Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Discuss general Uzebox topics here: features, wish list. nice to have, etc.
ded
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Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by ded »

Hello

EDIT: OOPS! There is something about this already: http://uzebox.org/wiki/index.php?title=Uzenet

I want to make a Uzebox with the capability to speak to the internet, whats the minimal hardware i need for this?
I have not worked with Internet networking on a low level before, i would assume there is a IC of some sort that you could speak with trough SPI or I2C.


The idea is that the device connects to a server and allows multi-player games. Even MMO's if the server part is done right.

Would be neat to have a dashboard with an AppStore. I dont wanna think of the complexity of an Appstore, either you could run the app-code in a VM or maybe the app-code is actual compiled binary data that you load in to a separate flash which you could boot from with a dip switch or from a menu button press.

Lets say its possible to get the Uzebox to go online. I have a server where all uzeboxes connects to, either to a game or to a more advanced lobby where they can chat and download games/apps.
What if i want the server to know for certain that a uzebox connecting is really a uzebox and not emulated?
I want the uzebox to have a key which identifies it as a real uzebox. (No, this is not for locking people to MY hardware. But merely to prevent cheating)
One solution would be to have tamper protection in the device just like credit card readers protect their keys. If the device is opened the key is deleted.

Even if the console had tamper-proof protections it would be relatively simple to cheat with some kind of bot that reads the output video signal (like some poker-bots) and sends input trough some hardware but in my opinion this is a good layer of protection so not everyone and their mothers starts ruining the online game via some emulation program. (This sounds like i expect a fully finished product with a large user-base where people gain something from cheating like they do on real games, but no, I'm only pretending this is going to be something big because the hardware is interesting)

If anyone know a better solution to this problem that is less like evil DRM, please share your toughts.

If anything i will just make a uzebox IRC program. Does anyone know what hardware i need for this?
thanks
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by D3thAdd3r »

Glad you are interested in this, we need more minds working towards it.

Yes, there is actually standard hardware even though it isn't talked about too much yet. Every networking feat is up for grabs for those adventurous enough to chase the glory, since so far, not too many working programs/demos have been put out in this regard. Multiple Uzeboxen have communicated over the internet many times, but so far only in development setups. I am working on networked gameplay for Megatris(Uzebox tetris) and Alec(uze6666, Uzebox creator) already created the expansion module and will have networking built into the Uzebox portable and some future PCB version. He also appears to have been experimenting with HTML transfer for files judging by source code on github, but really there is a lot of work needed on all fronts to start making real progress.

The hardware is the ultra cheap and fairly powerful ESP8266 wifi module that communicates with UART, as the SPI is already tied to SD card and the 128K expansion ram included for network tasks. I wrote up a cheesy chat program and we successfully communicated from Minneapolis(central USA)->New York->Montreal, but I am not developing the chat anymore...I recognized it is infinitely better just to support IRC. I wont get to that for a long while, so let me know anything I can do to get you a jump start towards developing that. There is the New York VPS setup for uzebox.net where a lot of the testing takes place. In my mind, this would be the place to put roms and other files or run shells so you could dump the output of Lynx text web browser back to an Uzebox over TELNET or an infinite amount of other possibilities.

There is definitely enough resources to pull off full blown IRC and there is an IRC server at uzebox.net among other services. Check out ESP8266 wiki, UART wiki, and the Uzenet thread
ded
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by ded »

Great Wiki about the ESP module. However, do you know if there is any similar fully standalone module which does Ethernet?
Maybe Wifi is the way to go. "Ethernet cable coming out of an Uzebox is ridiculous/annoying and where do you even put that port gracefully. "-Deathadder

Ill will try modify the Uzebox Reference Design PCB with kiCAD for the wifi module and place a order from Seeedstudio Fusion PCB.
Cant do much work without an actual Uzebox.. Maybe it would be quicker to just purchase the uzebox PCB and hack the module on there.

Im not getting what you mean with the server in NY, is that some kind of official test server for everyone to use?
I'm using Amazon VPS one year free micro server for development stuff at the moment.
ded
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by ded »

I edited the PCB layout and added the Wifi and 3.3V transistor style voltage divider.
I removed the MIDI connector. No idea what its supposed to be used with?? Can find anything on the wiki about it.
I kept the R4 resistor since it looked like a pull-up resistor for UART which the Wifi is using.
Edit: darn, i forgot two 1uF caps. Are they decoupling caps?
Edit2: darn, there seems to be a 3.3V trace already. I guess the 3.3V dropper is only needed if the wifi is a module for the EXT port.....
This is what it looks like

Image

I have attached the KiCAD file. I removed the voltage divider+caps. If anyone could take a look and verify its correct i would be happy, I'm new to designing PCB.
Attachments
uzebox_without_divider.rar
Uzebox KiCAD with Wifi
(111.88 KiB) Downloaded 413 times
ded
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by ded »

So i placed a order on five PCB's with the MIDI port removed and replaced by the Wifi.
If anyone wants the KiCad and Gerber files they're attached.

This is my first PCB i have "made" so i am a little nervous ..
Attachments
uzebox_Wifi.rar
uzebox with wifi module
(675.14 KiB) Downloaded 421 times
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by D3thAdd3r »

Damn you are too fast for me. So the hardware solutions are there, but in some respects not finalized. If you get the standard kit, then you can get the expansion module(not on the store yet); or since you are already ordering PCBs you will essentially have the standard PCB with mods. The problem with that is that it was decided the ESP 12 is the ideal module, whereas the only version of the expansion module for the standard kit(that I have seen) is for the ESP 01s. You can use any ESP8266 version for development and it shouldn't be much to change a few bits to work with newer firmware. The reason for the ESP12 is bigger flash which allows to use the newest firmwares to come along with the auto web update, and maybe longevity on the market. You can find them for about $2 each and I would recommend also getting the SPI ram so you can buffer text and such.

The MIDI port never got utilized for any released programs and AFAIK will not be in future PCB revisions. It was intended to use the Uzebox as a synth controlled with a MIDI keyboard where the MIDI stream came into a UART buffer and went through the normal sound engine. Actually a cool idea, but you could probably make a P2 controller port dongle with an ATtiny to support it later too.

Since you already have PCBs coming hopefully they work as intended first try and you have a working dev board. I honestly don't know if it will work reliably without the 3.3v regulator. The idea seems to be to account for peak current draw which is reportedly >250ma at times when the wifi radio is busy and I think that is why on the capacitors as well.The newest revision of the PCB(now at 1.3.1) isn't up on the web shop yet but you can check it out here. That is all uze6666's territory so I would PM him if you need development hardware. There might be simple PS/2 keyboard PCBs as well(which can be done without, just messier), which for IRC, I think is a requirement and makes development easier anyway.
ded wrote:Im not getting what you mean with the server in NY, is that some kind of official test server for everyone to use?
Officially it doesn't do much yet since Uzenet is still in it's infancy and it has barely any traffic but it has a few services running so you don't have to set those things up...no real advantage except the name "uzebox.net" would probably be the official place the consoles look to for resources and central communications. I develop on my local LAN, but if you have something service up tested and working that requires PC server program, I'm pretty sure it would be no issue to then put it there.

On the previous talk about cheating and security I will give my humble opinion. Anyone should agree Uzebox is quite a niche interest. I prefer such things, it is less random people everywhere and more people that you communicate with on a fairly regular basis. There should probably be some registration or something, but past that I honestly don't believe cheating will be an issue. I think the more likely the issue will be finding games to play with the currently quite small Uzenet install base. Reason I spend my time on it is because the idea is awesome and I think there will eventually be enough people to here you can find a game here or there; enough to say "hey, this is a real working thing and I have some others who can see it was worth it!". So from my perspective I would see Uzem ESP8266 support as something to fully embrace. I would guess 20x the number of people would be online then by removing the hardware requirement(so hopefully 1-2 users at any given moment..who I'm sure can find a common game game choice), and at least registration and the time to find and setup Uzem and all that would deter random kids causing trouble. Maybe connection is based on a white list, where you can only get your UID from the forum where you have communicated some to know they are legit.

Uzem has communicated with Uzeboxes too, but that is a multi-threaded nightmare that is not development ready yet. Moral of the story, whoever takes the ball and runs it to completion is probably going to be the standard setter on any of this stuff.
ded
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by ded »

OK! I have contacted "NEO" now, hopefully he can hook me up with something. I have cancelled the order of the PCB's.
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by uze6666 »

I have a bunch of the black 1.3.1 PCBs lying around. I hesitated to ship them with the last Adafruit order because the layout changed a bit and the color is different and I would have to redo my assembly guide, Adadruit make another photo shoot, etc. Also it's not fully validated in my opinion since we didn't make a lot of work on the uzenet front. They work just fine, since I already built 2 and Lee also got one. It's just I wonder if another pin may be required for something.

But if anyone wants one, send me a pm and I'll be glad to send you one for 3$+shipping. :) I also plan to make a V2 of the uzenet module for those with the pre 1.3 revision. This one would use the esp-12.
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by D3thAdd3r »

ded wrote: If anything i will just make a uzebox IRC program. Does anyone know what hardware i need for this?
thanks
Are you still interested in making an IRC program? I did some preliminary experiments and it is not too difficult at least to get connected and reply to PING messages so the connection stays active indefinitely showing raw messages from the server. Parsing all the message types and doing something with them, and stripping away the unnecessary stuff that shouldn't be printed to the chat window will be quite a bit of work I think. But if you have time to try it out I would love feedback on things that work/don't work with ESP8266 emulation in Uzem and I would definitely cooperate on any issues that inevitably come up implementing the protocol.
ded
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Re: Uzebox with network LAN / Wifi

Post by ded »

Nice work with the ESP - AT code emulation!

I am currently working with the ESP-OPEN-SDK (non-RTOS). It has been good fun, oh , so much i have learned. In fact i don't want to write anything AVR right now, but maybe in a week or two.

Need to sort out a monitor that takes NTSC video-in. Then a keyboard. Starting to sound like too much work. Send me one of your C64 clones and ill write you an IRC client /sarcasm /notreally ;)
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