Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Coding'.
Found 1 result
-
Hi guys, Yes, it's true, the ZPUino project is really needing your help. Your help as users, because all we do is for the users benefit, and sometimes we just don't have the required free time to accomplish all we thing users need, but also because since we are not real users, we fail to see what real ones expect from the platform. Business as usual Anyway, A lot of improvements for ZPUino are being polished as I write. The one that will have more impact is an instruction cache. This instruction cache is now perfectly stabilized, and ready for mainstream. And you might ask: how come an instruction cache is so important and has that much impact ? Well, it's actually quite simple. ZPUino requires a constant feed of instructions, in order to attain its maximum performance. As of now we use internal FPGA block rams, and things go smooth because they are a 1-cycle read. BUT, if you want to use external memory (SRAM, SDRAM, DDR), the latencies are sooo high to fetch a single byte from it that ZPU ends up idling all the time. So, in order to properly use external memories, the instruction cache was implemented - it works perfectly with all three memory types stated above. So, with instruction cache, we can actually use external memory now - and this is a huge improvement. Note that external memory is used for *both* instruction and data, unlike Arduino, which imposes distinct limits on code and data. Just sum your code and data, and see if it fits (btw, upcoming IDE will do that for you). Second feature, which is aimed at internal memory devices, is a ZX Spectrum compatible graphical adaptor. It's so small that you can even use a Papilio One 250 to build applications and games. And this second feature is indeed where we want your help. We need help with documentation, and help with a new demo we are working on - all to be ran on a Papilio One 250 (you can use another board if you feel like). So, if you like coding, and want to help with code itself or documentation, drop us a note at zpuino@alvie.com. We will provide you everything you need to contribute. Right now, we have a game almost ready for testing, but we do want *you* to improve it before others can see it and enjoy. So, if you know "C++" (arduino-style) and wish to help, please contact us. You will of course be mentioned as a co-author, and eventually other benefits. We are also planning a full-color, full-resolution graphical adaptor for Papilio Pro. But let's go step by step Best, Alvie