> Doesn't anybody know why is it called Dual Processor, Romable CP/M -68K
> System ??

Some older systems featured an Z80, 8080 or 8085 processor in addition
to whatever
processor the system was based on. Apple's, PC's, and C= 64s leap to
mind as
exaples of systems that had add-on h/w CP/M modules.

Alternatively, the 8080 was often the 'base' system processor, with
add-on cards
providing the second processor. A Zenith system and various S-100
systems fit this
bill, IIRC.

ROMable (I include this for completeness), refers to the ability of the
code to be
loaded into a ROM chip. That is, I believe the complete CP/M system
could be
kept in a boot ROM, and either copied itself into RAM or was a
permanent,
unwritable part of the memory map.

TTFN,
Tarkin

On 2006-07-27, Tarkin wrote:
> ROMable (I include this for completeness), refers to the ability of the
> code to be
> loaded into a ROM chip.

Usually, ROMable refers to the ability of the code to be *executed*
from ROM. Writable stuff is separated from code and constants so they
can be placed in RAM.
--
roger ivie
rivie@ridgenet.net

> Usually, ROMable refers to the ability of the code to be *executed*
> from ROM. Writable stuff is separated from code and constants so they
> can be placed in RAM.

Yeah,what he said! Erm, that's what I meant, anyway...

Thanks for the clarification.

TTFN,
Tarkin

so it not a reference to some sort of multiprocessing?
because there were some multi cpu CP/M machines around ..
such as some SANCO systems and I think DEC had something as well ..

regards
roman


Tarkin wrote On 07/27/06 04:52,:
>>Doesn't anybody know why is it called Dual Processor, Romable CP/M -68K
>>System ??
>
>
> Some older systems featured an Z80, 8080 or 8085 processor in addition
> to whatever
> processor the system was based on. Apple's, PC's, and C= 64s leap to
> mind as
> exaples of systems that had add-on h/w CP/M modules.
>
> Alternatively, the 8080 was often the 'base' system processor, with
> add-on cards
> providing the second processor. A Zenith system and various S-100
> systems fit this
> bill, IIRC.
>
> ROMable (I include this for completeness), refers to the ability of the
> code to be
> loaded into a ROM chip. That is, I believe the complete CP/M system
> could be
> kept in a boot ROM, and either copied itself into RAM or was a
> permanent,
> unwritable part of the memory map.
>
> TTFN,
> Tarkin
>

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:29:53 +0200, roman pollak
wrote:

>so it not a reference to some sort of multiprocessing?
>because there were some multi cpu CP/M machines around ..
>such as some SANCO systems and I think DEC had something as well ..
>
>regards
>roman
>
>
>Tarkin wrote On 07/27/06 04:52,:
>>>Doesn't anybody know why is it called Dual Processor, Romable CP/M -68K
>>>System ??

Compupro did 8085/8088, and their 68000 board could coexist with that
or any of their other cards (Z80, through 80386). I happen to have
the 68000, 8085/8088 and Z80 cards in a Compupro S100 crate.
They don't run concurrently though cooperative interleaved operation
is possible.

There are several other z80/68000 single board systems as well.
Back issues of Byte from the early to mid 80s would be informative.


Allison

>>
>>
>> Some older systems featured an Z80, 8080 or 8085 processor in addition
>> to whatever
>> processor the system was based on. Apple's, PC's, and C= 64s leap to
>> mind as
>> exaples of systems that had add-on h/w CP/M modules.
>>
>> Alternatively, the 8080 was often the 'base' system processor, with
>> add-on cards
>> providing the second processor. A Zenith system and various S-100
>> systems fit this
>> bill, IIRC.
>>
>> ROMable (I include this for completeness), refers to the ability of the
>> code to be
>> loaded into a ROM chip. That is, I believe the complete CP/M system
>> could be
>> kept in a boot ROM, and either copied itself into RAM or was a
>> permanent,
>> unwritable part of the memory map.
>>
>> TTFN,
>> Tarkin
>>

Hmm..
Back in the early 90s, we used to repair the Sanco systems, so we had
schematics and others. Bud from what I remember, it was a real MP
system (not shared memory, such as todays servers, but distributed
system). It had a Z80 on each board. One board could handle one user.
Over a bus, each of those Z80 could, pass data ( small shared memory) to
the disk controller cpu (of course z80). This one handled the hard disk
and floppy stuff.
And it run CP/M On each of those z80 user boards run one instance of
CP/M. The only thing I don't know, if the disk board handled i/o on high
level ( such as open file, read/write) or on the device level...


regard
roman



nospam@nouce.bellatlantic.net wrote On 07/28/06 04:12,:
> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:29:53 +0200, roman pollak
> wrote:
>
>
>>so it not a reference to some sort of multiprocessing?
>>because there were some multi cpu CP/M machines around ..
>>such as some SANCO systems and I think DEC had something as well ..
>>
>>regards
>>roman
>>
>>
>>Tarkin wrote On 07/27/06 04:52,:
>>
>>>>Doesn't anybody know why is it called Dual Processor, Romable CP/M -68K
>>>>System ??
>
>
> Compupro did 8085/8088, and their 68000 board could coexist with that
> or any of their other cards (Z80, through 80386). I happen to have
> the 68000, 8085/8088 and Z80 cards in a Compupro S100 crate.
> They don't run concurrently though cooperative interleaved operation
> is possible.
>
> There are several other z80/68000 single board systems as well.
> Back issues of Byte from the early to mid 80s would be informative.
>
>
> Allison
>
>
>>>
>>>Some older systems featured an Z80, 8080 or 8085 processor in addition
>>>to whatever
>>>processor the system was based on. Apple's, PC's, and C= 64s leap to
>>>mind as
>>>exaples of systems that had add-on h/w CP/M modules.
>>>
>>>Alternatively, the 8080 was often the 'base' system processor, with
>>>add-on cards
>>>providing the second processor. A Zenith system and various S-100
>>>systems fit this
>>>bill, IIRC.
>>>
>>>ROMable (I include this for completeness), refers to the ability of the
>>>code to be
>>>loaded into a ROM chip. That is, I believe the complete CP/M system
>>>could be
>>>kept in a boot ROM, and either copied itself into RAM or was a
>>>permanent,
>>>unwritable part of the memory map.
>>>
>>>TTFN,
>>> Tarkin
>>>
>
>

roman pollak wrote:
> Doesn't anybody know why is it called Dual Processor, Romable CP/M -68K
> System ??
> | *THIS IS THE DUAL PROCESSOR,ROMABLE CP/M-68K SYSTEM* |
> | *================================================= =* |

Interesting. All the years I spent maintaining CP/M-68K and I never
noticed that particular piece of boilerplate.

The ROMABLE part is fairly clear. The loader would separate out the
instruction (and constant) vs. data portion. We made several versions
that booted and ran out of ROM. There were really only a couple of
spots that caused trouble anyway: The BIOS had the disk tables, and
the CCP had command buffer. Strip those out and you are pretty much on
your way.

Dual processor? Well, all of our variants *were* dual processor except
for the MacIntosh CP/M-68K implementation. The TRS-80's were Z80 and
MC68000. The others were all "fit into a PC slot" types - x86 and
MC68000. But I doubt that is what they were referring to.

DRI did the original CP/M-68K development on a LISA. Anyone remember
what was in there? They then ported it to some kind of Motorola
development machine, which was VERY expensive and no one ever used. It
*might* have had dual 68K's, but I do not recall.

I am pretty sure the Lisa was a single 68000 machine.

The Motorola development system was called an Exormacs and in addition
to being expensive, was a real monster. I picked up a surplus one that
mostly filled a 5' tall 19" rack and weighed several hundred pounds. All
for a 6mhz 68K with 256 K of RAM, a pair of 8" floppy drives, and a
couple of hundred meg of CDC removable disk drives (Falcons, I think).
It got given away before the next move. It might have been possible to
run multiple CPU's in the Exormacs, The bus was the predecessor to to VME.

Bob




jmk wrote:
> roman pollak wrote:
>
>>Doesn't anybody know why is it called Dual Processor, Romable CP/M -68K
>>System ??
>> | *THIS IS THE DUAL PROCESSOR,ROMABLE CP/M-68K SYSTEM* |
>> | *================================================= =* |
>
>
> Interesting. All the years I spent maintaining CP/M-68K and I never
> noticed that particular piece of boilerplate.
>
> The ROMABLE part is fairly clear. The loader would separate out the
> instruction (and constant) vs. data portion. We made several versions
> that booted and ran out of ROM. There were really only a couple of
> spots that caused trouble anyway: The BIOS had the disk tables, and
> the CCP had command buffer. Strip those out and you are pretty much on
> your way.
>
> Dual processor? Well, all of our variants *were* dual processor except
> for the MacIntosh CP/M-68K implementation. The TRS-80's were Z80 and
> MC68000. The others were all "fit into a PC slot" types - x86 and
> MC68000. But I doubt that is what they were referring to.
>
> DRI did the original CP/M-68K development on a LISA. Anyone remember
> what was in there? They then ported it to some kind of Motorola
> development machine, which was VERY expensive and no one ever used. It
> *might* have had dual 68K's, but I do not recall.
>