Thank you for puting this video up(all of them really) . I just finished building an RC 2014 Pro myself and was looking to determine what my workflow would be. I'm going to test your setup and see how I like it. Just finished building z88dk in WSL2 and so far so good.
HiSoft did a C compiler for the original ZX Spectrum back in the day. I never used it myself but I did use DevPac which was their Z80 Assembler/Debugger package and also their excellent Pascal compiler.
This is very timely as I want to learn Z80 Assembly before my ZX Spectrum Next arrives (I already own a ZX Spectrum). I know C, so that's interesting there's a C Compiler option for coding too - or mix C and ASM.
Just found your video as I went hunting for people who have ventured down the road ahead of me 🙂 I'm going to be continuing to learn ZIL to create Z-Machine text adventure games for the Next. I'm also, hopefully, going to do a Baggers and do some training via TH-cam with videos and livestreams. Well, that's the plan at least.
Very interesting. I am trying to learn z80 myself and I am thinking about my tool chain. Coding in C and compiling to z80 would be cool too. My target is a Lynx (Z80).
If you want to write in C for a Z80 machine, Z88dk is worth looking at. The important thing I found was having a system where I could quickly try something out as I started to learn things.
I thought that I let you know in the comments (as you mention that several times). Quite a few 'retro' dev set ups have various tools for building maps, graphics, music etc. If you're planning to build a game, will you be using or building such tools so you can streamline the development process?
I'm not sure, I've not got that far yet 😉 The Next has a sprite editor, but the image format is quite simple so I should be able to use something like Aseprite.
I think I've modified it a bit since that video. Now my Makefile has a "Make install" that just copies the .nex file into a 'bin' folder and I run nextsync separately from in there and it automatically syncs to the Next when I run .sync on the Next. To automate it a bit I edited the Next's autoexec.bas file to run the sync utility on boot. Now I just compile code and press reset on the Next. I also found this a lot simpler than trying to use DeZog
Having a really hard time setting up a development environment using vscode to program in z80 asm using cspect and real hardware for debugging. The json stuff and setting everything up is confusing. Have spent several hours attempting this multiple times. Are there any resources you can point me at to learn whatever I need to learn (json, etc?) to get this setup working? Trying to develop games for the Next is a real pain unless you're already a computer programmer or are willing to settle with BASIC - which I'm not. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.
If you go to the Spectrum Next Dev wiki - wiki.specnext.dev there's a community section at the bottom of the first page with links to the forum and a few other places. My own setup has changed a bit. Now I just use vscode and nextsync to send my code directly to my next. I don't use dezog any more. I might do an updated video about it.
@@ncot_tech that’s exactly what I want. I presume you use cspect also? Just so I know what I should be aiming for, when u compile your code in vscode does it run automatically in cspect or is that a separate step? That would be great if you ever do a video on setting up your environment or document it on your site. Cheers.
Go here to watch how to set up Z88DK in a better way - th-cam.com/video/R-JD8CQ5zTc/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for puting this video up(all of them really) . I just finished building an RC 2014 Pro myself and was looking to determine what my workflow would be. I'm going to test your setup and see how I like it. Just finished building z88dk in WSL2 and so far so good.
HiSoft did a C compiler for the original ZX Spectrum back in the day. I never used it myself but I did use DevPac which was their Z80 Assembler/Debugger package and also their excellent Pascal compiler.
This is very timely as I want to learn Z80 Assembly before my ZX Spectrum Next arrives (I already own a ZX Spectrum). I know C, so that's interesting there's a C Compiler option for coding too - or mix C and ASM.
Thanks for putting this up, appreciated, now I have more stuff to try. 🙂
Just found your video as I went hunting for people who have ventured down the road ahead of me 🙂 I'm going to be continuing to learn ZIL to create Z-Machine text adventure games for the Next. I'm also, hopefully, going to do a Baggers and do some training via TH-cam with videos and livestreams. Well, that's the plan at least.
Very interesting. I am trying to learn z80 myself and I am thinking about my tool chain. Coding in C and compiling to z80 would be cool too. My target is a Lynx (Z80).
If you want to write in C for a Z80 machine, Z88dk is worth looking at. The important thing I found was having a system where I could quickly try something out as I started to learn things.
@@ncot_tech Oh my - Z88dk already supports the Camputers Lynx. Excellent! Thanks for the heads up.
I thought that I let you know in the comments (as you mention that several times). Quite a few 'retro' dev set ups have various tools for building maps, graphics, music etc. If you're planning to build a game, will you be using or building such tools so you can streamline the development process?
I'm not sure, I've not got that far yet 😉 The Next has a sprite editor, but the image format is quite simple so I should be able to use something like Aseprite.
Cant find it on your web site 404 error have you moved it?, It looks really interesting and i would like to try this if/when my next arrives
How do you debug? I mean is there a way to use breakpoints and step-by-step debugging from within VS Code ?
Is there more information on the Make file you mentioned to xfer the program the the Next using nextsync?
I think I've modified it a bit since that video. Now my Makefile has a "Make install" that just copies the .nex file into a 'bin' folder and I run nextsync separately from in there and it automatically syncs to the Next when I run .sync on the Next.
To automate it a bit I edited the Next's autoexec.bas file to run the sync utility on boot. Now I just compile code and press reset on the Next.
I also found this a lot simpler than trying to use DeZog
Having a really hard time setting up a development environment using vscode to program in z80 asm using cspect and real hardware for debugging. The json stuff and setting everything up is confusing. Have spent several hours attempting this multiple times. Are there any resources you can point me at to learn whatever I need to learn (json, etc?) to get this setup working? Trying to develop games for the Next is a real pain unless you're already a computer programmer or are willing to settle with BASIC - which I'm not. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.
If you go to the Spectrum Next Dev wiki - wiki.specnext.dev there's a community section at the bottom of the first page with links to the forum and a few other places.
My own setup has changed a bit. Now I just use vscode and nextsync to send my code directly to my next. I don't use dezog any more.
I might do an updated video about it.
@@ncot_tech that’s exactly what I want. I presume you use cspect also? Just so I know what I should be aiming for, when u compile your code in vscode does it run automatically in cspect or is that a separate step? That would be great if you ever do a video on setting up your environment or document it on your site. Cheers.
any chance I can use C# ? I havent used C for 30 years lol
Would it not be better to use a Machine running a ZILOG Z800 CPU to run the Z80A Compiler as it would have more memory that a Sinclair Spectrum.