14 Oct
2008
14 Oct
'08
10:56 a.m.
Jeff Erwin said the following on 10/13/2008 1:44 PM:
> OK, time again to dust off the old brains out there. I found a ("the")
> ISIS-II emulator that runs under dos, which comes with a PLM80 compiler.
It
> also comes with link, locate, objhex and other
goodies. The PLM80
compiler
> identifies itself as PLM80 V4. I worked on the
development of the
ISIS-II
> stuff at Intel in the very early 80's as well
as on the National
> Semiconductor Starplex system (anyone remember that one?) so I am able to
>tinker around and remember how most of this works, but version 4 of the
>PLM80 compiler is getting the better of me.
>
Yes, I remember the Starplex. But about all I remember
was that it was
NS's development system and competed with Intel's MDS.
The Starplex was the NS answer to the MDS, but was much more 'late 70's' in
its design. The prom programmer was built into the system, as was the
screen and floppy drives. All very modular. I learned asm80 writing the
editor and assembler for that beast.
> I have the PLM80 Programmer's Manual, but it
is for earlier versions of
the
>two-pass version of PLM80, version 4 was a single
pass version that used
the
>inker and locator, all of which was the precursor
to the PLM86 compiler
and
> tools. I believe this version came out shortly
before the 8086 was
> introduced, everyone went on to the segmented world and never looked
back,
> which may explain why there isn't much out
there for it. I am not able
to
> locate any information on this version 4 of PLM80
anywhere, and the use
and
> format is definitiely different from prior
versions of PLM80.
>
I've used PL/M-80 extensively in the past, but I
don't remember V4 being
that much different than earlier versions. All versions of PL/M-80 that
ran under ISIS-II used the linker and locater. The only version that I
know of that didn't was the Fortran version that ran on mainframes. It
produced absolute object code, usually in the form of an Intel hex format.
Version 4 was radically different from the 3.X and prior versions. The
earlier versions used the $X controls, version 4 used the controls that were
then used in the PLM86 compiler. Also, the DATA statement was eliminated
and other language constructs were changed. PLM80 V3 code would not compile
without mods. I remember it being released at about the same time the 8086
and PLM86 was was released and the effort was to make PLM80 and PLM86
somewhat similar. The PLM80 3.x docs are pretty much worthless if you are
using the 4.0 compiler. 4.0 was also one executable, a big change from the
PLM81 and PLM82 2-pass method the earlier versions used.
> Anyone out there have any information or pointers
for me? I have tried
all
> of the excellent repositories of manuals and
emailed Herb, his site
> indicates that he might have what I need. Anyone have an ISIS-II set of
> manuals sitting around that can check for me?
>
I'm sure I have a version of the manual that
applies to V4 of the
compiler. It *may* be in pdf form, but certainly on paper. Are there
some specific questions that you have? I'll check when I get home
tonight. At work now.
I'd love to get a copy of whatever you have relative to 4.0. Emailing the
PDF is probably easiest, I am more than happy to pay any costs associated.
> Specifically, I am in need of:
>
> 98-00268B plm 80 programming manual, V4
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jeff Erwin
>
> By the way, I am running the ISIS-II emulator in a DOS box under windows,
> itself an emulator. Windows is running under Parallels on my Mac Pro
which
> is running OSx. Is it possible to get further
from reality here??
>
I've done many "jobs" using that DOS
emulator. It works great! And
these days it is much faster than my real MDS systems. But it isn't
nearly as elegant as the big blue box powering up, dimming the lights in
my house, and the whir of cooling fans and glow of a real crt. Oh,
those were the days.
Dave
Yes indeed! The rumble of the 7Mb hard
drive (14" across if I remember
right) as it spun up. My favorite, of course, is the famous "Error 7, User
PC = xxxx" which covered almost every error you could make...