Developing Vectrex Code on a Mac

[cNp]

I'm starting to look at 6809 assembler and developing for Vectrex in
general and it's great the wealth of info out there (much of it
collated at playvectrex.com). So I don't want anyone to do my
Googling for me but as some things out there no longer exist or are
out of date I just wondered if anyone currently developing for Vectrex
is working on a Mac?

paraJVE works great but I'm looking for an assembler so if anyone has
a current setup then I'd be grateful for info on what you use in the
year 2011!

My VecFlash is PC only though so I guess my Windows Laptop is going to
be involved at some point or I could partition the iMac…

cNp

[VectrexMad!]

Would be great to see another developer on the scence.
I know the possibilities for the PC but have no idea for the Mac.

VectrexMad!

[VectrexMad!]

>
> paraJVE works great but I'm looking for an assembler so if anyone has
> a current setup then I'd be grateful for info on what you use in the
> year 2011!
>

Also doesn't ParaJVE also include a mode to assemble and run binaries
or is that option only available for the PC.

VectrexMad!

[cNp]

Ahh, I will check that out, thanks for the response... I've looked
least so far at the actual IDE setup on the computer.

I did some assembler at Uni and have a Software Engineering background
so everything I've read so far has made sense.

I have a good idea of the game I want to make to release but my
practice game will be one my 6yo son came up with... you are a diver
catching fish but avoiding sharks... the 3 levels will be the Daylight
Zone, the Twilight Zone, and The Midnight Zone... I think he's
thought about his game design more than me!

cNp

[cNp]

On Nov 24, 1:36 pm, "VectrexMad!" <vectrex...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
>

> Also doesn't ParaJVE also include a mode to assemble and run binaries
> or is that option only available for the PC.
>
> VectrexMad!

Just checked and it does have a "Assemble SOURCE" button but it's
greyed out.

I've tried giving it a .asm file and it's still greyed out.

Also can't see any particular mention of using the Assemble button in
the instructions on the website. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

cNp

[hcmffm]

Hmm, I've just tried and pickng an .asm file (Vectrex Rouge / Laby 4 by
Christopher Salomon). After picking the .asm the button "Run" changed to
"Build ROM and Run Game". The game started and ran smoothly after clicking
on that button.

(Using ParaJVE Version 0.7.0)

Compiling and running assembler source is one thing you need for a start, a
debugger is also needed, I think. Not sure whether there is a debugger
around, too. Perhaps a good idea to contact Kristof Tuts to post here and
describe his developing environment a bit. Actually, I'd also be interested
in a Software development environment for the Vectrex (but very unlikely
that I will ever develop a complete game).

- Helmut

[cNp]

Aha, ignore me... if you hover over the assemble button it says the
feature not supported on Mac.... boooo.... *goes off to find old
laptop*

[cNp]

Put a boot partition on the Mac last night and left it downloading 400
million important software updates!

My concern now is ParaJVE says it is only tested on XP and I have
Windows 7... we'll see...

cNp

[cNp]

Ok, lack of progress report...

paraJVE up and running in Windows 7, choose my Hello World .asm file,
using "Assemble SOURCE", then click "Build ROM and Run Game" and it
says "Could not build the ROM image / Please check the source file for
errors..."

I'm saving the most basic listings from the tutorials using Textpad
and using all types of encoding in case that was the issue but with no
success.


In other news the USB VecFlash doesn't seem to work from Windows 7, it
just claims to be Disconnected in the application. When connected it
went off to find drivers and claimed to have installed the USB device
properly.

Not a speedy start it has to be said.

cNp

[cNp]

Pleased to say Richard H has sorted me out with an older version of
the VecFlash loader software and that side of things is all cool, Yay!

Can't thank Richard enough for his quick support with the problem I
was having.

cNp

[Mayhem]

That's good to hear. I'm using Windows 7 here and didn't have an issue
with the VecFlash software over USB, so maybe it's something not so
obvious. Moot point now though given I'm using the VecMulti instead.

[VectrexMad!]

On Nov 26, 2:59 pm, cNp <chrisparsonsm...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just tried it on my ParaJVE (but running on Windows XP)
I took the basic tutorial example. I list it here. I saved it as
hello.asm

;***************************************************************************
; DEFINE SECTION
;***************************************************************************
Intensity_5F EQU $F2A5 ; BIOS Intensity
routine
Print_Str_d EQU $F37A ; BIOS print routine
Wait_Recal EQU $F192 ; BIOS recalibration
music1 EQU $FD0D ; address of a (BIOS
ROM)
; music
; start of vectrex memory with cartridge name...
ORG 0
;***************************************************************************
; HEADER SECTION
;***************************************************************************
DB "g GCE 1998", $80 ; 'g' is copyright
sign
DW music1 ; music from the rom
DB $F8, $50, $20, -$56 ; height, width, rel
y, rel x
; (from 0,0)
DB "HELLO WORLD PROG 1",$80; some game
information,
; ending with $80
DB 0 ; end of game header
;***************************************************************************
; CODE SECTION
;***************************************************************************
; here the cartridge program starts off
main:
JSR Wait_Recal ; Vectrex BIOS
recalibration
JSR Intensity_5F ; Sets the intensity
of the
; vector beam to $5f
LDU #hello_world_string ; address of string
LDA #$10 ; Text position
relative Y
LDB #-$50 ; Text position
relative X
JSR Print_Str_d ; Vectrex BIOS print
routine
BRA main ; and repeat forever
;***************************************************************************
; DATA SECTION
;***************************************************************************
hello_world_string:
DB "HELLO CHRIS PARSONS" ; only capital letters
DB $80 ; $80 is end of string
;***************************************************************************
END main
;***************************************************************************

And it runs!

[cNp]

Thanks for the reply... I just used that code (which I think is what I
had already), saved as hello.asm, and I get the same 'cannot build the
ROM, check for errors' message.

Unless textpad is putting something strange in the file I guess it's a
Windows 7 issue... hmmm.

cNp

[VectrexMad!]

Textpad, shouldn't be the issue, as that is the editor I use too.
Hmm, strange.....
Maybe worth sending an email to Parabellum (ParaJVE author).

VectrexMad!
http://www.vectrex.co.uk

[hcmffm]

Any news on the Vectrex programming front? If you need a game tester, let me
know, Chris. ;-)

- Helmut

[cNp]

Well, good news on getting set up with great help from Richard H on
the VecFlash front and Franck on the ParaJVE compiling side of
things... thanks to both.

Let history record that ParaJVE, well AS09 inside it will only run on
32 bit and not 64 bit... obvious really!

I intend to do a fair bit of playing around with the Vec coding over
the Christmas break and will share any early attempts at my test
'game' which will be a diving game. Whilst doing that I will start
developing the game I intend to release next year some time.

Cheers,

cNp