tty2oled Soft&Hardware Add-On (Shows Core based Pictures on a Display)

[RealLarry]

The tty2oled update script just made my tty2oled not function anymore. It asked if I wanted to update the firmware, I selected yes and the rest of the text displayed instantly and the script exited.
Now it still shows the tty2oled logo but no core logos anymore.

If I remember correctly your board needs /dev/ttyACMx in the user ini.
But the user ini was replaced with a new version by the Updater.

Well-watched, Venice! You're remembering correct:

And it presents itself as ttyACM0 instead of ttyUSB0, but it looks like it works fine with TTY2OLED.

This makes sense then. The two staged updater loads the updates and new INI files with it's default values at updater's first stage. If there are differents in user's existing tty2oled-user.ini and the new one, the scripts indicates that and stops. Means that you may have started the updater again without editing the new tty2oled-user.ini to set TTYDEV="/dev/ttyACM0" in your case and maybe other variables. See your backup tty2oled-user.ini.bak the updater created.

[LamerDeluxe]

Could you check the MiSTer for the correct tty device.
If I remember correctly your board needs /dev/ttyACMx in the user ini.

But the user ini was replaced with a new version by the Updater.
Means your settings are back to default.

Ah, that makes sense. I will check that, thanks for the help!
EDIT: That did the trick! I had already forgotten about the different device name. Thanks again!

[dave18]

I've been playing around with some RGB displays I have and have added functionality to display 16 bit (565) colour pictures and 8 bit indexed (pixel bytes followed by 512 bytes (256 16 bit palette entries) modes for my 160 x 80 display. It works really well and can still display the original XBM and GSC files (although anything wider the 160 has the horizontal resolution halved to fit). The 16 bit files use a .COL extension and directory and the 8 bit ones .IDX. Here are some pics

IMG_20220214_113402.jpg

IMG_20220214_114244.jpg

IMG_20220214_114405.jpg

IMG_20220214_114347.jpg

[dave18]

Link to source

https://github.com/dave18/MiSTer_tty2ol ... 735_Colour

[venice]

A new Adaptation to another Display, well done!
I was waiting for

Could you show how existing XBM and GSC Pictures looks like?

[dave18]

No problem, links below to the menu in both XBM and GSC and 1942 in XBM. The Punisher link above is also a standard GSC. They look a lot better on the screen, the camera picks up a lot of artefacts that you can't normally see.

IMG_20220214_195855.jpg

IMG_20220214_202515.jpg

IMG_20220214_202447.jpg

[RealLarry]

IMPORTANT - Announcing another change of INI files

We are using two INI files to drive our tty2xxx devices. The tty2oled-system.ini is setting up system relevant settings and variables you never have to touch, normally. The tty2oled-user.ini was meant for user specific settings and variables where you could and should change things to fit your needs.
While the decision of two INI files was a nice idea, it turned out to be somewhat unhandy in view of "dunno what to do with", wrong enclosed variables, forgotten settings in case of updates etc. You know, things that happen after some restfully time.

To respect that circumstance we decided to merge both INI files to tty2oled-system.ini and leaving tty2oled-user.ini empty and forever untouched, where a user can setup things for his own needs. Simply use the settings/variables from tty2oled-system.ini, port the changed ones to tty2oled-user.ini and you become responsible for these settings done, beginning from the date of this merge.

The date of merge will be next week to give users the possibility to (re-) read, ask and understand about this.

[OnCor]

Thanks for the update RealLarry. It makes sense to leave the tty2oled-system.ini untouched and just have users add custom settings in the tty2oled-user.ini. I assume all the actual settings themselves will remain the same as they currently are and users will just update tty2oled-user.ini to make changes that are different than the default settings like enabling the new screensaver?

[RealLarry]

I assume all the actual settings themselves will remain the same as they currently are and users will just update tty2oled-user.ini to make changes that are different than the default settings like enabling the new screensaver?

Exactly.

[LamerDeluxe]

IMPORTANT - Announcing another change of INI files

We are using two INI files to drive our tty2xxx devices. The tty2oled-system.ini is setting up system relevant settings and variables you never have to touch, normally. The tty2oled-user.ini was meant for user specific settings and variables where you could and should change things to fit your needs.
While the decision of two INI files was a nice idea, it turned out to be somewhat unhandy in view of "dunno what to do with", wrong enclosed variables, forgotten settings in case of updates etc. You know, things that happen after some restfully time.

To respect that circumstance we decided to merge both INI files to tty2oled-system.ini and leaving tty2oled-user.ini empty and forever untouched, where a user can setup things for his own needs. Simply use the settings/variables from tty2oled-system.ini, port the changed ones to tty2oled-user.ini and you become responsible for these settings done, beginning from the date of this merge.

The date of merge will be next week to give users the possibility to (re-) read, ask and understand about this.

This is a great idea that will prevent the problem I just had with my different device name.

[OnCor]

I assume all the actual settings themselves will remain the same as they currently are and users will just update tty2oled-user.ini to make changes that are different than the default settings like enabling the new screensaver?

Exactly.

Nice!

[marcelosofth]

I've been playing around with some RGB displays I have and have added functionality to display 16 bit (565) colour pictures and 8 bit indexed (pixel bytes followed by 512 bytes (256 16 bit palette entries) modes for my 160 x 80 display. It works really well and can still display the original XBM and GSC files (although anything wider the 160 has the horizontal resolution halved to fit). The 16 bit files use a .COL extension and directory and the 8 bit ones .IDX. Here are some pics

Simply fantastic, I was really excited to finally see a color display, after all, colors are life!

[venice]

This is a great idea that will prevent the problem I just had with my different device name.

That is the idea behind the change.
Make personal settings persistent.

[venice]

Hi dave18,

Link to source
https://github.com/dave18/MiSTer_tty2ol ... 735_Colour

is it working stable?
Transmitting more than 25000 bytes is about 3 times the amount of data we transfer for a GSC picture.

And could you explain your „scaling“?
You can send me a PM if you like.

Cheers

[dave18]

Seems to be completely stable running at 115200. Takes a second or 2 to transfer but I don't remember a single transfer error.

The scaling is pretty crude, I just use the bytes read to determine whether the image is a 256x64 or a 160x80 one and set a flag. If the pic is an XBM and a call is made to drawXBMBitmap I check for the flag and call a custom function that simply skips every other X pixel.

For GSC I have custom routines that draw the image pixel by pixel based on a 16 step greyscale colour palette from within the 65k colours. If the flag is set I just skip every other X pixel.

For transition effects I have a drawfourpixel routine which is a copy of the draweightpixel one but (as you've probably guessed) skips every other X pixel. I have adjusted every transition effect to call the appropriate routine based on the flag but in hindsight I should have made the check within the draweightpixel so I would have had to adapt less code.

Obviously the effect of this is that the 256x64 images are a bit squashed but I don't really mind that. I could have scaled the Y pixels too but then the images were a but small for my taste. The only time it looks bad to me is images that have a one pixel wide vertical line may end up with the line not showing if it happens to be a skipped pixel, although these seem few and far between so I will just replace them with a nice colour pic

[Moondandy]

Evening chaps, hope everyone is doing well. I have updated the sheet with some more arcade cores if anyone is looking for more images to make. Also, this is the Wheels early arcade board Pierco has that he is hopefully going to make a core for at some point.
https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page= ... 60&image=1

Is it worth noting against the consoles that don't have cores but someone has made an image of? I am sure people pre-emptively made images for some of those, pretty sure I saw an N64 at one point. Even if they don't happen they may come in ten years on whatever FPGA people move to after the DE-10 nano is superseded.

[RealLarry]

Evening chaps, hope everyone is doing well. I have updated the sheet with some more arcade cores if anyone is looking for more images to make.

Just updated, here you are for the new Blockade core:

[RealLarry]

Is it worth noting against the consoles that don't have cores but someone has made an image of? I am sure people pre-emptively made images for some of those, pretty sure I saw an N64 at one point. Even if they don't happen they may come in ten years on whatever FPGA people move to after the DE-10 nano is superseded.

Yes, I'd do that as always for sure, but it's somehat cumbersome to create them with an unknown CORENAME, save them for later use and rename them later when CORENAME is getting known... As long as I'm still alive I'd rather wait for a (your) sign and then give a Van Gogh to you guys

[Moondandy]

Sounds good Larry. I popped in some more WIP and announced arcade cores if you are ever itching for making images:
Alpha Mission is coming along,
Crystal Castles is planned,
Toaplan WIP core as most of the games running now (hopefully that comes to Main soon)
Gradius and Nemesis being worked on by Ace
Number Crash appeared in a MiSTer core update but hasn't gone live yet
Sega System 18 announced by JT, will be a long way off but some fun ones in there

Some mad lad is also making good progress on core for the unreleased console the Konix Multisystem so popped that in the consoles section

[RealLarry]

Sounds good Larry. I popped in some more WIP and announced arcade cores if you are ever itching for making images:
Alpha Mission is coming along,
Crystal Castles is planned,
Toaplan WIP core as most of the games running now (hopefully that comes to Main soon)
Gradius and Nemesis being worked on by Ace
Number Crash appeared in a MiSTer core update but hasn't gone live yet
Sega System 18 announced by JT, will be a long way off but some fun ones in there

Some mad lad is also making good progress on core for the unreleased console the Konix Multisystem so popped that in the consoles section

Great sumup. Alpha Mission, Gradius and Number Crash are done and ready for download. All others are either not in sight or are having an unclear setname according to mame (depending on core's version, like "world" etc). No matter, paint brush and spray can are ready for whatever is coming.

[RealLarry]

IMPORTANT - Change of INI files per new update released

As announced last week we just released the new update for your convenience.
Please do not forget to review both INI files at /media/fat/tty2oled and to set your personal settings in tty2oled-user.ini.
Possible settings/variables can be taken from tty2oled-system.ini. More information about these can also be found at the Wiki
The file tty2oled-user.ini will never be touched or changed by tty2oled or it's updates from now on.

Have fun! And don't hesitate to ask here if anything breakes...

[salamantecas]

hello I have recently assembled a Real OLED Screen, 3.12 ", 256x64, 25664 points, graphic module, LCM screen, SSD1322 screen, controller, compatible with SPI I have changed the jumpers to make it compatible with 4spi and added an esp8266 card flashed with ttyoled , the screen starts... when it wants or if it does after an indeterminate time it decides to turn off and there is no way to turn it back on. At first I thought that some of ESP board pin was touching the metal plate of the screen making a short but I have reviewed this and it does not happen. I have also come to think that the usb card of the mister is not providing enough current but I do not find the logic for those failures, if I turn off the mister the next day everything works until it decides not to. any ideas so you can check? i use a ttl usb to connect to the mister directly soldered to the board

thanks

[RealLarry]

Let's gather some points then...

the screen starts... when it wants or if it does after an indeterminate time it decides to turn off and there is no way to turn it back on.

I assume that ESP and display is working in principle, right?

I have also come to think that the usb card of the mister is not providing enough current but I do not find the logic for those failures

What type of usb card is that? An official MiSTer usb board? How is it powered? What type of power adapter (output voltage and current)?

if I turn off the mister the next day everything works until it decides not to. any ideas so you can check? i use a ttl usb to connect to the mister directly soldered to the board

What happens when just reconnecting the ESP/Display if it start failing...does it initilaise and display shows an animation?

[dave18]

i use a ttl usb to connect to the mister directly soldered to the board

I don't know which ESP board you have but some have USB on them to connect directly with the MiSTer (and to flash). If that is the case the TTL to USB would be superfluous (although no reason it wouldn't work but something else to remove from the equation).

If you remove the display from MiSTer and just have it connect to the flashed ESP does it consistently display the welcome screen? This should stay on until any serial communication is received.

[salamantecas]

Today at 7 in the morning I have connected the mister with the screen and it has been 8 hours without turning off and it seems to be working well. the problem is if i turn off the mister then when i turn it back on the screen is lazy and decides not to boot. I think that the problem may come from the power supply that I am using a source that is too poor to power all the things that I have put in the usb. maybe that's the cause of the blockage if I don't turn it off or restart everything is fine

IMG-20220227-WA0027.jpg

when I have a more powerful source I will comment on the results

[RealLarry]

Today at 7 in the morning I have connected the mister with the screen and it has been 8 hours without turning off and it seems to be working well. the problem is if i turn off the mister then when i turn it back on the screen is lazy and decides not to boot. I think that the problem may come from the power supply that I am using a source that is too poor to power all the things that I have put in the usb. maybe that's the cause of the blockage if I don't turn it off or restart everything is fine. when I have a more powerful source I will comment on the results

It's not only a question of "more powerful", also of stable voltage. You'll win nothing if a cheep shitty power source drops it's voltage below 5V when under some load. Strange things can happen when undervolting, like disconnectiong or failing devices/addons.
BTW: Where did you get this pcb (the green one) from?

[salamantecas]

A friend gave them to me they are old versions now I think the pcb has improved
What power source do you recommend?
thx

[RealLarry]

A friend gave them to me they are old versions now I think the pcb has improved

I'm just asking because I am the original author of this pcb. As you can see, this pcb is "copylefted" for non-commercial (among other) use and is missing an attribution, because someone (your friend?) has modified the original pcb layout. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

What power source do you recommend?

There are some mentioned at the Wiki: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... ecommended

[salamantecas]

Thanks to RealLarry who has encouraged me not to give up, I have created my first image for tty2oled and what better way to do it with an image that was not available. let the rock sound soon I will do more I hope you like it

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ngg1t8rz ... s.gsc/file

[RealLarry]

Thanks to RealLarry who has encouraged me not to give up, I have created my first image for tty2oled and what better way to do it with an image that was not available. let the rock sound soon I will do more I hope you like it

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ngg1t8rz ... s.gsc/file

Glad I could help, congrats to your 1st picture which is a really nice one. But which CORE does it belong to? The problem is, in short, that it's impossible (for now) to get a picture for a game that isn't an arcade one (i.e. driven by a MRA file) and that hasn't it's own CORE (i.e. Xeno Crisis for Genesis - the CORE (and it's name) is genesis then).
I know, it is a complicated thing for newcomers to understand the difference in the naming scheme, alike CORE's, MRA's, <setname> and other "mysterious" things and to read ~800 posts of this thread to get an idea of this... But keep on reading, asking and trying - it's not as hard as it seems.

I'm keeping this picture for later use.