Lynx hardware reference?

[mic_]

Is there any comprehensive technical documentation of the Lynx? Stuff like memory maps, I/O register description, graphics format description, ROM format, etc.?

 

Something like these:

http://nocash.emubase.de/pandocs.htm

http://nocash.emubase.de/everynes.htm

 

They don't need to be fancy HTML pages; plain text will do as long as it contains relevant information. The only docs I've found are the ones written by EPYX(?), wich are....not good

[Shawn Jefferson]

Bastian Shick's web pages have some:

http://www.monlynx.de/lynx/

[Wookie]

I've been trying to bring the documentation into one place and clean it up: http://www.classicgamedev.com/Lynx:Atari_Lynx_Developer%27s_Reference

[mic_]

I've been trying to bring the documentation into one place and clean it up: http://www.classicgamedev.com/Lynx:Atari_Lynx_Developer%27s_Reference

 

Thanks. Though what I'm mainly interested in is Mikey / Audio, and that section hadn't been written yet

 

The docs on Bastian's site are the same EPYX docs I was referring to in my OP. They do contain some info but leave out a lot of details.

[sage]

I've been trying to bring the documentation into one place and clean it up: http://www.classicgamedev.com/Lynx:Atari_Lynx_Developer%27s_Reference

 

Thanks. Though what I'm mainly interested in is Mikey / Audio, and that section hadn't been written yet

 

The docs on Bastian's site are the same EPYX docs I was referring to in my OP. They do contain some info but leave out a lot of details.

 

As for Audio, there are no more "details". What might be missing are the extension for the Lynx II. Stereo positions for channels and volume. But you should be careful about using them as the sound on the Lynx 1 is coming without these extensions.

If it comes to how to use they to get useful sound, well thats a different story...

 

For Mikey, there is stuff about registers witch is not documented, but not needed. Initilaisation and so on is just defined on how it should be done. period. For a beginner, stay with the examples and the supplied macros and dont fiddle araound with the rest.

[Harry_Dodgson]

I've been trying to bring the documentation into one place and clean it up: http://www.classicgamedev.com/Lynx:Atari_Lynx_Developer%27s_Reference

 

Thanks. Though what I'm mainly interested in is Mikey / Audio, and that section hadn't been written yet

 

The docs on Bastian's site are the same EPYX docs I was referring to in my OP. They do contain some info but leave out a lot of details.

 

As for Audio, there are no more "details". What might be missing are the extension for the Lynx II. Stereo positions for channels and volume. But you should be careful about using them as the sound on the Lynx 1 is coming without these extensions.

If it comes to how to use they to get useful sound, well thats a different story...

 

For Mikey, there is stuff about registers witch is not documented, but not needed. Initilaisation and so on is just defined on how it should be done. period. For a beginner, stay with the examples and the supplied macros and dont fiddle araound with the rest.

 

It's not that hard to detect the difference between a Lynx I and Lynx II. So if you want stereo, go for it. It doesn't hurt to try stereo on a Lynx I either, just doesn't work.

[mic_]

I've been trying to bring the documentation into one place and clean it up: http://www.classicgamedev.com/Lynx:Atari_Lynx_Developer%27s_Reference

 

Thanks. Though what I'm mainly interested in is Mikey / Audio, and that section hadn't been written yet

 

The docs on Bastian's site are the same EPYX docs I was referring to in my OP. They do contain some info but leave out a lot of details.

 

As for Audio, there are no more "details". What might be missing are the extension for the Lynx II. Stereo positions for channels and volume. But you should be careful about using them as the sound on the Lynx 1 is coming without these extensions.

If it comes to how to use they to get useful sound, well thats a different story...

 

For Mikey, there is stuff about registers witch is not documented, but not needed. Initilaisation and so on is just defined on how it should be done. period. For a beginner, stay with the examples and the supplied macros and dont fiddle araound with the rest.

 

I think you're making a (common) mistake in saying that, which is to look at the documents from the point of view of someone who already knows all of the information contained in the documents

 

I'll illustrate with a small example:

 

FD25 = Audio Control Bits
B7=feedback bit 7
B6=reset timer done
B5=enable integrate mode
B4=enable reload
B3=enable count
B2,B1,B0=clock select
7 = linking
6 = 64 us
5 = 32us
4 = 16 us
3 = 8 us
2 = 4 us
1 = 2us
0 = 1us

 

Now imagine that everything you know about the Lynx has been erased from your mind.. Can you honestly say that if you looked at this isolated register description that you would know what the result of changing any of the bits would be?

 

I'm just saying that there are much better and clearer ways of documenting hardware. Nintendo showed it could be done with the AGB programmer's manual, and in the homebrew arena Martin Korth's documents are pretty much the gold standard as far as structure and readability is concerned (IMO).

[Wookie]

I'm just saying that there are much better and clearer ways of documenting hardware. Nintendo showed it could be done with the AGB programmer's manual, and in the homebrew arena Martin Korth's documents are pretty much the gold standard as far as structure and readability is concerned (IMO).

 

Do you have links to the AGB programmer's manual and/or Martin Korth's docs? I have been intending to write up tutorials on the Lynx. Maybe this is the time to do it.

 

--Wookie

[sage]

 

 

As for Audio, there are no more "details". What might be missing are the extension for the Lynx II. Stereo positions for channels and volume. But you should be careful about using them as the sound on the Lynx 1 is coming without these extensions.

If it comes to how to use they to get useful sound, well thats a different story...

 

For Mikey, there is stuff about registers witch is not documented, but not needed. Initilaisation and so on is just defined on how it should be done. period. For a beginner, stay with the examples and the supplied macros and dont fiddle araound with the rest.

 

I think you're making a (common) mistake in saying that, which is to look at the documents from the point of view of someone who already knows all of the information contained in the documents

 

 

refering to which sentence? Audio or Mikey?

[mic_]

Do you have links to the AGB programmer's manual and/or Martin Korth's docs? I have been intending to write up tutorials on the Lynx. Maybe this is the time to do it.

--Wookie

 

Sorry for the late reply. I've been occupied with some SNES and TurboGrafx projects so I didn't check this thread. Martin's document can be found here.

I'm not gonna link to the official AGB programmer's manual since it'd be stupid of me to post copyrighted material on a public forum But I'm sure anyone who wants the document will be able to find it if they search enough - after all, it's been floating around on the 'net since even before the console was released.

 

 

refering to which sentence? Audio or Mikey?

The comment in general. I.e. that there's nothing more to know than what's in the currently available docs. Maybe that's true (although to me they seem to be lacking info), but they're surely not organized in a way that simplifies finding the information you're looking for.

Edited October 18, 2010 by mic_

[sage]

 

The comment in general. I.e. that there's nothing more to know than what's in the currently available docs. Maybe that's true (although to me they seem to be lacking info), but they're surely not organized in a way that simplifies finding the information you're looking for.

 

There is no more official documentation available. But, the doc is quiet detailed in some registers, in some not. but all hardware which is useful is documented well. what you do on the other hand with this information, is another thing. meaning, how to use the hardware efficient.