altairsim — User Manual

These files are the source of the altairsim User Manual. The release package has the manual as one document, altairsim-manual.pdf. Read that document if you have the package. This page lists the chapters in the order of the manual, so that you can read them here.

Start with the Quick start, which boots CP/M with one command. To learn what the program is first, read What altairsim is.

The chapters

1. What altairsim is: what the program does, and what it does not do.
2. What is in the package: the program, the documents, the built-in machines, the examples, and what is not in the package.
3. Running it: unzip the package and run the program.
4. Quick start: CP/M with one command. Stop with Ctrl-E, continue with RUN, leave with QUIT.
5. Quick reference: the command line, every command, the outline of a machine file, and the boards, on one page.
6. Machines: the command line, the built-in machines, and where a relative path starts.
7. Configuring a machine: the TOML format, in full.
8. Boards: what each board is, and what it is for.
9. Disks: MOUNT, disk formats, and the track buffer.
10. Tapes: the cassette interface, and how to load BASIC as MITS intended.
11. Serial ports, sockets and telnet: how to connect a board to your terminal, a TCP port or a real serial port.
12. Moving files in and out: HDIR, R and W at the CP/M prompt.
13. Worked examples: complete sessions, from start to end.
14. The MCP server: how an AI assistant controls the machine.
15. Troubleshooting: the most common problems, and what to do.
16. Glossary: S-100, PHANTOM*, hard-sector, BDOS and other terms.
17. Boards and their properties: every board, every key and every default.
18. The built-in machines: every built-in machine, and what is in it.

Other documents

Two more documents ship beside the manual. They describe the altairsim> prompt and its debugger, which control the program, not the simulated hardware.

• The Monitor (altairsim-monitor.pdf): the altairsim> prompt, short forms of commands, the number rule, board names and STOP. It also has the command reference, with every altairsim> command and its usage and examples.
• The Debugger (altairsim-debugger.pdf): breakpoints, stepping, disassembly, and how to look at the bus.

To build a board of your own, you need the source and a different document, the Developer Guide. It is not in the package. It is with the source.