So this is an interesting activity.. to try and easily transform a ram based ml program ( in this case TMPC) to an option rom.
I realized in the process of looking at TMPC, and how it uses RAM, that there really can be 2 classes of option "roms". First is conventional program code that is completely read only in the upper 32k. This type is suitable for flash, eprom etc. Type 1. Like everything to date. Second is program code that is read write in the upper 32k. This sort of "rom" is only suitable for RAM in the optrom memory space.. like XR4, EXTRAM and also REXCPM. Type 2 (option RAM image?) It seems to me that it is pretty straightforward to make TMPC a type 2 optrom image but challenging to make type 1. And generally any M100 application that is ML and runs in RAM could be transformed into a type 2 image. Furthermore REXCPM has a lock mechanism that makes it read only. So programs could be transformed into type 2, checked for function, and then the ram can be locked as read only to see if in fact the image can be type 1 with no changes. So John.. TMPC can be a type 2 option RAM application for REXCPM. Not sure it can be a type 1 option ROM image. So, interesting that we could have a new library of programs that are tunable from optrom memory space provided you use RAM in the optrom space. Maybe REXCPM or maybe something else. Comments welcome. Steve
