CP/M BIOS setup

It's true, I do believe that it's possible to create a procedure which will rigorously extract the data necessary in order to define uniquely whatever format is used on a pure CP/M 2.2 bootable soft-sectored diskette including sector interleave and track-to-track skew. I do not assert that such a task will be "easy" to implement in software, but, once done, like any other task you don't have to do yourself, it will, indeed, be easy, as the computer will ostensibly do all the work. It will be necessary that the standard DRI-original BDOS distributed with the original OS be used and that certain standard-distribution utilities, e.g. PIP or maybe ASM or even MOVCPM be located on the diskette as a file named in the standard way with a standard directory entry describing it. My assertion that all the information with which to accomplish that is contained on the diskette, and, since the computer has to be able to find it there, another computer should be just as able to find that same information. It's true, some FDC's can read but not reproduce the writing of another. For that reason, I'll not claim that ANY FDC is capable of this. I didn't say it would be easy to create the software with which this would be accomplished, but I do believe it possible, and, since the computer would be doing the actual extraction of that information over a period of seconds, minutes, hours, or years, it would, ultimately, be as easy as any other task done by someone else. I'm not dead certain that I can do this, but I am quite certain that if it can be done on most diskettes, there probably exists at least one sort of CP/M boot diskette with which the process will fail. However, I do believe that it's possible to devise a methodology by which the information used by CP/M to describe the layout of data on its diskettes can be extracted from a CP/M boot disk automatically and recorded in a way that will allow another system to use that data to reproduce compatible media, and to read and correctly interpret the data on that diskette, provided that all the information and code used to accomplish that task are contained on the boot diskette as opposed to elsewhere in the system, e.g. in ROM or other storage medium for which no conventional provision is made by the DRI CP/M 2.2 OS. I don't believe that this will be difficult, though I do belive it will be dreary and tedious. I don't consider "staying in the chair" at a task hard work, either, though that, too, is often dreary and tedious. My interest is mainly in 8" FD's since they're the medium of choice for CP/M distribution, though the later-popular 5-1/4" diskettes are not totally uninteresting in this regard. I'd easily accept that, once one has a reasonably dependable method for 8" diskettes, it's not a long reach to make it work for the mini-floppies. The latter, however, known for their quirks and foibles. At least a few system vendors allowed their designers to put parts of the CP/M BIOS in EPROM, hence making an approach such as I propose impractical since all the "pieces" would then not be available on the boot diskette. This is not a high-priority item for me, but I am frequently asked about matters relating to this, and believe that after 20 years of doing the job by hand and wits, it might be possible if not beneficial, to do this. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Friday, October 06, 2000 10:15 PM Subject: Re: CP/M BIOS setup