XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Discuss general Uzebox topics here: features, wish list. nice to have, etc.
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uze6666
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XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by uze6666 »

If you're looking for the ultimate AVR development kit then the XGS AVR 8-Bit is exactly what you're looking for. Much more complete than the Uzebox and much more powerful than the Arduino!
Hehehe and there I was just wondering how Andre Lamothe's XGS-AVR was doing. So I went to his site and read about it. After all, why he came up with his retro console using the same mega644 overclocked at the same frequency with most features discussed in these forums made me curious. I found it quite interesting that he saw the Uzebox as somewhat of a threat. 8-) To his credit, he's for sure giving up a heck of a lot of stuff for 140$ (board, joystick, book, etc). However, if you look at the demos, they all seem relatively low res for some reason (worst than mode 2). Anybody here bought his kit and can explain why? Since he's not using an AD725 could it be a limitation of his hardware?

-Uze
lightfoot256
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by lightfoot256 »

...create 8-bit games that you can put together in a matter of hours to days with our APIs and examples.
Hours?? Heh... I'd like to see that :-D.

Sounds expensive; If it was closer to the $70 mark it might be more appealing;

Chris
Last edited by lightfoot256 on Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
PlayerOne
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by PlayerOne »

I don't think I've spent much less than that on the Uzebox, to be quite honest. Probably more. Although that $140 doesn't include shipping to the UK. It actually looks like it might make quite a good companion to the uzebox, since it includes an ISP and a joypad that's probably roughly compatible.
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DaveyPocket
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by DaveyPocket »

I have one of the XGS kits, the XGS pico edition, based on the SX micro controller running at 80 MHz. I know this one is not the XGS AVR, but the demo pre-programmed on the chip is pretty neat. High res and black and white(grayscale). I have no experience programming it... because I don't have an SX programmer! :lol:

Unfortunately, it has one controller socket for an Atari 2600 joystick. But on the other hand, I could add a SNES controller. There is an expansion port on it to access the remaining I/O pins.
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JRoatch
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by JRoatch »

A book like that for uzebox would be so awesome. Once uzebox is mature enough though.
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uze6666
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by uze6666 »

A book like that for uzebox would be so awesome. Once uzebox is mature enough though.
Sure, why not. We have enough info in the Wiki and elsewhere for that. It will certainly be an ebook though. Unless somewhat has a printing press in their basement. :)

-uze
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by lightfoot256 »

PlayerOne wrote:I don't think I've spent much less than that on the Uzebox
But you spent that money having fun building your own - Rather than buying something pre-built? For me that's the difference.

I've worked on lots of pre-built consoles and I guess I'm now at the point where I want to be able to say "I made that entirely from scratch"; (yeah I was interested at one point in chip manufacturing but that's a little too far :-p). Anyone played KOHCTPYKTOP http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/pi ... .php?id=79 ? Good game :-p
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Flecko
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by Flecko »

Uze: They have tons of "self" printing sites out there to make books. Blurb comes to mind, but I know there are others. You submit a book, and they make them on demand as people order them.

Someday...someday...
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uze6666
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by uze6666 »

Uze: They have tons of "self" printing sites out there to make books. Blurb comes to mind, but I know there are others. You submit a book, and they make them on demand as people order them.
Interesting, for small runs that could be perfect. But writing a manual is grunt work...and who reads manuals anyways? Certainly not coders! :lol:

-uze
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Re: XGS AVR Better than the Uzebox?

Post by JRoatch »

uze6666 wrote:and who reads manuals anyways? Certainly not coders! :lol:
I read them. I'm especially grateful for some of the well written ones, Like the book I bought to learn the allegro game programing library. It not only explained a good portion of the API, but also introduced general video game programing concepts (like tile maps, and vector math). It is definitely hard work, but I believe it would not be in vain.
A good question is who would be able to write a manual like that? I would be if I were better at communication in general.
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