Upgrade day! My blue box #RC2014 Pro gets a bump from 3.5.0 to 3.6.0.
#RomWBW #CPM #ZSystem #Z80
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flatduckrecords
@noisetank@oldbytes.space
mastodon 4.7.2+glitchMaker of sandwiches. ZX Spectrum and SAM Coupé. And a bit of C64 and CPC but don’t tell anyone. Award-winning website developer.
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Joined April 26, 2022
Pixels!
Just for fun, I made a SAM Coupé disk for Go-Go Bunnygun. It’s a neat self-contained 48K Spectrum game so all it really needs is a few bytes of machine code to shuffle SAM memory into a suitable configuration (screen at $4000, game at $8000).
Holy hexadecimal Batman! Evidently they make hex editors for Trouserphones now, so you can scrutinise the ZX Spectrum ROM code on-the-go! (Or indeed, on-the-couch).
It’s not a patch on the inimitable Complete Spectrum ROM Disassembly by Drs Logan and O’Hara, but it scores higher over that tome in two respects. First, the Guide is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the letters inscribed in large, friendly letters.
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@sjmulder@bsd.network In this set up they are read by the boot loader to configure the system. I’ve got CP/M and Z-System on a compact flash “hard disc”, and RomWBW comes with other options in ROM (Monitor, BASIC etc). But yeah they are just mapped to Z80 I/O so you can use them however you like. In contrast, the Orton 3C is similar kit that’s intended for toggling in code. (I don’t have one of those. At least, not yet!)
https://z80kits.com/shop/rc2014-orton-3c/
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@rc2014@oldbytes.space thank you! And indeed sounding good! I’ve updated TUNE.COM and have been blasting some AY choons. 🤘🎶
Also, is the startup beep new? I like it. I see RomWBW auto detects the AY now.
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@raymierussell@mastodon.scot thanks, yeah I’m glad I checked it when I did! I never got into MD actually, this one was actually intended as a dictaphone for a family member but it’s never really been used. It has lots of cool (late-gen?) features I think (Hi-MD, ATRAC, etc). I’ll need to dig into it!
Annoyingly I did check the batteries were out etc a couple of years ago, but the corrosion must have already started. Oh well!
My uni flatmate was big into MD though, she commuted a lot by train back then so always had pocket full of mixes for the journey. Had an MD HiFi too. Very cool! 😎
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@raymierussell@mastodon.scot ooh yeah I have one of those, but one is probably all I’ll ever need! 😆
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@raymierussell hahaha, you got me! Technically it’s a “mini” mince pie, but it really is a big book. It’s about A4 or so; I was quite surprised when it arrived! Allows for nice legible machine code listings. Overall the Logan/O’Hara book is much better though.
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Prior art: Plasmatic Boot Sector by Adam Dawidziuk
https://www.worldofsam.org/products/plasmatic-boot-sector
@gasman’s “ZX Spectrum sizecoding for beginners” at Lovebyte 2021
https://youtu.be/uq0KdCu_a_Y
SAM has a similar floating point calculator to the Spectrum that can be used for generating a sine lookup table. (SAM has more control codes and they are all different but the concept is the same).
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@raymierussell
Heheh, very cool. That’s a shame they didn’t use it! I haven’t done anything fancy with loaders, but the book was very helpful in understanding the entry points when I was exploring headerless loading. I keep a copy handy on my shelf now (sometimes it’s easier to flick through a real book than a PDF!) so I can grab it when I come across some code that references ROM routines.