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Hi there guys, salut !!

Sorry if i dont speak french but i'm very happy to be here.

I'm from Italy and i still own a PC128 (MO6) so since i have some spare time this summer i would try to write something in assembly 6809.

I found AWESOME books in your library, especially the one called "Passez facilment du basic au langage machine", its so exhaustive and well done, so i was trying to use it to write some asm.

I have a couple of questions:

- Whats the best assembly tool i could find for MO5/MO6 ?? I got assembleur-6809-v3_memo5.rom and this is the one referred from the book i guess.
- I found the way to save to k7 by the asm editor (SC:FILENAME.ASM) but i would like to use floppy disk. The ASM is saying that i should use "Sn:FILENAME.ASM" but when i specify the drive number (ex. "S0:FILENAME.ASM") it tells me "Bad file mode". What's wrong here?

Guys i love so much to see you all here still in 2017. That was my first computer and i still adore it, its cool to see i'm not the only one

I moved your message to the right category.
Welcome here

Sorry

Thank you sir!

Hi and welcome !

The book you've mentioned is one of the best in my opinion. It was my best book when I was a teenager.

The best assembler on the machine itself is Macro-Assembler v3.6, I think that's the one you found. You have to know that this is not an official software, but a highly improved and optimized version of Microsoft's Assembler that was made by PrehisTO, one of the gurus in the Thomson world. For example, it's 4 times faster than the original assembler.

The book refers to the original Microsoft version. The initial set of features and commands remains the same, but PrehisTO added a lot more like macros, binary includes etc. However, the assembler is originally for the MO5 and not designed to use the fancy features like memory commutation of the MO6/PC128. But it does the job, essentially.

The command S0:FILENAME.ASM is correct in the editor. n = 0..3 in general. SFILENAME should be enough the first time, as the floppy is used by default if it is present. Once the name is defined, S is all you need to type. What model of floppy do you have ? Maybe you just forgot to format the disk first ? In the main menu, can you do a 3 DIRECTORY (then type 0) ? If your floppy works, it should display its directory.

PS. Oh, if you're working in DCMoto, maybe you forgot to disable write protection in the floppy menu of the emulator.

If you need help with the real hardware (repairs, buy some stuff), I can help.

The 6809 MacroAssembler 3.6 by Prehisto is for sure the best assembler for the Olivetti Prodest PC128. However it should be noted that most Thomson coders use a 6809 assembler on PC. This is easier and faster. The resulting binary can be debugged with an emulator, and only the final tests are run on the PC128.

Hi Daniel, thanks for your response

Yeah the book is pretty awesome and so it is the assemler environment, its the one from PrehisTO for sure since it marks 2006 as latest update and yeah, it is really enjoyable.

I own a real Pc128 but its better to work with DCmoto for pratical reasons. I already checked the disable write protection for disk. So i suppose all i have to do is:

- create a new blank .fd file
- select it in the text field of dcmoto tools panel
- then, in the assembler editor, write S0:FILENAME.ASM where 0 is the device number, but as i said, the editor response is always "Bad file mode"

I would try to type just S:FILENAME then just S for saving, i'll let you know.

This is a picture of my environment:



Merci beacoup again

Try to remove the .ASM file extension when saving since the editor adds it automatically. T'm pretty sure that your problem relies in that thing (no extension when saving in assembler v3.6 iirc)

Another tip pointed out by FoolDupleX in a previous post : after loading an empty disk with dcmoto, you must format it before writing.
The command is DSKINI 0 for side 0 and DSKINI 1 for side 1.

... in BASIC or FORMAT in the main menu of the macro-assembler, followed by the number . By the way, S:FILENAME is incorrect. The drives are 0:, 1: and so on, just like A:, B: in the newer Microsoft world. : alone does not mean anything.

Definetely im doing something wrong here.

I created the blank file (.fd, .qd, .sap, tried everything) then loaded it into tool panels of DCMOTO. The permission is checked as the file is not read only too.

Now, if i choose 7 (Format) from macro-assembler, it asks me for the drive number: i type 0, 1, etc. but the answer is always "Bad Param"

If i switch to basic and type "DSKINI n" (0, 1, whatever) it gives me an "Error 2". I'm emulating MO5 v1.0, maybe its because of this?

Thanks again

Basic 1.0 cannot access the floppy disk without first loading the BASIC-DOS from a bootable system disk.
Basic 128 includes the DOS commands and can be used alone to format the floppy disk.

The PC128 has no built-in disk controller. An external controller is needed. For 3"1/2 floppy disks, it is CD90-351.
With dcmoto, you must check the case 'Controller esterno / CD90-351' in 'Opzioni' dialog box.

I think the last piece of advice by Daniel is the one. "Bad param" is shown in Macro-Assembler when no disk drive is present at all.

That worked, sorry for not knowing about that option, merci beacoup guys