SuperJacob Core

[dave18]

Hi

I've updated my SuperJacob core. I've reworked the RAM timings to play nicely with SDRAM. On original hardware there is 512K of CPU RAM but for the MiSTER port I've increased that to 2048K (selectable as either 512K, 1024K or 2048K).

I've added some sound options, the SID is now complemented with a YM2203 and YM3526 (thanks to the Jotego cores).

There are a lot of other changes and bug fixed, and I've now got the hardware to a final position in terms of features. Any future changes will just be bug fixes.

The OS does need some more work though as the FAT implementation is a bit flakey and is currently read only - next task!

I've included a fully working port of Bubble Bobble on the SD Card (developed alongside my Spectrum Next port) to show all the hardware features working. (I would like to move the sound from AY to YM2203 and YM3526 in future - there a reason I added them to the core!).

I hope to port anything other future Spectrum Next projects to the SuperJacob too.

Anyway, if anyone wants a play, you can get it here https://github.com/dave18/MiSTER-SuperJ ... r/releases

[KnC]

hey thanks for this i have just been playing bubble bobble is there anyway to change the buttons on the joystick ?
button B jumps but button A seems to fire and jump at same time

i choose the megadrive option as it said it was set to megadrive on the boot screen

[NML32]

Thank you for the SuperJacob update.
I noticed the same thing with Bubble Bobble's joystick controls. The keyboard controls work fine.

[dave18]

On MISTER set the joystick to Atari. The OS settings are just what I last tested. Real hardware has configurable IO so you can use any input device, I've set up the joystick interface with MiSTER to be the Atari protocol. In the OS you can type "joy0 1" or "joy1 1" to change back from megadrive to normal. Typing joytest will show a diagnostic

[NML32]

On MISTER set the joystick to Atari. The OS settings are just what I last tested. Real hardware has configurable IO so you can use any input device, I've set up the joystick interface with MiSTER to be the Atari protocol. In the OS you can type "joy0 1" or "joy1 1" to change back from megadrive to normal. Typing joytest will show a diagnostic

Thank you, that did the trick.

[KnC]

thanks for the reply i did the joy0 ect but never changed to atari in bubble bobble from looking at the git i thought you had normal as 6 button and then 2 as 3 button
will give that another go later
thanks again

[dave18]

In MiSTER the MCP23017 is emulated rather than synthesised (ie it just traps the io calls and presents the MiSTER joystick values to the cpu). The Atari protocol is much easier to implement like this so it is pretty much down to my laziness that it is used.

[breiztiger]

sorry but for me i got a black screen from last version
the other one work
i'm with hdmi

[dave18]

Do you have a sdram module? The previous version used internal fpga bram (which limited it to 256k). The new version uses the sram (just the standard framework implementation) so you would get a blank screen with no module installed.

The video output uses standard VGA timings so I wouldn't expect any monitor issues.

[KnC]

On MISTER set the joystick to Atari. The OS settings are just what I last tested. Real hardware has configurable IO so you can use any input device, I've set up the joystick interface with MiSTER to be the Atari protocol. In the OS you can type "joy0 1" or "joy1 1" to change back from megadrive to normal. Typing joytest will show a diagnostic

yeah all works great now thx

but this is what i was talking about in previous post
JOY0 - Set joystick mode for joystick 0 - 1 = normal, 2 - 3 button megadrive controller
since the core started with the megadrive controller connected i was thinking it was saying
joy0 1 Normal = 6 button
joy0 2 = 3 button megadrive controller

i did not even think of changing to atari controller in bubble bobble when i set it to normal

Edit:- maybe Normal should say Atari or standard 9 pin at least then i would of maybe took more notice lol

[breiztiger]

Yes i have a 32mo module

[Fallon]

Having a problem - typing commands into the SJ's command line is extremely sluggish, very laggy or sometimes no response to a keypress. Is this normal?

[breiztiger]

work in vga output but no with hdmi output in last version

the 20200423 work via both output

[dave18]

Hmmm, I have had random sluggish keystrokes on builds before, but then it just corrects on the next build. Maybe there is a timing issue on the limit. I would have expected a binary to behave the same across different MiSTERS though. I will see if I can find what is causing it (I suspect it is the vblank interrupt).

In terms of the blank screen, I have a 128mb module so can't test on a 32mb one. Has anyone else had success on a 32mb one? - edit, just read that it works with VGA so not a sdram issue.

[dave18]

I've uploaded a new release. This time I push the video signal through the video_mixer module in the framework. Hopefully this might solve some of the display issues.

I'm also hoping that a new build might fix any sluggish keyboard issues people have (save me hunting down an obscure timing violation).

Cheers

Dave

edit - bear with - SOF file works but problem with RBF... trying to fix

[dave18]

20201003 version now uploaded. Grateful is people who had issues could retry.

Thanks

Dave

[breiztiger]

it works !!!
no well centered but i can see screen on hdmi
thanks

[dave18]

It everything off-centre or just bubble bobble? The reason I ask is that bb isn't centred, it uses the leftmost 32 tiles of a 40 tile tilemap.

[breiztiger]

i can't fullfill screen but i think your are right, it's bb

[jcarvalho]

Hi, sorry for asking, but where can I find more info about SuperJacob... Google search returns only funny dogs... Another question is where can I find a games pack?

Many thanks!
Jorge

[Newsdee]

It's a "fantasy" computer, so it's only documented on the github link above?

[dave18]

@Newsdee

Well, it's not a total fantasy, the hardware is real, see here https://github.com/dave18/SuperJacob and anyone could build one.

As it is mainly FPGA based I decided to port it to MiSTER, one - just to see if I could, two - I don't really expect anyone would want to build their own hardware so porting it meant other people may get to enjoy it.

Cheers

Dave

[JustinKat]

I'm back to having one external USB drive reading/writing continuously on the Win 12 core mode machine. It flips from available to not available in Total Commander.Is there anything obvious to try in command mode? Thanks

[cdoty]

Are there any options to debug the software created for the SuperJacob?

[seastalker]

Will this be added to official cores? I have this in an 'extra cores' folder with the Jaguar core for now. Just curious.

[pepito]

I just installed this CORE and the VHD associated.
Once started, I'm getting a Dos like windows and I cannot do something.
only DIR cmd works but unable to start robocop or others games from this VHD file.

how it works?

[tontonkaloun]

I just installed this CORE and the VHD associated.
Once started, I'm getting a Dos like windows and I cannot do something.
only DIR cmd works but unable to start robocop or others games from this VHD file.

how it works?

If the dir command doesn't work, just press return key
dir
load namegame.js