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Amstrad NC100 Notepad computer
------------------------------
The Amstrad NC100 Notepad computer is a portable computer.
This system has a LCD screen and nice keyboard. The memory is
protected by a lithium battery which is charged when the computer
is connected to a mains supply.
PCMCIA ram cards can be used to store programs and documents.
The computer has a built in wordprocessor, BBC Basic, Serial Terminal,
Calculator, Diary and more. The whole system is a personal organiser with lots
of extras.
Mess Emulation State
--------------------
a. ACCURACY
-----------
The emulation is reasonably accurate. I have used NCIOSPEC.TXT published by Cliff
Lawson at Amstrad to write the driver. Unfortunately this document does not describe
undocumented hardware features, so at this time, any programs relying on undocumented
behaviour will not work well. I am currently looking for NC owners (especially NC150
owners) to run some tests for me.
a. PRINTER
----------
Printer emulation is working. All data is saved out to a file on the host filesystem.
The data is not processed in any way, so the file will contain the raw bytes output
to the printer port.
b. PCMCIA RAM CARD
------------------
The NC100 supports a PCMCIA Ram card up to 1mb in size.
The emulator supports all ram card operations: reading, writing, formatting
and write enable/write protect.
It also supports ram cards of all sizes (128k, 256k, 512k and 1mb).
The file format of a ram card is a simple memory dump; there are no headers or
other information stored in the file.
If files have been saved onto the ram card by the emulation, then the file
on the host filesystem will be updated (the update will happen when MESS is exited,
or a new card is inserted).
Use imgtool to create blank cards, and to put/get files to the card image.
At this time, only 1mb cards can be created and there is no support to create unformatted
or executable cards.
Do not forget to insert memory card (as "Cartridge"), and if you want to write files
to it make sure it is write enabled (see dipswitches in UI).
imgtool create nccard <card name>
Create a blank formatted memory card. The NC100 can write files to this.

You can view the files by:
1. Pressing FUNCTION + B to enter BASIC, then typing "*." at the ">"
prompt.
2. Enter wordprocessor menu and select list files.
imgtool put nccard <card name> <host filesystem name> <nc100 name>
Put a file from the host filesystem (e.g. PC harddrive) to the nc memory card.
The file will be cut if it is larger than 64k (64k is the maximum file size
supported by the nc100 filesystem).
At this time, all files are assumed to be ASCII. There is no support to put binary
or BASIC files.
imgtool get nccard <card name> <nc100 name> <host filesystem name>
Get a file from the nc memory card to the host filesystem. Files are always
saved as binary regardless of file type on memory card.
imgtool dir nccard <card name>
Show a directory listing of the memory card.
imgtool del nccard <card name> <nc100 name>
Delete a file from the memory card
c. SERIAL
---------
Serial is mostly working.
MESS does not have a UI to change the serial device transmit/receive properties, so at
this time it is fixed to: 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity for the NC100
driver.
At this time, the serial device only supports a simple protocol. (Each byte is transmitted
in a basic serial form, with start bits, data bits, parity and stop bits).
In the future the serial device will support xmodem and xmodem send/receive will then
work in the emulation.
Notes
=====

Links:
http://genesis8.free.fr/
http://www.ncus.org.uk/

created on Wed May 15 07:18:19 2002