TSC Assembler?

[firebirdta84]

Would anyone here happen to have access to the original early 80s binary files to to run the vintage TSC Assembler?

http://bit.ly/2rLsORe (warning, takes a bit of time to load)

I'm looking for the vintage software that this document refers to: TSC Floating Point Package by Technical Systems Consultants.

I know there's a fair number of more modern assemblers that will accomplish essentially the same thing (LWASM, A09, etc), but I was curious to see, and play with, the old-school version of this on one of my vintage machines...

Thanks, everyone!
AJ

 

[tingo]

Has been answered on cc-tech, so for completeness TSC Assembler related things (source code, etc) can be found here http://vintagecomputer.ca/files/SWTPC/

 

[firebirdta84]

tingo, thank you for providing this update.

I have another update. I received a PM from BillG

He asked me to post his words here, because he was unable to reply himself, and I thought that what he had to share added value to this discussion, (or at least to me...)

I initiated a continuation of this discussion with him privately over email, but I'll be happy to share here should it prove relevant.

I am sharing his exact words below:

-----------------------------------------

For some odd reason, I am not able to post a reply on the forum.

There are several ways to run the TSC assembler.

The first is if you have a Southwest Technical 6800 or compatible computer running the FLEX operating system.

Secondly, there are several emulators which can do this. The problem with most of them is that you have to put your source file into a virtual disk, run the assembler and retrieve the binary file out.

Third, I have written an emulator which can load and run the TSC assembler using the MS-DOS file system. The problem is that it is a 16-bit program which will not run under a 64-bit version of Windows. If you have a 32-bit version of Windows or an old DOS machine or if you install something like DOSBox, this is an option.

Finally, I have written a cross-assembler which accepts TSC source files.

So I can probably help you.

Bill

 

[firebirdta84]

I wanted to add this particular resource for TSC Assembler (and FLEX) being provided here:

http://www.flexusergroup.com/flexusergroup/fug4.htm

This resources was found by Alexander Sholohov in Barnaul, Russia
, to whom I have paid a small fee to help me get Flex and TSC Assembler running on an emulator, capable of running on a Windows 7 environment.

I'll keep everyone posted here, should it prove interesting or valuable...

 

[BillGee]

Creating a new ID did the trick! The other one was created many years ago to see an attachment but was never used for posting until lately.

This is what I just wrote to AJ (firebirdta84) via e-mail:

There are two different processors these computers used, the 6800 and the 6809. The '09 is newer and more powerful, so it tends to be more popular to emulate (though the processor is a bit more complicated.)

Since the TSC Floating Point Package was originally written for the 6800, I presumed that is the processor you are interested in. Note that source code for the 6800 can usually be assembled with the 6809 assembler; the binary object code will not be the same.

I only know of two emulators out there for the 6800. SWTPCemu and SimH. SWTPCemu will also emulate the 6809. I got it to work over the past week. I have not been able to get SimH to work yet. I am still in the process of reworking my emulator; it will boot FLEX, but the disks are read-only, so it cannot be used for any code development.

SWTPCEmu can be downloaded here: http://www.evenson-consulting.com/swtpc/

It requires a little bit of configuration to get it to run.

0. Download and install it.
1. Go to View/Options
2. Be sure 6800 is selected for your processor.
3. The default path for the monitor ROM is not correct. You need something like C:\ProgramData\EvensonConsultingServices\SWTPCmemulator\ROMS\NEWBUG.stx
4. At the minimum, you need to "install" a serial interface and disk controller. I used Console MP-S and PT-FD2.
5. OK the options.
6. Select 6800BOOT for your boot disk in drive 0.
7. Create a scratch disk using Tools/Create FLEX Floppy Image File.
8. Mount that on drive 1. FLEX really wants two disks unless it is configured for one. It is much easier to just use two.
9. Click ON to start the emulator.
10. Type D at the monitor prompt to boot FLEX.
11. ASMB is the assembler.

If it is the 6809 you want, ReFLEX is very easy to get running. http://datapipe-blackbeltsystems.com/windows/flex/fm_title.html