Hello all,

  Please help me develop a good open source tile editor that's truly
cross-platform, cross-browser, and run-anywhere (well, anywhere with a network
connection, for now).

  http://www.drunkencop.com/gba/tilemaker8.html

  There are some rudimentary instructions on the site, and I know the interface
is pretty fugly right now. Any suggestions/comments will be very welcome.

  Thank you,

  Peter

Check the forums at gbadev.org and download devkitpro from devkitpro.org. There
is also HAM which is easy to get up and running, but is a bit slower because the
compiler hasn't been updated in years. I am at school right now so maybe someone
else can elaborate. Hope this helps.

   -Jake

gbadev@yahoogroups.com wrote:
   There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Just Starting
From: "Peter"


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 21:04:01 -0000
From: "Peter"
Subject: Just Starting

Hi all. I am interested in starting to develop software for the GBA
(preferably in C). Can someone point me to some good software and
maybe a tutorial to start off?








________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________



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Hi Peter,

   I'm used a great IDE called Visual HAM  (www.console-dev.de) with  HAM
(www.ngine.de) for compile my projects. Tutorial can be find in  homepage
Jonathan S. Harbour (www.jharbour.com/gameboy/default.aspx).

   So, enjoy

   Cabral

Peter <supersonicandtails@...> escreveu:          Hi all.  I am
interested in starting to develop software for the GBA
   (preferably in C).  Can someone point me to some good software and
   maybe a tutorial to start off?








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Hi all.  I am interested in starting to develop software for the GBA
(preferably in C).  Can someone point me to some good software and
maybe a tutorial to start off?

On Tue, Feb 21, 2006 at 12:53:23PM -0700, Richard Terrell wrote:
> could i get a poll of what people use as their developement platform?  There
> are so many tools out there, it's a little hard for a newbie to understand
> which is the best to use. i'm interested in:
>
> 1. operating system

Linux (Debian).

> 2. compiler / plugins / tools

gcc, but I really only use gas and ld from binutils.  Link script based
on one from devkitadvance, I seem to recall.

noweb for literate assembler programs.

> 3. IDE / Editor / plugins

vim (and sometimes emacs, but usually vim because it handles noweb a bit
better, with folding, too).

> 4. Graphics tools

grafx2 via dosbox -- great pixel editor in the style of dpaint.

I use my own tools to extract tilemaps, sprites, palettes, lines (for
physics and level data) and so on from the PCXs output by grafx2.  Lots
of personal tools for optimizing data, compressing levels, et cetera.

> 5. Sound tools

arecordmidi; a hand-rolled tool for converting MIDI, XM, and MML to an
internal player format; audacity for sampling; soundtracker for
sequencing sample-based sections.

> 6. Emulator / Hardware tools

visualboyadvance, and a parallel port flashlinker.


There's still a lot I've been meaning to do with my setup, though, but I
haven't done anything with the GBA in a while because of other work.

HTH.

--
Julian Squires

Nicolas Wack wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Nice to see there are people out there doing gba/nds development on debian!
>
> I'd just like to ask what emulator you use for nds, because I couldn't
> find any suitable (ideas for linux doesn't work a bit here), and I had
> little success running the windows versions (dualis, ideas, dsemu) with
> wine.
>
Being honest most of the emulators aren't really up to running homebrew
as yet but they're getting there.

There's a version of dsemu which uses fltk for it's gui and is buildable
for linux, OS X and windows but I'm not sure how far they've got with
merging this into the main development branch.

http://dsemu.oopsilon.com/


Dave

Hi!

Nice to see there are people out there doing gba/nds development on debian!

I'd just like to ask what emulator you use for nds, because I couldn't
find any suitable (ideas for linux doesn't work a bit here), and I had
little success running the windows versions (dualis, ideas, dsemu) with
wine.

Thanks for the advice!

Nico.

David Rorex wrote:
> On 2/21/06, Richard Terrell <plainkeyman@...> wrote:
>
>>could i get a poll of what people use as their developement platform?  There
>>are so many tools out there, it's a little hard for a newbie to understand
>>which is the best to use. i'm interested in:
>>
>>1. operating system
>
> debian linux
>
>>2. compiler / plugins / tools
>
> devkitarm for compiling
>
>>3. IDE / Editor / plugins
>
> gvim for editing source code
>
>>4. Graphics tools
>
> The Gimp for creation + gfx2gba for conversion
>
>>5. Sound tools
>
> audacity (though I haven't done much sound)
>
>>6. Emulator / Hardware tools
>
> VisualBoyAdvance
>
>>i'm really hoping there's someone with a linux setup, but i'm interested in
>>all types of environments.
>
> Linux is definately usable for developing homebrew for GBA, as well as
> the NDS (which I also do).
>
>
>>
>>Thank you so much.
>>
>
>
> -David R
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Peter Balogh wrote:
> OS: Mac OS X
>
>
>  Compiler:I'm using devkitPro's Mac OS X version, and I've stolen an
all-purpose Makefile from the linux examples on sourceforge.
>
They're there for stealing :)

>  The beauty about that Makefile is that (I believe) it scans your source
directory for files with a ".c" suffix and compiles those with GCC, and scans
for ".cpp" and compiles them with "G++". If I'm talking out of a dark and
toothless place here, please correct me.
>
Indeed it does.
>  But I would certainly love to get my Windows PC compiling with such a file. I
can't get MinSys to compile using make (can't find the directories or
files--even with the environment variables set to presumably good values), and
the DOS batch file I have doesn't scan for all .c and then all .cpp files.
>

1. check there are no spaces in the paths - both your project folder and
the folder where devkitPro is installed.

2. check you set the environment variables as unix style i.e.
DEVKITARM=/c/devkitPro/devkitARM *not* c:\devkitPro\devkitARM

The devkitPro windows installer does a good job of setting everything up
as it should be.

http://www.devkitpro.org/setup.shtml

> 1. operating system
Windows XP

> > 2. compiler / plugins / tools
GCC as installed with an older version of HAM. ;) (Not using HAMlib).

> > 3. IDE / Editor / plugins
HAM IDE, Visual Studio

> > 4. Graphics tools
Photoshop, custom tools, Kaleid

> > 5. Sound tools
GoldWave, Toast, custom tools.

> > 6. Emulator / Hardware tools
Visualboy advance

...not that I've done much for a couple of years. :)

OS: Mac OS X


  Compiler:I'm using devkitPro's Mac OS X version, and I've stolen an all-purpose
Makefile from the linux examples on sourceforge.

  The beauty about that Makefile is that (I believe) it scans your source
directory for files with a ".c" suffix and compiles those with GCC, and scans
for ".cpp" and compiles them with "G++". If I'm talking out of a dark and
toothless place here, please correct me.

  But I would certainly love to get my Windows PC compiling with such a file. I
can't get MinSys to compile using make (can't find the directories or
files--even with the environment variables set to presumably good values), and
the DOS batch file I have doesn't scan for all .c and then all .cpp files.


  Graphics: Flash, for creating animated sprites; Photoshop, for tweaking the
GIFs that I get from Flash; and a Python script I wrote to scan any bitmap file
format and write out GBA-friendly C arrays.  I can make the script available if
wanted, but since it uses PIL and wxPython I've also compiled it into nice
standalone executables for Mac and PC. Let me know if you want me to send the
URLs.

----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Terrell <plainkeyman@...>
To: gbadev@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 2:53:23 PM
Subject: [gbadev] developement environment

could i get a poll of what people use as their developement platform?  There
are so many tools out there, it's a little hard for a newbie to understand
which is the best to use. i'm interested in:

1. operating system
2. compiler / plugins / tools
3. IDE / Editor / plugins
4. Graphics tools
5. Sound tools
6. Emulator / Hardware tools

i'm really hoping there's someone with a linux setup, but i'm interested in
all types of environments.


Thank you so much.








Yahoo! Groups Links

On 2/21/06, Richard Terrell <plainkeyman@...> wrote:
> could i get a poll of what people use as their developement platform?  There
> are so many tools out there, it's a little hard for a newbie to understand
> which is the best to use. i'm interested in:
>
> 1. operating system
debian linux
> 2. compiler / plugins / tools
devkitarm for compiling
> 3. IDE / Editor / plugins
gvim for editing source code
> 4. Graphics tools
The Gimp for creation + gfx2gba for conversion
> 5. Sound tools
audacity (though I haven't done much sound)
> 6. Emulator / Hardware tools
VisualBoyAdvance
>
> i'm really hoping there's someone with a linux setup, but i'm interested in
> all types of environments.
Linux is definately usable for developing homebrew for GBA, as well as
the NDS (which I also do).

>
>
> Thank you so much.
>

-David R

> 1. operating system
Windows XP (my computer at work and labtop at home)


> 2. compiler / plugins / tools
devkitadv (the one where you use gcc.exe)(you can tell
how knowledgable I am with my compiler :-P )


> 3. IDE / Editor / plugins
Programmers Notepad

> 4. Graphics tools
Photoshop CS (got to love the software at work) but MS
Paint when in a fix

and gifs2sprites.exe

> 5. Sound tools
Still haven't quite gotten comfortable with it yet

> 6. Emulator / Hardware tools
Visualboy advance (great for testing my programs as
well as piecing together the interworkings of my
favorite games)




__________________________________________________
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in the past, I had a linux setup -- Fedora Core 3 at the time, with
DevKit Advance (and later DevKit ARM).  As for an editor, I just used
vim.  No special graphics tools, though I occasionally used The
Gimp.  Audacity was used for sound, and Visual Boy Advance was used
for the emulator.  I also used the MBV2 cable as well.

Nowadays, I would probably substitute OS X for Linux.  All of the
other tools would be the same, but I would need to find a solution
for the lack of a parallel port on the Mac for the MBV2 cable.

dennis

On Feb 21, 2006, at 2:53 PM, Richard Terrell wrote:

> could i get a poll of what people use as their developement
> platform?  There
> are so many tools out there, it's a little hard for a newbie to
> understand
> which is the best to use. i'm interested in:
>
> 1. operating system
> 2. compiler / plugins / tools
> 3. IDE / Editor / plugins
> 4. Graphics tools
> 5. Sound tools
> 6. Emulator / Hardware tools
>
> i'm really hoping there's someone with a linux setup, but i'm
> interested in
> all types of environments.

could i get a poll of what people use as their developement platform?  There
are so many tools out there, it's a little hard for a newbie to understand
which is the best to use. i'm interested in:

1. operating system
2. compiler / plugins / tools
3. IDE / Editor / plugins
4. Graphics tools
5. Sound tools
6. Emulator / Hardware tools

i'm really hoping there's someone with a linux setup, but i'm interested in
all types of environments.


Thank you so much.

So that's what custom does !

on btw, the path is actually
Goto Images > Mode > Indexed color

But I've noticed that the gifs2sprites.exe reorders
the colors reguardless of what it was set to in
photoshop.




--- Rajesh G S <gsronline@...> wrote:

> Hi
>
>  Thank you all. I have figured out a way with
> photoshop to force colours.
>  Try this:
>  Goto Images > Indexed color
>  Check out the forced pull down menu and select
> custom... click on the locatin of the palette where
> you want to place the color, and click ok.
>
>  I am able to display backgrounds with a glitch. Not
> sure how to fix it. I used dmacopy to copy the char
> table & fastcopy to copy the map table. if the user
> uses the key to cycle through the 4 gfx, there is
> some corrupt gfx appearing towards the bottom of the
> screen. I believe this is because the screen is
> redrawn in the midst of a transfer. I am inching on
> by trial and error.
>
>  Any tip/help is welcome
>
>  Thanks for all your replies
>
>  -R
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Brings words and photos together (easily) with
>  PhotoMail  - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail.
>
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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Also, Cosmigo's "ProMotion" is worth a look. Basically, DPaint++ - it
will do everything you need.

www.cosmigo.com

Sreve

tarsius4 wrote:
> Hey,
>
> I'd recommend GraphicsGale
> (http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/index.html) to anyone who just
> wants to do simple pixel art without paying for an expensive tool like
> Photoshop.  Unlike most free art programs I've come across, Gale is
> tailored to the needs of pixel artists.  It offers straight forward
> control of the palette (as opposed to MS Paint) and it isn't meant for
> working with digital art on a high level, like GIMP.  Give it a try, I
> hope it helps.
>
> Steve
>
>
> --- In gbadev@yahoogroups.com, Palamon 3 <palamon_3@...> wrote:
>
>> --- Ped <ped@...> wrote:
>>
>>>>    I am using photoshop to convert RGB color
>>>>
>>> graphic to indexed color. I
>>>
>>>>    try to edit the color table to put the mask
>>>>
>>> color first, but it doesnt
>>>
>>>>    work somehow.
>>>>
>>>   Find appropriate tools which will allow you to
>>> exchange colors in palette
>>> and also patch the graphics accordingly to follow
>>> the exchange.
>>>
>> If you find a tool that does allow you to rearrange
>> the palette to your liking, tell us all.
>>
>> I couldn't find it, but then again, I didn't look
>> through the long list (too much trouble to solve my
>> problem).
>>
>> Due to my laziness and that I only needed to move
>> around one color, I simply opened the graphics file
>> that was already converted to gba into Notepad.
>> Then, after figuring out which numbers were which
>> colors, used the replace function to switch the
>> numbers in the picture array to point to the correct
>> color after I switched the position of the colors in
>> the palette array.
>>
>> Annoying for large scale palette rearranging, yes, but
>> if you don't care about the order of your palette,
>> only that the first one is your transparent color,
>> then doing it by notepad to switch one color isn't as
>> bad as looking though all those different tools.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________
>> Do You Yahoo!?
>> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>> http://mail.yahoo.com
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>


--
Steve Wetherill
http://www.escafeld.com
Escafeld Vinyards LLC
Jolon California
+1.831.385.4960

Hi

  Thank you all. I have figured out a way with photoshop to force colours.
  Try this:
  Goto Images > Indexed color
  Check out the forced pull down menu and select custom... click on the locatin
of the palette where you want to place the color, and click ok.

  I am able to display backgrounds with a glitch. Not sure how to fix it. I used
dmacopy to copy the char table & fastcopy to copy the map table. if the user
uses the key to cycle through the 4 gfx, there is some corrupt gfx appearing
towards the bottom of the screen. I believe this is because the screen is
redrawn in the midst of a transfer. I am inching on by trial and error.

  Any tip/help is welcome

  Thanks for all your replies

  -R


---------------------------------
Brings words and photos together (easily) with
  PhotoMail  - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail.

Hey,

I'd recommend GraphicsGale
(http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/index.html) to anyone who just
wants to do simple pixel art without paying for an expensive tool like
Photoshop.  Unlike most free art programs I've come across, Gale is
tailored to the needs of pixel artists.  It offers straight forward
control of the palette (as opposed to MS Paint) and it isn't meant for
working with digital art on a high level, like GIMP.  Give it a try, I
hope it helps.

Steve


--- In gbadev@yahoogroups.com, Palamon 3 <palamon_3@...> wrote:
>
> --- Ped <ped@...> wrote:
> > >    I am using photoshop to convert RGB color
> > graphic to indexed color. I
> > >    try to edit the color table to put the mask
> > color first, but it doesnt
> > >    work somehow.
> >
> >   Find appropriate tools which will allow you to
> > exchange colors in palette
> > and also patch the graphics accordingly to follow
> > the exchange.
>
> If you find a tool that does allow you to rearrange
> the palette to your liking, tell us all.
>
> I couldn't find it, but then again, I didn't look
> through the long list (too much trouble to solve my
> problem).
>
> Due to my laziness and that I only needed to move
> around one color, I simply opened the graphics file
> that was already converted to gba into Notepad.
> Then, after figuring out which numbers were which
> colors, used the replace function to switch the
> numbers in the picture array to point to the correct
> color after I switched the position of the colors in
> the palette array.
>
> Annoying for large scale palette rearranging, yes, but
> if you don't care about the order of your palette,
> only that the first one is your transparent color,
> then doing it by notepad to switch one color isn't as
> bad as looking though all those different tools.
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>

Photoshop rearranges the colors according to it's selection bar, ie from
RED to BLUE to GREEN back to RED.
So set your BG color to full RED with a hint of BLUE to get it first.

/FluBBa

--- Ped <ped@...> wrote:
> >    I am using photoshop to convert RGB color
> graphic to indexed color. I
> >    try to edit the color table to put the mask
> color first, but it doesnt
> >    work somehow.
>
>   Find appropriate tools which will allow you to
> exchange colors in palette
> and also patch the graphics accordingly to follow
> the exchange.

If you find a tool that does allow you to rearrange
the palette to your liking, tell us all.

I couldn't find it, but then again, I didn't look
through the long list (too much trouble to solve my
problem).

Due to my laziness and that I only needed to move
around one color, I simply opened the graphics file
that was already converted to gba into Notepad.
Then, after figuring out which numbers were which
colors, used the replace function to switch the
numbers in the picture array to point to the correct
color after I switched the position of the colors in
the palette array.

Annoying for large scale palette rearranging, yes, but
if you don't care about the order of your palette,
only that the first one is your transparent color,
then doing it by notepad to switch one color isn't as
bad as looking though all those different tools.




__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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>    I have the basic idea that palettes hold colors values and the first
>    colour is the mask color. I also understand that characters are unique
>    sections (8*8) of a bg graphic. And finally maps are the layout of the
>    characters as it appears on the bg.
   Yes, that's right.

>    In a typical scenario, I load the palette as bg_palette, characters in
>    bg vram, and map in BG3. But when the graphic is rendered on the gba, I
>    always find the first character of the BG as the background (instead of
>    the maskcolor). In the process of trial and error, I have confused
>    myself to such an extent of what is what.

   BG3 should countain "map" of image, let's say (A is first character = 0x00)

ABCDE
FGHIJ
KLMNO

   for 40x24 pixel graphics (which need unique "characters" for every tile, in
case of some repeating graphics pattern some tiles can use the same
character).

   Than the character memory should contain graphics (indices to palette) for
every character. First 8*8 bytes for A, than 64 bytes for B, etc...
   like
   0000 0000
   0044 4400
   0400 0040
   0400 0040
   0455 5540
   0400 0040
   0400 0040
   0000 0000

   for graphics showing big letter A in color 4 with the central line in color
5.

   And finally you have to set palette up to contain correct color 4 and 5.

   ...
   - if you see instead of your picture the first character repeated on whole
screen, than your map is zeroed and the correct map is not loaded.

   - if you see the lower layer at spots where "mask color" is used, that's
IMHO correct behavior, the "mask color" is transparent one, so you should
see lower layer trough those pixels. (I'm not sure how much you can
customise the transparency on GBA, sometimes you can switch it On/Off on
some HW, or eventually to specify which index in palette should be
transparent (instead of 0 to use let's say 255), refer to GBA docs for the
gfx chip transparency possibilities and how to set it up correctly)
   Also keep in mind the correct priorities of layers (which one is on top,
which one is on bottom).
   And if some pixel is "transparent" on all enabled layers, I think the GBA
will render it black, so if you want background of different color, make
sure you have some background layer enabled with correct color on it, or do
not use transparent pixels.

>    I am using photoshop to convert RGB color graphic to indexed color. I
>    try to edit the color table to put the mask color first, but it doesnt
>    work somehow.

   I'm not sure how well the photoshop in newer versions cope with such task,
but long time ago it was not possible to do it easily, and I used
PaintShopPro for such editing.
   Find appropriate tools which will allow you to exchange colors in palette
and also patch the graphics accordingly to follow the exchange.
   (or get some better conversion tool PC to GBA, where you can specify which
color is "mask" and it should patch the palette and picture even from
"bad" photoshop png)

   Check http://www.gbadev.org/tools.php?section=gfx
   There are tons of tools, actually maybe too much of them. :) Some of them
may help you to solve your problem.

   I did use gfx2gba v0.13 by Markus, which did suit my needs perfectly and
Markus was very kind to incorporate some enhancements I did need.
   But I think I did use 8bit pcx files, and not photoshop, so maybe I avoided
some problems you can run into.

   If this mail does not help you, try to describe your problem one more in
other words, adding few imporant lines from source can be of some help too.
   Don't forget to use debugging capabilities of some emulators to check
what's really loaded into video memory, that itself did help me to track
down bugs in my own code many times.

   And don't forget to search trough http://www.gbadev.org for tutorials and
gfx explanation, I think there was some very good stuff.

--

                    PED - Peter Helcmanovsky - wishing to have 48h days
               Braniskova 7 Kosice 04001 Slovakia / phone +420 721308701
     (_               -- actually in Prag, so don't look after me --
    "~/\~"      -=- deRATized RAT -=-  Being beyond Yer imagination  -=-
    ,_oo_,      7 GODS demo group WWW pages: http://7gods.org
      `'

>    In a typical scenario, I load the palette as bg_palette,
> characters in  bg vram, and map in BG3. But when the graphic is
> rendered on the gba, I  always find the first character of the BG
> as the background (instead of  the maskcolor). In the process of
> trial and error, I have confused  myself to such an extent of what
> is what.
>

If I'm reading you right, I'm guessing that you are seeing the first
character in your character table repeated across the display? If
that's the case, then it's behaving as expected, assuming you
'cleared' the map by setting it all to zeros - that means each cell
displays character zero.

If I've got it wrong, which is likely, see if you can reduce your
problem to as few lines of code as possible, post the code, explain
what you want it to do and what you really see, and if nobody else
beats me to it, I can probably help you ;)

Memory shouldn't be a problem, memory is cheap these days.
For example:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=301
4mbit for 3.87 USD (plus shipping or whatever)

-David R

On 2/10/06, Ped <ped@...> wrote:
>
> >> I'm working on a project using a Parallax Basic Stamp and    would like to
> >> have it display the results on the GBA as basic text. I    don't know if I
> >> can use the output of the stamp to program the GBA using    multi-boot
> >> system. I would like to be able to transfer the program without    using a
>
>   Hello,
>
>   I did not develop for GBA for a long time, but IIRC the multiboot data have
> to conform to nintendo's multiboot header, which contains not only important
> data about length, starting point, etc... but also graphics of nintendo
> logo.
>   I can't recall the lenght of those data, but I suspect it's several kB
> long, I wonder why nobody else pointed it to you yet. (this list is dead?)
>   As far as I can recall from my hazy memory, I think the MBV cable is using
> this propietary format of multiboot data, and there's no way to boot the GBA
> with some simpler scheme.
>
>   You can still make it trough with booting your GBA from some device with
> larger memory (PC?) to upload your own program, which will expect simple
> data from basic stamp later, in your own communication protocol, but I think
> you wished to avoid that kind of solution.
>
>   I think the protocol of multiboot programs for GBA is described on this
> basic level very well, if you will try to search a bit, you will surely run
> into the information about that nintendo logo, as it had been discussed a
> lot due to copyright reasons. The length of header, data format, etc.. is
> surely described and floating around, as I have seen them couple of years
> ago, when I was new to GBA.
>
> --

>> I'm working on a project using a Parallax Basic Stamp and    would like to
>> have it display the results on the GBA as basic text. I    don't know if I
>> can use the output of the stamp to program the GBA using    multi-boot
>> system. I would like to be able to transfer the program without    using a

   Hello,

   I did not develop for GBA for a long time, but IIRC the multiboot data have
to conform to nintendo's multiboot header, which contains not only important
data about length, starting point, etc... but also graphics of nintendo
logo.
   I can't recall the lenght of those data, but I suspect it's several kB
long, I wonder why nobody else pointed it to you yet. (this list is dead?)
   As far as I can recall from my hazy memory, I think the MBV cable is using
this propietary format of multiboot data, and there's no way to boot the GBA
with some simpler scheme.

   You can still make it trough with booting your GBA from some device with
larger memory (PC?) to upload your own program, which will expect simple
data from basic stamp later, in your own communication protocol, but I think
you wished to avoid that kind of solution.

   I think the protocol of multiboot programs for GBA is described on this
basic level very well, if you will try to search a bit, you will surely run
into the information about that nintendo logo, as it had been discussed a
lot due to copyright reasons. The length of header, data format, etc.. is
surely described and floating around, as I have seen them couple of years
ago, when I was new to GBA.

--

                    PED - Peter Helcmanovsky - wishing to have 48h days
               Braniskova 7 Kosice 04001 Slovakia / phone +420 721308701
     (_               -- actually in Prag, so don't look after me --
    "~/\~"      -=- deRATized RAT -=-  Being beyond Yer imagination  -=-
    ,_oo_,      7 GODS demo group WWW pages: http://7gods.org
      `'

Somewhat OT:

I would highly recommend other microcontrollers besides parallax's
basic stamp. It is over-priced, and under-powered.

I've used Atmel's AVR a little bit, and they are pretty good. You can
program them using AVR ASM or C. I've used the ATmega32, which is:
Flash: 32kB
SRAM:1024B
EEPROM: 2048B
Speed:0 - 16MHz
And you can get it for around $10. You can find dev boards for around
$15-$40, depending on how many extras you want included in the board.

Here's a list of devices:
http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?module=FreaksDevices&func=viewDev

Here's some dev boards:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/categories.php?cPath=2_10

Sorry for the off-topic reply...I had to use a basic stamp in school
once, and when I wanted to buy some for myself, I didn't like the
prices so I looked around.

-David R

On 2/8/06, Jim Bagley <jimbagley@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Gick2002,
>
> Just out of curiosity, how much memory has you  basic stamp got? as if your
going to
> program the gba with something to show  output in text on GBA, cos for
starters,
> your gonna need a font, and they don't  come cheap memory wise, gba's smallest
font bpp is 4,
> so your gonna have to have  code to convert 1bit bitmap font to 4bit,
> and code it to read data from stamp,  not to mention the stamps own code to
> store the gba code and send it to gba, and  finally your code for the project
to
> create the data and send to gba :) unless  your putting all that on an
external eeprom to the stamp? :)
>
> Also sorry that I don't have info on MBV2  cable, but I do know you'll
> need a bit more storage space than a basic stamp,  correct me if i'm wrong
here,
> as I've not long started using pics myself  :)
>
>
> Either way, good luck with it.
>
> Baggers
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:    gick2002
> To: gbadev@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 5:11    AM
> Subject: [gbadev] Program and control GBA    using a Basic Stamp
>
> I'm working on a project using a Parallax Basic Stamp and    would like to
> have it display the results on the GBA as basic text. I    don't know if I
> can use the output of the stamp to program the GBA using    multi-boot
> system. I would like to be able to transfer the program without    using a
> flash linker module to load a communication program. The stamp    gives me
> full control over the method of the serial communication so I    believe
> they can communicate. I need to find out the specifics of the    protocol
> used without having to reverse engineer the MBV2 cable and    software. To
> sum up, every time I supply power to the GBA and Stamp I want    the stamp
> to load the program into the GBA using the serial interface and    display
> my data. I have the HAM compiler so I'm able to test the program    in the
> emulator. Does anybody know if this can be done or another simple
> method that will produce similar results?
>

On Wed February 8 2006 05:23, Jim Bagley wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, how much memory has you basic stamp
> got? as if your going to program the gba with something to
> show output in text on GBA, cos for starters, your gonna need
> a font, and they don't come cheap memory wise, gba's smallest
> font bpp is 4, so your gonna have to have code to convert 1bit
> bitmap font to 4bit, and code it to read data from stamp, not
> to mention the stamps own code to store the gba code and send
> it to gba, and finally your code for the project to create the
> data and send to gba :) unless your putting all that on an
> external eeprom to the stamp? :)

Well, an 8x8 bitmap font needs 1k per bit of depth, so he'd need
4k for the font.  That eliminates the two starter kits (which
have 256 bytes of EEPROM for the series 1, 2K for the series 2)
but all the rest have at least 16k (though it looks like they're
bankswitched, which I guess could make it complicated) and as
you say, there's always external EEPROMs.

I'd think the rest of it wouldn't be that hard to fit into 16k,
let alone 32.  I could even imagine writing some kind of minimal
"display server" type of program and sending it to the GBA to
just display what the stamp sent it over the link port...
handling graphics primitives, simple text display, etc.  But I
don't know how useful it'd be for games (I know that's not what
the original poster wanted it for anyway.)

Rob

----- Original Message -----

From: gick2002

To: gbadev@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 5:11 AM

Subject: [gbadev] Program and control GBA using a Basic Stamp

I'm working on a project using a Parallax Basic Stamp and would like to
have it display the results on the GBA as basic text. I don't know if I
can use the output of the stamp to program the GBA using multi-boot
system. I would like to be able to transfer the program without using a
flash linker module to load a communication program. The stamp gives me
full control over the method of the serial communication so I believe
they can communicate. I need to find out the specifics of the protocol
used without having to reverse engineer the MBV2 cable and software. To
sum up, every time I supply power to the GBA and Stamp I want the stamp
to load the program into the GBA using the serial interface and display
my data. I have the HAM compiler so I'm able to test the program in the
emulator. Does anybody know if this can be done or another simple
method that will produce similar results?

I'm working on a project using a Parallax Basic Stamp and would like to
have it display the results on the GBA as basic text. I don't know if I
can use the output of the stamp to program the GBA using multi-boot
system. I would like to be able to transfer the program without using a
flash linker module to load a communication program. The stamp gives me
full control over the method of the serial communication so I believe
they can communicate. I need to find out the specifics of the protocol
used without having to reverse engineer the MBV2 cable and software. To
sum up, every time I supply power to the GBA and Stamp I want the stamp
to load the program into the GBA using the serial interface and display
my data. I have the HAM compiler so I'm able to test the program in the
emulator. Does anybody know if this can be done or another simple
method that will produce similar results?

I just tried it a few more times.  It's still as flaky as ever with
version 1.21.  If you're getting a "No response from GBA" message and
absolutely no activity on the GameBoy, there's likely some software
conflict preventing access to the port correctly.

Quick check:  Make sure you're letting the "GameBoy" logo finish
bouncing and sparkling before trying to send data.

Try hitting "Stop" on UserPort while Xboo Communicator is doing
nothing.  If things are OK on the software side, Xboo Communicator
should close immediately when the UserPort service stops.  If it
continues to sit there, you have a software problem.  A fresh reboot
usually fixes this.  If (heaven forbid) it's a startup program causing
the problem, supress some startup programs by holding down shift from
the time that the Welcome screen appears to the time the hard disk stops
chattering and you can use Windows.  If that doesn't help, do safe mode.

If Xboo Communicator closes when UserPort stops, but there's no activity
at all on the GBA, there's no problem with Xboo Comm. reaching
UserPort.  If possible, test other (old) parallel port peripherals using
UserPort to see if UserPort is malfunctioning.  If data written to the
port addresses opened by UserPort reach the parallel port and
vise-versa, you either have a hardware problem or a timing problem.
(Or, of course, you might have the wrong port address range.)

If you get any activity at all from the GBA (corrupted logo, good logo
then fail, logo then freezeup, etc.), you have some sort of timing problem.

Hardware:  Double-check the cable.  Make sure the GBA can link to other
GBAs properly.  Play with BIOS settings for the port.

Timing:  Start with a fresh boot, play with the delay settings, close
non-essential processes in Task Manager, try setting the UserPort driver
and Xboo Communicator to "Above Normal" priority level, mess with BIOS
settings.  (Don't use "Realtime" priority; a frozen process on realtime
will completely freeze the entire system.  Use "High" with caution;
you'll still be able to kill a runaway process with Task Manager, but
it'll be goshawful slow.)

-joemck

Joe McKenzie wrote:

>I also made an XBOO cable.  Sometimes it seems sort of random whether or
>not it works, because the CPU has to try to handle timing while
>multitasking under Windows.  It also seems to vary greatly from one
>computer's port to another's.  A few tips I've found to help, in no
>particular order:
>-Play around with the delay settings.
>-Reboot.
>-What version of Xboo Communicator are you using?  I used to use 1.19,
>which sometimes worked, sometimes gave data errors.  Now I have 1.21
>(labelled as 1.20 on Devkitpro.org, states itself as 1.21 when started),
>and it seems to work 100% of the time, even when I send a 160 KB
>multiboot image.  The version history doesn't say anothing about
>changing timings, but maybe it's just the particular build...?
>-Try changing your parallel port's mode in BIOS setup.  My Toshiba
>laptop seems to do best on ECP mode.
>-Change XP's driver for the parallel port.  There seems to be a "Printer
>Port" driver and an "ECP Printer Port" driver.  Either driver seems to
>be compatible in either mode from BIOS setup, but it might have some effect.
>-Close as many excess processes as you can.  Try running it in Safe
>Mode.  The less multitasking your machine's doing, the better chance
>your data will transmit properly.
>-Try a DOS boot disk with nocash's original XBOO.COM.  Remember to try
>the different speed modes and delay settings.  (I haven't tried it with
>the ME-version DOS you get from telling XP to make a system disk.  I use
>real MS-DOS 6.22 for all DOS-mode stuff.)  Also note that XBOO.COM does
>NOT fix the header data, like Xboo Communicator does.  Your multiboot
>image MUST have the proper Nintendo logo data.
>-Try a different computer.  It's weird -- my Toshiba P4 laptop works
>fine, but the family PII sends the logo and then fails, and my old 486
>doesn't seem to be able to do it at all.
>-Maybe try the Linux version of Xboo Communicator, using a Linux "live
>CD" like PuppyLinux or Knoppix.
>
>It seems the XBOO simply won't work with some computers no matter what.
>It probably has to do with the parallel port controller on your
>motherboard.  If this proves to be the case for you, consider making an
>"Intelligent Cable" (PIC-controlled) or buying one of the commercial
>multiboot cables.  Those are far more reliable since they do the timings
>themselves instead of relying on your motherboard.
>
>-joemck
>
>Jake Johnson wrote:
>
>
>
>>Hi, I have made an XBOO cable and am having trouble getting it to
>>work. I have tested the cable since I constructed it and the
>>multi-meter verifies that it is built right. I am using WIN XP and the
>>XBOO communicator with user port. The userport.sys has been placed in
>>the right directory and the port I am accessing is 0378-037F(which is
>>my parallel port). When I try to use the XBOO communicator it tells me
>>that the gba is not responding. Does anyone else use this? Any ideas?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Jake
>>
>>
>
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