mr_me Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 Yes yes. I re-read the posting. It does handle bus-stuffing. And it's not because someone added the feature. It's supported because the fpga is a re-creation of the processors and circuits, and bus stuffing support becomes a byproduct. Similarly, supporting all different types of cartridges doesn't have to be programmed in the emulator and then repeated for the cartridge dumper. With fpga emulation all cartridges and future cartridges are supported as long as the fpga emulation is done accurately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 Yes it does! Simulation. Recreation. Emulation. Replacement. Clone. Remake. I think I'm done with the petty semantics. Going forward I'll try to stick with: Original FPGA Software Emulation ..and enjoy the benefits each one has to offer, which are numerous and varied. The nice thing about both FPGA and SE is that there is opportunity to "engineer out" or fix defects in the original hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akito01 Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 I had a bit of fun redoing the UI art this morning. I can't take credit for the original source art, but it took a small amount of work in photoshop to size things properly and inserting a dark box to make the text visible. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 They may not have the know how to create a flexible rom dumper. This is not easy, it would have to somehow automatically figure out what the cartridge is before it can dump the rom. It is not trivial, but also no rocket science by far. And the hotspots etc. for bankswitching are well documents (also in Stella's code). And if they still had trouble, they could have asked, e.g. here. The current dumper only supports the two most common bankswitchings. But the method they use could have been easily extended to a lot of other ones. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 I had a bit of fun redoing the UI art this morning. I can't take credit for the original source art, but it took a small amount of work in photoshop to size things properly and inserting a dark box to make the text visible. Having long file names and changing the icons wouldn't be too difficult. In fact, another option is to use a small snapshot of the ROM image or cart artwork instead of a generic icon. This is part of the code that is under an unclear license, however, so only the original authors (Hyperkin) would be able to modify it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 (edited) 77 pages... I had a bit of fun redoing the UI art this morning. I can't take credit for the original source art, but it took a small amount of work in photoshop to size things properly and inserting a dark box to make the text visible. 20180714_120616.jpg Okay I'm messing around in the UI as well. It seems all the data are saved in a folder as 8-bit pngs. Should be easy for people to create their own skin packs and just drop it on the SD card. FYI, I'm a bit of an art connoisseur. Been messing around with GIMP editor. No idea where I'm going with this, giving her an "Afro" vibe. Here's what I got so far... And in the UI: EDIT: Changed the background from the original Hyperkin starfield to display a real nebula. Edited July 14, 2018 by Kosmic Stardust 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorfcadet Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 Is the red home icon part of the wallpaper or is it something the system places there? If it doesn't serve a purpose that is something I'll take out when I get time. Label art would be awesome for the SD card roms. Can't imagine it would take much space on the card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 The label art could be as tiny as the roms. With most stuff being open source I could potentially possibly see this as a user's system, provided hyperkin takes part in it too with support. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 (edited) Work in progress. I realized the UI actually supports 24-bit color PNG, so using that for the desktop. No more 8-bit dithering, yay! I also made cute little space invader icons for the rom images and home button. Feel free to use or edit these. I'm thinking maybe I should swap the orange and green icons around so the highlighted image is green instead? Fixed. And the zip file with the img directory in it. R77_Afro_v1.zip Perhaps we should start a Retron77 customization thread? Edited July 14, 2018 by Kosmic Stardust 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 Well, the menu may change completely if it should support more than just 18 ROMs and subdirectories. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoJoe Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 I've thought about doing the pi thing but if there's no paddles that's a deal breaker, it's a deal breaker on the Retron 77 right now too judging by Kosmic Stardusts video. Any modern clone or emulation solution MUST have legacy paddle support for me to get on board. I use paddles on my pi with the 2600dapter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHairy Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 If anyone is modding the menu and knows C(++), I‘d suggest to rewrite it from scratch. The way the menu interfaces with the dumper is trivial (it runs until the dumper kills it or it launches Stella) and a rewrite would open much more possibilities for improvement. In addition, it could be placed under a clear license — Hyperkins code (and artwork) does not have a license attached, and the legal status of modifications is unclear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 If anyone is modding the menu and knows C(++), I‘d suggest to rewrite it from scratch. The way the menu interfaces with the dumper is trivial (it runs until the dumper kills it or it launches Stella) and a rewrite would open much more possibilities for improvement. In addition, it could be placed under a clear license — Hyperkins code (and artwork) does not have a license attached, and the legal status of modifications is unclear. Hyperkin actually released some code. That is a phenomenal milestone for them. They would not have released it if they did not expect people to view and modify it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHairy Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 (edited) Hyperkin actually released some code. That is a phenomenal milestone for them. They would not have released it if they did not expect people to view and modify it. I know the code, I have analyzed it. The code drop is simply an archive of the full development tree, including backup files from the editor, temporary files and leftovers from the last builds. I can even read the path to the home directory of the guy that built it from the build artifacts that are included, so chances are that no-one actually selected what was in there, they just rolled it up and put it on the website. There is no license in there anywhere for the few parts of the source that were actually created by Hyperkin. I asked them for it specifically, but I only got the response that they are not GPL So, I at least wouldn't invest any time and energy in modifying the included art or menu code --- as long as the licensing situation is unclear, Hyperkin could ask you to take that stuff down anytime. To get this straight, I am not criticizing your work (it looks awesome), and as long as you are simply *replacing* artwork, there shouldn't be any legal issues. I just want to point out that the menu code is trivial, and the merits of a rewrite (which is reasonably easy as well for someone who knows how to code). Edited July 15, 2018 by DirtyHairy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+xucaen Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Hyperkin actually released some code. That is a phenomenal milestone for them. They would not have released it if they did not expect people to view and modify it. Where can I find it? I searched the Hyperkin web site and did not find anything. I'm also still waiting for their new SD image they said they'd release with the new unlimited games. Does anyone know where it is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Where can I find it? I searched the Hyperkin web site and did not find anything. I'm also still waiting for their new SD image they said they'd release with the new unlimited games. Does anyone know where it is? I think this is everything they have released so far. https://www.hyperkin.com/r77 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Concerning the frontend, here are some comments I posted in another thread: But I would recommend just re-writing the frontend UI entirely, as it's a very small amount of code. Besides, it's written for SDL1, and if Stella 5 is ever ported to this, then the frontend needs to be rewritten for SDL2 anyway. Having it use directories, long file names, etc is a solved problem; Stella already does this stuff internally, so one could just lift the code from there (and release the frontend under the GPL, of course). Also to add about the frontend; it is the one piece of software on this device that could be fully developed without constantly testing on the actual hardware. That is, it could be fully developed on a standard Linux machine, tested, etc, and then just copied to the SD card. It is after all a simply graphical way to present a list of ROMs to the user. From that POV, it's a very simple application. This is in stark contrast to Stella itself, where making changes requires uploading to the device and checking on the actual machine. So the devel time is slowed down greatly. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 IMO, unless the icons provide extra functionality, a simple list view like Stella's launcher or Harmony's menu would be most efficient. That way the user get's the best overview about his ROM collection. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 So if I understand this correctly, R77 boots up checks for a cart and if none loads the menu. The user selects a rom and the menu calls Stella to play the rom. So, what happens if you replace the menu with code that calls Stella without specifying a rom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 IMO, unless the icons provide extra functionality, a simple list view like Stella's launcher or Harmony's menu would be most efficient. That way the user get's the best overview about his ROM collection. I don't get it. So many people are averse to text-style displays. Everything has to have graphics..! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 I don't get it. So many people are averse to text-style displays. Everything has to have graphics..! Graphics are more universal since not all people on earth choose to use the same language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 I wrote the ROM launcher frontend in Stella (ie, what you see when you launch without a ROM), and even I would say it's not suitable for this system. On a system like this that is meant to be used with a TV, we need to consider the 10 foot UI principle. So minimal text in a large font, and more graphics. Although that brings to mind another possibility; the ability for Stella itself to generate such an interface as an alternative to its current text-based ROM launcher UI. I think I will go ahead and create an issue on Github for this 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 So if I understand this correctly, R77 boots up checks for a cart and if none loads the menu. The user selects a rom and the menu calls Stella to play the rom. So, what happens if you replace the menu with code that calls Stella without specifying a rom? I assume you would get Stella's normal ROM launcher. However, as I just mentioned, this is probably not the best UI for a typical TV and for a non-technical user. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Alert, Alert: Above and beyond alert! Seriously, I’ll take an iOS build. Actually seriously: Anyone report success building V4 or V5 for iOS? Anyone can sign and sideload a compiled app with a free Developer registration that works for a week or until shutdown/reboot, and finally a Jailbreak is out/working for iOS 11.3.1 and lower, also now finally jail-breaking iPhone 7, 8 or 10. 6502.ts is a great browser alternative running 2600 full speed on iPhone 7 and up, but it’s processor intense and not yet nice to control. I wrote the ROM launcher frontend in Stella (ie, what you see when you launch without a ROM), and even I would say it's not suitable for this system. On a system like this that is meant to be used with a TV, we need to consider the 10 foot UI principle. So minimal text in a large font, and more graphics. Although that brings to mind another possibility; the ability for Stella itself to generate such an interface as an alternative to its current text-based ROM launcher UI. I think I will go ahead and create an issue on Github for this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Sorry to respond to myself. If Stella were extended to supply the UI, then the entire way that this system works would change. Basically Stella would always be running. When it is told a cart is inserted, it starts up that ROM. And when the cart is removed, it automatically falls back to the launcher. If anything went wrong, then it could display a message as such. And since Stella is always running, we wouldn't have these issues with it being killed at the wrong time (although that is basically already addressed). The possibilities are endless ... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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