Raspberry Pi?

Discuss anything not related to the current Uzebox design like successors and other open source gaming hardware
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mapes
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Raspberry Pi?

Post by mapes »

This may have come up in the past, but I was reading the FAQ about the Raspberry Pi and a few things really stuck out to me as a great possibility of suggesting this as the next Uzebox platform.

1) The GPIO could allow standardized controllers vice the many types of USB controllers out there. Perhaps even do some other interesting functions (like have pin outs as an Uzebox Jamma).

2) The cost is LOW, $25 for a full board without onboard ethernet and $35 with it.

3) The specs are formidable (comparable to 20mhz P2 processor, 256 megs of ram, and about Xbox graphics.

4) There is no BIOS (no post screen?), and it boots right off the SD card.

I like the no BIOS and booting right off the SD card the most... I'm thinking if we created a "kernel" similar to the Atmega644, we could boot the games just like most other older consoles, almost like a cartridge. No OS level, just the game.

Anyways, I thought I'd throw it out there.

-Mapes
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martinsustek
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by martinsustek »

Hi, I believe, that Raspberry PI is capable to run console-quality games, but that's not, what Uzebox is - the miracle of Uzebox is in simplicity and juicing 8-bit simple CPU to the maximum. Funny about programming games for Uzebox is in that simplicity. Making games in console-quality is much harder, especially if you consider 3D.
mapes wrote:No OS level, just the game.
In fact, OS has some very critical parts, like video, sound and controller drivers, so each game will need to be shipped with it's own OS (kernel) - it's better to have one OS, and games as executable programs (like on PCs).

But maybe there can be some special OS for games, which will provide all necessary libraries and UI for downloading (some kind of maket) and launching games, as well as IDE for programming them. Because Raspberry PI is intended for education, and I think game programming is very entertaining form of learning, such game playing/programming distribution may have success (not even on Raspberry PI).
HardlyUnique
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by HardlyUnique »

It's a very powerful system, to be sure. I think (for better or worse) programming either a game or a kernel on it would be a very different endeavor than that for the Uzebox.

The FAQ points out one thing that would make any efforts very tedious or fun, depending on your personality:
What hardware documentation will be available?

Broadcom don’t release a full datasheet for the BCM2835, which is the chip at the heart of the Raspberry Pi. We will release a datasheet for the SoC which will cover the hardware exposed on the Raspi board e.g. the GPIOs. We will also release a board schematic later on.

But I want documentation for <hardware X>!

Other documentation may be released in future but this will be at the Foundation’s discretion.

But I demand the documentation for the chip. Give it to me!

To get the full SoC documentation you would need to sign an NDA with Broadcom, who make the chip and sell it to us. But you would also need to provide a business model and estimate of how many chips you are going to sell.
hpglow
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by hpglow »

The documentation has be released for everything but the GPU. It just takes some hunting to find. Broadcom still holds the data for the GPU close to their hearts, which sucks because it can process more data than the ARM core. But data sheets are avalible for the ARM core and the GPIO pins. OS'es other than Linux will be limited to a dumb framebuffer due to their inability to load the video drivers.
Inothernews1
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by Inothernews1 »

hpglow wrote:The documentation has be released for everything but the GPU.
I think it just was, so does that reopen this for discussion?
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by D3thAdd3r »

When I see Quake 3 running on the Pi, it really raises the bar for the amount of work for a game to be impressive for the system it's running on. I don't think it would be too difficult to convert current Uzebox games to Pi by replacing tile,sprite,sound effect,music operations,etc with something native like textured triangles,and .ogg sound effects/music. When I'm using OpenGL though I 'd really wonder why I was thinking about anything like "tiles" and "sprites", but also when using OpenGL why am I not just doing this on my PC when it's the same thing anyways :|
Inothernews1
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by Inothernews1 »

D3thAdd3r wrote:When I see Quake 3 running on the Pi, it really raises the bar for the amount of work for a game to be impressive for the system it's running on. I don't think it would be too difficult to convert current Uzebox games to Pi by replacing tile,sprite,sound effect,music operations,etc with something native like textured triangles,and .ogg sound effects/music. When I'm using OpenGL though I 'd really wonder why I was thinking about anything like "tiles" and "sprites", but also when using OpenGL why am I not just doing this on my PC when it's the same thing anyways :|
Well, how about we treat the Pi like a console instead of another PC? Why do people make games for the Uzebox? Because It's simple and you can pretty much fit the thing in your imagination. But now let's look at a more powerful system, the Dreamcast. People still make games for this thing, even though it is long dead. Why do it though? Because they can squeeze performance out on a much broader scale, and to have more freedom in what you can do. Yeah, it'll be a LOT of work, but so was getting the Uzebox started. If we can put high effort in now to make developing games easier later, I think this could work.
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: Raspberry Pi?

Post by D3thAdd3r »

For a system that really never was but could have been utilized I would do 32x+SegaCd DooM port if Uzebox wasnt around. Quit my job, ignore all humans, dedicate 5 years non-stop...if I could do better than John Carmack's(half hearted) port my life would be complete. Id be the only one who cared though so its too sad to try :|

Havent checked the Pi scene ever, but I think someone could start such a movement somehow. The most important thing would be the stuff that made the Uzebox work: initial visionary thinking combined with the right skill set, at the right time, attract a good community, and good docs/tools/examples for a fast pay off to new comers. I think thats how you get the fanatics necessary to keep an idea like that going. Kind of sounds like starting a religion actually heh.
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