Shawn Sijnstra

Black, white and red pen and ink style image

Time for another image viewer for #AgonLight #Console8 - this time, PCX format. There are a number of reasons why I chose to display this format on the Agon/Console8.
* It is an already existing format
* The format is supported by modern tools, including #GIMP
* […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

New Agon Console8 version of the boot logo.

I recently took advantage of some temporary discounts and acquired the #Console8 by Heber. It's a #retrogame focused package of the #AgonLight, complete with some great joypads that they also make. As part of the induction into the house, I converted the logo […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

2048 game screenshot demonstrating colour support.

Screenshot from real time colour text font based graphical game.

Large modern turbo pascal source text adventure using multiple file I/O.

Mandelbrot set demonstration pixel graphics.

Time for another programming option for the #AgonLight family... #Pascal! I've re-targeted PASTA/80, an open source Turbo Pascal 3 compatible cross-compiler that targets #z80 machines. It's still early days, so expect a lot of weirdness and issues, and things […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

I wanted to use more graphics on my #AgonLight and the best project that came to mind was to display #Amstrad #CPC .pal/.scr images. Took a while to get there, and now it works including the same "wipe" effect that the original hardware had due to the unusual […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

Grundy NewBrain emulator playing the Infocom classic A Mind Forever Voyaging.

Grundy NewBrain emulator playing bomber real time interactive z-machine game.

The Grundy #NewBrain was an interesting #z80 based machine from 1982. One of its more remarkable features was a built-in single line display in addition to the video out, allowing for some portable use. The machine was targeted at business use and didn't get a […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

An NEC APC (a computer from the early 1980s complete with green CRT and dual 8” drives) booted into CP/M-86 and loading DEADLINE

As far as I can tell none of the Infocom games for the NEC APC have been archived (they sold only hundreds per quarter, so not shocking).

Presenting… DEADLINE for the NEC APC, running on CP/M-86! #RetroComputing

Screenshot of MSXBlue running the real time z-machine game bomber.z5 on Vezza.

While porting #Vezza for another #z80 platform (the Grundy #NewBrain), I noticed that there was an issue with the timer routine for the #MSX version. It turns out that the code was in there for the MSX version was using the MSX clock, however, it was not […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

Border Zone on IS-DOS 1.0 using vezza-EP.com

Beyond Zork on IS-DOS 1.1a running vezza-E1.com

Back to porting my #Vezza #Infocom #Zmachine interpreter - this time for the #Enterprise128 - a 4MHz #z80 machine running IS-DOS, compatible with CP/M 2.2 and #MSXDOS. Download: gitlab.com/sijnstra1/ve... Screenshots are Border Zone and Beyond #Zork showing different IS-DOS capabilities.

Get them at polyplay.xyz

Screenshot of Stefan Vogt's Ghosts of Blackwood Manor, played using Vezza on an Amstrad CPC

After much testing and code comparison, the new Feb 2025 Release of #Vezza - my #z80 high speed #zmachine is ready! Took way longer than expected to synchronize across all of the code bases, particularly making sure that all optimizations made it across all […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

Now that it's had a little testing other than me (Thanks Brian Chiha!) I'm making my #vezza for the #TEC-1G more readily available, similar to my #zxspectrum .tap files. #zmachine text adventures for all #z80 machines! I've put up 3 sample builds to download […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]