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I'd been looking for one of these machines for years, and finally found one that checked all the boxes: Sorcerer II, 48k RAM, everything works, non-insane price--and I got it in its original box! I also found someone willing to sell me their spare BASIC ROM-Pac, which also works! I need to open the machine up and start replacing capacitors, but for now I think I'll just putter around with it for a couple of days.
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The vast majority of the systems in the late 70s and early 80s were built around these 8-bit CPUs. Could anyone with programming or engineering experience from that era chime in with what some of the advantages and disadvantages or each chip were? Which do you think was better? For computing? For gaming? Here's a quick list that I can think of. Please correct me where I'm wrong and add your own that I've missed. Z80: Adam/ColecoVision Sega SG-1000 Sega Master System MSX most early arcade games Game Boy Game Gear Astrocade (Also listed as a coprocessor on many 16-bit arcades/consoles) 6502: Atari 2600 Atari 8-bit computers/5200 Apple II NES/Famicom Atari Lynx Commodore 64 PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16/Duo/Express The Commodore 128 was unique in that it had both a Z80 and a 6502. And what ever happened to Zilong and MOS? Why were they never able to translate their success in the 8-bit market over into the 16-bit market and beyond?
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Today I came across a really nice Z80 Reference app on the iOS App Store of all places. It includes a complete guide to the Z80 instruction set and even includes some sample code for each instruction. All for the low price of $0.00. ? Thought it might be useful to some folks here. Z80 Reference app for iOS
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To everyone who codes with z80 assembly I would like to point to this incredible project https://github.com/santiontanon/mdlz80optimizer The java program above analyze your z80 sources suggesting improvements able to save bytes and/or cycles It supports many assemblers natively and it is able to recognize hundreds of patterns to optimize....
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I've aquired a extra boxed VG5000. This is slightly less common Schneider version (white instead of Philips black model) boxed with power supply and controller interface. I have a video cable I can throw in as well but its flaky. (A new cable is only like $15 on eBay) To use this in the US you'll need a 220v to 110v converter and a Scart to HDMI adapter. I also have a couple loose game tapes I'll send along. You can use any Cassette deck just needs a MSX compatible cable. $100 + shipping
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The Wikipedia page about the 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System claims it was particularly difficult to program: It made me curious. Did nearly every other processor and microcontroller back in the 1970's default to opcode $00 equals NOP? So far I have found the following: Zilog Z80 and Intel 8080: $00 = NOP (No Operation) Intel 8048 : $00 = NOP (No Operation) RCA 1802: $00 = IDL (Idle) So far, so good. But how about the others? MOS 6502: $00 = BRK (Break, causes an interrupt) GI CP-1610: $0000 = HLT (Halt, not sure what it does but likely not NOP) Motorola 6809: $00 = NEG $nn (not entirely sure about this syntax, but at least NEG) Signetics 2650: $00 = Branch to address in immediate register B (per the Wikipedia article) I failed to look up what the TMS-9900 and the Fairchild F8 do with opcode $00 or $0000. It seems that Motorola 6801/03 doesn't define $00 at all. Likely I have missed some relevant processors and microcontrollers of the time, but it seems like the article describes how a programmer used to Intel or Zilog would be confused about the Signetics. Programmers used to MOS, GI or Motorola may have been confused too, but at least not expecting NOP. Now machine code programming has far more interesting challenges than which instruction equals which value when encoded as binary/hex/decimal data, I would think that works out rather quickly, in particular if you were able to have a cross assembler on some mini computer or similar when developing software for the 1292 APVS series.
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Howdy all... recently was gifted a sweet Mattel Aquarius. What a sweet little Z80 computer. Having never used one before I decided to create a video of my using one for the 1st time. Hope you enjoy! https://youtu.be/4yzHlVO2Bzo I look forward to learning more here in the groups. TJ
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Not sure if anyone here has the knowledge to have a discussion on a technical level concerning the MSX standard. But I have a few questions concerning the various slot signals. 1) I see very few references to the SW1 & SW2 signals, other than they should be connected together on the cartridge pcb. However, no mention of where they go, or what they do. I'm assuming that there is some bit in some register set or reset. But I can't find any reference to it. Anyone have any idea? 2) As far as CS1, CS2, and CS12, I am assuming that these three select lines function independent of individual slots? I.e., they should be active on all slots at the same time, and not gated to specific slots? 3) SLTSL seems fairly easy to generate. My understanding is that the register A8h provides the 2-bit slot number for pages 0-3 of the 64k of memory. So I should be able to use a 1-to-4 decode on A15 & A14 to create my page select lines, and then just gate them properly with the A8h register to have the possible outcomes. (Been working on a truth table, but it going to be fairly extensive. This could probably be implemented with a fairly fast EEPROM for the logic). I understand how the decode works I think. I just want to verify I am not missing anything here. Any traps for noobs? If you're wanting more information as to the scope of what I'm doing, I am designing an expansion adapter for my MSX1 to open up Slots 2 & 3, possibly decoding one to the 4 secondary slots.
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On March 26, 2018, I posted the following message to the BallyAlley Yahoo group: Is anyone interested in having a programming contest for the Astrocade? My ideas: 1) Program in machine language or BASIC 2) Short programs for a start 3) Program of any kind (game, demo, music, video art, etc). 4) Prize? I've no idea. Does anyone want to give this a go? Adam ----------------- David Dibbern responded with: My skills were fair back in The day, but I would be interested in a retro port contest. A contest to make any retro arcade game that was not already done for the Bally, ported over . I would even pay pal $10 for starting a prize fund for this. We could get some cool retro games that we wanted to see ported but didn’t ever make it to the Astrocade Thanks- Dave ----------------- Thomas Burtell said: This would be very interesting! Programming has changed so much over the years and we all have gotten better. I'm focusing on other stuff right now, but I'd definitely like to see this Bally-battle. It's like what they do on StackExchange with "Code Golf". You have to write the tightest code with the minimal of resources. ... back to lurking. ----------------- Is anyone here on AtariAge interested in a programming contest for the Astrocade, either in BASIC or machine language? Adam
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I added an in-progress Z80 disassembly of Gorf to BallyAlley.com. You can download it here: http://www.ballyalley.com/ml/ml_source/ml_source.html#GorfArcadeDisassembly Here are some additional details about the game: Gorf, is a fixed space shooter arcade game with five different screens. Jay Fenton designed and programmed Gorf for DNA (Dave Nutting Associates). It was published by Midway in 1981. Like Wizard of War, The Adventures of Robby Roto! (and others), Gorf uses what has been dubbed the "astrocade chipset". In 2018, Jamie Fenton (formally Jay Fenton) donated documentation and hardware items to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. This included Gorf source code and other documentation related to the game. Gorf was not written in machine language, it was written in a Forth-like language called TERSE (Terse Efficient Recursive Stack Engine) that was developed at DNA. After the TERSE source code for Gorf became available, David Turner, an avid fan of the game, began to use the game's source code to disassemble Gorf and comment it. Details of his work, as well as his in-progress Z80 disassembly for Gorf is in this archive. In Dave's notes, he refers to TERSE and Gorf related documents which are available at the BitSavers archive, here: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/nuttingAssoc/ In July of 2017, I reviewed the Gorf arcade game: It's great that the recent archiving of the TERSE source code for Gorf is already bearing fruit. Adam
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Howdy, I have some new 8bit systems that I'd like to sell... Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer - 16K Ext BASIC (NEW RF Modulator) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263593550010 TOSHIBA HX-10D 64KB MSX Z80 https://www.ebay.com/itm/263593644655 MSX Computer - Sanyo MPC-10 (Z80) Unit 1: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263593658089 Unit 2: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263593666036 (Both units same model, different serial #) -
DAN2 Lossless Compression by Daniel Bienvenu aka NewColeco A variant of DAN1 Compression Format Based on LZ77 data compression, multiple offset sizes, unary code and elias gamma. The project started after Alekmaul remarks and test data during December 2016. Technical information Three (3) differences compared to DAN1: The set of 4 different sizes to encode offset values becomes { 1, 4, 8, max } where max value is set by the user. The capability to store sequences of literal bytes is removed. The END OF DATA code is 17 bits long instead of 18. The data format changed a little, making it incompatible with the original DAN1 format. The first bits is an unary code to set the maximum of bits for offset values ( 0 = 10 bits, 10 = 11 bits, 110 = 12 bits, etc.) The second byte is the first raw byte to copy as literal. The rest of the data format follows similar to DAN1 specifications, except there is no sequences of literals (RLE) and also the END code is shorter by 1 bit. Comparing DAN1 and DAN2 In term of speed, the compression and decompression are virtually the same speed as DAN1. In term of size, the decompression routine is slightly bigger than DAN1, +7 bytes according to my z80 data compression library. The expected improvement in compression ratio is only due to the possibility to adjust the maximum number of bits to encode offsets. Test samples from Exomizer test1.bin (audio wave file) Original: 202762 ZX7: 223933 DAN1: 204208 (sequences of raw bytes help to not blow up in size) DAN2 -m 16: 216898 Pletter: 221245 MegaLZ: 221136 Aplib aka APPACK: 219793 PUCrunch: N/A test2.bin (text file filled only with the letter q) Original: 196608 ZX7: 19 DAN1: 18 DAN2 -f -m 10: 18 Pletter: N/A *error during compression* MegaLZ: 2510 Aplib aka APPACK: 19 PUCrunch: N/A test3.bin (formatted text file with fields such as name and date) Original: 111261 ZX7: 52035 DAN1: 48103 DAN2 -m 16: 37048 Pletter: 44563 MegaLZ: 47052 Aplib aka APPACK: 37094 PUCrunch: N/A Test samples from Alekmaul Robee Blaster Title (Pattern, Color, and Name version) Original: 2024, 2024 and 768. Total 4816 ZX7: 970, 790 and 383. Total 2143 DAN1: 965, 793 and 385. Total 2143 DAN2 m -10: 947, 784 and 385. Total 2116 Pletter: 957, 787 and 385. Total 2129 MegaLZ: 972, 806 and 384. Total 2162 Aplib aka APPACK: 986, 806 and 384. Total 2176 PUCrunch -d -c0 -s: 940, 772 and 373. Total 2085 Robee Blaster Title (Pattern and Color only version) Original: 6144 and 6144. Total 12288 ZX7: 1257 and 793. Total 2049 DAN1: 1248 and 799. Total 2047 DAN2 -m 11: 1233 and 791. Total 2024 Pletter: 1259 and 795. Total 2054 MegaLZ: 1269 and 832. Total 2101 Aplib ka APPACK: 1273 and 825. Total 2098 PUCrunch -d -c0 -s: 1235 and 770. Total 2005 Test Sample Bitmap Graphic II Download DAN2 (EXE, SRC, ASM) version BETA-20170106 : dan2-beta-20170106.zip Change Log for version BETA-20170106: increased up to 16 bits max offset size value fixed bug with default max bits fixed bug occurring with test2.bin sample DAN2 (EXE, SRC, ASM) version BETA-20170101 : dan2-beta-20170101.zip * BUG FOUND , PLEASE DOWNLOAD NEWER VERSION *
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I have several Japanese computers for sale. All tested and working and shipping from America. TOSHIBA HX-10D 64KB MSX Z80 + games & joysticks https://www.ebay.com/itm/263514903668 MSX Computer - Casio MX-101 (Z80, TMS-9118) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263520519629 MSX Computer - Sanyo PHC RED (Z80, TMS-9118) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263520549571 Books Epson PC286 Disk BASIC User Manual (NEC PC98, PC9801) - Bought for $50, now $12! https://www.ebay.com/itm/263509383885 Epson PC286 Disk BASIC Reference Manual (NEC PC98, PC9801) - Bought for $50, now $12! https://www.ebay.com/itm/263509443913 NEC PC-8001 N-BASIC vintage computer Programming Manual & Reference Book https://www.ebay.com/itm/263509473047 Games For SEGA SC-3000 8bit Computer SEGA Champion Soccer (SC-3000, SG-1000, Cartridge, Japan, import, futbol) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263509440511 SEGA Champion Golf (SC-3000, SG-1000, Cartridge, Japan, import) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263509445170
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DOWNLOAD ColecoVision SlideShow Sample in 5 formats: SLIDESHOW SAMPLE.ZIP README.TXT Hello everyone, My name is NewColeco and I'm gonna tell you what I've been worked on during the last 3 years. Not everyone is aware that graphics are very difficult to add in our beloved homebrew games, especially within the standard 32K cartridge size. To make things worse, some graphics cannot be compressed at all to keep the action fluid and fast. In order to add great looking bitmap screens and tilesets into our projects, we use data compression. I've been working very hard on lossless data compression for our graphics data. My new compressed formats are named DAN1, DAN2, and DAN3; they work especially well for big graphics like charset and bitmap screens. They are, technically speaking, LZ77 variants and developed based on our graphics need. The ZIP file in the download section contains 5 files of the exact same slideshow sample, the only difference is the data compression format used in each one of them. Information about the Slideshow ROM files: in Pletter - ROM size 27730 bytes. in ZX7 - ROM size 27665 bytes. in DAN1 - ROM size 27094 bytes. in DAN1 without RLE support - ROM size 27078 bytes. in DAN3 - ROM size 26999 bytes. For this slideshow sample, saving about 700 bytes is a big deal; should be enough to add an extra picture without going over 32K. Now you know what I've been working on lately. Question? Thanks for reading!- 3 replies
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Hello, I have a few vintage 8-bit systems from the 80s that were built in Japan for sale. National CF-2000 MSX Computer (aka Panasonic, Very clean inside) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263405997196 Toshiba Pasopia 7 Computer (Was extremely hard to get a hold of) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263406023908 NEC PC-6001 Computer (akak NEC Trel in America) Like the Aussie VZ line, aka Z80 plus Motorola 6847 (ala Color Computer) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263398288115 Epson PC286C - PC Club (286 machine dubbed as 'Amiga killer' ) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263394723135 Should also mention I have some old 80s Japanese manuals as well. NEC PC-8001 N-BASIC Programming Manual & Reference Book https://www.ebay.com/itm/263405784970 101 TRS-80 Color Computer Programming Tips and Tricks (Radio Shack CoCo) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263405958562 Epson-PC286-Disk-BASIC-Reference-Manual-PC-Club-NEC-PC98-Japanese https://www.ebay.com/itm/263405686054 Epson PC286 Disk BASIC User Manual (PC Club, NEC PC98, Japanese) https://www.ebay.com/itm/263405678212 Last but not least, I have LOTs of MSX computer platform games from the 80s. https://www.ebay.com/sch/colorcomputerstore/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
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Here's a system you don't see everyday on eBay... Selling my Japanese NEC PC6001 computer. This machine was released in the states as NEC Trek. It has a Z80 and Motorola 6847 video chip (like the TRS-80 Color Computer). The sound is via a General Instruments. Comes in the original box. http://r.ebay.com/Gfj6l0
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This next section is a big one. Wouldn't it be great if you could test code as you programmed it? Well that's where Code-As-You-Go comes into play. The mode can be accessed with a dedicated button on a keyboard. It's labeled "CAYG." Take a look at this: That's the code as you go screen. On the panel at the right, you can enter the data you want to test. On the upper right of the screen is the address that the code will assemble to. In this example, the written code will compile at address $001404. You could instead have it display which line of the source code the code will go in. First, give the subroutine a name. In this example, we have a routine called "TetrisLFSR." This will be a Motorola 68000 version of the NES Tetris RNG routine. The NES version of Tetris iterates its RNG (a 16-bit LFSR) in the following manner: Set the output bit to the XOR of bits 1 and 9, and right-shift that input into the RNG. We will replicate this routine as we enter the code. For this test, enter the input in d0. We need to enter a 16-bit value. Using a mouse, click on the fourth-to-last digit of the d0 register, then type "7259." The digit highlighted in green is the cursor. Note that the register values are displayed in hexadecimal. If you enter an invalid hexadecimal digit, nothing happens. When you enter the last digit, the cursor stays there. (If it were an A-register, the cursor would be red.) Now, time for the first instruction. Type "move.b", tab, then "d0,d2", and hit Enter (if you hit Space, it will tab for you). When you press Enter, the last line of code you wrote is automatically executed in the CAYG window, and its machine language code appears in the window as well. In M68K assembly, the instruction "move.b d0,d2" is represented by $1400. The screen looks like this: Note that after you typed the code line, that instruction automatically executed. The last byte of d0 is $59, so the last byte of d2 is now also $59. The next two instructions are "move.w d0,d1" and "lsr.w #8,d1". These are necessary to retrieve the upper byte of a 16-bit value in d1. After the second line was typed, d1 became $7259. After the third line, it became $0072. In the machine code box is E049, which is the code for "lsr.w #8,d1." Remember, only the compiled code for the last line you typed appears in the machine code box. Next, we want to take the XOR of bits 1 and 9 of the bytes in d1 and d2. Since 1 and 9 differ by exactly 8, no shifting of either byte is needed. Just XOR the bytes by typing "eor.b d2,d1", then pressing Enter. Register d1 is now equal to $2B, which is the XOR of $72 and $59. It is bit 1 from this value we need to extract and get into the X (extend) flag. To do this, type "lsr.b #2,d1", and press Enter. The value in d1 became $0A. But more importantly, look at the X and C flags. They lit up, so their value is 1. Any flag that is clear appears as white-on-black, while a set flag is indicated by the opposite color scheme. Since the XOR of bits 1 and 9 of our 16-bit value was 1, a 1 will be right-shifted in to get the new RNG value. Here is the last piece of the puzzle. Now that we have our output bit in X (and C), we can use a "roxr" instruction to shift it in. Type "roxr.w #1,d0", and hit Enter. And there you have it. The new RNG value is $B92C. With the ability to see the code execute as you type it, coding will become as easy as pie. You could also toggle register updating off/on, and you could also move your cursor to any line in the code, and press a certain button to step through the code and see the results. After finishing the code, press the CAYG button again. All the code you wrote in the CAYG screen will be placed at the place in the source code you were at when you went to this screen. You can then edit it, delete it, or change it as normal. All in all, the code-as-you-go feature could be a breakthrough for future assemblers. No matter whether it's 6502, M68K, Z80, or anything else, it's the next innovation in coding.
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The interface for a good assembler is just like a text editor, with extra features added to make assembly easier. Take a look at this simulated screenshot, inspired by the Apple ][. This is a multiply routine for the Motorola 68000: There are several things that would make this more of an assembler than a word processor: Under the label "Multiply," there is a blue line stretching across the screen. You could toggle this on or off. Under this line can be shown information about the subroutine (e.g. input/output). Each line of code is indented automatically. The local labels have a period before them, and are not indented. There is a red "+" before the label. Clicking it changes it to a "-" and makes the code disappear. You could click the "-" to make the code reappear. Whether the code is folded or not, it's compiled when requested. When compiled, the branches with the ".s" extension will resolve to a ".b" (8-bit) or ".w" (16-bit) displacement, whichever is the shortest possible. If the extension is left off, assume it to be ".s". That way, you don't have to figure it out yourself. In this example, the screen is 480x360 pixels. Characters are 7 pixels across and 8 pixels down, just like on the Apple ][. In system RAM, this could be handled with one table telling which ASCII character to show (one byte per character), and another table to tell the background/foreground colors for each cell (in each byte, there are 4 bits for background color and 4 bits for background color). By default, the line under labels is enabled, tab width is 8 characters, lines after labels and code automatically indent, and code is not folded. When a mouse is used, the character that the mouse is pointing to is shown in a different color (for example, in the above screen, it would be shown as a white cell with a blue character). Characters would be stored as ASCII. The blue underline is toggled on/off with a control byte, and the tab width is also controlled using a certain byte. You could use any programming language you want, be it 6502, 68K, Z80, BASIC, etc. Regarding the keyboard, there could be additional keys based on what programming language you use. In addition to a regular ASCII keyboard, there could be attachments you could just snap on. For example, a 6502 keyboard attachment might have buttons labeled "LDA," "STA," "CLC," "SEC," "ADC," and "SBC." Next, I'll mention some enhancements you could make to the screen.
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Looks like vdsteenoven.com went over a bandwidth for his image host. Can someone post the various magazines/books related to the Aquarius? i.e. http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/pfuser-vol1.php p.s. If you haven't already, join our Aquarius group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1816932675303748/ Thanks Carlos
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6502 vs Z80: Which do you prefer programming?
BillyHW posted a topic in Classic Computing Discussion
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Hi folks I recently picked up an Amstrad CPC464 to add to my collection (while my first computer was a Atari 65XE, I'd been playing around on someone else's CPC for some time before I got the Atari, so it was that which introduced me to home computing in the first place). However, it's not booting up properly so I'm now off in search of some Amstrad forums for advice on getting it up and running again. In the meantime, though, I was curious as to whether any AtariAgers are using CPCs as well. If so, how are you getting on with them?
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Now that I have a working disk manager, I want to start doing some Coleco ADAM Z80 Assembler for EOS. I've found an online IDE that looks perfect. Does anyone have an INC file that defines all of the entry points to the EOS public functions? Remember, sharing is caring. And BTW, this would be put on the ADAM Wiki for posterities' sake.
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Why did the Game Boy use a Z80 instead of a 6502 like the NES (and the closely related 65816 of the SNES)? Were there any power advantages to the Z80 that would help with battery life? Wouldn't it have made more sense to use a 6502, than they could reuse code and make it easier to port NES games over.
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probably some people here know about this: recently i started to target arcade machines using Boriel's ZX-Basic Compiler - http://www.boriel.com/wiki/en/index.php/ZX_BASIC:Released_Programs#Arcade_Systems - for now, there are only tests there - 10 machines supported up to now, and the idea is to support more 75 - this is part of an experimental research to find out which machines are better appropriate for coding games, experimental stuff, "interactive poetry", etc.
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