM The description below assumes that you have selected screen mode Fl or F2 from the initial red screen If you have selected some other mode then ADAM will only display a single directory on the screen and you must use F3 to switch directory displays The screen is divided into number of different areas Some of these belong to ADAM which is a menu driven command program and some of them belong the the operating system end are used to control the system The operating system areas are a At the bottom right hand corner of the screen there are some red dots displaying a binary count this may not be visible on a TV When 68K OS is idle it adds one to the count represented by these dots which therefore give you some indication of how b
14. COPY has finished use F3 to switch to directory MD SYS or whatever you called it and press F4 to update the directory listing 68K OS User Manual 14 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Extra Command Program Features EXTRA COMMAND PROGRAM FEATURES How ADAM Starts Programs If the RUN PROGRAM function is given a complete program pathname in the commanc line such as MD 0S DATE PROG then ADAM will search only the device and directory specified for the program If only the program name is given DATE PROG then ADAM will first search the default program directory and if the program is not found it will then search the default data directory If ultimately ADAM cannot find the program it will display an appropriate message or status code Note that it is possible to MOUNT a cartridge without performing a SET DEFAULT function In this case the full program pathname must be given to ADAM in order to find the program It is possible to pass parameters from ADAM to programs by typing them in the command line after the program name each separated by a space the whole line being terminated by ENTER For example you could have run the DATE program by typing DATE PROG 18 10 84 22 55 or whatever the date and time realy is followed by ENTER If the program you run does not expect parameters passed from ADAM they will be ignored When a program starts it will inherit the current default directories from its parent which i
15. EETE PROGRAMS The editor tries very hard never to lose data for you It preserves your original file until the very last moment when it renames its output file to the correct name so if it or the whole machine collapses for any reason the original file will be intact If the tape becomes full while you are editing the editor will stop and say so You may use system mode to return to ADAM and delete some files from the tape to make some more space and then return to the editor and continue editing This will work as long as your file is not too big to edit at all Warning It is not a good idea to attempt to edit any file which has any of the following extensions BOTTOM OLD TEMP or TOP 48K 0S User Manual 36 g992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UELLETS PROGRAMS A 8 FORMAT prepare a tape The file FORMAT PROG contains the program which must be used to format blank microdrive tapes before they can be used with 68K 0S The messages produced by the FORMAT program should be adequate to enable you to use the program Sinclair recommend for hardware reasons that you format each new tape more than once before using it A poor result from an attempt to format a tape such as repeated complete failure may be due to the tape being incorrectly inserted in the microdrive Try removing the tape and replacing it a few times before deciding that you have a dead tape or a dead microdrive 68K OS User Manual 37 9992 1 GS
16. GST Computer Systems Limited 68K 0S OPERATING SYSTEM USER MANUAL 68K OS User Manual 1 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited CONTENTS INTRODUCTION l Purpose and Scope of this Manual 2 68K 0S Components List 3 Other Useful Manuals and Books 4 Disclaimer 5 Copyright and Trade Marks INSTALLING 68K 0S Important Warning Visual Inspection of the 68K OS Printed Circuit Board Removal of the Blanking Panel Examination of th Peripheral Expansion Port Insertion of the 68K OS Printed Circuit Board Testing the 68K OS Printed Circuit Board Removal of the 68K 0S Printed Circuit Board na sou Fw monmwnnwn GETTING STARTED Running QDOS Switching Between QDOS and 68K 0S 68K OS Startup Screen Ww w w w Wher COMMAND PROGRAM TUTORIAL Command Program Screen Command Program Operation Mounting a Microdrive Cartridge Using SET DEFAULT Running Programs Free Fw MAKING A BACKUP COPY OF THE 68K 0S CARTRIDGE 1 Formatting a Blank Cartridge 2 Copying the 68K 0S Cartridge Mww EXTRA COMMAND PROGRAM FEATURES How ADAM Starts Programs MOUNT and DISMOUNT Functions AAD MH SYSTEM OPERATION System Mode and Normal Mode Purpose and Use of System Mode General Remarks System Functions e System Log JNA vrun 68K OS User Manual 2 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited PATH NAMES General Syntax Path Name Defaults Wild Cards O09 CO FUH DEVICES Devices Available Key
17. L hardware cannot receive at 19200 baud and that if you want it to receive at 9600 baud you must send the QL at least 1 5 stop bits At slower speeds 1l stop bit is adequate 68K 0S User Manual 28 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited MELISS PROGRAMS A 2 COLOUR print a copy of the screen The file COLOUR PROG contains a screen dump program which will print a colour copy of the screen on an Epson JX 80 printer Note that the Epson JX 80 still sends you XON and XOFF charcters even when you have set all available switches to use the handshake lines instead and as this upsets the QL fairly seriously it is necessary to cut jumper J8B on the Epson serial card or whatever else is necessary if you serial card works differently If you modify your printer you do so entirely at your own risk and GST Computer Systems Limited do not accept responsibility for any loss damage or injury By default COLOUR will send the screen dump to TX1 which then sends it down the wire connected to the socket labelled SER1 You can however send it elsewhere by giving the alternative path name as a parameter on the command line COLOUR PROG TX2 uses socket SER2 instead COLOUR PROG FRED puts it in a microdrive file from where you can copy it to TXl or TX2 later COLOUR PROG SCREEN is very silly Note that COLOUR is only intended to work properly when the QL is in four colour mode 68K OS User Manual 29 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer
18. Systems Limited GILL PROGRAMS A3 COPY copy files The file COPY PROG contains a program which copies files around You can specify the files to be copied on the command line For example COPY PROG myfile text screen will copy the file myfile text from the default data directory to the COPY program s screen area Alternatively you can just say COPY PROG on the command line in which case the COPY program will ask you for the names of the sources and destinations The COPY program will accept a source file name containing wild card characters and as described in 8 4 above and will copy all matching files in no particular order For example COPY PROG text md backup will copy all files of type text from the current directory to the microdrive cartridge called BACKUP 68K 0S User Manual 30 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited MELE PROGRAMS A 4 DELETE delete files The file DELETE PROG contains a program that deletes individual files or groups of files If you start the DELETE program just by typing DELETE PROG in ADAM s command window then you will be prompted for file names to delete and asked for confirmation just before each one is deleted Alternatively you may put one path name in ADAM s command line after DELETE PROG If you also put a Y after that path name then all files corresponding to that name will be deleted without further request for confirmation E g DELETE PROG
19. T 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A 9 IOSSMENU low level I O interface The file IOSSMENU PROG contains a program which allows the you to access more or less directly the input output system I0SS in 68K OS This program is not useful to a typical personal computer user but is included because a you may be writing applications programs in which case IOSSMENU allows you to experiment with the main interface to the operating system b you may be evaluating 68K 0S with a view to using it in a system you are building in which case you will be interested in the capabilities of the input output system c it makes extensive use of the menu handling package and is a good example of the use of that package for creating easy and consistent user interfaces In order to use this program you will need to read the 68K 0S Programmer s Reference Manual Appendix A which defines in detail all the calls to IOSS What IOSSMENU does is provide a convenient means for you to key in parameters to IOSS calls and view the results The various fields in the menu are usually used for the purposes indicated by the labels but some IOSS calls return rather strange results and these do not all have separate menu fields but are displayed in other fields usually with an additional label Fl controls the value of the program data indicator that will be passed to those IOSS calls that need one basically those which require a path
20. al In general 68K 0S uses device independent interfaces throughout so anything that you can do to one device or file car be done to another For example the COPY program can copy to and from microdrive files to and from pipes to and from RS232 lines from the keyboard and to the screen Some programs are more restrictive in that they require random rather than sequential access to some of their files the assembler for example can take its source input from a mixture of keyboard RS232 lines and pipes and can write its listing output to the screen or an PS232 line in addition to files but must have a microdrive file for its binary output as this is a random access file Devices differ in their requirements for path rame components the full path names for each standard device are defined below a KEY the keyboard b SCREEN sequential screen output c MD DIRECTORY FILENAME EXTENSION microdrive files d PIPE FILENAME EXTENSION pipes e TL RS232 transmit line one E TXe R3232 trnasmit line two g RX1 R5232 receive line one h RX2 R5232 receive line two i ROM FILENAME EXTENSION ROM program storage 68K 0S User Manual 20 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Devices 9 2 Keyboard driver Device name KEY Allowed operations Directory operations no Reading yes Writing no Random access no Any number of programs may open any number of channels to the keyboard simultaneously Keystrokes are
21. artition s active cursor may cease to be visible as soon as any normal input takes place at the active cursor position the partition will meta scroll again in order to display that cursor Switch out of system mode and send subsequent keystrokes except ALT F1 to the program owning the current partition Anything else will cause a bleep but will otherwise be ignored 7 5 System Log F4 not in system mode updates the system log in the left hand side of ADAM s screen When ADAM has loaded ERRMSG PROC messages appear there rather than hexadecimal status codes See 4 2 above 68K OS User Manual ir 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Path Names PATH NAMES General All 68K OS devices and files are referred to by a path name whose general form is device directory name extension An example of such a path name is MD SYS COPY PROG A system of defaults ensures that in most cases only name extension or device needs to be typed by the user Syntax Each component of a path name device directory name extension has the same syntax A component obeys the following rules a it is between 1 and 8 inclusive characters long b allowed characters are letters and digits c letters may be in upper or lower case and case is not significant All components of a path name are optional depending on circumstances device is optional at all times and a user supplied default see below is used directory may be
22. board Driver Screen Driver Microdrive Filing System RS232 Output Driver RS232 Input Driver Pipe Driver ROM Driver Loadable Device Drivers 10 0 10 10 0 0 10 10 10 O OAD FUNDE 10 THE MENU HANDLER APPENDIX UTILITY PROGRAMS A l BAUD set serial line speeds A 2 COLOUR print copy of screen in colour A 3 COPY copy files A 4 DELETE delete files A 5 DRAW draw pictures A 6 DUMP print copy of screen monochrome A T EDIT the text editor A amp FORMAT prepare a cartridge A 9 IOSSMENU low level I O interface A 10 MEMMAP display state of memory A 11 CRLF filter a file for an ASCII printer A 12 RENAME rename a file A 13 SLIDES produce a slide show A 14 SPACE report on microdrive file space A 15 TIME set date and time 68K OS User Manual 3 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Introduction INTRODUCTION Purpose and Scope of this Manual The 68K 0S User Manual provides an easy to use introduction to the installation and operation of the 68K 0S operating system and its utility programs on the Sinclair QL It tells you how to install 68K 0S in your Sinclair QL how to make a backup copy of the 68K 0S microdrive how to operate the system how to load and run 68K 0S programs how to operate the 68K 0S utility programs useful tips and warnings This manual does not tell you how to write programs for 68K 0S in particular how to write M68000 programs how
23. er Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A 11 PRINT filter a file for an ASCII printer The file PRINT PROG contains a program which filters a file for an ASCII printer It removes all non ASCII characters from its input file and converts line feed characters hex OA to carriage return line feed OD OA pairs Type PRINT PROG on ADAM s command line The PRINT program will prompt you with Print from to which you should give the name of an input file The output will be directed to TX1 For most printers and most data you will not need to use this program and can COPY or otherwise send files direct to the printer 68K OS User Manual 44 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS e A 12 RENAME change the name of a file The file RENAME PROG contains a program which allows the name of a microdrive file to be changed RENAME takes two parameters either on the command line or in response to prompts the first is the current name of the file and the second is the new name 68K 0S User Manual 45 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited ULLEETE PROGRAMS A 13 SLIDES produce a slide show The file SLIDES PROG is a program which will show a preselected set of pictures on the screen as a slide show je t takes one parameter which is the name of a file containing a slide show script this parameter can be given on the command line or in response to a prompt SLIDES will load the first pict
24. ere is a small tab at the top of the blanking panel which lies directly underneath the protruding lip of the keyboard this should be pulled outwards from the QL to remove the panel If the blanking panel proves stubborn to remove you should carefully lever it off using a thin blade such as a penknife or screwdriver Examination of the Peripheral Expansion Port After removing the blanking panel examine the 64 way male connector inside the QL peripheral expansion slot to ensure that none of the pins are missing or tent If you discover any bent cr missing pins then your QL will have to be repairec before you can plug any device into the peripheral expansion port Examine the right angled metal plate that extends from the base cf the keyboard inside the QL tc the inner front of the machine together with the plastic ecard guides moulded on both sides of the inner base of the machine just inside the expansion port These will guide the printed circuit board into position 68K OS User Manual 6 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Installing 68K 0s 2 5 2 6 Insertion of the 68K 0S Printed Circuit Board Hold the 68K 0S printed circuit board in your left hand with the EPROM chips on the upper surface and the 64 way female connector pointing towards the peripheral expansion port Holding the QL with your right hand carefully slide the board into the QL using the card guides ensuring that the board remains parallel to
25. ers may be sent except that if you type a copyright character IOSSMENU will convert this to a line feed before sending the buffer The buffer length field is ignored IOSSMENU takes the buffer contents with trailing blanks removed and calculates the length of the actual text typed The number of characters actually sent is returned IOPUTRAN As IOPUTSEQ except that a file position is also required IOPUTLIN As IOPUTSEQ except that it stops when it gets to a line feed in the buffer remember that you get a line feed into the buffer by typing a copyright character IOSETPOS Requires channel number and file position IOTRUNC Requires channel number IOGETPOS Requires channel number and returns file position IOEOF Requires channel number and returns Boolean possibly hidden under the command list window IOSIZE Requires channel number and returns file position IOREADY Requires channel number and returns Boolean IOMOUNT Requires path name and microdrive unit number IODISMOU Requires path name and or microdrive unit number see the full description of IODISMOU in the Programmer s Reference Manual 68K 0S User Manual 41 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UT IMEE PROGRAMS IOSPECIA Requires path name The only device driver which has an IOSPECIA routine is the RS232 output driver see 4 2 4 above the Dl parameter for this routine is entered in the file position menu field IODEFPRO Requires pa
26. etes the character to the left of the cursor and moves the cursor left one position on the screen If all characters entered by the user so far on this line have already been deleted then the delete character left keystroke has no effect 68K OS User Manual 21 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Devices a Move Cursor Left cursor left The left arrow key on its own will also delete the last character in the same way as CTRL cursor left this is just to save the user having to hold down the CTRL key e Delete Line ALT CTRL cursor left The delete line keystroke deletes all the characters entered so far on this line f End of File CTRL Z The end of file keystroke terminates the line being read without the insertion of an end of line character and returns an end of file condition to the applications program some programs ignore this some use it to terminate the input file from the keyboard and some programs will stop completely 9 3 Sereen driver Device name SCREEN Allowed operations Directory operations no Reading no Writing yes Random access no The SCREEN device driver provides an interface to the screen for programs which only wish to use the screen as a simple sequential output device and which do not wish to drive the display file manager explicitly Output to this device driver will appear in the console display file window If the program has not explicitly created such a window then
27. ferently If you modify your printer you do so entirely at your own risk and GST Computer Systems Limited do not accept responsibility for any loss damage or injury By default DUMP will send the screen dump to TX1 which then sends it down the wire connected to the socket labelled SER1 You can however send it elsewhere by giving the alternative path name as a parameter on the command line DUMP PROG TX2 uses socket SER2 instead DUMP PROG FRED puts it in a microdrive file from where you can copy it to TXL or TX2 later DUMP PROG SCREEN is very silly 68K 0S User Manual 34 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILTTE PROGRAMS A T EDIT the text editor The file EDIT PROG contains a text editor To edit either an existing or a new file give the command line EDIT PROG file text where file text is the name of the file to be edited The editor will start up and display a ruler line and the current contents of the file blank if you are creating a new file You can also edit from an existing file to a new file the final result will be that your original file is unchanged and the newly edited copy is filed with the new name To do this give the command line EDIT PROG original text file text where original text is the file that you wish to make a copy of and file text is where you want the final result to be stored Note that when editing in this way the original file can be a device other than a microdri
28. for example any applications program running under ADAM will have the defaults that ADAM had when the program was started and changing ADAM s defaults later will not affect the applications program s defaults Wild Cards Some applications programs in some circumstances will accept path names that differ from the normal path name syntax in that question mark characters may be included in the name and extension components During a directory search a question mark matches any character or a question mark at the end of a component can match no character For example name extension matches name99 extension or name2 extension f f matches flf fzf and fff In addition when question marks are allowed the last character of each of the name and extension components can be an asterisk which has the same meaning as enough question marks to extend the component to eight characters For example f has the same effect as f has the same effect as 7 772277 227772272 bill has the same effect as bill 7 77 7 68K OS User Manual 19 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Devices DEVICES Devices available i This section lists the devices implemented in 68K OS for the QL It gives a rough outline of the properties of each device In order to write programs to drive these devices a little more information is needed and this can be found in the 68K 0OS Programmer s Reference Manu
29. g a cartridge while a program has files open on it but attempting to DISMOUNT a cartridge with open files will result in an error message So if you are in doubt it is a good idea to DISMOUNT a cartridge before removing it 68K OS User Manual 15 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited ayaten Operation T 3 SYSTEM OPERATION System Mode and Normal Mode The key combination ALT Fl switches the keyboard into system mode in which all keystrokes are processed directly by the operating system rather than by any particular program When the system is in this mode a special single line menu is displayed at the bottom of the screen and every keystroke causes a bleep to sound The ESC key switches the keyboard out of system mode Purpose and Use of System Mode System mode is used when more than one program is running to control a the way in which screen space is divided between the running programs b which program receives keyboard input Note that only one program will have a flashing cursor at any given moment and that normal keyboard input is directed according to the position of the flashing cursor The partition of the screen con taining the flashing cursor is referred to as the current partition and of course corresponds to the program which is to receive normal keystrokes System mode is also used to suspend restart or kill individual programs or to re boot the entire system General remarks The next sectio
30. ic because FORMAT will not let you destroy OS or any other cartridge including those written in QDOS and Spectrum formats without asking you whether you really mean it FORMAT will ask you for a name for your cartridge You may call it anything you like except OS SYS would be a reasonable name If the FORMAT fails completely this could be because the cartridge was incorrectly inserted into the microdrive Take it out reinsert it and try again For hardware reasons Sinclair recommend that each new cartridge is formatted at least twice before being used After you hav formatted your cartridge set it to the default data directory by using F3 followed by the SET DEFAULT function You will notice that the directory display will change to show the the directory name SYS or whatever you called it followed by an empty file list Copying the 68K 0S Cartridge To make a backup copy of your OS directory cartridge you must run the program COPY from the directory OS as follows a Select RUN PROGRAM by means of the Fl key b Ensure that the command line is empty c Type COPY PROG OS SYS followed by the ENTER key This should copy all the files one by one from OS to SYS and output a message for each file copied If you have any write errors reformat your new cartridge or a different cartridge and try again If you encounter persistent read errors contact your retailer or GST if you purchased by mail order When
31. inserting the cartridge If you still have problems contact your retailer or GST if you purchased by mail order g The cartridge is now mounted and selected as the default program directory and is called MD 0S which is made up of the device name MD for microdrives and the directory name OS for the individual cartridge Fron now on on the rare occasions when you quote the cartridge name use MD 0S not the drive number The white cursor can be moved up and down the directory listing with the CURSOR UP and CURSOR DOWN keys the directory listing scrolling through its window if necessary One of the files in the list is FRRMSG PROC which contains system messages ADAM has already loaded this file into RAM which explains the extra microdrive activity after displaying the directory and it will stay there until the QL is reset or 68K 0S is rebooted 68K 0S User Manual 12 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Command Program Tutorial 4 4 Running Programs The main purpose of ADAM is to start other 68K OS programs As an example run the program DATE PROG as follows a Press Fl to return to the RUN PROGRAM function and then delete the current contents of the command line using the CURSOR LEFT key b Move the white cursor up and down the Prog directory listing using the CURSOR UP and CURSOR DOWN keys until it is adjacent to the filename DATE PROG and then press ESC which copies the filename to the command line Pressi
32. ling manner The programs supplied that use the menu handler are ADAM DRAW and IOSSMENU A menu consists of one window containing the text of the menu and the fields to be filled in by the user and optionally one other window from which a line may be copied to fill in a field on the menu ADAM in fact contains two such optional secondary windows the default program directory listing and the default data directory listing and you can switch between them using the F3 key This particular feature shows how the basic functions of the menu handler can be easily extended by clever applications programs There is one cursor in each window the one in the main menu window is used for entering data into the user alterable fields and the one in the second window is used for pointing at items to be selected The main menu window contains some fixed text some variable text and some fields which you can modify directly from the keyboard You can only move the cursor to fields in which you are allowed to enter data Fields which you can type over may have default or initial values supplied by the program You can enter and correct data in variable fields by means of a subset of the normal editing commands as used by EDIT cursor left and CTRI cursor left These two keystrokes are treated identically in that the character to the left of the cursor position if any is deleted and the cursor moved back into that position If the cursor is already
33. ll have seen this when trying out the F2 key earlier but it is rarely necessary to use this explicitly Cartridges are normally mounted as am automatic by product of setting the program or data default as follows a Take the cartridge labelled 68K OS and place it in either microdrive the left hand drive is unit O and the right hand drive is unit 1 If you choose drive O the copying operations will be much faster b Press F2 until the option SET DEFAULT is selected c Press F3 until the white cursor is in the Prog directory listing you are going to select the tape as the default program directory d If the command line contains any characters delete them by holding down the CURSOR LEFT key e Type MD or md followed by the ENTER key This specifies that you wish to set the program default directory to a microdrive device As you have not specified a cartridge name ADAM assumes that you want to mount the tape at the same time and will ask you which drive the tape is on by creating a UNIT NO field f Type O or l as appropriate in answer to the question followed by ENTER The cartridge will now be read for up to 8 seconds after which the Prog directory display should change to show that the directory name is now MD 0S instead of ROM and the contents of the tape should be listed If the status code returned from this operation is non zero and the directory list does not change repeat the operation carefully after re
34. municate with each other and synchronise with each other Pipes provide an i o channel from one applications program to another A pipe is named by giving it a filename so many pipes may exist in the system at once A pipe is created when it is opened at one end for the first time this may be the reading end or the writing end It is deleted when both ends are closed The pipe device is fully device independent in that any sequential input or output channel may be redirected to a pipe simply by quoting a different path name in the normal way ROM Driver Device name ROM Allowed operations Directory operations yes Reading no Writing no Random access no It is possible to store a number of procedures in ROM and execute these either as procedures or as programs The ROM device driver exists to allow the available procedures to be queried and loaded Loadable Device Drivers It is possible to add device drivers to the system This is usually done by running a program which uses special 68K 0S system calls to install the driver software If on start up 68K 0S finds any programs in the ROM directory which have DRIVER as an extension these are run immediately by this means drivers may be loaded automatically 68K OS User Manual 25 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited The Menu Handler 10 THE MENU HANDLER The menu handler is a package within 68K OS that allows you to communi cate with a program in a form fil
35. n on system functions is a more or less formal description of the effects of various keystrokes in system mode it is provided for reference rather than for instruction The best way to learn about system mode and what it is for is to experiment with it and the best way to do that is to create several copies of ADAM and then to experiment with the effects of various keys in system mode When experimenting in this way it is as well to bear in mind the following few points a In normal mode a suspended program has its usual one line menu at the bottom of the screen replaced by the word SUSPENDED b When you kill a program all its children and their children etc die too c If you try to kill the original ADAM then nothing will happen da If you restart the system by means of SHIFT F1 you do not have to remove any microdrive cartridges there may be in the machine e When you press the SHIFT key the single line menu changes this is only possible in system mode no user program can ever detect the SHIFT key alone 68K 0S User Manual 16 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Syskem Operetron 7 4 System Functions In system mode the following keystrokes and key combinations have the following effects SHIFT F1 F2 SHIFT F2 F3 SHIFT F3 F SHIFT F4 SHIFT F5 Cursor ESC Re boot 68K OS regardless of what programs are running and alsc regardless of the position of the 68K 0S card swi
36. ne the QL should reset into 68K 0S If the machine does not behave as described above and in particular if the QL sound channel is activated switch off mains power remove the 68K OS cara and switch mains power on again to ensure that the QL is functioning correctly If it is switch mains power off once more and repeat the installation procedure fron the beginning If after two attempts your 68K OS card does not function as described above and you are certain that you have followed these instructions correctly and that the board was correctly inserted you should consult your retailer or GST if you purchased by mail order 68K OS User Manual 7 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Installing 68K 0S 2 7 Removal of the 68K OS Printed Circuit Board Once 68K OS is installed there should be no need to remove the board from your QL unless you wish to install extra EPROM chips in the spare sockets provided To remove the board first ensure mains power is switched off Select the switch position nearest the front of the QL hold the QL with your right hand hold the board handle between thumb and forefinger of your left hand and pull firmly Do not be surprised if the handle bends during this process this is normal and it will resume its correct shape once the board is removed 68K OS User Manual 8 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Setting Starten 3 1 is GETTING STARTED Running QDOS With the
37. ner tells you what ADAM will do with any command line you type Press F2 a few times to see what the options are then press Fl to return to the RUN PROGRAM option The white field with the red flashing cursor is the command line Try typing something You will find that the field is actually slightly shorter than it looks You can delete individual characters with the either the CURSOR LEFT key or CTRL CURSOR LEFT The entire command line can be deleted with the combination ALT CTRL CURSOR LEFT The green field in the top right hand corner gives a status code which indicates the result of the last thing you tried to do normally a status code of zero indicates success Try typing various things and pressing ENTER Depending on what you typed various hexadecimal status codes are displayed in the status field This is not very friendly but will improve once ADAM has found the system error message file ERRMSG PROC on the supplied microdrive cartridge The white window headed Log displays a list of all the programs that you have run and their status on completion To illustrate this try the following a Ensure the selected option is still RUN PROGRAM type Fl if not Then clear the command line if necessary using CURSOR LEFT b Type ADAM or adam followed by ENTER This will start a second copy of the command program c Type the key combinations ALT Fl followed by SHIFT F5 This will abort the second ADAM Then type ESC to get out
38. ng ENTER will now load the program DATE PROG from the tape and run it The DATE program opens a window at the bottom of the screen and will first prompt you for the date and then the time in 24 hour format Answer each prompt as specified followed by ENTER The program now loads the procedure CLOCK PROC from the cartridge which displays a digital clock in place of the red binary count in the bottom right hand corner of the screen After a few seconds the DATE program will finish but the clock display will remain Press F4 to update the Log window 68K 0S User Manual 13 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Making A Backup Copy Gam MAKING A BACKUP COPY OF THE 68K OS CARTRIDGE Formatting a Blank Cartridge It is essential to make a backup copy of the 68K 0S microdrive cartridge before using the system in earnest To do this you will need first to format a blank cartridge GST do not supply blank cartridges and these must be obtained from your retailer or direct from Sinclair Alternatively use one of the cartridges originally supplied with your QL if it contains no useful data Ensure you are in RUN PROGRAM mode and that the command line is clear The either type FORMAT PROG or copy the filename from the directory list using ESC Place a blank cartridge in the microdrive which is currently not in use and answer all the questions asked by FORMAT which is designed to be self explanatory If you get the unit number wrong don t pan
39. of system mode d Type F4 to update the Log field You will see that ADAM terminated with status code 26 indicating that it was terminated from the keyboard or by another program The status codes will be replaced by sensible messages when ADAM has loaded ERRMSG PROC The red windows contain two listings of file directories where programs will look for program and data files e The window headed Prog holds the default program directory where programs will usually look for program files The window headed Data holds the default data directory where programs will usually look for data files At startup you have no microdrive tapes mounted and both directory listings are by default listings of the ROM device which contains the single file ADAM You will notice e white cursor in the Prog directory You can move this between the Prog directory and the Data directory by pressing F3 You can also move this cursor up and down either listing with the CURSOR UP and CURSOF DOWN keys but this is not useful until you have mounted a directory with more than one file in it 68K 0S User Manual ca 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 thy Computer Systems Limited Command Program Tutorial 4 3 Mounting a Microdrive Cartridge Using SET DEFAULT 68K OS handles microdrives very efficiently but one of the costs of this efficiency is the requirement that all microdrive cartridges must be mounted prior to use ADAM contains a MOUNT function you wi
40. ressing ENTER will draw the currently selected shape in the currently selected window at the currently selected cursor position s in the currently selected colour s The cefault window setting is the entire area of the black part of DRAW s screen you can set the window smaller than this by changing the x and y start coordinates and sizes All these coordinates are in character positions starting at the top left hand corner cf the black area To move the flashing cursor from one menu field to the next one press the TABULATE key to move backwards press SHIFT as well The position at which things are to be crawn is selected while in cursor mode press F4 to enter cursor mode The four arrow keys wil row move the main cursor in white when the background is black around holding ALT down as well will move this cursor faster If the CTRL key is held instead of as well as the ALT key the secondary cursor in red when the background is black if you can t see it adjust your television tuning will move Figures requiring only one position pixel paint fill text use the main cursor position only The remaining figures require two positions and use the positions of both cursors While in cursor mode you can try out the figure you want to draw to see if you have got the cursors in the right place press I l This trial figure will go away at the next keystroke When you have the right positions pressing ESC will return you to menu mode and pres
41. s permissions for the file Any string typed in the comment field will be added to the directory entry as a user comment and will be displayed by subsequent calls of IOGETDIR IODIRINF Fequires path name leaving the menu field blank will tell you about the currently selected Fl default directory Lisplays total space on directory and currently unused space both in units of lkbyte Also displays an upper bound on the number of files present in the directory there may actually be fewer files than this at the moment IOGETSEQ Requires channel number as returned by a previous call of IOOPEN and buffer length the buffer length field is labelled length and is below the buffer field Returns the buffer contents and the number cf bytes read The bytes read are displaye as ASCII characters any byte whic is not a reasonable value to display as a character is displayed as the copyright character The buffer may be longer than you think move the cursor to the buffer field to see the end of it IOGETRAN As IOGETSEQ except that the file position field is also required IOGETLIN As IOGETSEQ except that it stops reading at a line feed character and the status codes can be different 68K OS User Manual 4O 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS IOPUTSEQ Requires channel number Characters to be sent must be typed in the buffer it s longer than you think just keep typing Only printable charact
42. s usually ADAM It is usual to mount a cartridge containing programs as the default program directory and a second cartridge containing data files as the default data directory Note however that is quite all right to have a single cartridge that is set as both the program and data default directories MOUNT and DISMOUNT Functions ADAM provides facilities to mount micrdrive cartridges without setting either the program or data default The MOUNT function operates in exactly the same way as SET DEFAULT except that neither of the red directory windows are updated and the directory name is written into the command line by ADAM for confirmation Once a directory is mounted you can use the SET DEFAULT function without reading the cartridge again by typing the directory name such as OS instead of MD followed by the drive number When addressing files on a cartridge that has been mounted with MOUNT but not selected as a default you must include the cartridge name in the pathname otherwise ADAM will assume one of the default directories The DISMOUNT function requires a directory name to be typed in the command line You will rarely need to use this function because SET DEFAULT and MOUNT automatically dismount directories when you change the cartridge in a microdrive Note also that forgetting to dismount a cartridge before it is removed from the drive is harmless and will not by itself cause data loss It is possible to lose data by removin
43. sing ENTER will draw the figure permanently 68K 0S User Manual 32 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS The text option will draw whatever text you have typed in the appropriate menu field Remember that you move the cursor between menu fields with the TABULATE key or SHIFT TABULATE combination see 4 3 above for more details of the menu kandler Don t worry if you want a longer string the menu field is longer than it looks Unless you select one of the strange text attributes the background colour used for the text will be the auxiliary colour from the menu which can be selected using F3 and various combinations of control keys as for F2 Paint will fill in the area pointed to by the main cursor up to any boundary Fill will fill up to a border in the auxiliary colour Note that if the mair cursor is positioned very near to a colour change for either of these functions then you will get a silly answer as DRAW will think you want it to fill etc over a stippled background In general you may obtain nany strange effects using paint fill and stippled ink The file handling facilities are obtained by pressing F5 from menu mode To illustrate all the file handling facilities a Open a log file F1 b Draw a few figures c Close the log file F2 d Clear the screen e g draw a large black block e Read the log file back again F3 The files will as usual be looked for or created on
44. st of options then his key causes text from the line contining the cursor in tht window to be copied into the current variable field printable characters These are appended to the contents of the variable field at the current cursor position and the cursor is moved one position to the right ALT cursor left and ALT cursor right These keystrokes can be useful when you have lost part of your menu off the side of the screen due to horizontal scrolling When either of these keystrokes is received the menu handler will attempt to reposition the menu on the screen such that the start or end as appropriate of the line is displayed in the screen as well as the current cursor position Where this is not possible e g with very long lines then as much text as possible will be displayed to the left or right of the cursor 68K 0S User Manual 27 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS APPENDIX UTILITY PROGRAMS In this appendix are details of the utilities supplied with 68K 0S A 1 BAUD The file BAUD PROG contains a program to set the line speed for the QL s RS232 lines The transmit and receive speeds for both ports are set to the same value You can either type BAUD PROG followed by the line speed on ADAM s command line or just type BAUD PROG and wait for the program to prompt you for a line speed The permitted line speeds are as follows 19200 9600 4800 2400 1200 600 300 T5 Note that the Q
45. tch position Make the next partition on the screen current Make the previous partition current Make the current partition grow at the expense of the other partitions Note that a partition cannot be made larger than the number of lines claimed by the program to which it corresponds nor can it be made any larger when every other partition has been reduced to one line Make the current partition shrink Note that no partition can be made smaller than one line Any extra screen space freed by shrinking a partition is evenly shared between the other partitions Suspend the activity of the program which owns the current partition This may be used to enable other programs to get a better share of the system resources Restart a previously suspended program Kill the program which owns the current partition Its screen space is shared amongst the other partitions and the partition corresponding to the parent of the killed program becomes active Note that if the killed program has any descendants then these will be killed too and their resources such as screen space recycled in the usual way In system mode the cursor up and down keys may be used to perform meta scrolling I e the current partition can be used to look at various parts of its owning program s virtual screen which would otherwise be hidden as a result of the way in which the screen space is divided between programs This is the only means by which the current p
46. th name entrypoint specify this in the file position field and RAM requirement in K specify this in the magic number field 68K 0S User Manual 42 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A 10 MEMMAP display state of memory The file MEMMAP PROG contains a program which displays the current usage of the memory in the QL MEMMAP opens a screen window just one line high and paints vertical stripes in it each a bit less than a character wide There is one such stripe for each of the 96 1Kbyte memory blocks in that part of the machine s RAM space not used for the screen At the ends of the line are some black and white horizontal stripes whch merely fill the space to the end of the line and carry no information The significance of the colours are as follows BLACK available GREEN slaved block in use by filing system containing data which is up to date on the microdrive cartridge RED slaved block in use by filing system containing data which is NOT up to date on the microdrive cartridge BLACK amp GREEN STIPPLE in use for programs and procedures code WHITE in use for programs heap stack display files etc i e data BLACK amp WHITE STIPPLE in use for system tables system heap etc Note that this program has been designed to work with the screen in four colour 85 column mode and may not produce very good results on a television 68K 0S User Manual 43 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Comput
47. the 68K OS User Manual and 68K OS Programmer s Reference Manual are Copyright 1984 GST Computer Systems Limited 68K OS and 68K ASM are trade marks of GST Computer Systems Limited QL QDOS and Microdrive are trade marks of Sinclair Research Limited wn 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Installing 68K 0S 2 4 INSTALLING 68K 0S Important Warning N Please read this entire section through carefully before installation and always ensure that the QI is disconnected from mains power supply when installing or removing the 68K OS printed circuit board Your QL and the 68K OS printed circuit board are electronic devices which must be handled with care at all times A clumsy or cavalier approach to installation is likely to prove expensive Visual Inspection of the 68K OS Printed Circuit Board After unpacking your 68K OS kit you should check for any obvious physical damage to the printed circuit board that may have occurred in transit If you suspect that the board is damaged have it checked by your retailer or GST if you purchased by mail order Under no circumstances should you attempt to install it in your QL Removal of the Blanking Panel The 68K OS printed circuit board is mounted in the peripheral expansion port on the left hand side of the QL as viewed from the normal typing position Before inserting the printed circuit board the plastic blanking panel that protects the expansion port must be removed Th
48. the opening a channel to SCREEN will create one Multiple output channels to SCREEN will by default appear mixed in the same window in exactly the same way as if a teletype or conventional VDU were the output device but the program can if it wishes direct different SCREEN channels to different windows The SCREEN device provides a device independent sequential output channel so that a program may write to a sequential output channel without knowing whether the output is to screen printer or file 68K 0S User Manual 22 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Devices 9 4 Microdrive filing system Device name MD The full path name MD tapename filename extension may be used with the microdrive filing system Allowed operations Directory operations yes Reading yes Writing yes Random access yes Before a tape can be used it must be mounted when it is finished with it may be dismounted before it is removed from the microdrive You will normally only run into problems with mounting and dismounting if you try to move a tape from one drive to the other without dis mounting it from the first drive or if you try to mount two tapes with the same name at the same time 9 5 RS232 Output Driver Device name TX1 socket marked SER1 XD socket marked SER2 Allowed operations Directory operations no Reading no Writing yes Random access no There are two RS232 output drivers one for each line although
49. they are identical in operation apart from which line they drive By default the line speed is 9600 baud It may be changed with BAUD PROG see appendix 68K OS User Manual 23 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Devices 9 6 RS232 Input Driver Device name RX1 socket marked SER1 RX2 socket marked SER2 Allowed operations Directory operations no Reading yes Writing no Random access no There is one RS232 input driver for each line There is no safe way to detect break signals However a break condition on the line will usually give rise to a hard error status code and will usually do so without generating any spurious characters first or losing any characters correctly received before the break There is no way to detect end of file signals as all possible received characters are legal byte values If a file transfer protocol is to be implemented for a specific application then a special program must be written to do this By default the line speed is 9600 baud It may be changed with BAUD PROG see appendix 68K OS User Manual 24 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Devices 9 7 9 8 9 9 Pipe Driver Device name PIPE The file name component must be used the extension component is optional PIPE pipename extension Allowed operations Directory operations no Reading yes Writing yes Random access no Pipes are the mechanism provided for programs to com
50. to use the 68K ASM assembler how to call 68K 0S system routines These topics are described in detail in other manuals and publications which are either included with 68K OS or available separately from GST see paragraph 1 3 68K OS Components List Your 68K OS kit is supplied with the following components a printed circuit board containing two 68K OS EPROMs and two spare EPROM sockets This plugs into your QL and allows you to switch between QDOS and 68K OS by operating the on board switch a microdrive cartridge containing the 68K 0S utility programs and demonstration software an A5 ring binder containing 68K OS User Manual 68K OS Programmer s Reference Manual 68K OS licence form giving your 68K 0S serial number 68K OS products order form ooo Please check your kit carefully to ensure that all your components are present Store your licence form in a safe place because the serial number must be quoted in all correspondence with GST 68K 0S User Manual 4 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Introduction 1 3 14 68K OS User Manual Other Useful Manuals and Books The manuals included in the ring binder with your 68K 0S kit are 9992 1 GST 13 68K OS Programmer s Reference Manual 9992 1 GST 35 68K OS User Manual For details of the 68K ASM assembler you will need a separate manual supplied with the 68K 0S assembler software 8290 6 GST 68 68K ASM Assembler User Manual For full details
51. ure into memory but will not display it until you press a key more or less any key will do It then displays the first slide and immediately starts reading the second picture into memory so that when you have finished talking about the first slide you can again press any key and the second slide will be shown very quickly while the program goes off and reads in the third etc The script file should contain the names of the files containing the individual pictures one per line with no leading or trailing blanks Any line that does not contain a single file name will be ignored by SLIDES and you may include comments in your script in this way For example the script could be Script for slide show First the slide saying hello hello pic then the one saying what a wonderful product we have product pic then the one saying it is time for a free lunch booze pic The individual picture files are created by the DRAW program 68K OS User Manual 46 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UTILITY PROGRAMS A 14 SPACE report on microdrive file space The file SPACE PROG contains a program which reports on the amount of space available on a microdrive cartridge or other file device If you just type SPACE PROG on ADAM s command line SPACE will report on the amount of space on the data default directory Alternatively you can type SPACE PROG followed by the name of a mounted cartridge to get
52. usy the QL is If the dots stop moving the QL is either fully loaded or it has crashed b The bottom line of the screen contains a single line menu which indicates the actions currently assigned to the function keys and is either displayed in green and white in which case it relates to the currently selected program ADAM at the moment or in red and white in which case the keyboard is in system mode and is communicating directly with the operating system The rest of the screen belongs to ADAM and is divided into four windows as follows c The top window is four lines deep and contains a multi field menu which displays a green function field a white command line with a red flashing cursor a green status field a black blank line a white and red heading line a white and red blank line d The white log window occupies the lower left of the screen end displays status codes and results passed back from programs when they finish e Two scrollable red directory windows occupy the lower right of the screen These display the contents of the current default program and data directories which default to the ROM device when 68K 0S is started up Note that the colours cf the heading fields in the menu window line up with the log and directory windows 68K 0S User Manual 10 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited Comnena EOE Tutorial 4 2 Command Program Operation The green field in the top left hand cor
53. ve file as the only operation performed on it is sequential reading It is occasionally useful to edit the output from some other program through a pipe If your command line is just EDIT PROG then you will be asked for the name of the file to be edited but you will not be able to give a different filename for the destination If you want to edit from one place to another you must give both filenames on the command line All the editor s commands are described directly or indirectly in the various menus that the menu displays in the one line menu at the bottom of the screen You would be well advised to start with the Fl command which brings up a larger menu giving details of the most common functions The editor uses up to three files while editing to hold parts of the text being edited If the original file is called file text these temporary files are called file TOP file BOTTOM and file TEMP The only limit to the size of file you can edit is the amount of space available on your tapes When you finish editing with F2 followed by S the editor will tidy up all the files it has been using This will leave the newly edited file called file text the previous version of the file if any called file old and will delete any previous version of file old The temporary files file TOP file BOTTOM and file TEMP will also be deleted 68K OS User Manual 35 9992 1 GST 35 1 09 GST Computer Systems Limited UEL
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search