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TRS-80 Model 4 C Programming System _ RS Catalog# 26‑2230

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IBM Portable PC

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Does anyone know of a site with this package?

"TRS-80 Model 4 C Programming System 26‑2230 $249.95 A complete implementation of C language for program development. The library routines are Unix-compatible, making it easy to transport programs from other computers to the Model 4 – or vice versa. Includes a powerful, programmable full-screen text editor. You can map editor commands to the Model 4 keyboard as desired and define your own editor commands. The TRS-80 C compiler generates a very efficient and compact object code. TRS-80 C programs will execute 10 to 50 times faster than BASIC programs. The compact size of the object code lets you develop large programs without overlays or chaining. Also compatible with TRS-80 Pascal. You can call functions or procedures written in Pascal from a TRS-80 C program or vice versa."
http://www.trs-80.com/wordpress/trs-80-computer-line/model-4/


There was also a Misosys LC C Compiler, and another by Intersoft.

Does any one have either of there, or any preference towards one of these 3 or another?
 
I have spent some time with the Misosys C-Compiler. There are actually two compilers available, C and LC which offers a subset. Frankly, for someone used to modern software development, the Misosys compiler is almost unusable. After sorting out all problems with a suitable editor, the C-code is passed through many stages and compiles well, but it is sssssllllllooooowwwww... A harddisk is very much needed to speed up the process a little bit, and to have enough space for all the generated intermediate files. In the end you're left with relatively efficient code, that works like expected.

Please note that the compilers of the time are K&R compatible, not ANSI. The differences are easy to overcome and K&R still compiles in newer compilers.
I did some work on cryptography and my program of 200 lines of code took 15 minutes to compile, 5 on the emulator on turbo modus. The same program compiled instantaneously on my mac....

My advice: if you're serious on software development use your PC or Mac and use a cross-compiler such as SDCC. It's not perfect but it will make your life much easier! (Drawback is that you have to take a few steps to create a /CMD file).
 
Interesting. I think this is the first I've heard about a Tandy implementation of C for the TRS-80. A quick search turns up nothing except a product listing of 26-2330. I've never seen the software anywhere. Would love to get a hold of that one!

In regards to the Misosys solutions, I believe MC is superior to LC. MC was released a few years after LC. I'm not sure if MC was an upgrade to LC or a whole new product.

I've worked with MC, the Misosys C compiler which you can download from Tim Mann's site. It is a good implementation of K&R C. I found it quite a lot of fun to program coming from some modern strongly typed languages. I actually missed pointers. I'm sure this nostalgia would have quickly faded if I had to use it daily. :)

As mentioned by @BartH, the big issue is the speed. MC compiles to intermediate assembly which is then assembled by MRAS into object code and then linked using MLINK. It is an extremely slow compilation process especially when run on an application of anything larger than trivial size on an actual TRS-80. Running it on an emulator cranked up 10x definitely makes it more bearable. However, even if you have the patience for the long compilation process, you need to deal with the fact that the intermediate assembly code is not nearly as well optimized as hand written assembly. Programs that I wrote were noticeably slower than the corresponding program in assembly.

It's the classic tradeoff of speed of development versus speed of execution.

However, it is very cool to write C that runs on the TRS-80. I especially liked using the easy Unix-like I/O redirection on the command line. I might consider using MC just for this feature if I had a low performance requirement for processing files.
 
I definitely had it in 1987, along with the pascal compiler. My memory was that, at the time, using the provided full-screen editor and compile process wasn't that different to working with vi and the compilers on the UNIX systems at Uni; just a little more integration as you compiled from within the editor. Sadly it went (along with my first M4) around 1995/6 - the stuff was at my parent's place and I didn't have anywhere to store it at the time :(
 
Radio Shack's Model 4 Pascal (26-2212) and C (26-2230) were both written by Alcor Systems, and they share the same editor, p-code format, p-code optimizer, and native code generator.

The manuals can be found here:
https://archive.org/details/Alcor_Pascal_v2.0_Users_Manual_1983_Alcor_Systems
https://archive.org/details/Alcor_C_for_Model_4_1983_Alcor_Systems

The only copy of the C system that I can find is here:
http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/trs80/Software/Model%204/A/Alcor%20C%20v2.01%20(1984)(Alcor%20Systems-Tandy)%5bCMD%5d.zip

Comparing that zip file to the manifest on PDF pages 9-10 of the manual, you can see that it is missing these files:

CMD/HLP
EDIT/CMD
SETEDIT/CMD
SETUP/EDT
SAMPLE/EDT
HELP/HLP
HEXTOBIN/CMD
KEY/HLP
LINKLOAD/CMD
OPTIMIZE/CMD
SYSTEM1/JCL
SYSTEM2/JCL
SYSTEM3/JCL
SYSTEM4/JCL
​

The optimizer and linker seem like pretty major components to be missing. However, those are also the components that are shared with the Pascal system. Therefore, I think you could probably get a working system if you filled in the missing files with the ones found in this zip file of the Pascal system:
http://www.classiccmp.org/cpmarchives/trs80/Software/Model%204/P/Pascal%20v2.00.00%20(1983)(Alcor%20Systems-Tandy)%5ba2%5d%5bCMD%5d.zip

The only piece I can't find anywhere is HEXTOBIN/CMD. Per the manual:
HEXTOBIN
The hex to binary utility on Disk3 converts hex object files (readable) to binary object files (non-readable). This utility can be used on any object file created by CC, CCB, OPTIMIZE, or CODEGEN. Translating hex files to binary reduces the size of the file by approximately 30% and results in faster loading by the RUNC and LINKLOAD utilities.
Click to expand...

You can't just replace this with a standard hex/binary converter. Looking at an OBJ and a BIN file, you can see that parts of the OBJ file (the pcode) get converted from hex to binary, but other parts (the exported identifiers) are ascii in both formats. So, it would take some work to recreate that utility. Fortunately, it's optional. Also, I don't think its absence has any effect on the final output if you compile all the way to native code.
 
I found my disks. It seems to be a 3 disk set, does that sound right?

The bad news I'm getting parity errors. Can someone give me a list of files needed to complete the set? We might be lucky and I get one last read from my disks before they are toast.

Cheers,

Ian.
 
Update:

I've recovered the files:

HEXTOBIN/CMD
LINKLOAD/CMD
OPTIMIZE/CMD
SYSTEM3/JCL
SYSTEM4/JCL

from disks 2 and 3. The other files must be on disk 1, which I can't read.

Ian.
 
TRS-Ian said:
I found my disks. It seems to be a 3 disk set, does that sound right?

The bad news I'm getting parity errors. Can someone give me a list of files needed to complete the set? We might be lucky and I get one last read from my disks before they are toast.

Cheers,

Ian.
Click to expand...

I have both the C and Pascal. I'll try to image them shortly. Someone please remind me. I'm a bit scatterbrained.
 
Wow, this the the fastest I've ever seen a dead package return from the grave! :clap::clap::clap:

The manual is 492 pages, which is impressive. Most other C Packages of that era, such as TRS CoCo OS9 C or BBC Model B Acornsoft C, were 100-200 pages.

Here's the Introduction:

INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on the purchase of the Model 4 TRS-80 C programming system. TRS-80 C is a complete program development system that will increase your productivity as a programmer.

TRS-80 C is a complete implementatation of C as defined in "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie. The C library routines provided are Unix compatible. The compatibility of TRS-80 C with other Unix implementations of C makes it easy to move C programs from other computers to the Model 4 or vice versa.

Included with the TRS-80 C programming system is a very powerful, programmable, full screen text editor. The editor characteristics may be easily changed to suit your personal preferences. You can map editor commands to the Model 4 keyboard as desired and you can define your own editor commands.

The TRS-80 C compiler generates a very efficient and compact object code. Some programs developed with TRS-80 C will execute up to 50 times faster than equivalent programs developed with interpreted BASIC, depending on the features used. The compact size of the object code allows you to develop reasonably large programs without the need to resort to overlays or chaining.

An added feature of TRS-80 C is compatibility with TRS-80 Pascal (Cat. No. 26-2211 and 26-2212). You can call functions or procedures written in TRS-80 Pascal from a TRS-80 C program or vice versa.
 
TRS-Ian said:
Update:

I've recovered the files:

HEXTOBIN/CMD
LINKLOAD/CMD
OPTIMIZE/CMD
SYSTEM3/JCL
SYSTEM4/JCL

from disks 2 and 3. The other files must be on disk 1, which I can't read.

Ian.
Click to expand...

Ian, can you make these available? LINKLOAD from the Pascal release is not working properly and is missing some options from the one described in the C documentation.
 
Thanks to several of you, I've put together what I believe is just about a complete package of the 26-2230 M4 "C" Programming System. The versions found in the archives have a number of issues with several of the programs. I've tested out all of the programs and utilities, and they all work as per the manual, except where indicated. Until we get a true original copy of the OEM 3 disk package, I think this will have to do. My first impression is that I already like this "C" system better than the Misosys MC compiler as it is much faster to compile and feels more like a modern CC compiler in its usage.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3308843/TRS-80/26-2230 - Model 4 C Programming System - 2.01.zip

Here's the contents of the included README.TXT

This is the Radio Shack 26-2230 M4 "C" Programming System. The software was developed by Alcor Systems and licensed to Tandy Corp in 1983. It requires TRSDOS 6 or LS-DOS 6 on a TRS-80 Model 4.

The full documentation set has been included in the "Alcor_C_for_Model_4_1983_Alcor_Systems_text.pdf" file.


This package was pieced together from various incomplete sources in 2016 and is currently the best representation until someone finds and images the complete OEM 3 disk set.


There are only several minor outstanding issue in this package listed as follows.


1. The package is missing a few files from the original release. Those files are:


SYSTEM1/JCL
SYSTEM2/JCL


This is not a significant issue as these scripts are only used to create different levels of working floppies. This is moot if running the software from a hard drive such as a FreHD, MISE or actual physical OEM hard drive since these scripts are not used in this scenario.


2. The SETUP/EDT that was uncovered was not working properly on the Model 4 so we have replaced it with the SAMPLE/EDT. This is a recommended step in the manual anyway as it allows ideal usage of the Model 4 arrow keys.


3. The software came with the hex to binary program named HEX2BIN/CMD which we have renamed to HEXTOBIN/CMD to be consistent with the manual nomenclature.
Click to expand...
 
Good news! A little bird dropped the original 3 master disk set of images on my doorstep. I've packaged them up here. This package includes all of the files so you can FTP them if you have a M3SE. It also includes the 3 disk images if you need to use .dsk files with a FreHD, emulator or want to make your own physical disks. Please read the README.TXT if you FTP the files as some of them need to be transferring in binary mode and others need to be transferred in ascii mode.

I'm sure to be writing some future programs with this compiler, so I will let you know if I run into any issues. I have seen in the archives that there are also MI and MIII versions of this compiler that I will also be investigating in the future.

Enjoy!


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...el 4 C Programming System - 2.01- Masters.zip
 
I had no idea there was a C language package for the Model 4, thanks for posting it here!
 
Hi, this is an old thread but I am interested in this C compiler. The drop box link is dead, and I haven't found it archived on any other TRS-80 site which is strange.

Has the complete set been made available on a site and I just haven't found it?

Thanks!
 
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