Announcement - PropGFX Lite Binary Released

Dr_Acula · 2011-07-31 05:12

Some great advice there. I'm sort of brainstorming things while Baggers works on that 256x192 16color driver, but I know he is working on something for OBC first.

Anyone got a link to Eric's code by any chance? (I have one of the drivers, but it didn't come with a demonstration so I'm not sure how to use it).

One thing with the standard propeller palette demo is there doesn't seem to be a yellow on my display. It goes from pale green to brown, and there is no yellow in the supersaturated set either. I'd be interested to see a different color space.

For movies, 256x192 with 16 colors and dithering is going to be fantastic.

For more static displays, I am thinking more along the lines of the tile drivers. eg, say you are displaying a web page, it is mostly a white background, and in the middle is a picture. So you have a white tile and you replicate that many times. And for the picture, that ends up being a number of tiles that might use up most of the memory. (eventually, do the dithering and scaling on the prop itself).

For the second application, is your (@potatohead) driver the best one yet? ie 256x240.

If so, can you explain what these numbers in the .chr file are

FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF EB 83 
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 
FF FF FF EB FF EB D7 83 D7 83 83 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF EB FF EB 97 83 
83 83 83 C3 83 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 C3 
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF EB D7 83 83 83 83 83

I think the background is white, so using the standard prop palette that would be $07. What is $FF

Baggers · 2011-07-31 05:16

Dr_A, I've posted the 16 colour driver example, did you miss it?

Dr_Acula · 2011-07-31 05:53

Dr_A, I've posted the 16 colour driver example, did you miss it?

Yes, it appears I have missed it (I was on holidays recently). Have you got a link?

Sorry, scratch that, yes I have seen the code from the 29th but I'm not sure how to use it. It starts like this

CON

_clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x
_xinfreq = 5_000_000

OBJ

Lite : "GFX_BINARY_Databus"

PUB Demo

  Lite.PropGFX_Start
  if(Lite.PropGFX_TestValid==0)
    reboot

  Lite.SetBasicMode(Lite#PROPGFX_NTSC,Lite#PROPGFX_4BIT_CHAR_MODE,Lite#PROPGFX_0_SCROLL_COGS,0,Lite#PROPGFX_NORMAL_SPRITES) ' mode+8 = SEPERATE CHAR LINE X SCROLLS
  Lite.SendBuf(@picchr,$2000,$6000)
  Lite.SendBuf(@picmap,$1800,$800)
  Lite.SendBuf(@picpal,$1600,$100)

  repeat

But I'm not sure what to do with that.

The 256x96 code that you have kindly posted earlier is quite different, and essentially you just put bytes into the array at 'screen' and it displays them.

Have you got a 256x192 display that works in a similar way?

{
Propeller TV Movie player by Dr_Acula (James Moxham), July 2011
Thanks to Baggers for the TV driver and Kye for the SD driver
See the vb.net program to create the movie files
Open source software
' hydra mode is data out 8 clock 9 data in 10, card select 11

}
CON

  _clkfreq = 80_000_000         ' 5 Mhz clock
  _clkmode = xtal1 + pll16x

  _clockDataPin = 29
  _clockClockPin = 28

  _cardDataOutPin = 12            ' dracblade 12,13,14,15 for sd card
  _cardClockPin = 13
  _cardDataInPin = 14
  _cardChipSelectPin = 15

'  _switchRate = 5

  ' Keyboard
NUM        = %100
CAPS       = %010
SCROLL     = %001
RepeatRate = 40

'  MaxIcons = 15

    ' video setting
'modepins = %010_0000     ' dracblade = %010_0000, PROTO/DEMO BOARD = %001_0101, HYDRA = %011_0000        
modepins = %010_0000     ' dracblade = %010_0000, PROTO/DEMO BOARD = %001_0101, HYDRA = %011_0000        
'modepins = %001_0101     ' dracblade = %010_0000, PROTO/DEMO BOARD = %001_0101, HYDRA = %011_0000        

PAL      = %0001
NTSC     = %0000

mode     = $c0 + NTSC

x_tiles  = 16
y_tiles  = 6
my_hx    = 11+((mode&1)*6)

'x_pixels = x_tiles*16               ' ? not used
'y_pixels = y_tiles*16

OBJ

  fat   : "SD2.0_FATEngine.spin"            ' thanks to Kye
  tv    : "JB_TV_AMS_03"

VAR      
   long i           ' general purpose variable

PUB Main 

  tv.start(@tvparams)   

  ifnot(fat.FATEngineStart(_cardDataOutPin, _cardClockPin, _cardDataInPin, _cardChipSelectPin, _clockDataPin, _clockClockPin))
    reboot
  fat.mountPartition(0,0)     ' mount the sd card

  Wallpaper                     ' startup splash screen
'  repeat i from 0 to 600000      ' delay
'  Movie(4266)                    ' play n frames in the movie



PUB Wallpaper
    fat.openfile(string("taz.tv"),"R")      ' 128x96
'    fat.openfile(string("prop128.tv"),"R")      ' 128x96
    fat.readdata(@screen,256*96)
    fat.closefile


  
PUB Movie(n) 
    fat.openfile(string("matrix2.tvm"),"R")                 ' 256x96 per frame
    repeat i from 1 to n                                ' number of frames
      fat.readdata(@screen,24576)                       ' 24576 bytes per frame
    fat.closefile                                       ' close the file

DAT

tvparams      long    0               'status
              long    1               'enable
              long    modepins        'pins 
              long    mode            'mode
              long    x_tiles         'hc
              long    y_tiles         'vc
              long    my_hx           'hx
VSyncFlag     long    0
nextline      long    0                        
tvbitmapptr   long    @screen+$10
bordercolour  long    $02
              long    @palette+$10



screen        byte    $1b[256*96] 'file "title.bit"

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-31 11:14

Here's a slideshow I did. Copy the image files to your SD card.

I'm not sure how to turn off the screen during the image loads, but my boy said that it made it look a little more "retro". (I'm proud of that kid!)

Edit: The next demo I'm working on is a non-game application of PropGFX. (Now that's different!)

Enjoy!
OBC

Coley · 2011-07-31 12:07

That's great OBC!

If you want to blank the screen in between slides just wipe the palette.

Lite.fillwords($1600,0,128)

Insert this line into your imageload method at the top ;-)

Regards,

Coley

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-31 15:51

On to Demo #2. (This one is for Ken Gracey who is always interested in controls vs games)

Grab a mouse and plug it in! It's a GUI control.

For some reason my screen doesn't always Sync. (Maybe Coley will have an answer) If yours doesn't, just run it again.

Guess what I'm creating to show at the expo?

OBC

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-31 17:09

GUI Demo #2. This time you can move the control around.

Enjoy!

Microcontrolled · 2011-07-31 17:41

@OBC: I saw this first on your YouTube channel, and I love it! I'm not big into retro games, and the entire reason I'm exited about PropGFX is that it can do nice GUI, so this is great!!
I'll download the code, but I have a job for the next 2 weeks that's pretty tight, so I may not get to work with it for a while. :-(

Dr_Acula · 2011-07-31 18:15

Wow - this is very impressive OBC.

What is the screen resolution on that demo?

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-07-31 18:33

I've switch it to Bitmap mode, but it was in the same Char mode at the other demos. 256x192.

OBC

Baggers · 2011-08-01 02:10

That's great OBC, good to see it being used for other purposes also! cheers

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-01 08:04

Baggers wrote: »

That's great OBC, good to see it being used for other purposes also! cheers

Any chance of VGA compatibility at this resolution so that the PropGFX becomes a universal video driver?

OBC

Baggers · 2011-08-01 08:25

OBC, IIRC the VGA driver needed 6Mhz to get 320 pixels res, so it may be possible to do it 256 pixels wide, but not at the mo.

GFX is already VGA/Composite compatible, just a case of swapping the video driver, but you'll need 6Mhz as I coded it for 320 pixel width, and 256 modes have border like tv.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-01 08:32

So we can swap the crystal with this version?

Or would I need to change the first few bytes to switch to 6mhz or would this work at all?

OBC

Baggers · 2011-08-01 08:41

You would need to change a few things

and swap over the crystal.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-01 08:44

Ah, I suspected as much... A byte change from 5mhz to 6mhz (and crystal swap) wouldn't be enough.

So what do we need to do to purchase the "expanded" version of this from you guys?

OBC

Baggers · 2011-08-01 10:36

Jeff, we're seeing what people do with this free version, before even thinking about any upgrades to the full Lite version. etc!
It's basically a trial, to see if it's viable to take it further!

jazzed · 2011-08-01 10:45

Baggers wrote: »

It's basically a trial, to see if it's viable to take it further!

Seems to have caught on a little

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-01 10:52

Baggers /or Coley:

For some reason I'm still fighting with sprite colors. Background doesn't always want to cooperate, or my position calculations are off.

A little step-by-step of the process that works best would be appreciated. Don't care if the programs are commercial at this point.

OBC

Cluso99 · 2011-08-01 18:06

WOW OBC. Those demso are great! Keep 'em coming

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-01 21:18

I should probably save this until the expo, but here's an early screenshot.

OBC

Edit: Hey Baggers, do you have a tiny font I can use with this?

Baggers · 2011-08-02 02:13

I take it it's a bitmap mode?
Would a 3x5 do? ( 4x6 with gap )

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-02 12:10

Baggers wrote: »

I take it it's a bitmap mode?
Would a 3x5 do? ( 4x6 with gap )

It's in bitmap mode, but I'd like to run it in CHAR mode, so I can get a nice background in somewhere.
3x5 sounds good.

OBC

Baggers · 2011-08-02 13:26

if you want it in charmap mode you won't be able to do 3x5 chars, you might as well do 8x8s

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-02 13:28

Ah.. There's a boundary. I'll keep it in bitmap mode then. Need to get the characters as small as possible. (and still functional).

OBC

JT Cook · 2011-08-03 09:58

I think 3x5 is going to be too small to read. NTSC displays vary in quality and I would not recommend going below 8x8 so you know everyone will be able to read the text.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-03 15:56

JT Cook wrote: »

I think 3x5 is going to be too small to read. NTSC displays vary in quality and I would not recommend going below 8x8 so you know everyone will be able to read the text.

This looks almost like 5x5

Gonna do some testing and see what looks good.

OBC

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2011-08-03 19:38

Here's another video test (and some discoveries I've made)

While it IS possible to do a minimal Windows style system using the PropGFX, I'm using 50% of my resources to pull this off. I'm going to move toward a combination of text and fixed controls where everything is a single "window" instead of Window(s). I think it'll be a better use of my resources. but impressive no?

OBC

Dr_Acula · 2011-08-03 20:36

It is indeed very impressive.

Regarding windows and complexity, I came across the same issue recently with the efforts in C, and I am thinking at the moment that you only have one window, but you can have a special case popup dialog window that asks questions "yes/no" and is an input box. Thinking of other "special case" windows, that might also include the file directory dialog box from the .net programs, and the color picker box.

Generally these boxes/windows need immediate input from the user, and once something is selected (a file or whatever), the box is closed. This is very different from the behavior of windows that stay open all the time.

The popup dialog can capture the screen behind it first, then ask for input, and then redraw the screen behind afterwards. And you have to blank the mouse as well during those redraws.

What language are you writing this in?

Cluso99 · 2011-08-03 20:44

Very very impressive OBC

Announcement - PropGFX Lite Binary Released

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