Technical reference

Memory map

The base memory layout of the Nascom 2 core and its switchable regions.

The default configuration resembles an expanded Nascom 2 machine. Several ROM sockets can be operated as either ROM or RAM; special modes such as FDD, CP/M and BLS Pascal selectively change individual regions.

Base configuration

Address range Type Size Purpose
$0000–$07FF ROM 2 KiB NAS-SYS 3 monitor
$0800–$0BFF RAM 1 KiB Screen memory
$0C00–$0FFF RAM 1 KiB Workspace used by various programs
$1000–$AFFF RAM 40 KiB Program memory
$B000–$B7FF ROM/RAM 2 KiB Toolkit
$B800–$BFFF ROM/RAM 2 KiB NASPEN
$C000–$C3FF ROM/RAM 1 KiB SUPERDEBUG
$C400–$CFFF ROM/RAM 3 KiB NAS-DIS
$D000–$DFFF ROM/RAM 4 KiB ZEAP 2.1 or NAS-DOS
$E000–$FFFF ROM 8 KiB Microsoft BASIC

Switchable operating modes

FDD and NAS-DOS

When the FDD function is enabled, NAS-DOS is mapped to $D000–$DFFF. The WD1793-compatible controller occupies ports $E0–$E5.

CP/M

CP/M mode automatically enables floppy support and switches the configurable ROM sockets to RAM. On reset, the 2 KiB boot ROM is visible at $F000–$F7FF and mirrored at the reset vector. The lower region is subsequently switched to shadow RAM.

BLS Pascal

Pascal mode maps a 12 KiB ROM to $A000–$CFFF. BASIC and other expansion ROMs are hidden, while $E000–$FFFF becomes writable RAM.

Notes for software

Programs should not assume that all expansion ROMs are visible at the same time. For portable NAS-SYS programs, RAM starting at $1000 is the natural choice. Operating modes and extensions should be detected before direct access to their ports, or enabled explicitly in the configuration.