RomWBW/Source/BPBIOS/-readme

Notes on GPL Release of Banked and Portable (B/P) Bios for the
D-X Designs Pty Ltd P112.				   29 August 2001


This package is the GPL Release of the Banked and Portable (B/P) Bios for
the D-X Designs Pty Ltd P112 microcomputer.  An ascii text editor and
assembler capable of recognizing Z180 mnemonics (such as Al Hawley's ZMAC
or SLR Systems' SLR180/SLR180+ configured for Microsoft .REL output) are
all the necessary tools to build a customized version of the system for
your computer.  Installation, configuration and support utilities for the
B/P system are in a separate library containing startup scripts, executable
routines (.COM files), some help (.HLP) and utility configuration (.CFG)
files, as well as selected ZCPR3 support utilities for proper initializa-
tion of the system on bootup.  We recommend that you read the manual (also
in a separate file) to become familiar with the system prior to making any
major alterations to the system, and use it as a source of information for
debugging.  As you work with the utilities supporting the B/P Bios system,
remember that most, if not all, will display a brief help message if you
invoke them with a double-slash argument as: "BPCNFG //".

You will probably want to bring up a banked system as soon as possible to
gain additional floppy diskette formats due to the limitations posed by
the restricted format availability in either the default distribution
(especially the 128 entry limit of the 1.44 MB format) or the B/P Bios
Boot Track system.  Examine the 'DEFBOOT' file to see other limitations of
the boot system compared to the fully-banked system defined in 'DEFBANK'.

The default configuration for this installation assumes that you have
constructed and installed the SCSI modification (using an NCR 5380 'type'
controller chip) per the plans on Dave Brooks' web page, and programmed
the flash ROM with ROMV4B or later.  Without these changes, you will not
be able to boot directly into a B/P system, but should be able to load an
Image (.IMG) file from the command line which will install a B/P system.

As a brief guide, there are some steps which might ease the transition.
To begin, work with copies of the files in this distribution.  For example,
copy the BANKED.IMG to a new name (still of type .IMG) and use it to build
your new system, changing the output name from Screen 1 in BPBUILD.  This
procedure will then retain any previous tailoring to the ZCPR3 Environment
done in Screen 3 with BPBUILD.

It is probably easier to start installation by bringing up an Image-based
system first since you will still be able to boot from your existing disks
and determine which options you need.  Update the BANK-DX.CNF configuration
file for BPCNFG with your settings to avoid wading through all the settings
each time.  When you have a workable solution, then copy the relevant
settings to the BOOT-DX.CNF file, and begin working on the Bootable version
by updating any necessary option selections in (a copy of) DEFBOOT.  When
you are satisfied, copy DEFBOOT to DEF-DX.LIB and assemble the Bios (by the
name of the main file, BPBIO-DX.Z80) to a .REL file with a suitable name
(I use BPBOOT.REL).  Finally, use INSTAL12 to overlay this Bios file on the
MOVP112.COM file and give it a new output name, then execute the new file
to generate an image for writing to the system tracks of a floppy or first
hard drive partition on a drive.  The steps (with annotations) are:

    MOVP112 53 *   <-- make a 53k system, keep in memory
    BPSYGEN        <-- Load utility for writing system tracks
      Source drive:  <-- Enter return for none (still in memory)
      Dest drive:    <-- Enter letter of disk you want to make bootable

Here are some suggested steps you might follow if your configuration
differs from the default:

1. No SCSI or GIDE (Tilmann Reh's Generic IDE interface):

  - Assemble banked system (copy DEFBANK to DEF-DX.LIB) selecting no
    Hard Drive support.  You will be limited to floppy drives A:, B: and
    D: only (C: is unavailable due to hardware limitations in the SMC
    controller chip), and the RAM disk (M:).  You will still be able to
    use the 'Fast Warm Boot' which means that you will not need to keep a
    bootable floppy in drive A:.

  - Build a .IMG file from your Bios .REL file using BPBUILD and config-
    ure it with BPCNFG.  You might consider tailoring the BANK-DX.CNF
    configuration script after becoming familiar with the BPCNFG config
    tool.  After this, you will be able to load a B/P system after you
    boot the system from your existing disks.

  - If you have updated the ROM with ROMV4B or later, you can assemble
    a bootable system (copy DEFBOOT to DEF-DX.LIB).  Install the Bios
    into the MOVP112.COM file using the INSTAL12 utility as described in
    the manual, and use it to create a bootable image on the system track
    or tracks of a diskette.  After writing the system track(s) with the
    new image, it may be tailored with BPCNFG (see the BOOT-DX.CNF sample
    configuration script) to your installation.  Due to size constraints
    in a bootable image, only two disk formats are recognized as:

    - Ampro/SB180 80-track Double-Sided 'Quad'-Density 800 kB (3.5/5.25")
    - P112 definition for 3.5" High-Density 1.44 MB IBM PC "compatible"

    Only the Ampro format will be usable as a target for a bootable B/P
    system in the native mode, although you will be able to use the
    EMULATE utility to lock a floppy drive into a specified format from
    the library of formats available (or write your own).  Once booted,
    you may load a banked Image to obtain more formats.


2. Generic IDE (GIDE) Hard Drive interface installed:

  - Assemble a Bios after editing the DEF-DX.LIB file (a copy of DEFBANK
    or DEFBOOT depending on whether you are building a banked Image or
    bootable disk version respectively) to select IDE instead of SCSI for
    the type of Hard Drive system.  Configure the resulting system with
    BPCNFG entering the appropriate values in Menu 4 for Cylinder, Head
    and Sector, and establish your partitioning scheme in Menu 5.

  - If your have upgraded your flash Bios to version ROMV4B or later, you
    should be able to boot from the system tracks on the IDE drive after
    you build a bootable Bios, install it into MOVP112.COM with INSTAL12,
    generate a system, write it to the boot tracks and configure it with
    BPCNFG.  You might consider modifying the sample BOOT-DX.CNF config
    script for the last phase.

Enjoy,
Hal