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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : TRS80 emulation in GWBASIC
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| Frank N. Furter Guru  Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 828 |
Hi folks, I have found an interesting TRS80 emulator in GWBASIC: http://cpmarchives.classiccmp.org/trs80/mirrors/www.vavasour.ca/jeff/mice.html Annoyingly, I can't get it to work! Is it because of my ROMFILE? - unfortunately i don't know...  I tried it with different ROM's under GWBASIC and QBASIC, which I had previously renamed to ROMIMAGE...  It would be fantastic to get this emulator running on a PicoMite! Frank |
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SimpleSafeName Guru Joined: 28/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 319 |
Here's the line that opens the "ROMIMAGE." file in the GW source code: 180 OPEN "R", 1, "ROMIMAGE.", 128 Are you getting an error? What happens, or doesn't happen? And I would try renaming "ROMIMAGE." to "ROMIMAGE.ROM" since I don't recall filenames ending in "." ever being used. I tried it in QB64, but QB64 doesn't support "DEF FN". |
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| SimpleSafeName Guru Joined: 28/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 319 |
Okay, I see what's going on here. If ROMIMAGE. does not exist, GW-BASIC (or in my case, PC-BASIC) will create the file for you. Look in your folder where you are running GW-BASIC, you will find a 0 byte file named "ROMIMAGE" (without the ".") in it. In case you are interested, I found PC-BASIC tonight which: "aims for bug-for-bug compatibility with Microsoft GW-BASIC" Aim high as I always say... But it makes it so I don't have to run FreeDOS or some such nonsense just to then run GW-BASIC. Edited 2024-05-20 20:05 by SimpleSafeName |
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| Frank N. Furter Guru Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 828 |
Nothing happens at all - just a black screen that I can exit by pressing F1. Yes, I have also noticed that the file ROMIMAGE is recreated if it does not exist. I have renamed my ROM's to ROMIMAGE, but unfortunately it still didn't work. I also tried PC-BASIC first, then GWBASIC in the DOSBOX - unfortunately no difference...  Frank |
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| darthvader Regular Member  Joined: 31/01/2020 Location: FrancePosts: 76 |
replace it with : function FNB(x) fnb = ASC(MID$(RM$(INT(X / 128) MOD M), (X AND 127) + 1, 1)) end function function FNW (X, Y) FNW = CVI(CHR$(Y) + CHR$(X)) end function Theory is when we know everything but nothing work ... Practice is when everything work but no one know why ;) |
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| SimpleSafeName Guru Joined: 28/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 319 |
I downloaded some TRS80 ROMs, created the "ROMIMAGE" file, and put PC-BASIC into C:\PC-BASIC along with the MICE files and got this: Illegal function call in 2200 Ok Which is this line: 2200 V2 = FNB(PT) Looks like it's not intended to be used with the level1.rom. Then I tried the level2.rom (these ROMs are from Slackware), which is a 12K file, and it loads and sits waiting for a key to be pressed on line 700. It most likely is coming from line 1040. So... It's working? |
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| SimpleSafeName Guru Joined: 28/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 319 |
Thanks!! |
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Martin H. Guru Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 1113 |
I took a look at the listing, the main part of the program seems to be a BASIC-Z80 emulator (Volhout would surely get a pain in the neck with all the GOTO s  ).Even so, one can't simply translate the program into MMBASIC, too many GW-BASIC peculiarities are used for that. But one can possibly use the way the program works as a blueprint. So replace the whole ON GOTOs sequences with Select Case s etc. Maybee I ll give it a try. Cheers Martin 'no comment |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
No, just laughing. I really love that many people have different use for a PicoMite. But a TRS80 emulator was not in my view. And doing it the hard way, by emulating a Z80 microprocessor in MMBasic. I estimate this aproach will be 100x slower than the TRS80. Ok, it is a proof "It can be done". But it will not be usefull. On a CMM2 you may be able to run some text adventures, but you will need MMB4W or MMB4L on a serious PC to get to TRS80 speed (a 4MHz Z80). And on the PC there will be better alternatives. The RP2040 can sure do a TRS80, and will need to be slowed down, but in compiled C code, not in interpreted MMBasic. So that is why I smile at the idea. It is a nice example of "It can be done, told you...!!", but is not in my interest (unless there is a military application...;)) Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| toml_12953 Guru Joined: 13/02/2015 Location: United StatesPosts: 339 |
I'm trying to port this to QB64. After moving all the DEF FN statements to the bottom, deleting their line numbers and changing them into FUNCTION...END FUNCTION instead, I get a duplicate definition error between FNW() and FNW$(). Apparently, QB64 can't distinguish function names only varying by a string attribute. Also, FNW$ isn't called anywhere in the program, as far as I can see. Am I missing something? If not, then I'll just eliminate the function definition for FNW$ and solve the duplicate problem. |
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| Frank N. Furter Guru Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 828 |
Has anyone got the emulator running in GWBASIC, QBASIC or PC-BASIC? It should work there, which unfortunately it doesn't in my case... Frank |
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