chjmartin2 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Hi, I have finished up with a very long term project on optimizing two flickered images of characters. Because I was working on multi-frame animation my previous converter for Aquarius was far too slow. I took big breaks in between, not sure why, just playing Starcraft and working, but recently found new inspiration. Although I don't think I'll ever be "done" with the optimization challenge, I think that it is tackled enough to clean up the code, release a converter and document the algorithm. Anyway, I realized that I can do that via a forum post, but now I have enough "stuff" that I really should put up a web page. Lastly, because I now have what I believe to be a much better image to character converter, I have to redo all of my encoders now! I figured before I do that if anybody had a recommendation for a place where I can put a page for almost nothing and still not have all kinds of annoying ads. Thoughts? And, here is a preview of what I am talking about. I didn't fix my old converters, just moved the character set and palette over. Check it out. No Flicker, preview is lower right. With Flicker, preview is lower right. Yes Virginia, that is an Aquarius... Thanks, Chris 4 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvdsteenoven Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Amazing stuff! That is really awesome! For the free website; have you thought about sites.google.com? The editing of the site is very limited, but it will do the work if you only want to put up some text and images. Regs, Martin 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3038094 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Hey Chjmartin I am glad you got your inspiration back to work on this project! This really looks awesome Really looking forward to see more!! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3038223 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Indeed, good work on this! I can see this being tremendously useful for title screens and game backgrounds and other full-screen character graphics. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3038243 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 (edited) http://www.iqsvintagevault.com I have a site up and running. Still very sparse, but it is a skeleton to work from. Nothing fancy. Content will evolve... Edited July 26, 2014 by chjmartin2 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3040259 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 https://sites.google.com/site/iq1svintagevault/ Can't get the darn redirector to work right... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3040315 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 I can't stop thinking about how you could use the hand controllers as a data port. I know Jay is on this for his super device, but I can't wait to try to use them for something... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3044145 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I can't stop thinking about how you could use the hand controllers as a data port. I know Jay is on this for his super device, but I can't wait to try to use them for something...I'm going to try to have a working prototype ready within the next few months. I've got some summertime projects left (I've been running Ethernet cable through my attic all evening), and I'll be busy preparing for fall classes over the next few weeks, but I want to have a few "PC-Link" cables ready for testing soon afterward. I'd love to have them for my own use! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3044232 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodyshots Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I like this! I actually want a copy ! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3044236 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 I'm going to try to have a working prototype ready within the next few months. I've got some summertime projects left (I've been running Ethernet cable through my attic all evening), and I'll be busy preparing for fall classes over the next few weeks, but I want to have a few "PC-Link" cables ready for testing soon afterward. I'd love to have them for my own use! What is the voltage for the hand controllers? Since they seem to be input/output ports - how would the output work? Show us behind the curtain a bit. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3044895 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted August 2, 2014 Author Share Posted August 2, 2014 http://www.minicircuits.com/pdfs/USB-IO-16D8R.pdf Do you think I could use this thing to talk to the controllers. Are they just TTL lines run out and switched? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3044980 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvdsteenoven Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Look at my website, regarding the handcontrollers: http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/hndcntrl.html There is an assembly code example, which reads the handcontroller. Replace the "IN A,(246)" with an "OUT (246),A" and presto... Instead of reading from the handcontroller you are now sending information. It is only 8 bits of data, no handshaking of whatsover. The PSG is designed for an 16 bit databus, but as the Z80 has only an 8 bits data bus you will first need to select the register of the handcontroller at port #247, and then send the data to port #246. The output is 2.4 volt For more information look for the AY-3-8910 datasheet or programmers manual. Regs, Martin 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3046718 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 Look at my website, regarding the handcontrollers: http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/hndcntrl.html There is an assembly code example, which reads the handcontroller. Replace the "IN A,(246)" with an "OUT (246),A" and presto... Instead of reading from the handcontroller you are now sending information. It is only 8 bits of data, no handshaking of whatsover. Martin - thanks. I've read all of that. Jay is right the hand controller ports are the way to go. What I want to know is how would I get a USB cable to interface to some type of device that would let me pick up the TTL signals out of the 16 bits. I want to be able to just stream data via the USB port from a hosted program running on the PC side. I have been researching I/O devices and can think of many other reasons to have them. For example - I would love to have a real-time CGA monitor render of my current screen, and I could write one if I had a TTL cable I/O port via USB. I'd just need a DB9 connector and voila! Anyway, as I think about my next project - I will need many megabytes of data available to the Aquarius and do not want ANY I/O overhead on the Z80 CPU - I can't afford it. I need every cycle she's got... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3049456 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chjmartin2 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 I'm going to try to have a working prototype ready within the next few months. I've got some summertime projects left (I've been running Ethernet cable through my attic all evening), and I'll be busy preparing for fall classes over the next few weeks, but I want to have a few "PC-Link" cables ready for testing soon afterward. I'd love to have them for my own use! Jay, Have you done any testing at all yet or are you in the "in my head" pre-alpha phase? I am in that phase myself and find the need for real-time 16 bit data fed to the Z80 to be a critical need. 1 meg will let me demonstrate it, but to do anything worthwhile - I need lotsa, lotsa, lotsa megs. So, the interface can't have any serial conversion what-so-ever (unless it is at several hundred megahertz frequencies). Anyway - I am thinking a USB digital I/O device would do that same - but I am willing to bet that yours will be much more vanilla and MY SPEED. Chris Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3049458 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Martin - thanks. I've read all of that. Jay is right the hand controller ports are the way to go. What I want to know is how would I get a USB cable to interface to some type of device that would let me pick up the TTL signals out of the 16 bits. I want to be able to just stream data via the USB port from a hosted program running on the PC side. I have been researching I/O devices and can think of many other reasons to have them. For example - I would love to have a real-time CGA monitor render of my current screen, and I could write one if I had a TTL cable I/O port via USB. I'd just need a DB9 connector and voila! Anyway, as I think about my next project - I will need many megabytes of data available to the Aquarius and do not want ANY I/O overhead on the Z80 CPU - I can't afford it. I need every cycle she's got... The sound chip in the Mini Expander, the AY-3-8910, provides the two parallel I/O ports that are used by the hand controllers. The parallel ports are TTL-compatible and include internal pullup resistors, so when the ports are in input mode, all eight bits on each port are pulled high by default. The hand controllers are passive devices which simply pull the necessary signals down to ground. The device you referenced in Post #11 seems to be a general-purpose, HID-compliant USB I/O box. That's what you might use if you wanted to connect the hand controllers to the PC to be used as input devices, but for your application, you'll need something which interfaces with the hand controller ports, which would be a different beast altogether. For my interface, I plan to make use of a USB FIFO which can accept TTL inputs. You might look into getting a prototype module like the UM245R from FTDI; it's a preassembled module that includes the USB interface and all the necessary I/O and control pins in a convenient 24-pin socket. It shouldn't be difficult to design a small daughterboard for this module which plugs into one or both of the hand controller ports. This is the approach that I intend to take with my interface, but I'm very busy preparing for fall classes at the moment, so my time for Aquarius projects will be very limited over the next few weeks. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/227957-aquarius-media-revisited/#findComment-3049689 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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