diff --git a/Doc/RomWBW Applications.pdf b/Doc/RomWBW Applications.pdf index d19f26ea..adc44907 100644 Binary files a/Doc/RomWBW Applications.pdf and b/Doc/RomWBW Applications.pdf differ diff --git a/Doc/RomWBW Disk Catalog.pdf b/Doc/RomWBW Disk Catalog.pdf index 79527fbe..2decaa26 100644 Binary files a/Doc/RomWBW Disk Catalog.pdf and b/Doc/RomWBW Disk Catalog.pdf differ diff --git a/Doc/RomWBW Errata.pdf b/Doc/RomWBW Errata.pdf index 7e230259..784bb17f 100644 Binary files a/Doc/RomWBW Errata.pdf and b/Doc/RomWBW Errata.pdf differ diff --git a/Doc/RomWBW ROM Applications.pdf b/Doc/RomWBW ROM Applications.pdf index 685bde11..fa902c90 100644 Binary files a/Doc/RomWBW ROM Applications.pdf and b/Doc/RomWBW ROM Applications.pdf differ diff --git a/Doc/RomWBW System Guide.pdf b/Doc/RomWBW System Guide.pdf index 05eea29e..049484d8 100644 Binary files a/Doc/RomWBW System Guide.pdf and b/Doc/RomWBW System Guide.pdf differ diff --git a/Doc/RomWBW User Guide.pdf b/Doc/RomWBW User Guide.pdf index ba2c4511..d79aa0d3 100644 Binary files a/Doc/RomWBW User Guide.pdf and b/Doc/RomWBW User Guide.pdf differ diff --git a/ReadMe.md b/ReadMe.md index 0f78eff2..33619747 100644 --- a/ReadMe.md +++ b/ReadMe.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ **RomWBW ReadMe** \ Version 3.4 \ Wayne Warthen ([wwarthen@gmail.com](mailto:wwarthen@gmail.com)) \ -30 Oct 2023 +31 Oct 2023 # Overview diff --git a/ReadMe.txt b/ReadMe.txt index 377fd3bb..9c4daa71 100644 --- a/ReadMe.txt +++ b/ReadMe.txt @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ RomWBW ReadMe Wayne Warthen (wwarthen@gmail.com) -30 Oct 2023 +31 Oct 2023 diff --git a/Source/Doc/UserGuide.md b/Source/Doc/UserGuide.md index 16449f36..b863cf57 100644 --- a/Source/Doc/UserGuide.md +++ b/Source/Doc/UserGuide.md @@ -596,6 +596,14 @@ technique is useful when: The RAM disk and ROM disk drives will be available even if you have no physical disk devices attached to your system. +Booting an operating system from ROM is not intended as a way to use +your operating system on a long-term basis. The ROM disk has only +a small subset of the operating system files. Additionally, you +cannot easily customize your ROM disk because you cannot write to it. +For any significant use of an operating system, you should boot directly +to the disk/slice that contains the complete operating system. This +is described in the next section. + ## Starting Operating Systems from Disk In order to make use of the more sophisticated operating systems @@ -619,7 +627,7 @@ has been assigned to the disk and slice you selected to boot. If you receive the error message "Disk not bootable!", you have either failed to properly initialize the disk and slice requested -or you have selected the wrong disk/slice. +or you have selected an invalid/unavailable disk/slice. The following example shows a disk boot into the first slice of disk unit 4 which happens to be the CP/M 2.2 operating system on this disk. @@ -697,6 +705,26 @@ have specified. It does not know what operating system is at that location. The layout of operating systems on disk media is described in the Using Disks section of this document. +### Auto-Submit Batch Files + +All of the operating systems supplied with RomWBW have the ability to +execute a "batch" of commands by creating a batch submission file +containing the commands to be executed. The specifics of using +batch files in a specific operating system is covered in its specific +documentation. + +At boot, the operating system will look for a specific batch file +(`PROFILE.SUB` for CP/M 2.2 and 3) on the boot drive and execute that +batch file automatically. This allows you to automatically customize +your operating system with any commands desired at boot. CP/M 2.2 did +not originally have the ability to automatically excute a batch file at +boot, but the CBIOS in RomWBW has added this capability. + +Since RomWBW can utilize many disk slices, it is very easy to create +slices for specific workflows (editing, software development, games, +etc.). You can then just boot to the slice that is optimized for the +task you want to perform. + ## System Management ### Listing Disk Device Inventory @@ -902,7 +930,7 @@ Configuring Drives... ``` You will probably see more drive letters than this. The drive letter -assignment process is described below in the Drive Letter Assignment +assignment process is described below in the [Drive Letter Assignment] section. Be aware that RomWBW will only assign drive letters to disk interfaces that actually have media in them. If you do not see drive letters assigned as expected, refer to the prior system boot messages @@ -993,6 +1021,69 @@ rest of the drive letters will be offset to accommodate this. This is done because most legacy operating systems expect that A: will be the boot drive. +### Default Drive Letter Assignment + +As shown above, when an operating system is booted, RomWBW will +automatically assign drive letters to physical disk devices. The +assignment process varies depending on: 1) the drive/slice you choose to +boot from, and 2) the number and type of physical drives in your +system. + +If you boot an operating system from ROM, then the first two drive +letters will be assigned to your RAM disk (A:) and your ROM disk (B:). +It may seem odd that the RAM disk is assigned to A: in this case. The +reason for this is to accommodate certain functions that require that A: +be a writable disk drive. For example, A: **must** be writable in order +to submit batch files. + +If you boot to a physical disk device, then the first drive letter (A:) +will be assigned to the disk/slice that you chose to boot from. The A: +drive letter is considered special by most operating systems and is +automatically used in some cases. By making the selected disk/slice the +A: drive, you can setup different disks/slices for specific uses and +just boot to it. + +After the first drive letter is assigned (as well as the second drive +letter in the case of a ROM boot), RomWBW will assign additional drive +letters based on the disk drives in the system. Additional drive +letters will be assigned in the following order: + +- RAM Disk +- ROM Disk +- Floppy Disk(s) +- Hard Disk(s) + +If a disk/slice was already assigned as the A: (or B:) drive letter, +then it will not be assigned again. + +In the case of floppy, RAM, and ROM disks, a single drive letter will be +assigned to each physical disk (even if there is no disk media in the +drive). + +In the case of hard disks, 1-8 drive letters will be assigned to the +initial 1-8 slices of the disk drive. The number of drive letters +assigned to each hard disk depends on the number of hard disks in the +system: + +- 1 Hard Disk: 8 drive letters (slices) +- 2 Hard Disks: 4 drive letters (slices) per disk +- 3+ Hard Disks: 2 drive letters (slices) per disk + +This somewhat complicated algorithm is used to try and maximize the +limited number of operating system drive letters available (16) to +the available disk devices as evenly as possible. + +Note that for hard disk devices, drive letters will only be assigned +to disk devices that actually contain media. So, for example, if you +have an SD Card slot in your system, but it has no SD Card inserted, then +no drive letters will be assigned to it. + +Since drive letter assignments are easily changed at any time using the +`ASSIGN` command, you can customize your assignments as desired after +starting the operating system. Even better, you can use an auto-submit +batch file to customzie the assignments at startup without any user +intervention. + ## ROM & RAM Disks A typical RomWBW system has 512KB of ROM and 512KB of RAM. Some