CC2 Tech Docs

[cschell]

Hi,

 

I don't recall what thread I last posted this in, and a search for techdocs didn't show up, so I'm going to be lazy and make a new topic.

 

Anyway, I have upated the CC2 techdocs.txt file I posted long ago. Pretty much complete at this point.

 

http://www.schells.com/techdocs.txt

 

Does it inspire anyone enough to want to do something? I'm still debating on posting the OS source code.

 

I spent some time this week trying to get a way that people could make their own bankswitching files. I tried BYU electric which claims to create the proper EDIF files, but it didn't. I then tried Icarus Verilog. It's a lot closer, but needs to have a Spartan module created. I think the LPN model could be modified to do this for not overly complicated setups. (It wouldn't be all that efficient as it doesn't know about the specific hardware of the Spartan FPGA.) Anyway, when I tried to build the Icarus compiler it failed so I gave up. (And people would have to learn Verilog.)

 

Another option is the Xilinx abl2edif program. It's free and I'm assuming that it can be used to create bankswitching files in Abel, although I didn't really look into it.

 

Does anyone care about any of this?

 

Chad

[Bruce Tomlin]

Well, it would be nice to have bankswitchings for large cartridges plus Pokey, and maybe a couple with 16K RAM + pokey whether by a hole at 6000-600F or moving Pokey to 7FF0 or 3FF0.

 

If anyone ever makes an easy to build keyboard interface, I could try porting the Zork games to the 7800. :-) They should only need 128K ROM + 16K RAM.

[bjk7382]

So is it possible to do Subfolders on the CC2?

 

I think it would be nice to have a seperate folder for each company.

[pmpddytim]

I'm not interested because I don't have a cc2 . Interesting reading though. I always like to check this kind of stuff out.

[Gregory DG]

I'm still hoping there's a way to add screen shots to the menu system somehow.

[Albert]

Chad, the tech doc looks pretty good--can you give me an idea of the types of things someone might be able to do with this information? Creating an entirely new menu? Adding features to the existing menu? Adding support for additional bankswitching methods?

 

..Al

[cschell]

Chad, the tech doc looks pretty good--can you give me an idea of the types of things someone might be able to do with this information?  Creating an entirely new menu?  Adding features to the existing menu?  Adding support for additional bankswitching methods?  

 

..Al

 

The present docs would allow one to create an entirely new menu / OS.

 

If I released the source code for the current OS, one could use that and the tech docs to extend or alter the current menu system. Possibly adding a better dev mode or the like (there are several unused pages of flash RAM available.) However I don't think anyone (including me) really has the time or inclination to do this.

 

New bankswitching methods would require the pinout for the FPGA (in terms of what is connected where). I'm perfectly willing to post those as well, but so far I haven't found any freely available software that can create programs for the older Xilinx Spartan architecture.

 

Actually all there needs to be is something that can create an edif file for Spartan chips. Xilinx has made the PAR tools freely available for download. Sadly they don't provide any tools for actually entering designs (schematic layout or HDL) for their older chips.

 

As I said Icarus Verilog could probably be modified to work to at least some level. I guess Electric could as well.

 

If there is someone out there who has the tools and wants to do the work, just ask and I'll be happy to provide my configuration file.

 

Largely I wanted to document things before I completely forgot how it worked. I figured I would throw it out there to see if any of the coders were dying to have at it and changes things.

 

I should have sent Eckhard a CC2 with the OS source code.

 

Chad

[Albert]

Thanks for the additional information Chad, I appreciate it. I asked partly so I could post some news about the Technical Document so other CC2 owners could take a look at it in case they don't see this thread. I also just added a Cuttle Cart 2 entry to our database (I was surprised to see it wasn't in there yt) and included a link to the Tech Doc.

 

..Al

[cschell]

Well, it would be nice to have bankswitchings for large cartridges plus Pokey, and maybe a couple with 16K RAM + pokey whether by a hole at 6000-600F or moving Pokey to 7FF0 or 3FF0.

 

Are you willing to create those yourself?

 

So is it possible to do Subfolders on the CC2?  

 

I think it would be nice to have a seperate folder for each company.  

 

It's possible, are you volunteering?

 

I'm still hoping there's a way to add screen shots to the menu system somehow.  

 

That would require a complete rewrite fo the OS, and even then, how many pixels would those screen shots be? We're not talking a high res display here. But you now have the information, have at it. (Nothing I can give you would make that task any easier.)

 

 

 

What I was asking here was not, "What features do people still want?", but rather "Is anyone wanting to add new features themselves if only they had more information?"

 

Chad

[Bruce Tomlin]

Well, it would be nice to have bankswitchings for large cartridges plus Pokey, and maybe a couple with 16K RAM + pokey whether by a hole at 6000-600F or moving Pokey to 7FF0 or 3FF0.

Are you willing to create those yourself?

I could probably come up with some equations, and maybe even hack something up from the existing source files, but since FPGA tools are rather scarce for us Mac users (yeah, okay, I do have a token W2K for playing videos and buring EPROMs), I doubt I'd actually be able to do much in the way of generating the .BNK files.

 

I also have basically zero experience in VHDL/Verilog, never having found a "tutorial" kind of setup (tools + hardware + sample projects) to learn from. But I'm a good guesser and have in the past made JEDEC files by hand for 22V10 GALs.

[Paul Slocum]

I'm really happy with the CC2 code itself, but what I'd want the most is for the PC program that sends serial data to make bankswitching selection a little easier. Automatically select the most common method based on the file size, and even better, remember the last selected bankswitching method for specific files. I switch often between ROMs of different types, and selecting the bankswitching method from that long list every time gets a little tedious.

 

-paul

[bjk7382]

I switch often between ROMs of different types, and selecting the bankswitching method from that long list every time gets a little tedious.

 

-paul

 

Why not just use the menu? It also works good for files you update often. All you have to do is have the filename the same and then copy it into the games folder. It will ask you if you want to replace the file of the same name, click yes, and then your file is ready to go without having to use that serial program, and cable. But of course you have to have your mmc reader writer handy.

[Paul Slocum]

For development when you're updating the ROM very frequently, using the MMC is too much of a hassle. I guess the frustration is that PlayBin for the original CC did include bankswitching auto-detection.

 

-paul

[cschell]

I guess the frustration is that PlayBin for the original CC did include bankswitching auto-detection.

 

That's because it wasn't written by me. Windows programmer extraordinaire I am not.

 

The CC software is basically a merger of an audio player and makewav 4.3, with a lot f work done by Eckhard Stolberg, Robert Demming, and Bob Colbert.

 

The CC2 software is something that I hacked together myself.

 

Any talented windows programmers want to combine makewave and the CC2 serial loader? (Code for both is available.)

 

Chad

[Paul Slocum]

Kinda lame to request a feature and not be willing to do it myself, but I have almost zero experience with modern GUI-based programming, and my todo list is completely out of hand right now. The program is well designed aside from that minor issue. (and I also wish it had a minimize button.)

 

-paul

[kenfused]

(and I also wish it had a minimize button.)  

I second that request.

[cschell]

Kinda lame to request a feature and not be willing to do it myself, but I have almost zero experience with modern GUI-based programming, and my todo list is completely out of hand right now.

 

I didn't mean it that way. It's more that the I also have very little skill with GUI programming, and my free time is not exactly ample.

 

I'll see if I can quickly add a minimize button since it seems to be such a popular request. (Who knew?) I think it's just a flag or something. I'll compare flags on playbin and cc2ser.

 

Chad

[cschell]

Gee,

 

That was easy. Just click a box in the GUI creator. (Too bad I was really busy when you asked for it the first time Ken. Sorry.)

 

Anyway, the new version with minimize button is now on the update page on my website.

 

Chad

[kenfused]

Gee,

 

That was easy.  Just click a box in the GUI creator.  (Too bad I was really busy when you asked for it the first time Ken.  Sorry.)

 

Anyway, the new version with minimize button is now on the update page on my website.

 

Chad

woo hoo!. Where does the serial downloader get its list of banking files?

[cschell]

woo hoo!.   Where does the serial downloader get its list of banking files?

 

Are you people never satisfied? Now I suppose you want the new 78HSCPOK added to the banking list.

 

It's compiled in. I'll add it later.

 

Mitch, didn't you ask for some to be added as well? PAL ones or something? Might as well tell me what you want so I can do it all at once.

 

Chad

P.S. Until I get around to it, I'll let you in on a little secret you may not have noticed. You can type any 8 characters into the banking and startup drop down lists. Just click the list text itself (not the drop down selector) and type what you want.

 

So if say Ken wants 78HSCPOK, he can just type that in. Then he doesn't change it it will come up with that everytime.

[+Mitch]

Mitch, didn't you ask for some to be added as well?  PAL ones or something?  Might as well tell me what you want so I can do it all at once.

 

Chad

 

Not that I can remember. The PAL stuff was for the ROMDB file that I'm updating again so that doesn't matter.

But as long as you're in there you may as well add the new 3f512k banking file.

 

Mitch

[cschell]

Ok,

 

New version (again) of loader is up on my page. Now has the two new banking methods in the drop down list.

 

Also has two new check boxes: (Something like)

Save ROM settings in Reg

Read ROM settings from Reg

 

If you check the first box, everytime you "SEND" a file to the CC2, the Banking and Startup settings you used will be stored in the CC2 area of the Windows Registry under the ROM name. (In all caps, ignoring the path, using the extension.) If you do this a lot, that could be a lot of Registry entries, which could be bad, I don't really know. If you're concerned, don't check the box.

 

If you check the second box, everytime you change the text in the browse box it will try to match it against one of the registry entries. Again with a lot of entries this could probably get really slow if you typed in the ROM name.

 

So consider this a sloppy tool for lazy developers who use a relatively small set of ROMs. Probably not a good tool for lazy gamers who use a lot of ROMS.

 

Chad

[CPUWIZ]

So consider this a sloppy tool for lazy developers

 

[128bytes]

Chad -

Thanks for releasing the source code. The CC2 is an incredible product and has lots of untapped potential. I was one of the 2 lucky people who won the lottery to got the last of the Cuttle Cart 2's from Chad this fall. I held off on getting a 7800 (I've always been a VCS guy) until just before Christmas, knowing that I would have the time to set it up and play it over the holiday break.

 

Now that I have it set up and working, it's just as great as I had hoped. I also had my first experience playing 7800 games, and I have come to really appreciate the built-in High Score Cartridge.

 

Now that I am up and running, I'll be able to contribute to the Cuttle Cart 2 and 7800 communities. One minor contribution: the SimpleTech 128MB MMC (I bought it for around $18 at buy.com with free shipping) works without a problem in the Cuttle Cart 2, and ships pre-formatted in FAT16.

[Paul Slocum]

awesome, thanks so much Chad!!

 

-paul