Oddball NesDev Platforms

[Oziphantom]

it's a shame that photo is the only photo we have of it. would be interesting to see if there is anything on the other side.
I feel the ram adapter and basic cart are there because they just buy them and might as well throw them in the package even if the ICE doesn't use them.

[tepples]

I'm curious, what's the strangest, most unconventional environment you've used for NES hacking/programming?

In early 1999, I was using x816 in MS-DOS. I first developed tools in QBasic, then Turbo C++, then DJGPP (port of GCC to DOS) + Allegro library. I started using Windows 98 in late 1999 at college. Then I gradually transitioned away from MS-DOS-based tools over 2001-2002 when I started using Windows 2000 (Windows NT 5), once MinGW (port of GCC to Windows) became stable. (Around that time, I developed 8TED to replace SnowBro's Tile Layer and 8name to replace NSA, and I was growing weary of having to boot to DOS Mode to run NerdTracker II.) Logs cited in the x816 section of little things show that I switched from x816 to ca65 in November 2003.

[Oziphantom]

I'm curious, what's the strangest, most unconventional environment you've used for NES hacking/programming?

In early 1999, I was using x816 in MS-DOS. I first developed tools in QBasic, then Turbo C++, then DJGPP (port of GCC to DOS) + Allegro library. I started using Windows 98 in late 1999 at college. Then I gradually transitioned away from MS-DOS-based tools over 2001-2002 when I started using Windows 2000 (Windows NT 5), once MinGW (port of GCC to Windows) became stable. (Around that time, I developed 8TED to replace SnowBro's Tile Layer and 8name to replace NSA, and I was growing weary of having to boot to DOS Mode to run NerdTracker II.) Logs cited in the x816 section of little things show that I switched from x816 to ca65 in November 2003.

On one hand "basic bitch" but then this is NES dev, so X816 for NES? `tis a little odd, why x816 for NES? Was it for the ability to map all the banks in flat memory and have it understand the general same mirroring of the SNES? So you just had to be careful to avoid any 65816 opcodes and force it to take the address but keep it 16bit when jumping between banks? And then chop up the SMC to make a NES file?

[Memblers]

Chris Covell used an Amiga to develop Solar Wars (1999), among other stuff.

In 97-99 I was using MS-DOS. I had an IBM PS/1 to start with, though I tried Win 3.11 on it, the performance was intolerable. ALT+TAB was not a thing. Using edit.com, file/save, exit, assemble, test with NESA (later, NESticle, then loopynes), open edit.com, page down back to where I was last editing. Sounds terribly inconvenient now, just have to work with what you've got. I used lynx, then Arachne, to get access websites.

When I started that 2A03 sound emulator for SNES, I had temporarily downgraded to a 486 laptop, used DOS and x816 there also. Copying the binary onto a floppy to load on a game doctor for testing. I was able to finish up the project in a more normal environment (Celeron 333mhz with Win98).

[Oziphantom]

some of the pros back in the day used Commodore 128s, cross dev was common on Amigas so NES game on that makes sense. Randall used them for SNES development event. Maybe somebody also used Atari STs, they were slightly faster than Amigas(and a lot cheaper) but at the cost of single tasking.If all you do is assemble code and not much else that doesn't matter to much, they are just slower 386s at that point.

Ah Edit.com good for a batch file and not much else but it got the job done. I managed to get a copy of brief, having the terminal in editor really makes a difference.

[tepples]

In early 1999, I was using x816 in MS-DOS. I first developed tools in QBasic, then Turbo C++, then DJGPP (port of GCC to DOS) + Allegro library. [...] I switched from x816 to ca65 in November 2003.

On one hand "basic bitch" but then this is NES dev, so X816 for NES? `tis a little odd, why x816 for NES?

Because it was available.

So you just had to be careful to avoid any 65816 opcodes and force it to take the address but keep it 16bit when jumping between banks?

I rarely if ever made anything bigger than a bank when I was still using x816. I seem to remember the only thing I made then that was banked was Who's Cuter, and I forget how I put that one together. I would have put it in little things if not for all the nonfree art.