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#TITLE INTERDOS DOCUMENTATION
<INTERDOS
 
    [INTERDOS is a CP/M program for moving data files from North Star
disks to CP/M disks and back.  CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research,
INTERDOS is not a Digital Research product.  INTERDOS works by loading
the North Star DOS into memory while CP/M is loaded and making calls
between the two operating systems to do the disk I/O.  In addition to
simple file copy, INTERDOS will make certain format changes also.]
    [The standard CP/M record format for ED or ASM files is the text line
followed by a carriage return and a line feed.  There are several formats
for North Star, but the one addressed in INTERDOS is the format used by
SECRTARY, XEK, and several old assemblers.  This format is character
count, four ASCII digits for the line number, and a carriage return.
INTERDOS will copy either from North Star to CP/M or CP/M to North Star.
If you are copying from North Star to CP/M, five conversion options are
available.  First, of course, is file-to-file copy without conversion.
Second, SECRTARY format to CP/M ASM format.  With this conversion the
line numbers are stripped off, tabs are inserted in certain locations
and both a carriage return and a line feed are added to the destination
line.  The third format is similar to the second, but no tabs are
inserted.  The fourth format is to create a file on CP/M that can be
read for CP/M BASIC.  This is called the SECRTARY to CP/M BASIC conversion
and is similar to the third option except that the line numbers are left
on.  The output record will contain the four ASCII character line number,
the text line without inserting tabs, and a carriage return and line feed
at the end of the line.  The last option is the North Star BASIC to CP/M
BASIC format.  North Star BASIC files contain the line number as a binary
two byte field, and the BASIC keywords are kept as one byte tokens.  This
conversion option converts the line number to four ASCII characters,
converts the tokens to the ASCII equivalent and adds a carriage return
and line feed at the end of the line.  NOTE: THE LINE NUMBERS IN THE BASIC
PROGRAM MUST NOT BE GREATER THAN 9999.  Renumber the lines in BASIC before
doing the file copy if necessary.  Also this only converts the lines and
not the actual code.  There are several differences between North Star
BASIC and CP/M BASIC which have to be changed before a North Star BASIC
program can be run under CP/M.]
    [When copying files from CP/M to North Star, there are two options.
First is file-to-file copy without conversion.  Second, convert a CP/M
hex file to North Star type 2 executable file.  The second conversion
takes into account that ASM leaves gaps in the hex file where undefined
code was reserved.  INTERDOS fills these gaps with zeroes.  It assumes
that the file has the type and go address set properly so it ignores the
hex file addresses except for filling gaps.  In both options, the file
must have already been created under North Star DOS.]
    [INTERDOS will work with single or double density disks.  The source
code is given because you may want to change the density or add additional
conversion formats of your own.  There are two equates at the beginning
of the program that you may want to change.  The first is NSBOOT and is
the address of the ROM on the North Star disk controller board.  This is
used to jump to in order to boot in the DOS.  In older systems, this
address was E900, but in the newer and double density systems, this
address is E800.  The second equate that may be changed is DENSITY.  This
is the density of the system and should be set to "S" for single density
or "D" for double or quad density.]
    [Operation of INTERDOS is simple.  Mount a disk into the North Star
drive that contains the North Star DOS.  Then type the CP/M command
INTERDOS.  INTERDOS will load, print the signon message and ask
"REBOOT NORTH STAR DOS (Y/N)?".  At this point enter Y and the program
will jump to E800 (or E900) to boot DOS.  DOS will gain control and type
the * or +.  Type JP 100 to DOS to return to INTERDOS.  INTERDOS will
reexecute and again ask "REBOOT NORTH STAR DOS(Y/N)?".  This time type N.
Then it will ask "DESTINATION SYSTEM (C/N)? ".  Enter C to copy from
North Star to CP/M or enter N to copy from CP/M to North Star.  A
verification message will then be displayed.  Next it will list the
possible formats and ask for character 0 thru 5.  If you enter an
invalid format or a format that is invalid for that copy type (such as
North Star BASIC to CP/M BASIC when you are copying CP/M to NS), the
options will be relisted and you will again be asked to enter the format.]
    [The program needs to know when to stop the copying process.  In most
North Star formats, the end-of-file mark is an 01.  It can also count
blocks and stop when the block count exceeds the amount listed in the
directory.  The program will ask "EOF USING 01 OR BLOCK COUNT (1/B)?".
Enter 1 if it should stop when it encounters an 01 byte or enter B if it
should stop when it reaches the block count.]
    [Then the program will tell you to mount the disks and enter return.
This makes sure the disks are ready so that when it asks for the file name
it can search the disk to be sure the file is there if it should be.]
    [Finally it will ask for the file names.  The CP/M file name is in the
standard format X:xxxxxx.ttt   If a carriage return is entered without
entering any characters, INTERDOS returns to CP/M.  The North Star
file name follows the North Star conventions including the optional comma
and drive number at the end.  The file copy process will begin as soon
as the files are verified.  As the files are copied under all formats,
all printable characters are displayed at the console.]

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