IDE interface for Altair 8800c

[Wayne Parham]

I tried assembling the ideutils.asm file but the assembler does not like this line: DB 0CBH, 0*8+D+40H ;BIT 0, D

It seems to be complaining about the "D". Any ideas?

Let's make sure you have the most recent version of the IDEutil.asm file.

You can find it here, in this thread:

• IDE Interface for Altair 8800c, page 3

You have to copy-and-paste two sections, concatenating them for the full source file.

Might be easier to just download the file, along with other stuff here:

• CP/M Plus 3.0hd distribution archive

That file has IDEutil.asm and IDEutil.com. It also has the source for the CP/M 3.0 BIOS that supports the hard drives and some test programs written in C that can be compiled with the Aztec C compiler.

I've written up my build process at the following link:

• IDE Hard Drive and Compact Flash for the Altair 8800

To tell the truth, the material found there is pretty much the same stuff I posted here. But there are some links that may be useful for you. Probably just easier to download the software there than to copy-and-paste the source files from this thread.

[mr_metra_nilak]

Hello Wayne,

The latest ideutil.asm file has this line:

Code: Select all

665:    DB   0CBH, 0*8+D+40H   ;BIT  0, D

And my assembler does not like it and fails to assemble the code. How do you assemble it on your end?

Thanks,
Artem

[Wayne Parham]

Use the ASM assembler from Digital Research to build IDEutil.asm.

The DB directive is described on page 11 of the ASM manual. It basically just places the expressions into memory as raw data.

Build notes from comments in the IDEutil.asm source file:

; IDEutil.com can be built using the following commands:
;
; ASM IDEutil
; HEXCOM IDEutil
;
; This program is largely borrowed from John Monahan's "myIDE" used to support
; the IDE/CF v4 board sold by S100computers.com. It is generally compatible
; with myIDE except for some new features and cosmetic changes. IDEutil allows
; 2Gb drives to store 256 "partitions," with partition 00 being the CP/M active
; data space and partitions 01 - FF available for backup and restore copies.
;
; The IDEutil program also differs from myIDE, avoiding the @ character in
; labels so it can be built with the Digital Research ASM assembler.

[mr_metra_nilak]

Hello Wayne,

Where can I find the ASM assembler? Can it run on Mac/Windows/Linux?

Thanks

[toml_12953]

Hello Wayne,

Where can I find the ASM assembler? Can it run on Mac/Windows/Linux?

Thanks

The ASM-80 program can be found on the PLM compiler disk found here

http://www.cpm.z80.de/binary.html

It runs on 8-bit CP/M and is not a cross-compiler. Here's a user's guide for it:

http://www.cpm.z80.de/randyfiles/DRI/ASM.pdf

[mr_metra_nilak]

Hello Wayne,

Is there a way to run the assembler on modern windows/mac? Do you by any chance have the assembled ideutils (bin/hex)? I've been having problems assembling the code that you provided. I get 700+ errors.

Thanks

[AltairClone]

I run ASM in CP/M under simh on my PC. Here’s one ready to go:

https://altairclone.com/downloads/simh/

Mike

[Wayne Parham]

Thanks, Mike. I run a lot of stuff with simh on my PC too. I love doing everything natively on the Altair, but sometimes the smidge of extra memory and the double-smidge of extra speed running simh on a modern PC is convenient.

And Artem, yes, the assembled IDEutil.com binary and a bunch of other stuff - like CP/M support, documentation and test programs - is included in the archive file linked below:

• CP/M Plus 3.0hd distribution archive

[mr_metra_nilak]

That's great! I was trying to compile SIMH on a Mac but was having issues so it's nice to have an executable for Windows. I was able to assemble the ideutil.asm file and copy it over to my Altair 8800 using AMON (to address 100H) but when I run it, it doesn't seem to do anything. The first few bytes seem correct based on the PRN that the assembler generated. Any ideas?

[Wayne Parham]

Sounds like you may have a hardware problem or misconfiguration.

But first, you said you loaded with AMON. Do you have floppies on your system? Are you running CP/M on your Altair? Because if you are, I would encourage you to transfer the executable binaries with Mike's pcget.com program. It's just too easy that way.

Using the indicators on the IDE board to help you troubleshoot, run the PORTIO.com program from the distribution archive. Use it to send commands directly to the IDE interface. You should be able to select the board and the drive manually that way. Make sure your board is addressed properly, at port I/O address 30H. Also make sure you can select drives A and B.

After you've verified that, use IDEtest.com to make sure it can obtain the drive ID from the connected devices, e.g. magnetic media or flash.

Report back with what you find. I'll be out of town all weekend, but I'll look in on you after that.