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#trs80

2 posts2 participants0 posts today
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Arcturax 🦇

Got a TRS-80 that just arrived! Plugged into my old 90s crt and it works! Even ran a quick test program I typed in! I'll have to see what modern options I have for loading programs.

It also came with a modem and a RS-232 card

A TRS-80 model 2 64kb color computer from early 1980s.
Crt TV showing TRS-80 running color basic made in 1982 by Microsoft for Tandy Corp.
A simple hello world program running under color basic on a TRS-80
TRS-80 RS-232 cartridge
#trs80
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Shawn Sijnstra

After much testing and code comparison, the new Feb 2025 Release of #Vezza - my #z80 high speed #zmachine is ready! Took way longer than expected to synchronize across all of the code bases, particularly making sure that all optimizations made it across all platforms - TRS-80 model 1, TRS-80 model 3, TRS-80 model 4, the CP/M versions (~18 platforms), the embedded versions (Spectrum tape, TEC-1G), and slowly pushing into the Agon Light version (which has even more updates still in progress). Lots of individual tweaks, and some major rethinks and rewrites have come together to accelerate game play.

The hardest part of rewriting in this update involved rewriting the dictionary search code. I ended up going back to the original jzip interpreter, written in C for Unix waaay back when. Jzip provided much of the logic that went into ZXZVM, which provided the base for #M4ZVM #M3ZVM and #Vezza. Going back to Jzip made sense as Jzip has an even longer history; and is highly tested and stable and still maintained. This research gave me the confidence that the streamlining and changes I was making to such a fundamental part of the game would work, making all inputted dictionary searching more efficient.

To work around how CP/M stores executable files I spent a lot of time re-organising the memory map to make the executable smaller. This involved rearranging where the initialization code was stored inside the increasingly complex layout. Support across multiple versions means I needed to break up variable sized code and strings to sit inside variable sized gaps, while still compiling all the CP/M versions from the same interconnected set of source files. It needed quite a few manual checks to ensure that it all worked.

What this all means is that your favourite #infocom #punyinform and other text adventures will all play on your favourite z80 #retrocomputing platforms even faster than before!

More details in the devlog and downloads can be found at:
#TRS80 versions sijnstra.itch.io/m4zvm
#CPM #CPM80 versions sijnstra.itch.io/vezza

Screenshot of Stefan Vogt's Ghosts of Blackwood Manor, played using Vezza on an Amstrad CPC
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Fabián Rodríguez 🛡💾 🇨🇴 🌴

A new version of #ugBASIC, the open source isomorphic #BASIC compiler, has been released for #TRS80 #ColorComputer 1/2 and 3 (check under Hardware > Targets).

ugBASIC is a cross-compiler for #Linux and #Windows, for writing simple language games, that can run on dozens of different home computers, and 8-bit consoles.

There is also a convenient built-in IDE for Microsoft Windows, and even a sandbox.

ugbasic.iwashere.eu/

ugBASIC logo
#retrocomputing#RadioShack#retrobytes
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Leaded Solder

New blog post! Mechanical keyboards are great, so why not add one to my battered CoCo1? I'll tell you why: it's fiddly! But it's also fun.

Please boost if you can, so your friends and casual acquaintances also know they can do silly projects like this whenever they want. No one can stop them.

#trs80 #coco #retocomputing leadedsolder.com/2025/01/07/co

Leaded Solder · Building my own mechanical keyboard for the CoCo 1Design and construction of a mechanical keyboard using Gateron key switches for the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer Model 1, including bodges and mounting gaskets.
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Koen Martens

Well, the main CPU unit is all back together and working fine, so turned my attention to the system expansion unit. Someone obviously went in there to replace the bridge rectifier, and there was some dust but otherwise it seemed OK and it powered on stand-alone. However, something is not quite right, because the computer won't boot with it connected...

A metal box with it's lid removef revealing a small transformer and a green PCB, and a ribbon cable coming out the top.
A 70s home computer with integrated keyboard on a desk. It is connected to a metal box with its top removed. Next to it is a small CRT monitor displaying garbage.
#RetroComputing#Tandy#TRS80
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