Re: [stella] Questions about the programming device

Subject: Re: [stella] Questions about the programming device
From: Eckhard Stolberg <Eckhard_Stolberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 16:33:13 +0200
At 17:38 20.08.99 -0700, you wrote:
>     I'm having some trouble running DASM on my computer.  My PCAE runs
>just fine from Windows (Windows 95, if that info is needed), but when I
>try booting DASM (the DASM application file, listed on Explorer right
>under the DASM Word document), the top of the window says
>"Finished-DASM".  Hitting any key produces the message that the program
>has shut down and nothing else can be done except to reboot it.  Can
>DASM work from Windows?  Do I have to be in DOS?  If it only works in
>DOS, what do I do?  My experience with DOS is pretty low.

DASM is a command line program. You have to specify the data you want
to use with it after the command name. To be able to do so you have to
open a MS-DOS prompt window on your system. In order to keep things
simple for you I'd suggest the following:

Create a directory called C:\VCS-DEV or something similar and put
all the files that came with DASM and with PCAE in it. Also download
some program examples from Nick Bensema's website (like the 'how to
draw a playfield' demo and it's accompanying VCS.H file) and put
them into the new directory too.


Now open a text editor and create a file that only contains the line:

DOSKEY

Save this text file as VCS-DEV.BAT into C:\VCS-DEV too.


Right click on your desktop, choose NEW and then choose SHORTCUT.
Click on BROWSE, go to the C:\WINDOWS directory and choose a file
called COMMAND.COM . Click on OPEN, then click on ADVANCE and
then click on FINALIZE. 

You now should have a new shortcut to the MS-DOS command line prompt.
You can position the icon anywhere on the desktop where you like.
Now right click the icon chose PROPERTIES and select the PROGRAM
rider. In the field 'Working directory' you put C:\VCS-DEV (or whatever
you called the directory) in the field 'Batch file' you put
C:\VCS-DEV\VCS-DEV.BAT (or whatever you called the text file)
Now click on OK and you are done.


If you now double click the MS-DOS icon, a command line prompt window
will open, that you can use for DASM. The text in the window should
say 'DOSKEY is installed'. This means you have a history function
for commands that you have already typed in, which can be accessed
by the up and down arrow keys. Also you can edit those command lines.
Also the window text should read:
C:\VCS-DEV>
which is where you have to type the commands in. This also tells
you that you are in the right directory.


If you want to compile an assembler source code file with DASM, you
have to type the following:
dasm SOURCEFILE.ASM -f3 -v3 -oBINFILE.BIN

For example, if you have the source code to COMBAT and you want to
genarate the COMBAT binary for use with an emulator, you type:
dasm combat.asm -f3 -v3 -ocombat.bin
If everything went fine, you can type PCAE COMBAT.BIN and the
emulator would run the newly genarated game.


When you are done with compiling for today, you can type EXIT and
the MS-DOS window will close.



Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg



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