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SIBO Emulator Tips

SIBO stands for SIxteen Bit Operating system, and refers to the operating system which runs on Psion Siena, Workabout, Series 3 (Classic), Series 3a and Series 3c/3mx. The OS is often also referred to as EPOC16.

Psion released 'emulators' of some of these machines to run under DOS, which allows you to develop software on a full-sized screen and keyboard.

To Emulate or Not to Emulate

I think I am right in saying that technically these are not emulators but instances of the SIBO operating system running under DOS... or something. But it is easier to call them emulators as people can relate to that, so that is what I shall call them here.

MS-DOS only

These emulators only run under the DOS environment; they will not operate from within an MS-DOS Prompt (CMD or Command) from Windows, unless you are using an x86 emulator such as DOSBox (see below).

DOSBox

I had an email from Du Toit informing me that he'd successfully setup the WorkAbout emulator to run under Windows using the DOSBox x86 emulator.

Here are the instructions that he sent me:

This is how i set it all up on my PC (C: drive) for the WorkAbout:

Assuming the WKABOUT.EXE was run and extracted to C:/PSIEMUL/WKABOUT/, and DOSBox has already be installed.

In the C:/PSIEMUL/ directory, create two folders, 'A' and 'B", corresponding to the PSion physical drives A and B.

Run DOSBox.
Type the following:

> mount c c:/
> c:
> mount m c:/psiemul/wkabout
> mount a c:/psiemul/a
> mount b c:/psiemul/b
> cd c:/psiemul/wkabout
> runme

After finalizing the source code (which is created in notepad, and saved in the "B" directory) it is sent to the WorkAbout via hyperterminal.exe and a self-made RS-232 cross-over cable, from where the OPL Program on the WorkAbout translates the source to the final modules.

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More on BATch files

Before the days of Windows, with its efficient installations, drive and memory management and simple double-click-the-icon to run capabilities in MS-DOS you had to push things around yourself.

Which was fine. If you knew what to do!

We've already established that you can't run the Psion emulators from Windows (not even in a DOS Command Promt). So what do you do to get these emulators up-and-running?

Batch files

Microsoft were aware when they were developing DOS that users wouldn't always remember the exact commands to type in to get things up-and-running, or they would make typing errors. So they included in MS-DOS the ability to write simple text files containing a list of commands that you wanted DOS to carry out. These text files were called BATCH files because they could carry out a batch of commands, and carried the suffix .BAT.

Batch files make running the Psion emulators much easier. I include a sample batch file in the download sections above, and discuss it further below.

SUBST

One of the commands that you will see used quite a lot in the batch file is the DOS command 'SUBST'.

SUBST is a terminate-and-stay resident (TSR) command, which associates a drive letter with a directory path. Drive letters used this way are called virtual drives.

This is a highly useful command when used with the Psion emulators as the SIBO emulators (as the actual machines themselves) expect the Internal drive to have the drive letter M.

If your computer is partitioned in such a way that you have installed the emulators on drive M: then you won't need to bother with the SUBST command. However, in the likely situation that you don't have 13 partitioned drives on your PC you'll find that you need to tell DOS to regard the directory that you have the emulator files copied into as drive M: (or virtual drive M:).

Example
On my PC I have the Series 3a emulator installed into the directory C:\PSIEMUL\S3A\. The emulator expects this root directory to be drive M: so in my batch file I issue the command:

SUBST M: C:\PSIEMUL\S3A

The syntax of this command is

SUBST newdrive: drive:\existing path

The colon after the newdrive letter is important. Issuing the command SUBST on its own outputs to the screen a lists of all currently SUBSTituted drives.

Deleting SUBSTituted drives
To change a SUBST, you first have to "delete" it using the switch /D, for example

SUBST M: /D

LASTDRIVE
Note that before you can SUBST to M:, the LASTDRIVE setting in CONFIG.SYS must be set at least as high as M. (If you have to change your CONFIG.SYS, you will have to reboot your PC before this takes any effect.)

A and B Drives too
The emulator, like the Psion machines themselves can also use drives A and B. On the Psion these are Solid State Disks (SSDs); on the emulator these are, by default, mapped to the A: and B: floppy drives on your PC.

You may find it convenient to SUBST A: or B: whilst the emulator is running, to lessen the amount of access made by the emulator to your floppy disk drives.

I find it useful to SUBST A: and B: to either the C: drive, a folder containing other SIBO software (for quick installation purposes), or my PsiWin 1.1 backups.

Sample Batch file

Here is the batch file I use for the S3a which is saved as "C:\S3A.BAT" so that when I reboot to DOS I can simply type S3A at the C:> prompt (or C:\S3A from any prompt).

C: CD C:\PSIEMUL\S3A @ECHO Creating Virtual Drives for Series 3a Emulator SUBST SUBST M: C:\PSIEMUL\S3A SUBST A: C:\PSIEMUL SUBST B: C:\PSIEMUL

C:\PSIEMUL\S3A\S3AEMUL.EXE

REM This section runs after the Emulator has exited @ECHO Deleting Virtual Drives and returning PC to normal SUBST M: /D SUBST A: /D SUBST B: /D SUBST CD C:\

Note that the actual emulator is called with the line "S3AEMUL" and that the lines after that will be run when you exit the emulator.

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Special keys

Obviously a PC and Psion do not share the same keys. Certain Psion keys have been remapped on the PC keyboard:

Re-mapped Keys

Exiting the Emulator

To exit the emulator:

Press and hold down Ctrl-Alt-Esc simultaneously.
Or execute a program (IMG or OPO) that calls HwExit (call($168e)).
Ctrl-Alt-Z is an alternative to Ctrl-Alt-Esc.

When the emulator exits: The message "Fatal application error 00" will be displayed. This is perfectly normal (no error has, in fact, occurred).

Screenshots

To capture a screenshot on the emulator is exactly the same as doing it on a SIBO machine:

Press and hold down Ctrl+Shift+Psion+S simultaneously, which translates to the emulator's remapped keys as: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S

Doing this will save a file to the root directory of the emulator.

On the Series 3 Classic, 3a and WorkAbout emulators this will be a file called screenXX.pic, where XX is a sequencial number beginning at 00.

On the Series 3c and Siena emulators this file is simply called screen.pic. So, if you would like to capture more than one screenshot you must rename this file, otherwise it will be written-over the next time you capture a screenshot. This can be done using the Files application on the 3c, or by pressing Tab in the System screen and accessing the file that way; you'll find Rename on the menu.

To convert the .pic files to .bmp I recommend that you use PsiWin 1.1 (copy and convert). You can use the Windows application XnView, but, in my experience, it does not convert the files correctly.

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SIBO emulator tips

Increase Screen Size

If you plan to use the emulator for development purposes then you may find a larger screen more conducive to viewing code.

How to do it
Make a backup of the HHSERVER.PAR file and then load it into your favourite text editor. Change the SERVER_PARAMS line to:

SERVER_PARAMS -X640 -Y480 -D

This gives you an emulator which uses the full screen. (The X and Y variables refer to DOS screen size 640 x 480 pixels).

This works for the Series 3a, Siena and WorkAbout emulators.

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Installing software
on an emulator

To install software. It is generally easier to move the files to the appropriate folders in Windows before you reboot and run the emulator.
Most software distributions for the Siena, Workabout and Series 3a/c/mx will give instructions on where to install the software (the EPOC distributions are often in SIS format which will self-install within the emulator -- see the EPOC Emulator page for more details).
Within the emulator folder (e.g. C:\PSIEMUL\S3A, C:\PSIEMUL\SIENA, or C:\PSIEMUL\WKABOUT) the names of the folders are the same as on the Psion itself, e.g.

\AGN

            \APP

            \DAT

            \OPD

            \OPL

            \OPO

            \WDR

            etc.

Most applications will be installed to the \APP folder and any sub-folders within that. So following the installation instructions on the application you wish to try, copy the appropriate files to the correct locations. Note, if the folders are not already created by default then create them yourself.

Example: Installing Mah Jong for Psion

In the case of Mah Jong for Psion (by Onflo Computer Company, Hong Kong) on the S3a emulator it needs to be installed to:

In \APP
In \APP\MAHJONG
Copy the files to these locations. So in my example they would be installed to

C:\PSION\S3A\APP and C:\PSION\S3A\APP\MAHJONG
Now reboot to DOS, run the S3A.BAT file (or whatever you've named it) and the emulator will run. To install an application type Psion key+I (on the emulator this is Ctrl+I) and from the dialog box choose Mah Jong. Hit Enter and the application will appear... you hope!