Test picture of a multiprocessor computer setup. Using buttons on the right, I want the possibility to change between systems and keyboard settings. Also, multiple software/OS slots for SDCards will be on the right.
Mockup using a laptop display (eeepc) a bought display controller and a pi2 with Faux86
The lid containing the keyboard has a handle!
After laser cutting a nice front, it could become a nice road warrior hacking station.
I’m going to replace the wireless keyboard, probably with a touch display and a programmable layout for keyboards. Something like below
Some layouts:
8088650268000
I’ll probably buy this one from waveshare
Info about Faux86
8086/8088, V20, 80186 and limited 286 instruction set.
Configurable CPU speeds from 5Mhz up to 100Mhz.
Custom Hardware BIOS’s supported.
Supports bootable disk images in .img and .raw file format.
CGA / EGA / VGA Colour Video emulation, with most modes supported.
PC Speaker, Adlib, Soundblaster and Disney SoundSource.
Re-learning the little I knew (I never had a c64 as a kid). Back to basics, welll machine code I mean.
Programming a little demo using acme. Split screen bitmap and text mode plus sid music
Running a little demo in retrodebugger (missing the sid music in the recording)
Some useful commands
; Dump prg with offset 0x800 per byte and skip 00 00 lines xxd -o 0x800 -g1 icecrew.prg | uniq -f10
; Write symbol list acme -l icecrew.sym icecrew.asm
; png to kla (koala picture) retropixels icecrew.png -o icecrew.kla
; relocate a sid address sidreloc -r org.sid new.sid
Below code has some flaws:
Many empty gaps, creating a large file. Exomizer could fix this, but better memory management should be the better solution. The Koala file has many 0 bytes, the logo is small but the file is created for a full screen image.
Part of the program see $1000 of start of SID music
!cpu 6502
!to "icecrew1.prg",cbm
; Standard basic sys runner
basic_address = $0801
; sid addresses
; address moved using
; sidreloc -r Lameness_Since_1991.sid lame.sid
; addresses found using
;sidplay2 -v lame.sid
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| SIDPLAY - Music Player and C64 SID Chip Emulator |
;| Sidplay V2.0.9, Libsidplay V2.1.1 |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| Title : Lameness Since 1991 |
;| Author : Peter Siekmann (Devilock) |
;| Released : 2017 Oxyron |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| File format : PlaySID one-file format (PSID) |
;| Filename(s) : lame.sid |
;| Condition : No errors |
;| Playlist : 1/1 (tune 1/1[1]) |
;| Song Speed : 50 Hz VBI (PAL) |
;| Song Length : UNKNOWN |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;| Addresses : DRIVER = $1C00-$1CFF, INIT = $0FFF |
;| : LOAD = $0FFF-$1B25, PLAY = $1003 |
;| SID Details : Filter = Yes, Model = 8580 |
;| Environment : Real C64 |
;+------------------------------------------------------+
;
sid_address = $0fff
sid_play = $1003
sid_init = $0fff
; Character
char_address = $3800
screen_mem = $4400
; Koala address
bitmap_address = $6000
bitmap_data = $7f40
bitmap_color = $8328
bitmap_bgcolor = $8710
program_address = $c000
color_mem = $d800
reg_d011 = $D011
; VIC register
;Bit 7 (weight 128) is the most significant bit of the VIC's nine-bit raster register (see address 53266).
;Bit 6 controls extended color mode
;Bit 5 selects either the text screen ("0") or high resolution graphics ("1").
;Bit 4 controls whether the screen area is visible or not.
;Bit 3 selects 25 (when set to "1") or 24 (when set to "0") visible character lines on the text screen.
;Bit 0–2 is used for vertical pixel-by-pixel scrolling of the text or high resolution graphics.
; Rom routine to clear screen ( slow ! )
; Better to do this yourself
clear_screen = $e544
* = sid_address
!bin "lame.sid",,$7c+2
; standard charset
* = char_address
!bin "charset.chr"
; drawn with gimp converted using retropixel
; retropixels icecrew.png -o icecrew.kla
* = bitmap_address
!bin "icecrew.kla",,$02
; sys 49152
* = basic_address
!byte $0d,$08,$dc,$07,$9e,$20,$34,$39,$31,$35,$32,$00,$00,$00
* = program_address
sei
; init
lda #$00
tax
tay
jsr sid_init
jsr clear_screen
jsr load_bitmap
jsr init_text
ldy #$7f
sty $dc0d
sty $dd0d
lda $dc0d
lda $dd0d
lda #$01
sta $d01a
lda reg_d011
and #$7f
sta reg_d011
; move interrupt vector to bitmap
lda #<interruptbitmap
ldx #>interruptbitmap
sta $314 ; Low Address part IRQ vector
stx $315 ; High Address part IQR vector
ldy #$1b
sty reg_d011
lda #$7f
sta $dc0d
lda #$01
sta $d01a
; trigger interrupt at rasterline 0
lda #$00
sta $d012
cli
jmp *
interruptbitmap
inc $d019
; trigger interrupt at rasterline 128
lda #$80
sta $d012
lda #<interrupttxt
ldx #>interrupttxt
sta $314
stx $315
jsr bitmap_mode
jmp $ea81
interrupttxt
; ack IRQ
inc $d019
; IRQ at line 0
lda #$00
sta $d012
lda #<interruptbitmap
ldx #>interruptbitmap
sta $314
stx $315
jsr text_mode
jsr sid_play
jmp $ea81
bitmap_mode
; bitmap graphics multicolor
lda #$3b
sta reg_d011
lda #$18
sta $d016
; switch to video bank 2 ($4000-$7FFF)
lda $dd00
and #$fc
ora #$02
sta $dd00
lda #$18
sta $d018
rts
text_mode
; set text mode hires
lda #$1b
sta reg_d011
lda #$08
sta $d016
; switch to video bank 1 ($0000-$3FFF)
lda $dd00
and #$fc
ora #$03
sta $dd00
; set charset location
; 7 * 2048 = $3800, set in bits 1-3 of $d018
lda $d018
ora #$0e
sta $d018
rts
load_bitmap
lda bitmap_bgcolor
sta $d020
sta $d021
ldx #$00
copy_bmp
; screen memory
lda bitmap_data,x
sta screen_mem,x
lda bitmap_data+256,x
sta screen_mem+256,x
lda bitmap_data+512,x
sta screen_mem+512,x
lda bitmap_data+768,x
sta screen_mem+768,x
; color memory
lda bitmap_color,x
sta color_mem,x
lda bitmap_color+256,x
sta color_mem+256,x
lda bitmap_color+512,x
sta color_mem+512,x
lda bitmap_color+768,x
sta color_mem+768,x
inx
bne copy_bmp
rts
init_text
ldx #$00
copy_txt
lda text1,x
sta $0400+520,x
lda text2,x
sta $0400+640,x
lda text3,x
sta $0400+640+120,x
lda #$06
sta color_mem+520,x
lda #$0e
sta color_mem+640,x
lda #$0e
sta color_mem+640+120,x
inx
cpx #$28
bne copy_txt
rts
text1
!scr " back to oldskool demos in 2024 "
text2
!scr " greetings to bigred & tyrone & edk "
text3
!scr " a lot to relearn - keep coding! "
I wanted this to be a multipart loader, instead of a trackloader. A trackloader can load sector parts which I would like more. But the C64Pico can’t do disk images. (Mcume)
C64Pico based on MCUME see building of this in other posts.
2nd reason: While I’ve written a track loader for 8086, I never did it for C64. As a kid I didn’t have a C64, so all knowledge I have is from later years. I’ve written only a few C64 machinecode programs.
Showing first part assembly (without text Hello 2nd part)
Showing second part (no sysheader) needs to be loaded at $2000
Compile using Acme
make disk image
and run using autostart x64 (Vice emulator)
You see the first text from the 1st assemby code, then it will load the second at $2000 and does a jmp to this address. Second text will but displayed.
While i’ve been using KickAss in the past and some other 6502 compilers, I manly use acme.
Makefile I created to compile, create a C64 diskimage and run the program is as below. (No exomizer tools in this Makefile)
Something related, and maybe interesting for people to read.
Maus often published as Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern techniques, and represents Jews as mice and other Germans and Poles as cats and pigs respectively. Critics have classified Maus as memoir, biography, history, fiction, autobiography, or a mix of genres. In 1992 it became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.
The next iteration of my Rfid controller will have a write function for the RFID tags.
Stick a tag on a cover art piece of cardboard. (see below)
Read path from data sector.
Send path to player automation
Send path to program using MQTT or website if needed.
Back of printed sticker, to stick on 250gr paper below
Not sure yet, also want to implement a wifi manager on the wemos.
Changes on above idea:
Paths are too long, I could not work out how to create a working program using this.
I stopped using paths, instead I’m using the Logitech media server album IDs.
Using two python scripts, I can use one for programming the card, and another script to control LMS.
How does it work
RFid device is connected to the network.
Start query.py on your LMS server. Search for an album name, it will present an ID and Album name in a list. Enter the ID you want to program, or 0 to exit. (This will also reset the programming mode)
Place an empty or previously programmed tag on the device. It will write the album ID on the tag.
Then it will start the album. Changing the tags will also just change the album playing.
(NOTE: My genre spotify player still works using this method, using the same device)
A second python script will read the Mqtt topic and control the Squeezebox player.
Python Code DB Query
import sqlite3
#paho-mqtt
import paho.mqtt.publish as publish
host = "IPMQTTBROKER"
port = 1883
topic = "spotify/rfid/in/write"
auth = {'username': 'xxxx','password': 'xxxxx'}
client_id = "spotithing"
def readSqliteTable(albumname):
try:
sqliteConnection = sqlite3.connect('/var/lib/squeezeboxserver/cache/library.db')
cursor = sqliteConnection.cursor()
albumname = "%" + albumname + "%"
cursor.execute("select * from albums where title Like ?",
(albumname,))
records = cursor.fetchall()
for row in records:
print("Id: ", row[0],row[1])
cursor.close()
except sqlite3.Error as error:
print("Failed to read data from sqlite table", error)
finally:
if sqliteConnection:
sqliteConnection.close()
album = input("Album name ? ")
readSqliteTable(album)
number = input("Enter ID or 0 to quit : ")
publish.single(topic, "00000" , qos=1, hostname=host, port=port,
auth=auth, client_id=client_id)
if number == 0:
exit()
publish.single(topic, number, qos=1, hostname=host, port=port,
auth=auth, client_id=client_id)
print("Program your tag")
print("Reset/disable writing using exit with 0!")
Python Code Controller (this one needs to be running at all times)
import paho.mqtt.client as mqtt
import urllib.request
def on_connect(client, userdata, flags, rc):
print("Connected with result code {0}".format(str(rc)))
client.subscribe("spotify/rfid/idlms")
def on_message(client, userdata, msg):
print("Message received-> " + msg.topic + " " + str(msg.payload)) # Print a received msg
urllib.request.urlopen("http://IPADDRESLMS:9000/anyurl?p0=playlistcontrol&p1=album_id:" + msg.payload.decode() + "&p2=cmd:load&player=b8:27:eb:11:16:ab")
#NOTE also change b8:27:eb:11:16:ab into you players MACAddress!
client = mqtt.Client("digi_mqtt_test")
client.on_connect = on_connect
client.on_message = on_message
client.connect('IPMQTTBROKER', 1883)
client.loop_forever()
Arduino Code (see schematic in other post)
#include <Arduino.h>
#include <SPI.h>
#include <MFRC522.h>
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClient.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#define SS_PIN 15
#define RST_PIN 0
MFRC522 mfrc522(SS_PIN, RST_PIN);
MFRC522::StatusCode status; //variable to get card status
byte buffer[18]; //data transfer buffer (16+2 bytes data+CRC)
byte size = sizeof(buffer);
uint8_t pageAddr = 0x06; //In this example we will write/read 16 bytes (page 6,7,8 and 9).
//Ultraligth mem = 16 pages. 4 bytes per page.
//Pages 0 to 4 are for special functions.
unsigned long cardId = 0;
WiFiClient net;
PubSubClient client(net);
const char* mqtt_server = "IPMQTTBROKER";
const char* ssid = "MYSSID";
const char* password = "MYSSIDPASS";
String topicStr = "";
byte buffer2[8];
boolean Rflag=false;
int r_len;
char payload[5];
byte value[5];
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
SPI.begin();
mfrc522.PCD_Init();
WiFi.mode(WIFI_AP_STA);
WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
client.setServer(mqtt_server, 1883);
delay(100);
client.setCallback(callback);
delay(100);
client.subscribe("spotify/rfid/in/#");
}
void reconnect() {
while (WiFi.waitForConnectResult() != WL_CONNECTED) {
}
while (!client.connected()) {
String clientId = "rfid-";
clientId += String(random(0xffff), HEX);
if (!client.connect(clientId.c_str(), "rfidclient", "...")) {
Serial.print("failed, rc=");
Serial.print(client.state());
delay(5000);
}
}
client.subscribe("spotify/rfid/in/#");
}
void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
Serial.print(F("Called"));
Rflag=true; //will use in main loop
r_len=length; //will use in main loop
Serial.print("length message received in callback= ");
Serial.println(length);
int j=0;
for (j;j<length;j++) {
buffer2[j]=payload[j];
}
if (r_len < 3) {
Rflag=false;
Serial.print(F("Set false"));
}
buffer2[j]='\0'; //terminate string
}
void loop() {
if (!client.connected()) {
reconnect();
}
client.loop();
if (!mfrc522.PICC_IsNewCardPresent()) {
return;
}
if (!mfrc522.PICC_ReadCardSerial()) {
return;
}
if (Rflag) {
for (int i=0; i < 4; i++) {
//data is writen in blocks of 4 bytes (4 bytes per page)
status = (MFRC522::StatusCode) mfrc522.MIFARE_Ultralight_Write(pageAddr+i, &buffer2[i*4], 4);
if (status != MFRC522::STATUS_OK) {
Serial.print(F("MIFARE_Read() failed: (W) "));
Serial.println(mfrc522.GetStatusCodeName(status));
return;
}
}
Serial.println(F("MIFARE_Ultralight_Write() OK "));
Serial.println();
Rflag=false;
}
cardId = getCardId();
char buffer3[10];
sprintf(buffer3, "%lu", cardId);
client.publish("spotify/rfid/id", buffer3);
// Read data ***************************************************
Serial.println(F("Reading data ... "));
//data in 4 block is readed at once.
status = (MFRC522::StatusCode) mfrc522.MIFARE_Read(pageAddr, buffer, &size);
if (status != MFRC522::STATUS_OK) {
Serial.println(F("MIFARE_Read() failed: (R)"));
Serial.println(mfrc522.GetStatusCodeName(status));
return;
}
Serial.println(F("Read data: "));
//Dump a byte array to Serial
for (byte i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
Serial.write(buffer[i]);
buffer2[i]=buffer[i];
}
client.publish("spotify/rfid/idlms", buffer,5);
delay(1000);
mfrc522.PICC_HaltA();
}
unsigned long getCardId() {
byte readCard[4];
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
readCard[i] = mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i];
}
return (unsigned long)readCard[0] << 24
| (unsigned long)readCard[1] << 16
| (unsigned long)readCard[2] << 8
| (unsigned long)readCard[3];
}
Today we worked on this project again. (Bigred and me)
There were some problems we needed to fix since last time:
It was quite hard to get the correct parts. Our display connector was only fitted with connection pins on the wrong side of the connector. (up/down) So I bought a connector with both positions populated. So we had to replace this hard to solder (40 pin) connector.
It was not clear what the orientation should be of the atmega328pb. We looked at the pinout, and followed the VCC/GND. But these are also available of the opposite side of the chip. (We missed that) Later, we saw a tiny line on the PCB, which showed the pin 1 placement. So we had to remove and replace the chip. When turning on the power, (with incorrect placement) probably fried R5 (10k resistor), on both our boards. Had to replace those also.
Programming the atmega328pb was not easy, see below fixes.
Compiling the pico firmware resulted in a black screen. Below the fixes I had to make to get the screen working.
Other things still to fix.
Bigreds screen.
atmega328p didn’t work for Bigred, so probably needs to replace with the pb version.
My battery controller is not charging. See bottom of page
Some of my buttons are working. The pewpew and some of the cursor keys (not as I expect, there are some up/down issues) And none of the other keys are working.
Some other things we noticed.
sdcard: remove partitions, format using mkfs.exfat Create a c64 directory on this filesystem where you can put the d64 files!
0402 SMD is far too small for me. There is enough room on the board to use 0805 for example. Even THT is possible, there are only a few components.
Some components are TOO close together, removing a component resulted in other small parts disconnecting also.
My friend Bigred said: If I can see it, I can solder it. But it is not easy. This probably keeps a lot of people from building it!
WHAT IS A FLAMBADOU? It’s a cast iron cone with a large opening at the top and a small one at the bottom attached to a long metal handle (generally 1m) designed to heat until red-hot to ignite and melt fat quickly.
Reportedly from the Middle Ages, flambadous were historically used to sear joints of meat, but are comparatively rare now. It’s also a traditional French technique for basting meat with fat as it cooks over the coals.
First, a french baguette.
I used Herb butter for the flambadou.
Don’t make the Flambadou as hot as you would do with the fat for the meat.
Recipe own made herb butter.
250 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
Pinch of coarse salt
A few sprigs of fresh parsley
A few sprigs of chives
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Mash the butter finely with a fork. Add a pinch of sea salt and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Add finely chopped garlic. Chop the parsley and chives and add at the end and mix everything well. Wrap in cling film.
Let the herb butter harden in the refrigerator. Remove it a few minutes before use. So not frozen but still solid.
For the meat, I used Picanha and the cubed pieces of fat. Next time I’m going to use Bacon Fat or Geese Fat.
The Flambadou was NOT hot enough for the fat. Ah well, learning every day.
This week (while preparing for a mini retro party) I fixed some Amiga stuff.
I’ve bought a new gadget.
You place this PCB between the CPU IC socket and the CPU (68000) itself.
Now running a special floppy image, which loads a driver, I can use the 512MB sdcard as “harddisk”.
It at first ran into all kinds of hangups. Checking everything, I found CIAB (8520) the culprit. Timing errors I’ve never noticed before!
Switching this one with CIAA resolved the problem. (I don’t use a printer anyway, but I have to remember that anything using the parallel port can have problems now.)
Running some programs
Meanwhile, I wanted to have a better control over the Amiga drives, so I’m planning to use a second switch to reassign drive numbers using a switch.
For switching Internal/External drive (df0/df1) I was using a Gotek boot switch. (Just press 3x ctrl-Amiga-Amiga)
But I have TWO external devices. The Gotek virtual disk device and a real 5.24″ drive.
So I’m going to use a ON-ON double switch to toggle the external devices.
oppo_32
The internal switch toggles internal and external. The secondary I’m going to build into the 5.25″ drive toggles df2 and the “df1”. That way the internal drive can be 0 (boot) or 1. The external drives can be 0,1 or 2.
Bottom connector is incorrect!Better view of cross switch part
NOTE: Switch pin 21 and 9 using the cross switch!
SO: Amiga with internal drive -> External 5.24″ which has a passthrough to the Gotek.
Another amiga thing fixed: I re-installed Aros (on an old Laptop this time)
And third: I’ve bought the Amiga Forever cdrom.
Booting kickstartDPaintWorkbench 3.xHQ PPaintEven in 1920×1080
When you get the ISO image from AmigaForever, and want to run it using Linux, do this to get it working
sudo apt install xkbfile1:i386
sudo apt install libxkbfile1:i386
mkdir -p /cdrom
sudo mount -t iso9660 ~/Downloads/AF.iso /cdrom
cd /cdrom/Private/Linux/e-uae/
./kxlight-start.sh
If you install Wine, you can use the windows gui in linux also.
Amiga samplers
Missing a DB-9, I have to look into this.I’m not sure about this one. I made it myself. But it could be a PC version?
Testing the sampler (demo for Tyrone)
Sampling the sound of a C64 on an Amiga. Started (booted) the sampling program from second external drive using switch setup as above.
Even realtime echo works!
"If something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing."