[comp.sys.acorn] <None>

cepurneekc@sturt.sacae.edu.au (03/06/91)

In article <1991Mar1.113456.3297@ifi.uio.no>, oystein@ifi.uio.no writes:

> In article <1991Feb26.110018.12714@abekrd.co.uk>, garyb@abekrd.co.uk writes:   

>> source, pre-processes it and emits it to the BASIC assembler for assembly.
>> Since every Archimedes comes with the ability to assemble in BASIC this
>> would result in a very small assembler....

> Sounds a bit far fetched to me, perhaps. Remember also, that quite a few
> of us need output in AOF, and the BASIC assembler can only produce absolute
> code.

??? sorry, don't know what AOF stands for, but I'm quite certain that the
BASIC assembler can produce non-absolute (relocatable) code. I too was
wondering why BASIC's assembler was not getting much mention. Back in the 
6502 days I was amazed what a hassle it was to get something done using
an Apple (editor, linker etc.) vs the BBC's [LDA ASC("a")/JSR &FFEE/RTS].
Even the Acorn BASIC manual seems to keep its ease of use a bit of a secret;
the entries for CALL and USR don't say much (for beginners :-)).

What would it take to write assembly source routines in a format that made
then reasonably usable by others? Maybe a DEFFNfoo indicating 'required'
registers -- ie R0 for SWI Write_Char, 'needed' registers -- ie. how many
are used by the procedure, and entry and exit states? If I want to use the
routine it would be my responsibility to:

STM stack,{list} ;store anything I'm using at the moment
dummy=FNfoo      ;which assembles the code for the routine
                 ;a parameter list could assign 'needed' reginters?
LDM stack,{list} ;restore the things I need.

The assembly code equivalent of PRINT "a" is presumably a bit simpler than
what most are writing, but I'd find DEFFN_256bitmultiply(x,y,p) a
useful bit of code. (where x,y & p are pointers to the data).

Are there many other BASIC/assembler fans out there?

Carl Cepurneek

gaspar@urz.unibas.ch (05/14/91)

I was reading here some time ago about SCSI interfaces made by the Serial Port.
Does anybody know if they are availiable already (8 and 16 bit versions), where
to get them from and how much they cost?
It's quite hard to get infos like this here in Switzerland.
Thanks a lot
laci

rkl@and.cs.liv.ac.uk (06/06/91)

> There was some rumours about new ARM-assembler-commands. 

Who started these rumours ? :-) I thought the ARM3 had the same instruction
set as the ARM2. I guess it's all this stuff about the NV conditional flag
(which I never (sic) use myself)...

> The only way I see, to do this for the archimedes, is to put a software
> emulator for this new commands ( which behaves like the FPU-emulator ) into 
> the public domain.

A sensible suggestion, if the ARM4 (or whatever's the next generation ARM
chip) has a superset of instructions w.r.t. the ARM2 and ARM3...

> 1. Is there a tool like !lineedit, which can be used without starting the 
>    desktop at all ?

Run the LineEditor module inside !LineEdit. The module works both inside and
outside the Desktop (in fact, it is DESIGNED for command-line work :-) ).

> 2. Can someone explain me what filetype the file !arc100.arc100 has ? I get
>    funny results with fileinfo !arc100.arc100.

It doesn't have a filetype. It's not positioned at &8000 exactly so can't be
filetyped to Absolute (future releases may be positioned at &8000 with a
memory shift header...hence I'll be able to use "Squeeze" on it).

> 3. Someone posted, he is angry by extracting .tar.Z -files cause he have to
>    give lots of CLI-commands. Why don't we declare a standard (like 
>    !submit/!extract for .tar.Z.uue -files) ?

It's just that Spark [2] is easier to use than !Extract/!Submit, that's all :-)

> 4. Same procedure as every time:
>    Does everyone knows implementations of PD/Shareware/FREEWARE Editors ?

Try !StrongEd on Newcastle's info server. Guttorm Vik wrote it and it's quite
nice if you want to call text editors from the Desktop (I don't - I use Twin,
not brilliant but just about usable).

Oh, I don't know if it's available on Newcastle yet, but VKiller 2.30 was
released this week (now copes with a total of 7 viruses and should have all
the annoying minor bugs in 2.20 removed :-) ).

Richard K. Lloyd,       **** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.4 ****
Computer Science Dept.,   JANET     : rkl@uk.ac.liv.cs.and
Liverpool University,     Internet  : rkl%and.cs.liv.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Merseyside, England,      UUCP      : ..!mcsun!ukc!liv-cs!rkl
Great Britain.          Q: "What's the world's fastest home micro ?"
L69 3BX                 A: "The Archimedes A3000. 4 MIPS for under 800 pounds."

gilbertd@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Dave Gilbert) (06/07/91)

In <1991Jun6.112309.89@and.cs.liv.ac.uk> rkl@and.cs.liv.ac.uk writes:

>> There was some rumours about new ARM-assembler-commands. 

>Who started these rumours ? :-) I thought the ARM3 had the same instruction
>set as the ARM2. I guess it's all this stuff about the NV conditional flag
>(which I never (sic) use myself)...

There is a new command called SWAP - or something to that effect which swaps
something to do with memory and registers - this is documented in the new
VLSI databooks - but Acorn have given severe warnings to all there developers
not to touch it.

Dave
-- 
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- Dave Gilbert - gilbertd@p4.cs.man.ac.uk - The MTBF of a piece of equipment  -
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