PC6001A - make cartridge?

[alank2]

Hi everyone,

I've been able to compile a C project into a .CAS file and load it on an emulator successfully. I figured out that cartridges begin at 0x4000 I believe, how can I tell z88 to compile it for a cartridge without any basic loader on it?

Also, I can't get the new library to work on the pc6001 at all, is it not supported/finished yet?

Thanks,

Alan

[alvin]

I've been able to compile a C project into a .CAS file and load it on an emulator successfully. I figured out that cartridges begin at 0x4000 I believe, how can I tell z88 to compile it for a cartridge without any basic loader on it?

I can see something in there about "ROM" if you compile with "-startup=4" and '-Cz"-mode 4"' (this latter option is in conjunction with -create-app). However it doesn't look set up quite correctly to me since a rom target also has to define where the ram starts.

What is needed is an update to the pc6001's crt to make it aware of a rom option and an update to its config file to use "appmake +rom" to generate a rom file instead of "appmake +nec" that makes the .cas file.

I think stefano made that target so maybe he can comment.

Also, I can't get the new library to work on the pc6001 at all, is it not supported/finished yet?

The set of targets supported by the classic and the new c libraries are independent.

The new c library currently supports: +cpm (no disk), +rc2014, +sms, +z80 (aka embedded), +z180 and +zx. You can use the generic z80 target (+z80 - https://www.z88dk.org/wiki/doku.php?id= ... t_embedded ) to compile for any z80 machine but of course that means no target-specific functionality built in like printf, scanf, disk, graphics etc.

[alank2]

Thanks Alvin; that clears up some things about the new library for sure! The PC-6001A was my first computer (I think I was 12 at the time) way back when...

[stefano]

At the time I worked on that port the ROMable libraries had to be specifically adapted. Now it is much easier and lots of work is already done. I will try something. What is the expected cartridge size and position?

[alank2]

I think the cartridges can be up to 16K and from what I could find, it loads cartridges at 0x4000. Thanks!!!!

[stefano]

Thanks to the big efforts by Alvin, Dominic and (especially) Paulo a good part of the classic library can be used in a ROM.
I bound the components rightly and now some of the text and graphics programs can be put in a ROM using the classic z88dk mode (new option is "-subtype=rom).

If everything goes well tonight, after getting the latest z88dk build you can test the programs on VirtualNECTrek, just remember to force a hard reset to start the ROM.

To create a real ROM, the following extra options can help:
(128kbit EPROM chip)
-Cz--romsize -Cz--ihex -Cz16384

(2 x 64kbit EPROMs, hex format is not supported)
-Cz--romsize -Cz16384 -Cz--chipsize -Cz8192

[alvin]

To create a real ROM, the following extra options can help:
(128kbit EPROM chip)
-Cz--romsize -Cz--ihex -Cz16384

(2 x 64kbit EPROMs, hex format is not supported)
-Cz--romsize -Cz16384 -Cz--chipsize -Cz8192

Good news.

I'll just mention that you can now quote a long list of arguments to appmake like this:

-Cz"--romsize 16384 --ihex"
(notice in the first example above the 16384 argument is mistakenly out of sequence)
-Cz"--romsize 16384 --chipsize 8192"

It makes it a bit easier to read and type.

[stefano]

oops.. I shouldn't revise my posts just before sending them, I always insert "bugs"

Thanks for the appmake hint, I missed that one ! Putsprite is not working in ROM mode, there is a generic variant failing too, I suspect it is connected to the way I'm passing the sprite graphics, perhaps I should experiment a bit more with the "const" directive.

[stefano]

Wiki updated accordingly:
https://www.z88dk.org/wiki/doku.php?id=platform:pc6001

[alank2]

Thanks guys; this works perfectly!!!!

[stefano]

You're welcome, please keep posting and share your experiments/results in the forum