Bare metal programming is the art of writing code for a microcomputer that runs directly on the hardware (metal) bypassing the need for an operating system. This method of programming was common practice back in the early days of software development and was prevalent amongst games developers. The practice probably died out after the advent of Microsoft’s DirectX API. Up until that point the only games you’d get in Windows 3.1 were simple affairs, such …
I’m currently working on a vector graphics library; this will eventually include fast implementations of line, circle and triangle rendering. There will be options to render on the standard Spectrum screen (with it’s horrid layout) and to a more sensibly laid out offscreen bitmap. I’m also going to add filled circle and triangle with optional texture shading (an 8×8 graphic). I’ve just reworked a version of Bresenhams Incremental Line Algorithm in Z80, working in one …
I’ve just started adding lists of Z80 opcodes onto the site. I’m hoping to expand this eventually to include a brief explanation along with the T states and Machine Cycles to execute each command. It also includes what we used to call the “undocumented instruction set”; ironically these are now probably as documented as the official Z80 instructions. Here are the lists in all their glory! Enjoy. …