Some fun with yabause on my laptop

Written by cafealpha 2 comments
Classified in : PPCenter, Saturn, Programming, Mylife Tags : saturn, vmem, kai, backup
Today, I made fixes to :
 - yabause (debug version for personal use), because UBC doesn't works well on it.
 - SatLink, because mkdir function returns -1 when folder already exist
 - PseudoSaturn, various features additions, fixes, as usual
 - BackupManager, in order to display some debug informations.
 - Vmem module, various fixes, especially one that took me a couple of hours to understand

data/images/20150630_bug_fix.gif
Me when debugging my Saturn projects
(Video grabbed from 9gag.com)


But at least, virtual memory cart is ready for debugging now
data/images/20150630_vmem_test.tb.png
Debug session with yabause and SatLink
NiGHTs Xmas header data (bottom of screenshot) was copied
from internal memory to laptop HDD


So, everything don't work right now, but UBC related things and log message output are nearly OK, so that debugging this vmem project will be (maybe ?) comfortable from now :]

... I'm tired No more debugging for today ^^

Read more Some fun with yabause on my laptop

Iso/Cue "loader" works on real hardware :]

Written by cafealpha no comments
(For more informations, you can also read this old article.)

I finally had time to use my Saturn, and I could verify that iso/cue "loader" works on real hardware !
Of course it works well when reading from RomFs, and it works also well when reading file from SD card

data/images/20150626_iso_loader.tb.jpg
My test environment ... sorry for the mess
(Micro SD card is located on top-left of the cartridge)

I lost some time to understand why data transfer from SD card was slower than expected, but finally understand why : some debug/whatever delay routine was called when accessing cartridge registers ...
Just putting some #if 0 around this delay code solved the "problem" ^^;

Read more Iso/Cue "loader" works on real hardware :]

Iso/Cue "loader" works :)

Written by cafealpha no comments
Classified in : etc, Saturn, Programming, Mylife Tags : saturn, iso, loader, firmware, beta
So I am making an enhanced version of Pseudo Saturn firmware.
And, as an extra feature of this firmware, I added an iso/cue "loader".
data/images/20150603_dr.evil.laser2.tb.jpg

Why the quotes around "loader" ? Because it doesn't emulates CD-block
So, it only loads few homebrew games, but it's enough for me, and I don't want to waste more time on adding CD block software emulator while better solutions (rhea, jhl's "mpeg" cart, etc) already exist.

As an other bonus, I also added RomFs support to my Saturn library
It is like romdiskfs that is widely used on linux, DS homebrew, etc, but it allows file compression, some other features, and ... is probably buggy because I coded it from scratch

(*) Virtual file system is not really new on Saturn homebrew scene, because Piratero already implemented one in libyaul a while ago


data/images/20150603_romfs_filelist.png
RomFs root folder contents. I will load sl_elf.iso file in the next paragraph.

So here is a capture of yabause running sl_elf.iso, after decompressing it from virtual file system stored in Flash memory.
sl_elf.iso is "satdemo" made by CharlesDoty, grabbed from SaturnOrbit's examples (Thank you Rockin'B for making SaturnOrbit ! After 10 years, it still have it installed on my laptop's hard disk ).

data/images/20150603_isocueloader.png
yabause running Saturn demo from iso file, near SatLink software I use in order to debug my Saturn programs.

Very big thanks to the yabause team ! I grabbed the iso/cue loading routines from yabause sources, and it was very easy to port them

Edit : I removed unused code (CD Block emulation routines, etc) from iso loader module, and .o size dropped from 74KB to 18KB oO

Edit (2015/06/26) : I tested this code on real hardware, and it works too ! Please see this article for more details.

Read more Iso/Cue "loader" works :)

New USB dev carts for sale !

Written by cafealpha 6 comments
Classified in : PPCenter, Saturn, Mylife Tags : usb dev cart, flux, rom, pseudosaturn
Last week, I soldered new USB dev carts, so please let me know if you want to purchase one

What's new with theses carts ?
I use new PCB (Rev 2e) and flash chips that allow to store firmware larger that Action Replay firmware :
 - Action Replay Flash ROM : 256KB
 - USB dev cart Flash ROM : 512KB
It will be useful when making custom firmware for this cartridge

And, I'm now familiar with using flux when soldering ! Before, I was soldering small pitched parts (typically, the FTDI USB chip) with stain in excess, then using solder wick. This gave good results, but I wasn't satisfied with the visual aspect nearby soldering points :

data/images/20150518_no_flux.tb.jpg
Before : only stain & solder wick used to solder FTDI chip

data/images/20150518_flux.tb.jpg
After : flux used to solder FTDI chip


And, there are now "ROM cartridge" available for sale !
This is just an "USB-less USB dev cart", but it allows to run Pseudo Saturn firmware, and also future revisions of the firmware with ROM size larger than 256KB available on Action Replay carts. And of course, it is a little cheaper than USB dev cart

data/images/20150518_romcart.tb.jpg
ROM cartridge ... well, this is just USB dev cart without USB modules, so nothing really new ^^;
This cartridge is interesting in the case you want an USB dev cart for dev things, and another cart for gaming purpose.

Read more New USB dev carts for sale !

Nostalgia time : ietx2 old (buggy) beta iso for download

Written by cafealpha no comments
Classified in : PPCenter, Saturn, Programming, Mylife Tags : ietx3, beta, screenshot, video
After making some cleanup in my development folders, I found an old archive file
It is dated 2007 June 20, and contains a very early version of ietx2, which is an adaptation of yeti3D engine to Saturn.
At that time, I was using a PentiumIV processor and 80GB IDE hard disk in order to run sh-elf-gcc provided by SaturnOrbit ... very nostalgic times ... but I definitely prefer nowadays for Saturn development

Iso file can be found >>> here <<<.
(No, there are no sources available, because I didn't kept archives of sources at that time.)

Please don't waste a CD-R for this. You can try on yabause, or just look at screenshot and say "hey, very ugly stuff" however.

data/images/20150410_ieti01.png
ietx2 beta screenshot : not enough time to draw last quads in VDP1 list, hence the garbage on foreground.

data/images/20150410_ieti02.png
ietx2 beta screenshot : example of incorrect rendering when quads coordinates exceed 16 bits range.

Present version

You can find current version (ietx2) and sources of my Yeti3D adaptation here (dated 2011 April 19).
Also, there are videos of ietx2 available below. Click on the links to display them on youtube.
data/images/20150410_ietx2_01.png


Future (?) version

I'm still maintaining sources of ietx2.
I renamed project name to ietx3 (yeah, I'm not very original when choosing project names ), and now use a lite version of Yeti3D PRO engine ... "lite" means original, minus a lot of features, in order to keep a decent frame rate, and fitting to Saturn resources.
You can find some videos (binaries are not released, sorry) on my youtube channel :

Read more Nostalgia time : ietx2 old (buggy) beta iso for download

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