AdamCon.org > chat > Wed 2005-06-01

Chat for Wed 2005-06-01 21:01:08

Harvie: Hello
changed username to rich-c
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Dale
rich-c: oOK, I see the gang's all here tonight - subject to recall ; - )
Dale: Hi
Harvie: Hi Dale
rich-c: hello Dale
rich-c: who's our Time Bandit?
Dale: Harvie, how are you today?
Time-Bandit: Hi there, a new Colecovision programmer who's stumbled upon this site.... :)
Dale: Are you going to drop in for part of AdamCon?
Harvie: Good Dale , how about you?
Harvie: I hope to
rich-c: w4ell welcome to you, good buddy, there are others of your kind here - starting with Dale
Dale: I'm a little to stressed this week.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to erin
rich-c: hello erin
erin: hi Uncle Richard
Harvie: Hi Erin
erin: hi Harvie
rich-c: Pamela phoned to say she would be late
erin: ahh, okay, thanks
Dale: Hi Erin.
Harvie: Dale , stress is only what you imagine it to be
erin: hi Dale long time no see, how are things?
Dale: I can convince myself of the illusion of stress for about two months at a time.
Dale: Then I trap myself into overcommiting.
Harvie: I just ignore it
Dale: Then I'm stressed.
Dale: Erin, things are going okay. How about you?
rich-c: some3wtimes it just isnt that easy to ignore, Harvie
erin: pretty good, been busy with work but overall pretty good
Dale: For me, I set all of my commitments for work. So I can estimate long or short.
Dale: So any stress is created by me.
rich-c: good plan, until Mr. Murphy wanders by
Harvie: See what I mean?
rich-c: Tiem Bandit, what part of teh world are you in?
erin: was going to ask who Time Bandit was
moved to room Meeting Place
rich-c: he's a games programmer, like Daniel I guess
changed username to Guy B.
erin: ahh
erin: hi Guy
Harvie: Hi Guy
Guy B.: Greetings!!
moved to room Meeting Place
rich-c: hello Guy, you are on early tonight
Dale: Hi Guy!
changed username to Daniel
Daniel: hello Guy!
Harvie: Hello Daniel
Guy B.: Hi Daniel
Dale: Hi Daniel.
erin: hi Daniel
rich-c: and salut, daniel, did not see you come in
Daniel: hello Dale, Harvie, 'rin, Rich
Daniel: Hey! Time-Bandit is online
rich-c: gather you two have met before
Daniel: yes
Daniel: we talked earlier tonight about a way to bring me to the adamcon
rich-c: it would certainly be great if it could be done, Daiel
Dale: We'd love to see you there Daniel.
Daniel: Dale! Do you think I can have a copy of the Coleco Programmers Guide. it's not a problem if the copy is ugly.
Dale: I think I lent my copy to Rich Drushel.
Dale: I can't remember if I got it back from him or not.
rich-c: and rich is not here at the moment
Dale: If I did, I'd be happy to get a copy of it for you.
erin: he'll be a bit late...one of the girls had an award ceremony
rich-c: ah, right
erin: 'tis the season
Daniel: But I really want to have this document, it will be helpfull for me. And it's a good opportunity the adamcon to take this document.
Dale: It's very useful, so it's worth going an extra mile to get one to you.
Time-Bandit: hello Daniel, how are you?
rich-c: well, I am sure the question will keep for an hour or so yet
Daniel: fine!
Daniel: I went to the post-office. I paid for "timbres" (stamps?).
Dale: Stamps.
rich-c: yes, stamps
Time-Bandit: Daniel: Stamps to ship the 2 development carts?
Daniel: only the pcb boards, it's slime and can be in a "carte de coeux"
Time-Bandit: wow, you're faster than my z80 compiler!
Daniel: my modem is slower than your car.
rich-c: yes, tehsmaller and lighter the shipment the easier it is to get a reasonable postage rate
Time-Bandit: I don't have the faster car in town, but it's pretty decent at 205 HP.
Dale: I bought a bunch of heavy hand planes for woodworking, and had them mailed.
rich-c: bet you had fun ransoming them, then
Dale: Shipping gets to be a pretty big ticket item for 12 lb items.
Daniel: Question: Why there is no more copies of this coleco programmers guide?
Daniel: too many pages?
rich-c: though actually heavy dense objects to mail fairly reasonably
Time-Bandit: I had a real doll shipped to my house a few months ago... actually, forget I just said that.
Dale: Daniel, it was printed by Coleco for official developers.
Dale: There were only ever 100 of them made probably.
Time-Bandit: Hmm, that's something I'd love to get my hands on too!
Daniel: i understand but now... between you guys.
rich-c: yes, we help our people all we can, but we face handicaps
Dale: I originally lent it to Rich Drushel, to see if he could make an electronic version of it.
Guy B.: Got through reading the e-mail that George will not be coming to Adamcon 17.
Daniel: yes, is famous project to restore it
Daniel: I can't affort the price for the hotel. Is there another solution for me?
Dale: If you read his email carefully, hs can come in the right circumstances.
rich-c: well, there are obstacles and his noe is somewhat out of joint
Dale: I'm negotiating with him to see if I can make it work for him.
rich-c: pity you don't have a friend to stay with in Oshawa-Whitby
rich-c: but then even getting to Whitby is its own problem
Time-Bandit: Do they have cheap $50 motels in that area?
rich-c: around there? no such animal, not even at $50 US
Time-Bandit: Bleah.
Guy B.: He's not sure yet. Dale, does the hotel have any rooms with double beds?
rich-c: No, that's the core of the problem - that and its upscale price
Daniel: can we bring a tent or something... like sleeping outiside with the bears and ducks?
rich-c: you will recall he was kvething about that too
Daniel: is there any cheap solution?
Time-Bandit changed username to Guy F.
Harvie: brb
rich-c: well there are campgrounds up by Port Perrey but then getting into town is a challenge
Guy B.: I would feel more confortable with a double bed if I'm going to share a room with whoever I might get.
Dale: Daniel, if you can get here, I can work on cheap accomodations.
rich-c: understatement of the year, Guy?
Guy B.: I've reserved my vacation dates and that includes the con, so I'll be coming.
Guy B.: I don't even know if the room will have one bed or two.
Dale: Unfortunately the hotels in Oshawa/Whitby are uncooperative.
Dale: There are expensive ones with everthing we want (except the price).
rich-c: they cater to GM executives and Are not hungry - too few of them
Daniel: maybe it's a stupid question but... why Whitby?
Dale: There are cheap ones, but with no willingness for meeting rooms.
Dale: Inbetween is where we landed. Queen beds in every room :-(
Dale: Daniel, that is where I just moved to.
Dale: I should have run it in Montreal.
Guy F.: Montreal has many cheap $30 no-tell motels... :)
Daniel: ho! you live there. good to know! i probably miss this part in our conversation then.
rich-c: you could have done it by YYZ for maybe under $300 Canadian
Daniel: and you Dale? you will sleep in the Hotel or... at home?
Dale: I don't know Richard, for 12, I looked around, and everywhere by YYZ that I looked it was much more.
Dale: Hotel.
rich-c: I looked on hotels.ca and tripadvisor.ca and a couple of others
Dale: I do have a spare room at my home.
rich-c: there's a huge range but many were quite inexpensive - and most had special rates for 5 or more
Dale: The problem I've encountered is that if you go to something like a motel-6 they won't do any meeting space.
Dale: The never stops Bob S.
rich-c: that's true - but even the Valhalla was surprinigly reasonable
Dale: Somehow he creates meeting space where there is none. But no hotel I've talked to will do what Bob's hotels do for him.
rich-c: you too picky or they too anal?
Dale: They just look shocked at the suggestion that we should pull out the beds.
rich-c: ah, you're thinking extra "general" room, not a committee room or anythihg
Dale: Jill thinks it's funny, since we've seen Bob do it more than once now.
rich-c: Bob's bigger than you - maybe that's the secret ; - )
erin: hey Dale....I don't need to be on the schedule....if Pam wants the slot she is more than welcome to it :-)
Guy F.: Dale, I've seen your website, are you still into Coleco programming?
Daniel: Dale, can we work on a solution about a cheap way for lodging me? by writing some emails during this week?
Dale: Guy F, I am.
Dale: I tend to know it very well.
Daniel: (Time-Bandit is Guy F.)
Dale: Daniel, for sure.
rich-c: we'd gathered 8 - )
Daniel: thanks
Dale: I went to one of Daniel's CCCG meetings in Montreal last summer and debuging someone's game. :-)
Guy F.: Dale: I've started recently, with the help of Daniel's tremendous effort. I've set up a webpage, it's at: http://www.montrealbbs.com/colecorevival detailing my efforts...
Daniel: now, i suppose i have to fix the transport part with Guy F and that'S it.
rich-c: you speak French or English by preference, Guy F., since you're clearly bilingual
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Guy F.
Daniel: Guy?
Daniel: twice?
Guy F.: Grr, I hate Java applets. :)
erin requested to ban Guy F.
Daniel: rich asked you if you are bilingual
Guy B. confirmed ban
rich-c confirmed ban
Harvie confirmed ban
Dale confirmed ban
Guy B.: At least we can keep the two of us seperate.
Guy F.: Yes, definitely.
rich-c: he's obviously bilingual, Daniel, I was just curious as to which he preferred
Daniel: it think he prefer frenglish
Guy F.: English is my official language.
rich-c: or perhaps franglais?
rich-c: sounds like you have the Ottawa - Montreal inclination towards franglais
rich-c: james of course occasionally throws in Italian, or Japanese
Daniel: Guy started learning coleco programming this year or ends of last year? anyway, he is making good progress. and i do my best to help him.
Guy F.: I chose assembly as my programming language, so the progress is slow, but steady.
rich-c: great if he can afford the Con - as I recall Friday morning and Sunday morning sessions are seriously geeky
rich-c: gives you a much higher level of control, too, Guy
Dale: Hmmm....assembly.
Dale: I like assembly.
Dale: I've definately written more assembly than C code for Adam/Colecovision.
Guy F.: I wish I had a guide though to help me out with all of the BIOS functions and calls
Dale: But lately at AdamCon I've been teaching the C programming stuff prepared by Daniel.
Guy F.: Its easier to grasp thats for sure!
rich-c: Daniel, do those Hackers Guides of yours have the stuff T-B needs?
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Ron
Dale: Most of the time, I find that http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/mayan/os7def.txt
rich-c: hello there Ron
Dale: is enough for me.
Harvie: Hallo Ron
erin: hi Ron
Dale: Hi Ron.
Ron: Hey!
Guy B.: I use to be a mainframe programmer, but any programming is now either using Qbasic, Cobol or Visual Basic.
Guy B.: Hi Ron
Daniel: well, the most important info from the Hackers Guide for ColecoVision programmers are mostly ported to my own Coleco Programming Doc.
Daniel: hi Ron!
Ron: Hi All!
Dale: http://www.adamcon.org/~dmwick/mayan/ is an assembly game skeleton.
erin: how is the west coast these days?
rich-c: how's things on teh wet coast?
Guy F.: I just wish I had a clear and concise way on how to use these special BIOS routines with examples
Ron: rainy,sunny,warm,cool
rich-c: one of those "just wait a minute" times 8 = )
Ron: yup
Ron: Dale - a question
rich-c: we are being teeased with a sample of summer today
Guy B.: At least we finally warming up here in Chicago after a really cool May.
Ron: you guys may have discussed this already, but.... how many beds to a room?
Dale: My game skeleton demos the ones that I've used for the most part.
Dale: If you have specific ones that you have questions about, I may have another sample that I could send you.
Guy F.: thanks for the offer Dale
Dale: Ron, 1.
Ron: Ok, then I'll need a single room (equipped with sound proofing)
Ron: :)
Dale: No problem.
(Guy B. smiles)
Ron: cheque will be on its way tomorrow
erin: yay Ron is coming
Dale: rich-c are you still willing to do a keynote?
rich-c: actually Ron I believe they also have pullout couches, if you're into contortionism
Guy B.: I'll try to have mine out by July or sooner.
Dale: Would you want to do it on Friday or Monday?
Ron: welll........
rich-c: no, I won't be there, Dale
Dale: Or Sunday?
rich-c: that early in the morning I cant talk or even stand up long enough
Dale: k
Guy B.: I may try something on the emulator here at home and if it works, I'll use it in a presentation.
rich-c: face it, Daqle, I take so many pills I rattle, and they have weird side effectrs
Dale: Ron, I forgot to put you in the schedule. Do you have a buring topic?
rich-c: Frances doesn't even want to to drive in before noon for fear I'd fall asleep at the wheel
Dale: I hope you can drive in safely then rich-c.
Ron: (was hoping you wouldn't notice) :)
Daniel: I'm too excited knowing that I will (with high probability) be with you for the adamcon. I want to see Dale's presentation about games. I want a copy of the coleco document. I want many things finally.
rich-c: the fear is unjustified, but she won't accept that
Ron: no burning topic, no. Could come up with something if required.
Guy F.: Hummm is it safe to drive with you to Whitby in such an excited state? Hehe
Harvie: Got an alarm call , got to go, goodnight all
Guy B.: Bye Harvie
rich-c: I think I may want some emulator time with you, Guy
erin: g'night Harvie
Ron: niters Harvie
rich-c: I got my new laptop a couple of days ago
Dale: See ya Harvey.
rich-c: nite Harvie
Harvie left chat session
Daniel: nice. which one you got?
Guy B.: Ok, Rich. I will bring my Compaq notebook with me and it does have the emulator on it.
Dale: Laptops with emulators were widely used last year at AC.
Dale: Erin can certify that.
rich-c: acer 2800XP Sempron 64-bit - 256K/4o gig/ modem/NIC'802b/g, assoreted toys
Daniel: and 5 hours of car driving... i will probably sleep during the travel
Ron: are we nearing the ADAM-less ADAMCON?
Guy B.: I'm not wireless, but I will bring my ethernet card and cable.
Dale: I'll be bringing two set ups. I'm not willing to go to an Adam-less AdamCon.
rich-c: could be - maybe I'll also lug along my old P166 if Pamela wants it
Ron: good for you - I wholeheartedly support that
Dale: For all it's faults, the hotel has high speed Internet in the rooms.
Ron: brb
Dale: I'll double check whether it is wireless or ethernet.
erin: I think I will do the "over-the-shoulder" technology again this year
rich-c: OK, I'm sure I can find an RJ-45 cable
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Dr. D.
rich-c: with laptops teh screen angle is so narrow it's always over teh shoulder 8 = )
Guy B.: Hi Dr. D.
Dr. D.: Hi sorry I'm late
Dr. D.: Awards night for seniors
rich-c: hello rich
Dale: Hi Dr D.
Guy B.: For Christina?
Dr. D.: Yes, she is graduating Guy
erin: hi Rich <hugs>
Daniel: Hey! Dr.D is online!
Dr. D.: She got an award for French studies
Dr. D.: hi Rin <hugs>
Guy B.: Wow, where did the time go?
Ron: good for her!
Dr. D.: They started late and ran late.
rich-c: that should plwease Daniel!
Dr. D.: Hi Ron long time no hear.
Dr. D.: Yes Daniel can talk to her in French
Ron: indeed..... been kinda out of it here what with moving and all
Dr. D.: No prob Ron
Dale: Where are you now Ron?
Ron: but now 2075 Cooke is in the rear view mirror
Dr. D.: Moving is tricky business
rich-c: right, forgot to ask - teh move is complete now, isn't it?\
Dale: Still on the island?
Ron: yes.... as of last Tues
Guy B.: And Elanor is not going to be too far behind in graduating Dr. D.
Ron: now I've got about 20 boxes of stuff that I may never unpack
rich-c: do send us round an email with oyur new address
Dr. D.: Nope she is 3 year back Guy.
Ron: will do
Dr. D.: I had that Ron with moving offices: 7 times in 5 years.
Ron: Dale - the new digs are about 1 km west of the old - still in Comox
Dr. D.: I had boxes that I never unpacked from Fall 1999.
Dale: This is a reminder that AdamCon.org was destroyed, and recreated from a seemingly incomplete backup.
Guy B.: Has Christina decided what to major in college yet or is she still undecided?
Dr. D.: What is new My Love.
Dr. D.: She is majoring in archaeology.
Dale: So make sure you resubscribe to the mailing list if you haven't got an email in the last week.
Dr. D.: Going to a place that actually gives a major in it, and a B.A.
erin: not much...busy day today...almost gave up on you
Dr. D.: Sorry.
Guy B.: Where is that?
rich-c: are universities offering archeology degrees that rare?
Dr. D.: Yes they are Richard.
Dr. D.: She is going to Mercyhurst College in Erie PA.
Dr. D.: less than 10 in the country, closer to 5
rich-c: I would expect so diverse a university as CWRU to have it, though
Dr. D.: This is the place to go for field work.
Dr. D.: Nope.
Dale: Waterloo offered it as a major. The course I was in seemed pretty full.
Guy B.: Well, that won't be too far from you. How long is it to drive there?
Daniel: Dr.D, sorry to change the subject but... there is a possibility that i can be at the adamcon finally.
Dr. D.: You could cobble something together via Anthropology Dept., but that is all.
Dr. D.: 2.5 hours east on I-90.
Dr. D.: Halfway to Toronto :-)
Guy B.: That's not bad.
rich-c: Erie PA to Clveland is a quite short run, as I recall
erin: :-)
Dr. D.: Hooray Daniel!
Dr. D.: I am going to be there, as I am sure Erin has already said.
erin: actually I hadn't said yet
Daniel: Good we will finally meet in person
Dr. D.: Well did you change your mind then?
Guy B.: We are looking forward for all of us to meet you.
erin: ni I haven't changed my mind
rich-c: and it will be a bonus if Guy B. is there too
Dr. D.: Yes it will be great to see you Daniel...I can now fall to #3 programmer in the ADAM community, let you and Dale fight it out for #1.
Dale: LOL
Dr. D.: You two have me beat.
rich-c: watch out - I think Neil is still prowling around there behind the curtains
Dr. D.: I program on perserverence, you guys have education and talent :-)
Dr. D.: Okay, then I will gladly slide to #4.
Dale: You underrate youself Rich.
Dr. D.: Anything to take the pressure off
Ron: We are doing well. What other community our size can boast three expert programmers?
Daniel: Based on your TW... texts, I think you did more than me for the Coleco.
Dale: You're programming is more useful than mine, I think.
Dr. D.: Yours is more wow Dale
Dr. D.: Daniel's too
Dr. D.: Then I can for sure have copies of all the docs Daniel wants
Dr. D.: And return Dale's ATM without having to use the post office
rich-c: yes, Daniel's is - can't much tell what he's doing, just enough to know it is WOW
moved to room Meeting Place
Daniel: I were thinking that the adamcon will be a good opportunity to meet you all in person, but also an opportunity to talk about coleco programming and maybe have a copy of the coleco programmers guid no ones have now except you
changed username to Guy F
Guy F: Sorry guys, my Java client keeps timing out if I don't type something... Very strange.
Dr. D.: That is what I said Daniel I can bring it all...
Daniel: but, it is possible to have a copy that i can bring back to my home?
Dr. D.: Yes
Dr. D.: That is what I meant Daniel
rich-c: actually this applet has some very strange ways - I used to get dropped every few minutes
Dr. D.: copies for you to keep
Dr. D.: This client does not like MacOS X Safari
rich-c: despite the rather obvious fact that I'm abiout the most talkative on the board
Dr. D.: I have to use Exploder or Netscape
Daniel: Good to know that the Holy Grail is closer to my hand than i expected
Dr. D.: It needs to be recompiled from source I think...it is an old version of Java
rich-c: since I switched to Firefox I haven't been dropped but once
Dale: There is a bug in the some of the older Java VMs used by the web browsers that would do what you said. I haven't had that problem lately myself.
Dr. D.: Thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail quotes with that line, Daniel...
Daniel: I'm using FireFox with Java 5.0 (1.5) plugin that came with the new JAva 1.5 JDK.
rich-c: I did update IE - it is the latest and greatest - but it persisted even through teh upgrade to 6
Dr. D.: "women in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government"
Daniel: ??
Dr. D.: It is a line from the movie Daniel
Dr. D.: Your Holy Grail comment made me think of the movie
rich-c: allusion to teh Arthurian legend in classic English folk tales, Daniel
Daniel: oh! so it's not a bad expression i used
Dr. D.: in legend, Arthur's sword Excalibur was given to him by the Lady of the Lake
Ron: who suffered from pneumonia and hypothermia
Dr. D.: And in the movie, a cheeky peasant remarks that it is a poor system of government
erin: <smirk>
rich-c: no, he withdrew Excalbur from the rock in which it was embedded - he returned it to the Lady of the Lake
Dr. D.: That is what I meant to say
Dale: LOL Ron :-)
Dr. D.: returned it after the last battle
rich-c: time for my beer (St. A. biere noire, Guy)
Dr. D.: hehe
Ron: Lady of the Lake = Belinda Stronach
Guy F: Dale: Since you're the #1 programm here, I just had a question... Have you been able to achieve smooth scrolling software wise?
Dr. D.: Any Olympic swimmer Ron :-)
Dale: I'm a character based scroller.
Ron: right
Dale: So, my background has to move fast.
Daniel: Dr.D, sorry to interrupt you but, how big is the document?
Dr. D.: several hundred pages, but don't worry about any photocopy costs
Daniel: thanks
Guy F: I've been working on a Colecovision demo (which you can find on my website) and I need to scroll several lines of text at the bottom, like in the old C64/ATARI demos, but am unable to devise of a way to do that.
Dale: So, scrolling backgrounds are easy to double buffer with just the name table.
Dr. D.: SmartBASIC HGR mode does what you describe, Guy F.
Dale: The math is kind of against you for smooth backgrounds with full colour.
Dr. D.: Graphics window above, 4 lines of scrolling text below.
Dr. D.: Right Dale?
Dr. D.: (memory is rusty)
Dale: At the bottom? Well, that is achivable.
Ron: It gets worse Dr. D
Dale: I've used RRC to do it.
Dale: Moving the last pixel of one 8x8 pixel "card" to the next one to the left.
Dale: Rich D, he means smooth scrolling horizontally, one pixel at a time.
Guy F: Why, oh why doesn't the VDP have hardware scrolling! :(
Dr. D.: probably a later iteration of it does
Dale: Well, many years ago, I working on a replacement videochip, with more advanced TI video capabilities.
Dale: But there was only ever the prototype made. The one I have.
Dr. D.: hehe
rich-c: Ron, you fought a fw rounds with teh VDP at one point, didn't you?
Dr. D.: And I think TI doesn't do any more VDPs.
Dale: But it does hardware scrolling, and has 256 colour mode, and higher res 512x384 mode too.
Daniel: hehehe! it's been a long time the last time i saw a technical discussion here.
Guy F: Did you hear about this guy who is building a an expansion module for the CV with awesome capabilities. Daniel would be able to give more details, but it looks very promising.
rich-c: doesn't that demand an excess of video RAM, Dale?
Dr. D.: The replacement VDP board had extra RAM, yes...maybe 64K or 128K, can't remember.
rich-c: I want to see someone design a module so one can replace the joystick with a mouse in the Emulator
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to james
Daniel: Guy F is talking about Eduardo Mello aka Opcode that he plans to build an expension module that is in reality a console by-itself but use at least the coleco bios.
Dale: The chip in my AIM card is actually made for the MSX machines, and is a Yamaha.
james: hello
Dr. D.: Hello James
Dale: Hi James.
rich-c: good morning, james - it's geek time so come on in
james: lol, thanks
Dr. D.: brb need to get something from fridge
erin: hello James
Guy B.: HI James
(007 music plays in the background)
Ron: sorry - got sidetracked - yes Rich- in another galaxy far far away
Dale: rich-c, it has 256k of video RAM to accomplish all that I said.
(Guy B. gives erin a can of Diet Coke.)
erin: thanks Guy
Ron: Let's hear it for Diet Coke
Guy F: I am not familiar with the Adam, never even used one. Is there a program on the Adam that allows easy composition of musical scores and gives you an output as hex values that can be used in assembly or c programs?
rich-c: so how does an 8-bit chip addr4ess all that?
Guy B.: Pam's not here, so I thought of you.
erin: much appreciated
Guy F: Z80 has more than 8-bit addressing lines I think, no?
moved to room Meeting Place
rich-c: well, there are music composition programs but I'm not sure about tech output
james: does video-tunes allow for hex output?
changed username to BobS
erin: hey Bobs
BobS: HI kids, ya miss me ???????
Guy F: I find it to be a hard part in designing anything on the CV. To generate decent sound effects and music...
rich-c: hello - it's the late Mr. S.
Ron: Chris Braymen's Utilities will do that - but you have to know what you're doing
james: it would seem to me that it would make more sense to make a music composition proggy for windows
Dale: The video ram was never memory mapped rich-c, so you communicate with I/O ports.
Guy F: Definitely, but Daniel won't write one... I've asked him a few times. Actually hinted at him. :)
rich-c: I don't know - didn't we have one tht offered MIDI?
BobS: NO NO, I am NOT dead, just fashionably on time
james: we could lynch him
Dr. D.: It's 9 PMish in his time zone
Dr. D.: (back from the fridge, with garbage tray)
Dale: First you say what block of ram to write to, then you write a series of bytes into ram.
Ron: Yes, either MIDI or output to the SNC76489 sound chip - take your pick
erin: Bobs I didn't know you had a personal time zone
Dr. D.: I think the data structures in the music bios could be used to make easy enough 3-part harmony.
BobS: oh yes, my dear......called BOB'S TIME
erin: :-)
rich-c: yes, Adam has three built in sounds plus "noise"
Guy B.: Hi Bob
Dr. D.: Just need a level of indirection between piano notes and the magic bits for frequency generation.
Ron: a case of sending data to all three voices - pitch/start/duration/off
Daniel: Did you tried my Sound Applet (needed Java 1.4 or Java 1.5). It's freezing because I didn't programmed the applet with threads but it's working.
Ron: It's a 10 byte transfer done in two stages
Dale: MIDI doesn't help much with sound effects.
Dr. D.: The existing data structures are pretty good for duration.
Dr. D.: I haven't tried it yet Daniel.
Daniel: I guy named Maxim (from SMSPower) helped me with the noise emulation.
Daniel: It sounds like the real thing.
Guy F: His Java applet is very impressive. It's nearly identical to the real thing.
BobS: hey Guy
Ron: There was a program called "Smart-Trix" which produced some very good game sound effects, and would output date for someone who wanted it for a SmartBASIC program
Dale: I have a program that converts from a text based format to Marcel's format or the Coleco BIOS format.
Daniel: it's a project of a "sound bank" utility for programmers. but can be used as a coleco jukebox
rich-c: got two Guys - the other is Daniel's friend from Montreal
Ron: An early incarnation of Sol Swift, I think
erin: well gents......tis kitten needs to get some sleep
Ron: be well Erin
BobS: aw erin, somthign I said ???????
rich-c: OK Erin, good night, take care
erin: have a great night and see y'all soon
Dr. D.: I think she has a 5:15 AM alarm clock.
Dr. D.: Nite Rin
Dr. D.: <hugs>
rich-c: naw, hard day in teh Legislature, Bob
erin: 5am actually....but snooze button is great
Dale: I have a sound editor written in Java, but it doesn't currently write the correct format.
james: my alarm clock won't work before 8 :P
erin: <hugs>
erin: nite all
Dr. D.: It's always before 8 AM somewhere in the world, James
erin left chat session
Dr. D.: So has Pam been here already Richard?
james: well for the time being, i use this timezone :P
rich-c: no, she had to take her mother in law shopping and isnt back yet
james: and i've implored my brother to do the same when calling me on my birthday
Dr. D.: Stores must be open late...
Dr. D.: 24-hour grocery?
rich-c: yes, many of our big ones are open 24/7
Dale: Even where I am, there is a 24-hour grocery store close by.
james: most stuff here closes quite early actually. we *just* got a 24 hr convenience store a couple years ago
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Pamela
Guy F: I went to the states recently and saw a <gasp> 24-hours Super Wal-Mart.
Dale: Hi Pam.
Dr. D.: Until mid-1980s, grocery stores here were still keeping World War II hours: 9 AM to 6 PM, closed weekends.
rich-c: ah, here's Pamela now - hi daughter
Pamela: hi folks, I made it
BobS: congrat Pammie !!!!!!
rich-c: well, just barely ; - )
Pamela: good heavens, what a crowd
Dr. D.: Hi Pam.
rich-c: even a new face, a buddy of Daniel's from Montreal
Pamela: Greetings Dale, long time no talk! Thanks for your email the other day
Pamela: allo, Guy F
Dr. D.: I was late too, but it was because of a long awards night for Chistina's senior class.
james: quite a few here tonight
Guy B.: Hi Pam
Pamela: Rich, did Christina win any awards?
rich-c: yes, we have a good crowd
james: oh, dr. d, i talked to my friend in ottawa from whom i download stuff
Pamela: hey, Mr. Bona
Dr. D.: Yes, she was recognized by her French teacher :-)
Pamela: good for her!
james: and he does have the new dr. who series on his server. would you be interested in my acquiring them for you?
Dr. D.: Got a certificate and $20.
Dr. D.: hehe james
Dr. D.: very tempting...
james: i could put them up on my box and you could ftp them at your leisure
james: i think all you'd need to install is the divx codec
Dr. D.: I have that here James.
Ron: Hi Pam
Pamela: Dale, can I clarify something? The prices you quoted me (except for the Tshirt) they're in Canadian dollars, right?
james: alright, i'll start grabbing them and i'll make an account for you
Pamela: hey, Ron good to see you
Ron: :)
Dr. D.: Then I will certainly mail stuff to you Daniel, give me a postal address.
Ron: Yes - Dale, what is the Canadian Dollar Rate?
Dale: Sadly no Pam. All in $US.
Ron: I can send US $ from here, but it's gonna cost me
james: ouch. good thing it's not at 65 cents anymore
Ron: so what is the conversion rate?
BobS: Dale give ron and the Clee clan and Daniel $$$ in CA
Ron: right
rich-c: well it's barely 80¢ and that only in interbank exchange
Dale: Hmmm...Jill says she uses the Bank of Canada noon rate.
james: last i checked it was hovering around 80 cents
james: for interbank
Ron: Well, I'll send ya what I think it is on the day I write the cheque.... if that's not enough, we'll settle up there
Pamela: hang on while I get my printout of the e-mail
Ron: Will need 2 t-shirts of size XXL
james: really wish i could make it to a con
Ron: but I'll write all that on a piece of paper and send it soon
Dale: 1.25/0.80 is what the BofC says today.
Ron: James, we really wish you could make it
Dale: Thanks Ron.
Ron: Ok Dale that's good
Dr. D.: I am gonna have to call it a night ladies and gents...
Dr. D.: I will get you some $$$ soon Dale.
Dr. D.: Rin too.
Ron: it is a knight
Ron: or a night
Dr. D.: Knigget
BobS: bye doc
rich-c: OK rich take it easy, see you next week
Dr. D.: Nite all
Pamela: g'nite Rich
Ron: nite Dr. D
james: if we could arrange for somewhere not too far from ottawa at the end of july 2007 i'll be in town for my father's 60th
Dr. D.: <poof>
Dr. D. left chat session
BobS: and YES Dale, will send you some $$$ shortly........in the form of a LONG check
james: made of rubber
Ron: Hey! Maybe we could get Cousineau to attend
rich-c: wouldn't that be great?
Ron: and I'm in touch with a couple of the other old AUFG members
Dale: LONG? Are you one of those LONg-GUYLANDERS?
james: cool
rich-c: and you never told - go for it, Ron!
james: aufg.. that's goin back
Ron: ??
Pamela: Dale, what brand of T's are you getting? This relates to size
james: wish i'd not let my mother throw out those magazines
Pamela: groan, Dale
rich-c: Dr. D has an archive of almost all, james
Dale: Jill wants to talk to you about that Pam. She'll email you tomorrow.
james: of the aufg mags? cool. i've got some old logo programs published in some of them
Pamela: er? Okay. Have her send it to my work address, the one I sent you from last time
Dale: For sure Pam.
Ron: No longer have 'em James
Ron: I had to get rather tough minded in the recent move
rich-c: yes, I passed on all my collection of Adam club magazines to him and it included most AUFG issues
Ron: not my style, but something had to go
james: alright, i'll talk to him. maybe i can barter some dr. who in exchange for copies
james: crap, if i'd known you had them i'd have paid for the postage to ottawa
rich-c: hey, that sounds bright, james 8-)
Ron: :(
james: every man has their price
james: :D
rich-c: Dale, I will also want a t-shirt - either small or medium, depending
Dale: It is best if you send me your tshirt requests to me in email. dalemwick@hotmail.com
Dale: Just for my tracking purposes.
Pamela: Once you try the one from 16 you'll have a better idea Dad
Dale: Richard, I think that you got a small one last 'con, and if
rich-c: lessee - that's El Paso, right? I lose track...
Pamela: Ron, where did you have your T's done?
Dale: it seemed about right then.
Pamela: right Dad
rich-c: I'll go look
Ron: So no Dale - tell me - what's a guy who has access to multi-server resources doing with a "hotmail " account?
Pamela: you don't have El Paso yet Dad - I still have it
Ron: curious minds want to know
Guy B.: Bob, where is Judy?
Dale: Hotmail reminds me to check my email, and has pretty good spam filtering -- handy since I post my email address all over. I paid for the 2 GB quota.
BobS: she is sittign here crocheting
Ron: ok..... makes sense
Dale: I also have an adamcon.org address of course, but I don't check it as often.
Pamela: Guy, have you decided to fly in?
Ron: right
Guy B.: Yes, I am going to fly in.
Ron: rest your arms now and then Guy
Pamela: on Thursday, I assume
Guy B.: Of course.
Pamela: okay
Guy B.: I haven't check for flight schedules yet, but will soon.
Pamela: don't wait too long - it's only six weeks away (!!)
james: will there be any video conference / live chat during this con?
rich-c: the one from Comox is a medium and just fits
Pamela: Ron, have you booked your flight yet?
Ron: no Pam - tomorrow fer sure- gotta do it
Guy B.: Will check by the weekend Pam and I'll let you know.
BobS: ok, Judy and I will be driving in and could possibly pick up one or both you guys depending on times and weather (luggage stacking)
Ron: was thinking of renting a vehicle at PIA, but not definite yet
Guy B.: Well folks, I'm going to call it the night. Will see you all next week.
BobS: nite Guy
rich-c: nite then, Guy
Ron: Have some people in Toronto to visit Monday night
Dale: See you later Guy.
Pamela: g'nite Guy - keep me posted
Guy B.: Will do.
Ron: by the way Dale - I'm going to need an extra night - Monday night - at the hotel
Ron: will put that all on my piece of paper I send you
Dale: I'll check with Jill on the rate Ron.
Guy B.: Poof
Guy B. left chat session
rich-c: OK Ron - keep us posted on the latter - maybe we can get you to the airport or whatever
Ron: god
Ron: I mean good
Ron: right tks Rich
Guy F: Daniel and I just checked with Greyhound for their Montreal - Oshawa schedules and fares...
Pamela: oh ick, Guy, ten hours on a bus?
Daniel: He checked... I can't use the phone with my modem
rich-c: it's Greyh0ound hass that route now? I thought it was Trentway or someone
Guy F: Better than 10 hrs behind the steering wheel. :)
Pamela: personally, I'd rather drive myself : )
rich-c: Guy F is in Montreal, not Chicago
james: am i still here?
Daniel: yes james
Pamela: you're still here James
rich-c: we'll look and see, james
Guy F: I've done too many long trips in my life. I enjoy it when someone else drives.
james: ok. my yahoo dropped so i wondered if this died too
Daniel: don'T look at me, I don't have my driver liscence
Ron: you're alive James
Guy F: Daniel: Well, driving on the highway isn't too hard, you can drive without a license.
Pamela: I'm too much of a control freak - I prefer to drive myself. Plus, just the thought of that much time in a bus seat makes my tush ache
moved to room Meeting Place
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Dale
changed username to rich-1
Dale: Hi
Dale: Did this happen last week?
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to <undefined>
Dale: It looks like the chat server crashed.
<undefined>: is it working again?
rich-1: gather everyone got dumped
Dale: It is.
<undefined> changed username to Daniel
Dale: I restarted it just a minute ago.
rich-1: usually it happens when someone enters or leaves
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Guy F
Dale: (it restarts on it's own, if I'm not around).
Daniel: wow! that was something
Daniel: very strange
rich-1: well, you hope it does - maybe we lack patience
Guy F: That was fun, like travelling through a worm-hole.
Dale: It seems the chat server suddenly exploded, and crashed.
Dale: It had to be restarted.
Daniel: what will be the incidence to the log file tonight?
rich-1: interesting question since we lose all teh text in our windows
Daniel: lost? ho no... it was a very exciting chat tonight
rich-1: maybe it's just telling us it's time to go to bed
Daniel: with coleco programming, traveling by air, bus, and train
moved to room Meeting Place
rich-1: at lesyt I am getting that messaGE - AU REVOIR, BONSOIR, TOUT LEMONDE
Daniel: the adamcon, the hotel, etc... all lost?
Dale: The log shows Pam's comment about the bus trip being too long.
changed username to PECV
Dale: Then I restarted the chat server.
Dale: Adamcon.org is now running on a completely different server than it was two weeks ago.
Daniel: Au revoir Rich! À mercredi prochain!
Dale: That means that the version of java on the server is different also.
rich-1: right on, Daniel - Wednesday she be
PECV: good night, Daniel
rich-1: colour me gone
Daniel: And I hope we will work around a solution
Dale: I had a choice of two different Java servers, and chose tyhe one that I liked the name of.
rich-1 left chat session
Dale: For all I know, the other one is better.
PECV: I started to say to Guy that I'm too much of a control freak - I prefer being in charge of my own destiny
PECV: did that come up?
Daniel: never saw
Dale: It did Pam.
PECV: okay
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to jamesreloaded
PECV: wasn't sure what got dropped
Dale: But it seams like the chat server was dying around then.
PECV: ah, there you are James
Daniel: he came far the matrix now
Dale: Hi James. Sorry, everyone was dumped, and the chat server died.
Daniel: toutes mes condoléances aux proches du serveurs.
PECV: LOL, Daniel
jamesreloaded: and i thought you didn't like me :P
PECV changed username to Pamela
Pamela: Dale, is the trip to Cullen Gardens also the miniature village?
Dale: The old AdamCon.org "fuzzy" is has a completely dead harddisk. This is "asterix", which is a new machine. A dual CPU 225 MHz P2.
Daniel: well compared to the last weeks, this chat session was awesome. it's time to go now. talk to you next week. bye
Dale: With 128 MB of RAM
Pamela: g'nite Daniel
Dale: The old AdamCon.org was a P1-133 MHz and 32MB of RAM.
Daniel: bonne nuit à tous!
Dale: I bought it a second CPU, and more RAM, but I hate down time, so never installed it.
Dale: Yes, the minature village and the gardens are mixed together.
jamesreloaded: good night dan
Pamela: cool
Dale: A great place, and I've been there lots of times.
Pamela: I'm thinking 407 all the way : )
Daniel: Note : I had to substract one of the memory chips from my computer. after a memory test, it reveals that one of them was not working in some addresses. well, i still have enough ram.
Daniel left chat session
Pamela: Maybe I should bring my PC with me and see if you guys can figure out my VMM problem : )
Pamela: Dale, have you got any sessions booked?
Dale: Pam, at Christmas time they do a Santa Claus parade with a 2 inch tall Santa and everything.
Pamela: tee hee hee
Pamela: has Jeff seen it?
Dale: Pam, You're session is currently set for Sunday afternoon.
Pamela: very funny
Dale: Not yet, but I'm sure he'll love it.
Pamela: session entitled: what Pam doesn't know about the ADAM
Pamela: answer: everything
Dale: I was going to get Erin to co-give it with you, but she says it's all yours.
Pamela: session over - lets go party
Pamela: hmm - remind me to thank her : )
Pamela: I would do a disassembly race if Ron will partner me
Dale: "2nd generation Adam users" is your topic. But if you can't do it I'll understand.
Pamela: umm - I haven't used the ADAM since high school
Pamela: that was 20-odd years ago
Dale: Uh oh, we've run out of things to say.
Dale: Maybe it is late.
Pamela: tell you what, I'll think about it
Dale: I guess the chats usually wind up at about 11pm EST.
Pamela: well, I was late today
Dale: Guy F, are you still there?
Pamela: that's a lot of silence
Guy F: Yes, I am Dale, was downloading something....
Dale: Okay Pam. I would be fun, if you can come up with something to say.
Pamela: Let me ponder it for a bit - you'll know within a week
Guy F: Looking for a simply music composer. Need some original music for my CV games.
Dale: What do you think of the RRC idea for scrolling text on the bottom?
Pamela: I doubt I can get Erin to cooperate though, speaking to a group is definitely not her thing
Guy F: I was a bit lost, what is RRC?
Dale: Rotate Right through Carry.
moved to room Meeting Place
Dale: Use it in a tight loop during video interrupts to scroll the bottom line of text to the right.
changed username to Daniel - Again
Daniel - Again: Guy told me that you talked about technical things.
Daniel - Again changed username to Daniel
Guy F: Ahhh, OK, hehe... rrc in assembly, that I know. But you would be RRCing each 8X8-bytes of data representing the characters?
Dale: On ColecoVision you only have 1k of RAM. I usually have done it on an Adam, where you can buffer a 6k pattern map.
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Ron
Pamela: Ron, you're back
Ron: Got dumped
Pamela: we all got dumped : (
Dale: But the bottom line will only take 256 bytes to buffer, if you can spare it.
Ron: aha
Daniel: dumped again?
Dale: The Java server crashed.
Daniel: twice tonight?
Ron: All the king's horses and all the king's men
Dale: I attiribute it to the fact that I've replaced adamcon.org with a completely new one, with a different version of Java.
Pamela: I'm glad you were here Dale
Guy F: I'll have to try something out tonight using that technique...
Ron: Couldn't put Java together again
Guy F: It's all that's left for my new demo.
Ron: Yes Dale..... we all needed to hear from you
jamesreloaded: i'm afraid i need to leave too. it was good chatting again. hopefully i'll have something relevant to contribute soon
Pamela: James, you're always relevant
Ron: right.... must go and figure out how to get my data from old PDA to new PDA
Dale: I guess that you will actually want to RLA or RLCA (rotate left A or rotate left with copy to carry A)
Ron: nothing is ever simple in this world
Pamela: heck, I can't even get my PDA to talk to my PC at the moment
Pamela: good luck
jamesreloaded: talk to you all again soon
Ron: think I'm gonna need it
Ron: niters all
Pamela: (note to self: try dusting the cradle contacts)
Dale: Pam, it checks to see if the java crashed every 4 minutes automatically.
Pamela: night JAmes
Ron: good idea Pam
Guy F: Dale: I noticed that for the Adamcon you will be lecturing about game design, will it be C or ASM oriented?
Pamela: : ), Ron
Ron left chat session
jamesreloaded left chat session
Pamela: Still Dale, when you're on, it seems to come up more quickly
Dale: I find that that is the fastest way to do it, using LD A,(HL), and LD (DE),A with HL and DE starting 8 bytes apart.
Pamela: anyway, I'm going to leave you guys to your tech speak and call it a night
Dale: Then I put LD BC,8, ADD HL,BC, EX HL,DE , ADD HL,BC, EX HL,DE
Pamela: Guy, welcome again - please come back
Dale: But I digress.
Pamela: Dale, Daniel, see you next week
Guy F: Thank you, good night.
Pamela: g'nite all
Dale: Good night Pam.
Daniel: bye pam
Pamela: Dale, remind Jillian to get me tomorrow
Pamela: kerpoof!
Dale: Guy F, I hadn't thought about it. Lately I've been doing C examples/workshops.
Pamela left chat session
Dale: But if Daniel comes, I may let him do C, and I'll switch back to assembly.
Daniel: what are doing 3 programmers guys in a chat?
Guy F: Hehe, don't complain, it's fun having someone who's knowledgeable around!
Daniel: me? doing C? at the adamcon? infront of all? .... i think i will pass my turn
Guy F: There are so few CV/ADAM programmers to refer to these days.
Dale: I don't know, it seems like I'm writing snipets of assembly language in chat.
Guy F: Maybe you can answer a question I've had for a while, were games really written in PASCAL for the CV/ADAM?
Dale: The answer is yes and now.
Dale: For sure Donkey Kong.
Daniel: based on the coleco bios functions... yes
Dale: Almost no other though.
Guy F: I see a lot of _P function calls in the BIOS.
Dale: Right, the Pascal entry points were all set up, and then almost never used.
Daniel: there is an obscure asm code to extract param from pascal caals.
Dale: I've disassembled a few games, and most of them are clearly written in pure assembly.
Dale: It is all about the need for speed.
Guy F: I think I read your Pitfall disassembly article... I think it was you who wrote it.
Dale: Daniel, are you interested in working on a 3D DirectX game at some point?
Daniel: i think they program and debug by using pascal but then compile and optimize in asm... a way to do things faster than started in pure asm?
Dale: Never disassembled pitfall.
Guy F: Someone did, can't remember who. :)
Daniel: a 3d directx game? 3d is not my domain.
Dale: I thought that Ubisoft wanted you to do some 3d.
Daniel: ho yes! i tried... but i failed.
Daniel: stupid technical questions about vectors. i were unable to answer. they gives us a one-hour exam and i was not accepted.
Guy F: You should get into the CELL PHONE game programming Daniel, it is very similar to the old school type of games.
Dale: Definately.
Daniel: even the cellphones games now are in 3d now... but there is probably a solution
Guy F: Yes, they have advanced very fast.
Dale: Math is my thing, so 3d algebra doesn't scare me.
Daniel: math was my thing but not after the high-school.
Dale: I've even written 3d graphing programs on the Adam in SmartBASIC.
Guy F: I was thinking on how to write a 3D engine on the CV... I'm sure it's possible. :)
Dale: Well, I have a Bachelor of Mathematics, so I guess I survived longer than that.
Guy F: I only survived for the basic Computer Science mathematics in University, and even then, I hated it.
Dale: I was working on one that is character based last winter. Did I show that to you Daniel?
Daniel: i know that someone in the SMSPower web site started a 3d project in z80 asm language. maybe you can find his code and check it out.
Daniel: you mean the rooms with different wallpapers?
Dale: That's the one.
Guy F: That would be aiming too high though. I think doing a PONG game now on the CV would make me happy. :)
Daniel: i did one that needed two driving module
Daniel: well, there is no paddle for coleco, the steering wheels do the job
Dale: Have you looked at the Mayan game skeleton that I pointed out earlier? It should be pretty easy to make pong with sprites.
Guy F: I saw some Coleco paddles a few days ago on the web, was I dreaming?
Dale: The coleco paddles were for the pre-colecovision game systems AFAIK.
Guy F: I found that handling the scoring, and displaying it on the screen to be a challenge.
Daniel: I'm still wondering if the bresilian version of the coleco and the diny 2-in-1 are compliant with the fact that your code is using putframe that is not pointed from the addresses table at the end of the bios.
Dale: I recommend BCD.
Dale: I think that there are some OS7 calls for helping with the math.
Guy F: Oh really?
Dale: Some sort of BCD add function. Have you documented it Daniel?
Guy F: Good to hear there is something available.
Daniel: are you talking about the function for the nibbles? declsn, decmsn, etc...?
Dale: Definately a BCD example in http://www.adamcon.org/eosprogman.html as I recall.
Dale: Many of the OS7 calls are exactly the same as EOS calls.
Dale: Hmm...maybe not an EOS function.
Guy F: Hopefully we'll be able to get our hands on the CV programmer's guide that Daniel has been talking to me about for many months now.
Guy F: I'm sure it's documented in there.
Daniel: oh Dale!
Daniel: for my SoundBank Applet...
Dale: Well, if all else fails, I pull out my Z80 recepies book, that has 35 example algorithms in assembly for the TRS-80, my first computer.
Daniel: How many syntax or format you know to represent hex data into an asm code?
Dale: Rich Drushel promised to bring it to the 'Con when he arrives sometime on Friday.
Dale: Daniel, too many. It seems every assembler does it differently.
Daniel: i saw db, .db, defb, byte, data, ... i don't know which one to use
Dale: I generally prefer 0xxH syntax.
Dale: Ah.
Daniel: i saw 0FFH, $FF and 0xFF.
Guy F: I like $xx syntax.
Guy F: Started with $xx syntax on the 6502 when programming my Atari.
Dale: The $ff is pretty clean for sure.
Daniel: but is it supported well?
Guy F: 0xFF is a close second for cleanliness for me.
Daniel: there are too many z80 asm compiler now
Dale: I learned with DB first, so that's the one I pick if I have my choice.
Guy F: I use ".byte"
Dale: The most common for assemblers is 0ffh I think.
Dale: That way I can also use DW for two byte values and it seems consistent to me.
Daniel: i suppose i will have to add a kind of selection to let the user select the appropriate one.
Dale: As long as your assembler can handle it, it is okay.
Guy F: My assembler, TASM, doesn't accept "DB". :)
Daniel: i know that the asm compiler that came with hi-tech c compiler uses defb and neede to specify first that it's "data" with a specific label
Dale: The assembler that I use is from Thomas Shearer's Z80 web site, and is written in Yacc. It is fast, and can run locally on a Linux, Unix or Windows host computer easily.
Daniel: Guy : try adding "db: .equ .db"
Dale: It would even work on MacOS X.
Guy F: Yes, that would work, but natively, it doesn't support DB which I find odd. Maybe ".db"? Let me try.
Guy F: Yes, ".db" works.
Daniel: so it will be db and dw, .db and .dw, and defb and defw for me.
Guy F: .byte and .word too!!!
Daniel: maybe if the selection used a name of a popular asm compiler
Daniel: defb is for hi-tech
Daniel: db is for....
Guy F: define byte?
Daniel: .byte for TASM
Dale: One assembler (a native Adam one called Macadam) would take DB for a single byte but required "DATA" for a list of bytes.
Daniel: ho! data
Daniel: and if we use data for a single byte?
Guy F: I used to use data in Atari Basic.
Dale: I didn't like that much, but used it a fair bit because it was native Adam, and the emulator wasn't invented yet.
Daniel: so you needed to use the appropriate mnemonic depending on how many bytes there was?
Guy F: Dale: Have you ever programmed on the Adam using a Z80 emulator/debugger?
Dale: Daniel, now that I don't remember, but probably you could always use DATA.
Guy F: I'm talking about hardware emulator/debugger.
Dale: Macadam has a built in editor/assembler.
Guy F: Seems like a nice toool to have in order to stop program execution, look at Z80 registers, memory, etc...
Dale: Wizard Utilities has a disassembler and interactive memory editor which could be mostly breakpointed.
Daniel: based on my small knowledge, adam can use cp/m softs... maybe you can have some "generic" tools for the cp/m that can be used on the adam
Guy F: I used such a tool while programming for the PIC family of microcontrollers, it's called an in-circuit debugger. A tool like that for the Z80 would do wonders on the Adam/CV
Dale: For CPM on the Adam there is a debugger called DDT.
Dale: It worked pretty well.
Dale: I have at least one other debugger for CPM, I think.
Guy F: I find that, that's what is missing when I program for the CV.... A debugger, it's like programming in the dark without a flashlight.
Dale: There was a mail order assembly debugger for the Adam, but I was a poor student at the time and couldn't afford it.
Dale: There must be copies of it around. It advertised in Family Computing magazine for many many months.
Dale: Coleco made an emulator for the CV that included a debugger.
Guy F: http://www.avocetsystems.com/company/techshee/hsheets/200%20Sheets/Z80.htm
Guy F: This is a product that would ideally do wonders for assembly programming.
Dale: It was hosed on an HP 9000 unix machine, and plugged into the Z80 cpu slot on the CV circuit board, if the descriptions in the Tech Ref manuals are accurate.
Daniel: (I'm downloading EasyPHP now, my answers will be slow)
Guy F: What's EasyPHP?
Daniel: A packadge for you php and mysql on my Windows
Daniel: it contains also apache
Dale: Guy, nice looking system.
Guy F: Dale: Yes, it must cost $$$.
Dale: My Z80 on my Adam is socketed, so I could even try it.
Dale: Is it expensive?
Guy F: I bought my eeprom programmer from them and it cost a lot, but very high quality. For the price, I don't know, haven't requested a quote, too scared I might find a way and buy it.
Daniel: Ho! that remebers me i have two pcb boards to ship to you
Dale: It's late. I should go to bed soon.
Guy F: I beleive that it's the way Kevin Horton (Kevtris) employed to learn about the CV, using a tool such as that one.
Guy F: Haha, we're night owls over here.
Daniel: yes, it's late. i were gone about an hour ago. but it's always fun talking coleco prog with you guys
Dale: Some day, I need to buy/make an eeprom burner.
Daniel: the one i have it's a donation
Guy F: Dale: I bought mine 8 years ago, it's an ISA card with a cable to the external programmer. Works fine, but I have to carry a legacy computer just to use the EEPROM programmer.
Guy F: Nice meeting you Dale BTW.
Daniel: maybe we can continue this chat in person soon
Dale: Nice to meet you too.
Dale: I always like a good technical discussion.
Dale: Daniel, that would be great.
Daniel: Daniel gives a can of diet coke to Guy and Dale
Daniel: :-P
(Dale gives Daniel a can of Coke)
(Dale gives Daniel some poutine.)
Daniel: (Daniel thanks Dale for the food)
Daniel: miam miam
Dale: The actions menu is silly.
Guy F: /me waves to everyone good-bye!
Daniel: well guys! it's time... goodbye farwell
Guy F: Ah, doesn't accept IRC commands....
Dale: Sorry. There are actions in the actions menu.
Dale: see you later.
Daniel: well, guy you can try to modify the source code :-P
Dale: Guy try the RLA suggestion I gave earlier.
Daniel: the ld bc,8 ... ?
Guy F: I will, thanks DALE, hopefully if I end up coming to the Adamcon, I'll have a little demo to show everyone.
Dale: Sounds like fun.
Daniel: yes
Daniel: but it's really time to go
Dale: Colour me gone.
Dale: poof
Dale left chat session
Guy F: Bye all.
Daniel left chat session
Guy F left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
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moved to room Meeting Place
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moved to room Meeting Place
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AdamCon.org > chat > Wed 2005-06-01
Send comments to the feedback page. I am Dale Wick