Commander X16

Discuss anything not related to the current Uzebox design like successors and other open source gaming hardware
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

That's great news CF!

I've already had one taker for the Uzebox PCBs. He knows how to write (Z80) assembly and is up for learning AVR. I can update my thread with your offer when your video has been posted.

How does AVR asm compare to Z80? I've never done any assembly.
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ry755
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Re: Commander X16

Post by ry755 »

danboid wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:29 am How does AVR asm compare to Z80? I've never done any assembly.
Z80 assembly is certainly easier to learn imo, it was one of the first assembly languages I ever learned. AVR assembly isn't hard though, it's just different.
CunningFellow
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Re: Commander X16

Post by CunningFellow »

From someone that has done Z80, 68000, 8086, 68HC11, PIC12/16, AVR, 8051 and ARM - I can say AVR is my favorite. (no 6502 which some people might find strange)

But for the person in the X16 forum that knows Z80 ASM. He should be able to pic up AVR ASM no problems - but he does not really have too. Unless you are pushing the envelope you don't need to touch ASM for the Uzebox. Plain old C is all you should need.
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

In this gents case he Really likes writing assembly and I expect he'd not be building one if he couldn't code for it with asm afterwards. A Perfect new Uzeboxer by the sounds of things.
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JimmyDansbo
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Re: Commander X16

Post by JimmyDansbo »

Hi.
I am the guy who has asked danboid for the Uzebox PCB. I am really looking forward to building it and getting to know the system.
In the last 2+ years, I have thought my self assembly programming for the 6502 and the Z80. Way back, I learned a bit of x86 assembler.

It is great that this system is fast enough that it can just be programmed in C, but I think I would enjoy diving into the actual machine language of the microcontroller. At first glance it seems fairly straight forward.

@danboid, thanks for your generosity and the links you have provided so far. It seems it should be a breeze to start developing for the Uzebox on linux.
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

Good to see you have joined the Uzebox forum already Jimmy! Welcome!

I'd presume the Uzebox is the easiest 8 bit console to develop for. Does anyone know of a console with a lower barrier to entry? It seems pretty hard to beat in that respect, certainly if you're happy just to run stuff under cuzebox and don't bother to build a Uzebox but that is half of the fun. It must be one of the easiest to build if not the easiest.

Nobody has claimed the second PCB yet. I'm going to wait until Tuesday or Thursday before I post yours but then I'll post yours anyway, even if no-one has claimed the other one.
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

I've been able to log into the Next forum again now to see if any Spectrum Next owners might be interested in a free Uzebox PCB.

I should be posting your PCB tomorrow Jimmy.
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uze6666
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Re: Commander X16

Post by uze6666 »

Hi Jimmy, welcome on board!

I think you'll enjoy the AVR assembler. I've done 8080, 6809, x86, ARM and AVR. My favorite is also AVR. There's an elegant simplicity to the architecture and it's instruction set. Yet it is also very powerful. And the beauty of the console is that there's no video and audio chips, all is done in software. Over the years new and more advanced video modes were developed as we learned the Atmega644 chip in and out.
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JimmyDansbo
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Re: Commander X16

Post by JimmyDansbo »

Thanks for the welcome.

It might be some time yet before I will have any actual software to show off and I will probably start out writing in C.
I did have a look at the AVR assembler instructions. They seem to go nicely in between the 6502 and the Z80 :-D

I still have a long way to go, I have to read up on the different video modes and how to get intput from gamepads and such.
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

I hope Jimmy won't mind if I out him as having already built a Commander X16 prototype, before the first batch of Gen1 dev boards got sent out, so I don't think he's going to have any real problems building the Uzebox.

Where did you buy your SNES connectors for your X16 Jimmy? I bought mine from zedlabz but they're sold out now.
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