Circumstances have developed that are prompting me to propose a short term change in our plans. Both another Altair 8800 clone and two Altair-Duino's are now in our classroom (take a look at the back of the room). Since each of these machines operate somewhat differently and offer somewhat different features (while both replicate the Altair 8800 programming experience), I want to propose using this opportunity to do some real problem-based learning.

To solve the problem of learning to use these two machines, Parker, Turner, Akshay and Isaac will take a deep dive into learning to use the Altair Clone, and make a How to presentation on what they learn. Luis, Anfal, Ved and Jametheil will do the same thing with the Altair-Duino.

The rest of us can then divide up the work of presenting clear summaries of the chapters in CP/M Assembly Language Programming up to and including Chapter 11: Learning by Doing, which Akshay and I will present.

Here are the remaining chapters to be discussed:

1. Chapter 5: Organizaiton of CP/M - Ved
2. Chapter 6: Interfacing with CP/M - Adonis
3. Chapter 7: Assembly Language Programming - Cody and Marin
4. Chapter 9: Register Usage in the 8080 - Anar and Caleb
5. Chapter 10: Preserving the User's Environment - Trostin
6. Chapter 11: Learning by Doing - Akshay and Jeff

After parcelling out this labor we will watch the long promised section of the 1999 documentary Triumph of the Nerds that deals with the history of the Altair.

We will begin class with presentations by Anfal and Luis on Chapter 4: What the System Provides, and by Akshay and Ved on Chapter 5: Organization of CP/M.

There is a lot of detailed material in these chapters, and I realize we need to put in the time we need to begin to absorb it into our understanding if we are going to use CP/M effectively. Let's reflect on how well we think we've done that after the presentations.

We will also ask for two more volunteers who have not presented yet to take on Chapter 6: Interfacing with CP/M for our Thursday class.