More memory: the efect of the CTRL key by Software

Por manolito74

Paragon (1300)

imagem de manolito74

26-07-2017, 04:26

Hello,

Today I have been thinking again about the idea of turning off the second floppy drive or what is the same: emulate the press of the CTRL Key by Software.

Searching on Internet I saw that in some thread someone talked about a program called "CONTROL.BAS". I discover aht this Program was in the #20 of the Brazilian Magazine called "CPU MSX". I found that Magazine here:

http://files.datassette.org/revistas/cpu_msx_20.pdf?file=1&t...

in the page 38 we can find the List of the Program. I put it here:

100 ' CONTROL.BAS
110 '
120 ' Simula pulsaci¢n de la Tecla CTRL
130 ' para eliminar todas las Unidades
140 ' menos la primera (A:)
150 '
160 ' por Francis N. Ouinn  (Revista: CPU MSX - Num 20)
170 '
180 IF PEEK(&HFD9F)=&HC9 THEN END
190 IF PEEK(&HF347)=1 THEN END
200 FOR I=1 TO 1000: NEXT I
210 DP=256*PEEK(&HF356)+PEEK(&HF355)
220 IF PEEK(DP+16)=3 THEN FS=512
230 HI=&HE68D-FS
240 FC=&HE7A9-FS
250 E7=&HE7-(FS/256): E6=E7-1
260 BL=256*PEEK(&HF379)+PEEK(&HF378)
270 BS=PEEK(&HF348)
280 POKE &HFD9F,&HC9
290 FOR I=0 TO 24
300 POKE HI+I,PEEK(BL+I)
310 NEXT I
320 POKE &HF1AA,0
330 POKE &HF1BD,&HAA: POKE &HF1BE,E7
340 POKE &HF1C5,0: POKE &HF1C8,1
350 POKE FC,&HFF: POKE &HFB21,1
360 POKE &HF247,0: POKE &HF347,1
370 POKE &HF349,&HA9: POKE &HF34A,E7
380 POKE &HF34D,&HAA: POKE &HF34E,&HEF
390 POKE &HF34F,&HAA: POKE &HF350,&HED
400 POKE &HF351,&HAA: POKE &HF352,&HEB
410 POKE &HF353,&HA6: POKE &HF354,E6
420 POKE &HF355,&HAA: POKE &HF356,&HF1
430 IF PEEK(&HFB2C)<>BS THEN 470
440 FOR I=0 TO 2
450 POKE &HFDA0+I, PEEK(&HFB2C+I)
460 NEXT I
470 CLEAR 200,HI: CLEAR
480 POKE &HFD9F,&HF7
490 '
500 POKE &HFD09,&HF7
510 POKE &HFD0A,PEEK(&HF348)
520 POKE &HFD0B,&H22: POKE &HFD0C,&H40
530 DEFUSR=&HFD09: X=USR(0)

The purpose of this program is as I said before to disable the SECOND DRIVE in order to obtain more free memory. I have tested it on a real MSX (a Philips 8245) and also on the OpenMSX (emulating also the Philips 8245). The results obtained are the following:

- Running the program "CONTROL.BAS" and doing a PRINT FRE (0) I get 24,988 bytes free.

- If I hold the CTRL key pressed during startup and I make PRINT FRE (0) I get 24,990 bytes free.

There is a tiny difference of 2 bytes. But the matter is that after having executed the "CONTROL.BAS" Program te main Drive is disabled (in both case: the real MSX and the EMUlator)

Perhaps the Program "CONTROL.BAS" may be oriented to some Brazilian model. If any of you have a good knowledge of Assembler and the working of MSX Drives could find the error/s, because I don't have idea at all... :-(

I put HERE a ".DSK" image that contains the file "CONTROL.BAS".

Gracias & Saludetes. ;-)

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Por tfh

Prophet (3422)

imagem de tfh

26-07-2017, 10:07

Have you tried running the program on OpenMSX, using one of the Brazilian machines?

Por NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6088)

imagem de NYYRIKKI

26-07-2017, 10:25

Please check out: https://www.msx.org/news/software/en/onedrive-10

Some times it is not enough to free only one drive, so I've also created a program "NODISK.BIN" that disables both drives.

Usage:
BLOAD"NODISK.BIN",R,< load address >

This program needs 116 bytes free RAM to load to.

Example:
BLOAD"NODISK.BIN",R,&HC000

Por NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6088)

imagem de NYYRIKKI

26-07-2017, 10:43

Oh, just realized the download link is dead, so here is a mirror

Por manolito74

Paragon (1300)

imagem de manolito74

27-07-2017, 16:58

Hello,

first of all thanks for your comments @Nyyrikki and for the links to the Programs ;-)

What I need really is just to emulate the working of the CTRL Key and just disable the 2nd Drive. The problem of the Program I put in my first post is that it disables too the Drive A:. I suppose that there is a little error in some line or in some address but I have no idea... :-(

I have searched for info about the addresses/instructions used by the Program and I have found some information, but I don't have knowledge about Assembler/Drive Working.... :-(

I put here the List of the Program with the remarks about the Information I have found. Perhaps anyone with more knowledge than me about that matter can find the error/s or improve/correct the Program.

This is the List:

100 ' CONTROL.BAS
110 '
120 ' Simulates the press of the CTRL Key
130 ' to disable all the Drives
140 ' except the Drive A:
150 '
160 ' by Francis N. Ouinn  (Revista: CPU MSX - Num 20)
170 '
180 IF PEEK(&HFD9F)=&HC9 THEN END --> That handles the interruptions of the timer MSXIO
      I suppose that is used to start/stop the Disk Drive but I have no idea :-(
190 IF PEEK(&HF347)=1 THEN END --> We check hee the number of Drives: 
      if only there is One Drive we don't need to do anything.
200 FOR I=1 TO 1000: NEXT I
210 DP=256*PEEK(&HF356)+PEEK(&HF355) --> I suppose it is used for Disk Drive A:
220 IF PEEK(DP+16)=3 THEN FS=512
230 HI=&HE68D-FS
240 FC=&HE7A9-FS
250 E7=&HE7-(FS/256): E6=E7-1
260 BL=256*PEEK(&HF379)+PEEK(&HF378)
270 BS=PEEK(&HF348) -> Id of the Slot of the DOS Kernel.
280 POKE &HFD9F,&HC9 --> I suppose it keeps the Disk Drive working
290 FOR I=0 TO 24
300 POKE HI+I,PEEK(BL+I)
310 NEXT I
320 POKE &HF1AA,0
330 POKE &HF1BD,&HAA: POKE &HF1BE,E7 --> F1BD, 1 is the Sector of the active Disk Drive
340 POKE &HF1C5,0: POKE &HF1C8,1
350 POKE FC,&HFF: POKE &HFB21,1 --> from FB21 to FB32 is reserved for DOS
360 POKE &HF247,0: POKE &HF347,1 --> F247: is the Default Drivela (0=A, 1=B) 
     --> F347,1: is the number of Drives of the System 
370 POKE &HF349,&HA9: POKE &HF34A,E7 --> F349,2: pointer to a copy of the FAT of Drive B: and 
      after that we have a copy of the FAT o the Drive A:  
	  (in both cases the size is 1,5 Kbytes for each one)
380 POKE &HF34D,&HAA: POKE &HF34E,&HEF --> F34D,2: pointer to a copy of the Default Drive (1,5kbytes)
390 POKE &HF34F,&HAA: POKE &HF350,&HED --> F34F,2: pointer to a area of 512 bytes used 
     by the DTA of the Disk Basic
400 POKE &HF351,&HAA: POKE &HF352,&HEB --> F351,2: is a pointer to a buffer of 512 bytes used 
     for transfering the data of sectors of the Disk.
410 POKE &HF353,&HA6: POKE &HF354,E6 --> F353, 2: pointer to the FCB of the File we are using
420 POKE &HF355,&HAA: POKE &HF356,&HF1 -> F355, 2: address of the DPB for the Drive A:
430 IF PEEK(&HFB2C)<>BS THEN 470
440 FOR I=0 TO 2
450 POKE &HFDA0+I, PEEK(&HFB2C+I)
460 NEXT I
470 CLEAR 200,HI: CLEAR
480 POKE &HFD9F,&HF7 --> FD9F is used to add Routines for managing intteruptions
490 '
500 POKE &HFD09,&HF7 --> fd09, 128 int this Table 2 bytes are asigned as 
     working area to each Page of each Slot
510 POKE &HFD0A,PEEK(&HF348) --> F348,1 is the ID of the Slot of DOS Kernet 
     (the same format as RDSLT - 000CH/BIOS)
520 POKE &HFD0B,&H22: POKE &HFD0C,&H40 
530 DEFUSR=&HFD09: X=USR(0) --> FD09, 128 Contains: In this Table 2 bytes are asigned as 
      Working area for each Page of each Slot

Gracias & Saludetes. ;-)

Por alessandro_scaccia

Resident (41)

imagem de alessandro_scaccia

29-03-2018, 22:56

The author says:

is possibile to insert command as game and so on from line 190 to 480

i make a test but not working... the basic reloaded with 24990 bytes but not execute nothings

If put control.bas in autoexec and then start game, the game don't start.

bye