Documentation for OSBDUMB (aka DUMB)

OSBDUMB is a program only for the Osborne-1,  as it 
uses  the bank switching of the Osborne-1 to get at 
the  serial  port,  and it uses a routine  that  is 
specific to the Osborne BIOS.

DUMB is a program that allows the Osborne-1 to work 
as  a  dumb terminal to many things.  It can  be  a 
terminal  to  access  the SOURCE,  or it can  be  a 
terminal to a bulletin board.

Its  main advantage over the established  utilities 
such as MODEM,  MODEM7 etc is that is allows you to 
take  a  hardcopy  of  the  dialog  directly  on  a 
printer, rather than store it in memory.

RESTRICTIONS

To  take advantage of the hardcopy  procedure,  you 
will need a printer connected to the parallel port, 
(or  the IEEE port) of your Osborne,  and have  the 
IOBYTE  configured  to indicate that (use SETUP  or 
STAT)

USAGE

To use the program, just type OSBDUMB, there are no 
parameters.  You will be prompted as to whether you 
require Half or Full-Duplex mode,  and for the Baud 
rate  (300 or 1200 buad).

ASSEMBLY

At  the  moment,   DUMB  needs  the  Microsoft  M80 
assembler,  but  work  is  underway  to  develop  a 
version  that  uses  ASM.  The  ASM  version  will, 
regretably,  produce a larger COM file than the M80 
version  (18K vs 2K),  but "thems  the  breaks"!  I 
think that there are enough comments in the program 
to  allow  the prospective modifier to see what  is 
going  on,  but  bear  in mind  that  it  uses  Z80 
mnemonics  (at the moment),  and some specific  Z80 
instructions.