Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/nanochess/tinyasm

Tiny assembler for 8086/8088, able to run over DOS for 8086/8088 machines.
https://github.com/nanochess/tinyasm

Last synced: 2 days ago
JSON representation

Tiny assembler for 8086/8088, able to run over DOS for 8086/8088 machines.

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
,--------.,--.                                          

'--.  .--'`--',--,--, ,--. ,--.,--,--. ,---. ,--,--,--. 

   |  |   ,--.|      \ \  '  /' ,-.  |(  .-' |        | 

   |  |   |  ||  ||  |  \   ' \ '-'  |.-'  `)|  |  |  | 

   `--'   `--'`--''--'.-'  /   `--`--'`----' `--`--`--' 

                      `---'                             

Tinyasm 8086/8088 assembler

by Oscar Toledo G. Oct/02/2019



https://nanochess.org/

https://github.com/nanochess/tinyasm



Tinyasm is a small assembler for 8086/8088 programs,

and it can work over a real PC XT machine. It requires

at least 128K of memory, maybe more.



It came to my attention that several people wanted to

assemble my boot sector games over real PC XT machines.



Unfortunately, nasm doesn't run over 8086/8088 processors,

and I couldn't find a compatible assembler!



So what does a programmer when doesn't find the required

tool? Start to code his own tool!



It took me 3 days to start from zero and get a working

assembler compatible with the nasm syntax, plus all the

directives I've used in my boot sector programs.



Using the same command line syntax as nasm:



  tinyasm -f bin rogue.asm -o rogue.img -l rogue.lst



There is also the -d option for defining labels:



  -dCOM_FILE

  -dCOM_FILE=1



It returns a non-zero error code when the assembled

file generates errors.



Thanks to tkchia for making it portable to ia16-elf-gcc,

removing DeSmet C warnings, and making it to return

error codes.



Thanks to humbertocsjr for contributing the INCBIN

command.



>> DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TINYASM AND NASM >>



The main difference is that Tinyasm won't insert long jumps

for miscalculated conditional jumps.



Labels are started with letter, underscore or period.

Case is insensitive.



Local labels are supported, and should start with period.

The local labels final name is derived from concatenation

of the last global label (not starting with period) and

the local label.



There is only support for 8086/8088 processors, and only

are implemented the following directives:



	%ifdef

	%ifndef

	%if

	%else

	%endif

	%include

	incline

	times 

	use16

	cpu 8086

	equ

	db

	dw



The following operators are implemented:



	|	Binary OR

	^	Binary XOR

	&	Binary AND

	<<	Shift to left

	>>	Shift to right

	+	Addition 

	-	Subtraction 

	* 	Multiplication 

	/	Division (unsigned 16-bit)

	%	Modulo operator

	(expr)	Parenthesis

	-	Unary negation



The following numbers are implemented:



	0b0000_0100	Binary, you can use underscore (it will be ignored)

	0xabcd		Hexadecimal.

	$0abcd		Hexadecimal (after $ the first digit must be a number)

	'a'		Character constant.

	10		Decimal.

	$$		Start address.

	$		Current address.



This assembler won't win a speed test ;) because the

internal implementation uses a linear search for the

instruction set, and it is also implemented as a kind

of regular expression subset for easier coding.



>> DEBUG NOTES <<



If you're building boot sector games with Tinyasm, then you

need the following info to load the game inside the boot

sector of a floppy disk.



You need to have DEBUG in your disk (included with the DOS

disks).



Do the following (replace filename as desired):



	DEBUG ROGUE.IMG

		Extract now your working disk and insert a blank one!!!

	A300

	MOV AX,0301

	MOV BX,0100

	MOV CX,1

	MOV DX,0

	INT 13

	JB 300

	INT 20

	RIP

	300

	G

		Now the boot sector is replaced with the program!!!



>> BUILDING THE ASSEMBLER >>



You can build your own executable for Tinyasm using the

C compiler Desmet C, version 3.1h available graciously at:



    http://www.desmet-c.com/



The compiler has many bugs and limitations, but it works for

tinyasm purposes, and it's freely available.



Supposedly it should support ANSI C, but I couldn't fit a

standard ANSI C function definition, so I had to code again

in C K&R for the first time in maybe 20 years!



You can find the "e.bat" file to assemble the compiler.



I provide an executable on the Git to save you some time.



There are test cases in the 'test' subdirectory that are

runnable with the "test.bat" file.



There is a test for the full instruction set of 8086/8088

(the same listing that appears in my book Programming Boot

Sector Games).



The test cases come from my own programs:



	https://github.com/nanochess/fbird

	https://github.com/nanochess/invaders

	https://github.com/nanochess/pillman

	https://github.com/nanochess/bootBASIC

	https://github.com/nanochess/bootOS

	https://github.com/nanochess/bootRogue



>> ATTENTION <<        



Would you like to learn 8086/8088 programming? Then you

must get my new book Programming Boot Sector Games including

a 8086/8088 crash course!



Now available from Lulu:



  Soft-cover

    http://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/programming-boot-sector-games/paperback/product-24188564.html



  Hard-cover

    http://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/programming-boot-sector-games/hardcover/product-24188530.html



  eBook

    https://nanochess.org/store.html



These are some of the example programs documented profusely

in the book:



  * Guess the number.

  * Tic-Tac-Toe game.

  * Text graphics.

  * Mandelbrot set.

  * F-Bird game.

  * Invaders game.

  * Pillman game.

  * Toledo Atomchess.

  * bootBASIC language.



After the success of my first book, if you need even

More Boot Sector Games then you must get this book!



  Soft-cover

    http://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/more-boot-sector-games/paperback/product-24462035.html



  Hard-cover

    http://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/more-boot-sector-games/hardcover/product-24462029.html



These are some of the example programs documented profusely

in the book:



  * Follow the Lights

  * bootRogue

  * bricks

  * cubicDoom

  * bootOS