project bobcat

[rodot]

Yeah but color screen with larger resolution would require very high amounts of ram... but the atmega2560 supports external RAM. So, why not
What about the size ? 3.2 inches sounds good to me (it's way larger than the current version of the gamebuino).

[DFX2KX]

Yeah but color screen with larger resolution would require very high amounts of ram... but the atmega2560 supports external RAM. So, why not
What about the size ? 3.2 inches sounds good to me (it's way larger than the current version of the gamebuino).

Wait, it does? Interesting. There's also a few micro-controller-like video chips out there. Think one of them is called the FT-1300, one of the other arduous console projects used it.

[rodot]

Yeah but that would be cool to keep everything in one single chip to keep it simple, flexible, and re-usable.

[TheTurnipKing]

There's not much to the Gamebuino that couldn't be easily improved with the application of more money.

Improving the specs but keeping the cost at around the same level? There's your challenge.

Maybe a second Atmega to act as a video-chip?

[rodot]

Maybe a second Atmega to act as a video-chip?

No no no, one of the advantages of the Gamebuino is it's extreme flexibility because one microcontroller is doing everything, from sound to graphics.

Improving the specs but keeping the cost at around the same level? There's your challenge.

The Gamebuino is not about raw performances, or I would have used a 32 bit Cortex M3 which would have been 100 times faster for cheaper than the atmega... I want to keep the compatibility with the Arduino libraries so I'll stick to the atmega series. If you want raw performances, there is some raspberry-pi based handheld consoles, or even a PSP or an android phone

[Myndale]

Maybe a second Atmega to act as a video-chip?

Probably not a bad idea if the cost can be kept down. Gamebuino follows earlier versions of the Arduino board and uses an FTDI chip to provide a USB-to-Serial device for communication and programming, but subsequent boards replaced with chips the ATMega8U2 and ATMega16U2 which are scaled down versions of the ATMega328p. These chips are ordinarily programmed with USB->Serial firmware but there's nothing to stop you reprogramming it as a joystick or keyboard or HID device or anything else. You can even give it it's own boot loader so that it too can be upgraded via the USB port, which would effectively turn it into a co-processor and allow us to program it to take on additional tasks like video generation (or better yet sound mixing, which would be handled entirely by the library and free up more cycles for the game programmers).

[TheTurnipKing]

The atMega seems to be one of the cheaper components in the Gamebuino, but also one of the more flexible.

What I'm really thinking though is, you could have something like the TVout running on an entirely separate chip producing a composite video-out, which could then be fed to any cheap composite display, from a TV to one of those cheap TV reversing monitors that are so common for use with the Raspberry Pi.

I suggest the Atmega mainly because the Gamebuino already has one, but if there are other, better solutions, I'm all ears.

[TheTurnipKing]

Huh, and now I begin to wonder: Could we potentially do this as a hardware expansion module for all Gamebuinos? Drive a separate, pre-programmed Atmega chip as a composite video out, and then just hang it off the I²C/SPI?

[rodot]

Why not, you could do an external composite encoder and communicate through SPI (I2C is way slower).
I'll keep all that in my head but for now I still have to put the store online, but I don't have all the components yet and I'm moving to a larger apartment this week (so I no longer have to assemble Gamebuino in my bedroom haha), so it should be online within one month.

[Myndale]

I'm moving to a larger apartment this week (so I no longer have to assemble Gamebuino in my bedroom haha)

I knew it! Now that Rodot has made his fortune from Gamebuino he can finally retire to a life of luxury!