7800basic beta, the release thread

[RevEng]

Thanks!

[RevEng]

1 hour ago, SmittyB said:

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier but I compiled the keypad sample program and that works absolutely fine.

That made me think it must be something I'm doing so I've been cutting bits out to see where the issue might be, but I'm now down to just the following code and it's still happening so whatever the matter is it's beyond what I can figure out.

 

The sample program working is good, as it suggests hypotheses. One that jumps out at me, is that the real-world keypad control takes a little while to recover after the 7800 switches from 2-button mode (the 7800basic default) to 1-button mode. (this is required for keypads, and built into the "changecontrol 0 keypad" command.)

 

Try adding a drawscreen or two after the "changecontrol" commands, and see if the behavior on real hardware changes.

[+SmittyB]

After further testing I've found the key is that the right port also needs to be set to use a keypad for all of the left keypad to be detected; The problem then is that interferes with the AtariVox if it's plugged in. I'll do some more digging when I can to see if I can spot the root of the problem.

[+SmittyB]

Getting there inch by inch.

If I force one button mode on the right port with 'changecontrol 1 1buttonjoy' then the left keypad works fine and the initial AtariVox start sound isn't being interfered with, but I'm then not getting any further speech (including a fixed phrase to rule out any problems with my building speech data in RAM). I'm guessing while it's going to 1 button mode maybe the port isn't set for the correct inputs/outputs for the AtariVox.

[RevEng]

I've been reviewing my code for anything that might match the symptoms, but nothing jumps out at me so far. I'll have another go tonight.

[Synthpopalooza]

I just downloaded the latest 7800basic ... when I compile one of the examples, this happens ... any ideas why?

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Synthpopalooza

[+mksmith]

Looks like it can't find your png file (see very top of image)

[Synthpopalooza]

That was the previous compilation.  I compiled it with the file, and it brings back some unresolved symbols.

 

EDIT: fixed it ... it was expecting the includes in the same directory.  duhh

Edited April 29, 2020 by Synthpopalooza

[RevEng]

A collection of questions, to save some time...

Did you run the install_win.bat, get a message that everything was successful, and follow the directions?

Does the 7800basic directory have subdirectories, or is it just a bunch of files?

Did you unzip 7800basic overtop of a previous install, or did you unzip into an empty directory?

[+mksmith]

? woops ?

 

Have you set your characterset to the image?

[Synthpopalooza]

I got it sorted ... thanks.  Just a few months out of practice on it lol.

[RevEng]

Excellent ?

[Synthpopalooza]

So, I am attempting to write a POKEY emulator test program.

 

Current functionality:  You play the first few notes of $Ax 16-bit table by moving stick up.  Left and Right buttons step the frequency up or down.

 

Question is ... I want to update the values of AUDCTL, AUDC1, AUDF0, and AUDF1 onscreen in realtime.  How would I do this, either in decimal or hexadecimal?

pokeytool.bas.a78 pokeytool.bas

[+Karl G]

I've attempted to use my limited 7800basic knowledge to do this. See if this helps you. If there's a good way to use plotvalue with an ascii characterset then I don't know it, so I included a score digits graphic from the samples for the digits themselves.  I also fixed a couple of other things, like restoring the screen in the main loop instead of saving it.

 

pokeytool.bas

[RevEng]

A heads-up that I fixed the banner issue in the 7800basic github master branch. The problem was with banners that were exactly 32 bytes wide - they were incorrectly flagged as requiring multiple side-by-side sprites to display.

 

I'm working on SmittyB's voxalot issue now. (keypads/changecontrol with atarivox) After that I'll push out a fix release, before I start breaking things again with XM integrations.

 

[+mksmith]

Thanks Mike for your great work ?

[+Muddyfunster]

I second that  Thanks Mike!

[RevEng]

You guys are totally welcome  

[RevEng]

There's a new 7800basic release (v0.9) at github.

• fixed bug where savememory wasn't working correctly with atarivox storage.
• fixed bug where a banner width of 32 bytes would cause incorrect banner display.
• increased max number of variables to accommodate larger programs.
• modified the keypad driver so it would play nice with the atarivox.
• added atari st mouse demo to samples, and updated the documentation for atari and amiga mice

As always, please let me know if you run into any issues. enjoy!

[+mksmith]

Thanks Mike! Updating Atari Dev Studio shortly ?

[+Muddyfunster]

Thanks both!

[SlidellMan]

Just downloaded and installed. Now to figure out how to do vertical autoscroll, programming enemies, bosses, etc.

[RevEng]

7800basic v0.10 is now available at the github release page.

 

Here's the quick rundown of updates...

• Detect and enable XM pokey, hsc, and/or ram@4000, if these aren't otherwise present.
• Fix for bankswitch format ROM usage value report.
• Bankswitch games with zoneheight=8 can now fit one more graphics block into bankswitched banks.
• Performance improvement for plotsprite call with large frame value.
• UnderTheHood demo added to samples

I still have more stuff planned for the near future, but I wanted to get this release into people's hands.

 

[+mksmith]

Thanks Mike! Some great enhancements in this new release including the ROM usage report and additional gfx block per bank!

 

I can now see how close it was fitting the rewind feature into Millie and Molly (banks 2 and 3) ?

Phew!!

[+Muddyfunster]

Thanks for the update Mike, appreciate the continued development of 7800Basic! ? ?

 

"Tight" springs to mind @mksmith  

Edited June 16, 2020 by Muddyfunster