[colorforth] Non-working colorForth

["t" <loveall@xxxxxxxxx>]

In view of problems encountered getting colorforth to operate, here is the
process I went through to get the floppy running on my system:

The original changes were determined by dis-assembling the system BIOS call
for disk read, Int 13h, functions 02, and disk write, Int 13h, functions 03,
(using debug.com) and looking for all of the I/O to the Floppy Disk
Controller (FDC) at IO address range 3f0h to 3f7h. By inspection, The
dis-assembly showed that these reads/writes required a write strobe to hex
IO address 0E1h. Everything else matched Chuck's code.

This brute force solution could be used without knowing what the motherboard
is, but it would probably aid in peace of mind to have that info.

My computers show the motherboard type at power-on reset or list it
somewhere in the BIOS setup. Then I did a search on Google for the
motherboard type for tech docs (in my case for an Asus P2B-D). This found a
.PDF file that then told me what super I/O chip was present. I then found
the .PDF tech info for that (Winbond W83977tf) to understand and verify
proper operation of the FDC and DMA per the modified code.

For the video, you will have to determine whether your machine supports an
appropriate video mode, e.g. 1024x768x64k rgb or 800x600x64k rgb (see
http://www.ctyme.com/intr/rb-0275.htm). From there, you need to determine
the address of the video memory used in the variables 'frame' and 'displ' in
gen.asm. Chuck searches for the Northbridge to determine these values, but
you might be able to just hardcode them in. NB If you change your hardware
configuration you may need to change these addresses.

My original combined code changes for floppy on the Asus P2B-D motherboard
and 800x600x64k missed one change to the 800x600 video code in gen.asm. The
updated version can be found on my website
http://www.users.qwest.net/~loveall/ModProg.htm
along with minor tweaks to my 4word color forth.

Regards,
Terry Loveall

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miranda Ravetto-Wood" <mirandaravetto@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "colorforth List Member" <colorforth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 10:39 AM
Subject: [colorforth] Hello, World! and other simple programs


> Dont know how many can, but I have three machines and it doesn't work on
> any!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: List-Admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:List-Admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dirk Harms-Merbitz
> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 8:29 PM
> To: colorforth List Member
> Subject: [colorforth] Hello, World! and other simple programs
>
>
>
> ColorForth works on one out of the 10 machines that I tested.
> Even on that machine the official version cannot "save".
>
> How many people are able to use ColorForth at this time?

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