Demo video

So, here is the video of the emulator running. I start it up, it boots straight into MINOL (it autodetects the ROM image and boots there).

I then immediately exit, disassemble and list some memory to show the monitor ROM, and boot MINOL back with G 9000.

Then the Star Trek program is listed and run - it does take a few seconds to create the galaxy, and then I fly about a bit, shoot up some Klingons and exit to the MINOL command line.

All very primitive :)

Executable rebuilt, RC/2016 pretty much done.

In what will probably the final thing I do for Retrochallenge 2016/1 ,

I've rebuilt the executables and the hardware version so that Star Trek will run automatically, e.g. it is loaded into memory.

All you have to do is run the executable, press F5 to run it, and type RUN and it should start. Slowly :)

I might put a screengrab/video up a bit later on.

This is a picture of Star Trek just having started and being run on the hardware "replica".

Trek complete

Yes, it's finished and working, coming in at 3,227 bytes.

This is the (probably) final listing. The next (and probably last) thing I will do is rig the emulator up so this is loaded by default.

I didn't actually write this ; it's pretty incomprehensible. The commented version with full variable names, which is about 5 times as long is on github.

A peculiarity of the original MINOL is you have to write it like this (except you can have comments) - most of the time the interpreter does not allow spaces so you can't write "PR C" it has to be "PRC". I removed the spaces in the preprocessor primarily to save space.

Though I have just noticed it has the superfluous 'A' command which invites the Klingons to attack you (which was for debugging). Still, maybe a Ferengi will play the game, it might be useful ?

The main thing that is missing that I might add, but probably won't as it's nearly time out and the weekend, is the phaser damage does not take distance into account.

But overall I'm quite pleased with it. It does have most of the proper features of Star Trek BASIC, which the other tiny versions (<4k) I have seen don't.

It may be technically wrong. The original MINOL claims a line length of 70 odd characters max but this is more to do with the keyboard buffer than internal structure. With 700 bytes left, I could stretch it out so no line is more than 70 characters long, but I won't :)

   2 (14,254)=12:(14,255)=0:PR$(14,254),"STAR TREK V1.0":PR"(C) PSR 2016":PR:(14,240)=0:(14,241)=7:(14,242)=8
   3 (14,243)=9:(14,244)=255:(14,245)=0:(14,246)=1:(14,247)=0-9:(14,248)=0-8:(14,249)=0-7
   4 PR"SKILL 1-9 ?";:IND:IFD=0;D=5:K=0:I=0
   5 N=0:IF!<2*D+35;N=N+!/80+1:K=K+N:IF!<16;N=N+100:(14,I)=!/50+1*10+N:I=I+1:IFI<64;GOTO5
   6 E=250:T=4:Q=!/4:(14,Q)=163:PRK,"KLINGONS"
  10 I=64:PR"IN QUADRANT ";:N=Q/8*8:(14,254)=Q-N+48:PR$(14,254),",";:(14,254)=Q/8+48:PR$(14,254)
  11 (14,I)=0:I=I+1:IFI#128;GOTO11:N=(14,Q):J=1:O=0:(14,J+151)=255:(14,J+152)=255:(14,J+153)=255:(14,J+154)=255
  12 IFN/10*10=N;GOTO14
  13 I=!/4+64:IF(14,I)#0;GOTO13:(14,I)=J:N=N-1:IF9<J;GOTO12:(14,J+150)=I-64:(14,J+160)=!/10+12:J=J+1:O=O+1:GOTO12
  14 N=N/10:J=J+1:IFJ<9;J=10:IFN#0;GOTO12
  15 S=!/4:IF(14,S+64)#0;GOTO15:(14,S+64)=12
  20 IFK=0;GOTO245:I=(12,128):PR" ",E;:(12,128)=I:PR"E:";:(12,128)=I+5:(14,254)=T+'0';:PR" T:",$(14,254),">";:INI
  21 IFI='A';GOTO200
  22 IFI<33;GOTO30:IFI='S';GOTO30:IFI='L';GOTO40:IFI='W';GOTO50:IFI='M';GOTO60:IFI='Q';GOTO70:IFI='T';GOTO80:IFI='P';GOTO90
  23 PR"CMD: SLWMPTQ":GOTO20
  30 (14,254)=12:PR$(14,254):I=0
  31 N=(14,I+64):IFN=0;GOTO34:IFN<9;N=9:N=N-9*2+224:(0,I*2)=N:(0,I*2+1)=N+1
  34 I=I+1:IFI#64;GOTO31:CALL(0,5):PR$(14,254);:GOTO20
  40 I=7
  41 J=0:PR"  ";
  42 N=I+J:N=(14,240+N):N=N+Q
  43 IFN<64;GOTO44:N=N-64:GOTO43
  44 N=(14,N):M=N/100*100:N=N-M:PRN;:(12,128)=(12,128)-4
  45 (14,254)=M/100+'0':PR$(14,254);:(12,128)=(12,128)+2:IFJ#2;PR"!";:J=J+1:IFJ#3;GOTO42
  46 I=I-3:PR:IFI<7;PR"  ---+---+---":IFI<7;GOTO41:GOTO20
  50 IFE-1<8;GOTO53:PR"DIR:";:INI:IF9<I;GOTO20:Q=Q+(14,240+I):E=E-8
  51 IFQ<64;GOTO52:Q=Q-64:GOTO51
  52 GOTO10
  53 PR"ENERGY!":GOTO20
  60 PR"DIR : ";:INI:IF9<I;GOTO20:I=(14,240+I):IFI=0;GOTO20:PR"WARP: ";:INJ:IF8<J;GOTO20:(14,S+64)=0
  61 IFJ=0;GOTO65:IFE-1<2;GOTO65:J=J-1:E=E-2:S=S+I
  62 IFS<64;GOTO63:S=S-64:GOTO62
  63 N=(14,S+64):IFN=0;GOTO61:IFN<10;GOTO240:IFN=10;GOTO241:PR"STARBASE DOCK":E=250:T=4:(14,Q)=(14,Q)-100
  65 (14,S+64)=12:GOTO200
  70 PR"SURE ?";:INI:IFI='Y';GOTO242:GOTO20
  80 IFT=0;GOTO20:PR"DIR : ";:INI:IF9<I;GOTO20:I=(14,240+I):IFI=0;GOTO20:J=7:N=S:T=T-1
  81 IFJ=0;GOTO200:J=J-1:N=N+I
  82 IFN<64;GOTO83:N=N-64:GOTO82
  83 M=(14,64+N):IFM=0;GOTO81:IFM=10;GOTO200:IFM=11;GOTO243:IFM=12;END:I=M:GOTO120
  90 IFO=0;GOTO20:PR"LVL : ";:INI:IFI=0;GOTO20:IFE-1<I;GOTO20:E=E-I:N=I/O+3:N=N-D+5:IF200<N;N=0:I=1
  91 IF(14,150+I)=255;GOTO94:J=(14,160+I)-N:(14,160+I)=J:IF200<J;GOTO120
  94 I=I+1:IFI#5;GOTO91:GOTO200
 120 PR"KLINGON DOWN !":J=(14,I+150):IFJ=255;END:N=(14,J+64):IFN#I;END:K=K-1:PRK,"LEFT"
 121 O=O-1:(14,J+64)=0:(14,I+150)=255:(14,Q)=(14,Q)-1:IFK=0;GOTO245:GOTO200
 200 IFO=0;GOTO20:I=0:PR"KLINGONS ATTACK"
 201 I=I+1:IFI=5;GOTO20:IF(14,I+150)=255;GOTO201:GOTO220
 210 N=!/32+1:IFN=6;N=9:N=(14,N+240):J=(14,I+150)+N:IF(14,(14,I+150)+64)#I;END
 211 IFJ<64;GOTO212:J=J-64:GOTO211
 212 IF(14,J+64)#0;GOTO201:(14,(14,I+150)+64)=0:(14,I+150)=J:(14,J+64)=I:GOTO201
 220 N=(14,I+160):N=N+D-5:M=!/64+1:N=N*M/4:IFN=0;GOTO201:IFE<N;N=E
 221 E=E-N:PRN,"DAMAGE":IFE=0;GOTO244
 222 M=(14,I+160):N=N/3:IFM-1<N;N=M-1:(14,I+160)=M-N:GOTO201
 240 PR"YOU HAVE COLLIDED WITH A KLINGON.":END
 241 PR"YOU HAVE BURNED UP IN A STAR.":END
 242 PR"YOU HAVE RESIGNED FROM STARFLEET.":END
 243 PR"YOU HAVE DESTROYED A STARBASE AND BEEN ARRESTED.":END
 244 PR"A KLINGON SHIP DESTROYED YOU":END
 245 PR"CONGRATS - YOU WON !":END

.

And more commands

Well, the program is now up to 2,338 bytes - I can scrape back a few if necessary - and it's mostly, not entirely there.

The two outstanding parts are firing phasers, and the Klingons firing (and , if I have space, I might make them move as well)

So today I have added the in-quadrant movement, and torpedo firing - but this also includes a lot of the code to 'clear up' dead Klingons, so it really should fit in the 1700 odd bytes remaining.

The actual source code - the stuff with all the macros and comments - is about 14k, so the output code does look rather like it went through one of those programs that compressed BASIC that used to be available.

More Commands

Well, I'm a bit more optimistic than yesterday about program size, at present it is 1,336 bytes and since yesterday I've added the long range scan - this is messier because MINOL doesn't really handle the requirement to print 42 as 042 well, and the annoying printing of spaces before and after (I didn't write its spec) which you can't suppress. You can see the long range scan on the right. (It shows the contents of adjacent quadrants).

I've also added the warp command - this Trek has two moves, one in a quadrant, and one between quadrants. It just warps to an adjacent quadrant using the directional aspect of a PC numeric keypad.

So that leaves Move, Firing Phasers and Torpedoes, getting the Klingons to fire back, and end game stuff. I'm reasonably confident of getting that into 2.5k or so.

Out of interest, I ran it in normal speed - I've been developing in a version of the emulator that runs flat out - and it is actually not so bad. It takes maybe 3 seconds to create the galaxy, and a couple of seconds to create a quadrant. Short and Long range scans take a second or two. It's a bit slow, but playable - it's actually reminiscent of playing it on a teleprinter, or a machine like an Apple 1 or a similar TV Typewriter device.

Or over a modem. Which reminds me.

I used to work in Halifax (its in Yorkshire), for a company making vertical market software for property management. We wanted to set up a machine in Edinburgh , a unix box. We had an old audio coupler modem - one of those things you plugged the old phones into physically, which was supposed, I think to run at 300 baud. (This was in the late 1980s)

It was rubbish. I couldn't even type ls<return> half the time, and when I did I just got gobbledegook back. Nothing we did made it better. We were part of a big

On the upside, I did get sent up there with a box of backup tapes and did it the hard way. Well actually I spent most of a couple of days waiting for the compiler. So a free holiday. Unfortunately it chucked it down every night, so I didn't see much of Edinburgh.

Halifax is a wierd place. It's a small Yorkshire town. Well actually it's really dull .... except if you approach it from Leeds.

Then your first view is this ridiculously futuristic road layout with overpasses and all sorts of wierd junctions. It completely threw me the first time, it's like finding a motorway built in someone's back garden. Apparently, in the 1970s they had this idea for this super-duper ultra-modern town road system, but it ran out of money half way through - so getting out of the south end of town was (and apparently still is) dreadful.

More here

Short range scanner

Having had a little time to tinker with it, I now have a working short range scanner.

The * are stars, the +++ are Klingons (this is TOS Star Trek .....), >!< are starbases and <*> is the Enterprise.

I hope it's going to fit ; so far this occupies 899 bytes of program memory. This is a little unnerving as I only have 4096 bytes, slightly over 20% used.

If it doesn't fit ; I'll implement "Hunt the Wumpus" instead :)

Building a galaxy, one atom at a time.

Primarily for reasons of space , I'm not going to directly port Tiny BASIC Trek. I had a look at various small Treks and concluded they were all too big, so I decided to write it from scratch and use the Computing Today as a base for ideas.

Minol isn't very compact - it doesn't have any tokenising so keywords like PRINT, which is stored in one byte in most BASIC interpreters, is stored in 2 (it is PR). It doesn't sound like much but over time it does get a bit cramped.

I think though that I will get most of the features in - it might be a bit rough and ready, but it will work. So far, I've done all the set up - the creation of the initial galaxy, and the creation of the new 'quadrant' from that galaxy data, which means I can start to work on the movement routines next.