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What emulators should I write?

K

kucalc

New member
Hello, I'm new here. I'm a programmer for the CASIO fx-9860 graphing calculator. I'm wandering if you can help me out on what emulators should I now write for my graphing calculator. I've recently just finished writing my S/CHIP-8 Emulator: http://www.casiocalc.org/?showtopic=3186

And also Space Invaders: http://www.casiocalc.org/?showtopic=3152

I need help in deciding my next emulator to write. Is there a old system out there that has a resolution of 128x64 or less that I could emulate? Speed won't be a problem as the fx-9860 is currently the fastest graphing calculator just behind by a little, the HP-50g.
 
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K

kucalc

New member
Yep, your games do work on my emulator. So, is CHIP-8 the only game system that has a resolution of 128x64 or less? I guess then I'll try writing a HP emulator, maybe perhaps the HP-48 series. Where can I get tech docs and specs on these calculators?
 
hap

hap

New member
I don't know of any other straightforward-to-emulate* game systems with a low resolution and monochrome graphics. I don't know much about the HP-48 either :p But I do know the resolution size is low (131*64, you can remove 3 pixels from the border to get around the larger width problem), it's got monochrome graphics, and the potentional userbase is high since you'd be writing it for an audience already interested in calculators.

*: CPU based instead of discrete components, eg. emulating Pong would be a PITA

A good HP calculator site: http://www.hpcalc.org/
 
Cyberman

Cyberman

Moderator
Moderator
Don't you mean SHRINKing filter? LOL

How about asteroids? That might be somewhat doable. Or perhaps an asteroids type game. Unless you want to emulate a Blood temperature monitoring system I wrote (LOL) it used a 128x64 LCD :D

Cyb
 
Lord Budweiser

Lord Budweiser

Ebul Overlord
A port of tetris would be a good idea... lotta people loves tetris, and it would please quite a ammount of people who uses this calculator.

EDIT: And what about game & watch? would this fit?
 
Cyberman

Cyberman

Moderator
Moderator
Toasty said:
Scaling can be done up or down, but yeah, that's what I meant (though not seriously). ;)
Click to expand...
Shrinking and dithering would do it right? I mean it's not greyscaled and what not. ;)

Oh well I think Defender might go well. Or some of the older style Arcade games. Games like BT Tales of the Unknow BT Destiny Knight and BT Thief of fate might be OK also just need some UI tweaky and Variable width fonts.

Cyb
 
OP
K

kucalc

New member
Lord Budweiser said:
A port of tetris would be a good idea... lotta people loves tetris, and it would please quite a ammount of people who uses this calculator.

EDIT: And what about game & watch? would this fit?
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll port Tetris.

By the way, what is game and watch?
 
Cyberman

Cyberman

Moderator
Moderator
Pocket Station

There use to be a website about the pocket station.

Technical Specs:
  • CPU : ARM7T (32 bit RISC Processor)
  • Memory : SRAM 2K bytes & Flash RAM 128K bytes
  • Graphics : 32 x 32 dot Monochrome LCD
  • Sound : Mini Speaker (12 bit PCM) x 1 unit
  • Switches : 5 input buttons + 1 reset button
  • Infrared : Bi-directional (IrDA based)
  • LED : 1 indicator
  • Battery : Lithium battery (CR 2032)
  • Other functions : Calendar & Identification #
  • Dimensions : 64 x 42 x 13.5 mm (L x W x H)
  • Weight : Approx. 30g (w/ battery)
It had several games but all of these came from PS1 games.
It acted like a PS1 flash card to load games. I believe each game was 8k in size (woo huge huh? :D).
I am uncertain how fast it was in speed or it's memory map setup.
The problem might be the fact it's an ARM processor if it was a slow one then there shouldn't be a problem.

Some links
Poket station programs
There are lots of places to download the only EXisting emulator for the pocketstation PKemu. However there are very few sites dedicated to Pocket station developement or emulation.
Lupin's site
Pocket Station Lab from Orion this has the most information I've found :D

Cyb
 
E

Exophase

Emulator Developer
I'm going to be attempting to reverse engineer the PocketStation (it's for a digital preservation course). I'll keep my results fully public, of course.

Some information I found years ago:

I've seen clock speed listed as either roughly 32KHz and 32MHz. The former is almost definitely not true, the latter is possible (imagine what you could do with it..) Even if it is that fast the games will probably run okay at significantly lower clocks. I'll try to do some tests to roughly determine clock speed.

I heard that the buttons are tied to a unique interrupt.

Obviously there's some kind of real time clock.

I was concerned about the sound, but if it's just streamed 12bit PCM (at a fixed rate perhaps??) it shouldn't be too bad. I wonder if you could make a little module player for it.. you'd have to be very conservative with RAM and you don't have a lot of space (although enough for some decent chiptunes).

I'll probably link here if I get anywhere with this.
 
Cyberman

Cyberman

Moderator
Moderator
Exophase said:
I'm going to be attempting to reverse engineer the PocketStation (it's for a digital preservation course). I'll keep my results fully public, of course.

Some information I found years ago:

I've seen clock speed listed as either roughly 32KHz and 32MHz. The former is almost definitely not true, the latter is possible (imagine what you could do with it..) Even if it is that fast the games will probably run okay at significantly lower clocks. I'll try to do some tests to roughly determine clock speed.

I heard that the buttons are tied to a unique interrupt.

Obviously there's some kind of real time clock.

I was concerned about the sound, but if it's just streamed 12bit PCM (at a fixed rate perhaps??) it shouldn't be too bad. I wonder if you could make a little module player for it.. you'd have to be very conservative with RAM and you don't have a lot of space (although enough for some decent chiptunes).

I'll probably link here if I get anywhere with this.
Click to expand...
I suggest you go to this page from Orion's site.

It has a map of the setup I believe the speed is some multiple of 32.768khz and it uses a PLL do generate the main clock. Considering it has 2K of internal ram and 128K of flash, the 2K is likely IRAM which is 32bits wide the 128k is likely 16bit wide flash. In all likely hood the 128k can contain several games in it, I'm not sure how many it would or does. The pocket station DOES have a bios though.
Orion's site has some source for a game of his on there. Something to examine at least. If you don't have a real pocket station I suppose it could be rather difficult to to emulate. Anyhow good fortune.

If you make it open source, it might be possible to integrate it into a open source playstation emulator such as PCSX. (that would be rather interesting).

Of note the playstation games can test if a card is pocketstation or not. So there must be some sort of identification method.

ARM Holdings, which reports its maiden full-year results as a public company to the Stock Exchange tomorrow (Tuesday), is celebrating a major design win in the latest add-on for Europe's top-selling games console. Sony's PocketStation, the personal digital assistant peripheral for its PlayStation console, is to incorporate the company's technology.
The PocketStation has been designed around an Atmel single-chip controller based on the ARM7TDMI 32bit risc processor. The single chip incorporates the CPU, flash memory, ram, LCD controller, D/A converter for hi-fi sound and bidirectional IR communications.
The ARM core-based design allows the PocketStation to be used as a memory card to expand PlayStation functionality.
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Click to expand...
Atmel appears to be the original manufacturer of the uC used in the pocketstation it fits with much of there line up at that time.
Cyb
 
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E

Exophase

Emulator Developer
Thanks. I have a Pocketstation so at least that part is covered. I didn't realize so much was reversed already. Of course, if documentation is found for that chip in particular that'd be pretty much all of it, right?
 
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