https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/ 2026-04-08T21:51:50+00:00 https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/ https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/lib/tpl/dokuwiki/images/favicon.ico text/html 2023-01-08T16:39:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0108_freedos_256_spc_bootimg_ldebug_updates_ldos_boot_optimisations?rev=1673192398&do=diff FreeDOS 256 spc, bootimg/lDebug updates, lDOS boot optimisations 2023-01-05 Yesterday saw some more activity after the prior blog entry. FreeDOS kernel and boot loaders: Support for 256 Sectors per Cluster This is a feature originated by the Enhanced DR-DOS project. Basically, when the byte field for "sectors per cluster" in the BPB contains 0, this is treated as indicating 256 sectors per cluster. Other than this special encoding the support comes naturally, especially if the kernel is alre… text/html 2023-01-08T16:36:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0108_ldebug_work_in_december_and_early_january?rev=1673192172&do=diff lDebug work in December and early January 2023-01-04 The end of December and the first days of January saw a lot of changes to the debugger. INSTALL and UNINSTALL commands These commands are in part to provide easier to memorise commands for installing and uninstalling interrupt hooks, namely the lDebugX interrupt 2Fh hook (to hook the DPMI entrypoint), the AMIS interrupt 2Dh hook, and the timer interrupt 8 hook. text/html 2023-03-13T14:26:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0108_ldos_boot_cl_signature_mismatch_ldebug_immasm_branch?rev=1678713963&do=diff lDOS boot CL signature mismatch, lDebug immasm branch 2023-01-08 Some more work went into lDOS boot to insure that it will not accidentally leave the value "CL" in the command line signature field (at word [ss:bp - 14h]). If the "attrib save" is not used and the loader relocates itself, then the "last available sector" segment pointer could have ended up containing the unwanted signature value. To avoid this, the assembly inserts one or two text/html 2023-01-20T17:04:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0120_einsicht_debugger_connection_notes?rev=1674230682&do=diff Einsicht debugger connection notes 2023-01-20 Einsicht needs to implement the following: * Data view: D command * Disassembly: U/R command * Referenced memory: R command * Jumping notice: R command * Register contents: R command, RX for setup text/html 2023-01-20T17:01:32+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0120_ldebug_immasm_work_continued?rev=1674230492&do=diff lDebug immasm work continued 2023-01-17 The immediate assembler implementation of lDebug has progressed a lot. From an experimental feature with a lot of debugging and very little safeguards, it can now run most instructions without fail. Calls can be traced into or proceeded past. Software interrupts are always proceeded past. text/html 2023-01-22T17:39:30+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0122_serial_mouse_iocline_first_steps_on_einsicht?rev=1674405570&do=diff Serial mouse, IOCLINE, first steps on Einsicht 2023-01-22 This week several things progressed with the debugger and the 95LX. Serial mouse However, the first item of note is that I unearthed a three-button serial mouse. I connected it to COM1 of the 686 DOS box. (COM2 has the null modem cable to the Linux box because PD ZModem defaults to COM2, which I then copied in lDebug.) Installing a driver was as easy as issuing a text/html 2023-02-01T17:17:47+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0201_pofo_rendeb_script?rev=1675268267&do=diff Pofo, rendeb script 2023-01-29 This week little progress happened with any of the debuggers. Running lDebug on the Atari Portfolio rr recently set up file transfers between a "Pofo" and some modern systems. I had him check running lDebug and lClock on there. text/html 2023-02-05T17:21:01+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0205_ddt_for_the_pofo?rev=1675614061&do=diff DDT for the Pofo 2023-02-05 This week rr's pointer to a website for Atari Portfolio programs led me to find DDT, the "Driver Debugger Tool". It's a basic debugger designed for the limitations of the Pofo, such as the 40x8 screen and its low amount of available memory. It is free software under the GNU text/html 2023-02-05T17:12:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0205_ldebug_ms_debug_s_command_ldebug_manual_quick_start_tips?rev=1675613537&do=diff lDebug/MS Debug S command, lDebug manual quick start, tips 2023-02-02 Yesterday rr asked about the syntax for the Debug command S (search memory). I replied that lDebug can search an entire segment using eg s E000:0 l 10000 "DIP" or s E000:0 FFFF "DIP" text/html 2023-02-12T17:36:37+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0212_overview_of_debuggers?rev=1676219797&do=diff Overview of debuggers 2023-02-07 SID The Symbolic Instruction Debugger, shipped with CP/M and the basis for DR-DOS's Debug. 86-DOS Monitor Ancestor of MS-DOS Debug. Microsoft Debug The original debugger, shipped with MS-DOS and the NTVDM for a long time. An early version lacking some features is included in the free software MS-DOS v2 release (under MIT License). I modded this to recreate some of the missing features of later versions, in the repo called msdebug. text/html 2023-02-12T17:46:57+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0212_pr_command_recreation_tracing_and_access_variables_recent_changes_to_ldebug?rev=1676220417&do=diff PR command recreation, tracing and access variables, recent changes to lDebug 2023-02-08 Recreating Enhanced Debug's PR command with lDebug scripting. Enhanced Debug, the nonfree PC DOS Retro fork of the FreeDOS Debug family, introduced the PR command. Albeit lDebug does not offer this feature it can be recreated with the RE command buffer and a repeated, silent P command. This is how to do it: text/html 2023-02-21T15:41:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0221_ldebugx_dual_code_bug_tsr_checks_allegory_symbol_relocations?rev=1676990502&do=diff lDebugX dual code bug, TSR checks, Allegory symbol relocations 2023-02-13 Bug in lDebugX symbolic (dual code) init Yesterday during testing of the fix for the EXECUTING keyword to use cs:cip rather than cs:eip, I intentionally traced into the (compressed) lCDebugX's init section using text/html 2023-03-03T23:36:44+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0303_current_source_size_of_ldebug?rev=1677883004&do=diff Current source size of lDebug As of today this is the size of the sources of the debugger, counted using cntlines. Not including symsnip, ldosboot, scanptab, nor instsect. ldebug/source$ cntlines -q *.asm Files: 38 Bytes: 1410239 Total lines: 63883 Blanks: 7217 Comment only: 12529 Actual code: 44137 text/html 2023-03-05T19:11:34+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0305_ldebug_and_ldosboot_changes?rev=1678039894&do=diff lDebug and ldosboot changes 2023-03-05 The file I am currently writing is blog26.txt, the 26th blog entry that I am writing on the HP 95LX. lDebug changes * RVD is checked for without allowing a blank or comma between the R and the VD, enabling to use the text/html 2023-03-07T21:00:52+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0307_ldebug_tests_uncovered_a_bug?rev=1678219252&do=diff lDebug tests uncovered a bug Today, running the lDebug tests turned up a recent bug, now fixed. With this change all tests pass for build_name=debug, build_name=debugx, as well as build_name=debug test_booting=1. The offending test was for checking part of the error message for writing to a read-only variable. I have largely neglected the test suite for a while now but perhaps I will expand it again soon. text/html 2023-03-08T19:03:36+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0308_ldebug_release_5?rev=1678298616&do=diff lDebug release 5 2023-03-08 The lDebug release 5 is imminent. Update: The release is done, grab packages at <https://pushbx.org/ecm/download/ldebug/> or the source at <https://hg.pushbx.org/ecm/ldebug/rev/release5> It brings several new features: * Support for 40-column displays in the R, U, D, and E commands * Expression types text/html 2023-03-20T20:16:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0320_ldebug_release_5_goofs_control-c_and_planned_new_tsr_j_switches?rev=1679339775&do=diff lDebug release 5 goofs, Control-C, and planned new TSR /J switches 2023-03-10 The lDebug release 5 is done. Alongside the blog post about the included changes, I also posted an announcement to the freedos-user mailing list. I copied this mail to the Announce section of the DOS Ain't Dead forum. I also linked to the mail text/html 2023-03-20T20:43:49+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0320_multiplexer_checks_ldebug_changes_to_iocline_and_getinput_fixes_and_highlighting_rebuilding_ia16_gcc?rev=1679341429&do=diff Multiplexer checks, lDebug changes to IOCLINE and getinput fixes and highlighting, rebuilding IA16 gcc 2023-03-19 This week several developments occurred. TSR AMIS multiplexer detection changes These changes, which are only done for the TSR example as yet but can be ported to the other TSRs (RxANSI, lClock, SEEKEXT, KEEPHOOK, TESTALOC), concern the detection of a debugger as well as a resident instance of the application. It's important to optimise these because in the common case, nearly 25… text/html 2023-03-21T23:14:21+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0321_cpu_performance_comparison?rev=1679436861&do=diff CPU performance comparison 2023-03-21T20:50:10+01:00 Tue Recently, Bret Johnson and some others on the freedos-devel mailing list discussed how different CPUs perform. I want to add some results to this topic. The LZMA and LZSA2 depack test I extracted the files text/html 2023-03-26T17:10:57+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0326_more_ldebug_getinput_work_hacker_s_keyboard_app_modding?rev=1679843457&do=diff More lDebug getinput work, Hacker's Keyboard app modding 2023-02-26 This week I worked some on lDebug's getinput as well as on modding the Android app called Hacker's Keyboard. lDebug ''puts'' fix Upon rewriting the prompt and visible text of the text/html 2023-04-02T16:20:41+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0402_tsr_updates_kernel_boot_test_more_v20_bug_tests?rev=1680445241&do=diff TSR updates, kernel boot test, more V20 bug tests 2023-04-02 This last week, I worked some on the updates to the TSR example, slightly extended the inst2d2f tool and set it up for current builds, did a few minor updates to lDebug, and I finally merged the ecm-boot-test branch for the FreeDOS kernel. I also checked whether the long-form pop on the 95LX can be traced or proceeded past without a crash, testing all 7 GPRs other than text/html 2023-04-16T17:47:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0416_early_april_work?rev=1681660036&do=diff Early April work 2023-04-16 On the prior weekend, which saw the (protestant) Easter celebrations, the HP 95LX's battery unfortunately had run out of power. That is why I didn't prepare a blog post at the usual time. lDebug changes I added an _APPLICATION text/html 2023-04-24T17:35:40+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0424_mid_april_work?rev=1682350540&do=diff Mid April work 2023-04-23 This week I did some work on ldosboot, the checksumming companion repo, and lDebug. ldosboot: checkpl The new checksumming stage is called checkpl. It is based on the earlier nullpl, which would just pass along control to its payload. Unlike the prior checksumming implementation, this stage is loaded as a payload by iniload, and in turn passes control to its own payload. That means it needs to be able to handle device driver and application mode entries. In turn, it… text/html 2023-04-28T18:20:37+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0428_two_aphorisms_on_the_work?rev=1682698837&do=diff Two aphorisms on the work Today we had a course on the matter of quality. I contributed two paraphrased sayings during this. This is the first one: Copied for the blog from <https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1252243-the-master-has-failed-more-times-than-the-beginner-has> The second appears to be less specifically cited to one source in particular. It goes like this: Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick two. text/html 2023-04-30T00:07:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0430_what_is_object_oriented_programming?rev=1682806029&do=diff What is Object Oriented Programming? I recently gossiped again about how formal education did not properly define topics such as OOP. So here's my attempt: In OOP, you can define your own data types, called classes. A class can consist of some data structures and some code associated with the class. A variable whose type is a class is called an object. Thus objects logically tie some data to some code. Classes can contain objects of another class (has a), or classes can inherit from other clas… text/html 2023-05-01T10:14:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0501_late_april_work_on_the_debugger?rev=1682928885&do=diff Late April work on the debugger 2023-04-30 This week was busy for the debugger's development, but not for any other projects. MMX variable read changes The MMX variables were among the last holdovers to still implement their own check in the if ladders of the text/html 2023-05-07T16:59:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0507_early_may_work_on_inicomp_ldosboot_ldebug_einsicht?rev=1683471590&do=diff Early May work on inicomp, ldosboot, lDebug, Einsicht 2023-05-07 The last day of April and first week of May several developments happened. inicomp changes to use without iniload or MZ shim wrapper stage The primary change in inicomp is the option _IMAGE_EXE_GET_COM_STACK which allows to set up a separate stack segment at the end of the process memory block. This is required for the intended functioning of the application (exe mode) entrypoint when the inicomp stage is directly loaded as a f… text/html 2023-05-11T18:56:36+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0511_wrong_inputs?rev=1683824196&do=diff Wrong inputs Copied for the blog from <https://libquotes.com/charles-babbage/quote/lbr2z8s> idioms text/html 2023-05-16T18:22:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0516_mid_may_work_on_einsicht_and_dokuwiki_backup_amis_tsr_teaser?rev=1684254130&do=diff Mid May work on Einsicht and dokuwiki backup, AMIS/TSR teaser 2023-05-14 This week Einsicht got some development, and an additional backup was set up for the pushbx blog. Einsicht changes The first change was just a fix to allow building Insight again, one instruction had escaped the conditional directives needed to exclude it at build time. text/html 2023-05-21T18:38:25+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0521_mid_may_work_ldebug_di_in_2023_may_tsr_updates_unix2dos_amis_review_upcoming?rev=1684687105&do=diff Mid May work: lDebug DI IN, 2023 May TSR updates, unix2dos, AMIS review upcoming 2023-05-21 In mid May, I worked some on the debugger and picked and adapted several changes to all the TSRs, and increased the TSRs' private versions to 1.20. All documentation text files (.txt) in text/html 2023-05-29T15:21:23+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0529_hp_95lx_write_protect_error?rev=1685366483&do=diff HP 95LX write protect error Yesterday I was greeted with a "write protect error" on drive A: of the HP 95LX, the SRAM card. I rebooted the device. Didn't help. Removed the card for several minutes and re-inserted it. Didn't help. I was just about to try formatting it when I had an idea. Could it be text/html 2023-05-29T16:33:00+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0529_msdebug_changes_and_ldebug?rev=1685370780&do=diff MSDebug changes, and lDebug 2023-05-28 This week I finally got back to MSDebug, my fork of the debugger included in the 2018 free software release of MS-DOS version 2. I also worked some on lDebug, my debugger based on FreeDOS Debug/X. lCDebug tracing into int 21h First off, during some testing that I did on the DOS machine, I ran into a crash when trying to trace into an int 21h instruction using the T command with Trace Mode (TM) set to 1. text/html 2023-12-04T20:47:21+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0706_how_to_set_up_dosemu2_freedos_and_ldebug?rev=1701719241&do=diff How to set up dosemu2, FreeDOS, and lDebug I got to set up the lDebug development environment on a new Debian 12 installation on the amd64 machine. (The SSD seems to have caused crashes recently, and it had the root file system of the prior Debian installation.) Here's how I installed dosemu2 (from source), FreeDOS (from packages plus my recent kernel and FreeCOM builds), and lDebug (from assembly source). text/html 2023-07-07T11:23:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0707_msdebug_ldebug_x2b2_warplink_2023_june_work?rev=1688721796&do=diff MSDebug, lDebug, x2b2, Warplink (2023 June work) 2023-06-25 The last three weeks in part had me on vacation, but that doesn't mean we didn't get any work done. I don't know when I will be able to upload this blog post, as our main desktop (Linux) box is experiencing some difficulties. RAM has already been swapped, and a new PSU has arrived by post. text/html 2023-07-07T13:34:03+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0707_the_amis_review?rev=1688729643&do=diff The AMIS review This article reviews various implementations of the Alternate Multiplex Interrupt Specification (AMIS) that I found. All of them are source-available if not free software. I started notes for this review in 2022 December and wanted to finish it by 2023 June, but the SSD failure of the Linux box interfered with that. So now here it is a little late. text/html 2023-12-04T20:46:39+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0715_up_to_early_2023_july_work?rev=1701719199&do=diff Up to early 2023 July work 2023-07-09 The desktop Linux box is back in action after re-installing Debian on a new HDD. In the last two weeks some work happened on multiple repos. Last Sunday I prepared an example program demonstrating how to implement segment relocations without an external linker, using only NASM's text/html 2023-07-16T20:45:31+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0716_early_to_mid_2023_july_work_ldebug?rev=1689533131&do=diff Early to mid 2023 July work (lDebug) 2023-07-16 This week little development happened, owing to the heat, much to do, and several days of headaches. lDebug The RH mode and command got its own test function with dozens of tests. Enabling RH mode empties the silent/RH buffer. A bugfix to an earlier change to terminate_silent_dump text/html 2023-07-23T20:46:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0723_blog_42_-_nasm_leaks_ldebug_check_sections_various?rev=1690137988&do=diff Blog 42 - NASM leaks, lDebug check sections, various 2023-07-23 This file is blog42.txt! This week several developments on the debugger happened, as well as two bug reports to the Netwide Assembler. webecm change During use of the NASM bug reports link on the website, I found that the link did not specify an order for the search results in case the user is not logged in. I text/html 2023-07-30T20:00:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0730_little_work_at_the_end_of_july?rev=1690740028&do=diff Little work at the end of July 2023-07-30 This week less development happened. * Fix some errors in MSDebug manual. * lDebug changes: * Add the displacement (search pattern length) display for S command result dump * Fix a bug skipping 386/PM S command result dump (bug added on 2023-07-11) text/html 2023-08-07T21:04:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0807_early_august_work?rev=1691435048&do=diff Early August work 2023-08-06 Some developments happened this week. FreeDOS kernel changes for WIN31SUPPORT build option In response to a stackexchange question on running MSWindows 3.11 in 386 Enhanced mode, I wanted to prepare a build of the latest kernel revision with its WIN31SUPPORT text/html 2023-09-03T21:09:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0813_early_mid_august_work?rev=1693768157&do=diff Early mid August work 2023-08-13 This week some development of the debugger and of dosemu2 happened. lDebug * Interrupt 0Dh, 0Ch hooks optional at run time (INSTALL INTFAULTS install flag noun) * Optional interrupt hooks share a lot of code now (1, 2, 3, 4) * In init the parsing of switches now capitalises the switch letter rather than doing two branches per switch text/html 2023-08-21T20:20:36+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0821_late_mid_august_work?rev=1692642036&do=diff Late mid August work 2023-08-20 The main developments this work occurred on the Enhanced DR-DOS codebase, which I collected into a repo before patching it. Some of the patches were contributed by a user of the BTTR forum. seekext The seekext TSR gained support for passing the file handle information service on int 21h function 71A6h to the redirector. This uses a dosemu2 extension service on int 2Fh function 11A6h, if available. This is particularly important for the 2011 revision of EDR-DOS… text/html 2023-08-24T10:38:42+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0824_blog_comments_restricted_to_registered_users?rev=1692866322&do=diff Blog comments restricted to registered users Due to mass amounts of spam, submitting comments is now restricted to registered users. However, user registration is unlocked so that admin intervention is no longer needed to register an account. It does use the captcha plugin to dissuade spam, though. This will ask a simple mathematical question in the registration form. text/html 2023-08-27T21:44:37+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0827_blog_spam_comments_deleted?rev=1693165477&do=diff Blog spam comments deleted Dozens upon dozens of spam comments have accumulated since the creation of this blog in 2022, until I changed it to require registration for submitting comments (on Thursday). I finally went and deleted all of them, plus the occasional test comments by me. They're preserved text/html 2023-08-28T21:25:47+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0828_late_august_work?rev=1693250747&do=diff Late August work 2023-08-27 This week some development happened. I also finished an audit of all lDebug changes in recent months and did a pass over the entire lDebug manual to update the worst outdated parts. Finally, I prepared the lDebug release 6 yesterday. MSDebug changes The range parameter type's manual entry text/html 2023-08-29T19:16:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0829_new_hp_95lx_lcdebug_startup_script?rev=1693329368&do=diff New HP 95LX lCDebug startup script Copying the most recent revision of lCDebugU to the 95LX I also added a startup script, named A:\lcdebug.sld, with the contents: @:applicationstartup @install getinput @?version @y 95lx.sld As usual, loading it can be avoided with an text/html 2023-09-11T21:19:54+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0911_debugger_relocation_all_switches_explained?rev=1694459994&do=diff Debugger relocation: Newer switches explained As described in yesterday's blog post, I added the /T switch to lDebug's init to relocate the application mode debugger. However, one bit I forgot to include was the consideration of adding multiple different strategies to try in order. I wasn't sure how I would expose these as switches to the debugger, so I didn't include them text/html 2023-09-12T11:09:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0911_early_september_work_-_msdebug_toclip_ldebug?rev=1694509748&do=diff Early September work - MSDebug, toclip, lDebug 2023-09-10 The first thing of note is that the HP 95LX had been refusing to repeat keypresses when a key was held pressed down. This had been true for at least a week. The setup does not appear to have a setting for this. Rebooting with Ctrl-Alt-Del, then restarting the system software with a text/html 2023-09-11T20:55:04+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0911_install_toggle_toggle_debugger_settings?rev=1694458504&do=diff INSTALL TOGGLE: Toggle debugger settings In yesterday's blog post I forgot to mention the INSTALL TOGGLE command added to the debugger now. I had considered this for a while already, but finally got around to adding it. Instead of using up another "global" command, I opted for a keyword that follows an text/html 2023-09-11T20:46:50+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0911_live_patching_the_debugger_itself?rev=1694458010&do=diff Live patching the debugger itself As mentioned a while ago I'd prepared a patch in the form of a Script for lDebug file that patches out a mean error in the debugger's release 6 executables. However, this script has some limits: * It can only be applied to an uncompressed executable text/html 2023-09-24T18:59:06+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0924_mid_september_work_on_toclip_warplink_ldebug?rev=1695574746&do=diff Mid September work on toclip, WarpLink, lDebug 2023-09-24 Last week on Sunday I was occupied with something other than preparing a blog post. Therefore, today I will cover the changes since two weeks ago. toclip The toclip application got its final patch, for now, to append a NUL byte to the text it writes to the clipboard. It text/html 2023-09-24T18:11:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/0924_plans_for_extensions_for_ldebug?rev=1695571918&do=diff Plans for Extensions for lDebug 2023-09-15 (I wrote this up on Friday before the 2023-09-17 Sunday that I didn't have time to prepare a blog post. More on the ELD interface in the subsequent post prepared today (2023-09-24).) * Should work in bootloaded mode, device driver mode, application mode (or fail gracefully) text/html 2023-10-03T20:43:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1003_september_october_work_on_extensions_for_ldebug?rev=1696358625&do=diff September October work on Extensions for lDebug 2023-10-03 This week I didn't get to prepare a blog post on Sunday. However, October 3rd is a public holiday in Germany, the Day of German Unity. So here's today's blog post. This week I only worked on the debugger, specifically its support and selection of Extensions for lDebug (ELDs). Some commands were re-created as ELDs, other ELDs add completely new commands. text/html 2023-10-08T18:49:57+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1008_early_october_work_on_extensions_for_ldebug?rev=1696783797&do=diff Early October work on Extensions for lDebug 2023-10-08 This week was spent on greatly adding to the utility of the Extension for lDebug ecology. One change was needed in the lmacros collection to support an ELD. lmacros section types The lmacros3.mac family of sectioning directives, text/html 2023-10-09T09:46:07+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1009_hitting_the_table?rev=1696837567&do=diff Hitting the table As heard on the radio (WDR5): idioms text/html 2023-10-17T20:17:14+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1017_early_mid_october_work?rev=1697566634&do=diff Early mid October work 2023-10-15 This week mostly involved updates to the Extension for lDebug system. insref NOT fix The instruction reference wrongly claimed that the NOT instruction changed the arithmetic status flags. This is not true. I fixed that, and in the same section added that NEG behaves as if subtracting from zero. I heard that NOT not changing flags was on oversight during the design of the 8086. text/html 2023-10-22T19:17:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1022_late_mid_october_work_on_extensions_for_ldebug?rev=1697995036&do=diff Late mid October work on Extensions for lDebug 2023-10-22 This week mainly involved more work on lDebug and its ELDs. Changes not specific to ELDs * Rework EXT/Y boot command architecture * Support ::scripts:: and ::config:: keywords in EXT/Y boot commands and BOOT DIR command * text/html 2023-11-01T14:03:47+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1101_late_october_work_on_ldebug?rev=1698843827&do=diff Late October work on lDebug 2023-10-29 This week I worked only on lDebug. ELD-unrelated changes * _INIT_MAX option to restore prior init allocation so that a second init relocation is never needed * Update and delete some outdated comments * Document DCO6 flags for ROM-BIOS I/O in the manual's service reference text/html 2023-11-15T17:10:12+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1115_early_november_work_on_extensions_for_ldebug?rev=1700064612&do=diff Early November work on Extensions for lDebug 2023-11-12 This week some more work on ELDs got done. I also extracted a copylefted font from GLaBIOS. Other linker ELDs Two ELDs using the "other link" feature got added. This means that when they are built with ELDOTHER=1 then they will link some specifically marked data links (using the text/html 2023-11-15T19:31:02+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1115_porting_the_amitsrs_tool_to_an_eld?rev=1700073062&do=diff Porting the amitsrs tool to an ELD An early use case I had for Extensions for lDebug was to run a tool like amitsrs. (This originates in Ralf Brown's AMIS libraries, for working with the Alternate Multiplex Interrupt Specification.) It is more detailed and heavyweight than I wanted to add as a command that lives internally in the debugger. I did consider possibly being able to compile the original C program's source to an ELD with bespoke libraries and output, but ultimately did not pursue this… text/html 2023-11-19T17:42:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1119_mid_november_work?rev=1700412175&do=diff Mid November work 2023-11-19 This week I worked some on lDebug, its Extensions for lDebug, and on a few other projects. Adding the E. lDebug, lDOS boot, inicomp, instsect, and the pushbx.org/ecm/web/ page were all updated to render my name more completely, adding the initial for my first given name. Web site update text/html 2023-12-04T20:46:54+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1126_late_november_work_on_extensions_for_ldebug?rev=1701719214&do=diff Late November work on Extensions for lDebug 2023-11-26 This week I worked some on lDebug, its ELDs, and a few patches to TracList and MetaKern. MetaKern MetaKern will now pass DS:SI -> 16 zero bytes, to aid lDOS boot loaders that try to detect a valid partition table entry for dynamic hidden sectors determination. This is the simplest possible fix for this. Because MetaKern may be used for loading other partitions' boot sectors, I did not make it pass along the hidden sectors value that Met… text/html 2023-12-04T20:45:35+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2023/1204_november_december_work_on_ldebug_lmacros_traclist?rev=1701719135&do=diff November December work on lDebug, lmacros, TracList 2023-12-03 This week I worked on several projects related to lDebug and its Extensions for lDebug. lmacros The patch to lmacros enables the reloc-abs-byte warning and marks it as an error. This catches byte relocations such as int label or db label in the new NASM version 2.16.02.