Tokugawa Corporate Forums

Okay, so, I'm a bit new at this whole PC-98x1 thing. I love the X68000 more than anything and that, coupled with my moderate knowledge of the Japanese language, has helped me understand a bit about how the retro PC scene in Japan holds up in this day and age. That said, it's still a bit confusing (took me about six hours to figure out how to change MUAP98/iv from text mode to graphical mode) so I'd like to ask you fellows a few questions that I'm sure only a few of you might know the answers to. Most of you have likely already guessed this much, but I do not own a real PC-98x1. Obtaining my XVI-HD was one thing, but it seems like procuring a working PC-98 is going to be much more expensive as well as difficult, so I'll just leave it at "I'm using an emulator." Do forgive me if any of these questions have been answered in a past thread, I've checked the threads that seemed like they would have had some information on the matter within the archived forum and nothing of interest came up.

1) Is there an online file repository of PC-98 applications that I'm grossly overlooking or am I really on my own? The X68000 has the NFGGames' File Archive, but beyond browsing vector.co.jp, most of what you'll need is going to be scattered all around the net, if you can even find it. Perhaps there is an anonymous uploader out there that serves this purpose?

2) Mildly related to my first question, but is there some sort of diff tool for the PC-98? Well, I assume there has to be one, it's merely well hidden. I've downloaded a few LZH archives that contain diff binaries instead of the actual programs and no amount of google searching or visits to Vector have provided any clues on the matter. I mean, the X68000 has bdifset, so there must surely be a PC-98x1 parallel. Or perhaps it is part of MS-DOS itself?

3) Are there any easy-to-use methods of programming on the PC-98? I've done a bit of assembly and C on the Sharp machine that I reference by name far too often, so I kind of have an idea on what to look for, but nothing has turned up thus far.

Yeah, it seems like all of the questions I can think of at the moment are largely related to not being able to find the tools that I need. Go figure. Any and all information on these topics would be most appreciated.

Hi, X68000 has a large international userbase, but PC-98 is far less popular outside Japan.

1) Aside vector.co.jp, I don't know any other repository. I'm afraid that, as you said, you're on your own..

2) I don't know of any diff util for PC-98, but there are a lot of DOS utilities that run on PC-98 flawlessly. (As long as no graphic mode is involved, they will probably work)

3) I never programmed on PC-98, but you can try Turbo C++.