potatohead's Blog

I'll have to check out your code.

 

My next first step is to get one cog generating a stable screen using a modified version of my multiple cog code. It won't do anything more than kick out the COG RAM buffer, but that's a start.

 

Then I'll see if I can get two cogs doing the same thing, but overlay the outputs and play with syncronization.

 

Time, she is precious, and I'm spending far too much free time playing Half-Life (for the second time) and watching network TV.

I'll have to check out your code.

 

My next first step is to get one cog generating a stable screen using a modified version of my multiple cog code. It won't do anything more than kick out the COG RAM buffer, but that's a start.

 

Then I'll see if I can get two cogs doing the same thing, but overlay the outputs and play with syncronization.

 

Time, she is precious, and I'm spending far too much free time playing Half-Life (for the second time) and watching network TV.

 

I'll have a much cleaner version posted up today on the parallax forum. I've used Cardboardgurus EASY_NTSC as a template to get started. That bit of code really helped me huge actually. The only thing I really don't get at this point is how to choose my color phase. Pixel, line and static color timing are all cake now. I get stable screens with nearly any pixel combinations I want. Took a while, but it's there.

 

The color bit is really frustrating. The Parallax driver does it exactly right, yielding the max NTSC color resolution output, but I don't yet understand how to incorporate that into the code I'm building on. For now, I'm gonna clean up and use the base I have. There is lots to do. I've been reading the NTSC docs and see now the sync varies every other scanline for a fully standards compliant output. Clearly the non-interlaced variation on that can still have the color interlace happening. The C64 does this nicely...

 

For now, I'll make some progress on building better screen logic. This driver is gonna have it's core font in the COG. The high bit, instead of being inverse, Atari style, will trigger a read from a 4 color HUB resident font, that will be optional. Don't set the bit, don't need the font to be there kind of thing. The result will be two color text, mixed with 4 color text, addressable on a char by char basis. Nice and lean, and useful for a lot of things, like small areas of live graphics.

 

Most of the text drivers I've seen contributed are nuts! They do leverage the font in the prop ROM, but focus on storing addresses and colors in the screen memory. This makes lots of simple things harder than they need to be, or it's just me wanting to do things the way I like to do them. The older computers had it right, IMHO. Put the font somewhere and have the screen memory just be values that address it in various ways.

 

***I've gotten stuck on HALO III. My brother in law just snagged a really great HDTV. Spent last weekend gaming with him, after hooking the whole works up. He's just not up for that. He prefers to buy food and drinks, pile the stuff in a corner and invite people over to make it all go! Of course, this is a win-win for me usually. Good eats, some fun gaming and a chance to play with some new toys.

 

I find the level of detail possible in real time simply amazing. It's almost too good really. Hear you on the gaming.

 

Re: Network TV. I've nearly bagged on that. I have a PVR (it's a nice old Replay TV) and record stuff to consume in discrete blocks. It's really changed how I do television. Instead of working around some goofy network schedule, I record stuff I think has value, then fit the best of it into a viewing time. This is usually in the later evening, after the kids have wound down, and the wife and I want to just enjoy the tube. We commercial skip, pick and choose, and generally get a lot of stuff done in a coupla hours.

 

I almost can't watch live TV, but for sports events, anymore. Too many commercials. Actually, that's not honest. I don't mind the commercials all that much, but they are just getting really aggressive in terms of their sound. When it gets annoying, they do get their attention, but I also tend to adapt away from that. Where did all the good, creative AD producers go. I miss those guys. Laughing at a great AD is fun. Having to grab the control to deal with one that's just over the top loud and annoying, just isn't.

 

The average network program runs 35-40 minutes here in the states, once the commercials are stripped out of it. We usually hit 45, letting some of the nicer spots through, just because.

 

A two hour viewing time then really allows us to bag on a bad pick, after sampling, then really get into two good ones. The only way to go, IMHO.

 

BTW: Take the time you want with the demo board. It's not a worry on my end. Just thought you would enjoy it, when the mood strikes.

PVRs are nice aren't they. I have a TiVo dual tuner (upgraded to 300GB) in the bedroom and an old Sony TiVo in the family room to manually record stuff from the digital channels the other doesn't get. I don't think I've watched any primetime TV live in over a year. And DVDs mean I seldom go to the theater.

PVRs are nice aren't they. I have a TiVo dual tuner (upgraded to 300GB) in the bedroom and an old Sony TiVo in the family room to manually record stuff from the digital channels the other doesn't get. I don't think I've watched any primetime TV live in over a year. And DVDs mean I seldom go to the theater.

 

I'm there with DVD's too. A nicely mastered DVD, on a solid display, really is decent. Decent enough to deal, and leverage all my creature comforts at home. And... NO HAVING TO SNEAK QUALITY GOODIES IN TO THE SHOW.