assemble/disassemble to buy?
STUART BEALE
>Hello,
>
> I would like to hear peoples opinions about which
>compilers/assemblers are best for the Amiga.
>I can program in C and 68000 but I would like to do amiga
>related projects. I have a A4000/30.
>
>I have heard SAS and Devpac mentioned in this news group,
>are these packages any good? If so how much do they cost,
>and where can I get them from, also could I get them with
>an educational discount.
Personally, I prefer to use Devpac. I use version 2, which
I have gotten so used to.
There are versions available that have been enhanced much
by crack or hack groups, although I cant give any information
on those. I have seen one enhanced version which has a nice
flashy front end with buttons and stuff, and a decent file
requester - the most annoying thing about Devpac for me is
that it reads in the whole dir every time it reads a file.
But Devpac, for me is fine. The debugger is good too...
>Do these packages explain how to program using the Amiga
>hardware?
No! but you can use Devpac to program the hardware!!!
Devpac lets you assemble a program, and run it from a
menu option. Quit out of your program, and continue
coding (depending on how clean your code is :p )
Devpac is available from HiSoft. Can't remember offhand
where they are based (apart from they are in the UK!),
and it should be around #60
As for learning to program the hardware. Any of the
following should help:
o Amiga Hardware Reference Manual from CBM (#20 ish)
o Amiga Sysytem Programmers Guide from Abacus (#30 - #40)
o Amiga Computing Magazine articles on
'hitting the hardware' by Jolyron Ralph
They were from around 1990 I think, but give you the
basics upwards very cheaply and effectively.
Call Amiga Computing for more info, or maybe someone
on here can supply more info, if needed...
>Thanks
>
>Dave
Hope that helps!
Stu
Richard Hackett
> In reply to: David Gill (d.a....@qmw.ac.uk)
>
> >Hello,
> >
> > I would like to hear peoples opinions about which
> >compilers/assemblers are best for the Amiga.
> >I can program in C and 68000 but I would like to do amiga
> >related projects. I have a A4000/30.
> >
> >I have heard SAS and Devpac mentioned in this news group,
> >are these packages any good? If so how much do they cost,
> >and where can I get them from, also could I get them with
> >an educational discount.
>
> Personally, I prefer to use Devpac. I use version 2, which
> I have gotten so used to.
>
> There are versions available that have been enhanced much
> by crack or hack groups, although I cant give any information
> on those. I have seen one enhanced version which has a nice
> flashy front end with buttons and stuff, and a decent file
> requester - the most annoying thing about Devpac for me is
> that it reads in the whole dir every time it reads a file.
>
> But Devpac, for me is fine. The debugger is good too...
Devpac v3 is far superior to v2! It has a much better interface using
WB2.0 features (even emulated on the WB1.3 version). It is also
faster and has more robust optimisation than previous releases.
The manual is thorough as well and comes with a little booklet describing
instructions/mode/status flags affected/680x0 features, etc
Also it has the facility to take advantage of 020,030,040 and FPU coding
which the previous versions didn't. All round excellent product!! Worth
every penny!!!
> o Amiga Hardware Reference Manual from CBM (#20 ish)
> o Amiga Sysytem Programmers Guide from Abacus (#30 - #40)
The RKMs may be better, the Abacus guide is a bit skimpy in places.
> o Amiga Computing Magazine articles on
> 'hitting the hardware' by Jolyron Ralph
>
> They were from around 1990 I think, but give you the
> basics upwards very cheaply and effectively.
>
> Call Amiga Computing for more info, or maybe someone
> on here can supply more info, if needed...
>
Don't know about these.
SAS C is also excellent (I used v5 on someone else's machine once) but quite
expensive. So I haven't got it. I'm sure Doug Walker (SAS) could tell you
lots of sales points.
R.Hackett
Adisak Pochanayon
>Devpac v3 is far superior to v2! It has a much better interface using
>WB2.0 features (even emulated on the WB1.3 version). It is also
>faster and has more robust optimisation than previous releases.
>The manual is thorough as well and comes with a little booklet describing
>instructions/mode/status flags affected/680x0 features, etc
>
>Also it has the facility to take advantage of 020,030,040 and FPU coding
>which the previous versions didn't. All round excellent product!! Worth
>every penny!!!
I wanted to do some assembly for my FPU but since I am still using
CAPE 2.5, I can not really do it easily. Anyhow, I tried using the
SAS/c 6.3 assembler (Have SAS 6 at work, 5 at home). Well, quite bluntly
the product doesn't work for me.
I have two specific needs for coding games and demos (things that might
include large sound samples or graphics) that have not been met by SAS/c's
asm. Does DevPac v3 have them? If so, I will most likely buy it.
1) The ability to include binary like INCBIN in CAPE 2.5.
2) The ability to direct what type of memory hunks will load into
(i.e. my sound samples will load into chip). SAS/c asm will
let me do this but all the hunks of the same type BSS,CODE,DATA
in a file will be forced into that type of memory. I want to
be able to do it on a hunk by hunk basis (like in CAPE 2.5 again).
3) The ability to support all the processors and FPUs and perhaps even
MMU functions (Cape 2.5 doesn't have this which is my only complaint
with this product and the reason I want to upgrade).
adisak
Doug Walker
In article <1993Jul23.1...@doug.cae.wisc.edu>, poch...@cae.wisc.edu (Adisak Pochanayon) writes:
|> I wanted to do some assembly for my FPU but since I am still using
|> CAPE 2.5, I can not really do it easily. Anyhow, I tried using the
|> SAS/c 6.3 assembler (Have SAS 6 at work, 5 at home). Well, quite bluntly
|> the product doesn't work for me.
I'll be the first to admit that our assembler has shortcomings, but
keep in mind that our focus is (and should remain) the compiler.
The SAS/C Development system works fine with DevPac or other standard
Amiga assemblers. I suggest using a third-party assembler if you
intend to use a lot of assembly language code.
|> 2) The ability to direct what type of memory hunks will load into
|> (i.e. my sound samples will load into chip). SAS/c asm will
|> let me do this but all the hunks of the same type BSS,CODE,DATA
|> in a file will be forced into that type of memory. I want to
|> be able to do it on a hunk by hunk basis (like in CAPE 2.5 again).
This is addressed in the upcoming version 6.50, to be released this
fall.
|> 3) The ability to support all the processors and FPUs and perhaps even
|> MMU functions (Cape 2.5 doesn't have this which is my only complaint
|> with this product and the reason I want to upgrade).
The SAS/C assembler does allow access to all instructions on all
processors. It does allow access to the FPU. It may not have the
full instruction set for the 68551 MMU (I'm not sure), but it does
support all MMU instructions for higher-order processors.
--
***** / wal...@unx.sas.com
*|_o_o|\\ Doug Walker< BIX, Portal: djwalker
*|. o.| || \ CompuServe: 71165,2274
| o |//
======
Any opinions expressed are mine, not those of SAS Institute, Inc.
Richard Hackett
> include large sound samples or graphics) that have not been met by SAS/c's
> asm. Does DevPac v3 have them? If so, I will most likely buy it.
>
> 1) The ability to include binary like INCBIN in CAPE 2.5.
Yep: incbin
> 2) The ability to direct what type of memory hunks will load into
> (i.e. my sound samples will load into chip). SAS/c asm will
> let me do this but all the hunks of the same type BSS,CODE,DATA
> in a file will be forced into that type of memory. I want to
> be able to do it on a hunk by hunk basis (like in CAPE 2.5 again).
Yep: section code, code_f, code_c, data, data_f, data_c, etc etc for
don't care, fast and chip memory allocation.
> 3) The ability to support all the processors and FPUs and perhaps even
> MMU functions (Cape 2.5 doesn't have this which is my only complaint
> with this product and the reason I want to upgrade).
Yep: Supports 68000-68040 and FPUs.
>
> adisak
It has all the things you mention - definitely the product for you!
R.Hackett
(r...@dmu.ac.uk)
Demetri
>In article <1993Jul23.1...@doug.cae.wisc.edu>, poch...@cae.wisc.edu (Adisak Pochanayon) writes:
>> asm. Does DevPac v3 have them? If so, I will most likely buy it.
>>
>> 1) The ability to include binary like INCBIN in CAPE 2.5.
>Yep: incbin
>> 2) The ability to direct what type of memory hunks will load into
>> (i.e. my sound samples will load into chip). SAS/c asm will
>> let me do this but all the hunks of the same type BSS,CODE,DATA
>> in a file will be forced into that type of memory. I want to
>> be able to do it on a hunk by hunk basis (like in CAPE 2.5 again).
>Yep: section code, code_f, code_c, data, data_f, data_c, etc etc for
>don't care, fast and chip memory allocation.
>> 3) The ability to support all the processors and FPUs and perhaps even
>> MMU functions (Cape 2.5 doesn't have this which is my only complaint
>> with this product and the reason I want to upgrade).
>Yep: Supports 68000-68040 and FPUs.
>> adisak
>
>It has all the things you mention - definitely the product for you!
>R.Hackett
>(r...@dmu.ac.uk)
>
supports *any* opcode you can think of (even make your own :) ), Macro68
also IS the fastest assembler around, and it even supports Motorolas new
680xx syntax. (makes things MUCH more clearer). Just for a test, I compiled
a 30,000 line program and it took about 2.xx secs (on a '040 system), and
that was optimize on, and produce runable code (no linker required).
I am happy with Macro68.
Later..