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  • Adding a Basic Stub to a Vic-20 Assembly Language Program

      Tags: Programming     Retro     Tutorial     Commodore     Vic-20     Assembly    
    To make machine language programs more friendly it is nice to add a basic stub which contains a line with a SYS statement to start the code. This is easy to do on the Vic-20 and the process gives you an insight into how Basic programs are stored in memory. I’ll show you how to do this and h...   Read More

  • Creating a TTY Simulator in Assembly Language on the Vic-20

      Tags: Programming     Retro     Commodore     Vic-20     Assembly    
    The Vicmon machine language cartridge is an excellent tool for exploring the Vic-20. This article and its associated video will show you how to use it to create a simple program that will change the normal output of a Vic so that it feels a bit like a teletype terminal. This will be done by takin...   Read More

  • BBS Ads: Getting the Word Out

      Tags: Retro     BBS     History    
    BBS Ads were important to users and sysops of BBS’s. There wasn’t any universal directory like the phone book, and during the heyday of BBS’s (early ’80s to the mid ’90s), most people couldn’t easily access the Internet. Every BBS had a different atmosphere. It...   Read More

  • Beginning Assembly Programming on the Commodore Vic-20

      Tags: Programming     Retro     Tutorial     Commodore     Vic-20     Assembly    
    The Commodore Vic-20 is a great machine to learn an assembly language on. It was released in 1981 and was the first computer to sell one million units, which contributes to is popularity today. The machine is well documented, well supported through forums and much of the hardware is plentiful and...   Read More

  • Using C-Kermit to Exchange Files With Telnet BBS's

      Tags: Linux     BBS     Retro     Tutorial    
    Most BBSs that are still running now do so via telnet. In many ways this is great as it allows people from all around the world to access a BBS as if it were local to them. The problem comes though, when you want to upload or download a file to/from the BBS. Most telnet clients don’t make t...   Read More

  • Connecting to a Remote Serial Port over TCP/IP

      Tags: Linux     Emulation     Retro     Tutorial    
    Most modern machines don’t have a serial port as standard; you could use a USB to serial lead, however, if you have another machine available that does have a serial port you can access it remotely over TCP/IP. Using ser2net to Connect a Serial Port to a TCP port ser2net listens to a TCP ...   Read More

  • Using Netcat to Create ad hoc Links Between Applications or Machines

      Tags: Tutorial     Linux    
    Netcat is a simple Unix utility which reads and writes data across network connections using the TCP or UDP protocol. It is often described as the “Swiss-army knife for TCP/IP” because of its flexibility and is often used to debug and investigate network connections directly from the ...   Read More

  • If Only Borland Had Stuck With Turbo Modula-2 For CP/M

      Tags: Programming     CP/M     Retro    
    I have written previously about why Turbo Pascal is a Great Choice For Programming Under CP/M and now it is time to talk about what could have been. You probably haven’t heard of Turbo Modula-2 for CP/M as it was only on the market for a brief period of time. However, it was a superb produc...   Read More

  • Turbo Pascal: A Great Choice For Programming Under CP/M

      Tags: Programming     Pascal     CP/M     Retro    
    CP/M was blessed with many programming languages, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I think that Turbo Pascal stands out from these and I’m not alone. When Turbo Pascal was released in 1983 by Borland, as their first software development application, it was quickly adopted by sc...   Read More

  • xdgbasedir: A Tcl Module to Access the XDG Base Directory Specification

      Tags: Programming     Tcl/Tk    
    Unix has traditionally lacked a consistent way of storing user specific and system wide configuration and support files. This has lead to a mess of dot files in a user’s home directory and other associated files being all over the file system. The XDG Base Directory Specification describes ...   Read More

  • Compiling a Tcl Script into an Executable

      Tags: Programming     Tcl/Tk     Tutorial     C    
    Locating Tcl scripts to load from an executable can be awkward if you want to make your program cross-platform. An easier way is to compile a Tcl script directly into the executable and let that script find any other scripts needed. This is particularly relevent as so many programs just use a sin...   Read More

  • Floppy Days: A New Vintage Computing Podcast

      Tags: Retro     Podcast    
    I have just finished listening to the first episode of Floppy Days and I’m pleased to report that it looks like this is going to be a good addition to the vintage computing landscape. The presenter, Randy Kindig, admits that he has been quite quiet within the retro community. However, he se...   Read More

  • Using Dynamically Generated Header Files with CMake

      Tags: Programming     Tutorial    
    Sometimes it can be useful to dynamically generate header files and include them from a C source file. However, it can be a little difficult getting CMake to recognize when to generate the files and when to recompile the source files that include those headers. What follows is a method to do this...   Read More

  • Embedding an SDL Surface in a Tk Window

      Tags: Programming     SDL     Tcl/Tk     Tutorial    
    Tk is great, but sometimes it just isn’t fast enough. SDL is fast, but has no support for input dialogs and other GUI conventions. By embedding an SDL surface in a Tk window you get the best of both worlds. Whether you want to use Tk to add a nice GUI to an SDL app or want to access SDL via...   Read More

  • Refactoring: Arm Yourself in the War Against Useless Comments

      Tags: Programming    
    Comments, comments, everywhere, but are they making your code clearer or just distracting you? Comments are meant to be there to explain code and help you to understand it. However, they are often out of step and therefore can confuse. Think seriously before adding comments; it is often better to...   Read More

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