CP/NET 1.1/1.2 server for Windows
=================================
Introduction
------------
This program is used to communicate with a single CP/M requester connected
to a PC serial port using the RS232 protocol described in Appendix E of the
CP/NET documentation.
The program emulates either version 1.1 or 1.2 of CP/NET, and therefore must
be used with a requester running the same CP/NET version.
CP/NET versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 are NOT compatible with each other.
Although they use the same physical-layer protocol over a serial line,
they differ at the network-layer level.
I have included in this package a working SNIOS for the P112 CPU board,
which uses the second serial port of the P112 at 38400 baud.
Installation
------------
This package contains both a server (master) and a client (requester).
The server runs under Unix, the requester under CP/M.
For the server, I would recommend using the GNU C compiler to make the
executable. To compile it, just do a 'make'.
The requester files are in the cpmfiles directory, together with the CP/NET
utilities from the standard Digital Research distribution. To compile the
requester NIOS (SNIOS.ASM), use the supplied NIOS.SUB submit file on the
P112 machine; you will also need DR's RMAC and LINK. You can build it under
Unix as well, using a package like zxcc. But you can actually skip this
step, since a ready-to-run SNIOS.SPR file for the P112 is provided.
Command line arguments
----------------------
The server program accepts a number of command line options:
-ini filename Specify an alternate initialization file (see below).
By default, the initialization file name is
${HOME}/.cpnet.ini
-level level The CP/NET version level to emulate, 'level' can be
either 1.1 or 1.2 (defaults to 1.2)
-port device Sets the serial port to 'device', overriding the
initialization file settings.
-speed value Sets the serial baud rate to 'value', overriding the
initialization file settings. The argument must be
an standard serial baud rate, 38400 is assumed if an
invalid value is specified.
-debug value Sets the debug mask to 'value', overriding the
initialization file settings. The debug mask can be
either zero (no debug information is output), or a
combination of the following bit values:
1 Show packet-level data transfer. This displays
the data bytes sent in both directions in
hexadecimal format and produces an awfully large
amount of output. Useful for debugging the serial
communication protocol.
2 Show network-level data transfer. This dumps CP/NET
requests and responses in both hexadecimal and ASCII
format, together with the NDOS function number and
name. This proved to be very useful during the coding
of the server program, especially since I could not
find any CP/NET 1.1 documentation.
4 Show other miscellaneous debug information, like
the disk-to-dir mapping table on startup, network
logins and logoffs, etc.
For example, a value of 6 will output both network-level
data and miscellaneous information, while a value of 7
will dump just everything.
-netid id Sets the server's network ID to 'id', overriding the
initialization file settings.
-pwd passwd Sets the network password to 'passwd', overriding the
initialization file settings. Only the first 8 characters
are used, and the string is converted to UPPERCASE letters.
-version Shows the program version number, --version is a
synonymous.
-help Shows a help screen, --help is a synonymous.
The initialization file
-----------------------
The CP/M-disk-to-Unix-directory mappings, communication device settings and
a few other options are set through an initialization text file that is read
by the server program at startup. By default, the program expects the file
to be located in the user's home directory with the .cpnet.ini name. An
alternate configuration file may be specified with the -ini command line
option.
You can use the example cpnet.ini file supplied with this package when
creating your own one.
The initialization file is structured similarly to MS-Windows .ini files,
i.e. it is split in several sections, each one containing a number of
settings, like this:
[section1]
variable1 = value1
variable2 = value2
[section2]
...
Below is a description of the recognized sections followed by the list of
accepted options, and their default values in case no option is specified or
the initialization file is missing:
Section [defaults]
level = 1.2 The CP/NET version level to emulate, either 1.1 or
1.2.
debug = 0 Sets the debug mask. See the command-line options
description above for a list of possible values.
netid = 0 Sets the server's network ID. There is no reason to
change this, unless you are running multiple servers
on the same or different PCs, connected to the same
CP/M machine.
password = PASSWORD Sets the network password. Only the first 8 letters
will be used, and the string converted to UPPERCASE.
Section [comm]
device = /dev/ttyS0 Specifies the serial communication device.
speed = 38400 Specifies the serial communication baud rate.
Section [drives]
This section is followed by a list of disk to directory mappings in the
form:
<drive letter> = <unix directory>
where <drive letter> is any valid CP/M drive name (A to P) in UPPERCASE,
and <unix directory> is the full path specification to the directory to
which the disk is mapped, for example:
[drives]
A = /usr/local/cpm/cpmfiles
B = /usr/local/cpm/adventure
C = /usr/local/cpm/zsdos
By default, only drive A is defined as
A = <directory where the server was started>/cpmfiles
Section [printers]
This section is followed by a list of virtual printer to file mappings in
the form:
lst<number> = <filename>
where <number> can be from 0 to 7 (i.e. you can have up to eight virtual
printers), and <filename> is the full path to the file or device where the
output should be appended. Note that "lst" is in lowercase letters. The
special name "-" (single dash) can be used to redirect the output of the
corresponding virtual printer to the standard output, while "--" can be used
to redirect the output to the standard error output. For example:
[printers]
lst0 = /dev/lp
lst1 = /usr/local/cpm/lst/lst1.prn
lst2 = -
By default no printers are defined, and any printer output will be ignored.
All settings, except the disk-to-directory and printer-to-file mappings, can
be overriden by command-line options.
Running
-------
Copy the supplied CP/NET requester files (you can use cpmtools, for example)
from the cpmfiles directory to a P112-formatted and SYSGENed floppy. Among
the files there is a compiled, ready-to-use SNIOS module.
Connect the second serial port of the P112 board to a free serial port on
the PC. Start the server program on the PC side, making sure that the
correct serial port device is specified in the initialization file.
Alternatively you can use the -port and -speed command line options to
override the .ini file settings. I would suggest using some debug output at
this stage to make sure that the communication between the two machines
works, -debug 6 should do the job.
Then boot the P112 from the floppy and issue the CPNETLDR command. You
should get an output like this:
A>cpnetldr
CP/NET 1.2 Loader
=================
BIOS EE00H 1200H
BDOS E000H 0E00H
SNIOS SPR DD00H 0300H
NDOS SPR D100H 0C00H
TPA 0000H D100H
CP/NET 1.2 loading complete.
A>
If the server is not yet running on the PC side, or if there are communication
problems between the PC and the P112, you will get an additional "Network
access failed" message. Most common causes include incorrect port device
and/or speed settings, or the wrong type of cable is used to connect the two
machines.
If everything went OK, then you can try to login into the server so you can
start accessing files:
A>login
The login command does not produce any output on success. If you specified
in the server configuration a password different than the default "PASSWORD",
then you'll have to supply it in the login command line as well, otherwise
the command will fail, e.g.:
A>login mypasswd
You can now map local drives to remote ones and start accessing the files:
A>network c:=a:
A>network d:=b:
A>dir c:
C: DDT COM : DUMP COM : ED COM : T BAS
C: TEST BAS : PIP COM : ASSM COM : DDTZ COM
C: ADV COM : RAND LST : LOAD LST : BITDEMO FOR
C: TEST PAS : TURBO COM : TURBO MSG : TURBO OVR
C: TINST COM : TINST DTA : TINST MSG : CMDLIN PAS
C: TEST COM : CHAIN FOR : CONFIG COM : DUMP FOR
C: ERRORS : FORT COM : FRUN COM : GRAPH FOR
C: LD ASM : LOAD FOR : RAND FOR : READ ME
C: RUNA COM : SAMPLE FOR : SORT FOR : TRACE FOR
C: RAND OBJ : LD PRN : LOAD OBJ : LD OBJ
C: CMDLIN COM : GRAPH LST : ADVENTUR DTB : GRAPH OBJ
C: GAME CAV : GAME2 CAV : NEWGAME CAV : DUMP LST
C: DUMP OBJ
A>cpnetsts
CP/NET 1.2 Status
=================
Requester ID = 70H
Network Status Byte = 00H
Disk device status:
Drive A: = LOCAL
Drive B: = LOCAL
Drive C: = Drive A: on Network Server ID = 00H
Drive D: = Drive B: on Network Server ID = 00H
Drive E: = LOCAL
Drive F: = LOCAL
Drive G: = LOCAL
Drive H: = LOCAL
Drive I: = LOCAL
Drive J: = LOCAL
Drive K: = LOCAL
Drive L: = LOCAL
Drive M: = LOCAL
Drive N: = LOCAL
Drive O: = LOCAL
Drive P: = LOCAL
Console Device = LOCAL
List Device = LOCAL
A>
If you need to connect to a more than a couple of drives on the remote PC,
then it would be advantageous to create a submit file to do the job. For
example, I use the following one:
A>type connect.sub
login
network c:=a:
network d:=b:
network e:=c:
network f:=d:
network g:=e:
network h:=f:
network i:=g:
network j:=h:
network lst:=0
cpnetsts
A>
Note that I did not include the CPNETLDR command at the top of the file,
since it breaks the execution of the submit file.
For more details, consult the CP/NET User's Manual (the CP/NET 1.2
documentation is available somewhere on the web).
When you are done, use Ctrl-C on the PC side to end the server program and
to return to the shell prompt.
Known issues
------------
- Only one requester at a time is supported. This is not really a problem,
since under Unix several server processes can be run simultaneously to
service several requesters.
- The long filename conversion to CP/M 8.3 format algorithm is not smart
enough, and there may be cases when two or more files beginning with the
same letters appear under CP/M directory listings as duplicate files.
Opening, deleting or renaming one of these files can cause unpredictable
results. To avoid this problem, ensure that the directories to be accessed
by the remote machine contain only files with 8.3-style names. Also, only
files with lowercase names can be accessed.
- For simplicity, we set the FCB fields r0,r1,r2 = ex,rc,cr during read
and write operations. That should not affect normal CP/M applications,
and I haven't encountered any probelms so far.
- User numbers are ignored, so mapped drives will seem to contain the same
files in each user area.
- The CP/NET 1.1 NDOS has a bug in the search-first and search-next
functions: upon return the L register is not set to the same value as
the A register, like the standard CP/M BDOS does. Some programs may
malfunction (e.g. PROLOGZ enters an endless loop or gives wrong results
for the Files menu option). (Update: CP/NET 1.2 has the bug too)
- Mail exchange (CP/NET 1.1 only) is implemented as a test feature, and
follows the very simple DR's protocol (see the source code for the
SNIOS.ASM example and the SNDMAIL/RCVMAIL utilities). The server sends a
single welcome mail message ("Welcome to <hostname>") to the requester
immediately after login. The requester can read the message by using the
RCVMAIL utility, or by doing a warm boot. A message can be sent to the
server with the SNDMAIL utility, for example:
A>sndmail (0) "hello, world!"
The number in parenthesis is the destination ID, and is currently ignored
by the server. Messages sent to the server are displayed on its standard
output.
TODO
----
- Finish all CP/NET 1.1 and 1.2 functions.
- Check for user number in open/search/etc... functions.
- Implement disk-to-dir translations of type du:
- Allow emulated disks to be set R/O.
- Use a file table for open files to make the fd argument passing more
system independent, and to give some extra protection in case the server
is restarted while the client has open files on it.
- Avoid fd leak cases? Perhaps close all open files on 'free drive'?
- Add support for accessing TCP/IP resources through function codes 66/67?
- Add attributes support like mapping of server fs attributes to client attributes
- Add support of client attributes (like lock file on open, etc) in bits 5 and 6 of filename
- Fix search first/search next bugs
- Enhance SNIOS and server to auto-change speed depend on packet success/errors statistic