Re: Re: Starting a ZVG project...

On 7/15/07, ldaubin@bellsouth.net <ldaubin@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > It's been some time since I've had the time or inclination to pull out
> > the ZVG I bought
> > some years back and play with it again - main disincentive being the need to
> > program in DOS. Are there any winxp - or preferably unix - drivers for it yet?
>
> Are you actually trying to PROGRAM for it? If so, I applaud your enthusiasm, but
> if you're just trying to build a Vector MAME like I did, DOS is ideal. I've got a system
> that turns on and gets me a menu withn 10 seconds, plays absolutely great, and can
> be turned off freely - not a good idea with a complex, multithreaded, memory
> managed OS.

Actually, yes :-) Although it would be a stretch to brag on any
enthusiasm as I'm
the worst person I know for procrastinating! However, I do have - among all my
other semi-completed hobby projects - a long-running desire to have either the
original, or a reasonably good clone, of tailgunner running on a vector display.

I did start by trying to clone it in C for the vectrex but kept
hitting my head against
what I'll chartiably call unexpected behaviour from the C compiler or
some interaction
between it and the vectrex rom's procedures (probably registers being trampled
unexpectedly, but maybe just good old fashioned compiler bugs - never
did work it
out). Then I took the approach of machine translating the
Cinematronics to C (which
means a considerably bigger program than rewriting it, and also needs a 32bit
host) which is where the ZVG comes in. I guess I could have persevered and
made that one work (the decompiled 'source' needed a fair bit of tweaking for
the different aspect ratio), but at the time it was just an
unacceptable compile/edit/run
loop. I did get a bit sidetracked writing my own compiler for the
6809, but after
getting the 8-bit stuff to work reliably, I didn't have the enthusiasm
to extend it for
the places where I needed some 16-bit arithmetic.

I think with the hardware available now (eg removable CF cards) that
the ZVG route
might be practical again, but the main problem now is deciding which of umpteen
projects most deserves some time, and the one I spend most of my free hours on
is undeniably more important, which is a historical project to locate
and save (and
possibly get running again) some particular old software from the 60's and 70's.

I appreciate the encouragement though, maybe I'll find time to squeeze
this in. Mostly
however I'm just hoping that my brain doesn't become useless by the
time I retire,
which is when I think I'll finally get enough time to do the things I
really would
like to do!

Anyway - back to the original comment - if the ZVG had either windows or unix
drivers, then I could have developed and tested the software on the system where
I was writing it (with the compile/edit/run loop being far more tractable) and
maybe only need to backport it to DOS when working and trying to build
a small footprint server to be squeezed into the vectrex box.
Although ideally I
would prefer the server to be a headless (well, except for the vector display)
unix box with built-in 802.11 that I could ssh into wirelessly if I
need to do anything
that couldn't be done from the joysticks.

G
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Received on Sun Jul 15 14:44:51 2007