wifi | The Amstrad CPC news portal

SymbOS v3 released

Oct 072017

Prodatron finally released version 3.0 of his multi-platform operating system SymbOS that is available for Amstrad CPC, MSX, PCW / Joyce and (new) the Enterprise. I won’t bore you with all the details of this release, because the Changelist is huuuuuuuge, so read it by yourself ;-). But there are some neat features like ZIP / GZ decompression and new applications e.g. for Telnet or IRC. If you have one of those computers, you definitivly should check the new version and we CPC users can enjoy the network stack and more supported hardware with this release.

You can download the latest version from the SymbOS homepage and discuss it in the CPCWiki forums.

SymbOS 3.0 WIP – with WiFi and USB mouse support

Amstrad CPC, System No Responses »

Oct 122016

Prodatron released a new work in progress (WIP) version of his SymbOS, which is a multi-tasking cross-platform operating system for Zilog Z80 based computers like the Amstrad CPC, the Amstrad PCW or the MSX machines. This time, it contains the long awaited network support for the Amstrad CPC (well… there was no network hardware available for the last release) and also support for an USB mouse. To use those new features, you will need the Amstrad M4 Wifi expansion for the network support or the USB Albireo board.
On the software side, SymbOS comes with several network related programs, where the most important ones are an IRC chat client, which you can use to directly talk to other Amstrad CPC users on the #CPC channel at Freenode, and the telnet client. Prodatron also improved the SymbOS desktop. You can add unlimited start menu entries and desktop widgets to it now. To unpack your compressed ZIP files, you can use the new unzip tool in the SymShell console in the WIP, too.

If you want to test the latest WIP by yourself, you can download and discuss it on the CPCWiki forums.

ORGAMS – Z80 assembler for the Amstrad CPC

Amstrad CPC, Development No Responses »

Aug 232016

Madram, Drill and Hicks have released a new version of ORGAMS – an assembler for Z80 assembly language, which runs on the Amstrad CPC. It is a ROM based assembler, so you should use it with a ROM expansion like the X-MEM board by TotO or the Amstrad WiFi. It also features a very detailed english and a french user guide. You can download the latest version from the CPCWiki forums.

ORGAMS assembler

New features

Trace: Source visualization while debugging (imperfect, Orgams can be lost with conditional or repeated blocs)
Trace: Memory visualization while debugging
Trace: CONTROL UP/DOWN for faster navigation
Monitor: Binary display with ‘?’ command
Monitor: Display restored zone when returning to BASIC
Assembler: Can assemble up to #BF80, and in #C000-#FFFF page
Editor: Free cursor
Editor: TAB to repeat previous search (text or label)
Editor: ESC to stop current search (only works with CONTROL F)
Editor: CONTROL-ESPACE put/remove BRK
Editor: CONTROL-C to display CATalogue
Editor: Can join lines (DEL at first column). Corollary : ‘DEL’ after ‘RETURN’ cancels an unexpected split
Editor: Use ‘&’ for hexa, like in BASIC and MAXAM.
Editor: Allow (IX) as shortcut for (IX+0)
General: Use RAM from very last bank (&FF) to alleviate conflict with 256k RAM-DISC.
General: Extension and Monogams ROMs can be burned everywhere (i.e. ROM 1 to 127)
General: Allow |o,”source” (no need to write “.o”)

Bugfixes

Bloc repetition was corrupted when corresponding source was overlapping 2 banks
Division with MSB set in divisor (e.g. &240/&C0) was corrupted
Sign was lost with sub-expression (e.g. -1/[1/1] or -1 mod [4 mod 5])
Negative values for FILL, ORG and repetitions raise error.
Bad expression for repetitions (e.g. undefined label) raise error.
Proper binary save from 9800-HIMEM zone
Returning to basic won’t reset 9800-HIMEM zone anymore
‘ORG &100’ now correctly parsed (not as ‘OR G AND 100’)
Assembling in RSX workzone (e.g. A6FC+) won’t corrupt firmware (Orgams-wise) anymore
Reset CRTC in RESTORE
Mute AY in BRK/RESTORE
At first invocation of BRK/Monogams, select RAM by default (lower & upper)
Robuster memory detection
Fix stack going down at each assemble / editor access.
Numeric pad is active when invoking |m
Block markers properly corrected when importing file
LD B,(IX) doesn’t crash anymore
LD H,IXH doesn’t crash anymore
Miscellaneous search bugs (CONTROL F) corrected.

Wifi hardware expansion for the Amstrad CPC

Amstrad CPC, Hardware 3 Responses »

May 112016

During the last years we saw a lot of hardware expansions for the Amstrad CPC. Most of them were the usual expansions like more RAM, ROM or storage. But finally, thanks to Duke, the Amstrad CPC gets an Wifi expansion, which you can use to connect to the internet. It is possible to send HTTP requests and it also starts a web server (on the on board Wifi microcontroller), where you can change some of the settings.
Besides the Wifi connectivity it also features a ROM board and a SD card slot for storage. The SD card will also be supported directly by replacing ROM 7 (AMSDOS), so you can use software, which don’t use direct FDC access directly from the SD card.

Here is the video of the current version of the Wifi expansion:

If you are interested in ordering a board or just want more information about the expansion board, head over to Duke’s homepage.