CP/M software for fZ80

04 Apr 2026

(SKIP DIRECTLY TO THE SOFTWARE BUNDLES.)

There is a surprising amount of good software for CP/M. A number of software packages prepared for fZ80 are available for download below. Most CP/M or MP/M program you find on the net will run, with two caveats:

Programs that use cursor control -- most text editors, spreadsheets, word processors, many games, etc -- must be configured to use the correct escape sequences to work. fZ80 emulates a "Heath/Zenith H19/Z89" terminal.
On MP/M, some CP/M programs -- nearly always highly interactive programs -- cause excessive CPU utilization and require patching. In every case this is due to the CP/M program "cheating" the Digital Research defined features. Most of these can be patched to work. Some have been patched.

With few exceptions noted below all of the bundled software packages work correctly on fZ80, patched and configured as necessary.

Where are the manuals?

Almost certainly they are here (Docs in the bar above). A few bundles have documentation within them.

Major software packages for fZ80

The following "major" software packages (and more) are already installed:

WordStar release 4
WordStar version 0.93
Perfect Writer 1.03
SuperCalc2 1.00
WordMaster 1.07a
MBASIC 5.21
Multiplan 1.06
Magic Wand
Nevada BASIC

These below work fine but consume excess CPU and need console-input fixing:

Multiplan 1.06
Magic Wand
Nevada BASIC

How to install software bundles

Unlike modern computers on CP/M installation usually consists of manually copying files to your A: drive. First you must import the files to CP/M; here are some tools and methods to do so.

How to import files from your host computer to fZ80.
Exporting files from fZ80 to your host computer.
About and using .LBR ("library") files on CP/M and MP/M.

Where to find CP/M and MP/M programs

All of the bundled software here was found on the net. Here are a few of the sites I've used. The Internet Archive is an excellent source, especially for manuals.

eBay is a good source for original matter such as printed manuals, instruction cards etc, but software will be on original floppy media.

(WORK IN PROGRESS) http://www.retroarchive.org/ http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/ http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/text/text.htm http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/text/wordstar-collection.html https://techtinkering.com/articles/tag/cpm/

fZ80 software bundles

These are software packages prepared for fZ80 and known to work.

Some bundles include an INSTALL.SUB submit file; look at it first, but most copy necessary files to A: user 0 and set attributes for shared files on MP/M. Bundles sometimes contain PDFs of user manuals; CP/M cannot read PDFs, don't import to CP/M. (PDF manuals are recent scans of original printed paper.) The IMPORT.COM program is used to copy files into CP/M from your host computer.

Adventure-350 COLLOSAL CAVE, aka ADVENTURE. 350 point version, compiled with TDL FORTRAN. The file named KEITH.COM is a play saved by Keith in 1980. Doesn't seem to start in the right place. Works though....
Algol-M-v11 Algol-M was created in 1976 at the Naval Postgraduate School and was the first high-level block-structured language to execute on a microprocessor. It was written by John Flynn and Mark Moranville who were Naval Officers in the computer science master's degree program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Algol-M was developed as their combined thesis project. Their thesis advisor was Dr. Gary Kildall....
Aztec-C-WS MANX Axtec C, version 1.06. ...
BASCOM-5 (Missing README.TXT file)
BASIC-GAMES BASIC games... this collection was found at http://www.vintage-basic.net/games.html. They have been renamed such that they fit in CP/M's filename convention. I cannot vouch for these games; and welcome to hobbiest programming circa late 1970's. You might find umm quality variable. Many programs simply say hello and prompt for input, mysteriously. You'll have to LIST the program and puzzle out what it wants. Errors generally bomb out. And so it goes. NOTE: USE CAPS LOCK. MOST GAMES ASSUME UPPER CASE. UPPER CASE HAD NOT YET BECOME YELLING. MBASIC.COM will or should run these. It *is* interesting...
BASIC-PROGS BASIC PROGRAMS For MBASIC of BASCOM. Can be found on http://www.z80.eu/basic.html STARTREK.BAS The classic 1978 Star Trek. TREKINST.BAS Instructions, chained to by STARTREK TAXMANCL.BAS TaxMan game, a clever number game....
BDS-C-1.6 BD Software's C compiler, verion 1.6. Courtesy Leor Zolman, who put this great code in the public domain. This is a reduced subset of the full installation, which is available from https://www.bdsoft.com/resources/bdsc.html. This subset is more than adequate for fZ80's system utilities and more....
BDS-C-UG BDS C Users Group contributions. This is a collection of programs and libraries in source form....
CPM-MPM-v6-A-drive-DISTRO fZ80 release 10 March 2026. This bundle contains a full set of executables from tomj's A: drive. Major utilities are configured for fZ80. If you have your own customizations for programs and files in this distribution, make sure to save those before overwriting them with the new distribution. If you have set file permissions on your existing A: you will need to remove them to replace with these copies. Do so with: 0A> SET *.*[DIR,RW]...
CPM-MPM-v6-A-drive-TOMJ fZ80 release 10 March 2026. This bundle contains a full set of executables from tomj's A: drive. Major utilities are configured for fZ80. If you have your own customizations for programs and files in this distribution, make sure to save those before overwriting them with the new distribution. If you have set file permissions on your existing A: you will need to remove them to replace with these copies. Do so with: 0A> SET *.*[DIR,RW]...
dBASE-II (Missing README.TXT file)
DR-ASM-tools Digital Research ASM and MAC and DDT, etc, distributed with CP/M 2.2....
DR-CPM-2.2-Distribution Digital Research CP/M-80 version 2.2 distribution diskette contents. These should be correct unmodified copies of all files provided by Digital Research....
DR-MPM-distribution-OEM MP/M distribution 25 aug 2025 from http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/archive/unofficial/binary.html Allegedly/possibly DRs distro. RESXIOS.ASM is fZ80 LCRBIOS.ASM is fZ80...
DR-TEX-1.0 Digital Research TEX v1.0 Untested; will explore later. . Not enough memory to run under MP/M, which has a 48K TPA so ...
fZ80-61K-CPM-2.2-4-drive-source CP/M-80 CBIOS, Boot sector, ROM Monitor sources This is the core CP/M customization code. This also contains the EVRST60.ASM files for the keyboar scan code to character mapping....
fZ80-MPM-II-2.1-5-drive-source (Missing README.TXT file)
fZ80-utilities-BDS-C 02 Jan 2026 fZ80 system utilities for CP/M and MP/M. Both binaries and sources. This folder is in constant flux; feel free to contact me. As of early Jan 2026 I'm doing things manually and moving towards an fZ80-specific library. getOpts() for now, but it's handled in the C.SUB script. CCTOA.SUB Copies basic BDS tools and libs to 0A:, and sets attributes for MP/M to find them automatically (there is no PATH)....
KA9Q-IP-TCP This is Phil Karn's KA9Q TNC TCP/IP software for CP/M. It compiles (see below) but as designed requires Zilog SIO or another expansion board, for the Xerox 820. For fZ80 the interrupt stuff and serial port will require redesign. It might need firmware changes. Haven't looked. The Aztec C 1.06D compiler is in this bundle. COMPILING MP/M does not have enough TPA to compile. This needs to copied to a removable disk, a system and boot put on that disk, and booted such that it is A: on CP/M....
MBASIC-521 MBASIC 5.1 The manual for MBASIC can be found at https://www.bleeve.me/fZ80/documents.html. There are a few "classic" games and programs in this bundle, I'll add more as I find them. If you find some let me know!...
Multiplan-1.06 MICROSOFT MULTIPLAN version 1.06 Decent spreadsheet program. Configured for fZ80 but console input consumes CPU cycles on MP/M. This is high priority for patch development....
NULU-ARC-CRUNCH LBR, SQUEEZE, CRUNCH, ARC Library and compression/decompression tools Tom Jennings 08 jan 2026 This is a curated set of tools derived from downloads from TECHTINKERING.COM. It's a great site, but the files downloadable there are a mess. (NULU152.LBR contained files were all CRUNCHed; the UNCRUNCH program was in a .ARC file; etc. .DOC files were cut short when extracted; NULU152.COM arrived with some terminal's ESCape sequences embedded and other customizations.) These work on MP/M. Unfortunately the otherwise...
PerfectWriter-1.03 PerfectWriter 1.03 for fZ80 Tom Jennings 10 Apr 2026 This is PerfectWriter, patched and configured for fZ80. It has been configured for screen addressing, and patched for MP/M compatibility. The patch auto-detects CP/M version 2 up, and MP/M. The patched version won't run on CP/M 1.4. CAVEAT Due to PW's design, the necessary swap file, which contains configuration data, must be present either in the local directory (that you run PW.COM in) or on drive A: user 0. HOWEVER the latter works only if you are editing in user 0 (on any drive letter). Generally speaking most CP/M users stick to the default user 0 because USER support isn't very good; but on MP/M, with it's improved USER...
PLM-ISIS-MPM2-HACK PL/M TEST STUFF Tom Jennings 09 May 2026 This bundle contains many non-CP/M files, so do not attempt to IMPORT it directly, or completely. It is a snapshot containing a rough collection of files and information on the PL/M compiler and ISIS emulator, ISX.COM. The story is messy and complex. Hector Peraza did some amazing and key work, and documentation, pulling together files released long ago and writing new code to run the PL/M compiler on unix/linux. The short of it, I believe is correct but could be wrong, is that DR wrote much of CP/M etc in PL/M, using the Intel PL/M compiler. This compiler, written in some FORTRAN, runs only...
PMATE-3.21-fZ80 PMATE 3.21 fZ80 customization 18 Dec 2025 PMATE has been patched to not be a resource hog on MP/M. The "instant command" list has also been modified to work with WordStar arrow keys, which necessitated some keyboard juggling. RESOURCE HOG PATCHES: PMATE is old and crude; it uses BIOS jump table routines for conSt, conIn, and conOut, which works, but somehow consumes CPU cycles on MP/M. The solution here, in FZPATCH.*, is to cause PMATE to eventually call DIRECT CONSOLE I/O E=0fd, which suspends...
PMATE-3.21-original PMATE distribution 3.21 PMATE (Phoenix's Mike Aronson's Text Editor) unmodified. PMATE321.LBR LBR file containing files below PM.COM 24 x 80 editor PM24.COM 24 x 80 editor PM36.COM 36 x 100 editor PM48.COM 48 x 1280 editor PM-FZ80.CNF The fZ80 customized confifguration file; run CONPMATE PM-FZ80 to configure PMATE, then xdfilename.com$$ to save. CONPMATE.COM The configurator program (PMATE with funny macros). CONFIG.CNF Distribution configuration file....
PSA-TDL-PASM-PLINK Phoenix Software Associates (PSA) and Technical Design Labs (TDL) Macroassembler and Overlay-capable linker Special TDL HEX loader 15 april 2026 These programs are very sophisticated tools for the z80/8080. It took some effort to gather these programs and files together in one place. The files in this bundle were gathered from multiple sources found on the net (and stored in directories on my own disk drive). If you have more, or find problems, please email me at tom at bleeve.me Neil Colvin at TDL/Xitan wrote ZASM and ZLINK, a full featured Z80 macro assembler and overlay-capable linkage editor (unrelated to Cromemco's programs of similar names). After TDL/Xitan's demise PSA was formed by Neil Colvin from the ashes of TDL/Xitan and apparently Neil retained rights to these programs,...
SQ-USQ-LU LU, SQ, USQ file-library, compression and uncompression tools...
SuperCalc2 SuperCalc 2, with manual and configurator, plus SC2.COM pre-convigured for fZ80. Make sure video resolution is 800 x 600. ("vga m/1"). You can of course use VGA.COM to set 1024 x 768, and reconfigure for the larger screen (VGA s displays resolution)....
SuperWriter-1.02 SuperWriter v1.02 Works great and seems very nice -- on CP/M. Not enough memory to run under MP/M, which has a 48K TPA so it's a memory hog. Which is unfortunate as it seems like a decent editor....
WordMaster-1.07 WordMaster 1.07 (MicroPro International) This was many peoples' favorite programming text editor; not mine. It appears to work. It is well behaved. The PDF manual is included....
WordStar-0.93 WordStar 0.93 for fZ80 Tom Jennings 04 apr 2026 This WordStar version is very old, but lightweight and works as well as the version 4 (provided) minus a lot of features. Its most annoying feature is that it does not know to look for the messages overlay file, WSMSGS.COM, on A:. Screen type ("H19/H89") is patched in with DDT, not INSTALL.COM. Printer type is "teletype", which can be set by INSTALL. WS0PRNTS.TXT is the patch documentation....
WordStar-4.0-H19 WordStar release 4, the latest and best version for CP/M. Tom Jennings 05 nov 2025 This copy has been customized for Friendly fZ80. It will auto-adjust for the current window size. It expects all of it's working files (overlays, help files, etc) on drive A: user 0. The customization notes are in CUSTOM.DOC. There are PDF files in the bundle folder. CP/M does not like those....
Y2K-compliant Y2K compliant TOD.PRL and SCHED.PRL Hector Peraza https://github.com/hperaza/P112-isx Hector has done substantial work uncovering both history and executable PL/M code and systems. Digital Research ran PL/M on an ISIS machine, not CP/M. But at some point DR created a specially modified CP/M system (BIOS and BDOS hacks, plus a wedge called ISX.COM) that allowed the ISIS PL/M compiler to run on "CP/M". It's a serious kludge, if it works as described fZ80 could be hacked to run it, I believe. But there are many unknowns, and I am not investing the efort to puzzle it all out. The work was done for a unique machine called the P112 (described in Wikipedia), but also for emulation under...
ZEXALL Z80 Instruction Exerciser From: https://mdfs.net/Software/Z80/Exerciser/ Frank Cringle's Z80 instruction set exerciser attempts to execute every Z80 opcode, putting them through a cycle of tests and comparing the results to actual results from running the code on a real Z80. The exerciser is supplied with Frank's YAZE (Yet Another Z80 Emulator). It is often difficult to track down, so I have put it together here, as well as some conversions. The latest release of YAZE is available at Andreas Gerlich's website. ZEXDOC only tests officially documented flag effects, whereas ZEXALL tests all flags changes, compared against test on real hardware. ZEXALL and ZEXDOC are released under the GNU General Public License....

PMATE command cheat chart

Until I find a manual, this will have to do. an original Phoenix Pmate command summary card as a correctly sized PDF.

Here is the PMATE cheat sheet command list.

External sources

Nearly everything above was obtained from one of these retro/vintage software repositories. If you have others let me know I'll add them.

Website contents, unless otherwise specified, © 2025 by Tom Jennings. Permission is granted for personal use with no renumeration. Corporations or any legal organization or their agents (employees or consultants or other relationships) expressly prohibited from using any material without written permission.