Copies/extracts of messages in comp.sys.msx august 2003 about YIS503III MSX Networking Contributions by Stanislav Borutsky Andrew Nikitin Alexey Podrezov How to use To start with, type _HELP (or CALL HELP) and you will get help on network functions for the adapters. One computer is in teacher's mode, the other is in student mode. Alex ROMs of MSX Network YIS503R3 The last 16K block I think is built-in CP/M. To activate it, type CALL CPM. This ROM can be found only on a student (diskless) machine. On teacher's MSX (which has 2 built-in floppies) there is no CP/M in ROM, but you can boot CP/M from the floppy you get with the computer class. I don't know what was the purpose of CP/M in these computers - neither I, nor my friends all over the USSR ever used it. I think it was capable of sending executable CP/M files via classroom network, because this CP/M has built-in network commands. On the teacher's computer, there is another built-in 64K ROM - graphics editor named PAINTER, type CALL PAINTER (or even _pai) to run it. (included in fmsx distribution). Here is the memory layout: +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ |Primary | 0 |1|2| 3 | +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ |Secondary | - |-|-| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ |0000-3FFF |BIOS |-|-|Painter|ExtROM |RAM| - | |4000-7FFF |BASIC |A|B|Painter|DiskROM|RAM|Net + 2kB NetRAM| |8000-BFFF | - |A|B|Painter| - |RAM|Net + 2kB NetRAM| |C000-FFFF | - |-|-|Painter| - |RAM| - | +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ Russian MSX1 and MSX2 have different networks. In MSX1, you can use commands like run"com:", call comini, etc. In MSX2, the commands are _neti, _nete, _rece, _send and others (type _help to see all of them. Main computer has more commands). Each network interface has DIP switch. Main (teacher's) computer has number 0, students numbers are 1 to 15. Stanislav a.k.a "cax" I used CP/M a lot in our class to send out TurboPascal to student's machines. That was before plentiful dos network packages became available. NPIP.COM was used to copy files between computers and NUTL.COM to switch network on and off and performa other network settings. Andrew Nikitin Some clarifications about ROMs 1) DISK.ROM is the rom of the cartridge-based floppy drive you inserted. In other words, YIS503IIIR don't have it's own DISK.ROM But YIS805 with 2 built-in floppies HAS it's own DISK.ROM, 2) 16KBROM.ROM is indeed the CP/M. You can run it in emulator just as if it was regular cartridge, and after _cpm it will start. Note: it always creates RAM-disk on letter H: If it sees a diskrom, it will try to open drive A: (but H: still exists) 3) I compared the roms of YIS503 with the roms of YIS805 and - just as I thought - they were identical (MSX2.ROM and MSX2EXT.ROM). Here is the comparison table: YIS503 YIS805 MSX2.ROM ----- the same ----- MSX2EXT.ROM ----- the same ----- DISK.ROM no yes PAINTER.ROM no yes CPM.ROM yes no NETWORK.ROM can differ because contain RAM areas inside with different data at the moment of ROM file creation (but in fact are the same, because it's just the same net module) I wish you to collect a good set of networking tools, including MSX-DOS sender and versions of Metal Gear and Vampire Killer that can send themwelves via this network. As I said, student machine (YIS503) has CP/M in ROM. Teacher's machine (YIS805) has no CP/M in ROM, and instead of it it can boot CP/M from the floppy that come with the computer class. Of course, it should be a "master" version and contain much more than the student's ROM version of CP/M. If I'm not mistaken, there are 2 floppies that come with the class: MSX-DOS and CP/M. Among other documents, if I remember correctly, there was a manual with all the NETBIOS entries. The memory layout for both machines is very similar, and I alredy posted it for YIS805. Here is it again: +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ |Primary | 0 |1|2| 3 | +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ |Secondary | - |-|-| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ |0000-3FFF |BIOS |-|-|Painter|ExtROM |RAM| - | |4000-7FFF |BASIC |A|B|Painter|DiskROM|RAM|Net + 2kB NetRAM| |8000-BFFF | - |A|B|Painter| - |RAM|Net + 2kB NetRAM| |C000-FFFF | - |-|-|Painter| - |RAM| - | +----------+-------+-+-+-------+-------+---+----------------+ Clean Painter and DiskROM from here, add CPM.ROM - and you get the YIS503 layout. I don't know where CPM.ROM is placed - according to Nev, it takes the same place where YIS805 has it's DISK.ROM (3-1, 4000-7FFF) In addition to this (again, according to Nev), YIS805 has some jumper or switch on-board which can change the memory layout - you can specify the slot and subslot for the ExtROM+DiskROM (32K together) block. > > Also, how much RAM does it have, in what slot? As you see from the map, it's 3-2, and it's a 128K memory mapper. /Stanislav P.S. BTW, there are many programs that don't like YIS503 memory layout. Some games cracks (freeze), SCC detection routines (don't detect), WAVer (fails to start ROM), etc. P.P.S. I tried to create Yamaha plugins for NLMSX, but - you guessed it - it won't start with network rom connected, simply because it's not emulated at all (and the 2+2=4K RAM it contains inside). Anyway, if you don't connect the network rom, emulator boots, and you still can start Painter or CP/M. (but the keyboard layout will make you cry). BTW, NLMSX seems don't see disks with Yamaha's DISK.ROM. I think it needs Yamaha controller emulation to be added. COM-MegaROMs.zip This is the archive of MegaROMs that start from MSX-DOS. Most of them have the ability to send themselves via network. Here is the list: fayr,fbird,mgear,nemesis,triton,usas,valley2,vkiller,zanac-ex As far as I know, fayr and triton has no network sending ability. I know for sure that in order to send nemesis you have to type nemesis , and for fbird the command is fbird N Experiment with the rest to know what is the exact command to send. mgear,usas,vkiller,valley2 and zanac-ex have to be sendable, because their loader contains message "Net-ROM not found" or some known network commands like "_neti". Also, pay attention to the fact that most of the messages are in Russian, and if you try to run them on emulator with, for example, Japanese ROMs, you can see the messages in Japanese fonts, but in fact they are still in Russian. DBG5.COM ((c) Baraz) you'll find in the same zip is a debugger that can help you. NetTools.zip This is the set of various networking tools. Most of them are for creating RAM-disk on a student machine and sending MSX-DOS with additional files to the student. Some of them make kind of mapping of teacher's floppy to the student, so he can access networked floppy directly. ND system is the program that resembles Norton Commander, and knows to execute and send multi-bload games, COM and basic files. Some of the tools are even documented, but all the documentation is in Russian, sorry. /Stanislav a.k.a "cax"