Uzebox Data Manager - For managing your local Uzebox library
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 12:06 am
Discussion started here:
http://uzebox.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 210#p30501
We have WiFi through the ESP and we have a games database. What if we could use both of those to create an Uzebox "game" that would serve to help you download new titles and keep existing titles up to date... all from your actual Uzebox console?
Of course, this will require the ESP to be installed into your Uzebox. That comes with the SPIRAM built on the same PCB so if you have one then you likely have both.
Goals:
* Download a master game manifest from a remote server. Save that to SPIRAM since it will likely be larger than the RAM available.
* Option to hash all the files on your SD card and save the hashes to a text file.
* The game manifest would have a hash of every game file. That hash could be used to determine if your games and files are not the official version. This can flag games as needing an update.
* Download individual games to your Uzebox.
* Download ALL games to your Uzebox.
* Maybe something could be done to get Tornado 2000 to fit. The download itself is only around 50 megs but uncompressed it is half a gig. Perhaps there is a minimal unzip utility out there that could be used. If so then I would use it for all the game downloads to save download time.
* WiFi setup: Use this to configure the ESP for your WiFi connection. I do not know how this is done now but I would want to create this anyway.
* Using minimal ram tiles and sprites and a reduced height vram I got a base program using around 900 bytes of ram. Ram will be essential so I do not intend to add much to the visual appeal until the main functions of the program have been tested to work. Whatever remains can go to graphics/sound.
* This program will not be about sharing Uzebox files between Uzebox consoles peer-to-peer. This will be a client-server thing.
* I do want the ability to easily download games that are NOT in the database as well like a program you are working on. Does your game have an update? Great, use this tool to update it right away on the Uzebox and test it out.
* What about an SD card speed test?
I can figure out the above for the most part other than the ESP which I have never used on the Uzebox before. I'm going to take a look through the Tank-Fu code to see if I can figure out how L4rry did this.
We are about to have an Uzebox portable! This tool would be a great addition to Uzebox and I would use it often. Imagine compiling your game and then copying the file to a remote server from within your Makefile. Maybe even a local network share? Then, to load it into your Uzebox you would just run this application. It could be a way to more easily develop on the hardware without swapping around SD cards.
I'm open to suggestions. I'm just trying to get the WiFi basics at this point but then the real fun begins!
http://uzebox.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 210#p30501
We have WiFi through the ESP and we have a games database. What if we could use both of those to create an Uzebox "game" that would serve to help you download new titles and keep existing titles up to date... all from your actual Uzebox console?
Of course, this will require the ESP to be installed into your Uzebox. That comes with the SPIRAM built on the same PCB so if you have one then you likely have both.
Goals:
* Download a master game manifest from a remote server. Save that to SPIRAM since it will likely be larger than the RAM available.
* Option to hash all the files on your SD card and save the hashes to a text file.
* The game manifest would have a hash of every game file. That hash could be used to determine if your games and files are not the official version. This can flag games as needing an update.
* Download individual games to your Uzebox.
* Download ALL games to your Uzebox.
* Maybe something could be done to get Tornado 2000 to fit. The download itself is only around 50 megs but uncompressed it is half a gig. Perhaps there is a minimal unzip utility out there that could be used. If so then I would use it for all the game downloads to save download time.
* WiFi setup: Use this to configure the ESP for your WiFi connection. I do not know how this is done now but I would want to create this anyway.
* Using minimal ram tiles and sprites and a reduced height vram I got a base program using around 900 bytes of ram. Ram will be essential so I do not intend to add much to the visual appeal until the main functions of the program have been tested to work. Whatever remains can go to graphics/sound.
* This program will not be about sharing Uzebox files between Uzebox consoles peer-to-peer. This will be a client-server thing.
* I do want the ability to easily download games that are NOT in the database as well like a program you are working on. Does your game have an update? Great, use this tool to update it right away on the Uzebox and test it out.
* What about an SD card speed test?
I can figure out the above for the most part other than the ESP which I have never used on the Uzebox before. I'm going to take a look through the Tank-Fu code to see if I can figure out how L4rry did this.
We are about to have an Uzebox portable! This tool would be a great addition to Uzebox and I would use it often. Imagine compiling your game and then copying the file to a remote server from within your Makefile. Maybe even a local network share? Then, to load it into your Uzebox you would just run this application. It could be a way to more easily develop on the hardware without swapping around SD cards.
I'm open to suggestions. I'm just trying to get the WiFi basics at this point but then the real fun begins!