Introduction to PATCHCPM. Why you might want to PATCHCPM. How to use. How to modify. Features and limitations. : Introduction to PATCHCPM. This utility enables you to easily PATCHCPM. It is simply a collection of available patches put together in one program. It was purposely written in 8080 code and is easily modified. Feel free to add any other patches you have come across - if you do then how about sharing them with me? Jim Dreher 1937 Armory Road Barstow, CA 92311 Barstow RCP/M -- (619) 256-3914 : Why you might want to PATCHCPM. I see a lot of people are switching to ZCPR2, but I have decided NOT to go that route on my ROBIN. Don't get me wrong, I agree that ZCPR2 has some really nice features, but the ROBIN simply doesn't have that much disk space to manage (only 169k per disk). I believe that ZCPR2 is better suited for a large disk system such as a 5 or 10Mb Winni (or maybe even a double-density 8 inch). That way you would have enough room to make the USER areas work to your advantage -- very similar to the heiarchial structure of UNIX or VMS. Consider an alternative system that I currently use. This works GREAT on a system with four drives -- I don't know if it would be all that great on a system with only two drives. Everybody and their grandmother has written better utilities than the CCP "built-in" ones, but are a little awkward to use. How many times can you type XDIR or ERAQ without looking at the keyboard and not make a mistake? My utility called PATCHCPM solves this problem. Using PATCHCPM here's what I've done: 1. Using a patch by Lewis Moseley, my DELETE key now works the same as my BACK SPACE key. (Hooka!) 2. Using another patch from an unknown hacker, I've designated my drive A to be my "system drive". If I'm logged into a disk other than A and call for a program that's not on that disk, CP/M will automatically go and get it from drive A. The next patch indicates how useful this is. 3. Using patches that I thought up (I don't know if I'm the first, but I haven't seen them documented anywhere else yet), I disabled the "built-in" DIR, ERA, and TYPE commands. Now when I type in DIR instead of doing the directory, CP/M looks for a file called DIR.COM. Then I RENamed the following: SD.COM became DIR.COM, ERAQ.COM became ERA.COM, and TYPE17.COM became (you guessed it!) TYPE.COM. Reference #2 above, now I can get a directory from any disk in any drive and the DIR.COM only has to be on the disk in drive A! I use the patch that makes drive A the system drive and I find it very useful and more importantly practical to use (on a ROBIN with four drives). On my "system disk" are all of the programs that I frequently use and can be invoked while logged into any drive. The best example is my new DIR command -- I ran PATCHCPM to enable drive A as the "system drive", disabled the "built-in" DIR command, then I did "PIP A:DIR.COM=B:SD.COM[V]". Now I can get a comprehensive directory while logged into any disk and only the system disk needs to have the DIR.COM file! (SD.COM is Super Directory - VERY NICE!). There are many other worthy replacements avaliable for the "built-in" CCP commands. I also use TYPE17.COM renamed to TYPE.COM and ERAQ.COM renamed to (you guessed it!) ERA.COM. CP/M Copyright,TM Digital Research ZCPR2 written by Richard Conn ROBIN is Digital Equipment Corporation's VT180. SD.COM written by David Boruff. Unix TM Bell Labs VMS TM Digital Equipment Corporation. ERAQ.COM written by ? TYPE17.COM writen by Dave Rand. XDIR written by ? : How to use. 1. d>PATCHCPM 2. PATCHCPM asks "Need help (Y/N)?" 3. Answer 'Y' for details. : How to modify. PATCH.ASM should be adequately self-documented to aid you in making any modifications. Keep in mind that it was purposely written in 8080 code and please read the help section "Features and Limitations." Please let me know if you come up with some other useful patches. : Features and limitations. 1. This program cannot load past 08FFH or it will overwrite the memory image of the CP/M system you are patching - if necessary then remove some of the less useful patches to include yours. 2. If you answer 'N' to a question it will NOT restore the CCP to it's original state. If you wish to remove the patch(s) then start with a "fresh" CP/M system. 3. Note that if you disable one of the built-in commands you must have a .COM file of that name on the disk for that command to work. For example you may want to disable the built-in "DIR" command and put "SD.COM" renamed to "DIR.COM" on the disk. 4. This program was purposely written in 8080 code so that all can use.