Inferno #09 31 июля 2006

Концепции

Future Spectrum - The Dialogues of the game console ZX-Box based on the Spectrum.

     ZX-Box in the dialogues
Alone:
To start the ZX-software need a keyboard, not
all programs rather stick. WHO
possible, necessary and possible sticking mouse. AND
Both, I suppose, should stick
in hole-type PS / 2.

Shiru:
No doubt, it is envisaged in the concept of
initially. Otherwise, most of the original
games even run will not work - those where
just press the number or letter to select
joystick, and then another to run.
For domestic game situation is the same
Plus they can still use the mouse. So
Yet apart from the original games, for their own
GOVERNMENTAL gaming keyboard and mouse completely
pomeshayut.Mysh for quests and strategies (w
Section nicer to play with her than with Joist
com - the 'adults' consoles connected
mouse for such cases provided).
The keyboard can be useful for, say,
music editor - why not?
Play the same music people are using GameBoy.
And trackers are found on consoles, NADI
scribed by amateurs, even on the same GameBoy -
and there after only 8 buttons, including the arrow.
Therefore, the Controllers Keyboard and Mouse U.S. $
zhny be normally, without the possibility 'of
formula 'of the system is strongly limited.


Alone:
Megabytes, I think, is needed not for the image
floppy disks, and storage piles sprites. In
Basically, you can get 512k (a line
RAM), until it becomes crowded. But I have a similarity
vision that is closely will be very soon. After
even videoOZU has 512k.

Shiru:
Most suitable for dynamic games
Modes are V9990 P1, P2. Resolution
sheniya 256x212 and 512x212 sootvetstvenno.Eto
tile video modes, then there is no buffer
screen, under his memory is not wasted. Almost
All memory for the video remains valid
ytov and background. Sprites, 16-color (the color you
be elected by the palette), 16x16 pixels
ley.Maksimum 125 sprites on screen, 16 on
line. Background layers are composed of blocks
8x8 pixels, only one can have a little more
15,000 of these blocks. Two layers of the background mode
P1, each 16-color (31 color on the screen,
plus color back) for each block is chosen
raetsya one of the four palettes. Colors in PA
liter are selected from the 32,768 possible CEE
Comrade. To achieve all these parameters and
to 512 kilobytes of memory (if less
above - smaller units to fit in memory, and
smaller frame buffer in raster results
zhimah). I think those opportunities more than
enough. If not - then yes,
exchange of video memory, swapping out graphics
main memory (slowly and sadly), but
it is unlikely that it comes to this.
Therefore megabytes of main memory needed for
store more game data - the code
maps, sound (no desire to complement the
individual 'sound' memory). And also for
full realization of ZX-component,
Specifically, for vTR-DOS. Initially, I was before
believed less main memory (in
region of 256 kb), but then decided not to trifle
tsya.


Alone:
From exotic applications may be considered
Ret proposed once Cyberdaemon'om
"The computer for a writer," ie, in essence,
text editor. He said that for the Bug
rum such machines in their time byli.Vopros
only - to unload the result of creative
Twa. Apparently, you need to add a slot for HDD
(Ie, one IDE-connector to pull out).
In theory, HDD problem for juzverej than
flash card, but, nevertheless, a promising
tive (10 years) seem to me incompatible with the
contemporary standards of cards, but
still compatible screws. In addition, for
Support HDD is not necessary to add iron:)
Reviewed shipping on the flash ROM, with
ntsipe, also gratis, but it is for the text closely
novati and does not allow transfer of information
tion from machine to machine (and even get by the screw allows 
it). Another option - RS232, if you assume that ZX-Box

has sufficient portability to
it could bring, say, the editors
newspapers - reset your opus on a computer Reda
ktsii. In all these cases it is assumed
that the pseudo-writer has no PC, or editing
torus on ZX-Box is so pleasant to work
what he should not come off. V9990 allows
make a frame-editor, ZX screen when
Z80 @ 14MHz - too (but prettier V9990).
It is also assumed that the writer breaks
eyes on the family TV in the volume
cubic meter, and a small knee / self
metastable w / the TV.

Shiru:
Information on computer-oriented
to work purely with text, I have not found, but
it is possible that something bylo.Voz
possibility of connecting HDD I mentioned, saying,
on board empowerment ZX-Box to
full computer, there is certainly no
hurt (you and a second IDE connector inside
ZX-Box to leave, it would only place in which
rpuse by himself HDD).

With the support of the HDD in a ten-year prospects
've got problems - iron added yet
pridetsya.Uzhe now cease production
proof IDE-drive is much easier (and even de
shevle) was to buy SATA-150 drive with
normal. In coming years, IDE-HDD, apparently
disappear entirely, and subjected to pre-existing
wife of mechanical wear and the average pa
been operating 2-5 years. That is required the addition
lyat 'adapter'. They existed
short time, when the first
SATA-HDD, but there was very little PC with a controller
lerom SATA, they quickly disappeared due to
insecurity and the emergence of new materins
FIR motherboard with full-time controller. At the
However, I have not met even ordered
Minani of the SATA CD-ROM'ah. About SATA-HDD to
laptops, I do too, had heard nothing.

On the long-term prospects flash format
cards I do not know, formats still
many, no one wants to surrender, card
all improved, leaving a backwards compatible
dependence (it somehow, but it works). But ha
welt, that you choose for ZX-Box format ka
mouths will survive, no. In principle, until Soubi
raetsya to die and has no competitors bus
USB drives, and under it - USB-flash, USBHDD. Make it USB 
support for such mouth REFER is not easy, it's not USB-joystick

hitch, but the 'Coulda woulda shoulda' - it was
would be a good option. Technically, the same
simple - use a Compact Flash Car
you, as they are compatible with IDEinterfeysom. Their form 
factor is also a micro-HDD with up to 6 gigabytes. That

As the price of CF-cards - in Moscow for
you can not find a card volume is less than 128 IU
gabayt, and a map of this size is $ 12-14.


Alone:
If banal IN A, (cd): OUT (video), A (in
V9990, as I recall, there avtoinkre
element address when writing to memory) without stacking
wrought, then Z80 @ 14MHz nowait we have
Video 256x192 in 256 colors at 11 fps
(Coefficient of braking because of the expectations between
sectors of the CD to be equal to 1.1).

Shiru:
Yes, autoincrement read and write integer
deopamyati at V9990 est.Pro possible separated
flax video mode the video I mentioned of the
the following considerations. Firstly, it can be
combined with the image V9990, we
overlay video. V9990 can display
desired graphics over the video without problems
Update ekrana.Ne have given chase
nye in its video memory, will not have to use
call of raster video modes (which we
remain without sprites, but with operations to
feasting blocks). Video mode for videos
(Excuse the pun) can be organized
vat, for example, developing ideas Sprinter'a. There
had the opportunity to ask one of the four
256-color palette for each of familiarity
8x8 pixels (256 colors per pixel), and even you
Bira video mode for each of familiarity
personally. For video, you can come up with solutions
Suppose, in which each square has 4 8x8
bits per pixel, with its palette (from Nesco
lkih, say, 16, asked at the beginning
frame). This will reduce the amount of data that
need to store and display, with a reasonably good ka
large amount of images. Memory in this mode
You can arrange a more convenient from the point
of speed output obrazom.Konechno all
it depends strongly on the whole - if the computation
oxidative capacity is enough for stable
15 + frames per second at normal kaches
TVE (for ZX-Box 256-color video will be
quite normal, we do not watch DVD Sobey
raemsya), you will not need to invent anything
Xia. In any case, allow
decent video playback to both
it is the most likely candidate (apart from
model of music in audio format) to score the volume
emov CD. And in this case should not exceed them,
because when uncompressed frames 256h192 256
colors on the disc will fit about 20 minutes
video.


Alone:
Buffered the sound would be very convenient
throw in the ports and examine the state will
Fehr also through the ports. On what will be realized
call of the buffer? Apparently, on a single chip
NRE memory, and address counter - in the FPGA.

Shiru:
Again mention the Sprinter, namely its Covox
Blaster (Covox with buffer RAM) - as
was made tam.On was implemented in FPGA,
together with the memory buffer (256 bytes). Obra
schatsya to it could be a port
(OTIR'om), and through a record in a certain
nuyu page of RAM using the accelerator.
At the end of the buffer was generated interrupt
tion and sets a bit in the port (to
distinguish, screen, or a termination of
sound). Sampling frequency was chosen
fixed values ​​in the range 7-109
kHz, mono or stereo at 8 or 16 bits.

On top boxes and game machines with digital
Vym channels of sound practice more
Another approach - almost self-sufficient
Naya system, with its own processor and memory
Tew. There were different variants of its realization
zatsii.Na Megadrive / Genesis Z80, commonly used
the employed for playing sound and music
ki, has access to all system resources,
as well as central and 68,000 (in rare
games, among the first, Z80 rested and 68K
pulled and the game, and sound). On the SNES sound
subsystem is completely separated from the rest
system, the main processor only transmits
her data and programmu.Prichem this subsystem
ma, in addition to its own processor and memory
(64 kb), has 8 hardware 16-bit
channels with ADPCM decoding in real
time (also performed in a single chip, special
socially developed for the SNES). For comparison,
equation, the Megadrive for digital audio is
only 8-bit DAC in the YM2612.
On the slot machines are often met
situation where the sound was used for
processor, similar to the central (eg
measures, 68k on the management of the game and another
68K on the sound).

In my opinion, the ZX-Box in terms of digital
sound approach 'computer in the computer' (on the
level GS) is irrational, unnecessarily complicate
of architecture without much use - for
digital sound effects, even the two Kan
fishing enough, the four best;
music, as mentioned in the concept, synthesis
ized, or audio CD. Therefore, restrictions
ourselves to the minimal hardware possible
styami that will not overload the OS
novnoy processor and pereuslozhnyat prog
Rummy playing otsifrovok parallelism
flax in the game, and at the same time, not so much on
affect the price of the device. That is, buffer
or more buffers channels with mixing
Niemi - depending on what produce
lnost will have the main processor, can
, maybe, he sounds confused, or better re
lozhit this hardware.

The easiest option railway implementation
subsystem, which I imagine -
Microcontroller with hookup to it
DAC'om. He hung up on the port inside the spinning
elementary program (constant, zashiva
emaya once in the assembly - from ZXBox this 'black box'), the 
internal RAM is used uses both bufer.Programmka uniformly

throws the data from the buffer to DAC, incidentally
checking the availability of new data through
port. You can also organize several
Buffer channels (from the ZX-Box at once
GOVERNMENTAL addresses) and mix them in the process before
addition of a buffer or vosproizvedeniya.Pre
on closing do not necessarily possible to make
buffer length of 2-3 frames (the length of one bu
Schrieffer 40-60 ms, within a couple of kilobytes)
and the opportunity to learn the status of used
STI buffer since the last replenishment
(By reading the port), it is not podpihivaya
necessary amount of data. But this variant
ant is not the cheapest - you need the controller
Level ATmega32 (up to 16 mips, 2 KB RAM, 16
KB ROM) or above, DAC, the minimum rail.
Accumulates about $ 15 at retail prices de
tackles. Implementation in FPGA will cheaper
(All the same the rest of the circuits there), from
external components only need to DAC. But
opportunities will be somewhat limited, so
as a complex scheme (with the summation Kan
fishing) to develop at a logical level words
zhnee than at the program and it will not
little space in the FPGA. In general, the possible variant
Antes, a reasonable choice is to follow from
valuation.


Alone:
ATM ovsky memory manager (any page
in any window), apparently, was made for 2
goals: 1. CP / M and 2. 16-colored toys, the
which sprites page and screens
page. In our case, the CP / M is not, and the screen
no longer in our site, and in the ports ... But the volume
Birmingham FPGA presence / absence of given features,
most likely, almost no impact.

Shiru:
I think the ability to connect banks
any window would not want - if komuto not need to, you can not 
just use. And the amount of FPGA really should not

influence. So we will not abandon
amenities.


Alone:
Sensitive issue - the power supply. Indeed, until
CHRV not mastered their production / pereproda
Ms. Housing - also a sore point, not written out
Lebanese same hand jigsaw.

Shiru:
Manufacture of power supplies in the home
- It really trim (set
yuschie, including the winding elements, the fee
under high voltage, radiators etc.).
The novel does not make them because it makes no sense -
easy to buy cheap (up to free
GOVERNMENTAL, landfill) PSU from PC, they are perfectly
suitable for food Spectrum (all the more
Further, many boards to establish the correlation
Pusa from the PC). For the ZX-Box PSU from PC - not a ray of
shy option because of the size (essentially
increase the size) and excess capacity. For
Power CD to 12 volts, 2 amps, and for
the rest of the 5 volts at about 3 amps
(Hard to say exactly known how many
will consume the scheme; CD consumes slightly
less than 1A) - while, for example, BP
for ATX 350W 28A provides for a 12-volt
and 40A for 5 volts. There is very little
ready-made solutions with the appropriate parameters,
For example, the BP for PC power 120W, has
form-factor motherboard power connector
board (he did not even need an active cooling
tion), power supply from the printer videomag
nitofonov and similar equipment. But all these
options are expensive - about $ 50. BP
ATX can be bought for less than $ 20.

Corpus, if he wood can be cut out
though Jig - already some cars
matizatsiya.S plastic and metal case CBOs
toit slozhnee.Suschestvuet large number of
companies engaged in production and casting
buildings of any complexity, including powder
vuyu painting, drawing and inscriptions which criminal
bottom - know only pay. Exactly how much -
carefully concealed, but at a minimum
volume of orders is quite clear that this
option is not for the ZX-Box. Good idea to understand
in the independent manufacture of small steam
Tille corps quite decent kind of people
involved in the creation of guitar equipment
tion (usually metal casings do not ca
Mykh simple shapes) and acoustics (tree form
cubic). Sometimes there are also
and ready to perform zakazy.V any case,
price, even such a simple case which
needed ZX-Box, in small batches will be no less
nshe than enough decent ATX-block
(And the price of the latter is still
BP).


Alone:
Interesting device, perhaps, can only
free channels, ie the Internet, among
geek. To position chtoto for a good market (even the type of 
Television Electron onnogo "underground"), you must have a 
clear cross reznye connection-grandmother-roof.


Shiru:
For the 'promotion' of anything required bab
ki, in even greater numbers than for the times
processing of anything. They invest
camping, subsequently to get even bigger
head (or a place to spend the night on the street).
This path is not for the ZX-Box, so the agreement
camping: the only option is the promotion of
one device - information on the Internet in
places where potentially wondering
hsya. Examples of products and NedoPC Sprinter'a
show how this complex and important
problem.