ZX Poly - wow!
Hi Folks,
Came across the following:
http://www.igormaznitsa.com/zxpoly/zxpoly.html
Has anyone else seen this before? I am no hardware person but the results look amazing.
Paddy
Came across the following:
http://www.igormaznitsa.com/zxpoly/zxpoly.html
Has anyone else seen this before? I am no hardware person but the results look amazing.
Paddy
Post edited by Paddy Coleman on
Comments
And will ever be emulator only, unless someone starts making a 64-bit Z80.
The author seems to think it's possible with four regular Z80s, and specifically says "the platform does not have any fantastic smart hardware controllers or a transcendent CPU chips (with 64 bit registers as I saw in some developments)". Do you have particular reason to believe his approach won't work, or are you perhaps confusing it with the earlier Spec256 system (which does indeed require a hypothetical 64-bit Z80, and is presumably what ZX-Poly is a response to)?
I'm not enough of a hardware guy to know, but synchronising four Z80s sounds like the sort of thing that's simple enough in theory but unspeakably hairy to do in practice...
(Either way, based on past experience with projects of this scale, I'll reserve my excitement until there's an actual hardware prototype.)
ZX-EVO (Pent-EVO) use graphic mode with color pixels (no attributes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuBTQKdnNow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ9aLgbkodw
ATM TURBO 2+ use graphic mode with color pixels (no attributes) and color palette (64 colors)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9idep79SdU
But best is SAM COUPE graphis mode (255x192/16 colors per pixel - palette 128 colors for each of 16 used colors):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DfDEU_Ifrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ6GaETicQI
All this computers need faster CPU (about 6-7MHz or more).
Soon will possible on ZX clones (or ZX Spectrum models) connect russian external graphic card with support SAM COUPE graphic mode...
http://micklab.narod.ru/ZXMVideoCard.htm
The latter :-)
Hi Velesoft,
I am not doubting you but why is it bad hardware? The concept looks sound enough. Are you objections one of cost, complexity of what?
Paddy
now that would be cool.
but sam coupe has faster cpu, so that card wouldn't allow ZX run its games?
1) Too hard for implement to real hardware
2) very hard create software for it
3) bad idea
We can on real existing ZX clones use better graphic and faster CPU (better is fast cpu than 4x slow cpu...). ZX POLY is only "project", similar as "ZX256 colors"...
All this "projects" is designed for modify (recolour) existing software.
SAM COUPE use different memory size and memory paging, then is impossible on ZX models use SAM's software/games. Only will possible switch between more graphic modes - zx original mode, sam coupe graphic mode, etc...
SAM COUPE mode 4 (color pixels) use linear structure of screen data. Each pixel use 4bits = 2 color pixels per one byte. This will fast for programming and easy for import graphic from SAM COUPE to ZX. Color palette can be used in ZX mode = is possible recolour any existing ZX games similar as in my SNAPER utility for SAM COUPE:
http://velesoft.speccy.cz/sam_zx128.htm
I can see there the NemoBus.
Do you intend to make any ZX-bus interface for it?
http://mister_beep.republika.pl/
what you do is, take an amiga and a craft knife. carve off all the logos, and write sinclair on it in red felt tip!
voila! a super spectrum with hi res colour graphics, sprites, and best of all loads of software that works on it! seemples!
;)
that's not funny..
A1200 had AGA, are you saying they should've sticked with ECS?
Er, no. He's saying that upgrading a dead computer with a new graphics standard that nobody will use is a waste of time, not "all graphics upgrades that anyone has ever come up with are a waste of time".
I like min-max approach - either we do minimal changes to keep SW compatibility like ULAPlus, or no limits at all !
Why not to have ZX in Full HD with EAX sound and auto re-mastering system ? That could be nice compo for 30th celebration...
ZX-Poly is bad example of being somewhere between. This is step back from Spec256.
Some russian interfaces with NEMO-BUS can be connect direct to ZX Spectrum. Need connect this connector:
But some interfaces need also small hardware patch (on connector).
ZX-BUS to NEMO-BUS convertor is realisable, later.....I need time for it...
Wasting time with playing 'grand theft auto' is not really that different than with 'arkanoid'.
besides its a hobby, if only the author of card would use it - that's plenty.
I'd like to explain objectives of the ZX-Poly platform
1. to make a platform fully compatible with ZX-Spectrum and its software
2. the platform must be possible to assemble on chips produced in 80th
3. the platform must not make a programmer to learn new technologies and architectures
4. Software from ZX-Spectrum must be easy transferred to the platform with minimal changes
I think the ZX-Poly platform has make all points, of course I know about very good platforms Spec256 and SAM Coupe but I think these platforms a bit more distant from ZX-Spectrum than ZX-Poly which can be called as a ZX-Spectrum with original links between its elements :)
I'm thinking along the lines of a chip that has it's program reset at the start of every frame and would work its way through a set of line lists:
Each line list would contain:
1 byte: amount of lines to skip before following list is used (255 - stop)
and as many as needed/possible given timing constraints:
2 bytes: address to write to (15 bits, top bit is end of list)
1 byte: data to write
once the last byte is written to the address with the top bit set then it will wait as many lines as dictated by the following line skip and then get to work again.
This could then potentially just reload attribute blocks on a line-by-line basis giving one colour per line of the attribute, but 8 down (subject to timing constraints).
I have no idea how it would fit around the contention of the Z80/ULA or how many attributes you could modify per line this way, mind...