pilgrim@daimi.aau.dk (Jakob G}rdsted) (01/22/91)
I recently bought an old japanese microcomputer (1982-1983) called
a Sord M5. So now I'm trying to get in touch with other people
owning such a creature.
I've got an Amiga 5OO right now, and before that a C64. A long
time ago, when I wondered about buying the C64, I also considered
buying the Sord M5, but I chose the C64 for several reasons. But
last week I got the possibility to get a Sord M5 cheap.
In fact, I have some questions about the computer, answers to
which only the net will be able to provide me with(maybe). They are:
1. Are there any (old) books describing the computer on the deeper
levels, like a ROM kernal Manual/Reference Manual and/or stuff like
that ? I need titles/names, to search for them. There must be some
books, at least by the manufactores of the machine.
I have the Basic-I, Basic-G, and some gamemodules for the system.
The look of the games suggests that the ROM's in the game modules
are only 1k/2k bytes. I also know there exists a Basic-F, which
I maybe can get my hands on. -
2. What does Basic-F imply ( what is it that I and G are not ?)
I got plenty of books with the computer, and they vaguely, but
not quite clearly, suggests that the biggest amount of RAM I will
ever have free under Basic-G is 16k bytes -
3. does anybody have any information about this ? ^
As I have understood things, this Z80A (8bit) equipped computer
has 20 k bytes video ram, adressable by the Z8O, and with nothing
else than BASIC-I in it it says about 4kbytes free for basic, and
when I plug BASIC-G, it says approx. 7 kbytes free, so I expect
basicG to contain an additional 3kbytes.
4. Is it possible to expand the RAM, and how, and how much ?
(as there are no other ports, I guess either doing something in-
side the machine, or doing something with the cartridge, or
getting another cartridge) ?
5. There are 32 sprites, and collision detection between them,
but is there any way to do sprite versus any of the background
collision check ?
6. What newsgroup should I instead have posted this to ?
(mail me)
Thats all the questions, now for some facts about the machine
for the interested reader (I don't expect more than one
to exist ;-):
Its a 16color, 32sprite, 4soundchannel,Z80A-3.87 MHz,32/24k?
computer. It's got TV uhf and composite video/monosound
output, two NONstandard joystick ports, and rubber keyboard!
(like the spectrum). Its japanese, and never sold any much,
as far as I know. To describe it briefly, it reminds me of
a mixture between a ZXspectrum and a C64. It only works
when a module is stuck into its expansionport, like
BasicI or BasicG. BasicG is great, with great sound and
graphic control (no C64 pokes): You can move the sprites
around yourself, or give them orders to move in a direction,
with a speed, and/or to a specified location and stop.
Music can be played with a command where you give it
the notes and it stops execution of the program until
it has finished playing, or you can make it play tunes
independently(interruptdriven), still with basic-
commands. It has error-traphandling, and supports in-
terrupts in much the same fashion as Amigabasic does.
But, before you all rush out and buy one, some of the
limitations:
In basicG, there are NO semiReals - this is -32767 to
32767 only!(it does not have -32768, but it IS two's
complement. I know from the AND/OR)
Arrays can only be 255 long, like DIM A(255),
(but you Can say DIM A(28,21,56,5) )
The 3 of the 4 soundchannels are for music, the fourth
is sundry kinds of white noise, which if wanted can
be made to interact with channel 2. The channels
have individual volume, and a number of preset
ADSR settings, but only one waveform(I dont know
what it is).
The graphics display is something - always 256x192
pixels, but both 32x24, 40x24 and hires, at the
same time(you switch between them). For each
8x1 pixel block (8pixels wide, 1 pix high) you
can choose 2 out of 16 colors, this means in
some ways better graphics than the C64, some-
times pourer, but always better than Spectrum.
Basic commands for scrolling in all four directions.
It is quite easy to use machine code in basic.
(transfer to and from registers, putting things
on of the stack, VARPTR command).
Save/load of prg's and pictures with a tape-
recorder the C64way. But the screen stays on,
and it prints a period (.) for every 256 bytes
it reads (which it does quite fast(?).
Thats all for now.mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) (01/22/91)
In article <1991Jan21.182135.2143@daimi.aau.dk> pilgrim@daimi.aau.dk (Jakob G}rdsted) writes: >I recently bought an old japanese microcomputer (1982-1983) called >a Sord M5. So now I'm trying to get in touch with other people >owning such a creature. Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. --Mike -- Mike Godwin, (617) 864-0665 | Rick Blaine's Haiku: mnemonic@eff.org | "Of all the gin joints Electronic Frontier | In all the burgs in the world Foundation | She walks into mine."
gsh7w@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy) (01/22/91)
Mike Godwin writes:
#Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord.
Is this an example of you rapier wit?
--
-Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia
USPS Mail: Astronomy Department, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA
Internet: gsh7w@virginia.edu
UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!gsh7wpilgrim@daimi.aau.dk (Jakob G}rdsted) (01/22/91)
mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes: >Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. It may be so, but to rid the world of misinterpretation, I assure you: This computer(?) is called Sord M5, with no W's whatsoever!
pilgrim@daimi.aau.dk (Jakob G}rdsted) (01/22/91)
mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes: >Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. Indeed, so it is said, but to rid the world of any misinterpretations regarding this: The name of The Computer is SORD M5, without even a single W(!).
diamond@jit345.swstokyo.dec.com (Norman Diamond) (01/22/91)
In article <1991Jan22.022921.1393@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> gsh7w@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Hennessy) writes: >Mike Godwin writes: >>Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. >Is this an example of you rapier wit? He's filling his symbol table to the hilt. Sharp fellow. -- Norman Diamond diamond@tkov50.enet.dec.com If this were the company's opinion, I wouldn't be allowed to post it.
mfterman@burn.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire) (01/23/91)
Wasn't this the machine that took over the Enterprise that one episode? Where it blew up the guy who tried to unplug it and trashed all those other ships while it was playing a game, which everyone was pretending to be fake but it thought was real? I'd be damn careful about this one.... Martin Terman, Mutant for Hire, Physicist from Hell, Bug in the Cosmic Program Disclaimer: The above posting was written by an AI that has hacked my account. "There's no conflict between physics and Hinduism, Subrata. What I call black holes you call avatars of Shiva...." - mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu
dac@prolix.ccadfa.oz.au (Andrew Clayton) (01/23/91)
In article <1991Jan22.022921.1393@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, Greg Hennessy writes: > Mike Godwin writes: > #Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. > Is this an example of you rapier wit? /* a vast waste of time and effort */ // people compiling this code without changes, and posting the results of a run // get a net.cop.nowak bystestick all of their very own. #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> //? for strcmp ? void Transmogrify(int sickpun); { if (sickpun) printf("Of IOU's: please, war may rip thin exit.\n"); else printf("Lucky!.\n"); } int Incomprehensible(char * string) { return(strcmp(string,"Is this an example of you rapier wit?"); } void main() { /*function definitions*/ void Transmogrify (int sickpun); int Incomprehensible (char * string); /*repeat forever "I hate Mickeysoft C 6.00"*/ Transmogrify(Incomprehensible(argv)); exit; } > -Greg Hennessy, University of Virginia Dac -- [If you iterate this code this three times, without using a sick pun, you get to be Kylie Minogue for a day.] {{for those of you not familiar with Kylie, consider yourself lucky!}} (((if pressed, I will deny all knowledge of this article)))
amanda@iesd.auc.dk (Per Abrahamsen) (01/24/91)
BTW: Basic-F is a basic with support for Floating point numbers. >>>>> On 22 Jan 91 17:46:35 GMT, mfterman@burn.Princeton.EDU (Mutant >>>>> for Hire) said: Mutant> Wasn't this the machine that took over the Enterprise that one Mutant> episode? Nope, the Enterprise was the name the ELAN Enterprise ended up with, because another computer company already had a computer named ELAN, and because FLAN was to plain silly. The Enterprise was the ultimate 8-bit home computer (with real ANSI Basic and countless graphic modes), but although it was announced before the SORD M5, it did not start shipping until the SORD M5 had been withdrawn from the European marked. -- No, I don't watch TV. Why do you ask?
abcscnge@csunb.csun.edu (Scott Neugroschl) (01/24/91)
Greg Hennessy writes: }Mike Godwin writes: }#Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. } }Is this an example of you rapier wit? You will surely epee for your puns and your spelling! Scott -- Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl abcscnge@csuna.csun.edu -- Beat me, Whip me, make me code in Ada -- Disclaimers? We don't need no stinking disclaimers!!!
baldwin@usna.navy.mil (J.D. Baldwin) (01/25/91)
In article <1991Jan24.044932.16207@csun.edu>, Scott Neugroschl writes: >Greg Hennessy writes: >}Mike Godwin writes: >}#Just a warning: He who lives by the Sord, dies by the Sord. >} >}Is this an example of you rapier wit? > >You will surely epee for your puns and your spelling! I don't have a comment here, I just thought this exchange deserved a re-post. -- From the catapult of: |+| "If anyone disagrees with anything I _, J. D. Baldwin, Comp Sci Dept |+| say, I am quite prepared not only to __||____:::)=}- U.S. Naval Academy|+| retract it, but also to deny under \ / baldwin@cad.usna.navy.mil |+| oath that I ever said it." --T. Lehrer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~