MSX <-> ZX Spectrum

Supporter (4)

10-12-2006, 21:43

1. I make games for ZX Spectrum, especially for ATM Turbo 2+ (16 colors per pixel mode). How can I port them to MSX? What should I know and what should I have to do that? What emulator and what toolkit are most suitable for that? Can I write loaders in BASIC?

2. Is anybody going to port SymbOS onto ATM Turbo 2+?

I'm not forums freak, please answer me to e-mail alone_coder % mail dot ru.

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Van Manuel

Ascended (19678)

10-12-2006, 22:17

I'm not such a mail.ru freak:
1) port to MSX: depends on the details of the graphics chip of that ATM Turbo 2+. If you have 16 independent colours per pixel, you should use MSX2. This means you have to adjust your code in such way that you program the V9938 instead of your ATM Turbo 2+ graphics chip. There is lots of documentation about it, e.g. on map.tni.nl
2) the most accurate emulators are blueMSX and openMSX (I use the latter for several reasons).
3) sure, you can write loaders in basic. MSX-BASIC is very powerful, so it should be easy.
4) this is an MSX forum, not a SymbOS/ZX forum. I think hardly anyone on this forum ever heard about ATM Turbo 2+, to be honest.

Van msd

Paragon (1532)

10-12-2006, 22:35

But better to write a com file instead. Basic loaders are so 1985

Van Latok

msx guru (3960)

10-12-2006, 23:11

Teagan Presley is also very 1985 and I don't mind her.

Van Prodatron

Paragon (1857)

11-12-2006, 00:16

I sent a mail

Van Huey

Prophet (2696)

11-12-2006, 09:47

Alone Coder...... isn't he the guy that made wolfenstein 2004 for ZX?

Van dioniso

Champion (479)

11-12-2006, 10:21

Alone Coder...... isn't he the guy that made wolfenstein 2004 for ZX?

He is THE MAN who wrote, and still writes, Pro Tracker 3 for Spectrum.

Van Trebmint

Champion (294)

11-12-2006, 10:31

Alone Coder...... isn't he the guy that made wolfenstein 2004 for ZX?

He is THE MAN who wrote, and still writes, Pro Tracker 3 for Spectrum.

Perhaps a spectrum version of symbos would be a good idea. I believe Prodatron has said only the +3 has the relevant memory banking tricks, but it would be fun to open symbos up to such a large user base as the speccy. Plus what's this 16 colours per pixel stuff he mentioned, I don't recall any spectrum other than the Sam having anything like a proper bitmap mode. Even at 256x192 symbos would look good, as we've seen on the msx lower res screen

Van madcrow

Expert (78)

11-12-2006, 14:19

A couple of the Russian clone machines had some REALLY advanced features. Russia, as a rather poor country still had people using 8-bitters as primary machines. A heavily souped up Spectrum clone (such as the ATM series) can be sold for under 200 euros and will include features such as large RAMs (1MB is not uncommon), IDE support and more. This is really a factor when you can't afford something newer.

That said, it would be rather silly to code a SymbOS port for one of these Eastern European clones, as their numbers are quite small. Also, Prodatron has his hands full maintaining and improving the "core" versions of SymbOS for the CPC and MSX. I would suggest either speeding up the open-sourcing process and seeing if the Spectrum community has any interest in doing it themselves OR contacting some noted member of the Spectrum scene and offering them a chance to do the port themselves.

Van Trebmint

Champion (294)

11-12-2006, 15:31

Oh didn't realise it was a russian clone. But still if symbos could run on a +3 it perhaps it will happen one day. As you say when it goes open source.

Van Prodatron

Paragon (1857)

12-12-2006, 01:05

SymbOS needs too much memory + unsupported banking capabilities for a normal Spectrum.
But the ATM turbo seems to be a cool machine:...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM_Turbo
But sorry, it's a little bit off-topic ;)