gamebuino mega

[albertinjo]

What do you think of low resolution color screen?

It will be a bit more complicated, but it is possible.

[jonnection]

There is an obvious candidate for the next generation Gamebuino. That is the MBED platform (ARM Cortex M0 to M4). The community is fantastic, the mbed ecosystem is technically way ahead of the Arduino. This is a point that can not be argued over unless you've actually spent time with both. In my opinion, the only real reason why Arduino manages to hang on is the existing large userbase. From cost of entry point of view, the Cortex M0 is the best value for money MCU bar none. Mbed libraries are just as simple, if not simpler to use than equivalent Arduino libs. I've ported some Adafruit Arduino libs to mbed and it was a piece of cake, even with my limited coding abilities.

The bigger question in my mind is what LCD that system would use. Some Cortex versions have an integrated TFT / extended SRAM controllers (for example LPC1788). I've tried them, both to drive TFT's and using external RAM. The simplicity of having a linearly mapped graphics buffer(s) with no Data/Register lines to control is just something else. You can drive anything from a 3.5" TFT to 10" and it's just supersmooth.

Now, if there would be a similar, gaming MBED platform with gaming oriented graphics libraries... we'd be talking about a pretty serious handheld console.

AVR Atmega architecture is a legacy thing that has already run its course. There is no point in investing in the 8-bit MCU's anymore. The Arduino Due is a result of this. Unfortunately the mbed does everything the Due does, only the tools and support are much better. The Arduino Yun will never be cheap and is not ideal for a gaming application.

In summary, I will work on this version of Gamebuino, and I'm not in a hurry to see a sequel yet. But if there is a sequel, I sure hope its based on ARM Cortex.

EDIT: changed Leonardo to Due, fixed typos

[rodot]

I totally agree with you Jonnection, that's why I plan to learn how to use mbed once I'm done with Gamebuino

[jonnection]

Good to hear Rodot.

Warning: Cortex = crack cocaine for nerds ! (I've bought about a dozen M0 to M4 dev boards)

I haven't been active for a while (1-2 yrs), but befor that I wrote several low-level EmWin drivers to work with different displays including my own touch screen drivers. I might actually have some useful code for your mbed-gamebuino if it ever becomes a reality. Mbed is not limited so much by technical limitations, its more a question of where do you stop before you go too far with features and price.

An interesting thing I made abt 2 yrs ago was a program that loaded Pawn-language programs (super small c-like language that can be run in a very small virtual engine like Dalvik for Java) from an SD card which I thought was pretty cool (you can make time critical routines in C/Asm native code and hook to them from Pawn). This would entirely remove the need to reflash the MCU every time you change the game. I already thought then that it could be used for a DIY game console.

But lets concentrate on Gamebuino 1 at the moment.

Apologies to the thread starter for hijacking the thread a little bit.

[adekto]

just bit of a wonder but is it possible to do a port to m0 without changing gamebuino hex or source file?

[ripper121]

no

[Skyrunner65]

Sorry I haven't been on much.

I think that if you make a Gamebuino 2, it should be named Advanced Gamebuino (get the joke?).
Also, add a nice Screen with color and maybe a bigger screen Resolution.

This sounds like what I want .

[rodot]

Problem with mbed is that their schematics include a "secret" chip to prevent you from being able to make clones... pretty frustrating as the LPC11U24 worth $2, and a LPC11U24 mbed module worth $50.

[DFX2KX]

@Jconnection

The arduino system is likely always going to be popular just from the standpoint of it's huge user base and track record. There's an old Russian saying "Better is the enemy of 'good enough'." For most applications, little data-loggers and other home projects people make, it makes no difference what architecture gets used.

Gaming, however, especially the hobbyist ultra-portable market that Gamebuino's carving it's niche in, is different. If it lets you use a slightly easier-to-see screen, and have more powerful (and forgiving) specs, then people are going to be able to make better use of it. It would definitely be a good candidate for a Gamebuino 2, if one is made. I just hope that everything I learned making stuff for Gamebuino isn't rendered worthless when/if that change happens.

@Rodot

Really, that's kinda dumb, and sad. understandable, but sad. The arduino group does not do this.

[adekto]

@Jconnection
Really, that's kinda dumb, and sad. understandable, but sad. The arduino group does not do this.

not sure to what ur refering to, but isn't arduino on arm and some intel atom thing as well?