Hello folks, I'm Herb Johnson, the distributor of a version of Bruce Tomlin's great asmx cross assembler. It was called to my attention, there was
a discussion here about "my" asmx, Bruce's asmx, and Josh's use of (apparently my) asmx to support his/Lee Hart's Z80 product. All that is good,
but *nobody contacted me* until today - so I had zero opportunity to respond and help those who asked for help here. I just don't follow many discussion
groups, I have a Web site and an email address people can use to contact me and to find what I offer. That's how I work, mostly.
But I know most of the people in the discussion and I've supported Lee Hart and others for many years. So here I am for this moment. I'll respond in two parts. One, in general; then another message in particular. It's just too much text for one or even two messages! Hey, life's complicated. First, general responses.
1) Josh Bensadon's Z80MC Z80 source says quote "Assemble using ver 2.0 of the ASMX assembler by Bruce Tomlin"
end quote.
2) ASMX by Bruce Tomlin is available from Bruce Tomlin's Web site, and has been for decades, link below. His
asmx version for years has been called "2.0 beta 5". In recent years, he'd updated it, but apparently hasn't changed
the version/beta description. Read his Web site for more information.
2a) And ho ho ho! Somebody forked both Bruce's code, *and* my code, for asmx, and put it on github! Nobody told
Herb Johnson about this (that I recall)! Thanks to Scott Vitale for posting that information here, so now I know.
3) Pardon the history lesson. In year 2012, I looked for an 1802 cross assembler with macro capability. Why? Because I offer an 1802
cross assembler called A18, *without* macro capability. I wanted macro support. I found asmx, downloaded the source, and offered it on my site. Over time I and others made some mods to it. Bruce is/was aware of my use and can certainly extract any mods he wishes. The version of my asmx is self-described as "2.0b5+" currently with files dated up to Jan 2023. Again: my asmx code dates back to Tomlin's 2012 code.
*Note how points 2) and 3) relate to Josh's statement in point 1).*
4) I've recently updated my asmx Web page, to provide more information of this sort. I point out on my asmx Web page, people haven't contacted me about my asmx. So I haven't paid a lot of attention to it, or to Bruce's current work - until approximately "now". I don't promise I'll match Bruce's version, I'm just saying these are circumstances.
This suggests my following general advice:
If someone uses "my" asmx with Josh's Z80 code, and finds problems, I'd like to know, contact me please, but also read my fine documentation and Web page. I suggest likewise for Bruce's code, Web site and contacting him. If someone uses Bruce's most-recent asmx *and* my asmx, and finds differences, *please* let me know so I can consider changes, fixes in my version. But Bruce or I may have different features or other differences that aren't errors.
If my use and distribution of Bruce's code, has brought attention to his fine assembler, that's a good thing. I'm sorry if there's confusion between the two (make that three) "forks" but, you know, I've left a trail behind, I try to be responsible for my own litter, etc, but you have to *ask me*.
I'll address specific posted comments in my next email.
- regards, Herb Johnson
