A current version of TASM (Turbo Assembler) is rather hard to come by on the Web. Below is a .zip file you can download that is ready-to-go with TASM 5. I promise it worked for me for a whole semester, and I never had complaints about it.
It is very simple to use:
- Don’t be deterred by the number of files in the zip – you only need two (yes, 2!)
- Give it your code: Look in the BIN directory, okay now put your .asm file in there
- Compile your code: Run tasm /l /zi your_file.asm, but replace “your_file” with the name of your .asm file
- Link your code: Run tlink /v your_file.obj io.obj, and replace “your_file” with the same name you used in step 3
- Run your code: Run your_file.exe, and again replace “your_file” with the same name
So to summarize, here is a sample use of TASM:
tlink /v hello_world.obj io.obj
hello_world.exe
It is best if you run TASM close to the root of your hard drive, so don’t put it in your “My Documents” folder, since it has spaces and is very long. In fact, after you download and unzip the file below, you can just drop the TASM folder straight into your C drive and it will work well. That’s in XP or earlier.
Okay, so how about running this in Vista or Windows 7? How about on a Mac? The key with Vista is that nobody, not even administrators, has direct access to the command line. The result is that no one I know has had success running TASM in Vista. You will need to install XP or earlier in a virtual machine and run it in there. Windows 7 may be simpler in that some variants contain a Windows XP VM already, so you might be able to run TASM in XP Mode. I really can’t say since I haven’t tried.
As for a Mac, I can say there is a very nice solution that doesn’t require wasting tons of system resources on a virtual machine. A dab of Google solves everything 
In this case, there is a nice bit of freeware called Boxer, which is a simple DOS emulator that most people use to play their favourite old games. Read the documentation and you should be up and running in no time. Boxer runs well under Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6).
Good luck! Let me know how it worked for you in the comments.
Download TASM 5: tasm.zip (8.1 MB)
Hey, thank you for the download! You can also use it on Vista, by downloading Dosbox, a free Dos emulator.
Hey Guys ,
Any ideas how can I have TASM running Under linux , any help would be highly Appreciated .
Sounds to me like NASM is the way to go for you. See this article written on the subject.
Try WINE a windows emulator
i havent but i have tried running
some games like doom3 and
it runs perfect
Going to try on windows 7…
how do i use dosbox to work it on windows 7?
Hi, as far as I can tell from searching online, DOSBox version 0.74 is fully compatible with Windows 7. I have not tested it personally, but if you get something working, please share your experience with the rest of us!
is it work on windows 7 64-bit??????????
Worked fine for me…
I used TASM with dosbox 0.74…
Thanx a lot
on windows 7 64-bit
can anyone please mail me why i can’t work with TASM in windows 7
you have to use dosbox for it ….and it is freeware just download it…
you have to use dosbox to run it on windows 7
very good ……..very usefull…..
This is TASM 4.1, not 5.
What makes you say that? I just checked and the readme file in the zip is for version 5.
Thank You so much Alex! But I have a question.
everytme i try to run my asm files, an error always occur on tlink. See below.
C:\JASM2>tlink test01.asm
Turbo Link Version 5.1 Copyright (c) 1992 Borland International
Fatal: Bad object file record in test01.asm near module file offset 0×00000000
Can you help me please?
That is possibly because tlink is not meant to be given a .asm file. You need to run tasm on your .asm file, then run tlink on the .obj file that tasm creates for you.
See a thread on another site that discusses the issue.
Cheers!
hi, i am new to assembly language and i am using windows 7 64 bits.
i’m trying to program basic ones but command prompt does not recognize “debug” command. What should i do?
thank you in advance
Unfortunately I guess the zip doesn’t contain the DEBUG executable at all. I just checked and I saw TASM and TLINK, but no DEBUG. Perhaps it can be found somewhere else, good luck!
thank you … it is very good…
thank you
how to run .asm file after copying it to BIN directory
i m not able to run any .asm file after downloading it
plz suggest steps
@jayson.. dude its tlink filename.obj
TASM not working in windows 7 home basic 64bit…… plz help me….
thank u..working fine for me..
C:\TASM>edit
‘edit’ is not recognized as an internal or external commands operable program or batch file
Hi priyanka,
As mentioned in this Yahoo! Answers page, the edit command is no longer available in Windows but you can use Notepad instead.
Best of luck!
very nicely explained, thanx…
ahsan 4rm multan, pakistan.
This works well on Linux with Dosbox. Thanks!
after downloading this tasm 5 when i’m installing, it gives me a message “too many subdirectories: press esc” after pressing esc key the process terminates. plz help me.
I’m not sure, but I might try creating a new partition on my hard drive and installing on that. That way tasm will only see a blank partition. I’m curious why you want to install tasm, though, is that somehow better than just running tasm without installing it?
how i can run tasm without installing it?? i have no idea..
i tried tasm on dosbox also but some commands like td was not working there.. suggest another version or another software. i’m familiar with masm.