SpiceWare's Blog

Did you run into issues with getting an ARM cross compiler up and running under OS X? Or was there another issue that forced you into using a VM?

 

Is there any public documentation on the internals of the Harmony cart? I've been thinking of taking a look at doing some ARM coding on the Harmony, but I always end up wanting to know details like how memory is setup, what ARM variant is being used, how does communication happen between the 2600 and the ARM, etc, etc.

When I started work on Stay Frosty 2, I was using an ARM compiler than ran under OS X. I switched to a different compiler because it generated significantly smaller code. I think it was 8-9% smaller, will post specifics in Part 12 of The Story of Stay Frosty 2.

The new compiler wasn't available for OS X. I already had a Linux VM running under Parallels^* so it wasn't any extra work for me to use the compiler under Linux.

 

I'm not aware of any public documentation on the internals, but I'll be putting that information out as part of this series.

 

 

^* Looks like I've been using Parallels since June 2006. VirtualBox was released in 2007.

Looking forward to hearing more -- thanks!

Your welcome!

 

Was going to post part 2 today, but woke up under the weather. Cancelled brunch plans with my folks and went back to bed. Just got up a little bit ago and though I'd catch up on things while I felt a little better.

 

Feeling rough again now though, so I'm off to veg out on the couch and watch some TV. Maybe I'll put a dent in the 1400+ shows my Mac mini DVR has recorded for me

Is there any public documentation on the internals of the Harmony cart?

 

Latest entry in this series has info on the internals.

Windows users looking for a Virtual Machine to run Linux can use VMWare Player for free (for non-commercial purposes).

Good to know, thanks!

Hmm I'm tempted to try this but it may get me off track. Do you think this helps the novice Stella programmer by adding capability and flexibility? Or do the added complications just make it too difficult?

Are you familiar with C? If so it may make things easier, if not it'll add something else to learn.

 

Do note that this series is currently on the back burner, by step 11 you'll only have a playfield with non-moving sprites. That said, if you successfully get that far it'll inspire me to get back to work on it

Nah- I'm not familiar with C. I'd like to be, though. Same for Linux.

 

I saw Draconian on YouTube and was blown away so I thought I'd look into the DPC+.

 

But given what you've told me, I should probably complete at least one functioning 2K game first, before looking into it again. That will give you more time to finish as well

 

Thanks!

Looking into this again.. I've been learning Unix and Linux in my job and I have Ubuntu on VirtualBox here at home so that will be a little easier. But the C- its still a requirement? How much would I have to learn? Is there a resource you recommend?

There is another option - ARM assembly

I learned C so long ago that I'm not familiar with online resources. This C Tutorial might be useful, though be aware that any function that needs an include statement won't be useful for 2600 development. Example of that would be getchar() and printf() which need #include <stdio.h>. That said, you can still work through the tutorial, using the compiler under Ubuntu, to learn C.

 

After the holidays I'll be working on Spice C, a new framework for 2600 development that'll be like batari BASIC with prewritten kernels, but will use C (instead of basic) and the new CDF bankswitch driver. Once that's far enough along I'll start a tutorial in the blog, and I won't assume everybody already knows C.

Thanks.. What's ARM assembly?

assembly language is the human readable language closest to what a CPU natively understands. CPUs are not all designed the same, so you need to use the correct assembly language for the CPU you are coding for:

• 6502 assembly - Atari 2600 as it contains a 6507 CPU (which is a cost reduced 6502)
• Z80 assembly - ColecoVision as it contains a Z80 CPU
• ARM assembly - Harmony Cart/Melody board as it contains an ARM CPU

Here is an index to all the DPC+ARM blog posts by Darrell:

• DPC+ARM - Part 1, Virtual Machine and Linux
• DPC+ARM - Part 2, Guest Additions
• DPC+ARM - Part 3, VirtualBox update, Ubuntu update, disable Screen Lock
• DPC+ARM - Part 4, Cloning
• DPC+ARM - Part 5, C Compiler
• DPC+ARM - Part 6, DPC+ Cartridge Layout
• DPC+ARM - Part 7, 6507/ARM Exchange of Information
• DPC+ARM - Part 8, Multiple Functions
• DPC+ARM - Part 9, Functional Menu
• DPC+ARM - Part 10, Score & Timer display
• DPC+ARM - Part 11, Beginnings of the Arena Kernel
• DPC+ARM - Part 12, Gamepad Support

 

Note that Parts 1 - 5 are about setting up a VM with the ARM compiler, which is probably outdated now. Maybe someone can create a Docker image containing a ready-to-go DCP+ARM development environment?

 

And some other interesting related posts:

• The C RAM Review
• It's full of stars!
• Slick Kernel

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Dionoid