Merlin (assembler)

Merlin was a macro assembler developed by mathematics professor Glen Bredon, initially running on the Apple II family under DOS 3.3, for the 6502 processor. The product was published commercially by Southwestern Data Systems, later known as Roger Wagner Publishing. Merlin continued to be updated as successors to the 6502 became available: first the 65C02 and later the 65816 and 65802. A ProDOS version was made available as Merlin Pro (this package also included the DOS 3.3 version). The 8-bit version of Merlin was later renamed Merlin 8, and a 16-bit version, dubbed Merlin 16, was released for the Apple IIgs.

Merlin included an integrated source code editor (initially a line editor; later versions included a full-screen editor) and also a disassembler, called Sourceror. A related utility, Sourceror.FP, could generate a commented disassembly of the Apple II's Applesoft BASIC, the source code for which had never been released by Apple, from the customer's own ROM.

Merlin was a popular assembler on the Apple II platform, and source files in Merlin format are common in Apple II archives today. Versions for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128, dubbed Merlin 64 and Merlin 128 respectively, were also released.

Legacy

On August 24, 2000, the author's 78th birthday, his widow released all of his Apple II software and source code (e.g. DOS.MASTER) as public domain software.[1][2][3][4]

Reception

Ahoy! called Merlin 64 "an excellent little assembler with many value added features. For ease of use, I couldn't imagine how it could be better ... an outstanding value".[5]

References

  1. ↑ Public.Domain.notice.txt on apple2.org.za
  2. ↑ Re: merlin source code on macgui.com (2005)
  3. ↑ 8-Bit Merlin IDE version 2.59 Source now documented and available on callapple.org (2011)
  4. ↑ Merlin-8 v2.47 (Glen Bredon)(Apple IIe, IIgs) "Semi-official Public Domain Release With Source Codes" (July 20, 2007)
  5. ↑ Peterson, Cheryl (1985-04-01). "Merlin 64". Ahoy!. pp. 26–27. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
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