Development workflow on macOS

[greggj]

I'm trying to get back to writing for Atari 8 bit. 

However, using the emulator on my laptop seems to be a bit silly. In this day and age I should be able to just write code on my laptop and run it on simulator. 

 

It's possible to run Atari800MacX from CLI, to fire up a piece of code - or even run its generic - non macOS specific version (yay true opensource) atari800. 

But I don't know what workflow folks use for making software under such conditions. 

What compiler would you use? 

Are there scripts out there already? 

 

Please share. 

 

Windows users seem to be using VSCode and Altirra , but the latter is very much a monolithic piece of software that cannot be easily made cross platform. Not to mention it's not developed in the open, even tho its source code is available. So it's clearly not the right avenue to pursue. And no, I am not going back to using windows, thanksverymuch

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by greggj
make all fonts the same

[mellis]

19 minutes ago, greggj said:

I'm trying to get back to writing for Atari 8 bit. 

However, using the emulator on my laptop seems to be a bit silly. In this day and age I should be able to just write code on my laptop and run it on simulator. 

 

It's possible to run Atari800MacX from CLI, to fire up a piece of code - or even run its generic - non macOS specific version (yay true opensource) atari800. 

But I don't know what workflow folks use for making software under such conditions. 

What compiler would you use? 

Are there scripts out there already? 

 

Please share. 

 

Windows users seem to be using VSCode and Altirra , but the latter is very much a monolithic piece of software that cannot be easily made cross platform. Not to mention it's not developed in the open, even tho its source code is available. So it's clearly not the right avenue to pursue. And no, I am not going back to using windows, thanksverymuch

 

 

You might find that the SDL version of Atari800 will fit the bill, command-line-wise.

 

 

[greggj]

So far, I have managed to write a hello world in C, with cl65. Not bad for few minutes of googling.

 

foo1.cMakefile

Edited August 7, 2023 by greggj

[greggj]

if there's one complaint I'd have about Cl65 or ca65 (assembler) - is lack of examples. 

 

 

[patjomki]

I am using wudsn (ide), mads (assembler) and altirra (via wine).

 

Great combination and perfect debugging environment.

[Steril707]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:27 PM, greggj said:

I'm trying to get back to writing for Atari 8 bit. 

However, using the emulator on my laptop seems to be a bit silly. In this day and age I should be able to just write code on my laptop and run it on simulator. 

 

It's possible to run Atari800MacX from CLI, to fire up a piece of code - or even run its generic - non macOS specific version (yay true opensource) atari800. 

But I don't know what workflow folks use for making software under such conditions. 

What compiler would you use? 

Are there scripts out there already? 

 

Please share. 

 

Windows users seem to be using VSCode and Altirra , but the latter is very much a monolithic piece of software that cannot be easily made cross platform. Not to mention it's not developed in the open, even tho its source code is available. So it's clearly not the right avenue to pursue. And no, I am not going back to using windows, thanksverymuch

 

 

Why do you need an emulator to be cross platform?

 

I use Atari800MacX and it's working fine. Plus VS Code and MADS.

[Rledo]

If you haven’t found it yet, I use the H: drive patch in Atari800MacX to edit in-place or  move files between the emulator and my Mac.  FWIW I also use VS Code but I use Mac/65 only because I want the torture of finishing what I didn’t in high school.

[atarixle]

To open a XEX file from the macOS command line, just type

open file.xex

(if the file extension is associated with an emulator, e.g. Atari800MacX).

 

I also am using vscode on my Mac, but always create the Makefile myself and type make && open file.xex manually (so not from within a gui).

Edited August 12, 2023 by atarixle

[+Ripdubski]

VSCode for writing

CC65 if wrtiing C

Atari800MacX for running code with simple double click on the XEX.

 

For Action!, I just do it all in A8MX, and turn off speed regulation during compiles.

 

[martink]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:27 PM, greggj said:

It's possible to run Atari800MacX from CLI

 

I usually use the simple atari800 emulator from Homebrew for command line automatisation. For example:
 

/usr/local/bin/atari800		\
	    -cart-type 1 -cart "target/HELLO_A.CAR"	\
	    -autosave-config -320xe -nobasic -config "/Users/Shared/Work/Projects/6502Tutorial/Atari/Hello_World/CAR_Using_Assembler/target/HELLO_A.cfg" -xlxe_rom "/opt/local/share/atari800/ATARIXL.ROM"	\
	    -video-accel -pal -win-height 1120 -win-width 1680

Works like a charm

[martink]

On 8/8/2023 at 10:00 AM, greggj said:

if there's one complaint I'd have about Cl65 or ca65 (assembler) - is lack of examples. 

 

 

I'm working on that: https://sourceforge.net/p/tutorial-6502/code/ci/master/tree/Atari/

I got the code examples and I'm currently writing the tutorials for them.

[autumn_fire]

How does Atari800MacX run on M1 Macs? I've been running Altirra via Wine to prototype a few things before moving them over to actual hardware but Wine uses quite a bit of CPU time causing the battery to drain faster than I'd like. That said, having an emulator pointed to an .ATR image stored on a server that is also shared out over FujiNet is great for development work.

[Rledo]

4 hours ago, autumn_fire said:

How does Atari800MacX run on M1 Macs? I've been running Altirra via Wine to prototype a few things before moving them over to actual hardware but Wine uses quite a bit of CPU time causing the battery to drain faster than I'd like. That said, having an emulator pointed to an .ATR image stored on a server that is also shared out over FujiNet is great for development work.

Fine.  Version 6.something supports M1 - check their changelog

[+bhall408]

I personally use ca65 and cc65 with BBEDit and make files...

 

For testing on Mac, I have mostly been using Atari800Macx... 

 

I've also been experimenting with a Mac OS X command line version of Argon that we use for development purposes (we're in the process of making a Unity plug-in version of Argon)...

 

[martink]

I recently updated my Project Homepage with a description on how to use CA65 for development:

https://tutorial-6502.sourceforge.io/atari/hello_world/car_using_assembler/