MiSTer FPGA Forum

belgarcat wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 4:07 pm Thanks for this project!
I'm building this for my bartop, but the problem that I'm having is that for some reason the gifs are not displaying. All I get is the string "CMDCOR,name of the core,-1" in the leds for a moment when I start a core and then I get the text MiSTer FPGA.
I've uploaded the gifs to the ESP32 without problems inside a 'gifs' folder.
I've still not received the trinity board so I'm using a ESP32_DevKitc_V4 I had laying around. I've used the wiring from the HUB75 RGB LED matrix library.

the files should be in 'data/gifs/xxxx.gif' where data is in the same directory as your arduino sketch.

hellbent wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 7:11 pm
the files should be in 'data/gifs/xxxx.gif' where data is in the same directory as your arduino sketch.

Thanks for your response.
I've downloaded the zip file from your Github and executed the ino file from it, so I guess the file structure is ok.
The uploading process of the files seem to work ok, with a percentage that reaches 100% witout errors. Is there any way to check if the gifs are present in the mcu memory? Because I've tested it with a couple of different ESP32 boards (clones) with the same results.
Or maybe my board description is incorrect.
Can you please share the Arduino IDE settings for the trinity board? I think I'm going to wait to receive the board and test it.

I really want to do this but the Trinity is sold out everywhere I have looked in the UK. Is it much of a faff to use a different ESP32? And if not has anyone got a handy link of one to get?

so if you are trying to upload ALL of the gifs i've created you may have run out of space on the SPIFFS on your ESP32. as far as i know most only have 4mb and about 1.5 of that is reserved for the actual running sketch. that's why ive been working on adding an SDcard as an option and to possibly pull the images from the MiSTer like tty2oled can. in the mean time there are example sketches for the esp32 (SPIFFS_Test) you can modify to view the contents of your SPIFFS.

optimized gifs can squeeze down sometimes more than 60% of their original size but in my previous experiments with compressing/optimizing my gifs, they never display properly using the animated gif library afterwards. and i'm not nearly smart enough to figure out what would need changing in the current code. but that would help only for a while since i'm fairly certain that even with super optimized gifs i'd eventually run out of room on the SPIFFS anyway.

one other side note. turns out you technically don't need one of those fancy sdcard breakout boards and can instead solder up your own using a standard micro to full size SDcard adapter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1xOgZsnAuw

RascalUK wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:53 pm I really want to do this but the Trinity is sold out everywhere I have looked in the UK. Is it much of a faff to use a different ESP32? And if not has anyone got a handy link of one to get?

i have in the past hooked a D1 Mini style esp32 directly to a hub75 panel so yes it can be done. as long as you have access to enough pins on the board you can probably use any one you can get your hands on but don't quote me on that. the trinity is just a convenience. they appear to be in stock at makerfab since i believe they actually just build it on demand and they have parts in stock. https://www.makerfabs.com/esp32-trinity.html
pretty sure that's where i got mine originally. shipping was fine.

RascalUK wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:53 pm I really want to do this but the Trinity is sold out everywhere I have looked in the UK. Is it much of a faff to use a different ESP32? And if not has anyone got a handy link of one to get?

I used this alternative board and a generic ESP32 module and it seems to work fine with no modification needed. It needs soldering but it's all through-hole and nothing taxing.

Hey all, was hoping someone has advice for a problem I'm having getting this awesome project to work.

Powering up the ESP32 Trinity correctly shows the default animated mister gif (I dropped the 1942 and Golden Axe gifs to to keep within storage limits), and when starting a supported game (Black Tiger, Centipede etc.) I can see the commands from tty2oled appear on the panels. But instead of then showing the gif for the chosen game they instead go black before displaying the default mister gif again. Looking at the ttyUSB0 output I can see that the ESP32 is crashing and then rebooting

Not really sure what I have done wrong, or how to resolve and was hoping someone has some clues.

Thanks

Here is the serial output:

Solved it. Realised that in the serial output the game name being passed to the script was garbled (despite it appearing correct on the panel) so looked further into the tty2oled config then realised that the USBMODE option defaults to "yes", meaning that it attempts to retrieves the image from the Mister instead of the ESP32s local storage

In short, resolved by adding the following to /media/fat/tty2oled/tty2oled-user.ini

Thank you!
That was exactly my problem and it was solved by adding this line!
Maybe it should be added to the instructions.

EDIT: Further testing it I noticed that in the first change of the core appear the following text: att, CONTRAST, 100, CMDSETTIME, 1662847096, CMDSAVER,0,0,0. And with the successive changes the text does not appear

i'll look into it folks! you know how you've been working on something so long you just take the little things for granted... i should try to make a setup from scratch and record every step...

DEFENDER gif is added

hellbent wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:48 pm i'll look into it folks! you know how you've been working on something so long you just take the little things for granted... i should try to make a setup from scratch and record every step...

DEFENDER gif is added

defender_big.gif

I most definitely know how that goes. Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I have ordered the parts and look forward to building mine.

Your gifs are top notch too!

Hi@all,
I have created out of the tty2oled project a simple script daemon called tty2x which sends nothing more than the Corename to the configured tty device.

If you like to test, get the attached archive and extract the content to your MiSTer into /media/fat/tty2x.

The default device is ttyUSB0 and is set in tty2x.ini and can be overwritten with values in tty2x-user.ini.

The only option which can be deactivated is the possiblity to disable the "first transmission" which „flows“ the Arduino receive buffer.
Means, the value "QWERTZ" will not sent to the tty Device as first data.
Uncomment the Option #SENDQWERTZ="no" in tty2xxx-user.ini by removing the leading "#" for this.

If you need to use another tty Device, configure yours in the tty2x-user.ini file.
Some examples are already in the file. Remove the leading "#" to activate the entry.

If you run the autostart entry for tty2x within /media/fat/linux/user-startup.sh is created.

Maybe it helps

venice wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 4:10 pm Hi@all,
I have created out of the tty2oled project a simple script daemon called tty2x
which sends nothing more than the Corename to the configured tty device.

If you like to test, get the attached archive and extract the content to your MiSTer into /media/fat/tty2x.

The default device is ttyUSB0 and is set in tty2x.ini and can be overwritten with values in tty2x-user.ini.

The only option which can be deactivated is the possiblity to disable the "first transmission".
Means, the value "QWERTZ" will not sent to the tty Device as first data.
Uncomment the Option #SENDQWERTZ="no" in tty2xxx-user.ini by removing the leading "#" for this.

If you need to use another tty Device, configure yours in the tty2x-user.ini file.
Some examples are already in the file. Remove the leading "#" to activate the entry.

If you run

Code: Select all

/media/fat/tty2x/S60tty2x setup

the autostart entry for tty2x within /media/fat/linux/user-startup.sh is created.

Maybe it helps

And thank you for sharing all your efforts as well! This community is awesome!

Hey guys, I can't get this to work , my panel turns on, I already connected it to my Wi-fi network, when I turn it on it shows me what I put in image 1, but nothing else, it doesn't connect to MISTer, it doesn't show any animation of nothing else. When updating the Web2rgbmatrix.sh from MISTer it shows me the image 2, I don't know if I'm doing something wrong.

venice wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 4:10 pm Hi@all,
I have created out of the tty2oled project a simple script daemon called tty2x
which sends nothing more than the Corename to the configured tty device.

This is great, just tested (disabling tty2oled first) and all working as described!

Thanks!!

kirabate wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 9:14 am Hey guys, I can't get this to work ,….
When updating the Web2rgbmatrix.sh from MISTer it shows me the image 2, I don't know if I'm doing something wrong.

I think you are in the wrong thread!?
This is the one for tty2rgbmatrix.

Goto viewtopic.php?t=5330 for web2rgbmatrix.

Finally!!! I did it!!!!! Let's goooo!!!

YES! i have loading gifs from SDcard working on a test sketch! i just need to port it to the current code base! finally, this has been like a month of banging my head against the desk.

perfect timing......great project. My panels arrived last week and my ESP32 Trinity arrived yesterday. Time to built this thing!

hellbent wrote: ↑Fri Sep 16, 2022 7:27 pm YES! i have loading gifs from SDcard working on a test sketch! i just need to port it to the current code base! finally, this has been like a month of banging my head against the desk.

Nice!!! i can´t wait

Here's some of my gifs that I use on my RPI2DMD

ARCADE_NEOGEO_SCROLL_last_blade2_02_clivefrog


PS1_Castlevania-Symphony_of_the_Night_01_clivefrog


ARCADE_Wonderboy_03_clivefrog


OTHER_SCROLL_Data_East_01_clivefrog


SNES_Biometal_01_clivefrog


SNES_parodius_02_clivefrog


SNES_pocky_and_rocky_2_01_clivefrog


MD_Revenge_Of_Shinobi_01_clivefrog


MD_Shadow_Dancer_01_clivefrog


ARCADE_Liquid_Kids_01_clivefrog


ARCADE_Xexex_01_clivefrog


ARCADE_Wonderboy_04_clivefrog


MD_Chase_HQ_II_01_Clivefrog


MD_16t_01_clivefrog


MD_Crying_Aseimei_Sensou_01_clivefrog


AMIGA_SCROLL_babayaga_01_clivefrog.gif


AMIGA_SCROLL_Beast_Busters_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_NEOGEO_SCROLL_fatal_fury2_01_clivefrog.gif


PCE_CD_Advanced_Variable_Geo_01_clivefrog.gif


PCE_SCROLL_Air_Zonk_01_clivefrog


ARCADE_1942_01_clivefrog.gif


WONDERSWAN_Makaimura_for_WonderSwan_01_clivefrog


ARCADE_SCROLL_SF2_ChunLi_02_clivefrog.gif


80s_90s_Optimus_Prime_Jarrot_Blog_01_clivefrog


80s_90s_Iron_Man_Jarrot_Blog_01_clivefrog


80s_90s_Shredder_Jarrot_Blog_01_clivefrog


80s_90s_SCROLL_He-Man_01_Jarrot_Blog_clivefrog


PS1_SCROLL_Tomb_Raider_01_clivefrog


NES_pacman01_clivefrog.gif


NES_excitebike01_clivefrog.gif


Other_capcom_logo01_clivefrog.gif


OTHER_Airwolf_Logo_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_Shinobi_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_Shinobi_02_Bonus_Stage_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_BubbleBobble_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_SF2_GuileTricks_02_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_SF2_GuileTricks_03_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_SF2_GuileTricks_04_clivefrog.gif


NES_jackie_chan01_clivefrog.gif


NES_RiverCityRansom_01_clivefrog.gif


NES_Trog_01_clivefrog.gif


NES_shadow_of_the_ninja01_clivefrog.gif


NES_gargoyles_quest2_01_clivefrog.gif


SNES_Syvalion_01_clivefrog.gif


SNES_demons_crest_01_clivefrog.gif


AMIGA_SCROLL_maniac_mansion_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_SCROLL_SF2_Ryu_Blanka_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_WonderboyInMonsterland_01_clivefrog.gif


ARCADE_DonDokoDon_01_clivefrog.gif


AMIGA_SCROLL_barbarian_01_clivefrog.gif


PCE_SCROLL_double_dragonII01_clivefrog.gif


MD_atomic_robokid01_clivefrog.gif


NES_castlevania3_01_clivefrog.gif

separate sketch for sdcard loading has been uploaded to github. pay attention to the pin setup for the sdcard reader.
format your sd card as fat or fat32 (depending on the size of the card) and place gifs into a gifs folder. example screenshot below: here you can see my very professional wiring. my intention was to have this just plug into the pins on the trinity and just hang out since the pinout on the adafruit board was pretty close and i'd just reassign the pins in the sketch. but for whatever reason i have to use the pins as designated in the sketch so i had to use wires (jumpers for now) or else it crashes the microcontroller. so for now, wires... but YMMV.

@hellbent

Can we extract single pictures (and maybe modify them a bit) out of your animated gifs for creating static versions?
Or is this something you don't want?

you can do whatever you want my friend. dunno if my the gif code will show a static image or not tho. that was also on my original roadmap but i kinda got carried away with the animated ones. but statics would be good for placeholders or alternatives for sure. you thinking gifs or jpeg? and i'm not precious about the gifs i've made. 90% of them were sprite rip assets that i just animated or whatever.

Many Thx, your animated gifs are really great

web2rgbmatrix plays available animated gifs once and after that it shows a static gif picture.
So I would extract an useful part out of your animation to be the static final picture.
I just try to use gimp for the extraction, let's see how it goes.

had some time during lunch and got the sdcard pins how i wanted them originally. standard header pins won't clear the power screw terminals so i used some longer ones.

venice wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:53 pm Many Thx, your animated gifs are really great

web2rgbmatrix plays available animated gifs once and after that it shows a static gif picture.
So I would extract an useful part out of your animation to be the static final picture.
I just try to use gimp for the extraction, let's see how it goes.

ahh i see! yes please do as you wish

hellbent wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:56 pm had some time during lunch and got the sdcard pins how i wanted them originally. standard header pins won't clear the power screw terminals so i used some longer ones.

Nice and clean! I wouldn't have thought to do that. I am pretty bad about neat wiring and tend to hide my shame behind covers.

working on more code changes, added support for static gif images, breaking out of current playing animation loop, and some basic error checking (is sd card mounted? if not don't try to load a file! {shamelessly stolen from kconger's project}). still smoothing some things out. also added some entries for some images that i did not create to be displayed.

Awesome! My parts are slowly arriving from China, so I hope to have mine put together soon. I think I'm going to hang it from a wall, and so I will likely make an edit to your Fusion model or maybe make a different frame.

I'm also planning on 3d printing a diffuser overlay grid, assuming I don't like the look of the bare display. If I do that and it comes out well, I'll be sure to share the model with everyone.

Edit: A 3D printed diffuser is good for LED lighting, but not so much for this application as it turns out.

Thanks for your continued work on this! This is a great companion to the MiSTer.