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INTRODUCTION

ENTERPRISE IS-DOS Manual (V 1.0)

The ENTERPRISE IS-DOS Manual

Version 1.0

Please read this manual carefully before using IS-DOS. This manual should be read in conjunction with your EXDOS manual.

Copyright 1985 Enterprise Computers Ltd & Intelligent Software Ltd

No part of this manual may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sysem, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior consent of the copyright holder. The information in this manual is subject to change without notice and no responsibility can be accepted for errors or Loss of data. IS-DOS is subject to copyright and may only be copied by the original purchaser for his or her personal use.

All rights reserved.


PART 1 - USING IS-DOS

Introduction

IS-DOS is a disk based operating system which is a powerful addition to your Enterprise computer. As well as providing useful utilities such as DISKCOPY, BACKUP and UNDELetet, it allows the Enterprise to run the majority of application programs designed to operati under version 2.2 of the CP/M-80 operating system. The batch processing facilities of EXDOS are also enhanced, and EXDOS commands can be issued from IS-DOS. Like EXDOS, IS-DOS uses the MS-DOS file structure, and files from both systems may be mixed on a single disk.

Any CP/M-80 program to be run on the Enterprise must be on an MS-DOS format disk; details are given later in the manual on how to configure programs to run under IS-DOS. It should be noted that certain programs "modify" CP/M during installation; it is not possible to run these programs under IS-DOS. Certain programs have been tested by Enterprise, and a list of these appears in an appendix at the rear of this manual. We will update this list periodically by producing an "applications note" which will be available on request. Obviously it is not possible for us to test all of the many CP/M programs available. We would ask users to supply us with any information the have on the operation (or non-operation) of specific packages that have not been tested by Enterprise.

(CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research and MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft.)

IMPORTANT -- Make sure your master IS-DOS disk is write protected; refer to your EXDOS manual for information on write protecting disks. You are advised to make a copy of your IS-DOS disk as soon as possible (see page 5).



STARTING IS-DOS Your system should be set up as described in the EXDOS manual. We will assume you have just powered up the computer or performed a "cold reset" (two quick presses on the RESET button). Press a key to enter BASIC. Insert the IS-DOS disk into drive A. Then, from the BASIC screen, type:

ISDOS <ENTER>

IS-DOS will now load. The status line at the top of the screen will display "IS-DOS", and you will be given the prompt:

A:>

Any of the IS-DOS commands, as listed in the Operator's Reference Section of this manual, may now be used.

Once in IS-DOS, the screen will default to 80-column mode. This will be difficult to read if you are using a TV receiver. To obtain a 40-column screen, type:

MODE 40 <ENTER>

Now try typing:

DIR <ENTER>

to get this directory of the disk contents.

You will note that a number of files are present, including:

IS-DOS.SYS

BAKCUP.COM

CHKDSK.COM

DISKCOPY.COM

UNDEL.COM

XDIR.COM


The first of these, ISDOS.SYS, is the system file containing the IS-DOS operating system; this is the file that had to be loaded for IS-DOS to operate. The files with the suffix 'COM' are command files containing utility programs. We shall now briefly describe their use.

There are three kinds of command which IS-DOS recognizes: internal, external and transient.

To execute internal commands, IS-DOS does not need to load any additional program data from the system disk (or any other disk). The command ATTR is one example; you could remove the system disk from the drive, insert a different one, then type the following (which will convert all files on the disk into 'read only' files):

  ATTR a: R <ENTER>

External commands are those which are passed, for implementation, to EXOS system extensions such as EXDOS. The commands described in the EXOS manual come into this category. Any of them can be entered on the IS-DOS screen. Again IS-DOS has no need to load further program data.

A transient command, however, is treated as an instruction to load and execute a program contained in a disk file. On receiving the command, IS-DOS will search for a file with a name consisting of the command word plus the extension 'COM' or 'BAT'. The file is loaded and executed if found.

The Programmer's Reference Section explains to the machine code programmer how to configure his own programs as transient command files. The utilities supplied on the system disk, which we have listed, are also examples of transient command programs, and are labelled as such in the Operaror's Reference Section.

Your first use of these utilities should be to make a backup copy of the system disk itself. Replace this disk in driva A (if you have removed it). If you have a multi-drive system, insert a new disk (or one containing no files that you want to preserve) into drive B. Then type:

  BACKUP a: b: /F <ENTER>


This will execute the BACKUP.COM program. Notice that the command is the same as the file name -- without the suffix, but followed by an appropriate set of parameters. On receiving the command, IS-DOS searches for the file in the current directory of the logged-on drive. (It is possible to make it search other directories too; for this, see the PATH command in the Operator's Reference Section.)

If you are using a single-drive system, the computer will prompt you each time you need to change disks.

Note that if you wish to back up onto an Apricot disk, you should first format the disk using an Apricot.

  • * *

You can exit from IS-DOS by typing (for example) BASIC <ENTER>, or WP <ENTER>. To return to IS-DOS later, you will have to reload the system from disk as before. You may load it from a drive other that the default drive, by specifying (eg)

  :ISDOS b: <ENTER>

If you type the command from the EXDOS screen, the initial colon should be omitted. For full information on the options when loading IS-DOS, see the description of the ISDOS command in the EXDOS manual.

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