Vorticon

I'm going to post it with the next update of the gameshelf. Too bad there is no author known... Thanks for saving it from oblivion! Who knows? The author may stumble across it someday and step up. It has already happened many times since the gameshelf site was launched.

There are quite a few issues, but they are really interesting. It'll take me a while to wade through all of them.

Ah hah! Now that makes senses. Any idea where the XB addresses are listed? Smart Programmer found on WHT has them -- I'd scan the page but I don't have access to them right now. Good thing Wills brought those up -- I had forgotten about those stupid EQUate requirements! DOH! Found them in the March 84 issue. Thanks! One problem though: CALL INIT does not load GPLLNK or DSRLNK... Bummer...

You are a persistent fellow aren't you

Ah hah! Now that makes senses. Any idea where the XB addresses are listed?

Oh that! Yes I did I actually have this fact highlighted next the the VR1 entry in my EA manual...

That's what I thought... Yes, I did get it to load from BASIC, but what I really need is a load from XB so I can create an autoload menu. So far no dice there. I think Tim is right about GPLLNK needing to be loaded independently, and that's not going to work for me. This would have been a great problem to tackle at the pre-Faire get-together Between you, Tim and Marc, I had some of the best coders around!

Did you set the magic address in the scratch pad so that any key presses don't muck up your VDP register ? This trips me up all the time... What is the magic address??? Maybe I know it by another name

Forgive my ignorance, but why are interrupts important here? How do they affect the loading of the code?

When's the deadline again?

I tried loading the compressed object code from TI Basic with the E/A cart plugged in, and I did not get any errors, and the screen cleared up and the background was black as intended, but then it started randomly filling up with characters. It looked as if the bitmap mode never kicked in, and the SIT was being written to randomly. My program sets the SIT at VDP address 0 for >1800 bytes, which obviously overlaps the graphics mode default SIT (>800 I believe). Does any of this shed any light?

I did assemble using the RC options. I'll see if not using C makes any difference. If it is a GPLLNK issue, then that's the end of it... How big is 22 sectors?

Here it is: ***************************** DEF START REF VWTR,VSBW,VMBW,VSBR,VMBR,XMLLNK REF GPLLNK,KSCAN GPLSTS EQU >837C KEYADR EQU >8374 KEY EQU >8375 FAC EQU >834A * FLOATING POINT ACCUMULATOR ARG EQU >835C * FLOATING POINT ARGUMENT STACK EQU >836E * POINTER TO VDP RAM SUBRTN BSS 2 * SUBROUTINE RETURN ADDRESS FPZL1 BSS 8 FPZL2 BSS 8 FPTMP1 BSS 8 FPTMP2 BSS 8 FPTMP3 BSS 8 SAVLOC DATA >B000,>C800,>E000 GXDAT DATA 0,0,0 GYDAT DATA 0,0,0 GX DATA 0 GY DATA 0 ZX0 DATA 0 ZY0 DATA 0 ZX1 DATA 0 ZY1 DATA 0 SPRTY DATA >5300 * INITIAL WINDOW Y COORDINATE M DATA >8040,>2010,>0804,>0201 WFLAG DATA >0000 * WINDOW FLAG PFLAG DATA >0000 * CALCULATIONS PROGRESS FLAG ZFLAG DATA >0000 * ZOOM FLAG ZFLAG1 DATA >0000 * ZOOM LEVEL 2 FLAG EFLAG DATA >0000 * ENTER KEY FLAG ZLEVEL DATA >0000 * ZOOM LEVEL COUNT1 DATA >0000 * CALCULATIONS ITERATIONS ONE DATA >0001 TWO DATA >0002 DEC3 DATA >0003 ASCW BYTE >57 * ASCII W ASCE BYTE >45 * ASCII E ASCX BYTE >58 * ASCII X ASCS BYTE >53 * ASCII S ASCD BYTE >44 * ASCII D ASCB BYTE >42 * ASCII B ASCF BYTE >46 * ASCII F ASCQ BYTE >51 * ASCII Q ENTER BYTE >0D * <ENTER> KEY SPACE BYTE >20 * <SPACE> KEY ANYKEY BYTE >20 P BYTE >3F,>28,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 0.4 - INITIAL VALUE R BYTE >40,>02,>32,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 2.5 - INITIAL VALUE FP1 BYTE >40,>01,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 1.0 FP170 BYTE >41,>01,>46,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 170.0 FP191 BYTE >41,>01,>5B,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 191.0 FCONST BYTE >40,>02,>32,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 2.5 FCNST BYTE >3F,>28,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 0.4 FCNST1 BYTE >3F,>0A,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 0.1 COEF BYTE >3E,>01,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 0.0001 - INITIAL VALUE NEGONE BYTE >BF,>FF,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * -1.0 THREE BYTE >40,>03,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 3.0 FOUR BYTE >40,>04,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 4.0 FP10 BYTE >40,>0A,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 10.0 FP64 BYTE >40,>40,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00,>00 * 64.0 TITLE TEXT 'Chaos Demonstration - Logistic Equation' CREDIT TEXT 'By Walid Maalouli - October 2010' PRESSK TEXT 'Press Space Key To Continue' EVEN START LI R0,>0200 I'm not using any AORGs. Any hints?

Hi. I am trying to create an XB loader for my chaos programs for ease of use, but I have never done this before. I have 3 object code programs that I want to run from a menu, so I tried a little test from XB to load one of them, and I kept getting a syntax error on line 20 10 CALL INIT 20 CALL LOAD("DSK1.LOGISTIC") 30 CALL LINK("START") The Logistic program uses the full bitmap screen as well as the usual VDP utilities (VSBW etc... along with GPLLNK , XMLLNK and KSCAN). The program entry label is START. Where is the issue here?

Damn it Owen! Like I need more distractions! How in heaven's name am I supposed to sit that one out??? If I have nothing to show for next year's Faire, that would be your fault

I'm also in for one.

Damn that sounds familiar For me, the most common error is forgetting that byte operations are done on the most significant byte of a word. My palm is still imprinted on my forehead. Have to go: I'm playing Orbiter on my Pcjr and I have to begin the deorbit procedure!

"Rest In Peace Johann Sebastian Bach" (year of death). Ahhh! You read the book! if not, well chapeau bas!

I keep hearing about how slow the internal VDP routines are, but quite honestly they fit the bill for the vast majority of the time for most projects. I suggest you stick with them until you hit an unacceptable performance point. Test your program with them, and if you are happy then everything is cool. Otherwise, replace them (not too hard to do). I know the purists here are probably pulling their hair out by now and clamoring for my lynching, but I am a simple guy that does not need to complicate his life unnecessarily As far as commenting, trust me when I say that you cannot comment enough! Since comments do not take any memory space after compilation, go wild! I tend to comment almost every line because I can't understand my own code a couple of days later Interesting trivia: In the late 1950's, the legendary MIT hacker Peter Samson was notorious for not commenting his code with ONE exception: In one well distributed program running for hundreds of lines, there was only one comment next to an instruction containing the number 1750. The comment was RIPJSB. Can you figure it out? (source: Hackers by Steven Levy. Amazing book if you have never read it).

I like it. I will try not to be item #8 on the presentation schedule next year One question though: what if we have more than 8 presentations? Who decides what stays and what gets nixed? Or do we just shorten the presentation time? I personally think that 10-15 minutes should be more than sufficient for most, because further explanations can always be made at the tables later on as Matthew suggested.

I don't recall anyone smoking this year at the AL. I used to get severe migraines, whether induced by the carcinogens or a psychosomatic reaction (my dad smoked), and tend to steer clear of cigs where I can. Now solder smoke OTOH is nearly as pleasing as smelling bacon or coffee in the morning No worries. I'll bring cigars next year

Ditto.

Matthew, you are missing the point of the Friday gathering all together. The primary objective is fellowship with fellow TIers you have not seen in at least a year, and usually some shop trickles through. It was never intended as a Faire event but rather a tradition. And yes you are right, I did eventually join you at the hotel and enjoyed the technical discussion very much, but not before I also caught up with my old friends and exchanged shady jokes and caught up on life in general over a few beers and pizza. Over time, these people grow on you, and you will start looking forward to spending some quality time with them even if no TI stuff is ever discussed. Maybe you will get there some day, or maybe not, and it's simply a different outlook, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And guess what, I'm actually already looking forward to seeing you and Marc and Mike and Tim again next year

All great things Matthew. However, you need to also consider other people's needs. Not everybody is into hardware like you are, and some enjoy just reminiscing about the good old days, and that's OK too... I will talk to Hal about all that is being suggested here and I'm positive he will be all ears. After all, if he is not receptive, then the future of the Faire might be compromised... Walid

Hmmmmmm......I didn't see that anywhere Walid. Here's the direct quote. "If Hal is not interested in changing anything, then like the A.A. forums, we will have to do our own thing."