Tatara
日本語

Getting started

This page takes you from the download to a first program running on your MSX: five steps, each described in full in the manual. You need an MSX2 or later running MSX-DOS2 or Nextor, or an emulator that runs them.

1. Download

From the Download page, download Tatara, TATAR120.LZH. From the Examples page, download the example HELLO, a directory with two files in it.

These steps assume that you download on another computer, such as a PC or a Mac, and copy the files to the MSX, for instance on a memory card. Copy TATAR120.LZH to the root directory of drive A:.

Note. TATAR120.LZH is an LZH archive, unpacked on the MSX with PMEXT. If you do not have PMEXT, it is on the Download page, with how to install it.

2. Install

Tatara goes into three directories:

A:\TATARA\
    BIN\         TATARA.COM and TANREN.COM
    INCLUDE\     the include files
    EXAMPLES\    the example programs, one directory each

Create them, copy the archive into A:\TATARA and unpack it there. PMEXT cannot be given a path for the archive, which is why it is copied first. The a: at the end of the pmext line tells PMEXT to write the files to the current directory of drive A:.

A:\>md a:\tatara
A:\>md a:\tatara\bin
A:\>md a:\tatara\include
A:\>md a:\tatara\examples
A:\>cd a:\tatara
A:\TATARA>copy a:\tatar120.lzh .
A:\TATARA>pmext tatar120.lzh a:

PMEXT lists the five files as it unpacks them, each with OK at the end of its line. Move the two programs to BIN, and INCLUDES.LZH, the archive that holds the include files, to INCLUDE; then unpack that one too:

A:\TATARA>move tatara.com bin
A:\TATARA>move tanren.com bin
A:\TATARA>move includes.lzh include
A:\TATARA>cd include
A:\TATARA\INCLUDE>pmext includes.lzh a:

Finally, on the other computer, copy the HELLO directory into A:\TATARA\EXAMPLES, so that it becomes A:\TATARA\EXAMPLES\HELLO.

Note. A Japanese MSX shows the backslash as a yen sign, so A:\TATARA appears as A:¥TATARA. It is the same character.

The manual’s chapter 3 has every step with PMEXT’s output, and the list of the include files.

3. Set PATH and TATARA

Two environment variables tell MSX-DOS2 and TATARA where the files are. PATH lets you run TATARA and TANREN from any directory; the TATARA environment variable tells TATARA where the include files are.

A:\>set path=%path%;a:\tatara\bin
A:\>set tatara="a:\tatara\include"

At the prompt, the value of TATARA must be between quotation marks; without them MSX-DOS2 answers *** Invalid environment string.

Set this way, they last until the MSX is reset. To set them every time it starts, add these two lines at the end of AUTOEXEC.BAT, in the root directory of the boot drive, where the quotation marks are not needed:

set path=%path%;a:\tatara\bin
set tatara=a:\tatara\include

4. Check

Run each program with the option /V, which prints its name and version and does nothing else:

A:\>tatara /v
Tatara MSX Macro-Assembler v1.2.0
Copyright (C) 2026 Javier Lavandeira
https://tatara.tools

A:\>tanren /v
Tatara MSX Linker v1.2.0
Copyright (C) 2026 Javier Lavandeira
https://tatara.tools

If MSX-DOS2 answers *** Unrecognized command instead, PATH does not include A:\TATARA\BIN: type set to see it, and set it again.

5. Build and run HELLO

HELLO.AS is the smallest complete program: it prints a line and returns to MSX-DOS2. Assemble it with TATARA, link it with TANREN, and run it:

A:\>cd \tatara\examples\hello
A:\TATARA\EXAMPLES\HELLO>tatara hello.as hello.tro
Tatara MSX Macro-Assembler v1.2.0
Copyright (C) 2026 Javier Lavandeira
https://tatara.tools

ended at HELLO.AS(22)

A:\TATARA\EXAMPLES\HELLO>tanren /o:hello.com hello.tro
Tatara MSX Linker v1.2.0
Copyright (C) 2026 Javier Lavandeira
https://tatara.tools

1 module, 7 records, ends at EOF.
Wrote HELLO.COM, 0100-0121 (34 bytes), entry 0100.

A:\TATARA\EXAMPLES\HELLO>hello
Hello from Tatara.

TATARA turned the source file HELLO.AS into the object file HELLO.TRO, and TANREN turned the object file into the program HELLO.COM. If TATARA stops with cannot open MSXDOS.INC, the TATARA environment variable is not set: go back to step 3.

Where to go next

The manual starts from here: