Search found 19 matches

by KnaxMax
Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:32 am
Forum: Assembly
Topic: how to do software sprites for MZ-800?
Replies: 5
Views: 11501

how to do software sprites for MZ-800?

Hi, I always wondered how software sprites could be done efficiently for the MZ-800 graphics mode. It seems a lot of Sharp games used MZ-700 character mode and PCG. With "software sprite" I mean small 8x8 or 16*16 bitmaps that can be freely positioned, have a transparent color where the ba...
by KnaxMax
Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:20 am
Forum: Assembly
Topic: online Z80 assembler
Replies: 10
Views: 23718

online Z80 assembler

Hi,

I found this single web page Z80 assembler quite helpful (as I can't remember all opcodes by heart ;-) :
http://www.asm80.com/onepage/asmz80.html

The big version https://www.asm80.com/ is more of IDE with emulators, but I didn't find out how to see the opcodes directly.
by KnaxMax
Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:44 am
Forum: Hardware
Topic: Question: how to use a mouse on MZ-800 ?
Replies: 9
Views: 12153

Re: Question: how to use a mouse on MZ-800 ?

Jo Even wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:51 am Btw. the MZ-800 would be a great target for SymbOS :)
This SymbOS looks really cool. Impressing what can be done with 8 Bit machines.
And today some 'makers' use the power of a RasPi3 for just blinking some LEDs.
by KnaxMax
Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:28 am
Forum: Emulation
Topic: idea: custom keyboard for MZ emulation
Replies: 7
Views: 14604

Re: idea: custom keyboard for MZ emulation

Another level of confusion often comes from non-US keyboard layouts.
Some emulators just use the ASCII codes of key events instead of the key code.
But they expect US keyboard layout to map ASCII to the emulated keys.

The more your keyboard layout differs from US layout, the more confusing it gets.
by KnaxMax
Tue Feb 13, 2018 11:48 am
Forum: Hardware
Topic: Question: how to use a mouse on MZ-800 ?
Replies: 9
Views: 12153

Question: how to use a mouse on MZ-800 ?

Hi, I always wondered if it would be possible to use an Atari or Commodore mouse at the MZ-800 joystick ports. AFAIR the C64 mouse (1351) had a special mode, where it more or less emulated normal joystick imput, so it could be used with games, that triggered some kind of pointer/cursor via joystick....
by KnaxMax
Tue Feb 13, 2018 11:35 am
Forum: Hardware
Topic: finally more VRAM
Replies: 5
Views: 7799

finally more VRAM

Hi, after more than 30 years, a dream became true for me: I have extended my MZ-800 with the additional 16KB of VRAM. Now I can use all 16 colors at once (at 'lores' 320x200 - and 4 colors at 'hires' 640x200). Back in 1986-88 I had no idea how to get Sharps VRAM extension and what it would cost (sur...
by KnaxMax
Fri Feb 09, 2018 3:33 pm
Forum: Emulation
Topic: EmuZ-80
Replies: 10
Views: 21028

Re: EmuZ-80

I tried the EmuZ-800 and think it is quite nice, but the code is very Windows specific. A more portable solution would be nice, as I plan to migrate to Linux, after Windows 7 supports ends. This portable emulator has some potential, also the GTK GUI is still very basic: https://sourceforge.net/proje...
by KnaxMax
Fri Feb 09, 2018 3:24 pm
Forum: Emulation
Topic: idea: custom keyboard for MZ emulation
Replies: 7
Views: 14604

idea: custom keyboard for MZ emulation

Hi, I tried a little bit MZ-800 emulation on my PC, but I was really fighting with the key mapping (even for normal characters - but much more for special characters). But today I learned about a company, that sells customized keyboards. You can chose colors and also provide key layouts. Did not yet...
by KnaxMax
Mon Feb 05, 2018 4:20 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Introduction
Replies: 59
Views: 71858

Introduction

Hi, just discovered this Sharp Forum and wanted to introduce myself a bit: - male - *1974 - living in south of Germany - MZ-821 was my first computer in 1986 I did some BASIC coding with it, before switching to a more popular and powerful machine in mid 1988 (an Amiga). But I never forgot the Sharp ...