HDCPM - boot and run CP/M plus from hard disk

[GUNHED]

What's about some classic copy tool like NS.COM, FILECOPY.COM or POWER3.COM?

[d_kef]

My physical 3" disc drive is playing up, so I love having a virtual CP/M disk drive I can load all my infocom games onto. However, I can't work out how to copy anything into the CP/M hard drives without using the physical drive. Is there a way of adding files to the drives, either on the Amstrad or via a PC?

You can use cpmtools. Full functionality only on Linux I'm afraid.
On a Linux machine you can install them like a normal install package from the main software repository.
eg. on Ubuntu:

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sudo apt install cpmtools


You only need to insert the following  record in the /etc/cpmtools/diskdefs file:

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diskdef hdcpm
  seclen 512
  tracks 65
  sectrk 256
  blocksize 8192
  maxdir 1024
  skew 0 
  boottrk 1
  os 3
end

Then you can copy files to and from the CP/M disk image with simple commands:

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cpmcp -f hdcpm CPMDSK01.IMG myapp.com 1:myapp.com

d_kef

[Mark_wllms]

You can use cpmtools. Full functionality only on Linux I'm afraid.

It seems the Wild Turkey distribution of cpmtools works pretty well on Windows, so I can add files to the CPM hard drive now. Works well.

[d_kef]

It seems that they have updated the binaries.
IIRC the previous version had some limitations.
Nice!!!

d_kef

[d_kef]

New release coming soon....You cannot view this attachment.

d_kef

[d_kef]

And here is the new HDCPM v1.05.
.dsk file attached in the first post as usual.

The main change in this version is support for the almighty Symbiface III of @TMTLOGIC .
Both SF3 and RSF3 are supported.
Special thanks to @HAL6128 for beta testing v1.05 as I don't own a SF3.

I hope all you hardcore CP/M users enjoy his version

d_kef

[d_kef]

HDCPM has got now its own wiki page: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/HDCPM

d_kef

[angelcaio]

HI. seems to be a new batch of Real Time Clock Board cards
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/real-time-clock-board/250/

Does anyone know if it works with HDCPM?
Thanks

[GUNHED]

HI. seems to be a new batch of Real Time Clock Board cards
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/real-time-clock-board/250/

Does anyone know if it works with HDCPM?
Thanks

Of course it does! The software fully supports CP/M Plus and also CP/M 2.2 with 63 KB TPA.
This way it's even supported with the Z-System (that's Z3Plus for CP/M Plus and ZCPR 3.3 for CP/M 2.2 - 63KB). 
But it remains to be decided if a new batch is made, if dxs want't to do it, or if somebody else would like to make a batch of the most supported RTC for the CPC. 

However HDCPM was made for the Symbiface, and the SF2 already has an RTC.

[d_kef]

Does anyone know if it works with HDCPM?

Yes and no!
The HDCPM ROM only supports the SF2 RTC. You can boot CP/M with RTC support giving |HDCPMT. This means that if the RTC is detected then the RTC driver will be injected in the CP/M Plus BIOS and DATE.COM will then operate on the hardware clock reading or setting the date and time. And any program that reads the CP/M date and time will get it from the hardware clock. This of course means that 540 bytes of RAM will be occupied by the RTC driver.
The HDCPM.BIN does not support any hardware RTC. Instead you can use the provided utility RTC.COM to set or read the time from the SF2 RTC. This is what I use. I have the command 'RTC -G' in my PROFILE.SUB so the CP/M date and time is set at boot time. If I want to set the RTC date and time then I change the CP/M date and time with the DATE.COM and then give 'RTC -S' to also synchronize the RTC.
So only SF2 RTC is supported at the moment. I'm working on a new version of RTC.COM that will support the M4 (read only) and SF3 RTC.

I suppose TIMEROM.COM works similar to the RTC.COM but for the Dobbertin SmartWatch.

So HDCPM doesn't have driver support for the Dobbertin SmartWatch but you can boot CP/M with HDCPM and then use Dobbertin's utility to manage it.


d_kef

[GUNHED]

TIMEROM#.COM does read the dxs / Dobbertin RTCs and set time and date of CP/M Plus. That's completely independent of the version of CP/M Plus. 

[d_kef]

The all new version 1.06 of HDCPM is out!

The new version supports the good old Albireo of @PulkoMandy. Save your CP/M Plus image files in the root directory of the SD card and way you go!

Also a new version of the RTC.COM utility comes bundled in the distribution disk.
The new RTC.COM supports the Symbiface 3 and M4 board RTCs. Special thanks to @HAL6128 for testing the new version.

You can find more info and download the new .dsk file at the HDCPM wiki page.

d_kef

[GUNHED]

Take my RTC to support Dobbertin / dxs / and LambdaSpeak too. (Source on my hp or somewhere here).

[d_kef]

Since there is some discussions about Z3Plus/Z-System taking place lately, I've uploaded a Z3Plus disk image at the HDCPM wiki page.
If you use it don't change its drive letter (A:) as this is hard-coded in the ZCCP and it will make the system unbootable.

You might need some documentation in order to take advantage of all the advanced features of Z3Plus but you can easily find everything on-line.

d_kef

[HAL6128]

Thank you for uploading the image. I'll give it a try. I don't know much about Z-System and it's major changes under the CPM core.
I have seen that Samarux here (Samarux FloppySoftware) enables CPM to work like a Unix shell. Maybe a little bit easier to install and enhance the system within the given structure of HDCPM.

[GUNHED]

Sorry, but you can't compare a shell to Z3Plus, which even has a shell stack.