Chapter 13: Working With CMDR-DOS

This manual describes Commodore DOS on FAT32, aka CMDR-DOS.

CMDR-DOS

Commander X16 duplicates and extends the programming interface used by Commodore’s line of disk drives, including the famous (or infamous) VIC-1541. CMDR-DOS uses the industry-standard FAT-32 format. Partitions can be 32MB up to (in theory) 2TB and supports CMD-style partitions, subdirectories, timestamps and filenames up to 255 characters. It is the DOS built into the Commander X16.

There are three basic interfaces for CMDR-DOS: the binary interface (LOAD, SAVE, etc.), the data file interface (OPEN, PRINT#, INPUT#, GET#), and the command interface. We will give a brief summary of BASIC commands here, but please refer to Chapter 4: BASIC Programming for full syntax of each command.

If you are familiar with the SD2IEC or the CMD hard drive, navigating partitions and subdirectories is similar, with “CD”, “MD”, and “RD” commands to navigate directories.

Binary Load/Save

The primary use of the binary interface is loading and saving program files and loading binary files into RAM.

Your binary commands are LOAD, SAVE, BLOAD, VLOAD, BVLOAD, VERIFY, and BVERIFY.

This is a brief summary of the LOAD and SAVE commands. For full documentation, refer to Chapter 4: BASIC Programming.

LOAD

LOAD <filename> [,device][,secondary_address] LOAD <filename> [,device][,ram_bank,start_address]

This reads a program file from disk. The first two bytes of the file are the memory location to which the file will be loaded, with the low byte first. BASIC programs will start with $01 $08, which translates to $0801, the start of BASIC memory. The device number should be 8 for reading from the SD card.

If using the first form, secondary_address has multiple meanings:

0 or not present: load the data to address $0801, regardless of the address header.
1: load to the address specified in the file’s header
2: load the file headerless to the location $0801.

If using the second form, ram_bank sets the bank for the load, and start_address is the location to read your data into.

The value of the ram_bank argument only affects the load when the start_address is set in the range of \$A000-\$BFFF.

Examples:

LOAD "ROBOTS.PRG",8,1 loads the program “ROBOTS.PRG” into memory at the address encoded in the file.

LOAD "HELLO",8 loads a program to the start of BASIC at $0801.

LOAD "*",8,1 loads the first program in the current directory. See the section below on wildcards for more information about using * and ? to access files of a certain type or with unprintable characters.

LOAD "DATA.BIN",8,1,$A000 loads a file into banked RAM, RAM bank 1, starting at $A000. The first two bytes of the file are skipped. To avoid skipping the first two bytes, use the BLOAD command instead.

SAVE

SAVE <filename>[,device]

Saves a file from the computer to the SD card. SAVE always reads from the beginning of BASIC memory at $0801, up to the end of the BASIC program. Device is optional and defaults to 8 (the SD card, or an IEC disk drive, if one is plugged in.)

One word of caution: CMDR-DOS will not let you overwrite a file by default. To overwrite a file, you need to prefix the filename with @:, like this:

SAVE "@:DEMO.PRG"

BSAVE

BSAVE <filename>,<device>,<ram_bank>,<start_address>,<end_address>

Saves an arbitrary region of memory to a file without a two-byte header. To allow concatenating multiple regions of RAM into a single file with multiple successive calls to BSAVE, BSAVE allows the use of append mode in the filename string. To make use of this option, the first call to BSAVE can be called normally, which creates the file anew, while subsequent calls should be in append mode to the same file.

Another way to save arbitrary binary data from arbitrary locations is to use the S command in the MONITOR: Chapter 7: Machine Language Monitor.

S "filename",8,<start_address>,<end_address>

Where and are a 16-bit hexadecimal address.

After a SAVE or BSAVE, the DOS command is implicitly run to show the drive status. The Commodore file I/O model does not report certain failures back to BASIC, so you should double-check the result after a write operation.

00, OK,00,00

READY.

An OK reply means the file saved correctly. Any other result is an error that should be addressed:

63,FILE EXISTS,00,00

CMDR-DOS does not allow files to be overwritten without special handling. If you get FILE EXISTS, either change your file’s name or save it with the @: prefix, like this:

SAVE "@:HELLO"

BLOAD

BLOAD loads a file without an address header to an arbitrary location in memory. Usage is similar to LOAD. However, BLOAD does not require or use the 2-byte header. The first byte in the file is the first byte loaded into memory.

BLOAD "filename",8,<ram_bank>,<start_address>

VLOAD

Read binary data into VERA. VLOAD skips the 2-byte address header and starts reading at the third byte of the file.

VLOAD "filename",8,<vram_bank>,<start_address>

BVLOAD

Read binary data into VERA without a header. This works like BLOAD, but into VERA RAM.

BVLOAD "filename",8,<vram_bank>,<start_address>

DOS WEDGE

The DOS wedge allows you to issue quick commands from BASIC with the > or @ symbol.

Command	Action
`/<filename>`	Load a BASIC program into RAM
`%<filename>`	Load a machine language program into RAM (like `,8,1`)
`↑<filename>`	Load a BASIC program into RAM and then unconditionally run it
`←<filename>`	Save a BASIC program to disk
`@`	Display (and clear) the disk drive status
`@$`	Display the disk directory without overwriting the BASIC program in memory
`@#<device number>`	Change default DOS device
`@<command>`	Execute a disk drive command (e.g. `@S0:<filename>`)
`><command>`	Execute a disk drive command (e.g. `>CD:<dir>`)

Sequential Files

Sequential files have two basic modes: read and write. The OPEN command opens a file for reading or writing. The PRINT# command writes to a file, and the GET# and INPUT# commands read from the file.

todo: examples

Command Channel

The command channel allows you to send commands to the CMDR-DOS interface. You can open and write to the command channel using the OPEN command, or you can use the DOS command to issue commands and read the status. While DOS can be used in immediate mode or in a program, only the combination of OPEN/INPUT# can read the command response back into a variable for later processing.

In either case, the ST psuedo-variable will allow you to quickly check the status. A status of 64 is “okay”, and any other value should be checked by reading the error channel (shown below.)

To open the command channel, you can use the OPEN command with secondary address 15.

10 OPEN 15,8,15

If you want to issue a command immediately, add your command string at the end of the OPEN statement:

10 OPEN 15,8,15, "CD:/"

This example changes to the root directory of your SD card.

To know whether the OPEN command succeeded, you must open the command channel and read the result. To read the command channel (and clear the error status if an error occurred), you need to read four values:

20 INPUT#15,A,B$,C,D

A is the error number. B$ is the error message. C and D are unused in CMDR-DOS for most responses, but will return the track and sector when used with a disk drive on the IEC connector.

30 PRINT A;B$;C;D
40 CLOSE 15

So the entire program looks like:

10 OPEN 15,8,15, "CD:/"
20 INPUT#15,A,B$,C,D
30 PRINT A;B$;C;D
40 CLOSE 15

If the error number (A) is less than 20, no error occurred. Usually this result is 0 (or 00) for OK.

You can also use the DOS command to send a command to CMDR-DOS. Entering DOS by itself will print the drive’s status on the screen. Entering a command in quotes or a string variable will execute the command. We will talk more about the status variable and DOS status message in the next section.

DOS
00, 0K, 00, 00
READY.
DOS "CD:/"

The special case of DOS "$" will print a directory listing.

DOS "$"

You can also read the name of the current directory with DOS”$=C”

DOS "$=C"

DOS Features

This is the base features set compared to other Commodore DOS devices:

Feature	1541	1571/1581	CMD HD/FD	SD2IEC	CMDR-DOS
Sequential files	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Relative files	yes	yes	yes	yes	not yet
Block access	yes	yes	yes	yes	not yet
Code execution	yes	yes	yes	no	yes
Burst commands	no	yes	yes	no	no
Timestamps	no	no	yes	yes	yes
Time API	no	no	yes	yes	not yet
Partitions	no	no	yes	yes	yes
Subdirectories	no	no	yes	yes	yes

It consists of the following components:

Commodore DOS interface
dos/main.s: TALK/LISTEN dispatching
dos/parser.s: filename/path parsing
dos/cmdch.s: command channel parsing, status messages
dos/file.s: file read/write
FAT32 interface
dos/match.s: FAT32 character set conversion, wildcard matching
dos/dir.s: FAT32 directory listing
dos/function.s: command implementations for FAT32
FAT32 implementation
fat32/*: FAT32 for 65c02 library

All currently unsupported commands are decoded in cmdch.s anyway, but hooked into 31,SYNTAX ERROR,00,00, so adding features should be as easy as adding the implementation.

CMDR-DOS implements the TALK/LISTEN layer (Commodore Peripheral Bus layer 3), it can therefore be directly hooked up to the Commodore IEEE KERNAL API (talk, tksa, untlk, listn, secnd, unlsn, acptr, ciout) and be used as a computer-based DOS, like on the C65 and the X16.

CMDR-DOS does not contain a layer 2 implementation, i.e. IEEE-488 (PET) or Commodore Serial (C64, C128, …). By adding a Commodore Serial (aka “IEC”) implementation, CMDR-DOS could be adapted for use as the system software of a standalone 65c02-based Serial device for Commodore computers, similar to an sd2iec device.

The Commodore DOS side and the FAT32 side are well separated, so a lot of code could be reused for a DOS that uses a different filesystem.

Or the core feature set, these are the supported functions:

Feature	Syntax	Supported	Comment
Reading	`,?,R`	yes
Writing	`,?,W`	yes
Appending	`,?,A`	yes
Modifying	`,?,M`	yes
Types	`,S`/`,P`/`,U`/`,L`	yes	ignored on FAT32
Overwriting	`@:`	yes
Magic channels 0/1		yes
Channel 15 command	command`:`args…	yes
Channel 15 status	code`,`string`,`a`,`b	yes
CMD partition syntax	`0:`/`1:`/…	yes
CMD subdirectory syntax	`//DIR/:`/`/DIR/:`	yes
Directory listing	`$`	yes
Dir with name filtering	`$:FIL*`	yes
Dir with name and type filtering	`$:=P`/`$:=D`/`$:*=A`	yes
Dir with timestamps	`$=T`	yes	with ISO-8601 times
Dir with time filtering	`$=T<`/`$=T>`	not yet
Dir long listing	`$=L`	yes	shows human readable file size instead of blocks, time in ISO-8601 syntax, attribute byte, and exact file size in hexadecimal
Partition listing	`$=P`	yes
Partition filtering	`$:NAME*=P`	no
Current Working Directory	`$=C`	yes

And this table shows which of the standard commands are supported:

Name	Syntax	Description	Supported
BLOCK-ALLOCATE	`B-A` medium medium track sector	Allocate a block in the BAM	no¹
BLOCK-EXECUTE	`B-E` channel medium track sector	Load and execute a block	not yet
BLOCK-FREE	`B-F` medium medium track sector	Free a block in the BAM	no¹
BLOCK-READ	`B-R` channel medium track sector	Read block	no¹
BLOCK-STATUS	`B-S` channel medium track sector	Check if block is allocated	no¹
BLOCK-WRITE	`B-W` channel medium track sector	Write block	no¹
BUFFER-POINTER	`B-P` channel index	Set r/w pointer within buffer	not yet
CHANGE DIRECTORY	`CD`[path]`:`name	Change the current sub-directory	yes
CHANGE DIRECTORY	`CD`[medium]`:←`	Change sub-directory up	yes
CHANGE PARTITION	`CP` num	Make a partition the default	yes
COPY	`C`[path_a]`:`target_name`=`[path_b]`:`source_name[`,`…]	Copy/concatenate files	yes
COPY	`C`dst_medium`=`src_medium	Copy all files between disk	no¹
DUPLICATE	`D:`dst_medium`=`src_medium	Duplicate disk	no¹
FILE LOCK	`F-L`[path]`:`name[`,`…]	Enable file write-protect	yes
FILE RESTORE	`F-R`[path]`:`name[`,`…]	Restore a deleted file	not yet
FILE UNLOCK	`F-U`[path]`:`name[`,`…]	Disable file write-protect	yes
GET DISKCHANGE	`G-D`	Query disk change	yes
GET PARTITION	`G-P`[num]	Get information about partition	yes
INITIALIZE	`I`[medium]	Re-mount filesystem	yes
LOCK	`L`[path]`:`name	Toggle file write protect	yes
MAKE DIRECTORY	`MD`[path]`:`name	Create a sub-directory	yes
MEMORY-EXECUTE	`M-E` addr_lo addr_hi	Execute code	yes
MEMORY-READ	`M-R` addr_lo addr_hi [count]	Read RAM	yes
MEMORY-WRITE	`M-W` addr_lo addr_hi count data	Write RAM	yes
NEW	`N`[medium]`:`name`,`id`,FAT32`	File system creation	yes³
PARTITION	`/`[medium][`:`name]	Select 1581 partition	no
PARTITION	`/`[medium]`:`name`,`track sector count_lo count_hi `,C`	Create 1581 partition	no
POSITION	`P` channel record_lo record_hi offset	Set record index in REL file	not yet
REMOVE DIRECTORY	`RD`[path]`:`name	Delete a sub-directory	yes
RENAME	`R`[path]`:`new_name`=`old_name	Rename file	yes
RENAME-HEADER	`R-H`[medium]`:`new_name	Rename a filesystem	yes
RENAME-PARTITION	`R-P:`new_name`=`old_name	Rename a partition	no¹
SCRATCH	`S`[path]`:`pattern[`,`…]	Delete files	yes
SWAP	`S-`{`8`\|`9`\|`D`}	Change primary address	yes
TIME READ ASCII	`T-RA`	Read Time/Date (ASCII)	no⁴
TIME READ BCD	`T-RB`	Read Time/Date (BCD)	no⁴
TIME READ DECIMAL	`T-RD`	Read Time/Date (Decimal)	no⁴
TIME READ ISO	`T-RI`	Read Time/Date (ISO)	no⁴
TIME WRITE ASCII	`T-WA` dow mo`/`da`/`yr hr`:`mi`:`se ampm	Write Time/Date (ASCII)	no⁴
TIME WRITE BCD	`T-WB` b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8	Write Time/Date (BCD)	no⁴
TIME WRITE DECIMAL	`T-WD` b0 b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7	Write Time/Date (Decimal)	no⁴
TIME WRITE ISO	`T-WI` yyyy`-`mm`-`dd`T`hh`:`mm`:`ss dow	Write Time/Date (ISO)	no⁴
U1/UA	`U1` channel medium track sector	Raw read of a block	not yet
U2/UB	`U2` channel medium track sector	Raw write of a block	not yet
U3-U8/UC-UH	`U3` - `U8`	Execute in user buffer	not yet
U9/UI	`UI`	Soft RESET	yes
U:/UJ	`UJ`	Hard RESET	yes
USER	`U0>` pa	Set unit primary address	yes
USER	`U0>B` flag	Enable/disable Fast Serial	yes⁶
USER	`U0>D`val	Set directory sector interleave	no¹
USER	`U0>H` number	Select head 0/1	no¹
USER	`U0>L`flag	Large REL file support on/off	no
USER	`U0>M` flag	Enable/disable 1541 emulation mode	no¹
USER	`U0>R` num	Set number fo retries	no¹
USER	`U0>S` val	Set sector interleave	no¹
USER	`U0>T`	Test ROM checksum	no⁵
USER	`U0>V` flag	Enable/disable verify	no¹
USER	`U0>` pa	Set unit primary address	yes
USER	`UI`{`+`\|`-`}	Use C64/VIC-20 Serial protocol	no¹
UTILITY LOADER	`&`[[path]`:`]name	Load and execute program	no¹
VALIDATE	`V`[medium]	Filesystem check	no²
WRITE PROTECT	`W-`{`0`\|`1`}	Set/unset device write protect	yes

¹: outdated API, not useful, or can’t be supported on FAT32
²: is a no-op, returns 00, OK,00,00
³: third argument FAT32 has to be passed
⁴: CMDR-DOS was architected to run on the main computer, so it shouldn’t be DOS that keeps track of the time
⁵: Instead of testing the ROM, this command currently verifies that no buffers are allocated, otherwise it halts. This is used by unit tests to detect leaks.
⁶: Repurposed for SD card read and write mode. flag selects whether fast read (auto_tx) and fast writes are enabled. 0=none, 1=auto_tx, 2=fast writes, 3=both

The following special file syntax and OPEN options are specific to CMDR-DOS:

Feature	Syntax	Description
Open for Read & Write	`,?,M`	Allows arbitrarily reading, writing and setting the position (`P`)¹
Get current working directory	`$=C`	Produces a directory listing containing the name of the current working directory followed by all parent directory names all the way up to `/`

¹: once the EOF has been reached while reading, no further reads or writes are possible.

The following added command channel features are specific to CMDR-DOS:

Feature	Syntax	Description
POSITION	`P` channel p0 p1 p2 p3	Set position within file (like sd2iec); all args binary

To use the POSITION command, you need to open two channels: a data channel and the command channel. The channel argument should be the same as the secondary address of the data channel.

Example

OPEN 1,8,2,"LEVEL.DAT,S,R"
OPEN 15,8,15,"P"+CHR$(2)+CHR$(0)+CHR$(1)+CHR$(0)+CHR$(0)

This opens LEVEL.DAT for reading and positions the read/write pointer at byte 256.

OPEN 2,8,5,"LEVEL.DAT,S,R"
OPEN 15,8,15,"P"+CHR$(5)+CHR$(128)+CHR$(0)+CHR$(0)+CHR$(0)

This time, the secondary address is 5, and the pointer is at byte 128.

Current Working Directory

The $=C command will list the current working directory and its parent path. The current directory will be at the top of the listing, with each parent directory beneath, with / at the bottom.

DOS"$=C"

0 "/TEST            " 
0    "TEST"             DIR
0    "/"                DIR
65535 BLOCKS FREE.

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