This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - DrDnar
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 ... 38
31
« on: May 10, 2014, 01:13:00 am »
This update adds face card graphics! It also fixes an issue with supermove, and I made it so that if you archive the appvar, it will be rearchived when you quit. I also moved the IVT and ISR back into RAM, which might make any lurking bugs more likely to cause a crash. Maybe this will actually be the final update.
32
« on: May 09, 2014, 01:03:09 am »
I thought that maybe removing some of the black lines would improve the graphics a little. Do you think the new versus the old is an improvement?
I'm about read to just publish these as the finals, though. I'm still not happy with them.
33
« on: May 07, 2014, 01:54:37 am »
I think inverted colors are some kind of cursor.
Yes. Seems strange to me, too. Although aces usually do have that large suit symbol, so if you could keep that in only for aces, that would be a nice touch.
It would use up every remaining free byte, if I managed to pull it off. In other news, I really don't think this works. Perhaps I should try to rework the faces to be much smaller and make the background some kind of simple pattern, though it'll be really hard to do in four colors.
34
« on: May 04, 2014, 03:02:52 am »
So something like this? It seems like a strange style to me, though.
35
« on: May 02, 2014, 08:59:25 am »
I'm not sure what you're suggesting. Are you suggesting I make the suits bigger? The layout doesn't really allow for it. Are you suggesting I change the graphic so it's just one giant suit?
Besides, those aren't actually graphics; each suit is printed separately, so there's just four suit graphics and a list of where they go on each rank (the list is just 104 bytes, including look-up table). There isn't room to add 40 more graphics of any kind, if that's what you're suggesting.
36
« on: May 02, 2014, 05:40:02 am »
I've been working on more graphics. Here is a test with kings and jacks completed; I haven't gotten around to doing queens, for which I've been considering replacing yellow or red in the palette with blue (each card is allowed to have a different palette). I'm not entirely certain that these giant faces mesh well with the graphics of the rest of cards.
There are exactly 143 free bytes remaining with all 12 graphics.
37
« on: April 29, 2014, 08:06:46 pm »
It seems to happen on my TI-84+SE with 2.55MP.
I'm guessing the OS craps out when buffering the
string; it may not be smart enough to realize that
the temporary string created doesn't need to be
duplicated when it's stored to Ans. But that's just
a wild guess.
38
« on: April 24, 2014, 04:58:36 pm »
I've tried my hand at creating sprite graphics. I'm having a lot of trouble adapting the graphics to a low resolution. If I try to make the images top/bottom symmetric, everything is so small that the image isn't clear if you stand back. But I'm not sure that abandoning symmetry looks any better. And does it even make any sense to do it this way?
Attached are the old Windows graphics, and also two different versions of the king graphic. Thoughts?
I've also freed up some more space by moving interrupts back into RAM. It's less crash-resistant, but doing so frees enough space for a full twelve 4-color images. There'll be about 100 free bytes left with 12 images. Each image can have its own unique 4-color palette, though the background will need to be white if you want it to match.
39
« on: April 23, 2014, 09:30:09 pm »
The high nibble of port 21h specifies the physical size of RAM. The TI-83 Plus SE had an external RAM chip. All shipped units were manufactured with a 128 K chip. The allowed sizes were 32, 64, 128, and 256 K, corresponding to values 0 to 3. You'll note that TI always leaves the high nibble set to 0 (instead of the correct value of 2), so the ASIC always thinks there's 32 K of RAM. That's why odd pages are executable: the ASIC masks execution permission based on the programmed chip size.
Ports 25h and 26h specify the actual execution limits before being masked by port 21h. These ports control permission in increments of 1 K. To make all pages executable, set 25h to 00. Because of the masking effect of port 21h, you don't need to set 26h because it's already high enough, nor do you need to modify port 21h. But if it makes you feel better, you could set 21h to 2x, 25h to 00, and 26h to FF.
40
« on: April 20, 2014, 10:42:15 pm »
Now, for the existing Z80 systems:
CPU: A SMD 20 MHz-capable CPU costs $10.12, and as it does not include an internal oscillator, it would need an external crystal (just a few cents, really) This is the cheapest 15 MHz capable Z80 I could find on my distribution site. (you don't ebay production parts)
RAM: Since the Z80 does not have internal RAM, you need to get parallel synchronous SRAM. A suitable 128 KB chip costs $0.94
ROM: Once again we need a parallel synchronous interface, meaning more expensive parts. $0.99 for a suitable 2 MB Flash ROM
So, assuming the architecture is otherwise similar, we come to $12.05 for the Z80 without including most of the unnecessary peripherals, vs $4.66 for a much faster, simpler ARM-based solution. Granted, that's no nspire, which would be significantly better, but even without considering the time saved on the math (Cortex M3 has hardware multiply and divide, handles 4x the math at once) the ARM version would vastly outperform the Z80.
This analysis is wrong, if for no other reason than that TI manufacturers their Z80s and SRAM themselves. In fact, they're embedded into the ASIC along with the USB controller and most other peripheral logic. TI no doubt pay licensing fees for the USB controller core IP and they may or may not pay for the Z80, but regardless, they don't pay $10 for them, and I highly doubt it's more than a dollar or two total. TI simply mass-produces their own SoC ASICs using their own factories. The point about XIP flash memory is valid, however. (Wouldn't it be neat, however, if they replaced that flash chip with some embedded FRAM in the ASIC, for a one-chip system-on-a-chip? (Probably wouldn't be worth the re-masking costs.))
41
« on: April 15, 2014, 08:28:09 pm »
This update makes some minor changes, and adds a time bonus feature. (Previously, enabling the timer would deduct points, but provide no time bonus.) Unless new bugs are discovered, or 4-color graphics are added, this is probably the last update.
- Optimized some stuff
- Tweaked the behavior of automove
- Added automove to controls help text
- Added some code to support having 4-color graphics for face cards
- Added time bonus
- Edited readme for completeness
- About 1600 free bytes remaining
42
« on: April 15, 2014, 08:25:55 pm »
It's probably just a French version of the TI-84 Plus C SE. The dimensions might be smaller, but the internal hardware will most like be the same old thing.
43
« on: April 12, 2014, 03:09:31 am »
As some of you may be aware, I've been working on a Solitaire clone for the TI-84 Plus C SE. The game is fully functional, but is lacking face card graphics. The graphics need to be 24 pixels wide by 25 pixels high. I need graphics for the J, Q, and K of each suit. See the attached images for what the game currently looks like, and templates for the current graphics. The areas marked in gray are part of the card's suit and rank indicator, and are not usable. There is enough space remaining in the app for ten 4-color graphics, or twenty 2-color graphics. A combination of the two would also work (e.g. eight 4-color graphics and four monochrome graphics), and might produce the best result, since there isn't enough space for twelve 4-color graphics.
Yes, you get a credit on the about screen.
EDIT: There's going to be over 1500 bytes left without the graphics, and each 4-color sprite would be about 150 bytes, so there's space for ten---not eight---4-color graphics.
44
« on: April 11, 2014, 12:25:48 am »
This minor update fixes some small bugs, and adds a helpful feature for the ALPHA key: it will scan the tableau and move any cards that can be moved to a home cell (foundation). (Windows also does this.)
I want to add a little more graphics to the game. Namely, the face cards lack special graphics. There's enough room remaining in the app for eight 4-color 24w by 25h graphics, or sixteen 2-color graphics. I'm not having much success coming up with graphics of my own; is anybody able to lend some pixel art skills?
45
« on: April 04, 2014, 08:37:50 pm »
Today's update adds undo support, and also fixes several bugs related to FreeCell's supermove feature: - Fixed an issue with Panic not reporting correct register values, making it less useful
- Fixed a bug in FreeCell's supermove where it would LDIR the wrong number of cards. Normally, it would copy too many, but the stack size counter would be updated correctly, so the extra cards were invisible.
- Fixed a bug in FreeCell's supermove when you moved a stack to an empty cell
- Fixed a bug where FreeCell's supermove counted foundations as free cells, instead of counting the free cells as free cells. (What? The names were similar.)
- Implemented undo feature for both Klondike and FreeCell.
Since I can't make my server work, I'm attaching this week's update.
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 ... 38
|
Show Posts