dracosilver_furcadia wrote:

>
>--- In gbadev@yahoogroups.com, Joe McKenzie <me@j...> wrote:
>
>
>>dracosilver_furcadia wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>How would i go about creating a program for the e-reader and
>>>compiling/testing it? I can figure out how to create the dot-codes
>>>from the files, but creating those files is what I can't figure out.
>>>
>>>Any help is appreciated.
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>>>
>>>Sincerely,
>>>Jonathan Herr
>>>
>>>
>>Somebody cracked the encryption/CRC on the dotcodes and wrote a program
>>to convert the raw program and data into a bitmap. There's another
>>program to print the bitmaps. (Remember to cut the margin the right
>>size; use an official card as a sample.) You can't just print them from
>>any program because the scaling messes up the dots' readability. I
>>tried to print the Bombsweeper sample program on my Lexmark Z22, but I
>>just kept getting read errors on both normal inkjet paper and Kodak
>>photo paper. Later I might try using an older (really stubborn) inkjet
>>or a really old 24-pin dot-matrix. The author's suggestion to correct
>>this is to examine the printed output with a scanner or microscope and
>>see if you can see any problems. Also try other DPI settings. (The
>>output is never quite the same size as an official dotcode, but this
>>doesn't seem to bother the eReader, but trying to scale it to the right
>>size makes it completely unreadable.)
>>The actual tools:
>>http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/e-reader/tools/index.htm
>>Some info: http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/e-reader/index.htm
>>
>>-Joe McKenzie
>>
>>
>
>So with those tools I should be able to create the raw programs and data?
>

The "Nintendo e-Reader Z80 Assembler and Linker v1.0" package
(http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/e-reader/tools/asxxxx_z80_ereader_10.zip)
can be used to write programs for the e-Reader's Z80 emulation mode.
(See the e-Reader Z80 API info at
http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/e-reader/api_z80.htm if you want to
use graphics, sound or input.) The e-Reader also has a built-in NES
emulator, which can run NES mapper type 0 games. Use a NES
compiler/assembler to write these. The e-Reader can also run normal GBA
code, which you would make using a GBA compiler. (Though I don't know
where the entry point is....)
Nintendo only uses NES mode (for ports of old NES games) and Z80 mode
(for stuff like the Pokemon card mini-games). They only use GBA mode
for loaders to transmit data to games (like the Animal Corssing cards).
This is probably because GBA code takes up so much space, it would take
too many cards to store any decent game.
Once you write your program, you'll need the RAW to BMP program
(http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/download/raw-to-bmp-v11.zip) to
convert the raw data into bitmaps and the dotcode print tool
(http://users.skynet.be/firefly/gba/e-reader/tools/dotcode-print-v10.zip)
to print them. (1200 dpi on photo paper is recommended for best
results, though I've yet to print a dotcode that doesn't create a read
error.)
Also look at the other programs (and samples) there. The flash maker
looks particularly useful; it converts e-Reader programs into regular
GBA ROMs, which would let you test and debug them with an emulator
instead of printing out each revision only to watch it crash.

-Joe McKenzie