[Coco] Noob 6809 ASM programmer looking for tips

[Dave Philipsen]

On another note:  I also use the CSC6809 assembler written by Edgar 
(Bud) Pass.  It's a very nice program that I have DOS/Windows binaries 
for and can be easily ported to Unix/Linux.  I've not experienced any 
bugs or quirks with it over all these years and it's lightning fast.   
Many years ago I purchased the sourced code from him for this cross 
assembler along with the modules for some other 8-bit CPUs.  I still 
have all of the files and would love to make them available to everyone. 
However, I have not been able to find out whether Bud is still around or 
where he might be living.  I have a hunch that if he could be contacted 
he would have no problem with me releasing this stuff to public domain.  
His last known location was Conyers, GA but apparently he no longer 
lives there.  I have not talked with him in some 25 years but if anyone 
knows how he can be located I would really like to get in touch with 
him.  I have not yet run across anyone in the CoCo community that has 
ever used his cross assemblers.  His Sleuth disassembler, however, is 
pretty well known in the community and perhaps less so, his 6502 
assembly code converter.

Dave Philipsen


On 12/24/2015 1:03 PM, ricspam at mpc.com.br wrote:
> Hello, CoCo World! :)
>
> First, a brief introduction: I'm Ricardo, a software engineer from Brazil. In the
> mid '80s I got my first computer, a CP-400 (a Brazilian clone of the Coco), and
> since 1996 I've kept a few web pages about it on
> http://sites.mpc.com.br/ric/cp400/ecocmain.htm
>
> I did a lot of programming on the Coco, but only with Basic. I used assembly on
> other platforms, though (mostly x86, but also Dragonball/Palm, SH4/Dreamcast and
> others).
>
> Now I'd like to develop a couple of games for the Coco, and I want (and probably
> need) do it in assembly. So, any tips from experts such as you guys are really
> welcomed!
>
> BOOKS
> =====
>
> I've already found some books and references on the subject ("TRS-80 Color Computer
> Assembly Language Programming", "Assembly Language Programming for the TRS-80 Color
> Computer", "MC6809 8-bit Microprocessor Programming Manual" and a few others), which
> I've started studying, but if you know other / better resources, please let me know.
>
> TOOLCHAIN
> =========
>
> My idea of an "ideal" development system is:
>   - using a syntax highlighting editor to code
>   - compiling the source into a binary
>   - building a cartridge or disk image
>   - testing and debugging on an emulator
>
> I'm planning to use Scite as the editor, but I'll need to change the .ASM opcodes,
> etc. to have proper highlighting.
>
> For compilers I've found asm6809, lwasm/lwtools and a09. I tried to compile Bob
> Withers' adventure games with them, but it seems each compiler uses a different
> syntax, so all of them produced different errors... I'm still working on this,
> though.
>
> The ToolShed is a very nice set of tools, and I could use "decb" to create disk
> images and copy files to/from it.
>
> I tested both Mame and XRoar, which seem to be great emulators. From what I've read
> (but didn't test yet), I can use XRorar with GDB / DDD, so it seems to have an edge
> over Mame.
>
> I'd love to read you comments on this! What are the modern tools that you are using
> to code in assembly for the Coco? I can use both Windows and Linux, so tools for
> these platforms are preferred.
>
> Thank you!
>
>
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