Discussion Forum for all things Microbee - All Forums

Shell 3.01

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:05:50 +1000

@Someone, is there a way to hot unload shell3.01 and replace it with zcpr.sys?

This is how I think vibedronecf is set up:

Port 50h is a bit field, not a bank number. The emulator takes the low bank from bits 0, 1 (inverted by bit 2), 6 and 7. Bit 2 is ROMs off, bit 3 is video RAM off, and bit 4 is the 8000 VDU window.

Port 12 (0x0C): low bank 2, ROMs off and video RAM off. This is the value CACHEINFO uses to read the descriptors from upper RAM at FD2D.

Port 5: low bank 3. This is where the Shell and CCP bodies are copied, at 0000–3FFF. So the cache bodies are in bank 3 and the descriptors are in upper RAM. A dump shows both without any bank switching.

Port 4: low bank 2 with ROMs off. This is the "restore" value BOOT.SYS writes and CACHEINFO copies. The assumption that 4 is the right state to return to is still unverified on the real card.

Aliasing: in the emulator, upper RAM at 8000–FFFF reads and writes the same bytes as low bank 0.

ZIP and UNZIP for the Microbee and Excalibur 64

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 19:07:07 +1000

ZIP and UNZIP are common compression and extraction utilities used across all systems, these are ports for CP/M-80 from PTSource, bringing modern file archiving capabilities to vintage 8-bit platforms. Both tools support basic compression features while remaining lightweight and optimized for CP/M-80 constraints. Ideal for backing up data, transferring files, or organizing directories, ZIP and UNZIP bring practical compression to classic computing.

These are available from PTSource ( https://ko-fi.com/s/8575aa23ec ) I have put them onto both 5.25" and 3.5" Microbee disks for ease of use. I also did the same on an Excalibur 64 disk. They also have a LZW compression and uncompressing CP/80 programs which are also on the disks together with their LS Directory lister.

So the the MbeeTech Repository in the Microbee\Software\Utilities folder we placed

zip_unzip_ds40.dsk
zip_unzip_ss80.dsk

excalibur_zip_unzip.raw <-- in the Vintage\Excalibur_64\Disks folder

Living in the '70s

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 21:32:27 +1000

Do you remember Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor column in Byte magazine and in particular his tales of Zeke and Zeke II, the S-100 systems on which he wrote fiction and did other pro tasks through the late 1980s. In 1979 he described the original Zeke in onComputing magazine:

Cromemco Z-80 CPU 64K RAM iCOM 8-inch dual floppy drive
Two 15-inch displays Memorex keyboard Diablo 1620 printer

This cost him USA$12,000. Assuming that's 1979 money, USA$55,000 in 2026. For a 64K system. "Glitches and all, this is so much faster than work on a typewriter that there's no comparison; I estimate that it saves me several months each year; months I can use for travel, or reading, or plain loafing."

S-100 systems aren't remembered the way other 1977 computers are, even though people were doing real work on them.

Summer 1979 onComputing magazine including Pournelle article : https://archive.org/details/197907OnComputingPremiereIssue

Matilda Screens

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 21:13:50 +1000

after throwing many darts success, boot screens. A blast from the past -using freedos for now

Proof of concept. If anyone is interested the emu is ~80K and allows creation of a 40mb SCSI HDD. Roms are in repository. As are 2 .dsk files. I used the 7 set FREEDOS version. Attached build notes.

  matilda_DOS.png (Size: 44.04 KB / Downloads: 24)

  matilda_BEE.png (Size: 45.84 KB / Downloads: 22)

  bios.png (Size: 16.43 KB / Downloads: 23)

  40BUILDSMATILDA.TXT (Size: 7.87 KB / Downloads: 11)

  30BUILDSMATILDA.TXT (Size: 13.19 KB / Downloads: 17)

Wellington Microbee Computer Club Newsletters + others

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 21:58:45 +1000

Thanks to BryanC for providing scans of these newsletters and other docs. All scanned at 300pdpi, cleaned up and converted to searchable PDF's. A5 in size and range from 2 to 22 pages long.

The Wellington Microbee Computer Club, New Zealand did not produced a newsletter every month but randomly through the year when they had enough material. The first one we have, WMCC_newsletter_84_02.pdf, was professionally produced while the rest were from photocopied issues. They slowly changed their name to Wellington Microbee Users Group. Like all Newsletters, they contain lots of tips, tricks, reviews, listings, etc. The collection is far from complete, so if anyone could help with any other missing issues, that would be great.

The WMCC_newsletter_85_02.pdf issue is wrongly numbered as 85_01 and should be 85_02. It contains listing of the programs on 9 of their tapes. They seam to contain lots of programs we dont have in our repository including a number of TRS-80 games converted to run on the Microbee, such as Time Bandit, Lunar Lander, REAR GUARD, WEERD, JUNGLE BOY & LASER BALL. Can anyone help there with any of these ?

There was also a large Wildcards 3 poster/brochure and the Getting Started brochure that updates our current copy for better quality.

So in the MbeeTech Repository in the new Public/Newsletters/Wellington_NZ folder we placed

WMCC_newsletter_84_02.pdf
WMCC_newsletter_84_03.pdf
WMCC_newsletter_85_01.pdf
WMCC_newsletter_85_02.pdf
WMCC_newsletter_85_03.pdf
WMCC_newsletter_86_01.pdf

wildcards_3_brochure.pdf <-- in Microbee/Documents/Brochures folder

getting_started.pdf <-- updated in Microbee/Documents/Articles folder

Radical Computing

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:03:28 +1000

An interesting Conversations on ABC

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/c.../107148762

Radical Computing is exhibiting at the National Communication Museum in Melbourne from 19 September 2026, until 21February 2027.

help me workshop a game

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 19:31:21 +1000

I want to create a game similar to wol*&nstein.

First I need a visual indicator of our heros health. how does this look?

wolfbee_faces_preview_3.png (Size: 17.79 KB / Downloads: 31)

Breakout for Microbee

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 17:06:28 +1000

Is there a Breakout game for the Microbee? That is the old brick and ball game. Toying with the idea of building a paddle controller and game to suit.

Für Elise

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 22:16:45 +1000

cf: https://bumbershootsoft.wordpress.com/20...bit-sound/

here are three versions of Für Elise: one fast bit bashed to the max and two polyphonics - one fast, one 30% slower.

see .txt files for details.

FurELISE.zip (Size: 9.14 KB / Downloads: 37)

AI invaders

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:19:11 +1000

Just for fun :-)

AIVADERS.zip (Size: 2.52 KB / Downloads: 24)

VibeDroneBeeWolf400

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:23:43 +1000

Over weeks of rapid, AI-assisted cross-model orchestration, this web-based Microbee emulator has leaped from the PC85 version with BASIC 6.35 using a CP/M shim to Build 6.18. By delegating specific architectural layers to Grok, ChatGPT, and Claude, the development successfully improved on the original BASIC project into an all singing all dancing hybrid.

1. The PC85 Multi-ROM Engine (The original Core Emulation)
This side of the emulator provides a faithful recreation of the original 1985 Microbee PC85 ROM hardware.

2. The Premium CF VibedroneBeeWolf 400
The dedicated fork explicitly built to replicate the physical Premium CompactFlash (CF) modification environment.
Originally just BASIC 6.35 this is now the full CP/M emulation. VibeDroneBeeWolf replicates the physical 8-bit IDE/CF sector layout inside the browser. It maps compact flash drive image files (.hdd-304-4-32) to an 8K CF boot ROM, allowing a seamless virtual cold-boot straight into the CP/M filesystem with 4 5K drives A:thru D: and access to any .dsk file on drive E:

A great shout out to all of yesteryear who developed the hardware / software and later compact flash drive modifications. 1981 to ?2015. Now resurrected as a web browser interface under 300k! Its hard to 'thank' AI but I told them the ROM had to ROM and boot.sys had to sys and they spat out build after build - OVER 600. A complete scaffolded system proved useless 4 days or so ago as to complex to run CP/M so it got torn up and I started again. I am SO sick of testing builds and typing 'no text on screen', 'no drive enumeration', 'only one drive available', 'PCG characters are a mess', 'floppy is totally corrupted', 'BASIC is frozen at start','Real Time Clock still says 1987'. But I got there.

© & ™ Microbee Technology 2026. Built strictly for hobbyist use.

  S 2.JPG (Size: 58.29 KB / Downloads: 54)
  S3.JPG (Size: 16.54 KB / Downloads: 56)

  S5.png (Size: 24.25 KB / Downloads: 57)

File Commander 0.97

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 20:38:47 +1000

CP/M File Commander is a text-based, dual-pane file manager for retro computers running the CP/M operating system. Inspired by Norton Commander, it replaces the rigid command line with visual, split-screen navigation. Users can copy, move, delete, and view files using simple keyboard shortcuts. It features built-in text and hex viewers and comes in multiple versions optimized for different vintage display layouts.

Generic German version written by Heiko Poppe, the original is in Deutsche. I used Grok to translate and ChatGpt to patch to provide the inverse cursor rather than the stock >filename.mwb< to allow easier identification. It is a bit quirky but a neat addition. Be aware that if you download the original and include the .ini the settings inthe .ini will override the patch.

Quick Hint T - swaps panes.

FileCommander 0.97 on Microbee
============================================================
Heiko Poppe FC 0.97 + Microbee ADM-3A / TVI-912 patch.
COM is 80-column, 24-row. On an 80x25 CRTC row 25 is unused.
0038h=01h so this COM does not load FC.INI. Do not rename it
if you want key X (run and return).

1. Keys baked into this COM (INI 0028h-0035h)
---------------------------------------------
Move Press Byte
Left Ctrl-S or BS 13h / 08h
Right Ctrl-D or Ctrl-L 04h / 0Ch
Up Ctrl-W 17h
Down Ctrl-X or LF 18h / 0Ah
Page up Ctrl-Q 11h
Page down Ctrl-R or Ctrl-U 12h / 15h
Extra pane swap Tab 09h (same job as T)

Do NOT bind Ctrl-Z as Down. FC already uses Ctrl-Z as "end".
Do NOT bind Ctrl-A as Left. Editor uses Ctrl-A as "start".

Selection with inverse OFF is shown as not a bar.
The block cursor on the 1 Help line is only the CRTC cursor.

2. Main window -- every letter
------------------------------
A -- B --
C Copy D Delete
E -- F --
G -- H Help
I Info J Confirm delete/overwrite (Ja)
K -- L Drive menu (then L / R / U)
M Move N No / cancel confirm
O -- P --
Q Quit R Reload both panes
S -- T Toggle left/right pane
U -- (after L: User) V View
W -- X Run .COM
Y -- Z --

Other main-window keys
Space Tag / untag this file
+ Tag by name mask
- Clear tags
ESC Cancel
1 Help 2 Info
3 View 4 Edit
5 Copy 6 Move
7 -- 8 Delete
9 Drive (Lw 0 Quit
Shift-1 Left pane drive Shift-2 Right pane drive
(Bee may send ! and " instead of Shift-1/2)

3. Same letters in View and Edit
--------------------------------
Key Viewer Editor
A Start of file hex digit / Ctrl-A = start
B Bit 7 (WordStar) / show PCX hex digit
C Clear graphics (VIS3) hex digit
E End of file hex digit
F Find (Ctrl-F = find next) hex digit
G -- Search again
H Hex mode Help
Q Leave Leave
S -- Save
T Text mode --
U Unwrap lines --
W Wrap lines --
Z -- Ctrl-Z = end of buffer

4. Why avoid C D H I L M Q R T V X as extra INI keys
----------------------------------------------------
FC reads one byte. If that byte is both a movement/extra key
and a command, you get a clash (Ctrl-Z jumped to XREF because
FC already treats Ctrl-Z as "go to end of list").

Letter commands use the plain ASCII letter (43h = C).
Ctrl letters are different bytes (^C = 03h), so Ctrl-D as
Right does not fire Delete. Plain D would.

Safe as extra INI keys in the MAIN window:
A B E F G K O P S W Y Z
Taken the moment you open View or Edit:
A E F G S W
Free in main, View and Edit:
K O P Y

5. Drive and pane
-----------------
T Toggle which pane is active
9 or L Drive menu, prompt:
Laufwerk Links / Rechts / User:
then L = left pane, R = right pane, U = user no.
then the drive letter (A..P) or user number
Both panes start on the launch drive (e.g. C0.

6. Screen language in this COM (Table 2)
----------------------------------------
CUP ESC = row+20h col+20h (ADM-3A, binary)
Home 1Eh
Clear 1Ah
CEOL ESC T (TVI-912 erase)
Cursor left 08h
Colour off
USB off
Frame ASCII | + -

If stray T characters appear when a pane redraws, the BIOS
does not implement ESC T. Say so and CEOL can be blanked.

7. How to run
-------------
Copy fc80-bee.com to the CP/M drive you start from.
A>FC80-BEE
Do not rename the file if you use X (run and return).
X steals 300h of TPA; very large programs may not start.
Memory-resident drivers cannot be loaded from inside FC.

8. Built date / package
-----------------------
FC 0.97 build 09.03.2024 19:20 © H.Poppe 2011-2024
Microbee key/screen patch 2026-09-11 Grok
Left ^S Right ^D Up ^W Down ^X or LF
Inverse Cursor 2026-09-15 ChatGpt

FCINV97.zip (Size: 12.68 KB / Downloads: 32)

filecommanderinv.JPG (Size: 153.87 KB / Downloads: 19)

MCU MAX Chess

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 18:47:34 +1000

Playing around with AI again :-)

MCUCHESS.zip (Size: 7.33 KB / Downloads: 29)

Sybiz Users Manual for the Microbee + others

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 13:32:19 +1000

I recently purchased a copy of Sybiz off ebay. It was for Ver5 and for DOS. Included in the package was the Manual as well as the disks (in DEC Rainbow 100 DOS format). I've been told that Sybiz ver4 for CP/M was operationally identical to ver5 for DOS. Also included was the SYMAT Manual, included here also but a DOS version as it was never available for CP/M. All scanned at 600dpi and converted to searchable PDF's. Both are A5 in size and Sybiz manual is 248 pages long, the other just 34 pages.

Unfortunately our copy of Sybiz disk while copied 100% on the Greaseweazle but it just copied garbage from the 3 sectors that had problems. The program fires up just fine, but when you try to make a DATA disk, it bombs out. I was able to copy from the Sample Accounts disk from the DOS disk and put on a Microbee Data disk. The program when run loads them (password is SY) but then asks for the Utility Disk which has the files in A: drive. So, still some issues. I can provide this disk if anyone wants to have a play, just ask in the forum.

As of May 1985 -
Sybiz is the biggest selling small business accounting system in Australia and is exported to eight overseas countries.
Sybiz support is seen as the most effective in the market, with support centres in every major city in Australia, plus New Zealand and Singapore.
Dealer training is provided free of charge from all the support centres, with end user support and installation provided in cooperation with the dealer.

A few other documents were also included, including the Sybiz Dealer Information (May 1985) that includes all the products they provided with dealer and end user prices as well as Demonstration Kits.

So in the MbeeTech Repository in the Microbee\Documentation\Manuals\Software folder we placed

sybiz_user_manual_rev5.pdf
sybiz_symat_manual.pdf

sybiz_dealers_information_85_05.pdf <-- in the Microbee\Documentation\Articles folder
sybiz_we_are_moving.pdf
sybiz_software_agreement.pdf
sybiz_maintenance_contract.pdf

PCG Sokoban and Mastermind

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 23:14:36 +1000

Here are a couple of games using PCG.
ASCII was a little limiting for Sokoban,especially for games exceeding 14 rows, thus a 16 level game only.
So here is a 50 level version of Sokoban and Mastermind to go with it :-)

MMPCG has an updated file V2, thanks Robert.

SOKOPCG.zip (Size: 4.39 KB / Downloads: 28)

MMPCG_2.zip (Size: 1.02 KB / Downloads: 27)