FAQ on echo conference ZX.SPECTRUM
ZXNet echo conference «zx.spectrum»
Hello, All!
Q: Which Sinclair emulators are the most convenient and to which you can get
toys?
A: Convenience is a rather slippery question... But the most popular among the people
are three types of emulator: Lunter emulator, adapted to work with TR-DOS;
UKV v1.2 emulator (also works with real tr-DOS diskettes);
Shalaev emulator (works with floppy disk images). The last two are our
authors. It was their ability to work with hobet files and tr-dos
that was the impetus for their fairly wide distribution. On them it is quite
easy to process the usual and familiar tr-dos floppy disk.
By the way, the author Nikolay Shalaev has a fidosh address, and even /;)/ reads
echo ZX.SPECTRUM. Its address is 2:5020/378.40
Q: How can I launch files with the extension .$ that often fall from the echo on my pussy?
A: (Alex Kovrigin 2:5030/28.19) So this means:
1. ZXformat (or hoformat) format a 5'25 DD floppy disk
2. Hobet are you copying files from the *.$ archive?? to the floppy disk with the F5 button
Z. In the Z80TRDOS emulator, enter TR-DOS and type RUN "name"
But it’s easier like this:
(*)Take ZCOP and type ZCOP DISK.TRD *.$?? and these files will be written
to the disk image (DISK.TRD) of the Shalaev emulator. All that remains is to get
this emulator. Its new versions often come via echo of ZX.Spectrum...
Q: UKV emulator (the launched file is calledsp_emu) to the floppy disk in the drive
swears, saying no disk, although the hobeta sees perfectly...
A: (Ilya Vasilyev 2:5030/461.22) It’s just that on fast cars for UKV you need
to make a delay for the promotion of the drive, i.e. you need to launch it with
the -d key (and here you need to enter a number from 1 to 255 - the delay time);
For example, on the 133rd stump of the UKV you can start only with the -d255
key sp_emu.exe -d255
Another problem may be in wIN 95, this is a Mazda controls all direct
access to disks (even if it itself is not loaded, then the enti functions for it
execute dos 7.0, which the above-mentioned Mazda installs instead of others)
Sometimes this option helps: boot from the disk on which
the system from dos 6.22 or similar is installed, bypassing clean all the configs and start
subj with the -d key (see above).
Q: What kind of files are with the extension *.$b, *.$c?
A: Hobet file. That is, a file copied by the hobeta program from a tr-disk floppy disk. The letter most often denotes belonging to some type. (.$w is text in Sinclair's ZX-Word format,
.$s is a picture for a screen printer...) The extension in principle can be
anything. It depends on the authors of the program that uses these files.
A: (Michael Kondratyev 2:5030/362.1) Its (hobet file) structure:
The first 13 bytes are an exact copy of the hardcode header. Next two bytes of length
in sectors; because it is a multiple of 256, then the first is always zero, and the second is
the number of sectors. And the last two bytes are the checksum. It is calculated
simply - all the previous 15 bytes are summed up, the number is multiplied by
257 and the sum_of_numbers_from_0_to_14 is added, i.e. 105.
In the procedure on the Z80 Asm:
; to input de = header address
ld hl,0
ld b,15
m1: ld a,(de)
add a,l
ld l,a
jr nc,m2
inc h
m2: inc de
djnz m1
add a,h
ld h,a
ld c,105
add hl,bc ; hl = Hobeta sum
Q: And the extension .$z?
A: Hobeta file, packed on the Spectrum with the zxzip program (by Michael
Kondratyev), which has become the de facto official packager of programs for ZX.
To unpack it, you need zxunzip. There is an analogue of zxzip on IBM, but in an obscene form. The author still wrote zxunzip for IBM. Well,
we will now wait for the normal version of zxzip for IBM. Better yet
pkzip/pkunzip for speccy. :)
Q: How to get a blank disk image file (.trd) for the Shalaev emulator?
A: Use zcop by Rick Murray. Running with the name of a non-existent
(*)disk image file creates one. Then you can simply copy this file.
There is also a small program from Mikhail Kondratiev (trdisk.com),
which is intended for formatting the image disk.
Q: We have a Shalaev emulator, a blank disk image (.trd), how can we write a host file to it?
A: Use zcop. Namely - zcop name.trd 1.$c 2.$c ... Where name.trd is
(*)the name of the disk image file. 1.$c - names of hobet files.
Q: Is there a utility that does the opposite action - extracts files *.$b, *.$c, etc. from *.trd
?
A: Oh... Use zcop. zcop name.trd extracts all files from the disk image
(*) into the current directory.
Although you can go the other way. We drop the disk image with the emulator (until 2.04
this was possible...) onto a disk formatted for tr-dos 5'25, then using hobeta
we copy the necessary files to ms-dos
Q: In August 1996, Enlight'96 was held in St. Petersburg - a party of demomakers.
For the first time, the Specrum platform was presented there. The results
shocked the world. :) But where can I get all the works that took part
in zx-compo? Preferably Internet servers...
A: (Peter Sobolev 2:5030/84)
All releases are at ftp.enlight.ru/pub/demos/enlight96/zx
Pages & Businesses Advertising - www.enlight.ru
Q: Есть Do you have any FTP or WWW pages?
A: (Sergei Novikov 2:5020/689.1)
http://www.uniyar.ac.ru/~phantom/museum
http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/8003
Q: I can't wait to see what's going on. :( Not at all!
A: That's a lot of stuff... I'm not sure what to do snowflake :(
The recommendations are as follows - use FUT (this is on Spectrum), do not
format in fast, not in turbo. Or you can DCU 2.32. It is possible
to also format disks for tr-dos on IBM with hoformat. If this
does not help, try sealing half of the index
hole on a 5'25 floppy disk. In some cases it helps.
Q: Is it possible to connect a 3.5" drive to the Speccy? What improvements are needed?
A: (Danil Ermakoff 2:5080/43.30) Yes, a 3.5" drive connects to the Speccy
without any problems, just install the appropriate connectors on the
controller and power cables. Don't forget that you need to use
720kb floppy disks (without the hole on the right side of the floppy disk), or cover
this hole on a 1.44Mb floppy disk. It is possible that you will also need
to ground the 2nd pin in the drive connector (DD/HD switching), but
everything works for me Ok!
Q: HoBeta refuses to read/write 3.5" disks. What should I do?
A: (Danil Ermakoff 2:5080/43.30) Indeed, at the whim of the author, HoBeta
cannot work with disks 3.5". Fortunately, this problem is solvable
not simply, but very simply, just replace one byte, and so:
HoBeta v2.15 unpacked length - 48014. At offset #0000B7C2 we replace
#01 with #04, and that’s it! And remember: for normal operation HoBet's disks on
Speccy mustbe formatted with DCU 2.32, FUT or
similar programs, but not with the DOS command format"xxxxxxxx"!
Q: When I assembled the Leningrad program, I have since written quite a large
number of programs for my Speccy, and they all remained on cassettes.
How to process programs on a cassette tape on IBM?
A: (From the docket on Zart by Rick Murrey):
ZART allows you to work with a tape recorder connected to the LPT port,
for example, copy from a tape to .tap format. And you can process .tap
on the Lunter emulator or use the same ZART or other
utilities for translation into hobeta. In general, I recommend using ZART
for such purposes.
Tape recorder adapter diagram for IBM PC.
Borrowed from G. A. Lunter.
LPT
Out 10k 120k
<─────██████─────■─────█ █████───────────────────■ PBO (2)
│
═╪═
│ 4n7
─┴─ ┌───────■ +5v (16)
│
To tape recorder 4k7 ▐█▌
▐█▌
│
25k▐█▌ ____
▐█▌<──■──■ BUSY (11)
In 330 680n │ │
>─────────██████────────Ґ ───────────────┼────┘
│
■───────■ PE (12)
│
│
LPT connector means ■───────■ GND (19)
25-pin, i.e. which sticks out in the │
computer. In and Out ─┴─
with t.z. computer. Those. the output of the tape recorder is connected to In
┌───────■ (1)
│
└───────■ (10)
(*)
Notes: zcop's author Rick Murray has released a new version zcop, which also works
with disk images of the UKV emulator (sp_emu), there are some differences
from
the first option. and therefore read the document on it, it is a very useful activity.
:)
With all kinds of regards and wishes.
Igor.
P.S. Not all answers have been personally verified by me, because if there is anything, I’m glad to hear
additions/corrections.
... In our conditions, even scrambled eggs are a giftбожий.
Hello, Euggie!
Tuesday April 15, 1997 00:55, EuGGiE Larin wrote to Igor Gruzdev:
IG>> http://www.uniyar.ac.ru/~fantom/museum
IG>> http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/8003
EL> and I saw the Spectrum Museum WWW server, located in Russia, since there
EL> there was a .RU prefix I don’t remember the URL :(
Regards, Dmitry (OLDMAN).