BBDOS: A Disk Operating System
for the AERCO FD-ZX Interface
Distributed by:
Bill Bell
596 Cherrington Road
Westerville, OH 43081
(614) 882-3883
PRICE: $29.95
ZX81/TS1000 owners who have been using the Aerco FD-ZX Disk Drive Interface owe Jerry Chamkis and his Texas staff a debt of gratitude for providing them with a reliable, high speed, mass storage system. But even as nice as the FD-ZX unit is, its disc operating system (DOS) leaves much to be desired. The machine code part of the DOS stored in an on-board EPROM performs its job well enough, but the BASIC program that drives it is, to be polite, caveman-ish in its approach.
Enter Bill Bell of the Columbus, Ohio area.
Mr. Bell picked up his first AERCO FD-ZX in a computer “junk” store somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard while on a trip there a few years back. He liked the hardware and the firmware, but was disappointed with the BASIC DOS driver. Which led to the question, “What if…”.
Mr. Bell is now offering for sale his disk operating system for the AERCO FD-ZX. The system is BBDOS (appropriately for Bill Bell Disk Operating System). This DOS will take your ZX81/TS1000 and FD-ZX Interface and propel them from the pre-Neanderthal era into the 21st century.
BBDOS is fully automatic and BASIC transparent. The only requirement for its use is that there must be memory available and enabled in the 2000-2FFF (hex, 8K-12K decimal) region of the computer memory map. Once the DOS is installed, it is completely immune to BASIC “NEW” and even system reset (pin 21B of the rear edge connector brought low). To install and start the DOS requires only one RAND USR call. After that, all file handling is done by file name or a function code from the DOS directory. This arrangement completely frees the user from the tedious and mundane chore of disk management.
Other features include automatic handling of 16K/64K page intermixing. Easy conversion of programs and data previously stored with SADOS (the AERCO DOS package). Single file and full disk transfers or moves (copy). BBDOS even allows you to copy files from disk to disk with only a single disk drive connected to the FD-ZX. BBDOS also permits the auto-booting of a selected program from disk upon DOS startup. Provisions are made in the DOS to allow 45 functions to be easily initiated by your own BASIC programs (with just a little effort, your MC programs can even do it!-ed.). By special arrangement with Fred Nachbaur, Memotech, and Ray Kingsley, Memotext, Z-Tools, and Hot Z II can be provided on disk already modified to function with BBDOS.
BBDOS supports 1 or 2 drives, single or double sided. It also supports all printer interfaces currently on the market for the ZX81/TS1000.
While the documentation is not exhaustive, it is more than adequate to get you up and running and completely acquainted with all the features of BBDOS. If any problems or questions do arise, this author has first hand knowledge that Mr. Bell is more than willing to take the time to talk or correspond with you until you both are assured your questions have been answered fully.
I would highly recommend the purchase of BBDOS for use with your AERCO FD-ZX interface. It takes a good product and makes it even better.