I should probably do a 'JOYCE releases' thread, since this seems to be where PCW interest is at these days.
JOYCE 2.5.0 (https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/)has been released. The major new feature in this release is the ability to run CP/M-86 or CP/M 2 sessions within PCW CP/M. Maybe not particularly useful, but implementing it entertained me.
(https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/cpm86.png)
Hi John!
I downloaded it on my MacOS Catalina machine and found that on PcwGuest.cxx line 469, on function yield, there's a call to a function which doesn't seem to exists on Macs, that is enabled because of HAVE_SCHED_H which seems to be always defined as 1.
So, I removed that and left the alternative SDL_Delay(0) and I managed to compile xjoyce and xanne and get them running.
void PcwGuest::yield()
{
#ifdef HAVE_SCHED_H
sched_yield();
#else
SDL_Delay(0);
#endif
}
Thanks a lot for the new release, John!
Btw there is a typo in the download link for the windows version.
Currently it is...
/Unix/Joyce/joycesetup.exe-2.5.0
but it should be...
/Unix/Joyce/joycesetup-2.5.0.exe
Quote from: Prodatron on 13:14, 04 August 22Btw there is a typo in the download link for the windows version.
Currently it is...
/Unix/Joyce/joycesetup.exe-2.5.0
but it should be...
/Unix/Joyce/joycesetup-2.5.0.exe
Thanks - should be fixed now.
Quote from: robcfg on 08:54, 04 August 22I downloaded it on my MacOS Catalina machine and found that on PcwGuest.cxx line 469, on function yield, there's a call to a function which doesn't seem to exists on Macs, that is enabled because of HAVE_SCHED_H which seems to be always defined as 1.
So, I removed that and left the alternative SDL_Delay(0) and I managed to compile xjoyce and xanne and get them running.
I've altered my copy of the configure script to check specificially for that function, so hopefully you won't encounter that problem in future releases.
That's nice, thank you!
Hm, interesting John. One day, I might try this.
However, I actually have original copy of IBM's version of CP/M-86, complete with the 5.25" SSDD boot disk, and IBM quality manual. I've had it working on my old 386sx machine, and it works fine. According to the docs, it should work with an appropriate format DS disk, and I was trying to make one (using 22DISK) but I don't think I got that sorted.
Just had the standard utils on the SS disk. Don't know if there was anything else about that was worth having?
Geoff
If I was wanting to play with CP/M-86, the storage situation would be a massive help with the Joyce variant.
I've looked again at my IBM version, and this must be a very early release and I think there is no support for any sort of HD. It might support a B: drive, but 5.25 only.
Back when I was playing with it, it seems that I DID get a DS disk to work as A: once the system was booted, but when I tried to get a 3.5" disk (DSDD, not HD at that time) to work as B: this refused, and that machine I was using has a 5.25" A: and a 3.5" B:. So I'd be stuck with A: only, 180k total as boot, 360k once booted and disk swapped. And those capacities will be reduced by system tracks etc.
Well, sort of comparable with the PCW I guess.
Geoff
These days there is a patch (144FEAT) that lets IBM CP/M-86 use bigger floppies, but the storage situation (and in particular the lack of reliable tools for getting files in and out of a CP/M-86 environment) was why I wanted to add the feature to JOYCE, where I have IMPORT / EXPORT and a bunch of emulated hard drives with all the tools I want on them.
I've just uploaded JOYCE-2.5.2 (https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/). This version is mainly to incorporate what I've learned about LocoLink since the previous release. In particular, there's now an internal LocoLink server that can expose a directory on the host system to Rosanne, and (at least in the Linux build) I've got LocoLink working reasonably reliably between JOYCE and ANNE.
There's also an experimental video driver (JFASTCRT) which tries to implement text drawing on the PCW's screen in native code, in the hope that that might be faster. (It also optionally accepts colour control codes, so that a command like PALETTE 4 40 really does change the screen colours to yellow on green. It's optional because there are PCW programs that do the equivalent of PALETTE 0 1 and dark blue on black isn't very easy to read).
F9 didn't work for me :-X Help...
I haven't changed that part of the code, and it worked when I tested it, so I don't know why it wouldn't work for you. If you've got a Menu key does that work?
I've tried turning on Joyce before. F9 never worked for me. I guess I don't know something. ::)
I have not disk start? 8)
If you start it up and it gives you the "No JOYCE boot discs have been set up" message:
(https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/Images/no_boot_disks.png)
Then you will need to follow the steps in the menu to add at least one. Once you've done that you'll arrive at the boot menu and can either start from one of the discs or bring up the f9 menu.
I've now released JOYCE 2.5.3. This emulates another proprietary communications interface: the PCW Linkit.
The Linux build also has another pointless feature that amused me: You can now use JOYCE as a terminal to your system's command line, so you can use MAIL232 (or other PCW terminal program of your choice) in the same way that you would an xterm.
(https://www.seasip.info/Unix/Joyce/pty.png)
I managed to get it working on MacOS Sonoma by just adding
#include <unistd.h>to pcwlinkit.c, and
#include <libgen.h>to lllinkit.c
Where do I get MAIL232 and how do I make it work as the terminal?
Quote from: JohnElliott on 12:43, 26 March 24You can now use JOYCE as a terminal to your system's command line
Tee hee.
Quote from: robcfg on 18:58, 26 March 24Where do I get MAIL232 and how do I make it work as the terminal?
MAIL232.
COM is on side 1 (LocoScript 1) of the PCW8xxx system discs. (Looks like it lives on the same disc as the rest of CP/M on the 9512; I haven't checked the 3.5" models.)
The Joyce 2.5.3 manual explains how to configure Joyce so that the emulated CPS8256 serial port connects to a shell (basically, configure it to point to /dev/ptmx). Faffing with terminal modes (e.g. echo) so that it's actually comfortable is left as an exercise for the reader.
@JTN , thanks for your help!
@JohnElliott , It also works on MacOS :D
The Cow has spoken! ;D
Interesting that your MAIL232 is an older version than mine. I wonder what the difference is?
I tidied up the prompt for my screenshot by adding a "vt52" case to my .cshrc (I use tcsh):
switch ($TERM)
case "vt52":
set prompt="\n[%n@%m %c]> "
breaksw
case "xterm*":
set prompt="\n%{\033]0;%n@%m:%~\007%}%{\033[36m%}[%{\033[1;36m%}%n%{\033[0;36m%}@%{\033[1;36m%}%m %{\033[1;32m%}%c%{\033[0;36m%}]>%{\033[0m%} "
breaksw
default:
set prompt="\n%{\033[36m%}[%{\033[1;36m%}%n%{\033[0;36m%}@%{\033[1;36m%}%m %{\033[1;32m%}%c%{\033[0;36m%}]>%{\033[0m%} "
breaksw
endsw
I did that on my .zshrc file, but despite changing the prompt, I still get a lot of unwanted characters.
Not that it's really a problem, but good to know.
Quote from: JohnElliott on 23:50, 26 March 24Interesting that your MAIL232 is an older version than mine. I wonder what the difference is?
Answering my own question: When transmitting / receiving files (and echoing them to the screen) MAIL232 1.0 clears the screen beforehand and redraws the normal screen at the end. MAIL232 1.2 does it all in the same terminal window.
There's also a 1.1. The copy I have has Spanish menus, but apart from that it seems to be almost the same as 1.0 with maybe a bugfix in the 'Life' easter egg.
1.0 is actually larger than 1.1 and 1.2, because it contains a never-printed message reading "Only nosey buggers delve into other peoples programs!" and that's enough to increase the file size by an extra 128-byte record.
Not much informations about the Linkit on internet, I found your hardware.pdf wich is linked on your Joyce web page :-)
Interesting file by the way, maybe you should add it to the 5 links at the top of the page ? It's a bit too buried after the list of the versions of Joyce.
On the subject of Easter eggs in MAIL232: well-known at the time, but maybe not now, is that there's an implementation of Conway's Life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life) hidden in there. See e.g. 8000 Plus, issue 3, p59 (https://archive.org/details/8000_Plus_Issue_003_1986-12_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n58/mode/1up).
(Is it known who wrote MAIL232? I assume one of the Amstrad staffers like Roland Perry, or maybe Locomotive, but I don't see any relevant strings in my copy.)