You speak : , , ,
We need you to add flags !

Contribute to the Oric Project, choose a project and join its development ! Cross-developments tools (the lcc compiler and the cross-assembler) have been moved to the Euphoric page.

The Oric Project : we want you !

Here you will find some developments in progress : if you are interested in contributing to one (or several) of them, use the form below. The list is not exhaustive and you may enter with your own project, let us know your intentions ! Ok, a progress indicator now :
Yeah, it has been done since the starting of this page !
It's a work in progress, and it should be GREAT !
Too bad, an Oric fanatic took it, you should have been faster !
[none] Mr. X shall start it tomorrow !

System software

• SEDORIC 3 !

  A great work from André Chéramy ! Sedoric 3 is compatible with both versions 1 and 2 (which were mutually incompatible when using machine code programs accessing system calls), new commands available, and all known v1&2 bugs fixed ! Sedoric 3 is THE OS to use on Atmos/Microdisc !

• SEDORIC has evolved to handle 80 tracks disks. What about a new hierarchical file system and unformatted files ?

  Sedoric has been improved from Fabrice Broche's 1.0 version to 2.1 by Ray McLaughlin, and is currently 3.0 thanks to André Chéramy. Files in Sedoric are always formatted (i.e typed) files: each element is either an integer, a real, or a string. This is very useful when building database applications, but very annoying when building system tools (archivers, compress, editing ascii files...). Maybe it's just a matter of re-using some low-level routines of sedoric, but adding unformatted files (streams of bytes or chars) would be great !

• IEEE floating-point routines for the lcc65 ANSI C compiler !

  Ok, I've done a first release with single precision floats only...

• Standard input/output routines interfaced to Sedoric for the C library !

  Vaggelis Blathras and Alexios Chouchoulas have already written many routines for Oric graphics and sound, and even a first interface to Sedoric commands. We need someone knowing well the internals of Sedoric to provide standard C input/output ...

• A linker for lcc65 !

  Now you may develop separated objects with the lcc65 compiler, and link them with libraries with Vaggelis' linker. Your executable will only include the needed libraries, and it's easy to mix C and assembly routines.

• You may also engage in a new port of lcc65 with 8 bits integers, leading to the fastest language on Oric platforms (except machine code) !

  I have developed a new back end for the 6502 (with 16 bits integers), following the lcc's code generation interface (I have not finished to implement floating point, though). It is much better than the previous one (emulating a 32 bits VAX with a 6502 is not the fastest thing...).
  If you want to produce the fastest code, really designed for the 8-bit 6502 processor (it needs modifications in lcc's front end this time), quick ! or I will put a here ! Miam... ;-)

• When the above standard input/output routines will be available, it will be time for the first NATIVE C compiler on Oric platforms !

  You can start it now, it's a problem of clever splitting the code to have each part fit in oric's 48k ram. As above, contact me for the source.

• For the FUN, you may then be interested by a port of a Mini-Unix !

  Andy Tannenbaum made Minix' kernel fit in less than 64k. Xinu from Douglas Comer was about 4K in its first release. And there's also a 6502 multitasking OS documented in Peter's hardware page.

• What about a real-time micro-kernel ?

  It's not a joke, there are commercial micro-kernels running in 4 K ! The oric may be used as an embedded system : it has IO ports, timers, interrupts, and even keyboard and display ! So, what are you waiting for ?

• OricLisp released !

  Not really a new project, I wrote it in 1986... but the manual came in 1995 ! Try it in the archive page, enjoy recursivity, and build problem solvers easy !

• Oric terminal on the Internet !

  Connect to a Unix, VMS, OS/2,... workstation with your Oric and communicate ! Thanks to Vaggelis Blathras' incredible color VT100 emulator featuring 80 columns, you can use your Oric to read and send mail or news, or talk to someone else, or whatever you enjoy !!

• Oric really ON the Internet !

  Take it today or tomorrow will be too late ! Porting a SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) or PPP package along with a TCP/IP stack will launch the Oric in the 3rd millenium ! You need an RS232 interface ? It's available, ask for it on the oric list ! You think it's impossible ? You're wrong, just do it and you will have the proof !

Animation, Sound, Games, Educational software

• First link game !

  Challenge a friend over a modem link and play Tea for Two Blitz Chess ! Will your brain be fast enough ? You can chat and play with your friend at the same time ! And the C source is given with the C compiler package.

• An 8-bit computer without new games is a dead computer !

  Let other people enjoy your creations ! Oric is not an obsolete machine for games ! Have you seen the games running on a 120 MHz Windows machine ? Board games, very few animations... you can do at least the same things, surely better !
  What about adventure games ? Very few people still use tapes, it seems quite masochist now. Today's oric users use a disk drive (if you don't have one and are interested in, you should know that you can buy a controler for a standard (PC) 3"1/2 disk drives at about $80). So what about a multi-file adventure game running with Sedoric, do you think 680 K will be sufficient, or do you want to make a multi-disks program ? We are waiting for your own King Quest series...
  Or you lack THE idea making your game a Hit ? Not a problem, what about porting one of the best Apple II or C64 program ?

• Start a new generation of flicker-free arcade games!

  Have you seen Jonathan Bristow's new game ? "Magnetix" specifications (parallax scrolling on 75% of the screen, sonix music...) prove that you can push the limits ! (Magnetix is available through OUM).
  Have you tried the small routine below ? It changes the background color from red to green and green to red, BUT, it is synchronized with your TV, and you can see this materialized ! Enter the program on a real Oric1 or Atmos (it should work on the TeleStrat too), but not on an emulator. Save it on tape or disk, then RUN. Use F key to raise the frequency of the timer, S key to slow it down, and Q to quit. It brings the detail Oric missed : an interrupt signaling the vertical screen retrace. So, think about what you can do with a 50 frames/s animation, or a double-buffered technique... Just add a small routine like this one in your program asking the user to graphically calibrate the timer at the top or bottom of the screen, and you will never seen again those flickering sprites !

• The Atari ST has the sound generator of the Oric !

  Do you think it has been used at its maximum on the Oric ? Have you ever seen a soundtracker on your favorite computer, a MODule player ? I would love to do it, but there are so many other things... Oops, have a look at Sonix from Jonathan Bristow ! (available from OUM)

Hardware

• Design the second Oric generation !

  Wouldn't it be nice to design a new Oric computer, upward compatible ? Of course, there's no hope to compete with the PC standard, so what about a single ISA card (or PCI) featuring a 65816 processor (not so updated, it is used in some consoles, like Atari's portable one), you would have an Oric card in your PC, sharing the display and the keyboard ! We could first write a software simulator of this, and then, why not, build a real one !
  If you have some skills in this domain, you're welcome !