New (newbie) programmer here!

[jabeck]

Hello everyone! I have recently gotten the itch to learn how to
program the Vectrex! I've owned the same one since the Christmas they
came out in 82, and messed around with programming a few years ago,
but never took it very serious. Finally I'm getting around to moving
forward with this. So far, I have read Christopher Tumber's
introduction to programming and understood everything in it. I've
also found on googlebooks a copy of 6809 Assembly Language Programming
by Leventhal, which looks like it will fill in a lot of blanks. I do
have a old version of the VecFlash (serial port) cartridge, so I'm
hoping a Serial to USB adapter will work for testing on the real
machine. Otherwise I'm using ParaJVE for testing, and AS09 for
assembling... That was the trickiest part though, since I'm running
64 Bit Windows 7, I had to install a 32 bit Windows XP virtual machine
for running it, and other utilities I've found here and there. I also
had a hard time finding a version that will work as according to here:
http://www.emix8.org/static.php?page=VectrexThrustSource the 1.4
version has a bug. I'm actually using the exe that is included from
the source code for the thrust game which seems to work good... I'm
just looking for any general advice you might have, introducing
myself, and looking forward to meeting other enthusiasts here! Also,
any 64 bit, or more up to date assemblers / debuggers you might
recommend?

Thanks,

Jason Halliday

[BaronVR]

Hi. In case you don't find an answer here, another forum to ask in is the
Vector Gaming Forums...

http://vectorgaming.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=vectrex


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"jabeck" <jasonha...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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[hcmffm]

I have no programming tips or hints for you. Just want to encourage you a
bit to continue, Jason, even if assembler is tough!

Let us/me know if you need testers or any other feedback on your project.

- Helmut

[jabeck]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice - I will sign up over at the
vector gaming forums for sure too - Didn't know about that site...
Also, in other news - I finally bought a Vectrex LightPen! Waiting
anxiously for it to arrive in the mail!

[VectrexMad!]

Hello Jason,

There's a lot of documentation that can be found online.
I have a selection of documents on my website. Go to the documents tab
and select miscellaneous.

Also there are some basic ASM files that you can find at other
websites:

The following link from once active Vectrex programmer Alex
Nicholson is very useful for quickly getting upto speed with drawing
vector images on the Vectrex display:
http://vectorzoa.com/vecdraw/vecdraw.html

There is also the following link which provides small asm files for
download. These are various small games, demos creted by Manu:
www.pelikonepeijoonit.net

I found both of the above links (especially when disecting the asm
code) of great help in trying to write small programs for the Vectrex.

The most help I found was just searching old posts on this news group.
A few years back programmers were very active in this newsgroup, and
all the discussions can be found.

By the way the serial Vec Flash should work with a USB to serial
converter. I have a similar setup myself.

regards

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

[jabeck]

Well my lightpen arrived today and I've been having a lot of fun with
it... Not so much luck though with my VecFlash - I got a serial to
USB cable, but the loader software from vectrex.biz seems to not like
it so much. I selected the "compatible" baud, and did get it to write
one of the "multi-pack" games once, but the game slots were empty.
Every other attempt just ended with the program not responding...

At any rate - I've sent an email requesting to buy a VecMulti which
look much better anyway. In the meantime, I've written a small
program that displays my name, and draws a line that moves across the
screen - not much, but it's still exciting to me!

[jabeck]

Looks like I spoke too soon - The problem really is just trying to use
the older VecFlash with Windows 7 64 bit - Even a 32bit virtual
machine wouldn't work reliably - but my EEEPC with XP 32 bit worked
like a charm! Seeing my own code run on a real Vectrex was very
exciting! The only odd thing I've run into now is that I tried to run
a binary file of the game "Thrust" that I compiled, and the vectrex
screen just goes blank when I select the game. The same thing happens
when I try and run a 3D game off of my older MultiCart that I got
recently too - Anyone ever run into this?

[Mayhem]

Well, the latter issue, regarding the 3D game, will be that the 3D
games will crash if the Imager is not plugged in when the game is
booted. Can't help with Thrust though. Have you tried running the
patcher software that come with the VecFlash interface? Some games
need little hex tweaks to work on the cartridge, Thrust might be one
of them.

[Ville Krumlinde]

Hi,

Regarding Thrust, it is a 32kb ROM, does your VecFlash support it?
Also it uses EEPROM highscore save (but should not require it). Still
it could be the problem. You could try commenting out the calls to
"jsr eeprom_load" and "jsr eeprom_save" from Thrust.asm.
And last thing, I assume you also tried uploading the original rom-
file, not just your recompiled one if there is a problem with the
assembler generating a invalid binary.

/Ville

[Richard H.]

Jabeck, Thrust needs to go through the patcher to work on the
VecFlash.





Richard H.

[jabeck]

On Mar 3, 9:46 am, "Richard H." <richard.hutchin...@dsl.pipex.com>
wrote:

> Jabeck, Thrust needs to go through the patcher to work on the
> VecFlash.
>
> Richard H.

Yep, the patch did the trick- should have thought of that... And man
is that a fun game!

Thanks everyone!

[jabeck]

My win for the day = figuring out where the lives and fuel are
decreased in the source code of thrust, and commenting them out... :)
Now to find that bonus game...

[vectrexmuseum.com]

Dear Jason,

have a look to the Coders Pages at
http://vectrexmuseum.com/share/coder/index.htm
Sadly i am no programmer but this files are a good starting point for new Vectrex Programmers.
Please contact me at the museums page (use contact on the index page) and tell me more about your game.

Greetings

Oliver | Vectrexmuseum.com