nesdev.org

Hi new to the forums and jumping into the deep end. I downloaded wla dx for linux but have no idea what I'm doing and can't seem to get anything working. If anybody could walk me through setting things up I'd appreciate it

I look forward to hearing back from you folks

What system are you targeting? If NES, I suggest a different assembler.

There's some very basic example code here

https://github.com/vhelin/wla-dx/tree/master/examples

And some documents

http://www.villehelin.com/wla-README.html

Have any experience working in assembly?

Yes. I plan on coding in assembly for nes on linux. From what I've looked at it was the best choice because it was for linux, didn't use wine, and relied solely on assembly for programming. If there's better for what I'm looking for that's great. But from what I was looking at wla dx would be fine I just have no idea what I'm doing and the read me etc isn't helping much. I don't get how it works

And no. I have no experience in assembly or any programming language. Thought it'd be a good place to start. Thanks for the reply

On linux, it would be better to use ca65, which allows to write code in assembler and C, if wanted.

Since you do not know assembler, I would not suggest to jump directly in nes coding since the platform itself as a lot of intricacies that requires a lot of understanding before being able to code. Having to learn both at the same time will be a burden. In that case, it would be better to first learn the assembler, which can done in it raw form with a site like this one:

https://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/

It allows to test directly in the webpage with it simulator so it perfect to learn the language.

While learning, you can start to read on how to use the tools. Once you understand the basics, you can use both knowledge (6502/tools) to start to learn the nes.

If you want to learn both at the same time, be my guess but prepare yourself for a world of hell since you don't have a background in programming and it will be quite intimidating

Good luck!

For debugging an NES program, you'll pretty much have to use either Wine or Mono: Wine to run FCEUX or Mono to run Mesen.

Thanks for the suggestions. I still want to use wla dx and I looked around and it seems like some folks use it so maybe I'll just wait or I'll figure out on my own. Thanks

On my linux computer, I compiled cc65 from source. You can use just the ca65 assembler, which comes with it.

For understanding an assembly program, you should look for some simple example code. Lots of people started with Nerdy Nights tutorials for NES.

The syntax will be slightly different for wla, so you won't be able to assemble the source files without slight modification.

Thanks for all the suggestions folks but my problem is a simple fix of just getting it compiled I guess? Something about compiling unix.sh for the binaries but I have no idea what I'm doing. And in unix.sh there's stuff for make file in it so am I make filing this or am I using gcc? And after I compile it does it make a program or am I using note pad or something like that? Like... what is this thing? I unzipped everything and now I just have a bunch of files and folders but what is this and how do I get it running from there? Thank you

Read the INSTALL file.

Run from your terminal: Then run: This builds the assembler as an executable binary. You then run that binary to assemble your code into a NES ROM.

Though you really ought to try CA65 instead.