A collection of demo-related tools and files for MSX
Collected by Marq/L!T
Programming
- GEN80
- Hisoft's MSX-assembler, also known as Devpac. Runs on MSX-DOS.
All Bandwagon's productions (and many many others) are written
with GEN80.
- TASM
- Table-driven assembler. 8-bit Cross-assembler for MS-DOS. Supports
some other processors than Z80 too. All old L!T productions were written
with TASM. Not a brand new version here, but works well.
- AS
- Macroassembler AS aka ASL is a multiplatform assembler supporting
numerous CPUs.
- Turbo Pascal
- Borland's Turbo Pascal for MSX. Has IDE and all that fancy stuff.
- HiSoft Pascal
- Another Pascal for MSX. Command line based.
- MSX C
- C-compiler for MSX. Really slow compilation, moderately fast outcome.
- SDCC
- Small Device C Compiler is a multiplatform cross-compiler that can
generate programs for Z80/MSX. Comes with an assembler too. Some other
important packages for SDCC:
- z88dk
- Another C cross-compiler. Seems to be a fine piece of software but we
haven't tried it out so far.
- TOR
- An advanced editor. Needs 80-column display, ie. SVI-738 or MSX2.
- SKMSX
- A simple but small and usable editor. At least Neckfreak likes it ;)
Works fine with MSX1 and 40-column display.
- APED
- Quite nice, but somewhat slow editor. Most suitable for turbo R owners.
Example sources
- L!T play
- The source of L!T's player routine by Yzi (TASM format)
- screen3.asm
- How to set screen mode and write to VRAM. A trivial example by Marq
(TASM format)
- MSXLib
- Our MSX1 programming library with fast VDP copy/set routines,
mouse/kbd handling, color defines and much more. Download at:
svn://www.kameli.net/marq/msxlib
In addition, most of our new(er) demos come with full source included.
Other tools
- MSXDISK
- Fixes MSX-formatted 360k disks so that MS-DOS can read them too.
Note that this utility is for PC.
- MSX-DOS
- You'd ask us anyway, so here they are: MSX-DOS system files. Copy
MSXDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM to an empty diskette in that order and it
becomes bootable.
-
- PMA unpacker
- Unpacker for .PMA and .LHA/.LZH files
- PSG Tracker
- A simple music editor for MSX's soundchip.
- Popcom
- Executable compressor for MSX-DOS.
- Jannone's online MSX tools
- Screen 2 converter, sprite editor and assembler, all as online apps.
- Vortex Tracker II
- A Windows-based music editor for PSG tunes. A player routine for the
tunes was developed by Dvik & Joyrex.
- Arkos Tracker
- Another Windows-based music editor for PSG tunes - probably the best one.
MSX player routine included.
Documents
- portar.txt
- A very informative text about MSX hardware, screenmodes, ports etc.
- z80-2.txt
- Z80 instructions with their timings and sizes. A good reference.
- bios.txt
- BIOS calls and their parameters
- bdos1var.txt
- BIOS memory areas with explanations
- sysarea.txt
- System memory areas (such as BASIC and MSX-DOS) with explanations.
- Article 1
- Neckfreak's article #1 about MSX hires
- Article 2
- Neckfreak's article #2 about MSX hires
- tms9918a.txt
- Texas Instruments TMS9918A VDP. Almost complete description including undocumented features.
- MSX assembly page
- A lot of various examples and documents.
Emulators
fMSX
A classic emulator, still among the best. For most platforms.
openMSX
The new leader of the pack. Lots of features and multiplatform, although
a bit cryptic at first.
BlueMSX
Another very complete one, at least Windows and Wii versions available.
WebMSX
A browser-based new emulator that has been improving fast.