zephyrz80 - Network

Got access to my discord account, not quite sure what happened exactly but the results are what matters.

Got access to my discord account, not quite sure what happened exactly but the results are what matters.

It seems Discord has finally decided me not having a cell phone linked to my account is unacceptable.The major issue here is that I...

It seems Discord has finally decided me not having a cell phone linked to my account is unacceptable.
The major issue here is that I don't have a cell phone at all, nor can I afford one in the first place, so I guess I'm just locked out of discord permanently...

Work on my Z80 OS has been pretty slow lately, though there's some light at the end of this tunnel. I'm about halfway through the...

Work on my Z80 OS has been pretty slow lately, though there's some light at the end of this tunnel. I'm about halfway through the last major syscall, WRITE, and then it's just the EXIT syscall which returns to the shell. After that is the *real* fun that is debugging, which will be an interesting puzzle.

Wrote up the MKDIR and RMDIR syscalls for my Z80 OS. Next on the list is SEEK, READ, WRITE, and EXIT.

Wrote up the MKDIR and RMDIR syscalls for my Z80 OS. Next on the list is SEEK, READ, WRITE, and EXIT.

Had a thought about the MKDIR and RMDIR syscalls planned for my Z80 OS, and I realised I could use the OPEN and CLOSE syscalls for my own...

Had a thought about the MKDIR and RMDIR syscalls planned for my Z80 OS, and I realised I could use the OPEN and CLOSE syscalls for my own ends there.

For MKDIR, use OPEN to create a file with the required name, and then change the filetype afterward to 'directory' in both the file's inode and its entry in the parent directory.

For RMDIR, scan through the directory data to see if there are any valid files or subdirectories, and if none, call CLOSE with the 'remove' flag set to remove said directory.

Finished up the CLOSE syscall for my Z80 OS.Still need to implement:READWRITESEEKMKDIRRMDIRand EXIT

Finished up the CLOSE syscall for my Z80 OS.

Still need to implement:
READ
WRITE
SEEK
MKDIR
RMDIR
and EXIT

Wrote a program for my Z80 computer to (try to) solve the 'hacking' minigame/puzzle in the 3D Fallout games. It actually works quite...

Wrote a program for my Z80 computer to (try to) solve the 'hacking' minigame/puzzle in the 3D Fallout games.

It actually works quite well, only failing sometimes just by getting an unfavorable first guess. The program comes in at just 692 bytes as well.

Of course, the day after I adapt to that change in name/location, it reverts BACK to what it was before, so I have to revert my symlinks. I...

Of course, the day after I adapt to that change in name/location, it reverts BACK to what it was before, so I have to revert my symlinks. I swear the person/people working on that package just want to be annoying, I guess.

Can whoever maintains the lrzsz package chill out on renaming/relocating the binaries?Second time now I've had to track down why...

Can whoever maintains the lrzsz package chill out on renaming/relocating the binaries?
Second time now I've had to track down why they're missing despite the package being installed, to find out that they've been renamed or relocated.

Minicom expects them to have the name they've always had before, then I find out they've been renamed, so I make symlinks so the old names work, and just last night I find out it's happened again, and now they're in a subdirectory of /usr/bin to add insult to injury.

Well, the main ntfs partition of my 2TB HDD seems to be borked. Refuses to mount.I know the problem isn't the disk itself because the...

Well, the main ntfs partition of my 2TB HDD seems to be borked. Refuses to mount.

I know the problem isn't the disk itself because the other partition on that disk mounts just fine.

I looked into some tool that could possibly repair it, and it seems Windows' chkdsk is the way to go.

Problem is, I run linux, and I can't be bothered trying to use a windows recovery image to try and repair it.

Only data on the partition I've accessed with any frequency is DEFINITELY LEGALLY OBTAINED movies and shows.

So I'm tempted to just say 'fuck it' and reformat the whole disk to ext4 filesystem.

The main progress I made with my OS is finishing up the sector allocation routine, and making a routine that reduces a file to a desired...

The main progress I made with my OS is finishing up the sector allocation routine, and making a routine that reduces a file to a desired size.

The former would be used for allocating sectors to a file that's growing.

The latter is for shrinking a file, returning sectors to the pool of available sectors.

Been a while since I've said anything on here.Finally got around to putting together my Z80 computer, despite some mishaps in soldering....

Been a while since I've said anything on here.

Finally got around to putting together my Z80 computer, despite some mishaps in soldering. Had to bodge in a prototype board so I can plug in my microSD breakout board.

Made some progress in my OS.

Made the difficult decision to start a rewrite of my WIP Z80 OS, this time with two simplifications.1. All directory entries are 32 bytes in...

Made the difficult decision to start a rewrite of my WIP Z80 OS, this time with two simplifications.

1. All directory entries are 32 bytes in length. Cuts down on a lot of the complexities of scanning through and creating directory entries.

2. Using only 16 bits for storage sector addressing. This cuts down on code size, complexity, and potential programming errors with having to shuffle registers around on the stack. This does limit logical storage capacity to 32MB, but I figure that will be more than enough.

The main goal with this initial OS is to be able to come up with a minimum viable self-hosting system, with the end goal being able to develop programs natively in C, so future OS development will be simpler.

Last night I finished writing up a sector allocation routine for my Z80 OS. It will need a rewrite at some point to optimize it so it...

Last night I finished writing up a sector allocation routine for my Z80 OS. It will need a rewrite at some point to optimize it so it doesn't write to the same sector multiple times, but that's only an issue if the SD card gets really full, which is doubtful on an 8-bit machine.

It's also the last outstanding helper routine so far, so now I can move on to writing up the next syscall.

Been a bit radio silent. Gonna break that silence to say something that may or may not be important.Computers are cool.That is...

Been a bit radio silent. Gonna break that silence to say something that may or may not be important.

Computers are cool.
That is all.

That's it, there's nothing more.

Why are you still reading this?

My PCBs showed up, now I just need to wait 3 months for the last of the parts to arrive.

My PCBs showed up, now I just need to wait 3 months for the last of the parts to arrive.

Well, checked my email today to find out my shipment of parts for my homebrew computer project was pushed back to January 31st, rather than...

Well, checked my email today to find out my shipment of parts for my homebrew computer project was pushed back to January 31st, rather than November 28th, which kinda blows.

Opinion: The RCA 1802 is the most painful 8-bit processor to program for in assembly.

Opinion: The RCA 1802 is the most painful 8-bit processor to program for in assembly.

Hello internet people, migrating from the Mastodon.technology instance since it's shutting down, and this looks like a nice place for...

Hello internet people, migrating from the Mastodon.technology instance since it's shutting down, and this looks like a nice place for me.