Geneve 9640 Advanced Basic 4.08 Release

[+9640News]

Advanced Basic 4.08 for the Geneve 9640 has been released along with updates to the program by @insanemulti and manual updates by @hloberg.  The Github repository has been updated at BeeryMiller/ABasic: ABasic for MDOS (github.com).  Users can also go to https://www.9640News.com and get the latest updates as well.

 

 

ENHANCEMENT LOG:
---------------
V4.08 
       - Updated reference manual, very nice work by @hloberg!
       - Corrected RUN command to execute from within a program, without
         requiring the optional line number
       - Corrected RUN command, able to load programs from the current
         working directory e.g., RUN "FILE" and with MDOS device
         identification e.g., RUN "H:\GAMES\LOADER" in immediate and
         program modes.
       - CTRL-C now works when a program is loaded and auto-started
       - CTRL-C artifact is no longer printed when key is pressed
       - RANDOMIZE now generates different sequences at startup, when no
         seed is specified. System clock is used to set RAND16. A big
         thank you to Lee Stewart for reviewing the ABASIC random code!
       - Noted issues and potential gotchas based on testing
 

ABASIC-408.zip

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Thank you for releasing. 

 

I just want to draw folks' attention to the manual preface and HOF info -- Jim Uzzell made many changes and updates to make ABASIC a more stable, viable programing platform.  Although he is no longer with us, his work lives on and that work certainly made (and makes) future updates possible. 

[WhataKowinkydink]

ABasic is one of my all-time favorite dialects.

[DarinBrainyack]

I Darin Andrade have been programming geneve 9640 off and on since I was 20 years old. sifting through all this online stuff makes me wonder.

How come no one talks about the ability to make sprites with up to 16 colors as long as they were by line in graphics modes 1,3 2,3 3,3. using abasic. The new manual doesn't have it. I remember I figured it out 

myself but eventually found a addenium that showed the routine.

 

I may be one of the best 4 or five coders for geneve but I only do it now in emulation because its sooooo much faster.

 

its CALL SPRITE2 goes like this call graphics(1,3) , chars of course we'll use 96 16 colors. call magnifiy(3):: call sprite2(#1,96,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,row,col).

 

YOUR WELCOME. GAME ON! maybe I should share some of my latest stuff to make you all cry.

[+Ksarul]

More ABASIC programs usable by the Geneve community would always be a good thing. The more there is out there and in user hands, the more interested others become in adding to the total by doing some programming of their own.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Interest begets enthusiasm.    There are relatively few people who have explored ABASIC enough to showcase its features or write stellar programs to take advantage of its speed and flexibility.  Yes, it would be great to have some new programs to try running - real hardware or emulation.  

[DarinBrainyack]

I need the abasic 408 in a .HD file. where is it. I emulate using high speed computers mostly with mame 074b. the .zip is useless to me.

[RickyDean]

You can take the files in the zip and move them to a HD image created in Mizaph's tiimagetool. But I feel, due to the .074b being so far distant from Mame .245 that no tool will be backward compatible. Generally the tools are there in mame to bring a older HD image into mame by creating a raw image and importing that into a new HD image.

 

I would say though that demanding this to happen will not make it so, though. There is always the magic word.....

Please.

A little googling will go along way

[HOME AUTOMATION]

   ...John Connor was here, where did he go?

[+InsaneMultitasker]

TI99Dir can be used to copy the ABASIC files within the ZIP to a .DSK image, which can then be mounted in MESS/MAME.  The .HD structure/format has changed a few times since 074b, IIRC, and I doubt any of the interchange tools still recognize it.

[DarinBrainyack]

Hi, thanks but I have the best results with 074b Ive gotten others to work but real flaky. I have a another version working on an all in one just to do the myart because the mouse works but the rest is flaky. I use 074b throttled to write but then unthrottle and frameskip to push the speed. Amazing stuff I have done. for now I cant walk away from 074b. I even do batch files with 074b. does someone offer a complete zipped directory for another version that works as good or better than 074b? will I be able to use my personal dsks? they are precious to me. Upload it Please. I got others to work but I notice they were trying to totally emulate the system with disk loading sound effects. I like instant loading and all the things that can be done with super fast disk access when unthrottled and frameskip. if you look at my nutmunchers revised on youtube that music on the title screen is playing from a virtual dsk. there are several songs stored on the disk and it plays until it gets to a value of 0 then it chooses another random one to load and repeats. no music data is stored in memory same goes for wingquest II and cargame has all the computer cars stored on seperate files to make them drive without AI and not crash ever. Just using open and close dsk1 and read data. no data using program space. it makes better games possible.

Edited July 8, 2022 by DarinBrainyack

[+mizapf]

13 hours ago, DarinBrainyack said:

I got others to work but I notice they were trying to totally emulate the system with disk loading sound effects. I like instant loading and all the things that can be done with super fast disk access when unthrottled and frameskip

They is me (concerning the sounds). Keep in mind that you don't have to use a floppy; there are plenty of other media with higher speeds (hard disk, RAM disk etc.).

 

I'm certainly glad that you like to use MAME (or the old MESS), but I hope you understand that I can give no support for the ancient versions (I don't even have their source code). You can have a look at https://www.mizapf.de/en/ti99/mame/changes about the changes and improvements to the TI/Geneve emulations in MAME over the last 15 years that I invested my time into.

[+9640News]

21 hours ago, DarinBrainyack said:

I need the abasic 408 in a .HD file. where is it. I emulate using high speed computers mostly with mame 074b. the .zip is useless to me.

Darin,

 

I' not sure how long you have been following the various threads here on AtariAge about the Geneve, so I don't know how much you know about all the updates to the tools to move files around that many of us have become accustomed to using.  I have seen some of your games on Youtube and you have done some amazing work.  Truly, I am really impressed!!!

 

As far as MESS vs MAME, I am aware of the throttle in MESS as I used to be very accustomed to using it when speed was needed.  However, over the past 15 years, @mizapf has made tremendous strides with the Geneve emulation on MAME pretty much emulating all the hardware that can be used on the real system down to the most tiny detail.  What MAME does not have the ability to do, by MAME's very own design, is to run in an un-throttled mode.  If things are slow on the real hardware with anyone's code, it will be the same speed on MAME.

 

As far as ZIP files, I am assuming you are using a Windows system.  You can unzip the files, then using TIDIR, you can drag those files not to a HD image, but rather to a DSK image.  From there, you can use MDOS to then copy the files to your harddrive HD image.  That I believe is the simplest method to move files around for yourself, and thus you would not be dependent upon anyone to supply a DSK image, etc. for you to use.  If you need more details on the use of TIDIR, feel free to ask as we are all willing to help.

 

Now, as far as ABASIC V4.08, I am copying the DSK image here so you can use it.

 

If you go to Advanced Basic – 9640 News and click on the ZIP file, you can see the updated manual in PDF format that can be viewed/printed from the ZIP file.

 

 

 

ABASIC408.dsk