The plan is to put it on the z80 computer you built.
https://archive.org/details/BuildYourOwnZ80ComputerSteveCiar...
Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
11–20 of 34 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#12I wouldn't imagine anything besides little personal projects by retro enthusiasts with a machine running CP/M. Speaking of which I should fine me one.
There doesn’t seem to be much nostalgia for CP/M either. Most people working on retro projects are more interested in banging bits than working with an antiquated OS.
There's a fair amount CP/M love on Tindie: https://www.tindie.com/search/?q=cp%2Fm
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#13OP, I’m super curious as to what inspired you to ask.
I’m planning to write a text based social network for vintage computing enthusiasts, for CP/M. It’ll be written in Turbo Pascal. It’s my path to $2B. Don’t tell anyone my idea.
Write a windows like gui for it, and follow the path dos took upwards.
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#14Probably not. But FreeDOS lives on. Modern toolchains can compile to FreeDOS executables. FreeDOS is useful when you want a computer to run one program and nothing else. You can be confident that there's no backdoor network connection because there's no networking support in the OS.
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#15Lighthouse of Doom from earlier this week: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26946130
yes, that made me just want to run out and get one when I read that earlier. It has four rooms...
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#16There are no doubt some systems still running under emulation doing the same thing as they were 40 years ago. The software might even be maintained. But the truth for decades now. CP/M is dead. Long live CP/M! It's just hobbyists now. One hacker ported his game to a Kaypro under CP/M a couple years ago: http://www.chrisfenton.com/dd9-kaypro-edition/ Much of the focus is on porting CP/M to whatever new or old Z80 syst…
Even TI runs a Z80 emulator on its calculators these days.
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#17Probably not. But FreeDOS lives on. Modern toolchains can compile to FreeDOS executables. FreeDOS is useful when you want a computer to run one program and nothing else. You can be confident that there's no backdoor network connection because there's no networking support in the OS.
I wonder how feasible it would be for malware to inject networking support into FreeDOS? Drivers, a TCP/IP stack, not very familiar with how DOS is constructed compared to my studies on the modern Linux kernel.
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#18Probably not. But FreeDOS lives on. Modern toolchains can compile to FreeDOS executables. FreeDOS is useful when you want a computer to run one program and nothing else. You can be confident that there's no backdoor network connection because there's no networking support in the OS.
I wonder how feasible it would be for malware to inject networking support into FreeDOS? Drivers, a TCP/IP stack, not very familiar with how DOS is constructed compared to my studies on the modern Linux kernel.
I would think the hardest part would be knowing what NIC to target, otherwise it's just a matter of work.
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#19Related question: What “new” CP/M machines can be bought today? The closest I know is this kit: https://rc2014.co.uk/ Any others that can be bought off the shelf today?
Large number of boards from
Re: Ask HN: Are impressive new programs being written for CP/M?
#20OP, I’m super curious as to what inspired you to ask.
I’m planning to write a text based social network for vintage computing enthusiasts, for CP/M. It’ll be written in Turbo Pascal. It’s my path to $2B. Don’t tell anyone my idea.
That sounds kind of cool, but although the binaries of Turbo Pascal are now downloadable from Borland's successor at no charge, the source code was never released. That makes the proposition less interesting than it would otherwise be. BDS C source code was released into the public domain a few years ago, so that might be an alternative. Or you could use MSDOS/FreeDOS that would give you a lot more flexibility while staying a similar text-based spirit.