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The latest version of RomCombiner and other free Z88 software is always available from the Z88 Forever! website.

Using the program

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RomCombiner is a collection of three files:

• 'romcombiner.bas',
• 'romutil.bas' and
• 'romcombiner.bin'.

Load all three files into your

Z88 in the same directory, start a BBC BASIC application with #B and

RUN "ROMCOMBINER.BAS"

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The main menu provides eight options, allowing you to create image  files from a ROM in the Z88, combine one or more sets of images, and
program a blank EPROM with a set of images. You can also check EPROMs  are properly erased, convert emulator files, erase Flash Cards, change
the "wait" mode, and exit the program.
Read ROM card to image files
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Upon selecting this option, you are asked for the slot containing the  ROM you want to make image files from, and a name for the card (this
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Usually, you should type "F" to create images of the full ROM card; in  this case, the program will detect the size of the card and create the
appropriate number of images. For example, if you have the PCLink 2 ROMin ROMmin slot 2 and answered "2" for the slot number and "pclink" for the
card name, the program will create images called pclink.63 and  pclink.62.
Advanced users may like to choose to take an image of a single bank, or  range of banks, from a card.
Combine image files of cards
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When you have got all the images of the cards you wish to combine,  select the "combine" option. This presents you with a further menu
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The first thing to do is Add a card to the ROM you are creating: just  enter A and you will then be asked for the name of a card to add. This
should be entered without an extension - for example, if your images  are called pclink.63 and pclink.62, you should just enter pclink.
After successfully adding a card, the display will show the total  number of cards, applications and the total ROM size of the new card.
As well as this, there is some information about each application  found. eg.
    2. L=PCLink (4)
This shows that PCLink is application number 2, and will be accessed  with key L. The number in brackets shows the order that the application
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At this point you can add further cards, or alter the details of the  applications loaded so far.
Key
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This option lets you specify a different letter for the application to  be called by. This is useful if you have several applications using the
same key. If, for example, you had three applications using key W, then  only the first would be accessed with [] Image AddedW, the second with [] Image AddedZW and the
third with [] Image AddedZZW. So, it might be better to assign an unused letter to  one of the applications.
You can also choose 0 in this option, in which case the application  will not be given a hotkey, but must be selected from the Index menu.
Order
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This lets you change the order of the application list in the Index.
You can enter an application number and a new position for it (entering  0 for the position will leave it out of the application list  altogether).
Alternatively, press ENTER Image Added, and then enter the numbers of the  applications in the order you wish them to appear in the Index. Press
ENTER again Image Added again when you've listed all the applications you want; any you  have not specified will be left out of the Index list.
Leaving applications out of the Index list can be useful if there is an  application you never need present on one of your cards (for example,
Diskfiler 2 if you do not have a disk drive!). However, note that doing  this does not actually save any space on the new card.
Rename
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This lets you change the name of an application. The new name must  be the same length or shorter than the original one.
Patch
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Some applications are written expecting to be located in specific  banks in a certain-sized cards, and do not usually work correctly after
being "combined" into a larger card. This option allows you to select a  patch file designed to correct this behaviour for a particular
application, and so allow it to be used in combined cards.  If you find an application which does not work properly in a combined
card, you should check if a patch file is available for it. Some patch  files are included with this release of RomCombiner, but there may be
others available. These can always be obtained from the Z88 Forever!  website.
To use a patch, simply use this option and type in its filename. The  patch will then be applied during generation of the new card. Any
application which has a patch assigned to it is marked with an asterisk  (*) in the list. To remove a patch from an application, just press
ENTER when Image Added when asked for the filename.
When combining a card with a patch, you may see some warnings displayed.  This could mean you have the wrong patch selected for the application (in  which case the application probably won't work correctly). However, it's  more likely that the application has been patched previously when combined  into another card - in this case the warnings can be ignored.
Info
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This displays technical information on the selected application for  advanced users.
Disp
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This toggles the display mode. When on, you will always see a list of  the current applications on the combined card. However, if this list
becomes too long, you may prefer to turn it off with this option.
Wait
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This toggles the wait mode (you can also do this from the main menu).  If "Wait mode" is on, the program will tell you whenever it needs to
load a new image file, and whenever it has saved an amended copy of an  image file. This is useful if you do not have enough memory on your Z88
to hold all the ROM images at once; at these pauses you can transfer  files between the Z88 and another computer, ensuring that the program
always has access to the files it needs.
Techy
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Another set of options for advanced users. They allow you to:1. 
Alter the ID of the card being created
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Set the last application to point to another bank and address,
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instead of an end-of-list marker
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Force the card to have a particular size, instead of the calculated one
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Create images starting from a bank other than 63
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Enable an EPROM filing system on the card (see later for details)
The main use for these options is to allow you to create very large ROM  cards in two or more stages, without having to set the wait mode on.
Save
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This option saves all the details of the ROM you are currently  creating. This is useful when you are making a lot of changes or adding
a lot of cards, since if something goes wrong you can simply re-start  the program and Load the configuration up again. You might also like
to save the configuration of a ROM you are creating, so that if you  want to make changes at a later date you don't have to start from
scratch.
Load
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Re-loads a previously saved configuration.
Create
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Once you have added all the cards you require, and are satisfied with  the application list, press C to finish and create the final images.
First enter a name for the new card (again with no extension). This  will be used to create images called CARDNAME.63 etc down to the lowest
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Unless you have lots of free memory, you should answer Y to the next  question; this deletes the original images as it creates the new ones,
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Then the program will create the new card images. This can take a long  time!
Quit
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This aborts the combination process and returns you to the main menu.
Verify EPROM banks properly erased
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If you're unsure whether your EPROMs are being properly erased (perhaps  you have problems blowing ROMs to them), this option allows you to
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Usually, you should press F to check a full EPROM, and enter the size of  the card. Alternatively, you can enter a range of banks; use the same
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If you do have problems with EPROMs that you can't seem to erase, try  tapping the card sharply on a hard surface and then re-erase it. This
will dislodge any particles which may be on the window and preventing  the UV light from reaching the chip.
Blow image files to blank 
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EPROM
This main menu option allows you to create a ROM on a totally blank  EPROM in slot 3 (it must not have been catalogued by Filer).
After entering the EPROM type and the card name, press F to  automatically blow all the images in the card. Once this is completed,
you should go to the Index, remove the card, close the flap and then  re-insert the card again to properly initialise the application list.
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Note that this option will refuse to write any bytes if the batteries  are low, to ensure EPROM integrity.
Flash Card block erase
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This option allows you to erase blocks of your Flash Cards (in slot  3), either individually or all at once.
Enter the block number (1-16 for 1Mb Flash Cards) or 256 to erase the  entire card.
Each "block" is the smallest unit of a Flash Card which can be erased,  and consists of 4x16K banks. They are arranged as follows:
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    15    56 to 59
    16    60 to 63
Emulator file 
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conversion
This option allows you to convert between the bank files used within  this program (eg name.62, name.63 etc) and the name.epr files used by
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Simply enter the name of a file to convert (without any extension). If  an .EPR file of that name is found, it will be converted to individual
bank files which can be worked on by this program. If a .63 file of the  name given is found instead, then a .EPR file will be created, which
can be used by Z88 emulators.
Adding an EPROM filing system to your card
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It is now possible to add files to your application cards. This is not  an automatic process, but it is well worth the effort to create a card
containing both your favourite applications and most important  non-changing files (such as BASIC programs that you always require).
If you have a Flash Card, do *not* follow this procedure. It is much  easier to create a ROM on the Flash card in the normal way, and then use
FlashStore to format the remaining space for use with files. This also  gives much more flexibility, as you can save files at any time, and even
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If you wish to add files to an ordinary 128K or 256K EPROM, however, this  is the only way to do it...
Files can only be added to the card during the creation process; there  is no way to save additional files. In addition, the Filer and other
EPROM-handling programs cannot read files from these special combined  ROM/EPROM cards.
There is a modified version of the EP-Fetch application now available  on the Z88 Forever application card which can handle reading of files
from any EPROM (including Flash Cards) or ROM/EPROM card in any slot  of the Z88. I suggest that you include the Z88 Forever card in any
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There are several stages to adding files to your card:1. 
Save the files you require to an ordinary (blank) EPROM.
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Work out how many banks of your EPROM are in use. This can be done 
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 by dividing the size reported by EP-Fetch by 16384 and rounding up. 
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 eg. If EP-Fetch reports 26712 bytes used, then 26712/16384=1.63 
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 Therefore, 2 banks are in use.
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Use the [R]ead option to read the required banks from the EPROM 
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 card. The banks you need are numbered upwards from 0. For example, 
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 if 5 banks are in use you would read banks 0 to 4.
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Use the [B]low option to blow these banks to your new card.
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Use the [C]ombine option to generate the ROM images you need.
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  Before selecting [C]reate, use the [T]echy options and set the 
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 EPROM filing system option.
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Finally, [B]low the ROM images to your card.
Don't forget that the size of your ROM images plus the size of your  EPROM files cannot exceed the total physical card size!
Known problems
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You should be careful not to use your new combined ROM at the same time  as the original ROMs. This is because the new ROM will have the same ID  as the first card that you entered, and this sort of thing confuses OZ  no end! To avoid this, you could alter the Card ID (in [T]echy options)
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If you find an application that does not work as expected in a combined  card, there are three main courses of action you can take:1. 
Check if a patch file is available for the application
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Try re-creating the ROM, with the problem application as the first 
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 card to be added to the ROM
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Contact me to discuss a possible solution
Finally, application cards cannot use bank 0, as the Z88 operating  system uses this value to signify "no bank". Thus the largest possible  application card is 1008K (using banks 1 to 63).
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