GETTING DOWNLOADED FILES TO WORK UNDER C128 CP/M So you want to get started using the OTHER cpu in your 128: the Z80 chip. You've heard, from the manuals and elsewhere, that there is loads of CP/M software available, the vast majority of which you could use on your 128. So let's say you find a source of CP/M software. Library #27 on GEnie's C64/128 Flagship, where this file was located, as well as the CP/M RoundTable on GEnie, is probably a good place to look. But your terminal program downloads files in the 128's native mode, producing commdore (C=) PRG or SEQ disk files- which are not directly readable by CP/M. So how do you get these files into CP/M format? To start, you will find the program CrossLink2.1b quite helpful. This program runs in the 128's native mode- meaning you aren't stuck with the catch-22 of having to convert a file conversion utility. It will read and write C= 5.25" disks (with a 1541 or 1571) as well as CP/M single sided and double sided disks. (It claims to read and write MS-DOS disks as well, although I have not tried this myself.) This way, if you have a disk you have formatted under CP/M (using the utility FORMAT.COM included on your CP/M system disk), you can translate files on CBM disks to a format readable by CP/M. Eventually, you will probably want the CP/M program RDCBM.COM (version 2.1). This CP/M program reads C= disks. It has one major advantage over Crosslink: there is no limit to the size of files it can read. Crosslink can only read/write files up to about 45K in size. RDCBM.COM also supports the CP/M RAMdisk, if you have a 1750 REU (which I heartily recommend if you use either CP/M or GEOS much). So now you have the files readable by CP/M. But wait! All of these files have funny extentions like .LBR and .ARK, or .CZM instead of .COM. And you try to run them- and nothing happens! That is because these are compressed or archived files, which need to be uncompressed or dearchived before they can be used. But how do you convert them to a usable format? The standard commodore utilities in general won't work on CP/M files. The first file you will need is UNARC16.ARK (perhaps called UNARC16.SDA). This program will dearchive .ARK files. It is a self dissolving archiver itself (i.e. you don't need it to get it). Rename it to UNARC16.COM, and run it like any other CP/M program. This finished, you will have a DeARKiving utility. Next, you will probably want to get ahold of some library and uncompressing utilities. I would recommend for most uses LT31, a utility that will extract files from libraries and decompress all of the common compression formats seen in CP/M. With just LT31 and UNARC16 you should be able to dissolve all CP/M archives you find. If your tastes don't run that way, there are individual library and decompression utilities you can use. DELBR12.ARK is a must, if for no other reason simply because you will need it to dissolve LT31.LBR. You can use UNARC16 to dissolve the DELBR12.ARK. NULU152A is a more powerful library managing utility, which will allow you to create as well as dissolve libraries. Also, there are individually compacted files. Files with extentions .?Z? (the ? meaning any character) are "crunched," and files with extentions .?Q? are "squeezed," and files with extentions .?Y? are "lharced." Sometimes you will find compacted files inside a library (.LBR file). In order to unsqueeze and uncrunch files, you will want the utilities USQ120.COM and UNCR-Z80.COM. LT31 is probably your best bet for dealing with lharc'ed files. Once you have these files, you have everything you will need to get started taking advantage of the large amount of public domain software available for CP/M. And at this stage you might want to look into the wonders of ZPM and ZCCP... I won't distract you by discussing that here, but will rather refer you to the text file which introduces all that. Meanwhile, enjoy! Robert Knop (R.KNOP1)
Amiga7878