This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (242 messages)
#29503-
#Bruce Dawson Review
Message #29705
Oh, THIS one is no drag. It's an Amiga product and it's gonna be HOT (at least for those people who need one of these puppies). The hardware is almost finished, the software about 50%, and we've had the system in operation for a couple of months. It gets exciting…
Dean, too summarize. I have tried the following: 1. Booting normally using addmem (the one supplied on Insider disk) Mounting RAD: and putting the required startup files on RAD: Remove disk from df0: and warm boot. The machine automatically defaults to request to insert WB disk. 2. Same procedure as…
Currently, for sale, in the US, NOW, there is only 1 2500. -sja
Randall, I used to live in the Danbury area years ago, and occasionally visit my parents, who still live there. Try Softtown on Mill Plain Road, or travel down Route 7 to Amigo Business Systems (they are the distributors of KickWork, and appear to do quite a bit to support…
Aha… I hadn't looked at 68000 OPCODES that closely yet. Thanks for that piece of information. (Explains why AS treated the short branch differently from everything else, but it doesn't explain why it didn't flag it as an error, or at least warn me.) Now that we've gotten out of…
Randy, No…we don't have a list of dealers here, but your local yellow pages would be a good place to start. Also, perhaps someone reading this thread who also lives near you may want to jump in with a dealer's name. Don
#AMIGA dealers/suppliers
Message #29314
Betty – Does the forum have a list anywhere of AMIGA dealers, suppliers, software shops and the like in local areas?? I live in Danbury Connecticut and would like to know who might sell 2000's and other AMIGA stuff. Thanks Randy
I guess the most important thing for me is that I know what my tools are doing, and preferably that they don't leave holes that are easy to fall into. With CAPE I can trust that it's doing what I want it to do to my source code, though I…
Ethan, there is a difference between blatant advertising and answering a question. I believe you were answering Robert's question. Betty
"Can you think of a case…" No, but then I am not at present proficient in 68000/Amiga assembly. However, I would rather the assembler "recommend" an instruction change rather than actually make it. Of course, I'd settle for a "NOOPTIMIZE" switch too. Regarding your protest of no offense… none taken.…
This is, of course, generally true. Knowledge and care will usually produce a superior prodduct. My point was for those whose think that size of code necessarily means faster, as though the distance traveled makes the trip faster. Depends on where you are and where you're going. – Nelson …
Robert, I buy disks by the hundred from HITECH. We use them for our club library. I think I have had maybe 2 or 3 of the last 500 or so that gave a problem. The woman who runs HiTech (in one of the Dallas suburbs, but I can't locate…
I got an ad in the mail for 85 cent 3.5" disks. The company is MEI/Micro Center. You must buy them in lots of 25, and labels are 65 cents for fifty. The number is 800 634 3478. (If its illegal/unethical to give a company name, Sysops, please erase this…
Steven, Yes, the Novi Download has been disconnected due to an almost total lack of use. It had gotten to the point that the usage wasn't worth the cost of the phone line and the space that it took up. As for autoboot not working with the 1.3 ROMs on…
Dean, have noticed I get a disconnected message on your Novi BBs. Is the system no longer on? A while ago I raised the question of why autoboot will not work properly with the 1.3 ROMs I have replaced in my KwikStart. (I have the older one with 4 ROMs).…
Rick, A short branch with a zero offset is illegal on the 68xxx processor series. This is because a long branch is coded as a short branch with a zero offset followed by the longword offset for the long branch. If you had a reason for putting it there, then…
Re your comments on the reliability, granted… IF your assembler doesn't hink with your code. But if it does, surprise! Of course we both realize that this isn't an important issue… it's back to the old saw of as many was to code as there are coders, eh? Rick
Ah, I hadn't thought of that; I see what you mean now. This is typical of why I enjoy hanging out here. Geez, if you think you don't have anything to learn, don't toss bits with THESE guys. 😉 Rick
Good question. Apparently the assembler is smart enough to understand that this is NOT the equivalent of a NOP, as it leaves the BSR in the same position alone. Rick
#29072-
Bruce Dawson Review
Message #29192
"You could write it…" Sorry. I'm involved with another Amiga project that's been rolling for about 9 months now and is approaching completion, and there's no time to spare for neat utilities. You'll have to find some other sucker… er, ah, programmer to do this one. 😉 Rick
Looks like a nice clean approach, Dean. I'm going to keep it in mind for the next time I have to code such a table. Thanks. Rick
Rick, When I set up jump tables I usually try to use BYTE size relative offsets, as the savings in the table nearly always makes up for the extra instruction to load the offset before adding it to the jump address. This lets me make forward references of up to…
That's true – I think you got this out of context. When I mentioned that there a few different 2500's someone said there was only one, which of course is not true. Ron
Sure, and if you like you could change every bra.s in your program into a jmp.l #nnnn, and it would only cost you four bytes for each time you do it. But why are you bothering to write in assembler if you don't want smaller & faster code? Using a…
Betty, Well, I look at it this way. If it is a 'bundled' machine, sold with the extras, and has a price for the bundle, and even has a different designator, then it is definitely either a variation or a different model. I am of mixed feelings as to whether…
But Larry – all of those are just 2500s with different options, aren't they? Not really different versions of the machine. Well, maybe the Unix machine will be. Certainly the bridgeboard is an addon that does not make the machine a different version. Or maybe the question is – just…
With branches or word offsets from a table base don't have to be relocated on a load, but a table of 32bit absolute addresses has to be relocated by the loader, so the overhead is something like hunkmarker + 4bytes for zero end marker + hunkend + 8 bytes for…
I hate looking it up too, and every time I've tried it (haven't needed to with the Amiga), I've been bitten badly by the docs. That's why I wrote the timing programs for the other machines.
Robert, I can find Maxell's and Sony's around here for less than $20 a box, and also found some Kodak disks on sale for $16 a box. Haven't had any problems with any of them. Don
Rick, That's an interesting one. I wonder what would happen if you had a BSR in there instead of a BRA? I have seen this technique used to call a subroutine twice. -larry
I was hoping you would give me a break. But I guess not. Thats ok. But I still don't agree that documentation on the machines is NEVER accurate etc. But I will go along with you on the point about the amiga not being well suited for that task. It…
#3.5 Disks
Message #29067
I am thinking of getting some 3.5 disk and would like to know if anyone has purchased any disk at a reasonable price that did not give them any problems. I have used Sony in the past and have had no problem with them, unfortunatly, they ask for a pretty…
You guys have finally gotten my curiosity up to the point that I had to try this. First I coded: FRED BRA.L DAVE BRA.S FRED DAVE RTS The Aztec AS did NOT change the long branch to a short. Then I ripped out the BRA.S FRED. No change. Now here's…
You're wrong and right. I AM programming the Amiga — among other machines. But the 68000 RTS *IS* two bytes (4E 75, to be exact). Every other CPU I program has a byte-wide RTS, and I forgot the 68000 was different in this regard. Thanks for keeping me honest. On…
Scott, I'll have to ask you to explain your comments about relocation info and disk space, please? Rick
Rick, Here's how I handle it assuming all references fit into a single source file. The code fragment: lsl.w #1,d0 ;multiply index by 2 for table offset lea cmdtable(pc),a0 ;get address of table move.w 0(a0,d0.w),d0 ;get routine offset adda.w d0,a0 ;calculate routine address jsr (a0) ;jsr to routine The table:…
Colin, My point is that the Amiga development packages generally generate code that requires fixups at load time. The earlier statement was that the assembler would replace one addressing mode with another in order to optimize the code. Now if the code is disk loadable, this is not a problem,…
Mike, Since I have never had a CMI accellerator board, I've not tested them together. If CMI designed the accellerator properly, (emulating a 7Mhz 68000 for buss access) then electrically they should work. I believe, however that they used some 'tricks' in order to boost performance, so it's very possible…
Tim, This is just a fair warning. The Amiga is going to grab you and insist that you do more than play games. It won't let you get away with all that goofing off! You'll find yourself learning all kinds of things you never thought you'd want to know. Just…
Ron, Right now, the 2500 is available. It comes with a hard disk, but not as an option – it just has it. It is a 2000 with 40M hard disk, 2090A, and 2620 with 2Meg of 32-bit memory. This can be increased to 4M. But there is only one…
Rick, A RTS is one byte shorter than a short branch? You must not be programming the Amiga — they're both 2 bytes long on the 68000, last time I checked. Bill
Colin, I normally do specify the full instruction coding for my assembly statements, and expect the assembler to complain if one of them (e.g. bra.s) isn't feasible. As long as it doesn't actually change anything, I'm happy. As for move.l #val,a0 vs movea.l #val,a0, I normally code all moves to…
Thanks for the info Betty. Kurt L.
Yes, but using bra.s or word offsets can save you about 20 bytes or so of relocation info per reference. a hundred entry vector table is actually costing you many more disk bytes, that's something to consider also.
#28221-
Bruce Dawson Review
Message #28988
I didn't mean to imply that you are "… against God, apple pie, and the girl next door…" because you don't like the idea of an optimizing assembler. I actually forgot what I said, but I meant no offence. I think I remember saying that you are SOL if you…
#28035-
#Bruce Dawson Review
Message #28987
Using the Address Register indirect with Displacement mode for addressing is still ROMable, isn't it? I was under the impression that the requirement for ROMable code was the same as that for re-entrant code. Am I wrong? An assembler will NEVER (unless there's a bug somewhere) change your code so…
#27999-
#Bruce Dawson Review
Message #28986
There is nothing stopping you from being completely explicit in your programming. Assemblers aren't supposed to change your code if you are totally explicit. If you say BRA.L the assembler won't (shouldn't) optimize it to a BRA. If you say ADDI it won't (shouldn't) optimize it to an ADDQ. It's…
On instructions with variable execution times, the assembler would do the same thing WE do: list a minimum/maximum time for the individual instruction, and give a tallied minimum/maximum for the code segment in question. As far as machines with (I assume you are referring to) different numbers of wait states…
Right, but with word addresses you have the same problem, I.E., if one of them won't fit into a +/- 32K range, you've got to stick in a longword, which blows up the table, or insert an island branch somewhere. This approach is absolutely, completely foolproof. As far as size…
Ron, Let's clarify that…of course they were all Amigas…10 years from now the Amiga A5000 (or whatever) will be an Amiga. The A2500 series (HD, UX and AT) are ALL A2000's with various add-on boards included with the package. The base machine is no different that what you could buy…
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