Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

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daftspaniel
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Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by daftspaniel »

Received this link via my rather stagnated Dragon blog:

"I have ported many programs from the net recently to the Tandy MC-10, which is a close cousin to the Dragon. Many could be ported to the Dragon with ease. Check them out at:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/jimgerrie/jgames.html"

Some interesting looking programs - some link to TXT files of the source and others to the archive of MC-10 files.

Must get Xroar up and running again ;)

From the Dragon-starved,
Davy
zephyr
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by zephyr »

Thanks! :) A Dragon 32 compatible version of the MC-10 Solitaire game is attached.

Virtual MC-10 v0.73c (May 2008) can also be downloaded here. Is there a later version?
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Solitaire.zip
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jgerrie
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by jgerrie »

Neat. Tried it on xroar--seemed to work find. I've converted a few of my programs in the past to the Colour Computer.
See my JGGAMES.DSKs here.http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/jimgerrie/jsoft.html

In general I have found that I have to make the following changes from the space-less basic listings that the MC-10 can handle (and which are good for speeding run times on it). Colour computer basic must have spaces "_" added in the following places:
ONT_GOSUB
FORT=P_TO
IFA>B_THEN
_AND_ _OR_ tests

I also use direct polling of the key-currently-being pressed memory location a lot (as there's no joystick for the MC-10). In the MC-10 this is PEEK(17023)ANDPEEK(2). However, in the Colour Computer the same can be accomplished through the roll-over table. I normally check for key presses using ON-GOSUB routine and an array holding vectors for each key, so
ONK(PEEK(17023)ANDPEEK(2))GOSUB LEFT DIR KEY,RIGHT,UP,DOWN,SPACE or some such. This can be replaced in the coco with a routine like this:
IFPEEK(345)=247THEN RIGHT
IFPEEK(343)=247THEN LEFT
IFPEEK(342)=247THEN DOWN
IFPEEK(341)=247THEN UP

Is there a speedup poke on the Dragon like the Colour Computer? I have found that the MC-10 runs a little faster than the coco in regular speed, but that with the speedup poke on the Coco many of my arcade games work fine (or better actually).

Searching a replacing all "POKE" commands with "POKEMC+" where the variable MC=15360 will adjust for the different screen memory locations. And "PEEK(" with "PEEK(MC+" does the trick...

POKE 49151,64

There is a slightly updated exe file for the main MC-10 emulator version. I'll try to upload it here in the appropriate place.

Jim G
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jgerrie
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by jgerrie »

I've attache the latest .exe which updates the main executable of the emulator version mentioned above.
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VMC1073d_exe.zip
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zephyr
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by zephyr »

Thanks for the information and the updated MC-10 emulator. 8-) I have just uploaded a Dragon 32/64 conversion of your "Jeweler" game to the Uploads section.
jgerrie wrote: Is there a speedup poke on the Dragon like the Colour Computer? I have found that the MC-10 runs a little faster than the coco in regular speed, but that with the speedup poke on the Coco many of my arcade games work fine (or better actually).
Yes, its exactly the same as the CoCo, but (just like the CoCo) there are a very small number of Dragon's that will crash when the double speed poke is used. You need to give the player the option "Double Speed (Y/N)" just in case.

Regards,
Steve
zephyr
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by zephyr »

Jim,

(1) What do you think of the MC-10. Do you prefer it over the CoCo?

(2) Are there any other MC-10 emulators available?
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jgerrie
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by jgerrie »

There is a Java script emulator which can be found at:
http://mc-10.com/

The MC-10 was pretty limited, but it was my first computer. It had a slightly bigger following in Canada (where I'm from) than America b/c it was cheaper than the Coco (and Canadians tend to be poorer than Americans)--kinda like the ZX81 in the UK. But even here it was really an orphan. It never reached its full potential. In that respect it is a little like the Dragon, although it sounds from the history I found here that the Dragon developed at least a strong core of followers.

How did you convert Jeweler? The MC-10 version has some machine code embedded in it, doesn't it? Or did you convert that too. Or did you find the Coco version with the machine code removed but using the high speed poke to get the search routine up to speed?

Jim
zephyr
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by zephyr »

I converted your CoCo port. I didn't list the MC-10 version so didn't know about the embedded machine code.

(1) Does the machine code routine use any ROM calls?

(2) Is there a good MC-10 assembler/disassembler available for download anywhere on the net?
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jgerrie
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by jgerrie »

Try here for a dissasembler:

http://mc10archive.com/utils

I think the three programs most worth converting from my MC-10 collection are Pitman, Lumpies and Maxit because they represent classic 8-bit programs ported from others systems for which no versions (I believe) exist for the Coco or Dragon. They also are programs that don't use any M/L code or the 64*48 res mode of the MC-10. I will try to convert these to "Coco" compatible basic programs in the next little while and post them as a JGGAMES3.DSK (along with some others, such as Sabotage and some of my own recent creations such as Joust and Scramble).

I'm looking through the files on this site for Basic programs I can convert to the MC-10. That means programs that don't use any high-res graphics. Any suggestions?
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daftspaniel
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Re: Interesting Tandy MC10 link with software

Post by daftspaniel »

There's a dice game I wrote last year called PIG:
http://dragon32forever.wordpress.com/dr ... dice-game/
Dice game - all text screen based.

Also there was a City Bomber clone posted to these forums:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=528&p=2780&hilit=city+bomber#p2792

:)

Davy
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