LX.NET Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 (edited) Hi everyone, Having acquired an original Handy Development Kit, I spent some serious time investigating and getting acquainted with the original development tooling. I managed to compile the original examples (which was easy enough) and got the .bin converted to .rom, then to .lnx files with encryption added. That was a slightly different route than D Scott Williamson took (as reported in his post http://atariage.com/forums/topic/212245-new-old-lynx-technology-demos-with-source-and-tools/), since I wanted to create rom images that you could put on a real EEPROM and run in the Lynx (either with a Flashcart or by burning a ROM, although strictly speaking you can run .o files on Lynxman's Flashcart with his latest firmware update). The examples were originally intended to be run on the Pinky/Mandy combination. I will manage to do that in about 3 weeks, when I get the Amiga 2000 prepped. The .bin images that the asm assembler tool creates has a "weird" format that cannot be run directly in Handy. So, I took the boot/title screen from the digidemo sample and put it on all the samples, except for the testcart sample, that has its own simple boot screen. Then ran the bin file through the HandyROM utility with custom made .hsf files. Finally added the encrypted header after having changed the boot screen to run at $2400. Some source files needed to be changed, because they would initialize zeropage memory (in the "weird way"). The boot screen is a simple blue screen, so nothing fancy there. I compiled the files as 256KB images to make it trivial to add the encrypted header (not the microloader by wookie, but the hacked Epyx loader). Check them out. Here's a short description of each of the files: Digidemo: experiment with around 5 digitized samples. You might recognize the Klax samples. Mandel: Mandelbrot fractal generator that is also in Chip's Challenge (type MAND as the level code) Testaudio: plays a simple sound effect. Testcart: Loads four different files from the cart and displays the short text that is in them. Demonstration of the cartridge file system Testcontrols: Will crash as it does a HBRK (0x13) that is used in Howard boards to invoke a hard break. Included for completeness. Testhmusic: Plays 4 great tunes (sink2, summer, roadrace and liberty). You really need to listen to this, preferably on a real Lynx. Testhprint: Demonstration of text printing using the HPRINT macros. Testredeye: Shows how to do a logon screen where players can connect in a lobby (like in the retail games, where the lobby is usually the start screen). After that is completed, you can fly little planes across the screen. See pictures. Testsprite2: Some sprite capabilities. Song_sfxall: Made this from one of the music demos. Listen to this! Cool stuff for 1989. The pictures show the testredeye logon screen and the planes (the red and green blurs). Let me know what you think. I never saw these roms, so I thought it would be a nice release. Also, speak up if anyone is interested in the fixed sources and compile instructions. handydevkitsamples.zip Edited January 27, 2014 by LX.NET 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
108 Stars Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Congratulations on acquiring the dev kit, and thanks for sharing the stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX.NET Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Thanks. I will do more writeups on all I have learned and what is all in there. I am also releasing some of the documents that are in there, in scanned and OCR'ed text. The Pinky/Mandy is really cool equipment. I have plans to get it to work with a regular PC instead of an Amiga. Will be near impossible, but at least fun to investigate. There was also some other really, really interesting stuff on the backup disks that were included. Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
108 Stars Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 I'm excited. Also looking forward to hear if you think that the development system with the Amiga still has advantages to the tools used by homebrewers today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Luchs Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Awesome!!!! Well done, bro, well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Wow!! You've been busy! Very interesting stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_afternoon Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Echoing what the others have said, congratulations for acquiring an original dev kit and thanks for sharing what you´ve found Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 These are great! A nice piece of history you've compiled for us =) Nice to see these things not get lost forever. Look forward to seeing how you get on with the official dev kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX.NET Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Almost got all things that I need to connect my pc to the Amiga. So it is either a USB to COM cable or the third Saturday of this month when I can test the pinky and Mandy. I will do some blogging about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX.NET Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Oh and I will send out as much of the docs as possible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX.NET Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Okay, here are the remaining three sample programs. mult32: 32 bit times 32 bit multiplication multiply: 16 bit multiplication divide: 16 bit division These were a bit thougher to get going on a normal Lynx (not Mandy), as they have a different start address from the load address. The normal loaders assume they are the same, which is true in most (current) cases. The Handy dev kit, especially the Mandebug program did allow for them to be different and still load and run the program fragments. Enjoy. handydevkitmathsamples.zip Edited March 5, 2014 by LX.NET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirlynxalot Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Awesome! Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences with the kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GadgetUK Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Thanks =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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