+fdr4prez Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 25 minutes ago, 3DMAZE said: Oof, beaten to the punch, such is life. I'll have to mention that on my flashcarts page. Looks pretty sweet ! I think I'll continue development anyway. If nothing else, I can experiment with other features If yours is cheaper and/or a doable DIY project then it will still have an appeal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 On 2/22/2023 at 10:14 PM, e5frog said: I have spent a couple of hours on that and not succeeding, it's difficult when every step is unknown and having to google several times on each thing. I managed to boot an image but not getting any emulation running. Ideal would be a finished image, that starts Channel F ASAP after powering up. A tutorial for total noobs is needed. What model Raspberry Pi do you have? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 1 hour ago, 3DMAZE said: Oof, beaten to the punch, such is life.... I think I'll continue development anyway. Not sure about that, the backbit is for "everything" and costs thereafter, there's no image of how it's supposed to be used. With that many supported systems I also wonder how well tested it is, text says it supports bin to 62kB - I wonder what has been tested. A dedicated flash cart is a much better product, with the DIY-person in mind. I think everyone in the community would like you to do that. If anyone gets the backbit (when it's available) to use on the Channel F, please share your disappointment here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evietron Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 My guarantee is that if your game does not work on BackBit, I will work to make sure it does. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 10 hours ago, evietron said: My guarantee is that if your game does not work on BackBit, I will work to make sure it does. That is one hell of a commitment! Have you done much testing with the Channel F adapter, has it got full compatibility? Does homebrew run on it fine without any issues? In defence of @3DMAZE the prototype version I have is still amazing even with the few issues to iron out, mostly 'PAL' system issues. Its significantly stepped up some elements of my development for the system and there is virtually no issues on the games I've developed so far, and a lot of the others run too without issue even on a European system. 3DMaze is still the first to get practical, user friendly rom loading experience out there even if its not yet general release. I'm hoping we don't need to keep sacrificing donor carts now e5frog for new releases now we have a 3D printed solution for game cart cases (at least!). I still need to convert to the new CHF format at some point, when my brain can take some new information in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evietron Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 It runs all titles I could find. Exposed memory is from 0x0800 to 0xffff (i.e. 62K). The format is BIN, although it would be possible to add support for another format if I can see a spec. Any ROM memory that is unused can be used as RAM. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 21 hours ago, evietron said: My guarantee is that if your game does not work on BackBit, I will work to make sure it does. Sounds great, how do you have time to support all systems and users? 10 hours ago, evietron said: It runs all titles I could find. Exposed memory is from 0x0800 to 0xffff (i.e. 62K). The format is BIN, although it would be possible to add support for another format if I can see a spec. Any ROM memory that is unused can be used as RAM. Does Maze and Hangman work? They use RAM through PSU ports, not mapped on memory map. The Maze version on the Multi-Cart has been modified to use mapped RAM but I never got around to fix Hangman (nor Rat' mal) - so you can't add your own words. Does it work on PAL machines as well? @3DMAZE and I made up a file format to be used with the flash cart, would be great if it could be supported. https://github.com/ZX-80/Videocart-Image-Format What parts are used that aren't currently in stock? As it's not available buy at the moment. IIRC the adapter is $24, is this the final version of it? 11 hours ago, Mikebloke said: @3DMAZE I'm hoping we don't need to keep sacrificing donor carts now e5frog for new releases now we have a 3D printed solution for game cart cases (at least!). I made the shell CAD drawings years ago but it has been a lot cheaper getting real shells than having durable and good looking enough shells bought from a manufacturer. 3DMAZE did some nice ones, I think he had them made at school. I'd love to have proper new shells made though, removing labels and cleaning shells probably takes half of the time when making a cart release. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 On 3/4/2023 at 11:01 PM, fdr4prez said: What model Raspberry Pi do you have? @fdr4prez It says: B+ V1.2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 7 hours ago, e5frog said: @fdr4prez It says: B+ V1.2 perfect, i will send you a PM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 Hope I didn't scare @evietron away, I see I forgot to @ her in my reply. Hope the BackBit's availability an my temporary wealth coincide at a later date. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppalarge Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I checked in here. Wanted to do 2 things: 1 - I have the BackBit for the Intellivision and the Colecovision, and both of them have worked with every game I've thrown at them so far. I don't develop anything though, so I can't vouch for the homebrew development experience. 2 - I've listed my entire Channel F collection for sale over in the marketplace if anyone is looking for anything not named Checkers. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evietron Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 On 3/20/2023 at 7:13 AM, e5frog said: Hope I didn't scare @evietron away, I see I forgot to @ her in my reply. Hope the BackBit's availability an my temporary wealth coincide at a later date. Thanks, I prioritize requests based on who posts at the BackBit Forum. Post the ROMs you want supported there, and I'll do my best. Just received a big batch of chips, so orders are only dependent on build time now (although there is a 1-2 month backlog currently). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 6 hours ago, evietron said: Thanks, I prioritize requests based on who posts at the BackBit Forum. Post the ROMs you want supported there, and I'll do my best. Just received a big batch of chips, so orders are only dependent on build time now (although there is a 1-2 month backlog currently). @evietron If memory can be used from $0802 (after the necessary "U" and the wasted byte) to $FFFF as ROM or RAM, there shouldn't be a problem if the SMI emulation is complete (enough) - or however it's solved. Being able to run the Multi-Cart would be neat - as it now-a-days does in MAME/MESS. I imagine re-programmable quick start options would beat the fixed ones the Multi-Cart has (hold button(s) to start a program immediately after reset). I will post requests if I get one. Still hoping @3DMAZE will solve the problems with the flash cart, currently "anyone" could put one together that works with almost everything if running it on an NTSC machine. He has other priorities as well of course (don't we all). I'll get back to the Videocart-29 production again... shipping three more today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 15, 2023 Author Share Posted April 15, 2023 I decided to test my Channel F console after a period of not using it. I was surprised to find out the Multicart was not in either console! I don't know why I would have taken it out. I searched and searched but could not find it. I have a near-complete collection (only missing Checkers), I'm also at a loss to where carts #23 and #25 went. Great. Another activity to do when it gets warmer and when I am not asleep during the day: Rummage through the garage and try to find those. I'm back working on Adventures of the Stalk of Celery. I thought I'd try something different: A port of my Game Gear game I just finished up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgeOfPortal Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 https://www.ebay.com/itm/195742135802 Another Checkers, but no box on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Been quiet here hasn't it! I've got another of those "should probably already know" questions, I'm porting over Submarine which I did years ago for the 2600 really poorly over to the Channel F. I would really like to know how you are "supposed" to switch a line's background colour / switch between black and white and colour. Its clearly doable, plenty of people have done it and the official games often have things like HUD and gameplay in different colour settings, but how are you supposed to do it? Like, I can make a line go black and white when things go wrong, but when I try to do it on purpose it seems to not like me, is there a proper way??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) For a single line you'll write $0 or $FF in the proper row at columns 125 and 126 https://channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=Accessing_VRAM For severeal rows it can be handy to define an object to plot with the usual blit routine. https://channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=Palette Using grey/blue you can toggle to black with a single write. To get white you must fill with foreground pixels, any of the colors, they're white if the line is set to b/w mode. Edited July 31, 2023 by e5frog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 5 minutes ago, e5frog said: For a single line you'll write $0 or $FF in the proper row at columns 125 and 126 https://channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=Accessing_VRAM For severeal rows it can be handy to define an object to plot with the usual blit routine. https://channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=Palette Using grey/blue you can toggle to black with a single write. Thanks e5frog, this has been on my mind for years! Ironically the next line of code I did after posting did what I wanted by accident 😬 though its good to finally understand "what" is supposed to actually change it. Basically I was doing a block of blue for background and went too far off the edge, turned white haha. That was doing a block starting at 0 and 122 width and it seems to have done the job for changing it to black and white. Here is what I got before I saw this, I can probably optimise the start up code now to speed up the display. Next question: Is there a specific way of getting the different background colours on a single line? When I was messing around I was able to get "grey", light blue and light green on different lines, but I don't know how I did it specifically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) If you use the "MESS adjusted" plot routine it adds 4 to the coordinates (4,4 is the upper left corner visible in MESS) so that would explain a change for a 122 width block placed at "0". You change bg colors just as described in the links. You can only set one color per row, don't think it's possible to switch fast enough to force more - nor time it. I recommend drawing background larger than "0,0 102,58" as different TV:s show more of the screen than MESS does. Going -4,-4 106,60 is not a bad idea (or change routines to use real coordinates). Edited July 31, 2023 by e5frog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 1 hour ago, e5frog said: If you use the "MESS adjusted" plot routine it adds 4 to the coordinates (4,4 is the upper left corner visible in MESS) so that would explain a change for a 122 width block placed at "0". You change bg colors just as described in the links. You can only set one color per row, don't think it's possible to switch fast enough to force more - nor time it. I recommend drawing background larger than "0,0 102,58" as different TV:s show more of the screen than MESS does. Going -4,-4 106,60 is not a bad idea (or change routines to use real coordinates). Thanks for the help and putting up with me, yes the MESS adjusted thing is why it was seemingly working for me before. I'm confused on how exactly to get the colour I want, but its ok, I seemingly have worked out a way of getting each colour in some convoluted way, I seem to have to change the colour 2 or 3 times to get what I want - I'll explain what I ended up doing: I was trying to get grey at the top, which I have now succeeded in doing, so with a $c3 call to $00D0 to start (light blue whole screen), colouring first with $00 to columns 125-126 I get light green, then doing it again with $C0 but from "0" to "122" x value gets me grey. Doing any other combination in less steps seems to result in light green or black. I'll try and brute force testing code to do it quicker in the future but it is working as intended now once the light green has been wiped. My brain is not designed for this stuff, but I keep trying! This is the latest version, I noticed I needed the sub above the bottom colour, which seemed to serve no purpose in the original game after all. I was going to stick scores in colour at the bottom, as I couldn't work out earlier how to get grey at the top, but now I've worked it out I've moved it back again. I've roughly worked with the colours from the original game, but will leave the Submarine as blue instead of red to differentiate the 3 ships and works to keep the scores properly colour coded (in the version I had the sub and sub score is red, but then the score background is also red - so it clashes - with "light red" (grey) being the background colour, I figured I would just separate the sub to blue for ease). I will make adjustments to how it works on a real TV once the rest of the gameplay is ironed out, probably a first test release tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted July 31, 2023 Author Share Posted July 31, 2023 1 hour ago, Mikebloke said: I will make adjustments to how it works on a real TV once the rest of the gameplay is ironed out, probably a first test release tomorrow. How? I want to play my stuff on a real TV! Whatever happened to the flashcart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 50 minutes ago, atari2600land said: How? I want to play my stuff on a real TV! Whatever happened to the flashcart? @evietron has a device that is for sale if you get the Fairchild caddie for it as well. I've ordered mine, I'm just waiting for it to arrive (its apparently in the country now, but it seems to have just disappeared on tracking...). As soon as I get it I'll test my games on it to check compatibility but if it already runs the commercial games I imagine mine will be fine. I do still have the one from 3DMaze but haven't heard anything from him in awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 I need help I managed to bugger my console. I just got the backbit today, and I tried to get it into the console, was a bit of a forced job, good news is it did work, but then I couldn't get the cartridge out. After a bit of fiddling I made the mistake of trying to open the console to get to the cartridge area. Easy pleasy just a few screws. Well.... I've fudged something in the process. Here is what my screen looks like. This is it being pretty close to what it should do, it's doing vertical and horizontal lines most of the time. Here is inside my console. I plugged in the multicart after. It's showing something like its supposed to but as blocks and not the text. Audio output is working too. Seems to be purely video related. Someone please help :'( 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 I'd try reseating/swap places of the VRAM but first option is probably to check cart holder and connection - and voltages. Reseating/cleaning the other socketed chips is also a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 9 hours ago, Mikebloke said: I just got the backbit today, and I tried to get it into the console, was a bit of a forced job, good news is it did work, but then I couldn't get the cartridge out. After a bit of fiddling I made the mistake of trying to open the console to get to the cartridge area. Easy pleasy just a few screws. Well.... I've fudged something in the process. Have you informed @evietron so the design can be corrected? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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