burke@ittral.UUCP (Michael G. Burke) (03/08/84)
There is quite a bit of information available about the PC-2.
(It is essentially the same thing as the Sharp PC-1500). One
place you may try looking is in Radio Shack's TRS-80 Microcomputer News
magazine(no, I'm not talking about the Wayne Green publication with a
similar name). Since about this time last year, they have been running
a series of articles about the PC-2, including memory map,
machine language for the processor inside(it's a proprietary type),
entry points for ROM routines, etc.
>From what I understand, the magazine is available by subscription,
and Radio Shack does not keep back issues around, at least not officially.
Try the Radio Shacks or their computer centers in your area,
you might get lucky and find one that does keep them around anyway.
Another good source of information is the PC-1500 Technical Reference
Manual that Sharp publishes. It is 160 8-1/2 by 11 pages and
costs about $20, if I remember correctly.
The information is more complete than that in the magazine
mentioned above. Chapters in the book cover the LH5801 microprocessor,
the LH5810/5811 I/O port controller, description of the PC-1500 hardware
and software including some of the Basic subroutines, and a last
chapter with some programming examples such as how to inverse video
the LCD display with a machine language program.
The book does have two disadvantages:
first, there are gaps in the information(for example, it doesn't say where
the Basic start and end of program pointers are kept), and second
it is rather creatively translated from Japanese.
I ordered my copy from a place called
Atlantic Northeast Marketing
PO Box 921
Marblehead, MA 01945
617-639-0285
(they also carry service manuals, if you just want the schematics and
service info)
One last source of information is a publication called Pocket Computer
Newsletter. They cover more than just the PC-2/PC-1500, though
these are the best covered. Some of the things the have published
are 1) information on machine language instructions, including a
disassembler program, about a year before the other two publications
mentioned above. 2) a line renumbering program that also changes line
references in gotos and gosubs 3) information on how to add a new
character set to the LCD display by changing the character rom
pointer (something else that is not mentioned in the Technical
Reference manual)
Subscriptions are about $18/yr, I think, and their address is
Pocket Computer Newsletter
PO Box 232
Seymour, CT 06483
(203)-888-1643
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Have fun!
Michael Burke
Raleigh,NC
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