Bug in chess ROM ? For Angel Martin (and others)

[Vincent Weber]

Hi Angel,

Long time no talk !

I have been trying to play with your chess ROM, both on i41cx+ and go41cx.

I could not get the minichess (MNCHSS) to work. I get a "NON-EXISTENT" error in line 18, which is XROM 10,62.
This line is not in the original program as listed on hpmuseum. I first thought it was card reader or HP-Il related, but it seems that the XROM is rather related to the PPC ROM. But plugging the PPC ROM does not help.

Is there something I'm missing there ? I saw you modified the program to load data rather​ than using cards.

Besides, just curious: how do you deal with data (not programs) in modules ? It seems that, as more elaborated modules are compared to cards, there is no way to store naturally data files in modules, as opposed to cafds, unless you use a intiialisation programs full of STOs.
And emulators only deal with .raw and .mod files, not data files (unless you have HP-IL emualation and can handle LIF images, line in emu41). It seems that there is a .d41 format used by Tony (who converted the mini chess and adventures games), which is only available on Linux according to my hpmuseum. Why so comumbersome ? Is it that there are only a handful of data files available (swap disks) and nobody cares ?

Thanks in advance, best regards,

Vincent

[Ángel Martin]

Greetings Vincent, thanks for the bug report. Indeed there was an incorrect XROM_id# - a left-over from an older revision, sorry about that. Attached is the corrected MOD file, let me know how it fares.

You're right data is not a brilliant example for ROM format, at least using FOCAL routines. MCODE has the advantage of direct byte reading, which some times can also be compacted - but that's another story. So the long & winding approach STO, STO... or SAVEX, SAVEX is typically required.

I've never looked into the .d41 files so can't make any comments.

Cheers,
ÁM

[Vincent Weber]

Thanks a lot Angel ! Works much better now.
Except the following (on go41cx):
-The 5th and last row of the board is not printed aligned with the first 4, but right-justified. Not sure it is a problem With the program or the emulator. any idea ?
-The sound never stops after loading, even when I quit the emulator. Same remark.

How do you handle multiple initial data sets in your room, like the adventure game ? Multiple initialization programs ?

Thanks and cheers

[Ángel Martin]

(05-04-2017 11:35 AM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  Thanks a lot Angel ! Works much better now.
Except the following (on go41cx):

-The sound never stops after loading, even when I quit the emulator. Same remark.

That sounds really strange, you mean your phone chirps even after closing go41CX?? How about doing a BEEP before you *leave* the application?

[Vincent Weber]

The moment I XEQ MNCHSS, i have a continuous beep that would not stop, even if I quit the app. Only killing the app ends the sound.

I failed to reproduce the 2 issues on i41cx+ - everything is fine on the iPhone. So I guess these are go41cx - related issues. Any idea about the printing 5rh row alignment issue ?

And about the adventure data sets ? Do you handle several launch files for them ?

Thanks a lot and cheers

[Ángel Martin]

(05-04-2017 04:21 PM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  The moment I XEQ MNCHSS, i have a continuous beep that would not stop, even if I quit the app. Only killing the app ends the sound.

I failed to reproduce the 2 issues on i41cx+ - everything is fine on the iPhone. So I guess these are go41cx - related issues. Any idea about the printing 5rh row alignment issue ?

Right there you've got the answer ;-)
No idea about the printer alignment, i don't have go41cx. I do remember that Antonio Lagana (the developer of i41cx) commented he found an issue in his printer emulation code when trying my ROMS programs, which he corrected back then -, must have been at least 5 years ago?

(05-04-2017 04:21 PM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  And about the adventure data sets ? Do you handle several launch files for them ?

Yes, each program has its own dedicated data set loader, including Antonio's own "Dungeons" as well

Cheers, ÁM

[Vincent Weber]

Thanks a lot Angel !
Cheers