RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-04, 15:47:

... Umm, yeah. That is quite different. You are generating a COM I am making an EXE: ..

The difference between .COM and .EXE isn't much, just a header:

125-08-04  1:00p          551 HELLO2.COM        ;Both compiled in
225-08-04  1:02p          583 HELLO2.EXE          ;     Tiny model

I think you are thinking about the difference between TINY model (1 segment)
and other models with multiple segments = more init code to setup)

125-08-04  1:03p        1,079 HELLO2.EXE       ; Compiled in SMALL model
2
3TINY map: (all blocks in a single 64 segment)
4  Start  Stop   Length Name               Class
5  00000H 002D7H 002D8H CSEG               CODE
6  002E0H 00326H 00047H DSEG               IDATA
7  00327H 003D6H 000B0H BSEG               UDATA
8  003D7H 003D7H 00001H MSEG               UDATA
9 Program entry point at 0000:0100
10 Warning: no stack
11SMALL map: (64k cpde + 64k data with InitedDATA overlapped)
12  Start  Stop   Length Name               Class
13  00000H 001EFH 001F0H CSEG               CODE
14  001F0H 00236H 00047H DSEG               IDATA
15  00237H 002E6H 000B0H BSEG               UDATA
16  002E7H 002E7H 00001H MSEG               UDATA
17  002E8H 00327H 00040H SSEG               STACK
18 Program entry point at 0000:0000

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-04, 14:26:

... The TC thats on this device came preinstalled on it ...

Can you figure out which version it is?

I don't see/remember a way to display the compiler version inside of the TC.EXE interactive program,
but I do see the string "Version 2.0" within it.

Also the install program TCINST.EXE and the command line compiler TCC.EXE show version 2.0

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-04, 17:15:

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-04, 12:51:

I do have an ancient "Poqet PC" ...

Don't go out of your way. But, if you are interested to find out, then it would be an interesting comparison

I don't normally use the POQET, so I don't keep batteries in it - the batteries in NVR "drives" died long ago, and I
don't have the official PoQet transfer cable/software - I was able to make a basic serial cable that works on it...

So I have to bootstrap my own DDLINK transfer program to it and then use that to transfer files... On "normal" systems,
this goes t 115200 bps serial speed - but the PoQet can't handle more than about 19200 - by the time I transfer the
compiler and related files - it can take some time...

I've also go a bit of a family emergency going on right now, so it may take few days....

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-04, 17:50:

I don't normally use the POQET, so I don't keep batteries in it - the batteries in NVR "drives" died long ago, and I don't have […]
Show full quote

I don't normally use the POQET, so I don't keep batteries in it - the batteries in NVR "drives" died long ago, and I
don't have the official PoQet transfer cable/software - I was able to make a basic serial cable that works on it...

So I have to bootstrap my own DDLINK transfer program to it and then use that to transfer files... On "normal" systems,
this goes t 115200 bps serial speed - but the PoQet can't handle more than about 19200 - by the time I transfer the
compiler and related files - it can take some time...

I've also go a bit of a family emergency going on right now, so it may take few days....

That sounds like quite a hassle. Don't worry about it. Good luck with the family emergency!

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-04, 17:40:

Can you figure out which version it is? […]
Show full quote

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-04, 14:26:

... The TC thats on this device came preinstalled on it ...

Can you figure out which version it is?

I don't see/remember a way to display the compiler version inside of the TC.EXE interactive program,
but I do see the string "Version 2.0" within it.

Also the install program TCINST.EXE and the command line compiler TCC.EXE show version 2.0

I will try to figure out the version.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-04, 17:40:

Can you figure out which version it is? […]
Show full quote

Can you figure out which version it is?

I don't see/remember a way to display the compiler version inside of the TC.EXE interactive program,
but I do see the string "Version 2.0" within it.

Also the install program TCINST.EXE and the command line compiler TCC.EXE show version 2.0

TCINST and TCC both say Version 2.0. I am not sure what tool to use to look inside TC.exe. turbo debugger won't launch it to let me see the code of the program. Says not enough memory.

Somewhere on my site (look at the list of files in each archive), are FVT.COM and FVB.COM (File View Text/Binary) these will let you view very large files.. there is a search function - do a case insensitive searh for "version"

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-06, 01:19:

Somewhere on my site (look at the list of files in each archive), are FVT.COM and FVB.COM (File View Text/Binary) these will let you view very large files.. there is a search function - do a case insensitive searh for "version"

Many thanks. I will have to do that next week. I am away from home right now and have no way to get anything on or off the Pocket 8088. Having fun playing with this thing though.

I am currently doing the exercises in the book "Mastering Turbo Assembler" by Tom Swan. Its a shame that the first few exercises expect you to be hooked up to a parallel port dot matrix printer. But I did the exercises anyway, with no way to test them. Lol.

Oh and, when I am tired of learning, this device is great for playing Prince of Persia (have to switch to 10mhz speed for that). Bubble Ghost is just about playable also.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-06, 06:59:

... Its a shame that the first few exercises expect you to be hooked up to a parallel port dot matrix printer ...

Is there a reason it hs to be a "dot matrix" printer?
Is it outputting graphics?
Is it doing something relying on "printing noise"?

I've not played with it much, but in DosBox you can set up a virtual parallel ports and printers.. it can do graphice and output to .PNG, .BMP etc.
(but will not sound like a dot-matric printer when you are printing)

and yes, TC/TASM/MASM etc. run well in DosBox

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-06, 07:28:

Is there a reason it hs to be a "dot matrix" printer? Is it outputting graphics? Is it doing something relying on "printing nois […]
Show full quote

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-06, 06:59:

... Its a shame that the first few exercises expect you to be hooked up to a parallel port dot matrix printer ...

Is there a reason it hs to be a "dot matrix" printer?
Is it outputting graphics?
Is it doing something relying on "printing noise"?

I've not played with it much, but in DosBox you can set up a virtual parallel ports and printers.. it can do graphice and output to .PNG, .BMP etc.
(but will not sound like a dot-matric printer when you are printing)

and yes, TC/TASM/MASM etc. run well in DosBox

The first example programs aren't outputting graphics. They are doing things like sending form feed command, line feed command, changing to 132 character lines rather than default 80 characters, and printing source code by DOS output redirection after switching printer mode.

Also stepping through code using turbo debugger and watching the printer react as you call INT 21h.

According to the book most developers of the time would print out hard copies of their assembled code using tasm /l or tasm /l/c then sending the *.lst file to the printer.....

Of course I wont be doing that, but I guess I could keep the *.lst files.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-06, 06:59:

Oh and, when I am tired of learning, this device is great for playing Prince of Persia (have to switch to 10mhz speed for that). Bubble Ghost is just about playable also.

That's a classic! :)
There are many other cool games and applications that will run on an XT class PC, too!
The year is 1990 and you still have a PC/XT and can't upgrade. Which games are you playing?
You can even emulate 8052 AH BASIC or an Game Boy using NO$GB.
A free semiconductor database runs on it, too.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-08-06, 08:05:

That's a classic! :) There are many other cool games and applications that will run on an XT class PC, too! The year is 1990 and […]
Show full quote

That's a classic! 😀
There are many other cool games and applications that will run on an XT class PC, too!
The year is 1990 and you still have a PC/XT and can't upgrade. Which games are you playing?
You can even emulate 8052 AH BASIC or an Game Boy using NO$GB.
A free semiconductor database runs on it, too.

Thanks. I have tried a few games from that list. The biggest problem with many that use PC speaker for sound is that this device has no volume for it and is very loud (it does have volume for OPL3 sound). Also the speakers are very small and don't sound like an original PC speaker would. I have been making notes on the device of how the games performed:

I am wondering if I can add a switch to the device to mute the built-in speaker and, maybe, add a headphone-type socket for plugging in an external better sounding speaker.

There is already an audio jack that OPL3 comes out of, so I can use decent speakers for that. But PC speaker sounds don't come out of that jack.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-06, 07:42:

According to the book most developers of the time would print out hard copies of their assembled code using tasm /l or tasm /l/c then sending the *.lst file to the printer.....

I never much did that "back in the day" .. might have something to do with my first "printer" being a Model-28 Teletype
(Massive, noisy, slow [50bps 5-bit baudot serial]) you can see a pic of it at: DavesOldComputers->Altair8800->PhotosCompleteSystem
8th one down - shows what I had before the Altair - homebuilt 8080 - late 70s

Instead, I created something I called TFB (Tsr File Browser), let me look at text files pretty much anywhere in DOS just by hitting Lshift+Rshift
- I still use it sometimes even today, and you can still get it from the downloads!

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-06, 09:38:

I never much did that "back in the day" .. might have something to do with my first "printer" being a Model-28 Teletype (Massive […]
Show full quote

I never much did that "back in the day" .. might have something to do with my first "printer" being a Model-28 Teletype
(Massive, noiy, slow [50bps 5-bit baudot serial]) you can see a pic of it at: DavesOldComputers->Altair8800->PhotosCompleteSystem
8th one down - shows what I had before the Altair - homebuilt 8080 - late 70s

Instead, I created something I called TFB (Tsr File Browser), let me look at text files pretty much anywhere in DOS just by hitting Lshift+Rshift
- I still use it sometimes even today, and you can still get it from the downloads!

Nice. I will have to check that out when i am back home

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-08-06, 09:02:

I am wondering if I can add a switch to the device to mute the built-in speaker and, maybe, add a headphone-type socket for plugging in an external better sounding speaker.

There used to be a public domain patch that NOPs out any PC speaker command in applications.
I can't remember its name at the moment, however.

If you are going to add a jack... and the internal speaker is such that you can "break" into one of it's leads.. many/most 1/8" system side headphone jacks have the ability to break the internal connection when headphones are plugged it.

So just a blank jack (or an old one cut ftom a dead headphone) would act nicely as an "off" switch.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-08-07, 07:41:

There used to be a public domain patch that NOPs out any PC speaker command in applications.
I can't remember its name at the moment, however.

I wonder how that would work. Does it search the code of the applications looking for operations that write to the programmable interrupt timer port?

I guess its not possible to disable without modifying the executable, if its controlling the speaker directly rather than doing so through software interrupts.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-07, 09:56:

If you are going to add a jack... and the internal speaker is such that you can "break" into one of it's leads.. many/most 1/8" system side headphone jacks have the ability to break the internal connection when headphones are plugged it.

So just a blank jack (or an old one cut ftom a dead headphone) would act nicely as an "off" switch.

I am not sure what is physically possible now. Will have disassemble it to see. I am not quite sure how they have made both pc speaker and OPL3 come out of the same speaker, but be seperate when using headphone jack.

So far I am quite liking learning Assembly on this. Nice and distraction free. Keyboard is a little small to touch-type on but I am getting by. Seems responsive enough when entering code, compiling + linking and debugging with Turbo debugger.

I haven't written any large example code yet though.

If you'd like lots of examples of 8086 assembly language, have a look under "40 years of source code" on my site.

There is a lot of embedded non-86 stuff, but there is a fair bit of 8086:

My Micro-C compuler, it's mainly in C but a lot of the library is .ASM

Simsys as 8008, 8080 Z80, and 6809 cores implemented in 8086 .ASM

Monitors had full 8086 debugger

.. lots more ..