Installing TRSDOS-II 4.4 onto a Model II or 12 System With a Hard Drive

This tutorial is a good starting point for learning how to use trs80gp with a hard drive image. You can choose either a Model II or 12 to do this. Installing it onto a Model 12 is more historically accurate, but it really doesn't matter which one you choose. Technically, you could also install it on a Model 16 or Tandy 6000 as well and although it was an option for the 16 when it first came out, it is overkill since it doesn't utilize the 68000 CPU. As far as the 6000, you can technically install it, but this machine was always designed to be a XENIX machine.

Note all commands to type into TRSDOS-II will be in italics and make sure you either use Caps Lock or type in all Caps each command. This is only a requirement for TRSDOS, other Model II family OSes such as CP/M, LS-DOS, and XENIX do not have this requirement. (Of course, XENIX, being a Unix is case sensitive like any other Unix.)

Files Needed

Home Page for the trs80gp emulator

TRSDOS-II 4.4 Disk Image or The Model II Archive on Github I recommend that you clone this repository instead of download the zip due to the fact that being a large file it sometimes times out and you can't tell until you try to unzip it. The file you need is Software\Tandy\260-4902 - TRSDOS-II 4.4\1985-07-31\260-4902.imd.

First Steps

Download trs80gp and extract the correct version for your operating system.

The next step is up to you with a few different options. One option and the I use is to place one copy of trs80gp in the respective folder each system and OS combination that you emulate for each system. This may seem like overkill but as the file is small (under 5 megabytes) and this way in case you want to start the system with the command line, script, or batch file; it will remember which system you chose.

Another option is to put the emulator in a folder by itself and add it to your path variable. This way you only need one copy of the emulator but you can run it from the command line anywhere. A disadvantage of this is that every time you start the emulator by itself you have to manually change your machine selection.

The final option is to make one big folder including all your disk images and script/batch files. and simply run it all from one place. This is pretty convenient but it can get unwieldy with many different configurations and also like adding the emulator to your path you have manually change your machine configuration when running it by itself.

Installing TRSDOS-II

You could make you script/batch file right away but I recommend that you wait to do this until the installation is done because you would have to make it and then edit it once you are done since the emulator will only boot from the hard drive if one is selected even if it's blank on a Model II/12/16/6000.

Step one is to start the emulator from where you decided to store or from any command line if it's in the path. Next, under "File" select "Change Model" and then select either Model II or Model 12 (see above notes). This will boot it automatically into TRSDOS 2.0.

Next, under "Diskette" select drive ":0" and "Replace...," choose the the TRSDOS-II 4.4 disk image titled TRSDOS-II_4.4.IMD or 260-4902.imd file depending on your source. Then under "File," select "Warm Restart," "Cold Restart," or "Reset Button."

After the machine has been restarted, enter the date with slashes. (It is "kind of" y2k compliant, so you can enter the current date.) Then enter the 24-hour time and separate the hours, minutes, and seconds with periods. Now either in all Caps or Caps Lock On, you can type DIR which will appear to show the floppy as empty but we will fix that when we are done.

Now, it's time to attach a blank hard drive image. Under "Hard Drive" select drive ":4" and select "<<unformatted hdv>>." Either go with the default name or make and name up for the file and then select "save."

After the disk image is attached, we can get to work and setup the hard drive. Type FORMAT :4 HDS=4 CYL=150 {ABS} This will format a 5 megabyte hard drive. It takes quite a while to do this like almost half an hour so it's a good time to grab a cup of coffee, a Red Bull or a snack. When it is done, restart the system like you did before. It doesn't matter whether you have ejected the diskette image or not since once a hard drive is attached, that's the only way it will boot. Once you enter date and time, type FILES :4 {SYS} this will list the system files. It is interesting to note that unlike most other systems of its time, Basic is not in ROM. The ROM is a simple 2K bootstrap and Basic is a system file in TRSDOS or LS-DOS and you do not need to specify a Basic interpreter you can simple enter Basic commands right into the command interpreter.

Finally, to make it easier, it's time to make a script/batch file. Simply, enter trs80gp -h nameofhdfile.hfv, then save it and it will be ready to execute.

Afterward

Once you are done, unfortunately, there isn't much you can do but play around with Basic. Once I figure out how to install regular TRSDOS onto a hard drive, which is more compatible, I will share more.

Also, a very special thanks to pnp2084 on the trs80gp Discord Server for helping me figure out how to do this install.