The Sinclair QL Forum

Is a6 cached in the job header at start? If so, you could either load it from there before ending your routine, there would be no need to stack it then either. In QDOS, this doesn't help. a6 can change between any two instructions (Even worse, QDOS might assume SuperBASIC is where you make a6 point...

My first answer applied to SMSQ/E, sorry for not pointing this out. Note that, under SMSQ/E, the SBasic area doesn't move. If you write an extension, references thus needn't be relative to A6 during the entire processing. However, doing so will make your extension incompatible with QDOS. I think thi...

I would guess that as long as your code doesn't call any SBASIC traps and vectors (the ones that use a6 as argument), you should be safe. Your SBASIC program as such is halted during CALL, so if your code doesn't give SBASIC a reason to move, no one else will.

Tobias

I have checked my paper copy of the SMSQ/E Reference Manual (from 1992, when you still had to buy it...) - It has the very same information, which I still strongly believe is wrong.

Tobias

That file handles all the SB heaps, so contains a lot of stuff. But entering through sb_resar is pretty straightforward and doesn't have any branches (other than a "do nothing" exit if the wanted space is already there or the routine not being called from SBASIc context). Sorry to contrad...

Martin_Head wrote:I think you need +12v for the video circuitry. As for who did the upgrade, I think there used to be advert in the QL magazines.

12Volts should be needed only for Composite and Modulator. RGB should work fine without.

Tobias

The routine you're looking for is sb_resar in smsq_sbas_ressb_asm. It doesn't even use a1 as a parameter or return value, so there is not much point in setting it. a1 is also returned unchanged from there. The maths stack to be grown is retrieved from and returned in BV_RIP(a6). The sb_resar call c...

If I may return to one of the original questions very briefly - "Must we pre-load a1 with bv_rip(a6) BEFORE calling CHRIX/RESRI?", can we agree that this step is unnecessary (contrary to the SMSQ reference guide and source code comments)? Well, if you didn't change a1 from its previous va...

The only thing the "Technical Guide" claims is The top of the arithmetic stack is usually pointed to by A1. (So, that's apparently a book you don't have, Norm, but should) ;) This is probably meant to say "you should make a1 point to it" and Pennel took it as "the system mak...

Quill for the Spectrum was ported to the QL by Gilsoft and ended up as "Quill Adventure Writer" ("Quill the word processor" came later than "Quill for the Spectrum", so it was definitely legit (but still confusing) for Gilsoft to keep the name. I never had a copy, but h...