Learn about CP/M

CP/M originally stood for Control Program/Monitor. Later, CP/M became known as Control Program for Microcomputers. It was a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc.

The first version was single-tasking on 8-bit processors with support for up to 64 kilobytes of memory. Later versions of CP/M added multiple-user variations and were migrated to 16-bit processors.

For more information about CP/M, see the CP/M Wikipedia article and CP/M Frequently Asked Questions.

Digital Research CP/M Operating System Manual¶

You will find a wealth of information about CP/M, including compilers, assemblers, debuggers, and more in the Digital Research CP/M Operating System Manual

Programming the Altair emulator¶

From CP/M, you can program the Altair emulator using Microsoft BASIC, BD Software C, the Intel Assembler and Linker, and the Microsoft MACRO-80 Assembler.

Get started with CP/M¶

Here are some CP/M commands to get you started:

Changing drives. The Altair emulator mounts two drives, drive A and drive B. To change drives, from the Altair CP/M command prompt in the Web Terminal, type the drive name, then press the Enter key.
```
a:

b:
```
Display a directory listing.
```
dir

dir *.BAS

ls
```
Erase a file.
```
era *.txt
```
Copy Microsoft BASIC mbasic.com from drive A to drive B.
```
a:pip b:mbasic.com.com=a:mbasic.com
```
List the contents of a file.
```
type lunar.bas
```
Rename a file.
```
ren lander.bas=lunar.bas
```

Get started with retro gaming¶

Download a retro game¶

The Apps/GAMES folder contains classic BASIC games. On ESP32, make them available through the configured remote FT server. The obsolete GF HTTP downloader has been retired.

Using the Built-in Games Repository¶

Use the current FT client's text-transfer option:

From the CP/M command prompt:
```
ft -g games/awari.bas
```
The game file will be downloaded directly to your CP/M filesystem.
Start the game from the CP/M command line:
```
mbasic awari
```

Common Games Available¶

Here are some popular games you can download:

ft -g games/awari.bas
ft -g games/bagels.bas
ft -g games/animal.bas

Alternative: Manual Repository Access¶

You can also browse and download games manually from the Retro Games repository if you prefer to see what's available before downloading.

If a game requires additional files, make those available through the same FT server and transfer them too.

Retro game acknowledgments¶

This list of games was made possible by the dedicated work of CP/M Games and Vintage BASIC.