32016 SECTION
COMPATIBILITY NOTES
My 32016 system consists of a 1Mb 32016
external co-processor from 1986 with
Pandora V2.00, along with Release 12 of
the system software and documentation.
This includes Panos 1.4, which has a
built-in command ".compatible" to make
it compatible with Panos 1.1. All of
the bundled languages have been updated
since release 10.
The I/O processor in my system is a BBC
Master 128 (which performs exactly the
same functions, apparently, as a BBC
B). I use twin 5.25" DFS drives to run
Panos and the languages; I can handle
3.5" and ADFS disks, although I am
currently unable to use ADFS disks with
the 32016, possibly due to the lack of
an ADFS/32 ROM.
All software and technical suggestions
will be tested on the above set-up; if
any member finds that software does not
behave in the way documented in the
disk magazine, please let me know, so
that we can ascertain what difficulties
exist in compatibility between
different hardware and software
versions.
SOFTWARE ON THIS ISSUE
There is one 32016-specific piece of
software on this issue disk. This is
the excellent disassembler provided by
David Crennell. It is under the
filename R.assemb (or, under Panos or
ADFS, assemb-rif), and converts -aof
files into -asm files. This is very
useful not only to disassemble other
software, such as the Panos system
software, but also if programmers wish
to convert their compiled high-level
code to assembler in order to optimise
it.
The syntax is "assemb <filename>",
where filename is expected to be an
-aof file, but inserting the tag -aof
is NOT necessary. For example, if a
directory contained the file
"CWorld-aof", typing "assemb CWorld"
would produce a file "CWorld-asm".
All of the Small-C sourcecode featured
in this issue (under the filename
"CSource") can be compiled and run on
the 32016 with a few alterations.
Firstly the sourcecode for the three
different programs ("Fahr", "cmp" and
"Hanoi") should be separated into
different files, and the CTRL-M line
terminators replaced with CTRL-J using
global replace.
Replace the "vdu" commands with
standard C "putchar()" commands.
Finally, the "Hanoi" program needs to
be run in MODE2, and so it is necessary
to add,"putchar(22);" and,"putchar(2);"
at the beginning of the program. All
three programs are compiled, linked and
run as laid down in the example
sessions in the Panos User Guide Issue
1.
The "Fahr" program, and possibly "cmp"
will run quite happily in a window in
Panos Edit. However, this is not the
case for "Hanoi", since the move to
MODE 2 will confuse the editor host
code; it should be run directly from a
normal Panos command line. In addition,
in order to avoid the filtering of vdu
codes, it is necessary to run Hanoi
using the "-to" option as follows:
"Hanoi -to rawvdu:" Finally, note that
the "cmp" utility is not compatible
with the 32016 filename system,
although it will function correctly
with files in the $ directory of a DFS
disk.
Note that almost all of the BBC BASIC
software featured in this issue,
including some of those with graphics
screens and/or music, will run
correctly under 32000 BASIC, and some
of the machine code utilities will run
in the I/O processor while the 32016 is
activated (either with a "*" command
from 32000 BASIC, or from Panos by
using the "star" utility).
OTHER SOFTWARE AVAILABLE
There is currently one disk of 32016
software in the TBI pool, TBI-07. It
contains over 300K of assorted
utilities and other useful software
donated by David Crennell, including
special facilities for fast access of
the BBC graphics screen from C and
Fortran, corrections to various parts
of the distributed Fortran library,
library manipulation utitilies, and
assorted other items. The disk is
available in either ADFS L or DFS 80T
DS format, and I recommend that all
32016 users send off for a copy, though
I may also feature a few items from the
disk in future issues if I'm short of
software.
QUESTIONS
Does anyone else use a 32016 with a
Master 128, and are you able to use
ADFS with floppy disks; is it necessary
to replace the ADFS ROM already in the
Master with ADFS/32? Similarly, can
anyone with a BBC B tell me whether
ordinary ADFS is sufficient, or whether
ADFS/32 is definitely necessary? What
is the situation with hard disks?
Is BASIC 32000 2.00 any good, and can
anyone explain why V1.00 doesn't appear
to be able to use integer arrays?
Is the 32000 Instruction Set Reference
Manual still generally available, and
if not, where is the best place to
obtain one from?
Is there a ramdisk package available
for the 32016, or any other commercial
software at all?
SUGGESTIONS
The Acorn 65C102 co-processor for the
BBC Master (the Master "turbo board")
is supplied with a utility called
"buffer" which enables 24K of the I/O
processor's memory to be allocated as a
printer buffer. Since machine-code
routines can be run on the host while
BASIC 32000 is running, this utility
can also be used from BASIC on the
32016, and functions in exactly the
same way. I have not yet tested this
from Panos or on a BBC B, but it is a
very useful utility if members already
have a copy or can easily get hold of
one.
If you have a Master 128 with an
internal co-processor as well as an
external 32016, you may have noticed
that there is an easier way of
switching between them than using
*CONFIGURE INTUBE and *CONFIGURE
EXTUBE. Configure your machine to TUBE
and EXTUBE. Then, whenever you switch
on the Master without switching on the
32016, the internal co-processor will
be selected.
COMING SOON
I hope to have a steady influx of
software from new members over the next
few issues. (One member is apparently
attempting to develop an implementation
of UNIX on the 32016 as a replacement
for Panos). Meanwhile, I have been
promised an AI program in BASIC which
will run on the 32016 and all Archs
other than the A3010, with a reduced
version for the BBC B. In addition to
this I have been told of another
language similar to LISP, whose
sourcecode is public domain and is
written in C, and so may run on the
32016; if so I will feature it in a
future issue.
If anyone has any answers to the
questions above, or any programming
hints of their own, please let us know.
If anyone would like to write an
introduction to programming in Small
and/or standard C, or any other 32016
language, this would probably be very
useful to both 32016 and BBC owners.
If you know anyone else with a 32016,
please encourage them to join 8-Bit
Software; I will be reviewing the 32016
in an issue fairly soon, and hopefully
this will encourage a few BBC B/Master
owners to buy one as an upgrade. I
doubt the 32016-owning membership of
8-Bit Software will ever go over 20,
but hopefully we can create a user
group with enough interested members to
maintain support for the processor for
a few years to come.