Frequently Asked Questions about TAS

Does it work with TPU2/TPU3?

No. TAS only assembles for TPU1. TPU2 adds a few instructions to the TPU1 instruction set and changes the output capture logic slightly. TPU3 has the same instruction set as a TPU2 but you can have up to 4 banks of code memory and 4 function tables. Adding the TPU2 instructions to TAS is the easy part but the banked memory is a harder nut. We will do it sooner or later (when we find the time for it) but it was not a pressing issue so it has not been done yet.

I tried to compile the Motorola microcode and it failed. Why?

Motorola specified the syntax for their TPU assembler and TAS was written to work with that syntax. The Motorola assembler accepts constructs that are a violation of their own syntax definition. TAS does not. In the source distribution you will find a file called README_MOTO. That file details each syntax violation in the mask sets and tells you what to do to fix it.

I fixed the files but TAS still complains about missing includes!

Motorola's assembler was written for DOS originally and then it was ported to Windows. Neither systems care about the case of file names. Therefore, they could get away calling the files SOMETHING.uc and include it as something.UC. On Linux it does not work because file names are case sensitive. You have to correct the cases for the include directives.

Do you know any other info about TPU microcoding?

Yes. There is a very good book by Amy Dyson and Munir Bannoura, "TPU Microcoding for Beginners", available from AMT Publishing. It is not cheap but it is definitely worth the money if you want to write complex custom microcode.

It is worth visiting Gene Berkowitz's eSlave.net site, it contains a lot of links, TPU functions plus original Motorola manuals in electronic form. To appreciate this you have to know that the TPU microcoding was described in the very first revision of the TPU manual but those chapters were removed from all later revisions. The original TPU manual is quite a treasure.