The original Zyklus code was written in Z80 Assmebly, using a Macro assembler from 1985. Thanks to the current popularity of retro computing and the vast resources of the internet, I managed to obtain a copy of the assembler (though not the linker, although I’m fairly certain I have one from an earlier release that will work as well).
Getting this old software to run can be very hairy on modern hardware, but I’m pleasantly suprised with the ease of this – so far.
I’m using Windows XP on a virtual box on my Mac. With a shared dir to move the code from my main system where I can freely edit. This is a workable solution for now, but I’m planning to build a docker container with MS DOS in QEMU, so that I can just compile directly from my command line. I’ll do that once I’ve got everything required to complete a full build done.
Going through the old source archive, they used batch files to build everything. Some items were specific to the In-Circuit Emulator they used during development. Others were part of cross-platoform compliation. Right now I’m figuring out the basics. Getting the .ASM files to compile, and they all actually do, although most with some kind of “Undefined Symbol” notification – still generating an OBJ though. The goal is to build it fully and burn new EPROMS based on this build. If that runs succesfully on the Zyklus, we got a good starting point.
Using command line tool, I can convert the bin to HEX code, which is what I can use in the C Arrays in the MCLZ8 emulator.
