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       Technology/Z80/Space, (sdf.org), 11/26/2018
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Got the z80 SBC going again on Saturday night. At first it 
wouldn't post properly (grant searle's ROM), but I re-seated 
the CF expansion board and that seemed to help. CP/M came up 
and I was able to explore the drives without trouble.

While it was down, I had setup an emulated environment for 
CP/M on my linux box. It works very well, and transfering 
programs and files in/out is simple. You can control 
emulation speed, to keep it closer to hardware, but I have 
found this to be buggy/inconsistent. In any case, it does 
work, and it emulates a z80, so it's suitable for compiling 
(tried it with something, I think it was just an mbasic 
program.)

Sometimes I wish I had unlimited space. I know that I'd have 
unlimited junk if that were the case, so I count my 
blessings, but I can't help but want more space for my 
projects and hobbies. Right now, the z80 lives on a desk in 
the basement. I'm remodelling down there, and don't have the 
heat piped in; because of the ground it has been pretty 
constant near 60F, but that's a bit cool for my taste. Maybe 
I'll drop a space heater by the desk to see if that helps.

I read an article recently about a sci-fi writer that writes 
in Wordstar (can't recall if it was under DOS or CP/M.) WS 
is a nice program (I have two versions installed, both work 
well with my terminal, but have different advantages for 
me.) I don't know if I quite trust my little computer enough 
to write a book on it though; I think I'd have to have a 
good backup solution going.

My system is installed on CF, and I can mount it with the 
cpmtools on my linux box, and copy files directly off/on. 
Unfortunately, I soldered the CF connector myself, and the 
pitch on the connectors is very small; I don't trust it 
much, and I don't like removing the card. In short, I don't 
want to have to take it out daily to back things up...

I could just write stuff on my main computer, or some other 
device, but I really enjoy the z80 SBC and terminal. I do 
have two serial ports, but I haven't really had much success 
with the second serial port yet (it's been odd...)

I think it might be time to reach out to Grant Searle and 
ask him about programming that second serial port in mbasic. 
Or, maybe I can find some resources. I'd like to write a 
little file transfer program. I've had poor luck getting the 
ones I've found for CP/M working right; maybe if I have 
something really barebones, I can get it going.