Category Archives: Manuals and books

All the “Pocket Computer Newsletter” by Don Gregory

Thank you Don for the “Pocket Computer Newsletter” archives !

I subscribed to Pocket Computer Newsletter in 1982 and was able to get back
issues of 1981.
I was interested in Machine Language for the PC1500.
In 1982 PCN was the only information available.
The Sharp Technical Reference Manual was not yet out.
TRS80 Microcomputer News started revealing the mnemonic codes in March 1983.

The last issue of each year of PCN has an index.
For those that want to learn PC1500 ML, search the index for articles by
Norlin Rober.

Thanks to the hard work of Norlin Rober, PCN had the first info on ML
programming the PC 1500.
They called the command set Rober Mnemonics.

Norlin Rober provided the first PC1500 disassembler program in PCN 1982
Special Edition issue.
This was written in BASIC.

He later offered it written in ML, named LMD 2.0
(Loader/Monitor/Disassembler 2.0).
A must have program!

In 1983 PCN had a series of issues called “Machine Language Programming the
PC1500”.

Don Gregory.

Here are the archives by year : 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
And the 1982 special edition
And the Machine Language Programming

Happy birthday !!! The second candle !!!

Hi all my readers !
Two years ago when i started this website i didn’t imagine to find all these informations about the Sharp PC-1500.
Did you imagine that this little pocket computer was distributed all over the world ?
Under other brands like Hiradastechnika or Nanfeng ?

It’s always a pleasure when a reader contact me and tells me it’s story with the PC-1500.
But it’s very rare ! Who wants to share his experience and knowledge ? Send me some articles with pictures and i will publish it !
Do you have some old program tapes ? Do you want to teach machine language programming in a set of articles ?
Your English language writing will sure be better than mine ! lol

300 000 visits since last year… incredible ! Thank you !
I know that my visitors are from lot of countries, some close to me in France like the Silicium.org forum, some from the other side of the planet like Neil in Australia or Waon in China, Toplica in Russia… Thank you for following the SHARP PC-1500’s story.

My next big task will be to contact Sharp in Japan and to ask for their help.
They may have lot of documents to share with us and shipping a parcel with rare informations, schematics, books, pictures, peripherals (like CE-165), is not an excessive cost ? They may have a museum, isn’t ? My website is the PC-1500 museum 😉
Please, Sharp company, read this page http://www.pc-1500.info/donors/
Some of you are already generous donors and i thank you again and again !!!

Who can answer this question : Which is the last serial number signification ?
My suggestion is something like the factory or the target country…

Ok, it’s time to close this second year with a Graal : the Blue PC-1500 in the rare Japan case !

PC-1500_GRAAL_001
PC-1500_GRAAL_002PC-1500_GRAAL_003
PC-1500_GRAAL_005PC-1500_GRAAL_004
PC-1500_GRAAL_007PC-1500_GRAAL_008
PC-1500_GRAAL_009

Tape of the week : URSoft Tool Kit V1.1

TapeOfTheWeek
I begin a new article type : Tape of the week.
Months after months i have found software on tapes and will offer you these oldies 🙂

This software comes from Switzerland, a hundred kilometers from home.
The tool kit V1.1 is written by Urs RIBI from the URSoft company.
URS_RIBI_URSoft_ToolKit_V1.1

It’s a set of new basic keywords :
REPEAT… UNTIL, WHILE… WEND, LOOP X MAL… LOOPEND, INITLOOP, POP, DATE$, ZEIT$, CLOCK, SECONDS, JAHR, GET , SWAP, SORT, FRAC,HEX$, BINDEC, BINSTR$, INC, DEC, INVERT, PRON, PWROFF.

This kind of package is rare and each time it’s a real pleasure to discover new keywords.
This one may be inspired by some PASCAL language.

You can download the files here : Package and Manual
There is a special file named URSOFT.KEY in the package. It’s to use with Torsten’s software WAV2BIN and this adds these new basic keyword when converting a Wav file to Bas file. 😉

In the manual you will read something about a TOOL KIT V2.
If someone own this kit and want to share it with us… please contact me 😉

H.-G. SCHLIECKER : ROM-Unterprogramme I

If you want to learn what’s in the system ROM then you must know H.-G. Schliecker publications !
Do you remember the “PC-1500 INTERN” with the whole disassembled and commented ROM ?

Today i have something all the assembly language programmers are dreaming to :
SHARP PC-1500 ROM Unterprogramme I“. When learning machine language programming you discover that there are 128 system routines you can directly call by short instructions. For example, some ones can handle Basic tokens and their parameters, others can execute mathematical calculations on real numbers…
But who knows all the 128 routines ?

This very rare paper describe all of them with calling parameters but it’s in German language 😉
As it’s named “ROM-Unterprogramme I” i suppose that a number II exists somewhere…
Maybe one of you can help me to find it ?

ROM_Unterprogramme
Download

 

Frank C. Odds : “STATUS 1500”, the U.K. magazine

One year ago, when i contacted Frank C. Odds, i was looking for informations about the EASI-THOUGHT program. I asked him if he knew a U.K. magazine named STATUS 1500 and here is his answer :

When I received your email, I looked to see if I still had PC 1500 materials anywhere. I quickly found all the catalogues and other bits and pieces, and several copies of Output. But no copies of Status 1500. It was with Status 1500 that my PC 1500 love affair really got going. And I’m pretty sure it was Ronald Cohen who edited that magazine: he wrote just one article in one of my copies of Output. And Output was edited from Yorkshire (Jon Dakeyne was succeeded by Andrew Faint).

I hope I haven’t discarded my copies of Status 1500. I had a complete set and I don’t usually throw away things that have meant a lot to me. I hope this magazine is not the exception to that rule. If I can find my copies I’ll scan them for you.

But one month later came his terrific sentence :

My biggest frustration is that I can’t find my copies of Status 1500 anywhere. I begin to think I must have thrown them away at some stage, even though to do so would go against my normal retentive behaviour!!

Yes, it was terrific because Frank was my biggest chance to learn something about this magazine. But there was some words in his answer i didn’t read that much : “…would go against my normal retentive behavior !!” And one year later he send me an email with this title “Guess what I’ve found!”.
This was like Archimede’s “EUREKA” ! I open the mail and the big good news is inside :

“I think this mail is going to give you a happy Saturday morning. I have found my collection of the Status 1500 magazines, from Vol. 1 no. 1, February 1983 to Vol. 3 no. 12, January 1986.”

We have to say a big “THANK YOU FRANK !!!”
One big part of the PC-1500’s U.K. adventure is now saved.
After hours of scans he offers us all the STATUS 1500 collection.

But i publish them only 6 by 6 😉 (Like Alles für Sharp Computer)
If you know a such magazine in your country please contact me.

STATUS_1500_VOL1_N01
Download
STATUS_1500_VOL1_N02
Download
STATUS_1500_VOL1_N03
Download
STATUS_1500_VOL1_N04
Download
STATUS_1500_VOL1_N05
Download
STATUS_1500_VOL1_N06
Download