+therealbountybob Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 After finally finishing Gwobby Strikes Back I thought I'd have another look at Assembly. I've made a start, but it's going to be a very long time before I can even think about coding a game! Great fun though, kinda got that exciting feeling like I'm using the machine for the first time again I found a good beginners article in Page 6 Mag (issues 58-61) plus a couple of books I have and lots to read up here of course... I found a copy of an excellent "Atari Assmbler Editor Reference Guide" on Atarimax (by Matthew Ratcliff) in the introduction it mentions "our boot camp series" for teaching assembler programming, anyone got this Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 (edited) The Boot Camp series was supposed to have been re-run during the last couple of years' worth of Analog issues. You could try here: Analog Scans EDIT: I just downloaded issue 61, and there's an installment of Boot Camp in there, although I'm not sure how far through the series it is. Edited May 9, 2011 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Hi TRBB Good choice to look at assembly. It gives the best control over your machine, and it will surprise you HOW FAST such old Atari 8bit computers really are. Till 1994 I was only into Turbo Basic and Basic, and a some pre-experimental things in Assembler. From 1994/1995 till now I have been using Assembly language for almost anything. For almost 16 years I have been using Mac/65. But since little time I'm using Synassembler. It is pretty awesome. You should give Mac/65 or Synassembler a try. Atari Assembler Editor is really slow, and that is annoying when you are going to debug things. For the first steps it might be ok, but even then it is already very slow. think it over. Greetz M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 The Atari Assembler Editor is what I used to learn 6502 programming back in '83-84. It's a bit slow on compiling, but it gets the job done With it, I was able to make a S.A.M. handler and a talking terminal, maybe the first? Guys in the Guam Atari User Group liked it... The Boot Camp series was a good learning aid for the beginner to intermediate user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylev Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 therealbountybob, Flashjazzcat's link should put you onto the entire "Boot Camp" run in Analog. You are looking for the earlier issues (not issue 1, but somewhere before 10 I think). Just scan the TOC on any issue to see if there was a Boot Camp article included. It does skip some issues. I found the series quite helpful in getting me started with assembler. It is well written and starts off with simple steps that lead to more complex issues. It never really gets into the more arcane stuff about assembler, but is well worth the read. Happy computing in assembler from another relative novice! Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I have found out that the third installment of the series is in issue fifteen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 It would be cool if someone cut these out of the PDFs and put the articles all together. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 (edited) The book section at atarimania is great - http://www.atarimania.com/documents-atari-400-800-xl-xe-books_1_8.html - as are the documents at atariarchives.org. These are the titles I've found extremely helpful (be warned that each link goes directly to a large PDF) Atari Assembly Language Programmer's Guide- Very good for understanding things like scrolling and more advanced techniques Atari 130XE Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner - Just began looking at this a while ago and it seems like a decent text. Though something like Atari Rootsmight be better. Atari Graphics and Arcade Game Design De Re Atari is good to have on hand, as is Mapping the Atari, a really invaluable guide. Edited May 10, 2011 by Avram 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 Thanks guys (I have mapping and de re plus a couple of 6502 books) Lots of reading and testing to do (yes I'm reading the book The Atari Assembler, slightly more interesting than The New Penguin History of the World that I am also meant to be reading, got as far as the ancient Greeks, not got to the Atari empire yet ) I'm sure I'll find a decent 1 page memory map to print out too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 My problem initially with assembly was trying to do far too much when I had next to no knowledge. As had been explained to me later, start off small and build from there. I began by flashing the colors on the screen and then slowly (with a lot of help from Atariage members) got player-missile graphics and drawing character graphics onto the screen to work. Doing the equivalent of setting up a gr.12 screen was a huge struggle for me - I would try for a couple of weeks and then give up for months. Finally, I asked on the boards and got lots of help. Oh, and do pose your questions here (especially on this forum) - there are some seriously talented coders here. Sheddy, Eagle, Gauntman, Groovybee, Heaven, and FlashJazzcat (and many others) have all shown me very simple, elegant solutions to hair-ripping-out problems. Plus, studying the bits of code that someone else has written can be very educational. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 i'm really glad this thread showed up in the headlines - this is exactly where I need to be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 In case anyone needs a guide in how to simply set up AtAsm and Crimson Editor in order to cross-assemble, here's a Word file that Sheddy put together for me some time ago. Crimson Editor and ATasm.doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atariron82 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 I'm currently diving into my copy of Atari Roots. I began with some knowledge of BASIC, but this book is opening up a whole new world of understanding. Each chapter reads like one layer of a massive onion of info. As a layer is peeled back, a little more of the mystery of Assembly is revealed. Mark Andrews' skillfully avoids assaulting the reader with abstract technicalese, resulting in what amounts to an enjoyable read...about computer programming?! Instead of my eyes glazing over, they remained glued to each page, eagerly awaiting the denouement, which lies ahead. After all of this is digested, I have an 8" stack of ANTIC magazines dating from Dec '85 on back to rifle through. That should keep me occupied until I find the sequel to Roots(if it exists), or maybe Lance Leventhal's 6502 book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted May 21, 2011 Author Share Posted May 21, 2011 Quick update I contacted Tom Hudson re the Boot Camp series, he directed me to this Classic Computer Magazines site some of the online analog archives. I've pulled a few into a word file from but the atarimania pdfs take forever to donwload on my meagre connection. I'll post what I have soon folks :!: p.s. Avram did I see a letter from you in Page 6 mag (#63)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) Quick update I contacted Tom Hudson re the Boot Camp series, he directed me to this Classic Computer Magazines site some of the online analog archives. I've pulled a few into a word file from but the atarimania pdfs take forever to donwload on my meagre connection. I'll post what I have soon folks :!: p.s. Avram did I see a letter from you in Page 6 mag (#63)? Very probably! Edited May 23, 2011 by Avram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ripdubski Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Raise from the dead. I have the entire Boot Camp series captured into Individual PDF's by edition. I did it for myself. I dont know if it can be redistributed or not. As a side note, towards the end of the Analog run, they simply rebooted the section and started from article 1 again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I have the same thing. Somebody extracted them and posted them on the main forum. He only put them up online in his drop box for a week though. So the link has long since died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Here's the download: Analog - Boot Camp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I really, really want to thank Mr Fish for taking the time to re-link these articles. That being said, Rapidshare really wants to kill their business. I kept getting pop-ups about them terminating their standard accounts and this under 200mb download is going to take just less than 2 hours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I really, really want to thank Mr Fish for taking the time to re-link these articles. That being said, Rapidshare really wants to kill their business. I kept getting pop-ups about them terminating their standard accounts and this under 200mb download is going to take just less than 2 hours? Yeah, I noticed the pop-ups. Looks like I'll be moving on as soon as July 1st hits. Weird about the download speed, as it only took me about 30 - 45 minutes to upload. Maybe they're in more of a hurry to receive files than they are to give them up. Maybe I'll look for another site to use later today when I have some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I kept getting pop-ups about them terminating their standard accounts and this under 200mb download is going to take just less than 2 hours? Here, try this one: Analog - Boot Camp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 (edited) Here, try this one: Analog - Boot Camp Please use the above link first, but if it stops working for some reason THIS one should be up for the foreseeable future. Edited June 26, 2014 by fibrewire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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