RedBeard

Okay, folks, I'm totally confused. (yeah, yeah, "again? you ask) Help, please... Last night I set up the bB / Stella / Crimson editor. Today I copied and pasted the code from lesson 12 in SeaGtGruff's Atari Programming Workshop into Crimson. When I Ctrl+2 (>tools >compile bb program) I get this error: Unrecognized Character ";" and Unrecognized Keyword: 6502. So somewhere in the "can you help me with assembly programming" thread I found that bB want assembly to be between "asm" (indented) and "end". When I do that I get this: Unresolved Symbol List [CR/LF] scoretable 0000 ???? ® [CR/LF] Fatal Assembly Error: Source Is Not Resolvable. Then the Stella just give me a blinky but blank screen with constant high pitched beeping. ><>RedBeard /* It appears to compile and work with the command line DASM and all that (Yay!), but I was hoping to eliminate some of those extra steps like launching a COMMAND window and "cd .." ing over to C:AtariVCS etc. */ processor 6502 include "vcs.h" include "macro.h" ;------------------------------------------------------------ SEG ORG $F000 Reset ; Clear RAM and all TIA registers ldx #0 lda #0 Clear sta 0,x inx bne Clear StartOfFrame ; Start of vertical blank processing lda #0 sta VBLANK lda #2 sta VSYNC sta WSYNC sta WSYNC sta WSYNC ; 3 scanlines of VSYNC signal lda #0 sta VSYNC ; 37 scanlines of vertical blank... ldx #0 VerticalBlank sta WSYNC inx cpx #37 bne VerticalBlank ; 192 scanlines of picture... ldx #0 Picture SLEEP 20 ; adjust as required! inx stx COLUBK SLEEP 2 ; adjust as required! txa eor #$FF sta COLUBK sta WSYNC cpx #192 bne Picture lda #%01000010 sta VBLANK ; end of screen - enter blanking ; 30 scanlines of overscan... ldx #0 Overscan sta WSYNC inx cpx #30 bne Overscan jmp StartOfFrame ;------------------------------------------------------------ ORG $FFFA InterruptVectors .word Reset ; NMI .word Reset ; RESET .word Reset ; IRQ END

I sure am glad the bB folks are still here. I just finished downloading and installing the bB v1 about 30 minutes ago as per the bataribasic_dot_com web site. I think I tried the earlier version (V .34?) a while back because it's on my C: drive. Obviously, I moved on to something else (moving / changing jobs etc.) because I still have no program to show. I noticed that using bB and Crimson I can write in ASM, so I think I'm going to use that combination and go the regular (non-basic) way. After I see what's going on in assembly as normal, maybe then try out many of the BASIC features. First things first (otherwise they'd be second or something), I'd like to get myself a "hello world" / working kernel going. Baby steps, don't you know. ><>RedBeard /* Okay, I'm off to the '2600 Programming For Newbies' forum */

That's great! You know what they say, all publicity (even bad publicity) is good publicity. ><>RedBeard /* We wonders, my precious, if the movie is aimed squarely at the 40-year-old-ish male audience. Hmm. */

Hey, all, sorry about the topic title. I thought it was funny, buy now I realize it says nothing about CP/M geekery. Anyhow, I hope that I'm not the only one who appreciates this. Enjoy.

For a little bit of old-timer nerdidity, look at this: I ran across this website the other day: http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/archive/unofficial/ and see what I found. Source code from Gary Kildall for the CP/M operating system! "... /* C P / M B A S I C I / O S Y S T E M (B I O S) COPYRIGHT © GARY A. KILDALL JUNE, 1975 */ DECLARE CONSOLE LITERALLY '00$00$10$00B'; /* READER IS OCT CHANNEL A. */ DECLARE ECHO BYTE INITIAL (0FFH); /* ECHO CALL NO. 1. SEE CALL 30 */ DISKMON: PROCEDURE(FUNC,INFO) ADDRESS; DECLARE FUNC BYTE, LINFO BYTE, /* LOW ORDER INFO */ INFO ADDRESS, ARET ADDRESS, RET BYTE; /* FUNC IS THE DISK MONITOR FUNCTION NUMBER AS SHOWN BELOW: 0: SYSTEM RESET 1: READ CONSOLE DEVICE 2: WRITE CONSOLE DEVICE 3: READ OCTOPUS 4: WRITE OCTOPUS 5: WRITE LIST DEVICE 6: INTERROGATE MEMORY SIZE 7: INTERROGATE DEVICE STATUS ..." Is that cool or what?

I don't mean to duplicate anything from the above posts, but don't miss atariarchives.com where they have ~Machine Language for Beginners and ~Assembly Language Programming for the Atari Computers ...among others. ><>RedBeard /* It seems that I cannot log in or post messages in the low-fi version. I am on my ipaq right now so I hope that I'm just missing something. Any help? */ /* Edited for spelling/clarity -RB */

It's funny that you brought that up about Activision. The fact is, programmers still aren't household names (like, say, film makers are), so nothing has changed there. However, Activision is one of the very few companies to have survived. Today's kids (my son, for example) don't know who/what HSWWSH is, but they know that Activision brings them skate boarding and guitar playing games. /* Who would have thought that Infocom would disappear? Are you kidding me? */

Hey, Pastor, good luck on your quest. I cannot, sorry to say, help you with the software you seek. However I have had a similar idea just lately. I'm thinking of starting a small business just for personal growth and satisfaction at first. The money shall follow if I do it right. So I was thinking about using my /|\ Atari Mega STe for all of the back end stuph like billing and letter writing. I still have Calligrapher and Phasar and other fully licensed software not to mention the hardware. Obviously, I'll need the modern computers for other things (like visiting Atari Age dot Com). I'd like to know, though, that the old 16 bit machines can still be useful to run a business. Let us know the progress along the way. <>< RedBeard

Regarding Jack Tramiel admitting to ruining Atari /|\ at the C=64 anniversary: The video is about 90 minutes long. The comment was an off - the - cuff joke. Everyone laughed. (At least I THOUGHT it was a joke.) They were discussing who / what was going on at the time (leaving Commodore, joining the rival, doing business against your former company...) it was a short part. That's about it. The whole thing was rather boring to tell the truth. This was only good for a little memory trip and it wasn't as interesting as some of the chat around here. That's for sure. The Q&A session at the end was laughable and lame. <>< RedBeard P.S. Now the video of an acutal XEROX / PARC machine running and how it worked! Now that was interesting!

By the way, can I still get the busy bee icons (for Windows Vista)? I know I had them on an old Win 98 machine. <>< RedBeard

Wow! What a long thread! (I must admit to skipping some posts. Shame. Shame.) Okay, here's by brilliant idea. Possibly worth > $0.02. We all like the idea of a new (- yet clasic) Atari computer. So far, no problem. The decision is whether or not to go the PURIST route. This means all original hardware to the extent possible. Well, as I see it, the purists need to stick to original hardware then. By definition the second that you add a RAM upgrade or an IDE HD you have a non - pure Atari. I understand that the chips are still original, but it's still a bit of a Frankenstein's Monster situation. If you could still sell Atari hardware, wouldn't the Medusa / Hades (Falcon) 68040 still be selling? Alas, I am not a purist, just practical, so I say make it new and fast. This and other classic systems live on in emulation and will continue to. It may not be a perfect situation, but it's okay. Much better than gone and forgotten. The point for me is that the system be remembered and used. Wouldn't it be nice if one or two generations from now the name Atari is still recognized? How many 10 year olds recognize the name Nintendo? How about the name Atari? So we (I?) take over the One Laptop Per Child organization. (Right after I win the powerball lottery.) Then we rebrand all of the units with the fuji /|\. When kids all around the world hold the Option key while booting, they will launch Atari 800 XL emulation. Atari will live on. In reality, check the sales of the Atari Flashback items. These were mass produced and sitting on store shelves (around the world?) for under $50. Selling to people who remember the VCS. A new Atari computer would be lucky to sell 10% of that many items. Someone said you'd be lucky to sell 50 or so because it would only be Atari Nerds like me who are even remotely interested. (Even then it would have to be a good price.) However to have a new machine that will do modern things AND LAUNCH AN OLD CLASSIC HOME & GAMING SYSTEM might make many sales. How does a $200 notebook sound? Terrific. And if it runs Atari 8 bit programs is sounds even better! Whoever said the OLPC project is similar to what we felt in those early days was on to something. <>< Redbeard

Yeah. Sadly, I guess we are what remains of the once - great. You know, I saw on youtube a video of the 25th anniversary of the C=64. There was a panel discussion and such, it was okay, not too exciting. Anyhow, Jack Tramiel was one of the panelists. During one part they were talking about Atari and Jack said something like "Oh, my purpose with Atari was to destroy it. As you can see, I did a fine job." We wonders, My Precious and I, if there's a measure of truth in that statement. I can't imagine a businessman purposefully ruining his own company; doesn't make sense. But it would explain a few of the bad decisions. <>< RedBeard P.S. I'm still a fan of the ST line. I own a 520 ST and Mega STE. Some day I'd like to add a Falcon and Stacy.

It sounds interesting. A few questions, though if I may. A) Is it going to be similar to Wikipedia? Each item (or topic) gets its own page et cetera? 2) Are you sure the community needs another atari website? I'm not trying to be rude. But, honestly, isn't this information "out there" already? Or are you just trying to gather it ALL into ONE area? Lastly) Are you sure you don't want to open up the registration sooner rather than later? To restrict it to known Atari users may work against it. The beauty of wikipedia is that everyone gets to write it. If someone is wrong or misbehaving, anyone can correct them. <>< RedBeard

It seems to me that Atari went backwards a few too many times. The VCS was getting long in the tooth; technology moves fast and it was already several years old. The 5200 was a decent follow - up, but with joystick issues and non - VCS compatibility (out of the box, no extra $), it was doomed. So they're working on the 7800, right? Getting near something decent and modern. But then canned it (only to release it far too late), after giving up the market to Nintendo. Speaking of Nintendo, Atari had the opportunity to BE the name on that system, too... they were offered the distribution to the NES (nee Famicom) and passed it up! Okay, they were too busy making a go of the XL lineup, trying to be a computer company, perhaps. Again, no. Eight bit was on the way out, people knew it. They made the kind of poor decisions as outlined above. Just no way to compete against C=64 by that time. They decided to concentrate on the 16 bit side, but they had the Amiga chipset in hand and let that go. Well, at least they made the ST line well. So the ST was selling across the pond and in the music industry (including Donny Osmond!), they could have continued to capitalize on that. So they made the Falcon, good start. Then did they immediately place it in a Box & External Keyboard professional edition for power users / DTP? No. But surely they made a portable version to continue the MIDI and music scene market share... Well, sadly, no. At a time when they could have concentrated on the computer side, they dropped all that to concentrate on a video game machine again! Aaargh! I love the Jaguar, okay, but it was the wrong decision. Businesses can survive a couple bad moves. But constant bad moves, they can not. The market (especially technology) will eat them up. <>< RedBeard P.S. Just to show that the bad decisions weren't all used up, even the disk drive manufacturer they were sold too was lame, some third rate nonsense. Oy.

Rybags, just after I added to my post, I found you have already replied. I' m going to have to learn to log out or shut down or at least refresh the browswer more often! :-) I think I will try to set up a dard drive, they're bigger faster ect., that's why they were invented, of course. I just keep having problems getting one or more items to work together. If I have BASIC, I can't save, If I have the MYDOS onscreen, I can't "go program something". I'm sure there is something I'm missing...let's face it, for me it is usually Operator Error. Or maybe just too much time since I last used an 8-bit machine! It's as if I'm so comfortable with MAC and WIN that I can't seem to think things the 8-bit way, or something. Anyhow, thanks in advance... ><> RedBeard

Rybags, thanks again! I will try it, but (he says, stupidly) I'm afraid you may be going past me already. I did copy a known disk image (maybe: DOS SO-AND-SO) formatted it and now I still can not write on it... I am trying to use it as just-another floppy disk. Forgive me, but I'm SO new to all of this... ><> RedBeard P.S. ADDENDUM: I'm trying to get the (previously posted) MAC/65 cartridge to run now and it refuses. The emulator (winplus) keeps telling me to try changing the machine or the BASIC, but I can't find the right combination. Can someone tell me what settings/roms/disks/etc. that I would need to "use" the MAC/65 cart with an 800 or XL and a disk drive for storage? Is it easier to try setting up 3-4 disk drives instead of a cartridge?

2600land, it looks like, from what I can gather, that moving each sprite is possible, but we will have to wait for the rest of the tutorial. I've only just started to learn (research?) the 2600 and the 6502. I hope to get somewhere soon. I am hoping that batariBASIC can help me get there. By the way, what is the TI-84? Is that before or after the 99/4a? I know a guy (who knows a guy who knew a dude who might have known a person) who was 'seriously' into the TI99/4A. ><> RedBeard

SeaGtGruff: 1) Please tell me how do you pronounce SeaGtGruff? Is it "see - gt - gruf" or "see - seargeant - gruf' or "seaagut - grif" or what? (Is it a play on seargent? You're military? (y: I salute you, n: maybe we should join...)) or maybe "goat" implications? a'la' Jeff "Yak" Minter? Just wondering... B) Please, please, please, keep up the tutorials! Seriously, even if they're half-a-tutorial at a time, just do it, please. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know. I type, maybe, ten words a minute. I know a (tiny) bit of JAVA programming. Just let me know... ><> RedBeard P.S. I really do want to (finally) program a VCS game...

Gury: I don't have 'two cents' of opinion on this, but here is one cent: I was just reading (over at Atari - Archives - Dot - Org that even some COMPILED BASICs still don't run as fast as Assembly. The reason had something to do with storing "all the possibe combinations" into memory...or something... I think it (the book) was Assembly Language Programming for Atari 6502...something...something... I'm just saying, maybe you should consider Assembler. ><> RedBeard

Oh, thank you, Atarimac! Wow! That's one of those strange 'duh' moments isnt' it?! You were absolutely right! Nice Call! Okay, just by chance, can you figure out my many other problems? :-) I guess what I need next is (maybe it isn't possible?) a pretend disk in the drive D1 or D2 that I would never have to change. Can I save/load as many lists or binaries as I want? If not, how can I "invent" a new disk and format it and use it, etc.? Is there an 8-bit pretend "hard drive" that might work? Really, I don't care which emulator I use, at least until I buy another XEGS... What I'd like is one that will pretend to be that 8-bit that I never should have sold. I'm doing my darndest to work through some old books (mostly BASIC) and then Assembly. I hope to be able to say "Yeah, I programmed a few 6502 - Atari games in Assembly language," just because I "always wanted to." (Am I giving away my age?) For that matter, I would still like to skateboard a halfpipe! Oh! I'm laughing at myself! Who was it that said "youth is wasted on the young?" ><> RedBeard P.S. Another 'duh' moment: I realized I had the sound turned off of the Darek M. "2000" emu.!

Ruffsta, over at Atari-Archives-Dot-Org there are many books about assembly language/machine language programming. I'm in the middle of one or two right now, still trying to figure out how and gather all the tools and such right now. I am also looking at the batariBASIC option here, too. So far I only see two 'how to' articles about it, but it looks promising... ><> RedBeard

Thanks. I've a new problem. One emulator (the Darek Mihoca one (xf2000?)) works, but I don't get any sound out of it. It's not the end of the world or anything, but I wouldn't pay money for it (if it couldn't be fixed). Then the Atari800WinPlus 4.0 looks and sound good but it won't recognize the L key. Or the ,.<> keys... Which pretty much make LIST impossible. What to do? What to do? ><> RedBeard P.S. How about: get an 800XL and a small TV? :-)

Howdy, all. Forgive me if I'm in the wrong spot, please. I recently d/l'ed a couple of 800 emulators (running Toshiba laptop - WinXP) and would really like to start learning Assembler. The only (non BASIC programming) thing I've been able to do is play a Donkey Kong cart ROM. What I was hoping is to use the information here and at Atari-Archive-Dot-Org to learn it. Is this possible, in particular can I "pretend" there is a disk drive (or tape) to save the info? (I refuse to make BASIC programs more that 20 lines or so, because I don't want to lose them.) Do various emulators behave well with Assembly? Can I have (if I find/purchase the ROM) the Assembler Cartridge and a storage medium? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm so excited to do things I should have (wanted to...including Atari 2600 programming) done in 198*... -RedBeard

L.C., you've come to the right place... There are tool and tutorials, helpful folks and idiots like me to cheer you on! :-)

Hey! Are you people reading this at work?! On the clock?! for shame... Now, back to work...