Compukit UK101 core

EeDee
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

danielb wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 2:30 pm Galactic Hitchhiker

This game is, according to this site: https://intfiction.org/t/early-british- ... ures/46425 possibly the earliest surviving British text adventure game. More details can be found here: http://8bitag.com/info/galactic.html and here: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic ... 073#p61073.

I downloaded the file from the stardot forum, and altered it very slightly (added padding at the end, the code is identical).

The game seems to work well on the core. To run it, select the MonUK02 monitor, and set the terminal width to 46 characters. Then reset and select "Monitor" then press L and load the file. There is a walkthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA36YiR ... l=benkid77 of it being played on an emulator.

I am attaching both the game itself, and also a new pre-release version of the core. The only difference between this version and the previous one, is that I have increased the maximum text file size to well beyond the size of this file.

The original name of the file, BTW, was ghpart1. I have no idea if there was a part2...

D.
I've come across this I think but not tried it.
Thanks
danielb
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

EeDee wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 3:11 pm
danielb wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 2:30 pm Galactic Hitchhiker

This game is, according to this site: https://intfiction.org/t/early-british- ... ures/46425 possibly the earliest surviving British text adventure game. More details can be found here: http://8bitag.com/info/galactic.html and here: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic ... 073#p61073.

I downloaded the file from the stardot forum, and altered it very slightly (added padding at the end, the code is identical).

The game seems to work well on the core. To run it, select the MonUK02 monitor, and set the terminal width to 46 characters. Then reset and select "Monitor" then press L and load the file. There is a walkthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA36YiR ... l=benkid77 of it being played on an emulator.

I am attaching both the game itself, and also a new pre-release version of the core. The only difference between this version and the previous one, is that I have increased the maximum text file size to well beyond the size of this file.

The original name of the file, BTW, was ghpart1. I have no idea if there was a part2...

D.
I've come across this I think but not tried it.
Thanks
I'd never heard of it before I stumbled upon that YouTube video, but I couldn't resist getting it working on the core :)

D.
EeDee
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

Think I read somewhere that a part2 hasn't surfaced
Tried your adapted part1 and all is working. I've not yet tried anything else but will do very soon
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

I played it right through, following the walkthrough. Some of it is quite funny, but I imagine it would be pretty tedious without the walkthrough :shock:

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

danielb wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 5:25 pm I played it right through, following the walkthrough. Some of it is quite funny, but I imagine it would be pretty tedious without the walkthrough :shock:

D.
Yes :-)
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

EeDee wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 4:53 pm ...I've not yet tried anything else but will do very soon
Messed about a little and seems okay so far
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Here's a hint: Super Invaders plays very nicely with a joystick if you redefine the keys. Definitely would have been considered sci-fi in 1979...

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

danielb wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:31 pm Here's a hint: Super Invaders plays very nicely with a joystick if you redefine the keys. Definitely would have been considered sci-fi in 1979...

D.
Not having been successful in remapping before (not much of a gamer so didn't try very hard) I made an effort to try out what you suggested.
I've activated rapid fire as well so now having a "blast" :)
In '79 I'd not yet seen a computer apart from on tv :(
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

Just an observation that when a text file has finished loading I find I have to press the space bar to get back a flashing cursor and then Return before I can List or Run ect.

Additional: Just watched one of your videos and noticed it is normal behaviour :-)
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

EeDee wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 9:41 am Just an observation that when a text file has finished loading I find I have to press the space bar to get back a flashing cursor and then Return before I can List or Run ect.

Additional: Just watch one of your videos and noticed it is normal behaviour :-)
Yes, Writing LOAD puts it into "load mode" and it waits for you to upload your program, either via the UART or from the text file. Pressing space ends the "load mode".

This is the cause of the one remaining bug - some games autorun after loading, thus leaving "load mode" switched on. If you do a reset while these games are running, chaos ensues the next time you try to load a program from a file. This chaos can actually be worked around by actually uploading a short file, which resets everything back the way it should be, or else you can reload the core.

Since this doesn't happen when loading via the UART, I have been trying to see in which ways the signals change during a loading session, both from file and from the UART, and so far I can see no differences at all - they seem to behave in exactly the same way.

I would really like to get this bug fixed before making this version official, but it might take a while :oops:

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

I seem to have fixed it.... :D
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

Really?! Great!!
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Apparently... I'll test it some more, and if I can't trip it up, I'll put another pre-release version on the forum.

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

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Thanks! :-)
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Here it is. It appears to work fine; I was unable to make it do anything really weird.

One difference is that Super Invaders will now run in File mode, but you still have to select UART and 300 baud to make it work at the correct speed. Not sure what's going on there, but I will investigate if it proves to be a problem.

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

Thanks for the update which seems to be working fine so far :-)
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Thanks for the help in testing the core. The latest version just "went official".
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Hi all,

I just pushed a new version of the core with one small change - the Load File menu option is now greyed out in UART mode.

Secondly, I have attached a new version of Galactic Hitchhiker. It turns out that the padding I added at the end of the file caused some side effects after a reset. All I really needed to do was to add a carriage return to the end of the file. The attached version appears to work perfectly and has no unwanted side effects.

D.
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EeDee
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

danielb wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 3:25 pm
Secondly, I have attached a new version of Galactic Hitchhiker. It turns out that the padding I added at the end of the file caused some side effects after a reset. All I really needed to do was to add a carriage return to the end of the file. The attached version appears to work perfectly and has no unwanted side effects.
Didn't notice that. Thanks for the update.
Are 64 columns a possibility still?
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

EeDee wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 5:05 pm
danielb wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 3:25 pm
Secondly, I have attached a new version of Galactic Hitchhiker. It turns out that the padding I added at the end of the file caused some side effects after a reset. All I really needed to do was to add a carriage return to the end of the file. The attached version appears to work perfectly and has no unwanted side effects.
Didn't notice that. Thanks for the update.
Are 64 columns a possibility still?
Definitely possible. The core is, I think, feature-complete for a basic UK101 (with extra memory), and it runs almost all of the games that I know of. There are a couple that require a bigger screen.

For a computer with no graphics or sound, the UK101 is quite a lot of fun...

Maybe I should add a SID chip :)

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

I think the Ohio version got graphics and sound upgrades at some point.
I like the idea of the basic 101 although 48x16 switchable to 48x32 resolution http://anachrocomputer.blogspot.com/201 ... eslide&m=1
and an ROM or two maybe?http://www.flaxcottage.com/UK101/Default.asp

:-D
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Hi,

Selectable 64x32 screen in the next version of the core.

It seems to more or less work, but some more testing and debugging is necessary before releasing it into the wild.

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

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Looking good!
Thanks
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Hi,

Here is a test version with switchable resolution.
Unlike the previous incarnation of this feature, switching screen size actually changes the screen resolution and refresh rate, and the display will resync. If you want to avoid this, or if your monitor can't handle the higher refresh rate, you can add

[UK101]
vsync_adjust=0

to your Mister.ini file.

Changing resolution only works under CEGMON, and requires a reset to activate the patched screen definitions.

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Hi all, I pushed a new version with the 64x32 screen mode to the main repository.
To go with this, I am attaching a Scramble game that I downloaded from here: http://osi.vintagecomputers.square7.ch/seite3.html, that runs on a 64x32 screen under Cegmon. It's machine code so load it via the monitor. It's apparently called Super Scramble, by Adventure 10, 1982.

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

Thanks for the update and all the effort you've put into the core. I've been messing around with it and liking it. The link is also welcome as I don't think I've come across it before.
Hopefully this is not the end and we'll hear/see more from you at some point.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Hi,

Well, the core is basically complete, and appears to be working rather well.

That said, there are a few expansions that were available for the original kit:

- Floppy disk system. This would be very difficult, at least for me. To do this, you would need precise documentation of the actual interface, and the original DOS ROMS. Some of this does exist for the Superboard, but even so, I suspect this is beyond my FPGA coding skills. There are some disk images on the web for the Superboard, but I don't know whether they would even theoretically work on the UK101.

- AY-3-8910 sound card - this would probably not be hard because it is the same sound system that is in a lot of other computers from the time. It should be very similar to the sound system of the Oric, for example. I don't know if any existing software supports this, and programming it from Basic would be a huge POKE-fest.

- Other monitor ROMs. There were several other monitors made for the UK101. Not sure whether there is much advantage in using them over what the core already has. There are also upgraded Basic versions available.

Another thing I can think of is variable clock speeds. This should be fairly simple, but may create side-effects that I would have to deal with.

Anyone have any preferences, or other ideas?

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by Moondandy »

Wow, you've really put a shift in on this, well done getting it so feature filled.

Could this system make use of an RTC or does it predate utilising one?
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by danielb »

Moondandy wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:45 pm Wow, you've really put a shift in on this, well done getting it so feature filled.

Could this system make use of an RTC or does it predate utilising one?
Thanks!. I've no idea whether one was ever made available as an add-on, but most computers did not have one at this time, or even a few years later.

D.
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Re: Compukit UK101 core

Unread post by EeDee »

danielb wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 3:42 pm Hi,

Well, the core is basically complete, and appears to be working rather well.

That said, there are a few expansions that were available for the original kit:

- Floppy disk system. This would be very difficult, at least for me. To do this, you would need precise documentation of the actual interface, and the original DOS ROMS. Some of this does exist for the Superboard, but even so, I suspect this is beyond my FPGA coding skills. There are some disk images on the web for the Superboard, but I don't know whether they would even theoretically work on the UK101.

- AY-3-8910 sound card - this would probably not be hard because it is the same sound system that is in a lot of other computers from the time. It should be very similar to the sound system of the Oric, for example. I don't know if any existing software supports this, and programming it from Basic would be a huge POKE-fest.

- Other monitor ROMs. There were several other monitors made for the UK101. Not sure whether there is much advantage in using them over what the core already has. There are also upgraded Basic versions available.

Another thing I can think of is variable clock speeds. This should be fairly simple, but may create side-effects that I would have to deal with.

Anyone have any preferences, or other ideas?

D.
Hi Daniel

Would adding a Superboard mode with NTSC ect help/be feasible?
I also came across this and wondered if it would be of any use regarding disk drive implementation https://hackaday.io/project/173783-osi- ... em-osisdos
Sound and RTC sound good and swapping ROMs in and out also sounds like a handy option.
You mentioned variable clock speeds. That and an AY-3-8910 sounds good.
I suppose, to me, a core with lots of options is more interesting.
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