Updated 16 August 2006

OZ Versions

Z88 Fonts New 16 August

Notes

The first three versions 1.2, 1.41 and 2.0 were reported by Roy Woodward, editor of the 'Z88 Users' Club' newsletter 'Z88 EPROM'. He got his first Z88 on the 30th June 1987. Version 1.2 didn't have the soft reset option, only hard reset. A 'save to EPROM' command could sometimes reset the Z88. Version 2.0 had memory problems. At five instances of PipeDream there was a 'No Room' message regardless of available RAM.

Version 2.2 and 3.0 are identical except the version number and that 2.2 was on EPROM and 3.0 on ROM.

Version 2.6 seems to have been marketed both as Danish and Norwegian. Anyone know more?

The Icelandic versions based on 3.0 and 3.13 were made by Adam David <adam@veda.is> and were never officially sanctioned by Cambridge Computer.
The Finnish/Swedish 4.01 was made by Jorma Oksanen.

Keyboard
French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish keyboard maps can be viewed at Rakewell | Z88 | Hardware | Foreign Z88 Keyboards.

Date At Hard Reset
This is the date displayed when going to the Clock []T popdown after a hard reset. Note the Danish version is unique in having the date in Danish format instead of British.

Index Help
Version 2.2/3.0 have an Index help page with rules for card changing.

PipeDream Help
Version 2.2 to 2.6 have ten PipeDream help pages describing Trig. Functions, Log. Functions, List Functions, Slot Functions, Integer & Date Functions, Conditionals, Operators, Logical Operators, Relational Operators and Wildcards.

<>ISO
Version 3.12 and later have a third page in PrinterEd, reachable with the command <>ISO, with 28 additional character translations.

CLI ESC
In the British versions, the characters |[ can be used in CLI files to symbolise pressing the Escape key. Actually it simulates holding the diamond <> key and then pressing the [ key which returns the ESC key code. If you have a British version, you can easily test it by going to the BASIC command prompt. Hold the diamond key and press the [ key. The response is the text 'Escape' just as if the ESC key was pressed.
If you have a non-British version where |[ doesn't return ESC it's easy to find out which keys do. Just hold the diamond key in BASIC and press other keys until you get the 'Escape' response. Probably it is diamond and a non-letter key.
In the Swedish version 2.5 and Danish 2.6, ESC is returned by holding the diamond key and pressing the ',' (comma) key.

There is actually not a one to one relation between which key combination returns Escape from the keyboard and which characters produce escape in a CLI file. In Swiss OZ 3.13 the keys <> and , produce escape from the keyboard but |, does not produce escape in a CLI file. |[ does. In Turkish OZ 3.17 the keys <> and Ç produce escape from the keyboard but |Ç does not produce escape in a CLI file. |[ does. In Italian OZ 3.23 the keys <> and ; produce escape from the keyboard and both |; and |[ produces escape in a CLI file.

The result of this is that you can actually not develop a cli routine relying on producing escape that works on all OZ versions.

The following examples marks the last suspended application in Index ready for <>KILL or other action regardless of where the selection bar is initially.
#I|CARD|[~R
#I|CARD|,~R
#I|CARD|;~R
#I|CARD|[|,~R
Save one of the above lines at the time to a file in PipeDream as plain text and execute it from the Filer to see which ones work with your OZ version.

:RAM.- Bug
- From The BBC BASIC(Z80) Reference Manual for the Z88: "There is a bug in versions of the filer up to and including version 3 that will cause the Z88 to crash if you use the device :RAM.- and then perform a soft reset whilst any files are still present in the device."
- From Z88 Developers' Notes v.093: "Due to a bug in the current operating system (version 2.2/3.0) if any files are stored in the device when a Soft Reset occurs, the system becomes badly confused, and is it very likely that a crash will follow sometime later."

See Z88 User Manual, Third Edition, Additions and Corrections and Z88 Internal ROM Modifications for several notes on avoiding :RAM.- files.

PrinterEd Bug
Goto PrinterEd []E. Enter the command <>FNEW. When the cursor returns enter the command <>FS. Enter a suitable filename to save. Load the file in PipeDream. If row 15 to 18 looks like this:
0 Y
1 Y
3 Y
4 Y
then you have the small 'Ext. sequence Off at CR' bug. The entry '2 Y' for Ext. sequence Off at CR is missing.
The serious 'Ext. sequence Off at CR' bug doesn't come into play until you update <>FU a printer driver without this option specified. Then it seems to upset the system and often cause an OZ Fail.
The cure is simple. Move the cursor to the option for Ext. sequence Off at CR and press Y even if it already shows Y. Then a save will include the entry '2 Y'. I don't know how or in which OZ versions it is fixed.

In my experience with v2.5 the :RAM.- bug and the PrinterEd Ext. sequence bug are responsible for the wast majority of OZ crashes.

Application Static Structures
From version 2.2 these major changes were made.

2.5
Index ApplHelpOffset

3.12
Index, Diary, PipeDream, Filer, PrinterEd, Panel and Terminal TopicsOffset, CommandsOffset and ApplHelpOffset.
No PipeDream Info topic.
BASIC SafeWorkspace
Filer ApplicationCodeEntryPoint
PrinterEd Desired binding of Segment 0
Terminal ApplicationCodeEntryPoint
Terminal Desired binding of Segment 3

3.17
Alarm, Filer ApplicationDorBank, ApplicationDorOffset
Alarm TopicsOffset, CommandsOffset, ApplHelpOffset
Alarm TopicsBank, CommandsBank, ApplHelpBank

I.e. from v3.17 the main application blocks didn't move around.

Wanted

Many Thanks to Jürgen v. Heymann, Salvador Merino, David Alcorn and Gunther Strube for details on the German, Spanish, French 3.12 and Danish versions.