Shawn Sijnstra
sijnstra.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy
Shawn Sijnstra
@sijnstra.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy
I like technology - new, old and even older. Current project: running as many Infocom (z-machine) games as possible on as many z80 machines I can find […]

[bridged from https://hachyderm.io/@sijnstra on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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]
December 8, 2025 at 5:49 AM
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]
November 24, 2025 at 9:18 PM
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]
August 26, 2025 at 12:26 PM
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]
May 31, 2025 at 1:51 AM
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]
May 31, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Back to fun platforms to port my #vezza #InfoCom #zmachine interpreter - this time it's the Enterprise 128. A 4MHz #z80 machine from the mid 80s, it has a great emulator, and a bespoke DOS known as IS-DOS, with a lot of compatibility with both CP/M 2.2 and […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]
May 4, 2025 at 1:53 PM
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]
February 11, 2025 at 11:58 AM
For all of you #tec1g adventure game players looking for something bigger, better and more... historical, I've beefed up my #vezza #InfoCom interpreter to use the extra 16K available in EXPAND, which sits behind the other 16K from 0x8000-0xBFFF. This means that […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]
February 1, 2025 at 11:32 AM
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]
December 27, 2024 at 8:05 AM
In between things I've been able to smash out a bit more code for the #TEC-1G version of my #InfoCom #z-machine interpreter #vezza. Not perfect yet, but the text adventure game status line is starting to take shape... A couple of design decisions to be made on […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]
December 26, 2024 at 10:41 AM
I've been chipping away at my #InfoCom #zmachine interpreter for the past 12 months, trying to squeeze more performance out of it. I did make it smaller and mostly faster until one game turned out slower, so I kept it on the backburner until I found a way to […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]
December 24, 2024 at 8:23 AM