[Coco] C cross-compiler for Portal-9

[Roger Taylor]

I'll be experimenting in the days to come with the Dunfield 
Micro-IDE/Micro-C development package to see if Portal-9 can use those 
tools.  The Micro-IDE isn't all that pretty, in my opinion, and doesn't 
specifically target the CoCo or Vectrex like Portal-9 does, but it is 
fairly decent.  What I want to do is borrow the tools that his own IDE 
uses.  :)

 From what I can tell, the .asm output of the Micro-C compiler is very 
simple and somethind that my own CCASM assembler can probably assemble 
as-is, with the exception of the $EX directive which looks like the library 
inclusion function.  Speaking of the Micro-C library... it looks like a 
directory full of .asm files which are included directly into the source 
code by using the function.(asm) as the name.  I still haven't gotten to 
mess around with the Micro-C linker.

The Micro-C package and parts are not free (actually, they are but you are 
limited to 500 source lines), so to use them with Portal-9 we'll have to 
download and install Micro-C/IDE and then tell Portal-9 where that 
directory is.  On my system, it installed to C:\bipom\devtools.  It will be 
fairly easy to set up future versions of Portal-9 to some defaults which 
should cut down on a lot of configuration needs to use those tools.

This is all I know to do right now to give Portal-9 the power to compile C 
source code straight to a ROM image or virtual floppy disk for the CoCo, 
and to pull off a "What you C is what you get" environment, since M.E.S.S. 
can launch and run your software after you click Build and everything is 
compiled.  :)

Until I find a free 6809 C compiler/linker/asm set, the Micro-C package 
will have to do.  Do a search for something like "Dunfield Micro C" and you 
should be able to find a download to check this out.


-- 
Roger Taylor