Zektor Update

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

George Pelonis brought this to my attention.

There are new Vectrex monitor updates at the Zektor site.

Pics here:

http://www.zektor.com/zvg/zvg_vpics.htm

How the Vectrex is converted to work with Zektor:

http://www.zektor.com/zvg/downloads/vectrex.pdf

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

Rob Mitchell <"solder_guy"@(what_is_this)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<2vhjsjF2lklo2U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> George Pelonis brought this to my attention.
>
> There are new Vectrex monitor updates at the Zektor site.
>
> Pics here:
>
> http://www.zektor.com/zvg/zvg_vpics.htm
>
> How the Vectrex is converted to work with Zektor:
>
> http://www.zektor.com/zvg/downloads/vectrex.pdf
>
> Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

I still wish that board supported Windows 2000/XP. DOS is a relic, period.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

>>I still wish that board supported Windows 2000/XP. DOS is a relic, period.<<

but less buggy and likely to crash! My palmtop is DOS based! Long
live DOS!

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

DOS works quite well for a dedicted ZVG machine. However, if you feel
compelled to use a 32-bit OS, here is the problem as quoted from Zonn:

"Here's the problem. I need to be able to talk directly to the
parallel port. W2K considers the parallel port off limits to
non-priveledged programmers. What is needed is a W2k driver of some
type that allow the ZVG access to the parallel port. There are a few
drivers out there that allow accessing the parallel port, but the way
the general use ones work is by changing privileged modes each time
they are called, this is too slow for the ZVG. I need to be able to
dump a small buffer to the parallel port using the ECP mode."


tm

> I still wish that board supported Windows 2000/XP. DOS is a relic, period.

 

[Tom]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

Oh, and this one as well. Any programmers out there?

--------------------------------------
"What I need is the ability to DMA a chunk of memory to the ZVG using the
ECP port in ECP mode.

All of the drivers I've looked at allow me to twiddle the bits of a
parallel port, but none of them allows me to set a pointer to a chunk of
memory and call a routine that will start a DMA transfer.

I push the ECP port pretty close to it's limits, getting the vector
information to it. The "bit twiddle drivers" must change to the privileged
mode of the processor each time a bit is twiddle, not only is this slow,
but requires me to hang around looping on the parallel part, when I need to
be running emulation and filling up the next buffer of vectors.

The need for DMA is to allow it to deal with the ECP when it needs dealing
with, without the foreground having to loop on a bit.

If anyone knows of a driver that does this I'd be interested, if anyone is
interested in writing such a driver, write me and we'll work something
out!"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

Why not just do a USB version of the board ?



Richard H.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.vectrex (More info?)

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:23:02 -0000, in msg <9v2dne3saPLzBDncRVnysA@pipex.net>,
"Richard Hutchinson" <richard.hutchinson@dsl.pipex.com> wrote:

>Why not just do a USB version of the board ?

Too bad the "USB in a chip" devices weren't available when we first designed the
ZVG.

Now it's just a matter of economics.

The ZVG was basically built because I wanted one! It may never pay for itself,
which doesn't bother me in the least, however we can't afford to do a redesign.

It takes a while to sell a run of ZVGs (it's a bit of a niche market!).

And since there is no simple way to run USB in DOS. We'd be splitting the
market between the two versions (Those who prefer DOS, and those who'd run
Windows), which means a bunch of ZVGs setting on the shelf even longer.

It is too bad since the new "USB in a chip" also supports Linux, and that would
have been nice.

Too bad I'm not independently wealthy, I'd take the time to learn Window's
drivers and write the Parallel port code myself, currently I just don't have
that kind of time.

Hell if I was independently wealthy I'd do the USB redesign since that *would*
be nice. Ok, that and about a zillion other fun and questionably profitable
projects!

-Zonn
--
Zonn Moore Remove the ".AOL" from the
Zektor, LLC email address to reply.
www.zektor.com