colorForth DOS reader V4.0
The cfdos4v0 distribution includes three *.blk files :
cfdos4.blk the new colorForth system
cf800.blk the new colorForth system with 800 x 600 pixel graphics
cfchuck.blk the original colorForth system from Chuck Moore
New
features in cfdos.com V4.0 ( from V1.0 ) :
Directory listing uses improved R/W access ( instead of R/O ) to avoid upsetting WinXP/NT/2000 and Win98 systems…
Windows is very unforgiving when it comes to “DOS” file
accesses. I hope that cfdos V4.0 will work on all versions.
File information now includes file and kernel checksums.
CtrlU and ctrlD now upload and download 18 blocks ( 1 cylinder ). I have reverted to the V1.0 and V2.0 systems because it has proved too difficult to keep the colorForth source in blocks 18 to 35 in sync with the binary in blocks 0 to 17. Instead I have redefined words with new names, keeping the old ones too. Only V3.x copied 36 blocks.
CtrlP and ctrlO added. These uPload and dOwnload 1440 blocks, an entire floppy disk. Use this to create a bootable PCItest floppy disk – see below.
New
features in cfdos4.blk ( from V1.0 ) :
xx the colorForth explorer program. This gives an overview of the colorForth applications in the system. Any block which begins with App: (in white) will be added to the list. The program reads the first cell of each block and displays the first four tokens after the App: if an App: token was found. Press the space bar to run the selected block. All the applications have been modified to run “xx” when they terminate. There are also options to edit the selected block ( e ) and view its shadow block ( ? twice ).
This is an alpha version. Improvements to be made include the display of
all comment tokens ( and no other colours ) in the selected line.
Comments appreciated ;)
Name redefinitions to several system words :
Was is
now called. function .
?dup /dup compiler – decides whether a dup
is needed
- invert
-1 XOR
stop /flop turns off the floppy disk drive
motor
or xor bitwise XOR ( New in V3 )
-- or bitwise OR ( New in V3 )
Note that erase and copy are not ANS compliant:
b n erase erases n blocks starting at block b
b copy copies the currently edited block ( in variable blk ) to block b
Dump now displays the ASCII text and colorForth token names.
Type 0 dump ver to see the CFDOS ASCII version information at 0x11c0. This is 256 bytes ( 64 32 bit cells ) before block 18.
Icons has a complete set of printable ASCII characters from 0x20 to 0x7F, and the ASCII conversion tables have been updated to include them all.
Slime : a simple game. Note that this has not been proted to the 800x600 pixel system ( yet ).
Sound : controls the PC’s speaker
Ed : the colorForth editor mostly ( New in V3 ) ported to colorForth. Type ed then 206 edd to replace 206 edit .
: toggles “colourblind” mode on/off
o displays the Other ( last edited by edd ) block
L loads the currently displayed block
The midnight-blue background is to show that different code is being run…
New
blk file :
PCItest.blk is a 1440 block file containing the image of a disk. On the disk you will find PCI.exe , a PCI display program written by Craig Hart – suplied with thanks from : http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/downloads.htm
The file : PCIdevs.txt lists the names of PCI cards and manufacturers.
Use ctrlO to dOwnload PCItest.blk to a blank floppy, then reboot your PC from the floppy. The program will auto-run and display your PC’s PCI information.
The video card is class 3. Further documentation on what to do with this information will follow ASAP…
New CHK.com progam :
CHK.com <filename> displays the 16 bit hexadecimal sum of 512 bytes starting at byte 1152 in “filename”. This is an area in the colorForth kernel which does not appear to contain any variables, and so gives a good indication of which colorForth binary is in the file. If no filename is given it defaults to “cfdos3.blk” . The source for CHK.com is in blocks 661 to 663 in cfdos.src. ( ctrlF 661 LIST N N )
Howerd Oakford www.inventio.co.uk