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Zeta V2 questions

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DeltaDon

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I just completed a couple of Zeta V2 SBC boards that I had filed away for some time and have a couple of software questions. The ROM that I received and booted up is set for 38,400 baud and I'm not sure what utility (if any) allows me to change that to something else. Second question is is there a utility that allows me to set the real time clock? My time at searching the Zeta directory files was cut short as my Wyse terminal starting acting up on me and I'm lacking a cable to use a usb to DB-9 for a laptop terminal use at the moment.
 
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Form looking at James' docs:

Apparently, the serial bitrate is programmed into PROM, if you're using the pre-built images. You'd have to recompile from source to change that. It's a bit strange that the author didn't include auto-rate determination (hit RETURN several times to signal the rate).
 
... or consider building the ParPortProp, which provides a terminal and more (VGA output, PS/2 keyboard input, extra RS232, and a SD card interface).

Easy build, and might take less time than recompiling :)

Todd Goodman should have PC boards available. https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boardinventory

The eeprom for the Parallax Propeller can be directly programmed, so you just need any programmer that would handle the 24LC512.
 
I think that this code-in-PROM thing has gone a little bit overboard. The original Tarbell floppy controller had all of 32 bytes of (bipolar) ROM and was sufficient to get one sector from a floppy drive into memory. After that, it was easy to do the rest.
 
gekaufman said:
... or consider building the ParPortProp, which provides a terminal and more (VGA output, PS/2 keyboard input, extra RS232, and a SD card interface).

Easy build, and might take less time than recompiling :)

Todd Goodman should have PC boards available. https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boardinventory

The eeprom for the Parallax Propeller can be directly programmed, so you just need any programmer that would handle the 24LC512.
Click to expand...

Was already in the works. I asked Todd to get some PPIDE boards made up also.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I think that this code-in-PROM thing has gone a little bit overboard. The original Tarbell floppy controller had all of 32 bytes of (bipolar) ROM and was sufficient to get one sector from a floppy drive into memory. After that, it was easy to do the rest.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I think Tiny Basic on the Elf fit into 1K, and the boot ROM was 64 bytes. These days of cheap huge flash ROM has spoiled all of us with 50 from column A and 250 from column B as long as chop suey isn't one of them.
 
DeltaDon said:
I hear you. I think Tiny Basic on the Elf fit into 1K, and the boot ROM was 64 bytes. These days of cheap huge flash ROM has spoiled all of us with 50 from column A and 250 from column B as long as chop suey isn't one of them.
Click to expand...

I think you do. I would think that any of this retro stuff has the goal of providing an experience of the real thing. CP/M is a very old file manager (could one really call it an "operating system" in today's context?). Throwing modern hardware at it deprives one of something of the experience, I would think. In the beginning, many hobbyists toggled the boot loader in on the front panel. Having 512KB of flash just doesn't seem to fit the pattern. My take only because I was there... :)
 
It's kinda nice, but I do wish a lot of these designers would give thought to providing just a tad more configurability and an escape clause or two without having to re-flash the whole dang thing. I've got a Color Maximite 2 just for the hardware, but I have no interesting in running their BASIC, yet there's no means of calling out to user-supplied machine code provided, which means I'm gonna have to port something else to the SOC and re-flash it all by my dang self, just to do what CBM BASIC allowed you to do with a single SYS statement... :/
 
I found these comments encouraging. For the last couple years I've designed several ROM-less or tiny-ROM SBC for Z80, Z280, and 6502. The original motivation was to save the space, cost, and hassle of ROM and its programming. It turns out I can run the SBC fast because ROM is the slowest component. I have reliably overclocked CMOS Z80 to 29.5MHz and W65C02 to 25.175MHz. I also like the ability to change to different operating environment by changing the compact flash disk where all software are located. ZRCC (Z80+RAM+CPLD+CF)is an example of such approach.
Bill
 
My Zeta V2 is stuck with working only at 38400. I just noticed Dr. Scott Baker during a Youtube video puts up a screen of programs on his Zeta V2 running CP/M and there's programs to set the serial to 1200, 9600 and 38400. They are missing in my install. So I need to investigate if I've got a bum copy of the ROM options. This was my original attempt to burn the ROM from the ROMwbw listed on Retrobrewcomputing and it seems to have left off support for the PPIDE CF adapter board too. A copy of an existing ROM I got from someone at least does sense and attempt to configure the PPIDE's CF card, but I might be not smart enough to figure out the procedure correctly. It too doesn't have the serial port setting programs.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I would think that any of this retro stuff has the goal of providing an experience of the real thing. CP/M is a very old file manager (could one really call it an "operating system" in today's context?). Throwing modern hardware at it deprives one of something of the experience, I would think. In the beginning, many hobbyists toggled the boot loader in on the front panel. Having 512KB of flash just doesn't seem to fit the pattern. My take only because I was there... :)
Click to expand...
Depends; I was not there. The amount of time (and money) needed to learn intricate historic details just to see "A>" or "READY" is very high if you want to go all-original - especially since the result is not really usable. Working with CP/M 2.2 on a single-drive system is annoying, especially if it is not a removable disk; having the RAM/ROM disks makes it so much nicer to use. Also, I assume that you would have gladly used this to improve quality of life if it had been available. I can't imagine people wanting to be stuck with tape drives and multi-minute load times if they had a choice.

DeltaDon said:
My Zeta V2 is stuck with working only at 38400. I just noticed Dr. Scott Baker during a Youtube video puts up a screen of programs on his Zeta V2 running CP/M and there's programs to set the serial to 1200, 9600 and 38400. They are missing in my install.
Click to expand...
I did build the ROMs myself from the Github sources, and they contain all the required programs (e.g. MODE.COM to change baud rate). If you boot the ZetaV2, you should have the ROM disk available as drive B. In the ROM image, the disk content starts at offset 128 KB, so check with a hex editor if the data is really there. Try building the ROM yourself if you can.
 
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