Well many know this already, for some it may be a refresher, and for others something interesting. I was browsing Wiki in my free time (doing some research), and came across a few things about the z80 processor created by Zilog here. It is a great read, and very interesting things have been made with the z80 as the core. Including things that we know of: mp3 players, calculator, game boys etc. But also in Arcade games that are newer ('99 and a few others). I just found it interesting, look at the links inside the article and see what else it was used for...besides Military applications! (look in the article >.>).
I knew that page, but never before did I notice the "C cross compiler" at sourceforge.net for z80's.
I'm currently seeing how good it is.
Edit: it is pretty damn good for a crosscompiler! Even allows for smooth grayscale and just about all shells! In fact it's worth downloading just for the math-library's which ofcourse have their source included might give you some ideas..
Yeah ive tried all of those cross compilers, even though it supports grayscale in an interrupt, the overall speed of the program itself is comparable to BASIC ... Plus the programs are bloatware. Still pretty neat though.
"My world is Black & White. But if I blink fast enough, I see it in Grayscale."
No it's not really optimized.. maybe someone from MC should write a nice optimizer.. (I'll leave that to someone who can actually pull it off..)
I had some ideas about assembly-source-interpretators which keep track of RAM areas and registers.. but I know I can't do this.
Id just like to point out that the z80 is a small, low powered, easy to program for, efficient little microprocessor ... and its CHEAP! This is why you will find them everywhere. They have been in some of the best electronic devices ever made, man i love z80 .
"My world is Black & White. But if I blink fast enough, I see it in Grayscale."
I've never understood why it's claimed that the Game Boy had a Z80 in it (it's a clone with, as mentioned, a different instruction set). Given that the Z80 took the 8080 design and added the index and shadow registers (amongst other things) and these were removed for the Game Boy's CPU, it seems more like an 8080 than a Z80. (Maybe someone could clear that up)?
The inclusion of it in the Mega Drive also meant that you could play SMS games on it.
The Game boy's processor is much closer to a Z80 than an 8080. Most of the instructions even use the same opcodes, so when you see a C9 in a binary, you know it's a RET instruction in both Z80 and GBZ80.
You know your hexadecimal output routine is broken when it displays the character 'G'.
To me it looks like its not placing $BB $6D in the bins. *cough* wabbitsign would warn of such a thing*cough*
Easily fixed, just alter the headers or add the bytes manually.