Dennis_Grant@CMR001.BITNET (12/04/90)
OK, I'm taking my first steps into the wonderful world of Amiga
developing. So I have a few questions for those who have gone before, and
who have already made the mistakes I will probably make if I try this
totally unassisted.
1) What does developer's status with CBM entail? Who do I contact
about getting it? How much? Student discount?
2) What is out there in terms of essential literature? Where do you
get them?
3) What are the 'must have' developer's tools?
4) With regards to C, what are the incompatabilities between Manx and
SAS? What versions are most recent? Recommendations? How hard is it
to port Manx source to SAS source?
5) My first project entails writing a device driver. Where can I find
info on this? Example source? How big of a project am I looking at?
That should about cover it. (For now :) ) War stories, horror stories etc.
are welcome. I'm willing to read 'wise old man from the hill' letters too.
(I remember writing that 3D raytrace program for the Altair 6800. Boy, was
that a project... :) )
Thanx in advance.
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| Dennis Grant DETUD595@CMR001.BITNET | There ain't no replacement |
| Computer Science (Systems) student | for cubic displacement. |
| at CMR. (The "other" MilCol) | |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| All standard disclaimers apply |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|markv@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (12/07/90)
> OK, I'm taking my first steps into the wonderful world of Amiga > developing. So I have a few questions for those who have gone before, and > who have already made the mistakes I will probably make if I try this > totally unassisted. > 1) What does developer's status with CBM entail? Who do I contact > about getting it? How much? Student discount? Commodore has two types of developer's programs. Certified is $75 a year and gets you discounts on hardware, a subscription to AmigaMail, and access to pre-release versions of software for development and testing purposes. (In the last year this has included 1.4/2.0 and TCP/IP software, and other stuff). If I remember there is also a one-time registration fee of $50 the first time you register, but my memory is fuzzy. No student discount, but the price is reasonable. (There is also a "Commercial" level that is $500 a year, gives a higher level of direct support, but is limited to firms with already released commercial products). > 2) What is out there in terms of essential literature? Where do you > get them? Certainly the RKMs (Addison-Wesley). With the 1.3 that means the "Includes and Autodocs" and the "Libraries and Devices". Also the DOS manual (Bantam) for 1.2 (there hasn't been a new release for 1.3). Keep in mind the new RKMs have blue covers, older ones will be white. The RKMs can be ordered from Commodore if you are a developer. If you are doing hardware devices you certainly want the "Hardware Reference Manual". There are other things like the "DevCon" notes, a collection of conference notes from the annual developers conference. The 1990 notes include extensive material on Zorro III, 2.0, and the 3000 hardware. > 3) What are the 'must have' developer's tools? Certainly a full C compiler with docs, and a source level debugger. An Amiga with a hard drive. A printer. A plethora of public domain helps. GOMF. A dumb serial terminal or other computer for use with things like enforcer or ROM-Wack. > 4) With regards to C, what are the incompatabilities between Manx and > SAS? What versions are most recent? Recommendations? How hard is it > to port Manx source to SAS source? Like many compilers most of the differences are in the libraries. If you only use ANSI/"standard" C functions and Amiga functions the port will be easy. I have SAS and am quite happy. SAS/Lattice has several non-ANSI functions that are very nice and I *do* use, especially in terms of strings and file handling. These kinds of things are much less portable, but certainly still no too difficult. > 5) My first project entails writing a device driver. Where can I find > info on this? Example source? How big of a project am I looking at? Source to a sample device driver is probably the best place to start. (There is such source in the "Includes and Autodocs".) If you are writing a device driver to duplicte the interface of an existing one, studying that device driver's docs is good too. A good reference on the run-time interface, behavior, process, etc is the "Amiga Programmers Reference - Volume 2" by Eugene Mortimore. Although somewhat dated (1.2) it has an excellent discussion of the linkage of system structures and the processes of Device I/O and a chapter on each device and it's specifics. > That should about cover it. (For now :) ) War stories, horror stories etc. > are welcome. I'm willing to read 'wise old man from the hill' letters too. > (I remember writing that 3D raytrace program for the Altair 6800. Boy, was > that a project... :) ) My notes are from the perspective of a student and relativly new developer (last 6 months). I've been working for an existing developer on a project, but that is almost done, and I've applied for status on my own to continue developing some of my own ideas. > Thanx in advance. > Dennis Grant ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Gooderum /\ \ | / H a p p y Academic Computing Services / v\ -- * -- H o l i d a y s ! :-) University of Kansas /v v\ / | \ /// /__v___\ Only /// /| __ _ Bitnet: MARKV@UKANVAX || \\\ /// /__| |\/| | | _ /_\ makes it Internet: markv@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu \/\/ / | | | | |__| / \ possible ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu (Daryl Scott Cantrell) (12/08/90)
In article <27272.275e25d3@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> markv@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: [...] >Commodore has two types of developer's programs. Certified is $75 a >year and gets you discounts on hardware, a subscription to AmigaMail, >and access to pre-release versions of software for development and >testing purposes. (In the last year this has included 1.4/2.0 and >TCP/IP software, and other stuff). If I remember there is also a >one-time registration fee of $50 the first time you register, but my >memory is fuzzy. No student discount, but the price is reasonable. >(There is also a "Commercial" level that is $500 a year, gives a >higher level of direct support, but is limited to firms with already >released commercial products). [...] Close. Commercial developers pay $450/year plus $50 startup. Certified Developers pay $50/year plus $25 startup. >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Mark Gooderum /\ \ | / H a p p y >Academic Computing Services / v\ -- * -- H o l i d a y s ! :-) >University of Kansas /v v\ / | \ /// > /__v___\ Only /// /| __ _ >Bitnet: MARKV@UKANVAX || \\\ /// /__| |\/| | | _ /_\ makes it >Internet: markv@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu \/\/ / | | | | |__| / \ possible >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- +---------------------------------------+----------------------------+ | // Daryl S. Cantrell | These opinions are | | |\\\ milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu | shared by all of // | | |// Evolution's over. We won. | Humanity. \X/ | +---------------------------------------+----------------------------+
UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) (12/08/90)
In article <901204.08444761.046515@CMR.CP6>, Dennis_Grant@CMR001.BITNET says: > 1) What does developer's status with CBM entail? Who do I contact > about getting it? How much? Student discount? Small time developer is about $85. It gets you some good stuff, including good technical information. Call Commodore on the telephone. (They are in West Chester, outside of Philadelphia.) Ask for Commodore Amiga Technical Services (I think 8-). > 2) What is out there in terms of essential literature? Where do you > get them? The 3 volume ROM Kernel Manuals (RKM) from Addison-Wesley ,published in 1990. Order them from your local bookstore. Read them. Study them. Caress them. Cherish them. Take them to fine restaurants... > 3) What are the 'must have' developer's tools? Hmmm. Generically, the usual---editor, compiler, manuals. Specifically, I don't know of anything that you *gotta* have, or else. > 4) With regards to C, what are the incompatabilities between Manx and > SAS? What versions are most recent? Recommendations? How hard is it > to port Manx source to SAS source? Depends on the Manx source. If it is pretty ordinary, it is easy. If it uses lots of Manxisms, it is hard. In either case, it is always easier to port from a compiler you know well to one you know less well than the other way around. > 5) My first project entails writing a device driver. Where can I find > info on this? Example source? How big of a project am I looking at? See the RKM manuals. Also, CATS will sell you the source to all the examples from the RKM, and they are on a Fish disk. letters too.
dcl@ncsc1.ATT.COM (Dave Love) (12/11/90)
milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu (Daryl Scott Cantrell) writes: >In article <27272.275e25d3@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> markv@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: >[...] >>Commodore has two types of developer's programs. Certified is $75 a >>year and gets you discounts on hardware, a subscription to AmigaMail, > Close. > Commercial developers pay $450/year plus $50 startup. Certified Developers >pay $50/year plus $25 startup. Close. Certified developers pay $75/year plus $25 startup. I know, I just paid mine last week. :) -- Dave Love UUCP: dcl@ncsc1.att.com CI$: 75126,2223 bix: dlove -- "MS-DOS... The ultimate PC virus." --
ken@cbmvax.commodore.com (Ken Farinsky - CATS) (12/11/90)
In article <1990Dec7.181507.4748@engin.umich.edu> milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu (Daryl Scott Cantrell) writes: >In article <27272.275e25d3@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> markv@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: >[...] >>Commodore has two types of developer's programs. Certified is $75 a >>year... > > Close. > Commercial developers pay $450/year plus $50 startup. Certified Developers >pay $50/year plus $25 startup. Ok, ok. Let's get the real numbers. I always post aproximations, as I never know when the numbers are going to change. For now, the cost is: annual startup cost cost ------ ------- certified $ 75 $ 25 commercial $ 450 $ 50 I've updated this info too. Send mail to: CATS-Admin 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester, PA 19380 And ask for information on the developer support program. I believe that you can also call (215) 431-9180 and they will send you the info. There are two developer levels, both require that you be working on a product that you believe will make it to market. Developer status includes a subscription to AmigaMail (our technical newsletter), access to beta software, access to developers conferences, and access to closed conferences on BIX. Commercial status also includes phone support. Certified Developer, $75/year, no phone support, no other requirements. $25 signup cost. Commercial Developer, $450/year, phone support, requires that you have an existing product on the market. $50 signup cost. CATS also offers materials such as DevCon notes, 1.3 Developer Update, and AmigaMail. Prices and ordering information are available at the above address. Most of the CATS developer support materials are available to non-developers, so you can get the technical information even if you do not want to become a developer. -- -- Ken Farinsky - CATS - (215) 431-9421 - Commodore Business Machines uucp: ken@cbmvax.commodore.com or ...{uunet,rutgers}!cbmvax!ken bix: kfarinsky