4 ms·
The Intel tool for this (running on MDS-80 "Blue Boxes" and ISIS-II operating system) was CONV86. I used CONV86 way back in 1983 to convert a fairly large (back
by drmpeg 5y ago
The Intel tool for this (running on MDS-80 "Blue Boxes" and ISIS-II operating system) was CONV86. I used CONV86 way back in 1983 to convert a fairly large (back then) 8080 assembly language code base to the IBM PC. Worked perfectly.
Compared to the CP/M box it replaced, the IBM PC was a speed demon.
- bilegeek 5y agoFound the manual: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/ISIS_II/9800642A_MCS-86_Assembly_Language_Converter_Operating_Instructions_for_ISIS-II_Users_Mar79.pdf http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/ISIS_II/9800642A_MCS-86_A...
- userbinator 5y agoAppendix A has the translation table.
- musicale 5y agoAs the article points out, 8086 was designed to be source-translatable from 8080, and DOS started life as a clone of CP/M-86[1], with identical system calls, so it makes a lot of sense that you should be able to mechanically translate 8080 CP/M software to run on DOS. Z-80 software would presumably be harder to translate, although the x86 has additional registers and instructions you could use. [1] the rumored easter egg of a Gary Kildall or DRI copyright message hidden in MS-DOS or QDOS was never found, sadly
- tasty_freeze 5y agoI recall reading a story where Kildall stated something like, "Ask Bill Gates why '$' is the terminator in the print string call. I know why -- does he?" In some ways that is the moral equivalent -- the function was copied without fully understanding the why of the function.