assembly Assembly Language on the Model 3 TRS-80?

[Parakeet]

Hello everyone!  I had a Commodore 64 in the eighties that I owned until the 2000's and I used to do some assembly language programming on it.  Nowadays I use a TRS-80 emulator called "trs80gp" and it emulates a lot of TRS-80 models but, for some unknown reason I stuck with the Model 3 version.

 

Now, I would like to learn Z-80 Assembler on the TRS-80 but I'm not sure if it's preferable to learn the language on the Model 3 rather than on some other model.  Also, I did try to find an assembler but I've never been able to get one started on the TRS-80.

 

So I have two questions:  What is the easiest way to get an assembler working on the TRS-80 and, is a Model 3 a legitimate choice to do that?

 

[George Phillips]

Except for speed the Z-80 on the Model 1, 2, 3 and 4 is all the same so from an assembly language perspective there is no difference.  The interrupt handling on the Model 2 uses mode 2 but that's a pretty advanced topic.

 

The MRAS assembler is quite capable; you can find it and the documentation here:

    https://www.tim-mann.org/misosys.html

 

I think there's a Model 3 version but it may work better on a Model 4.

 

If you're only interested in learning assembly language and not on the mechanics of doing it on the machine itself I recommend using a cross assembler like zmac:

    http://48k.ca/zmac.html

 

Being on the host machine it assembles essentially instantly and if you use the .bds output you'll get source level debugging on trs80gp.