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POWER 2.41 (CPMPOWER) DOCUMENTATION
Note: This documentation is preliminary and will
be revised at any time the author is able
to acquire new information about CPMPOWER.
********************************************************************************
POWER241 (aka CPMPOWER) is an early public domain version of the proprietary
CP/M utility POWER! by Pavel Breder, which is marketed by COMPUTING! of San
Francisco, California. There appears to be no documentation for version 2.41
other than a help file (CPMPOWER.DOC) which, if resident on the logged disk,
can be called from the POWER241's menu.
Since the current version of the proprietary POWER! appears to be 2.57, it is
conceivable that a later version of the public domain program may be floating
around somewhere. 2.41 contains 28 commands, compared to the advertized 57 in
POWER! Having seen the latter in operation, there is no question that it pro-
duces a much prettier screen and is somewhat easier to use. However, for most
purposes the enhancements are not sufficiently useful to justify purchase of
the proprietary version -- at a list price of $169 -- if the public domain ver-
sion is available: All major commands appear to be present in version 2.41.
The main omissions appear to be commands that are useful to programmers and
hackers; these facilities are better handled by such public domain programs as
DU, EDFILE, DISKDOC, DISKED, REZ/RESOURCE, and so on.
Because I do not have access to a manual for POWER!, this documentation is
based on my own experimentation with version 2.41, as well as a review of the
proprietary version written by Alan Miller in the April, 1983, issue of Inter-
face Age, beginning on page 106. If anyone reading this happens to own a copy
of POWER!, please inform me of any errors or omissions. Contact me through:
Valley Technical RCPM 602-938-7480
Garden of Eden BBS 602-991-0144
or
Deke Barker
OmniGraphics
Box 8696
Scottsdale, AZ 85252
********************************************************************************
POWER241 (hereinafter called POWER) is a multi-function CP/M utility of a type
resembling WASH, SWEEP, VFILER, and NSWP. It should operate on most systems
that use CP/M 1.4, 2.x, or MP/M. It should also operate on CP/M 3.0, but I
am unable to verify this. It requires a minimum of 20k of memory, of which
it occupies about 8k.
For most purposes, this utility effectively replaces PIP, STAT, XDIR, UNERA,
FINDBAD, and the resident commands TYPE, ERA, REN, and DIR. Because of certain
rarely used facilities in PIP and STAT (concatenation for example), it would
be unwise to eliminate them completely from one's library. Also, since POWER
is not able to squeeze/unsqueeze or type/print squeezed files, POWER cannot
replace NSWP2xx. (I retain the latter on a disk with my communications and
library programs.)
To boot POWER, simply type POWER at the 'A>' prompt. The following will then
appear:
CPMPOWER 2.41 by PAVEL BREDER (c) 1981
revised as of 09/26/81
A>
Note that this is the same as the normal CP/M prompt, which can cause
some confusion unless one modifies the CCP the automatically load POWER
at all warm boots.
********************************************************************************
COMMANDS [Items in brackets [] are entered by the user.]
When entering a command, the user generally has the choice of typing the com-
mand alone or with a filename/filetype parameter. The first main command oper-
ation listed (CHECK) shows both choices. For subsequent commands, I have used
the command + parameter method to save disk space and to avoid typist's cramp.
When a command is typed without parameters, note that the directory is repro-
duced exactly as it appears on the disk and not in alphabetical order.
To perform a command on a file that is not on the currently logged disk, type
the command followed by a space and the new drive designation/colon.
A> [COPY B:] or A> [COPY B:VDO.COM]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMAND FUNCTION
=================== ====================
EXAMPLE
====================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
? List directory of available commands.
A> [?]
? LOG DIR
COPY USER DEST
CRT INFO STAT
DISK TEST RECLAIM
EXIT TYPE TYPEH
TYPEA TYPEX SIZE
CHECK ERA REN
RUN JMP EXEC
SETDIR SETSYS SETREAD
SETWRITE
*********
^C Perform a warm boot and return to POWER. (NOTE: Warm
boots occurring naturally after running a program from
POWER will NOT return to POWER unless the CCP has been
modified with AUTOLOAD, AUTOBOOT, SETAUTO, AUTOMOD, or
a similar program. See note at the end of this file.)
*********
^S Toggle scroll off/on. (Pressing any key will cause the
scrolling to resume; it is simply good practice to use
^S for both purposes.)
*********
CHECK Do a checksum (16 bit CRC -- cyclical redundancy check) on
the file in question; this can be written down and com-
pared with CRCs for supposedly identical files on other
disks.
A> [CHECK]
A: 1= - .100*
A: 2= -MACRO80 .LAN*
A: 3= (GO .COM*
A: 4= M80 .COM
A: 5= L80 .COM
A: 6= LD80 .COM
A: 7= CREF80 .COM
A: 8= CCPLOC .COM
A: 9= REZ .COM
A: 10= SYSGEN .COM
A: 11= UNLOADN .COM
A: 12= VDO .COM
A: 13= XSUB .COM
A: 14= XLATE .COM
? [10]
A:SYSGEN .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes - checksum...62C7
*********
COPY Copy a file or a group of files between drives. A CRC
is used to verify integrity of transfer.
A> [COPY VDO.COM]
destination drive :[B]
B:=A:VDO .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
*********
CRT ***NOT IMPLEMENTED***
*********
DEST ***NOT IMPLEMENTED***
*********
DIR List disk directory, including $SYS, $DIR, $R/O, and $R/W
attributes. The symbol '(' before a filename indicates
that it is a system file ($SYS). The symbol '*' after a
filename indicates that it is a read-only file ($R/O).
A> [DIR]
A: - .100*
A: -MACRO80.LAN*
A: (GO .COM*
A: M80 .COM
A: L80 .COM
A: LD80 .COM
A: CREF80 .COM
A: CCPLOC .COM
A: REZ .COM
A: SYSGEN .COM
A: UNLOADN .COM
A: VDO .COM
A: XSUB .COM
A: XLATE .COM
*********
DISK Show disk information. (The information below refers to
a single density Osborne 1.)
A> [DISK]
Disk A:
Disk capacity: 92 Kilobytes
Tracks: 40
Sectors/track: 20
Groupsize (1): 16 (sectors per group)
Groupsize (2): 2 Kilobytes (per group)
Total groups: 46
Dir entries: 64 (32 bytes each) [[maximum entries]]
Dir size: 2 Kilobytes
System tracks: 3
Used space: 84K Free space: 6K
*********
ERA Prompted (Y/N) erase utility for single or multiple
files.
A> [ERA VDO.COM]
A: 12= VDO .COM
Procede (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
A:RECORD .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
*********
EXEC nnnn Jump to a specific address and return to POWER. (This
function is of limited use except to experienced pro-
grammers, who will find other public domain programs
more complete.)
*********
EXIT Exit POWER.
*********
INFO Type CPMPOWER.DOC if located on the logged disk, or if
located on another drive and the command INFO is fol-
lowed by the drive designation (as INFO B). See the
file CPMPOWER.DOC.
*********
JMP nnnn Jump to a specific address and return to CP/M. See EXEC.
*********
LOG List POWER default settings. The first group of settings
(A, B, C, D) refer to the COPY function. The second
setting (1-5) establishes the number of columns in a
directory listing. The third (R) toggles the 'request'
function on and off. The fourth (V) function is another
toggle-key the purpose of which I have yet to discover.
The last function (S) toggles the listing of system
files in directories. (See the note at the end of this
file for an explanation of how to alter the default
settings.)
The 'S' default must be 'ON' in order to change a file's
status (or manipulate it in any way) if that file is
a system ($SYS) file.
A> [LOG]
Defaults (use [n] to set or change)
D If file exist A-overlay, B-back up, C-ask, D-skip
1 columns in directory
R (ON) request Y/N on current file
V (OFF) read after write flag
S (OFF) show system files
USER in use:00, destination USER:00
*********
RECLAIM Unerase erased files; BE VERY CAREFUL -- like UNERA, this
facility is not foolproof. It will only work if the
file has not been over-written. It is best used in
cases where a file was accidently erased, and no further
data has been entered onto the disk in question.
A> [RECLAIM] --- DELETED FILES ---
A:FORMAT .COM - recover (Y/N) ?[N]No
A:N .COM - recover (Y/N) ?[N]No
A:DU-V86 .COM - recover (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes WAIT...
A:DISKED .COM - recover (Y/N) ?[N]No
*********
REN Prompted file renaming utility. Will accept the old name
but not the new name as a parameter on the command line.
A> [REN VDO.COM]
A: 12= VDO .COM
A:VDO .COM = new NAME:[EDIT.COM]
A:VDO .COM = EDIT .COM rename (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
*********
RUN Command (.COM) file execution facility. Once a command
file has completed execution, a warm boot is performed
and control returns to the normal CCP. (See note at
the end of this file for a method to reboot POWER auto-
matically.)
A> [RUN VDO.COM]
A: 12= VDO .COM
A:RUN VDO .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
*********
SETDIR The 'SET... ' commands set and reset the directory and
SETREAD read/write attributes of any file: SETDIR causes a
SETSYS file to appear in a standard directory listing, while
SETWRITE SETSYS gives a file $SYS attributes; SETREAD makes a
file read-only, while SETWRITE makes it read-write.
File attributes appear in the directory listing as fol-
lows:
$SYS = '(' preceding the filename: (MYFILE.COM
$R/O = '*' following the filename: MYFILE.COM*
$SYS and $R/O: (MYFILE.COM*
$DIR and $R/W have no character designation: MYFILE.COM
A> [SETREAD VDO.COM]
A: 12= VDO .COM
A:VDO .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
*********
SIZE Lists file parameters: Number of sectors, size of file
rounded to next 1k, space occupied on the disk (depends
on group size of your system -- my system uses 2k
groups), and total unused space. The latter is useful
to know when building libraries, as files are packed
with no free space using LU, LUX, ARCHIVE and similar
utilities.
A> [SIZE VDO.COM]
A: 17= MYFILE .COM
A:MYFILE .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]YES - 22 sectors 3k 4k 10 unused sectors
*********
STAT Lists disk free space and disk Read/Write status to the
screen. If the logged drive is A, giving the command
STAT B: will list the free space for both A and B to the
screen.
A> [STAT B:]
A: R/W Used space: 88K Free space: 2K
B: R/O Used space: 78K Free space: 12K
*********
TEST Tests a disk for bad sectors (like FINDBAD) and locks out
those sectors by combining them in a file $$$$$$$$.$$$
with $R/O and $SYS attributes.
A> [TEST] --- DISK CHECKSUM & TEST ---
Disk checksum... D348
Bad blocks...... NONE
*********
TYPE Lists an ASCII file to the CRT; continuous scrolling until
a ^S is typed.
A> [TYPE B:MYTEXT.TXT]
B: 4= MYTEXT.TXT
B:MYTEXT .TXT (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs. The quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dogs. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
.
.
.
the lazy dogs.
*********
TYPEA Lists ASCII characters in a binary file (.COM or .REL) to
the CRT; continuous scrolling.
A> [TYPEA B:N.COM]
B: 16= N .COM
B:N .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
0100: .4.N.COM Ver. 2
0110: .1 (c) Norman H
0120: . Strassner 2/2
0130: 0/84!..0"$.1"...
0140: !.."..D.^..!..^.
.
.
.
2D50: ................
*********
TYPEH Lists any file to the CRT in hex; continuous scrolling.
A> [TYPEH B:N.COM]
B: 16= N .COM
B:N .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
0100: C334014E2E434F4D20205665722E2032
.
.
.
2D50 000000000000000000000000000000000
*********
TYPEX Lists binary file to the CRT in hex, with ASCII characters
shown below the hex notation as they appear in the file;
continuous scrolling.
A> [TYPEX B:N.COM]
B: 16= N .COM
B:N .COM (Y/N) ?[Y]Yes
0100: C334014E2E434F4D20205665722E2032
----: . 4 . N . C O M V e r . 2
.
.
.
2D50: 00000000000000000000000000000000
----: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
*********
USER n Set user number from 0 to 31; note that CP/M normally
accepts user numbers from 0 to 15 only.
A> [USER 3]
A> [[The system is now in User #3]]
********************************************************************************
If the user wishes to CHECK, COPY, ERA, REN, SETxxx, or SIZE several files,
s/he can do so by typing the command without parameters. When the '?' prompt
appears at the bottom of the list of files, s/he has the alternative of typing
a single number, two or more numbers separated by spaces, two numbers separated
by a dash ('-'), or a single number followed by a dash. For example, if the
command COPY is issued without parameters, a numbered list of files on the de-
fault drive will be sent to the screen, followed by the '?' prompt. The user
then has the following alternatives, assuming the disk has 15 files:
? 4 Copy file #4
? 4 6 7 Copy files #4, #6, and #7
? 4-7 Copy files #4, #5, #6, and #7
? 4- Copy files #4 through the last file on the disk (#15)
*********
To alter the default settings (see LOG), type 'LOG' at the prompt and deter-
mine which settings are to be changed. At the next prompt, type 'LOG [nnnnn]',
where 'nnnnn' are the new settings. NOTE: The brackets must be included as
part of the parameter(s). For example:
A> [LOG]
D If file exist A-overlay, B-back up, C-ask, D-skip
1 columns in directory
R (ON) request Y/N on current file
V (OFF) read after write flag
S (OFF) show system files
USER in use:00, destination USER:00
If it is decided to overlay a file of the same name when copying from one disk
to another, and further to have a two column directory, the command would be:
A> [DIR [A2]]
One can also alter defaults when entering other commands: 'COPY [A2]'.
*********
Issuing a ^C while in POWER does not cause the system to exit POWER. However,
a system reset/cold boot as well as a warm boot will return control to the
normal CCP. Since most programs issue a warm boot when through executing, it
would be good to have the system automatically return to POWER.
A number of public domain programs (AUTOLOAD, AUTOBOOT, AUTOMOD, SETAUTO) are
able to modify the CCP to automatically boot a program plus any parameters. It
is suggested that one of these programs be used on all disks containing POWER.
Since the user will generally want the same default settings at all times, the
best procedure is to use one of the 'autoload' commands. When changing the
CCP to automatically load POWER, use 'POWER LOG [nnnnn]' as the command line to
be loaded. Thus, every time a cold or warm boot is performed, POWER will be
loaded with the desired parameters.
********************************************************************************
Deke Barker
07SEP84
d parameters.
************************