10 replies to this topic

[huhn_m]

Hey guys I just sent a message to datalight with the following content:

Dear Datalight,

Please read this e-mail completely before you reply since I already got 2 "standard replys" before
that didn't really fit my needs.

I'm a developer for you system writing programs in assembler. I need some support on your DOS
interrupt though. I am a member of the forum www.casiocalc.org that deals with your rom-dos system
that is present on the casio pocket calculators of the series AFX / FX and probably used under license.
I don't want the pdfs with the command set you can enter in rom dos user prompt but a list of
all interrupt functions and weather they are compatible to dos. We expirienced problems calling several functions
of your romdos. It would be helpfull and should also be in you interrest if you'd provide
us with this information. We could develop programs more efficently.

There is also a flash part used in this calculator that is split in 6 drives and since I know that you also
offer Flash FX (a product that handles flash devices) I think they might use this system there too.
So I'd also like to know what interrupts this driver uses and how a programmer can access them in order to
map flash drivers and so on.

If you want to contact us we would greatly apreciate this. You could help us a lot. You can reach us at
www.casiocalc.org

The people who you may want to contact there are huhn_m (=me), BiTwhise and 2072productions.
They have already discovered interrresting things and might want to ask you some questions.

You could help increasing the software available for your system and it's quality.


Thank you in advance

Sincerly

Marcus Hohnel

There might be some misspellings but who cares

I hope they will respond and maybe, one time we'll some support from them.

I sent this when I read BiTwhises message since it remembered me of the fact that they havn't helped me yet.

[BiTwhise]

Cool

Hopefully they will reply.

I think though, that they would just tell you this is a product licensed to Casio, and they don't have, nor are the allowed to give out, the information you ask for ..

[huhn_m]

They answered:

Dear Sir,
Do you know what version and revisions of ROM-DOS the Casio unit is using?
If you can access a DOS prompt, that information can be obtained by typing
"ver /r" on the command line.

All interrupts that ROM-DOS uses are standard. We use published resources
such as Ralph Brown's Interrupt list as a reference for DOS interrupts
(http://www.ctyme.com/rbrown.htm). Our current software supports all
necessary DOS interrupts. Older versions may have had more incomplete
support. If there is a particular interrupt that you have questions about,
I can verify if it was supporte, or not based on the version/revision you
are using.

It is also important to understand that with our ROM-DOS Developer's Kit,
the OEM (in this case Casio) has the ability to modify or customize our DOS
kernel and offer support for only a sub-set of our full kernel. We do not
have a copy of exactly what Casio put on the calculators or any information
on what they might have customized. Because of this, even though ROM-DOS is
capable of supporting a particular interrupt, the unit you have may not be.

As far as the flash, we would need to know if it is managed by FlashFX or
not. If it is our software, again, we would need version information so we
can provide more accurate answers for you. Any additional details regarding
what you want to do with the flash drive(s) and how that relates to
particular interrupts would be helpful.

Best Regards,
Jamie Ferrier
Datalight Support Engineer

I'm quite glad they realy read my mail. If you have questions about interupts (like bitwhise)
please post them here. I'll collect them and send it to datalight.

As far as I know all calcs should contain Command Com v6.22 (Revision 2.6).
I'm not sure this is valid for all calc so please check the folowing adresse in ram:

~74C:C (best with touche)

[Mohamed]

That's a great thing!
In times like these you start to feel there's still hope.

[2072]

That's great!

Well it's also miniCOMMAND v 6.22 (Revision 2.6) on my ROM 1.02

I found it at the address 72D:3

It's easier to search for "6.22" in the whole memory.

[huhn_m]

My answere to datalight:

Dear Sir

Thank you for your fast reply. We are glad that you want to help us.
The ROMDOS Version used on the casio calculators is:

miniCOMMAND v 6.22 (Revision 2.6)

The CRC32 Checksum is: 0xC2B00AEF hex
Size is: 4671 Bytes

The file is probably compressed by a program like UPX.

One problem someone discovered was with the Reallocate Memory function he did the folowing:


mov ax,es    ; let AX = segment of PSP base
mov bx,ss    ; and BX = segment of stack base
sub bx,ax    ; reserve seg stack - seg psp
add bx,STKSIZE/16 ; plus paragraphs of stack
mov ah,4Ah ; fxn 4ah = modify memory
int 21h


This crashed DOS on the calculator. It shoud deallocate the memory used for the program he said.
If you could give us a workarround this would be nice. Another thing to say that could cause
incompatibility to ROMDOS is that the calculator uses a NEC V30MX processor that has a 80286
based instruction set but doesn't know the protected mode instructions.

Thank you a lot for your support from all of us.

Best regards

Marcus Hohnel

I hope they can solve BiTwhises problem ...

Please to all this is a unique oppotunity for all programmers to get all infos on the DOS functions they want! Ask you questions

I moved the topic here so all others can also post the questions they have to datalight according
to the DOS functions.

[huhn_m]

I'm somewhat sad that no one uses the opportunity and
asks questions to Datalight. If we loose contact we'll probably never
get this chance again.

Anyways ... I received an answere from datalight today:

Marcus,
ROM-DOS 6.22, revision 2.6 is very old and no longer supported as far as
updates and modifications.  miniCommand is a small subset of a full DOS
command processor, and can be configured by the developer to add or subtract
supported functions.  I will guess that the kernel revision you are using is
also 2.6.

I've asked our engineering team about the memory reallocation and am waiting
for a response from them.  I'll let you know as soon as I have more
information.

Best Regards,
Jamie Ferrier
Datalight Support Engineer

Hope they can help you BiTwhise. Maybe I'll try again to install their new command.com but this weill probably not be possibly since i can not
load files like msdos.sys (or how they are called on the AFX)

[mastermage]

[MASTERMAGE DREAMING]Why not email to saltire, maybe they could tell us how to program the classpad!
[/MASTERMAGE DREAMING]
(but why not ??)

[huhn_m]

[HUHN WONDERING]
Huh? We are in contact with saltire. Ask crimson
[/HUHN WONDERING]

[CrimsonCasio]

me and bitwhise are in contact with saltire, but they cant tell us a whole lot. I'm hoping to arange something for the classpad to avoid the confusion.

[superna]

The mail to Datalight is impressing !