How do I launch my old Amstrad software?
QI found my old Amstrad CPC 6128 in the back of the cellar and decided to set it up to see if it still worked. I found a hardware add-on from a company called Rombox that I duly plugged in, and everything sprang into life. On the screen I could see three ROMS, named Maxam, RODOS and ROMDOS. I managed to activate Maxam by typing the command imaxam, and launched some RODOS utilities via an accompanying floppy disc. However, I couldn’t figure out how to access ROMDOS. I know this is all ancient technology now but if you or any of your readers could help I’d be very grateful, as it was this Amstrad that led me on to PCS and Windows! Graham Gartshore
AWe spent rather a lot of time trying to figure this out because we do love a challenge. We also know that a lot of our readers graduated to Windows PC from Amstrad systems, so we’re sure it’ll be of interest to others – and some might even be able to offer more information.
What we can say for certain is that ROMDOS is a ROM that effectively replaces the Amstrad CPC’S own diskcontroller chip, known as ROM 7 – enabling extra functionality as a result. The ROMDOS chip is already installed into your Rombox add-on, which is why its name appears when you power up the CPC with the Rombox attached. With this setup, ROMDOS requires no special ‘activation’,as we believe it automatically overrides the CPC’S own ROM 7: you just need to use standard Amstrad disk commands after which ROMDOS takes over.
So, for example, if you type the command disckit3 and press Return you will access the standard AMSDOS Disc Kit menu. This will include options to tap 7 to copy, 4 to format, 1 to verify and 0 to exit. If you press 4 with a disk inserted then ROMDOS will step in to ensure that the inserted disk is formatted with extra storage – of up to 796KB per disk, more than double the AMSDOS standard of 360KB per disk (180KB per side).
We should say that it’s possible that we’ve got some of this wrong, but this is our considered response based on what we know for sure about the Amstrad CPC, tallied against the very limited amount of information that exists online about both Rombox and ROMDOS – which were both niche products, even in their day. For other Amstrad CPC disk commands, take a look at the official manual, which we found online at www.snipca. com/25265. If any reader knows that we’ve got this wrong, then do let us know and we’ll happily pass on the information to Mr Gartshore.