I just downloaded Timo Rossi's gpasm on a Debian Linux
system and it compiled with out so much as a whimper.

http://www.co.jyu.fi/~trossi/pic/

        Hats off to this person for making his work available to
us.

        I tried some 12c509 code I just finished and had compiled
under mpasm in DOS and here is what I found.

        You will have to beat on your source a little because the
syntax of the directives such as the one that sets up the
configuration fuses and the list and nolist directive are either
different or do not exist under picasm which is the name of the
executable you get after you compile.

        Also, the .inc file causes a few complaints because it
has a conditional statement in it for mpasm that deals with what
will happen if your code contains material that is not
appropriate for the processor you are using.  Take that out and
it all works in lightning speed.  Actually, when I finally got
the syntax right, it ran so fast that I thought it might not have
worked at all.  There was a nice .hex file, however, so it did do
something.

        One interesting thing I discovered was that my original
12c509 source code failed to assemble and when I checked things
out, I discovered I had used the instruction  movfw address
every time I wanted to load W from one of the registers.  You
know, movwf looks like it should have movfw to go with it.  There
is no movfw mnemonic but mpasm let me do that and the mpsim
emulator went right along.:-)  I replaced all those movfw's with
movf address,W and those errors went away.

        Finally, is there any kind of PIC emulator that is
available in UNIX that is text-based just like picasm?

        I would even be willing to help on such a project.  As I
have told several people at different times, I think there is a
place for Windows-free development tools and programmer drivers.

        As a computer user and general tinkerer who happens to be
blind, UNIX is a hundred times more useful than Windows will ever
hope to be.  To go Windows, costs more in special software for
reading the screen than the whole darn computer costs, (around
$2,000.00 when all is said and done,) and that is not counting
the actual physical computer, either.  In other words, Windows
software that is very inexpensive or free really isn't free if
you have to spend that kind of money just to run it.

        Also, Windows has no sacred standard output like UNIX
does so some Windows programs don't talk through the special
interface because the interface never sees the data output from
the application.  One can spend all that money and it still might
not work.

        This all really hit home again when I realized that I
could build a small cable tester with a 12c509 and 4
optoisolators and that's all.  The same functionality with
NE555's and logic gates would take at least two IC's and not
really run very efficiently compared to what the PIC should do.
I then found that the very good programmer I have will burn a
12c5x, but only under Windows.  GRRR!  This is nobody's fault,
but having to take my hex file to somebody to burn it in kind of
slows down the process.

        I am all ears for any constructive ideas about a UNIX
replacement for mpsim that is not X-based and for a way to
get around this Windows problem when programming the newer PIC's.

        Many thanks.  You wouldn't believe the number of projects
over the last 5 or 6 years that haven't happened because of this
mess.  I almost get it done and then end up doing things the hard
way because of the programming issue.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Data Communications Group

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