Hello!
It has been way too long since I played with CP/M on the M-100 using
REXCPM. Now I'm playing with it again and I have a question.
The CPM 2.2 User Manual says:
"system attribute (SYS):
**File attribute.** You can give a file the system attribute by using
the SYS option in the STAT command or by using the set file attributes
function, BDOS Function 12. A file with the SYS attribute is not
displayed in response to a DIR command.
If you give a file with user number 0 the SYS attribute, you can read
and execute that file from any user number on the same drive.
Use this feature to make your commonly used programs available under
any user number."
I cannot seem to make this work, so I wonder if anyone else who is
running REXCPM could try it?
The steps to take are:
1. Enter CPM on your REXCPM :-)
- You will start in USER area 0 (zero) by default.
2. Pick a program to make it executable from any user area.
I picked D.COM.
3. Use this command to set the "System" attribute:
STAT D.COM $SYS
4. Either DIR or STAT will show if the executable has the "System"
Attribute by displaying the filename with parentheses:
DIR D.COM
STAT D.COM
5. Now switch to a different user area where that program does not
exist:
USER 5
6. Try running D.COM (or whatever program you picked) from user area 5.
D
I get "D?" back, indicating that CP/M could not find the D.COM
executable from User area 5, but if I'm reading the documentation
correctly, it should find it in User area 0 and run it from there.
It is certainly possible that the version of CP/M in REXCPM doesn't
implement it. And it's no good me checking against CPM on my Kaypro
because it is CPM 2.2H, probably with vendor additions as well :-) A
clue about that is that the prompt looks like "A0>" on the Kaypro
instead of "A>" on REXCPM.
Having such a large hard drive is wonderful, and splitting it into
functional areas via the USER command is better. I was hoping it might
be doable. :-)
Can anyway else replicate my findings? Thank you!
Regards, Bert
