This space is reserved for Emmanuel Roche, for documents, pages or whatsoever he wants to publish on the web.
Roche family of Tonnay-Charente
Famille Roche de Tonnay-Charente: in TXT or HTML format:
PLMX
An almost 30-years old CP/M compiler resurrected to life! Read more ...
TurboDOS
An operating system for multiprocessor networks of Z-80-based computers. Read more...
* Note: Original Emmanuel's material has been integrated into new TurboDOS page.
The PLMX compiler
At the beginning of this year (february 2009) Emmanuel Roche has work to resurrect a "lost" PL/M compiler called PLMX. He do a great job collecting software and examples from Rlee Peter's archives, retyping in full the user's manual and also adding some smart guidelines for CP/M newbies.
But what is PLMX ? I found this on a IEEE Micro archive: "PLMX communicates with all 8/1 6-bit micros
PLMX, a universal high-level language for microprocessors, generates code for any 8- or 16-bit device. Designed for use in microcomputer product development and real-time process control, it is priced at half the cost of PL/M and other nonuniversal microprocessor software packages, according to its developer, Systems Consultants, Inc. PLMX takes PL/M to its logical conclusion, says the company. PL/M, originally derived from PL/l, is used only on 8080- or 8086-based systems. Other versions, such as PL/Z for the Z80 and PL/65 for the 6500, are used only with those processors. PLMX combines the features of PL/M with universality, allowing users to employ new microprocessor architectures without having to develop new software for them. PLMX's syntax is identical to PL/M's, which means that the entire library of existing PL/M programs can be compiled under PLMX. Hence, PL/M programs may be used on microprocessors other than the 8080, via the PLMX compiler. Currently, the PLMX compiler runs under the CP/M and Tektronix Tekdos operating systems. Interfaces to other operating systems will be available during 1981. In addition, PLMX is a true compiler, not an interpretive compiler such as Basic or Pascal in some of their current implementations. Since an interpreter must be resident in ROM for execution of programs and thus must have a considerable amount of memory space, its usefulness in developing ROM-based products is limited. The programs compiled by PLMX, however, run an average of 15 times faster than those on an interpreter, since at run time the programs are already in memory in executable form. This, says Systems Consultants, makes PLMX appropriate for real-time applications. With no arbitrary formatting rules or line numbers, PLMX source statements resemble simple English declarations and follow a well-defined logic structure. The source text can contain comments anywhere except within reserved words, identifier names, and numbers."
Roche family of Tonnay-Charente
