XB256 + Extended BASIC

[Gazoo]

[DELETED attachment=387267:XB256.zip]

 

Here's a version of TI Extended Basic with XB256 embedded in it, similar to the version of TI Extended Basic I recently posted with The Missing Link embedded in it.

 

Do a CALL XB256 from the command line or a running program. You'll be honked at if it's already loaded.

 

Then do the CALL LINK("XB256”[,n bytes VDP memory to reserve] to set it up to your liking and have at it.

 

Gazoo

 

Edited April 13, 2015 by Gazoo

[+Ksarul]

Nice job, Gazoo. Looks like I'll have to do up labels for a few more XB Cartridge variants.

[Opry99er]

Really cool... Thanks Gazoo!

[Gazoo]

Nice job, Gazoo. Looks like I'll have to do up labels for a few more XB Cartridge variants.

 

It's a shame that I didn't come up with these before I did the Suite cartridge. It's possible to have the calls XXB, TML, & XB256 all in XB v2.7. I'd need to change the ROM of the Ubergrom cart to do it though, and also take something out. DM1000 probably could have been eliminated without anyone squawking.

 

Gazoo

[+Ksarul]

It can always become the Super XB 2.7 Suite. . .

[Retrospect]

GAZOO'S DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT (GDE)

 

You're welcome

[unhuman]

Uhoh - time to buy another cartridge?

[Gazoo]

Use this to replace the cart files in the previous post. There was an upgrade to XB256 and I rolled with it.

Had to figure out what I did the first time as I threw my notes away while cleaning up Yesterday.

 

XB256.zip

 

Gazoo

 

[+Lee Stewart]

... as I threw my notes away while cleaning up Yesterday.

 

My wife desperately wants me to have that problem!

 

...lee

[+Ksarul]

Mine keeps trying to clear out my entire computer room to repurpose it for her purposes--sterile, empty, and without a shred of practical use. I've been winning that war so far. . .which is a good thing for my hobby.

[+Schmitzi]

♫ taaa ta-ta ...no cry... ♫

[Willsy]

I always say the same thing to my wife (applies to both my computers and my guitars): "See all this stuff here? It was here before you were, and it'll be here long after you're gone!"

 

(it's not said in a mean way, just a joking way, but it does wind her up, which is of course why I say it in the first place!)

[Omega-TI]

 

It's a shame that I didn't come up with these before I did the Suite cartridge. It's possible to have the calls XXB, TML, & XB256 all in XB v2.7. I'd need to change the ROM of the Ubergrom cart to do it though, and also take something out. DM1000 probably could have been eliminated without anyone squawking.

 

Gazoo

 

Can you imagine the programs a person might write using all three of those packages at the same time? It would be interesting to see the results, and then someday even possibly being able to include them in a "Gazoo's Special Edition Atari Age Cartridge" in the same manner Dec-2-Hex was included.

 

I agree Tony, DM1000 would probably not be missed too much, Bert & Ernie would reclaim some space as well.

[+OLD CS1]

 

Bert & Ernie would reclaim some space as well.

 

Heretic.

[Gazoo]

 

Can you imagine the programs a person might write using all three of those packages at the same time? It would be interesting to see the results, and then someday even possibly being able to include them in a "Gazoo's Special Edition Atari Age Cartridge" in the same manner Dec-2-Hex was included.

 

I agree Tony, DM1000 would probably not be missed too much, Bert & Ernie would reclaim some space as well.

 

Well, you couldn't use them all at the same time. They all occupy the same memory area, >2000 to >3FFF. You'd have to use them one-at-a-time. I'd also have to come up with some heroic code to see if any one of them was loaded before shutting down the one that was loaded and loading another one without quitting to the title screen.

 

Gazoo

[RXB]

Actually this can be done easy using the SAMS.

 

RXB version 2001 had a demo that loaded and ran a RXB program with many Assembly Programs from lower 8K.

 

Using RXB CALL AMSBANK(lower4k,upper4k) this RXB program loaded and ran:

 

XBPLOT, WXB (Windy XB), DM4, STAR, SORT, Reference, Neat List, XB Detective, Soft Keys, TSHELL, Librarian, and XBRAMDISK.

 

 

So the one Assembly program that would not work is TML (The Missing Link) as it changes VDP memory and pointers so it is only compatible with TML only.

TML would require the program to reset pointers and VDP memory before switch or again when coming back. (Other XB support does not have this problem)

Edited April 14, 2015 by RXB

[senior_falcon]

So the one Assembly program that would not work is TML (The Missing Link) as it changes VDP memory and pointers so it is only compatible with TML only.

TML would require the program to reset pointers and VDP memory before switch or again when coming back. (Other XB support does not have this problem)

Don't get your hopes up too much about XB256 working with SAMS. Not saying it won't work, but it does use the same VDP memory tricks used by TML, so if TML doesn't work then XB256 is not likely to work. And despite the similarities, there ain't no way you're gonna get TML and XB256 to coexist - one uses bitmapped mode; the other is in graphics mode.

In my FWIW department, there is a way to embed assembly code in XB code in high memory and run it without moving to low memory. So if you had the source code for these extensions you could embed some of them in high memory along with your program. See the TML package for more details.

[Gazoo]

Don't get your hopes up too much about XB256 working with SAMS. Not saying it won't work, but it does use the same VDP memory tricks used by TML, so if TML doesn't work then XB256 is not likely to work. And despite the similarities, there ain't no way you're gonna get TML and XB256 to coexist - one uses bitmapped mode; the other is in graphics mode.

In my FWIW department, there is a way to embed assembly code in XB code in high memory and run it without moving to low memory. So if you had the source code for these extensions you could embed some of them in high memory along with your program. See the TML package for more details.

 

It's not too bad getting TML and XB256 embedded in XB and getting them started, it's undoing what they did to start up that's the tricky part. XXB is simple because it just loads in low memory and sits there without affecting anything else. To undo TML or XB256 it would probably be necessary to do a DSRLNK to run the the disk controller's power up code so as to repair the VDP buffers, run some of the XB startup code to load character sets, and shut off the interrupt by zeroing out the word at >83C4. It might be necessary to do another thing or 2, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

 

Gazoo