mdutra.com - Site News

VDISK source code released

mdutra — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 07:22:20 +0000

This week I decided to release the source code of VDISK. It is available in the Downloads section.

VDISK v0.7: Bug Safari

mdutra — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:58:29 +0000

There are no new features in this version. I spent the last weeks just fixing and fine-tuning VDISK in order to get the most usable version ever. I am pleased to share it with you now.

Here is a summary of what has changed:

CLI: Could not recognize the parameters "-td2" and "-td3"
CLI: Crashed when "-k" was used with long file names
CLI: Internal Win2Trs routine generated some ill-formed file names
CLI: Internal Dump routine now prints blanks instead of dots in the ASCII column data
TRSDOS1: Caused an abrupt program termination when allocating granules
TRSDOS3: Caused an abrupt program termination when allocating granules
NEWDOS/80: Created files with less than the requested space
NEWDOS/80: Improved disk compatibility through better PDRIVE handling
DMK: Improved disk compatibility through better geometry detection and sector addressing
Other: Granule allocation routines failed to properly determine the available disk space
Other: Improved GetFileDate routines to get date values with as little modification as possible
Other: Improved OS detection routines to reduce the number of wrong identifications

To download the newest version go to the downloads page.

VDISK v0.6 (Read/Write) is now available!

mdutra — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:39:15 +0000

After a long break, I have finally completed another development stage for vdisk. This version brings several important bug fixes, which prevented it from reading mixed density disks, non-standard JV1 disks and others. In addition, bugs that caused infinite loops and corrupt file readings have also been fixed, so it is a highly recommended upgrade.

The promised writing support is now available too! The core routines are capable of adding, deleting and renaming files, as well as changing file and disk properties. The command-line version allows you to add and delete files, preserving their dates and attributes. The other features will be accessible in the GUI version.

Here is a summary of this version changes:

Implementation of writing support
Simplification of all command-line switches with new options available
Implementation of file filtering by wildcards and/or system/invisible attributes
Enhancement of the JV1 module to accept additional disks sizes (180KB, 360KB etc)
Enhancement of all VDI modules for better handling of mixed density disks
Correction of a bug in the Seek function which caused corrupt readings of large files
Correction of a bug in the TRSDOS 1.x module which caused it to report wrong file sizes
Correction of a bug in the TRSDOS 1.x module which caused it to corrupt files during extraction
Correction of a bug in the NEWDOS/80 module which caused an infinite loop in some file searches

Besides having extensively tested this new version, I would recommend caution in the use of the writing and deleting functions until there is further confirmation that they are working properly.

I would like to thank Ira Goldklang for his support to this project and give him credit for pointing out most of the bugs and deficiencies fixed in this latest release.

VDISK version 0.6 can be downloaded from the downloads page.

Announcing the newest VDISK v0.5 GUI

mdutra — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:46:35 +0000

These past weeks were dedicated to the improvement of VDISK's graphical interface. The present release includes a handful of interesting functionalities like:

Open DSK and DMK files by just double-clicking over them
Choose whether to detect file formats automatically or manually
Choose whether to show or hide system and invisible files
Sort files by name, extension, size, date and attributes
Export multiple selected files at once
See disk properties including name, date, DOS version etc.
Navigate through disk sectors

Check the VDISK page for screenshots and additional information. The next version will sport some writing capabilities as well as drag & drop support. Don't forget to report any bugs you may find in the meanwhile.

VDISK v0.4 has been released

mdutra — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 02:06:00 +0000

VDISK went through an extensive reorganization and debugging process during the past three weeks. Now 80% of all known TRS-80 Model I/III/4 operating systems are correctly addressed by the program. Important bugs have been fixed, making crashes and other strange behaviors very unlikely to happen.

Here is a summary of changes for version 0.4:

Addition of support to TRSDOS 1.1, NEWDOS/80 1.0, LS-DOS 6.3.1 and MICRODOS 1.12 (experimental)
Inclusion of four quietness levels to better control the program verbosity ("/Q" parameter)
Reordering of the OS detection routines in automatic mode to improve their overall accuracy
Renaming of the OS command-line names to facilitate their memorization
Improvement of the NEWDOS/80 identification algorithm
Inclusion of a check against empty files in the GET routine of the command-line interface
Correction of a bug in the DUMP routine of the command-line interface which prevented it to show the last sector of disks whose sector numbering starts in 1 instead of 0
Correction of a bug in the NEWDOS/80 module which caused the file seeking functions to return an error when reading the 32nd entry of the HIT, due to an unusual usage of that entry by the OS
Correction of a bug in the DMK module that led it to report incorrect disk densities for some disks
Correction of a bug in the DMK module that caused some incorrect sector readings (thanks to David Sutherland for pointing this out)
Correction of a bug in the DMK module which resulted in reading errors when only one side of a double-sided disk is formatted

The focus for the next release will be the graphical user interface. In the meanwhile, please report any bugs you may find using the contact form available from the top menu.

This program can be freely downloaded from the downloads page.

CP-500 ROM has been finally dumped

mdutra — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:25:01 +0000

On August 16th, Prof. Gustavo E.A.P.A. Batista shared with our virtual community the first CP-500 ROM dump, making the emulation of that computer even more similar to the real machine.

The CP-500 ROM has 16kB, against 14kB of the standard TRS-80 Model III. According to Matthew Reed's first analysis, "the CP-500 ROM differs from the Model III ROM in fewer than 90 bytes, many of which are changed messages. The extra 2K appears to be a machine language monitor".

It is possible to run the CP-500 ROM with Matthew's TRS32 but, for that to work, DOS500 is also required. After placing the ROM in the proper folder and booting the OS, remove the disk from the drive and reset the emulator. You should see the messages "Cass?", "Mem. usada?", "PROLOGICA 1981 BASIC" and "READY>".

Notice that the resident Monitor won't work due to a supposed addressing conflict, but it is possible to see its prompt by entering the command "SYSTEM". Matthew mentions that he has plans to add support for TRS-80 clones in the future, including the CP-500. We are looking forward to it!

The CP-500 ROM is available for download here.