I'm running it on X64 linux using dosbox.? A Dell I5 5440 and linux on it is
Mint 21.3 64bit.

FYI got amsx to run...? it was far to dumb.? I really didn't expect it to be that simple!
The Zip had an .exe file and I'd been reading all the text about building it.? Turns
out asmx.exe is directly executable .? ?So all I needed to do was put it in a
convenient directory and CD to it and type the required incantation:

$asmx -C z80 -Llistfile.prn zmcV15?

Now assembles clean.?


Bed time...my head hurts.

Allison

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Hi Rich,

Been doing asm code since my first Altair...
TASM I have it.? Good assembler.

Its one of the dozen on the AMproLB+, S100 crates (both compupro and NS* horizon chassis),
Kaypro4/84, and YAZBC )(yet another Z80 single board computer).

For Z80 I generally develop on MyZ80 CP/M emulator on PCs rather than directly
cross platform.? The emulator provides a fully valid and well tested z80 and
CP/M environment.? By tested I've used it for over 20 years.

What am I trying to do... simplify the uSD interface (software) for performance and as
an abstracted block device for OS experiments other than CP/M.? Over all a different
approach so that the Z80MC teamed with a portable terminal emulation (not A PC)
to make a portable system with enough performance to assemble CP/M itself.

The whole of asmx2.x has been not getting it to behave (run/Install) on Linux PC.
No success so far and it would be nice to have a very fast assembler that is
was used for ZMCv15.? Its proven to be very frustrating, unusually so.


Allison

One of the assemblers I saw mentioned above is one I particularly like: TASM. Multi-target, multiple host versions (DOS, Win32, Win64). It has been my go-to for over 20 years, although I've used a bunch of others, mostly because I don't want to re-write the original source to fix syntax, etc. Beyond that, I use NASM, MASM, various gcc compilers for different projects. Obviously some are more flexible than others and/or have different features needed for a specific purpose. For one project, I had to even dip into an original ASM from Seattle Computer because it had a unique encoding method that was needed for a specific recreation project.

Rich Cini

Josh,

7400 lines for ZMCV15 according to my editor.
The only assembler under CP/M Z80asm (SLR) that wasn't 1005 fail found 3880 lines
with syntax or opcode errors.? The other was Z80MR and it was really unhappy with
the format.? ?ZASMC (cromemco) assembler didn't like the format.? Line ends
incomparable even after passing through FIXCRLF.? Most interesting error message
was "Line 5 trash after CR"? nothing visible to linux editor or Vteco on CP/M system.

ASMX is a path of frustration.?

It may be an easier path to my goal to start from scratch.? I was hoping to mod ZMCv15
for my uses.

Allison

Bruce Tomlin is the author of ASMX. Herb modified the code a tad and that's what he has on his web site. Someone is hosting a GITHUB repository that also has Bruce's latest version 2.0b5, which is what I am running to assemble Josh's Z80 monitor V1.5.?. This is source code for Linux.

Peace and blessings,
JQ

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Heh... I got 7788 errors with zmac...

I tried building asmx2.0b5 on a Raspberry Pi but it failed with this:

cc -Wall -O2 -DVERSION=\"2.0b5\"? -march=amdfam10 -c -o asmx.o asmx.c
cc: error: unrecognized -march target: amdfam10

I have no idea where that -march option came from, it doesn't seem to be in the Makefile.? Again, it builds fine on Slackware and LM 17.3.

Fed the file to Z80ASM...

Only 3388 errors found.

A few hours using Vteco will likely get me there.

Takes me back to the early 80s... complete with the frustrations.
?
Its why the S100 crate has 12 different assemblers for Z80 along?
never minding thse that work for 8080/8085 and the TDL
mnemonics for Z80.

Plan B was tried.? My Mintbox Mint 18.3 spat up, the Ubuntu 9.04
had library issues.? Ubnuntu version 12.04, 16.04 under VMware
on my Macbook (2008 32bit intel) had issues with the ASMX code.

Code portability is still an issue nearly 45 years later.



Allison

HINT: its Mint 21.

A list of errors longer than my arm.? (over 100 lines!).
That was a make from the source directory, make install is meaningless to my system as "install"?
gets a "no rule or target , Stop"

My history with getting things like that is either thee explanation misses detail or
its well documented and greater than 4 system versions old or a list of things to
install also out of date.

One of the things is Linux distributions tend to change what's there or even
deprecate stuff while we are not looking.? Best example was an explanation
"This will work on any unix or linux system."? So I fired up Unix V6 on my
pdp11 and also tried it under 2.11BSD as well as Ubuntu 9.04 and it all
failed.? The answer was incorrect and very version specific.

Keeping in mind to assemble the code the time spent on this so far has been a? hard
road block or edit and try to make comparable to assemblers I use 7500 lines of text.

Allison

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I compiled asmx from Herb's site on my Mint 17.3 machine with no problems, and it assembled zmc15 just fine.? What happens when you try to build it on Mint 21?

-Bob

I haven't run Slackware since '98.
I'm running Mint 21 cinnamon...

Meantime in CP/M world on real hardware....?
I'm tried a dozen Z80 assemblers, least that what on the AmproLB+.

The only thing more diverse than assembler formats is disk formats of the day.


Allison

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Hmmm...

I had no issues compiling asmx2.0b5 on my Slackware machine via make, but "gcc *-c -o asmx' did not work and I didn't pursue the error.? Let me try (probably tomorrow) building it on my somewhat ancient Mint machine.

Still not running...

Is there some missing incantation?? This is familiar to me with foreign (not repository)
code that seems to mostly do nothing.

>make install <? yields an error install is invalid parameter...
Trying to build with gcc is also a dud.

It would be really nice if it assembled under CP/M? (myz80 is a cp/m system).


Allison

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Herb Johnson has a modified version of asmx on his website at that assembles zmcv15.

-Bob

I'm trying to assemble ZMCV15....

ASMZ80 V20 can't get it to? run under Linux Mint and its format is?
sufficient different that most of the Z80 assembler I run under the
emulator (MyZ80) all find strange.? The path to reassembling it is
a serious edit, unfun.

Thoughts?

Allison

My next step is to get to the base raw SD initialization and read/write.
The idea is more compact code that has no fat artifacts or code needed
to handle it as fat. to me other than a few keep out areas the 1gb sd is
just a bag of 2,097,152 (0x200000) blocks of 512 bytes.

The idea is to have a super directory (tag and bag) of smaller
CP/M sized (8mb or smaller)? "disks" that can be loaded as needed.
Each would be file system only.? ?The CP/M OS is loaded from
EProm as pseudo boot track.? The?CP/M file systems can be loaded
on the fly as its an offset and DPH/DPB that describe the media.?
SELDISK in the BIOS selects a drive (up to 16) but usual systems
limit that due to buffer space and ALLOC space (256 byte per
8MB using 4K alloc) needs. But the base number of drives can be
altered on the fly and its a minor coding task to make that a loadable
system variable rather than BIOS fixed? as done often.

By doing that it become easy to make a really large device usable.
Seems to work fine for 128 or 256mb CF.

PC comparability for the SD is not used as files needed are simply
transferred via USB-serial to Z80MC.? By treating the SD as a
non removable memory it lightens the code.? Doing that allows for a
monitor, tag and bag OS, BIOS, CP/M image (62K system) plus
extras to fit in 32K eprom.

This is a result of thinking outside of the CP/M alteration guide
and 4 floppies.


Allison

That may be it, I really don't enjoy parsing the FAT structure.? Accessing the device on the
LBA makes more sense to me as its really just a large number of addressable blocks.? I've
done that with IDE/CF for years and its faster.? Also makes it more in common with romdisk.

With the advent of large Eproms romdisk makes having base software available.? The
32K mapping for low address space makes it easy to have the rough equivilent of 8"SSSD
disk (about 240K) for those that remember CP/M 2.2.

Now to wade through the source and make sure I captured the needed code.

NSDOS is a tag and bag DOS.? Its structure is simple.

The base version of that had no scatter gather mechanism so the NS* system had?
a utillity to compact the disk.? ? Another weel know OS that was similar was
DEC RT-11.

Why is it interesting,,,,? Any file can be a directory.


Allison