14 Oct
2008
14 Oct
'08
3:54 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.
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
linker 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.
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.
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