>Maybe you can share some experiences with us about the Z380 card. I'm
>thinking about buying one. What advantages would it have to buy one now?
Curerently you have not advantages unless you like to explore by yourself.
There is no soft available yet for this card.
We are finishing a new version of boot EPROM, after this we want to make a
basic memory manager (so data or code can be stored in the Z380 memory
permanently) and a hardware server soft (remember that you can't access to
MSX peripherals directly from the Z380).
>Speed would be very important. I would just LOVE to speed up the C compiling
>process on my MSX. But is there an easy way to make existing software run
>faster with the Z380 card (except for re-compiling, which is not possible if
>there is no source)?
Z380 clock speed is 14.28 MHz. This means an effective processor speed
approximately equal to the one of a R800. But you have to add some
advantages that will improve the global speed of your programs:
- Memory is linear, so you don't need to worry about segment/slot switching
and its associated time waste.
- New Z380 instructions and register sets enables you to do in few
instructions the same task that needs a lot of instructions with a Z80.
Add another advantage: there is a complete assembler/C development
environment for Windows developped by Zilog. This allows us to develop
powerful applications. Of course I prefer to use MSX to program, but who
will make a Z380 assembler/C compiler for MSX? And in how many time?
Currently I'm using Compass with some macross for emulate new Z380
instructions, but I can't debug/trace/simulate my programs.
And no, sorry but there is NO WAY of executing existing MSX programs in the
Z380 card, unless you re-compile it. This card is intended to use only its
own new programs.
If you have more questions, ask me please! 8-)
***** XVII MSX USERS MEETING IN BARCELONA: APRIL 30th 2000 *****
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Konami Man - AKA Nestor Soriano (^ ^)v - Itsumo MSX user
New web address: http://konamiman.msx.tni.nl & http2//nestor.msx
[EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ#: 18281450
"Windows 2000" is just the abreviation for "Windows 62000 failures"
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