In the previous project update, I named many issues that I’d like to resolve in the toolchain. In the month of August, motivated in part by some extra time off I had, I managed to tackle a few of them.
Let’s talk, first and foremost, about asset processing and ROM linking.
...Back in May 2022, I’ve been reminded of a console that I’ve heard about mostly from its Higan/Ares emulation core. It was 8086-based, an oddity in the console world yet a processor I was already familiar with, as well as one which had a healthy supply of both classic and modern development tools. At the same time, despite selling 3.5 million units, the console did not have a modern homebrew toolchain - one which would allow you to write in C without too much pain and provide useful functionality out of the box; one which would be easy to install and use.
It is now July 2023, and I’m happy to report that after a lot of research, hacks, head-scratching and side quests, we’re finally here. In the first project update of hopefully many, let’s talk about where we are so far.
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