ReadMe for AppleX 2013 Update Updated April 2013 Release Notes and Other Stuff That Should Be In A ReadMe -------------------------------------------------------- Additional Directory Structure - AppleX\PROGRAMS ------------------------------------------------ For the AppleX 2013 update, I have separated the directory structure for non- trivial Graphics and other non-trivial Demo Programs and placed them under AppleX\PROGRAMS. None of these were ever included in AppleX before now, and all have been written since late Fall of 2012 with the exception of a couple of the utilities and some demos from the Apple33 DOS 3.3 Aztec C65 cross-compiler distribution. Those have been completely rewritten and are much improved. Graphics Mode Support Extended ------------------------------ AppleX now Supports LGR - Lo-Res DLGR - Double Lo-Res HGR - Hi-Res Color and Monochrome DHGR - Double Hi-Res Color and Monochrome 4 of the subdirectories in the AppleX\PROGRAMS directory are related to the 4 main graphics modes of the Apple II (see above), and each contains source code, programs, utilities, documentation, and disk images related to working with the AppleX Aztec C65 distribution and Graphics on the Apple II. All 4 graphics mode are supported at a pretty similar level. Until the 2013 Apple X update, support for Apple II graphics was limited, with a huge focus on HGR color, because that's what I knew best. HGR support is still stronger than the rest in specialized areas because AppleX provides all the tools I wrote and used many years back in conjunction with full-blown projects to do such things as loading graphics libraries into Axiliary memory and other related stuff. But each of the 4 graphics modes provide image loaders, line drawing routines, and font routines and so forth. And most importantly (to me), AppleX comes with documented methodology and toools to aquire bit-mapped graphics from a variety of sources including Windows, Apple II Native Format, and Hybrid Sources like AppleWin Screen Captures of running programs that make obtaining graphics for use in your own programs easy if not too easy. Robust Documentation Much Expanded ---------------------------------- Please read the source code and documentation, and run the demos and programs you find in each AppleX\PROGRAMS\subdirectory as well as any documentation you find laying about for more information. The immensely expanded source code in the AppleX\GRAPHICS directory is also a good reference for more information. This is the source code for the G2 (Graphics) library, which also includes the source code from the original Aztec C65 G.lib. Comprehensive documentation for Aztec C itself and its original toolchain has been available in pdf format user's manuals from the Aztec C website at www.aztecmuseum.ca for a number of years now. But with this release of AppleX and with many pdf "tutorials" and users manuals being very much expanded-on especially for Apple II graphics programming, new life has been breathed into this old compiler, taking its capabilities far beyond the Apple II Community's "Retro-Compiler" perception... until AppleX, all that was available was a previous ProDOS native-mode shell version that does not even support creating floating point SYS programs, so if this perception is not clearly incorrect, it is somewhat understandabley incorrect. Aztec C is not as efficient in some areas as other cross-compilers for the Apple II, but when it comes to documentation and usability demos it holds its own, even today, 25 or so years later, and more than compensates for whatever inefficiencies it mat have by providing a stable and feature-rich environment which includes the documentation by Manx Software (available from the website at www.aztecmuseum.ca) supplemented with what AppleX provides. The source code for the compiler itself was apparently lost long ago according to Aztec C's founder, so we can't make changes that would be considered modern to its style, which is transitory K&R and not ANSI or ISO, but all the library source is available, and it is the library source that I have been modifying and expanding on to provide the AppleX improvements to Aztec C, in the same manner and spirit I first expanded it over 20 years ago. Tools and More Tools -------------------- The AppleX\TOOLS directory also contains many utilities. Some are also related to Graphics, but some were written long ago. The utilities in the subdirectories under the AppleX\PROGRAMS directory have all been recently written, and are more specifically targetted at today's working environment. For that reason, they have been placed there instead of in the TOOLS directory. ProDOS Directory Services ------------------------- The AppleX\PROGRAMS directory also contains a subdirectory called LISTDIR which demonstrates and implements G2 library routines related to reading ProDOS disks and finding files on them and so forth. Command Line and Unix-Like Programs for ProDOS ---------------------------------------------- Another expansion of the AppleX distribution is the production of programs that run under the Aztec C Shell for ProDOS 8. Shell Versions of SYS programs, which are PCODE mixed with native 6502 code. allow command line arguments and wildcard expansion and so forth, while being able to run at the same speed of execution as their SYS program counterparts in time critical operations like graphics and floating point calculations. Previous Updates and Brief History ---------------------------------- Since making AppleX available I have kept adding to it, but did not update the AppleX readme file. Website ------- I also built a website called www.aztecmuseum.ca for AppleX and many other Aztec C compilers for other platforms, and time permitting I have done my best to keep the website up to date. Full Blown Aztec C Projects with Source Code -------------------------------------------- After building the website, I made selected Full-Blown non-trivial "Projects" in Aztec C65 part of the distribution. They are in the PROJECTS direcory. Two of these projects (METOO and TIME) use overlays and auxiliary memory extensively and should prove informative. I also have 3 additional overlay projects that I will someday make available if time permits. Mixing the Old with the New --------------------------- As I have done in the 2013 update with the PROGRAMS subdirectory, I kept these projects in the PROJECTS directory, separate from the SAMPLES directory that comprised the first AppleX distribution. I also provided DOSBox support for Aztec C65 and included this with AppleX, not that it took me much work. With Windows 7 displacing WIndows XP, it turns-out this was a good idea. Along the way I also tested in Ubuntu in another DOS emulator, without problem. However I did not update the ReadMe with any of this, while I just kept adding to AppleX. In fact I did not update the ReadMe at all. When I first started resurrecting Aztec C compilers I learned quickly about emulators, and quickly switched to the AppleWin emulator which I would be a fool not to recommend. The Apple II Oasis emulator is getting old, and crashes my new computer gloriously, and is pretty sparse especially compared to the AppleWin (1.22) we enjoy today. Ciderpress is an excellent disk manager. The Disk Manager in Apple II Oasis has some quirks... it handles DOS 3.3 disks well except that it will use lower-case naming which fouls DOS 3.3, but in either DOS 3.3 or ProDOS 8 it beats Ciderpress in one respect... you can fill a disk with multiple files then apply file-type sub-type/load attributes using a batch select on the fly. Other than for some of my own specialized nits, Cider Press is what I use continually these days as a disk manager for Apple II disk images or to port programs to my real Apple IIe on a CF (compact flash) card. Ciderpress supports this card (which inserts into a device called a MicroDrive). I have discovered through all this that there are many other options, my point being that the original Aztec C ReadMe like much of my old stuff that is still included in AppleX is quite dated and limited. I am also mindful that there doesn't seem to be anything I can't do with this old compiler except co-exist nicely with AppleSOft BASIC for ProDOS. Aztec C and AppleX is not targeted at AppleSoft BASIC programming anyway. Apple33 Aztec C65 for DOS 3.3 ----------------------------- Along the way, I also created a smaller distribution of Aztec C65 for building Apple II DOS 3.3 programs. Then for a couple of years or so, until Fall of 2012, I didn't do much with AppleX or Apple33. Permission to Distribute Aztec C65 ---------------------------------- Someone pointed-out to me at some point that I have never indicated in this distribution that I have permission to distribute Aztec C65. This simply because I never updated the read me. Copyright Clarification - Copyright and Conditions of Use --------------------------------------------------------- Harry Suckow (the Copyright holder for Aztec C) has given permission to redistribute Manx Software Systems discontinued Aztec C compilers for now-obsolete platforms.Your use must be Fair as it applies to Manx's Copyright on these compilers. They are not for sale. Bill Buckels bbuckels@mts.net End of ReadMe