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Running Hydra software in Prropeller deno board — Parallax Forums

Running Hydra software in Prropeller deno board

El PaisaEl Paisa Posts: 375
edited 2006-12-12 03:55 in Propeller 1
I would to run some of the Hydra software in the Demo board.
How can determine in the hydra software where the pinouts for the Video, Keyboard and mouse?
·I look at the sofware and do not see the definitions of those pinouts.
Please help Andre'

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-12-10 18:03
    The keyboard and mouse are wired differently so it's not enough to just change the pin numbers. The Hydra uses one pin for input and one for output for each signal line for a total of 4 pins per device. The Demo Board uses bidirectional signalling for a total of 2 pins per device. There's a different version of the keyboard and mouse drivers for the Hydra hardware that comes on the CD with the book.

    The reason for the difference is that the Demo Board and Hydra boards were developed around the same time and there was some discussion of which scheme would work better. The Demo Board got done one way and the Hydra got done the other way.

    The "bottom line" is that it's possible to get the Hydra software to run on the Demo Board, but it takes a bit more work than you might think.
  • El PaisaEl Paisa Posts: 375
    edited 2006-12-10 18:35
    It is very unfortunate the way the Demo Board and the Hydra were developed.
    I recall some time ago Chip mention that the Hydra was able to run the Propeller software only with minor
    modifications due to different peripherals.
    I like the Demo Board and the Hydra but more the Demo Board.
    I believed the graphics will be a cinch using Hydra programs and tutorials but I have my doubts.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-12-10 20:16
    It's not too hard to get the mouse and keyboard drivers so they're interchangable. For the Propeller OS, I slightly modified both drivers (mostly the start routines) so they're compatible. There's only one constant that I have to change (then recompile) to switch back and forth between the Demo Board and the Hydra (and copy the proper keyboard driver to the common directory).

    At some point, I want to combine the keyboard and mouse routines so they fit into one cog (and save a cog). They'll be self configuring for the Hydra or Demo Board conventions (not hard, just needs to be done). It'll probably be a while given other OS related projects.
    Mike
  • El PaisaEl Paisa Posts: 375
    edited 2006-12-10 21:56
    Hi Mike,

    Is really good what you said.

    I am sure I am not the only one in this situation.

    I hope to hear from you real soon.
  • AndreLAndreL Posts: 1,004
    edited 2006-12-12 03:55
    The mouse and keyboard are pieces of software, so if you bought the Game programming for propeller powered hydra and you have the software for the hydra to make it work, simply replace the "ISO" isolated versions of the keyboard and mouse driver with the non-isolated version objects, change the pins and that's that, very simple. Very few of our demos talk to the keyboard or mouse directly, they always use the drivers for this exact reason; by simply changing the driver it will work on other hardware as long as the interface is the same.

    Other than that, the pins for video, etc. have to be changed. So all in all its a 5 min thing to change 99% of the demos from the hydra game development book to work on the demo board. Of course the demo board has no network port, expansion slot, NES ports, so those features woulnd't be able to work without a hydra.

    Andre'
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