Uzebox SD Gameloader V0.4.5

Topics related to the API, programming discussions & questions, coding tips, bugs, etc. should go here.
User avatar
Jhysaun
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:32 am

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by Jhysaun »

So does anybody know if the Fuzebox 2 will use the FTDI bootloader, or the Uzebox bootloader?

>J
Lerc wrote:I intend to use my powerful skills of procrastination to ensure that when I get to making things, the chips will be available.
User avatar
uze6666
Site Admin
Posts: 4801
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:13 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Contact:

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by uze6666 »

I'd put my money on no bootloader! Last time I spoke with Ladyada, she mentioned the new kits would *most probably* ship with an ISP programmer.

-Uze
User avatar
Jhysaun
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:32 am

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by Jhysaun »

Well there hasn't been to much discussion on the Bootloader in the past few weeks, so I going to breath new life into it. (Zombienator Style )

But first a note to Phog: "In two player zombienator, player 2 should be a necromancer, who controls/revives the zombies". :twisted:

ok back to the bootloader.

Here are some things I've noticed.

BUGS:
I made a wav file to play in Uzeamp, but after putting it on the SD card, only 4 programs showed up. (none of them Uzeamp). When I only had Uzeamp and my sound file on the SD card, it worked Fine.

W00t only one bug :D

FEATURES I'D LIKE TO SEE
A way to chain programs together.
A "Run what's already programed" button. <---------- Even if no SD card is detected

>J

EDIT: This is what I mean by chaining. And I know I asked about this already. Im just reminding you. Im not trying to be a nuisance.
Lerc wrote:I intend to use my powerful skills of procrastination to ensure that when I get to making things, the chips will be available.
User avatar
uze6666
Site Admin
Posts: 4801
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:13 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Contact:

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by uze6666 »

BUGS:
I made a wav file to play in Uzeamp, but after putting it on the SD card, only 4 programs showed up. (none of them Uzeamp). When I only had Uzeamp and my sound file on the SD card, it worked Fine.

W00t only one bug :D
Hmmm, the level of details of that bug report is not very useful. ;) Could be a lot of things. I mentionned that you can't have more than 14 files on the disk currently. This limitation is due to the fact I only load the first directory sector. In FAT16, it hold 16 entries, the first 2 being "." and "..". Moreover due to the way FAT16 handles long filenames, using some, reduces the number of available entries. That usually explains why files disappears. Again, I want to emphasize this was an advanced demo of what the bootloader will look like. A lot of work is still left!
A "Run what's already programed" button. <---------- Even if no SD card is detected
This one is left to the community. There a couple possible options:
1)When the console is reset the bootloader menu always appear. Selecting the game already programmed just runs it(no reprogramming). That's the current way. It should be the game initially selected with some sort of flag side to it to make it clear it's the 'current game'.
2)When the console is reset, a screen says "starting Megatris in 3...2...1... Press any key to see the bootloader" or the other way around.
3)Pressing any key during reset bring up the bootloader, otherwise the current game is started immediately.

Personally, I prefer the first one but in the end it could (and probably will ) be configurable with an eeprom flag.
A way to chain programs together.
I hear you...don't care we didn't forget. Gotta learn to walk before running... :)

-Uze

ps:eer, btw aren't you a bit late on your summer's tutorial-a-day??? 8-)
User avatar
Jhysaun
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:32 am

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by Jhysaun »

2)When the console is reset, a screen says "starting Megatris in 3...2...1... Press any key to see the bootloader" or the other way around.
I think this is the best option, because the first option still needs a SD card to work. If you take the SD card out of the Uzebox, you should still be able to play the game thats flashed to it.

ps:eer, btw aren't you a bit late on your summer's tutorial-a-day??? 8-)
I like to push things off until the last minute.
Lerc wrote:I intend to use my powerful skills of procrastination to ensure that when I get to making things, the chips will be available.
User avatar
JRoatch
Posts: 108
Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 11:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by JRoatch »

I think option 2 is alright, but if it won't take too long to automatically determine if a SD-card is plugged in, then here's what I think should happen. Sorry for verbose decision tree here.

Code: Select all

If SD-card detected then
  display "Starting <installed game> in <seconds>...\n Press any button to read SD-card."
  If a button is pressed then
    read sd-card for games, while displaying "Reading SD-card. please wait" 
    (forget displaying this message if this usually takes less than a half second)
    display list of games with installed game on top to let the user choose.
    if selected game is already installed then
      start selected game.
    else if selected game is in SD-card
      install the selected game from the SD-card while displaying "Installing <name of game>. please wait."
      go back to start (so that the user can know every thing went alright)
    end if
  else if time runs out then
    start installed game
  end if
else if no SD-card detected
  start installed game (this would be immediate feedback that a SD-card is not inserted correctly)
end if
User avatar
Jhysaun
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:32 am

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by Jhysaun »

I second JRoatch's idea.


>J
Lerc wrote:I intend to use my powerful skills of procrastination to ensure that when I get to making things, the chips will be available.
User avatar
uze6666
Site Admin
Posts: 4801
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:13 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Contact:

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by uze6666 »

Thanks for the feedback, I will think about this. Right now I see a slight issue. In displaying "Starting <installed game> in <seconds>...\n Press any button to read SD-card." <installed game> is not available, specially if no card is present. It could be stored in the eeprom, but that would consume precious space for not much IHMO. Instead a generic message would be simpler. Also, there should be a way to start the current game faster, I'd say with the use of the start button. Any other button would starts the boot loader. So the message could look like:

"Starting installed game in <seconds>...\n Press START to launch game now. Press any other button to read SD-card.".

-Uze
User avatar
JRoatch
Posts: 108
Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 11:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by JRoatch »

That's right, games were compared by CRC.
What you have is a much better message. With the instant start START button, that would also fulfill option #3. Holding the start button starts the game. Maybe even before determining presence of an SD-card.
User avatar
uze6666
Site Admin
Posts: 4801
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:13 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Contact:

Re: Uzebox SD Gameloader Alpha...at last!

Post by uze6666 »

Some news regarding the bootloader. I've updated all demos to support the bootloader. This includes a modification to makefiles to generate the .uze file (basically a binary version of the HEX file with a 512 bytes header). The required tool (and sources) for this is "packrom.exe" under \rev4-beta\tools\rompacker\Release. This tool must be in your system path to generate the .uze. If it's not there, the make will still success anyways.

No news from Pragma lately, so no other progress...I may take on his work when I have more time.

-Uze
Post Reply