thelastpsion.com
Psion hardware/software hackery, especially SIBO/EPOC16 (Series 3, etc).
Made #PsiDrive, a USB Psion SSD drive. Slowly rewriting the SIBO C SDK.
⚠️ WARNING: Will sidequest ⚠️
🦣 https://oldbytes.space/@thelastpsion
🦑 https://github.com/thelastpsion
161 posts
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OPL definitely won't be fast enough. To get the most out of the Series 3 range you need to use C, Psion's weird OO C, or 8086 (or NEC V30) assembly.
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I agree. I'm all for pushing these old machines to their limits, but that one might be a little too much for the thing!
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Currently no, nothing like that.
I do plan to do something related to 8-bit adventuring for EPOC16 which might involve an adventure creator, but it won't be Infocom. Right now I'm in the middle of other projects, so I doubt it'll be soon!
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Well, it's a 3mx which is ~27 MHz, so I'm getting quite a bit of a speed boost compared to a 3a at 7.68 MHz. It usually takes about 3-6 seconds to move between rooms, at least with this game.
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Are you using the stock probes with it?
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It's on my To Do list, but I'm quite far away from actually starting.
Having said that, I am intrigued...
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I guess my point is that CTRAN doesn't need to be perfectly crafted. But that was never the point. CTRAN is a way for my to hone my skills before taking on more challenging projects.
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This is, of course, a long way off. CTRAN works, but it's certainly not finished. There are plenty of other tools to rewrite. I've got a huge amount to do before I get to that point, and (frankly) insufficient spoons. But it's work that I want to do.
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Something I need to remember: I don't want #CTRAN to be in the final SDK. The point is to write good tools and have a good OO compiler so that it is no longer needed.
If CTRAN makes it in any form, it will be changed to convert code to whatever a new computer would need.
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OPA app, OPL Sourcecode for #Bullet3a is up on the github! github.com/shanemuk/psi... - you can download it to your own #Psion 3a and play around with it - let me know what you think. (echoes of old WardRound in there, but it's a handy SBAR topic manager)
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It *might* be possible to upgrade a 3mx to 4MB. Theoretically the circuitry is there to allow it. I'm lucky enough to have a spare 3mx, so I've been testing with a second 2MB chip. It part works - the OS can't see it, but I've got a memory dumping tool that can. I'll get back to it at some point!
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I do keep thinking about this! I just don't have the time or mental space to work on it alongside all the other projects I've got lined up for myself.
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Right now I just want to make some headway with something. I've struggled with my projects over the past few months, and I'd just like to feel like I'm getting somewhere with something.
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The C project is a bit special to me. It's also something people might actually use - unusual for one of my projects! It's for #Psion #EPOC16 and would enable a huge number of old games to run on the Series 3a/c/mx.
I was hoping to use NeoVim, but with clangd being awkward, I'd have to use VS Code.
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I feel like I'm slowing down with #CTRAN development. After all, it "works"... but it's not "right."
The write-up is just a hard slog.
Moving on to a new tool might give me some inspiration on how to improve CTRAN. But I don't want to leave a trail of mostly-finished projects in my wake.
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So, I'm at a crossroads. I'm contemplating:
- Plough on with #CTRAN unit tests and refactor in #ObjectPascal and #NeoVim, and the write-up
- Try rewriting a different #Psion SIBO SDK tool in #ObjectPascal and #NeoVim
- Try a new project that's been on my mind for a long time, in C but use #VSCode
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This is actually for Psion EPOC16 development, but the TopSpeed C compiler runs in DOS and uses DOS conventions to make 8086 binaries. The Psion SIBO C SDK then strips the MZ header and adds an EPOC16 one.
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Me too!
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Seems like you took the scenic route back!
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Ah yes, the Illuminati, gathering in a crappy hotel conference room with a suspended ceiling.
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Next thing I need to look up - inheritance. Specifically, creating a wrapper class to test private methods in a parent class.
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Yeah, Bottles does do a pretty good job. Be warned, though - each "bottle" (effectively a Windows container) can take up quite a bit of drive space! DLLs are installed separately for each bottle.
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I'm glad you persisted with your Linux experiment! Linux is by no means perfect, but it's worth the effort. (I switched back in 2002 and I'm still learning every single day.)
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Out of interest, did you try changing the Synaptics driver options? I transplanted a glass trackpad from an X1C into a T480 and touch sensitivity was all over the place. I created a file (/etc/modprobe.d/synaptics.conf) with a single line and it fixed it.
options psmouse synaptics_intertouch=0