Home of the Act Sirius 1 and Victor Computers

The table of contents below gives access to a huge amount of general and technical information on the ACT Sirius 1 and Victor 9000 computers. The pages cover most aspects of both computers from hardware to software notes, programming notes, input/output specifications and several appendices covering a wide range of useful topics that will give hours of useful reading. From the information below you should gain a better understanding of the amazing capabilities of the ACT Sirius 1 and Victor 9000 machines.

Table of contents:

Appendices

System Overview

1 . 1 Computer
1 . 2 Memory
1 . 3 Disk System
1 . 4 Display System
1 . 5 Keyboard
1 . 6 Memory Map

1 . 6 . 1 MS-DOS
1 . 6 . 2 CP/M-86

1 . 7 Memory Expansion & Requirements

1 . 7 . 1 Memory Organisation
1 . 7 . 2 Installation
1 . 7 . 3 Address Selection
1 . 7 . 4 Testing
1 . 7 . 5 Memory Requirements

Display Driver Specifications

2 . 1 Overview
2 . 2 Screen Control Sequences
2 . 3 Multi-Character Escape Sequences

2 . 3 . 1 Cursor Functions
2 . 3 . 2 Editing Functions
2 . 3 . 3 Configuration Functions
2 . 3 . 4 Operation Mode Functions
2 . 3 . 5 Special Functions
2 . 3 . 6 VT52, Z19 Commands

2 . 4 Direct Cursor Addressing - Examples

2 . 4 . 1 MicroSoft MS-BASIC
2 . 4 . 2 MicroSoft MACRO-86
2 . 4 . 3 MicroSoft MS-Pascal

2 . 5 Transmit Page - Examples

2 . 5 . 1 MicroSoft MS-BASIC
2 . 5 . 2 MicroSoft MACRO-86
2 . 5 . 3 MicroSoft MS-Pascal

2 . 6 25^th Line Display Examples (of use)

2 . 6 . 1 MicroSoft MACRO-86 Assembler
2 . 6 . 2 MicroSoft MS-BASIC

2 . 7 132-column Display

Input/Output Port Specifications

3 . 1 Device Connection
3 . 2 Parallel Port Signals
3 . 3 Parallel Printer Connection

3 . 3 . 1 Parallel Cable Requirements

3 . 4 Serial Port Signals
3 . 5 Serial Printer Connections

3 . 5 . 1 Serial Cable Requirements

3 . 6 Operating System Port Utilities

3 . 6 . 1 SETIO - List Device Selection
3 . 6 . 2 STAT - List Device Selection
3 . 6 . 3 PORTSET - Baud Rate Selection
3 . 6 . 4 PORTCONF - Baud Rate Selection

3 . 7 Serial Input/Output Port Addresses
3 . 8 Baud Rate / Transmission - Examples

3 . 8 . 1 MicroSoft MS-BASIC
3 . 8 . 2 MicroSoft MACRO-86

3 . 9 Transferring Files to & from Computers
3 . 10 IEEE-488 Port
3 . 11 Control Port (internal port)
3 . 12 MS-DOS Logical Devices
3 . 13 Sample Program for Initialising printers

MS-DOS Notes

4 . 1 MS-DOS Program Load

4 . 1 . 1 MS-DOS Base Page Structure

4 . 2 The Command Processor

4 . 2 . 1 Introduction
4 . 2 . 2 Replacing the Command Processor
4 . 2 . 3 Available MS-DOS Functions
4 . 2 . 4 Diskette/File MAnagement Notes
4 . 2 . 5 The Disc Transfer Area
4 . 2 . 6 Error Trapping
4 . 2 . 7 General Guidelines
4 . 2 . 8 Examples of using MS-DOS Functions
4 . 2 . 9 To Create File FILE1

4 . 3 MS-DOS Diskette Directory
4 . 4 MS-DOS Program Segment

Miscellaneous Programming Notes

5 . 1 Rounding Numbers in Basic-86
5 . 2 Undocumented Commands of the Interpreter

5 . 2 . 1 Date$
5 . 2 . 2 Time$
5 . 2 . 3 Date
5 . 2 . 4 Time
5 . 2 . 5 Bload
5 . 2 . 6 Bsave

5 . 3 Calling Assembler from Basic Compiler
5 . 4 Program Size Limitations

5 . 4 . 1 Memory Usage in Pascal
5 . 4 . 2 Memory Usage in Fortran

5 . 5 Fix for ASYNC to load default ASYN.IEM
5 . 6 Creating ASCII Text Files
5 . 7 Codec Programming

5 . 7 . 1 Volume
5 . 7 . 2 Codec Clock
5 . 7 . 3 Codec Mode Control
5 . 7 . 4 SDA Initialisation
5 . 7 . 5 SDA Data Transfer

5 . 8 Data Security
5 . 9 MS-PASCAL Date & Time (input/output)
5 . 10 Accessing System Time in dBaseII
5 . 11 Programming the 8253 Timer
5 . 12 Manipulating a Batch File

Wordprocessing Notes

6 . 1 Install for WordStar
6 . 2 Summary for WordStar Patch Locations
6 . 3 Summary for Keyboard Table AUSWP4.KB
6 . 4 Convert CP/M WordStar to MS-DOS
6 . 5 Using C.Itoh F10 Printer with WordStar
6 . 6 Benchmark

CP/M-80 System - Z-80 Card

7 . 1 Z-80 CPU Card

Hard Disk

8 . 1 Hard Disk Introduction
8 . 2 Disc Drive Functional Characters

8 . 2 . 1 Disc Rotation
8 . 2 . 2 head Positioning
8 . 2 . 3 Start / Stop
8 . 2 . 4 Air Filtration
8 . 2 . 5 Media
8 . 2 . 6 Storage Capacity

8 . 3 Winchester Drive Handling Precautions

8 . 3 . 1 Do's and Don'ts

8 . 4 Hard Disc System Diagnostics
8 . 5 Hard Disc Problems

Local Area Network

9 . 1 Introduction

9 . 1 . 1 Introduction to LAN
9 . 1 . 2 ISO Seven Layer Network Model

9 . 2 Local Area Network Overview
9 . 3 Network Software Overview

High Resolution images

10 . 1 Introduction
10 . 2 Clearing a High-Res Area
10 . 3 Setting Screen Buffer Pointers
10 . 4 Reprogramming the CRT Controller
10 . 5 Examples

10 . 5 . 1 MicroSoft MACRO- Assembler
10 . 5 . 2 MicroSoft MS-BASIC Interpreter

10 . 6 Printer Configuration in Grafix Kernel
10 . 7 Patching Grafix Kernel for the MT-180
10 . 8 Character Printing
10 . 9 Patching CHRPRINT for the MT-180

Assembly to High Level Interface

11 . 1 Interfacing BASIC with Assembler

11 . 1 . 1 Calling Assembler Subroutines
11 . 1 . 2 Basic Data Types
11 . 1 . 3 Passing Parameters
11 . 1 . 4 Example

11 . 2 Interfacing Compiled BASIC with Assembler

11 . 2 . 1 Calling Assembler Subroutines
11 . 2 . 2 Basic Data Types
11 . 2 . 3 Passing Parameters
11 . 2 . 4 Example

11 . 3 Interfacing GWBASIC with Assembler

11 . 3 . 1 GWBasic Data Types
11 . 3 . 2 Passing Parameters
11 . 3 . 3 Example

11 . 4 Interfacing MS-COBOL with Assembler

11 . 4 . 1 Calling Assembler Subroutines
11 . 4 . 2 COBOL Data Types
11 . 4 . 3 Passing Parameters
11 . 4 . 4 Example

11 . 5 Interfacing MS-PASCAL with Assembler

11 . 5 . 1 Calling External Routines
11 . 5 . 2 Passing Prameters
11 . 5 . 3 Pascal Data Types
11 . 5 . 4 Returned Values
11 . 5 . 5 Example 1 - Sum Function
11 . 5 . 6 Example 2 - String Concatenation
11 . 5 . 7 Linking

Appendices

ASCII Codes

A . 1 ASCII Codes used in the ACT Sirius 1
A . 2 ASCII / HEX / Decimal Chart

Technical Reference

Appendices