[NTLK] Introduction / Newton GFX programming

[Matthias Melcher]

Hi Emanuel,

welcome to the NewtonTalk list. You mention 1994, Germany, and the demo scene. I assume you still have your Amiga 500 somewhere in storage.

Aaaanyway, the main sources for apps, docs, some source code, and images form ClassicMac development are http://www.unna.org/ and http://xserve.applenewton.co.uk/  .

I found some additional geek stuff here:

https://www.kallisys.com/
https://40hz.org/Pages/
https://web.archive.org/web/20080708182255/http://newton.vyx.net/documentation/
https://web.archive.org/web/19980204041451/http://www.newton-inc.com/dev/

NewtonOS is based on NewtonScript, similar to Android devices that prefer to be programmed in Java, but you can call ARM code directly from within any app. 

The C/C++ developer kit needs to be installed on MacOS Classic (I use my own version of BasiliskII that connects to the MessagePad over serial/USB). You can compile a version of GNU C and ASM that generates old style ARM code, or you can use MOSRun to run all tools in the Driver Developer Kit native on modern macOS or Linux (embedded simulator).

The graphics screen is memory mapped to a fixed virtual address. You can write directly into it. One nibble stores the 4 bits of a single grayscale pixel. The only app that a know that uses this technique is a crude flight simulator somewhere on Unna.

Well, that's the bleeding internals in a nutshell.

Herzliche Grüsse. Ich bin gespannt.

 - Matthias