Preface - NEC CP/M-86 System Reference Manual

Preface
The CPIM-86 Operating System Guide for the APC presents the system program-
ming aspects of CP/M-86, a single-user operating system for the
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PD8086 16-bit
microprocessor, used by NEC for the Advanced Personal Computer (APC). The
discussion assumes that the reader is familiar with CP/M, the Digital Research 8-bit
operating system. To clarify specific differences with CP/M-86, this document
refers to the 8-bit version of CP/M as CP/M-80. Elements common to both systems
are simply called CP/M features.
This Operating System Guide presents an overview of the CP/M-86 programming
interface conventions. It also describes procedures for adapting CP /M-86 to a
custom hardware environment.
Chapter 1 gives an overview of CP/M-86 and summarizes how it differs from
CP/M-80. Chapter 2 describes the general execution environment while Chapter 3
tells how to generate command files. Chapter 4 defines the programming interfaces
to the Basic Disk Operating System (BDOS). Chapters 5 and 6 define the standard
and customized features of the Basic Input/ Output System (BIOS). (Chapter 5
includes CP/M-86 disk operations for both floppy diskette and hard disk media.)
Chapter 7 discusses alteration of the BIOS to support custom disk configurations.
Chapter 8 describes the loading operation and the organization of the CP /M-86
system file. Chapter 9 describes GSX-86, the graphics extension for the APC.
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