micronix: A C repository from cm68

for a blast from the past, type:

make test

you now are running micronix 1.4 shell and can do a lot including: (this builds the recovered 1.61 kernel)

cd /usr/src/sys
make

or, for a quite strange experience,

src/usersim/sim bin/man sh | less

(run the simulated z80 micronix man program on sh, and pipe it to linux less)

updated 7 July 2023

the whitesmith's c compiler for cp/m has been released in source form by PJ Plauger, and although it is quite a long way from usable in the released form on micronix, I have started porting it to micronix

also, the bizarre anat assembler that is a baneful attempt to make a high level language out of 8080 is also in the source that is released. As I have no real desire to learn to read that horrible stuff, I have snagged a relocating assembler that consumes standard z80 mnemonics call TRASM, and hacked it to bits. the author, Gavin Tersteeg, gctersteeg@gmail.com, built an impressive tool kit. in this source tree, it's call asz, and it will be the backend to the improved whitesmith compiler.

Morrow Designs Micronix and tools updated 6 Sep 2021

directories:

filesystem: built by the top level makefile from the distribution disks this is used by the usersim to run against the eventual goal is to have this directory a self-building tree with source

disks: floppy images recovered from the net, version 1.4 and 1.3

wslib: the whitesmith's libraries, burst apart and disassembled

src/micronix: the source tree for things that are to be built natively, including libraries, commands and the kernel. this is gradually being fleshed out with replacements for the micronix utilities that I don't have source for, namely all of them. notable additions:
a much better make, an in-memory, ansi-only, vi subset derived from stevie 2.11's ls and cp a working pwd, rm, mknod a cc that deals with whitesmith's and hitech when that compiler is ready

src/micronix/lib: additions and replacements for the whitesmith's library.

src/micronix/sys: recovered kernel source for micronix 1.61, with include files the formatting of the original source was really quirky and archaic, so I re-indented it to a more K&R like style. it is NOT ansi, and compiles on whitesmith's C.

src/micronix/stand: ghidra-driven rewrite of the cold boot loaders for the kernel

src/micronix/include: include files rejiggered to make porting from v6 and v7 easier

src/tools: file system checkers, dumper and extractor object file tools, including an overachieving nm and a rootin' tootin' fire-breathing disassembler that knows about hitech objects, whitesmith's objects, and com files, does code tracing, and allows a symbol file to be fed in.

src/lib: libraries for file system, disassembly, and random utility

src/usersim: micronix user mode simulator mostly works, including upm, the cp/m emulator. some of the system calls are still not real and always fail. however, you will find it quite solid.

however, I used an interesting method (hack, really)
to fake out special files.  special files are a symlink containing
a string of the form:  [cb]dev(<decimal major>,<decimal minor>)
you can then actually create file named this, and mkfs, fsck, etc
inside the usersim will actually think they are dealing with a bdev
and be reading and writing the image file.  eventually,
I'll implement mount and interface the fslib to the usersim.

build it on any random unix box (centos is baseline),
and run:  sim

src/hwsim: most of hardware level mpz80 simulator capable of running the micronix kernel. it includes the ability to load+run the monitor roms, both version 4.47 and 3.75, load symbol tables, has an ICE-like debugger with breakpoints, single step, disassembler, and so on. furthermore, it has a modular architecture that allows plugging in different chip simulators.

cp/m works well, and micronix is getting very close, with interrupt
controller, trapping, memory mapping, disk reading and writing for
all 3 controllers (djdma, hdc-dma, and hdca).

there's a means for importing and exporting data to cp/m via the
inp: and out: devices in pip, so hex files can be shipped to get
programs in and out.

the djdma simulator reads IMD files directly, and writes produce
a delta file that is loaded at the next startup, so there's no
modification of the original IMD.  the imd utility can generate
a merged IMD file that contains any changes.

finally, I've started on a skeleton for other platforms like compupro.

src/include: library include files for the emulation

src/hitechc: the hitech c compiler. this is not capable of running yet, but a big start has been made to replace the bottom level i/o with micronix versions. this is facilitated by a binary patch tool that effectively pattern matches library fragments and patches on top of them. it's good enough to work for cpp already, but the compiler passes use a different library implementation. when that's done, then we are in business with the most modern native c compiler in existence.

extra/qc: plan B, if the hitech c effort is too large. this compiler is a bit lame, as it is small-c derived, so args get pushed wrong, no ansi, etc. but it is native, and it is source.

extra/v6, extra/v7, extra/2.11 oh, yeah. this is the real mc-coy. this is useful for reference and tool source grabbing. the porting to micronix is simple, if tedious. the include files are subtly different.

extra/docs: almost everything I could find on the micronix hardware, and miscellaneous morrow stuff that may be useful.

compiler woes:

it turns out that the whitesmith's C compiler is very lame in one
important way:  BSS symbols never get allocated in the object file.
that means that code like

int foo;
bar() { foo = 9; }

does not link.  this is craptastic beyond belief.
the only workaround is to modify the source to move foo to data
by giving an explicit = 0;

accordingly, I'm porting a compiler that does not have this lossage.
software toolworks c/80 is the only reasonably complete native compiler
I have found.   porting it is non-trivial.

extra/decomp: a decompiler that knows about code flow, system calls, and with the goal of generating recompilable C. very much a WIP. probably throw away now that ghidra exists.

extra/sim: a bunch of 8 bit simulators for cribbing ideas/code from. these all are licensed by thier original authors, so...

TODO:

replace all the missing utility and application source with the sources from actual unix version 6. this will require a lot of textual stuff like getting rid of =- and =+, and fixing initializers.

get an object code improver that will fix the pretty bad stuff that whitesmith's generates.

this github is prettily referenced in my cybernecromancy site:

https://retro.zen-room.org/morrow-micronix/user-mode-simulator

cm68/micronix