ervin@pinbot.enet.dec.com (Joseph James Ervin) (02/12/91)
Hi all,
I am gearing up to try some 48sx machine language coding. I have
seen some impressive examples in this newsgroup, including
TETRIS and the various contributions from Dr. Wickes. I have
collected various articles from this newsgroup which list
internal addresses and data types, but I feel that I still lack
a good deal of background regarding the processor architecture
as well as the hardware architecture of the 48sx. I suspect that
most of the ML heavies reading this newsgroup have accumulated
their knowledge in bits and pieces through hard work and
perserverence over the years and across several HP machines. If you are
one of these people, then please share pointers to the documents that
you found to be most helpful.
I ask for advice. Where should I begin? I have a slightly garbled
copy of some 48sx notes by alonzo [last_name]. (If anyone has a good
copy of these notes, could you please forward to me?). I also have notes
by Derek, but these seem to be written for the more seasoned ML
programmer. I missed out on the earlier machines which used the
Saturn processor, so much of the experience gained by people using
those machines is rather lost to me.
Is there some more formal documentation available that could get me
started?
Also, regarding assemblers, I have seen references to the Star assembler.
This sounds like a nice piece of work. Has anyone got it to run on a
VAX/VMS system? Does the documentation for this assembler (or the
SASS assembler) provide any further insight into the machine?
Also, I have seen references to book(s) called HP-48 Insight. Should
I wait for these to come out, or are these unlikely to contain the information
I require?
I appologize for my shotgun approach to asking these questions. They have
been accumulating for a while, and I wanted to give the literature I already
have a good once-over before using up bandwidth here.
Can anyone out there provide answers to any of these questions?
Regards,
>>>Joe Ervin - Digital Equipment Corporation
My views are my own, and not those of my employer.
ervin@pinbot.enet.dec.comumapd51@cc.ic.ac.uk (W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz) (02/15/91)
Several people have asked recently about sources of info on HP48SX machine language programming. Folks who have been reading comp.sys.handhelds (csh) for some time will know about Alonzo Gariepy's processor notes, available from some ftp sites. Alonzo in turn refers to the HP-71B IDS documents which describe the original Saturn processor (level 1, I believe HP call it), and to my book "Customize Your HP-28", which provides a description of the extra instructions in the level 2 Saturn in the HP-28S as well as covering simple methods of machine code programming and other stuff, including the instruction set. Naturally, I refer to the IDS too. There is also a French book but I do not have it here, and it is likely to be of interest only to folks who read French. Pierre David - if you are reading this - please provide more detail - Pierre is one of the authors and has sent me a copy. There is, as yet, NO book specifically about machine code programming on the HP48SX, though the above-mentioned items will get you started. There are also some programs to assemble Saturn machine code, available on ftp sites. The German machine code plug-in card has been delayed - they now promise to send me a copy on Monday (Feb 18th). As for a book, that would need to cover machine code (done already, see above), entry points (Jake Schwartz has just posted the most comprehensive list available outside HP and HP IDS sites), and information on how to use the above information to create HP48SX programs (try reading some csh articles). I would certainly be interested in doing such a book to follow Customize Your HP-28 but things are changing so fast that anything published in the near future would be way out of date by the time it was printed and on sale. Besides, the machine code instructions are already available, HP might release a list of entry points themselves, and the German ROM card will help with program entry. So, I am waiting before I start on such a project. Maybe someone else is already working on it (Joseph?). Would those people who have posted stuff on csh be willing to have it incorporated in a book? I know Alonzo has aked that his contributions not be used commercially. Comments would be welcome, Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz, Space & Atmospheric Physics, Imperial College, London. No, I do not speak/write on behalf of HP or my employer here.