NuLA demos

[sydney]

I've been having trouble getting this to work on my machines. I presume it's due to the fact they are both sd card equipped and have no floppy drives. I've had a quick look at the source code and I have a feeling the disksys library won't be smartspi/mmfs compatable.

[danielj]

Only works in dtrap mode on the data centre.

d.

[simonm]

I'm happy to have a go at fixing it for you... but not sure where the problem would lie. I admit the disksys code is pretty hacky and assumptive, only needed it for loading data into sideways ram - basically it loads a sector at a time and copies it to a paged SWR bank. To be honest, I've often considered *LOADing to &3000 and memcpy'ing it into SWR. Might even be faster!

I'll take a look at the code when I get a mo.

[sydney]

The beeb doesn't have any swr but I tried it on a master and it failed in the same way. I was going to have a look at the code myself if I get a few minutes to myself.

[RobC]

A few weeks ago, I came across this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Logml664kk

I'd not seen it before and was quite impressed.

As I've been looking for a way to utilise VideoNuLA's sub-pixel scrolling, I thought I'd try doing something similar with VideoNuLA. Here's the result:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI0VlL7DEdk

It's using multiple vertical ruptures, palette changes, a main/shadow RAM screen swap (so is running on a M128) and sub-pixel horizontal scrolling at different speeds for each block. The hardware horizontal scrolling is perfectly smooth on the monitor but, unfortunately, the capture is a bit jerky

I've also uploaded a video of Simon's images:
https://youtu.be/tmeV6qYQ7yk

[kieranhj]

That looks amazing Rob, great work!

Gah, having moved house all my Beeb hardware (including the NULA package) are in boxes until I have time & space to get them set up again. Must do this at the weekend!!

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

Wow, crikey! That looks more Amiga than an Amiga! Fantastic work Rob!

Isn't there some way to upload a 50Hz video to YouTube (which can then be played at the right frame rate)?

[RobC]

Wow, crikey! That looks more Amiga than an Amiga! Fantastic work Rob!

Thanks! It does look odd seeing it come out of a Beeb

Isn't there some way to upload a 50Hz video to YouTube (which can then be played at the right frame rate)?

Possibly but that's not the source of the problem here. I captured the output on an old DVD recorder and the stuttering was evident on the output from that. So, when I connected the Master directly to a monitor, the scrolling was perfectly smooth but it jittered when the output was routed through the DVD recorder.

[simonm]

Outstanding Rob! It looks truly awesome.

[steve3000]

Wow, great work!

Even considering everything you've put into the NuLA, I never expected to see something like that from a beeb!

[tricky]

To get 50hz from YouTube, you need to upload at atleast 720p50, so 1280x720 at 50hz non interlaced, the resolution is as important as the frame rate.

Really great work rob, my targets we set much lower, but having seen your videos, I have to re-aim.

I really need to reserve some time to do something with my NuLA.

[marcusjambler]

This is amazing Rob

[dominicbeesley]

Nice on Rob, do you have an ssd?

D

[RobC]

Nice on Rob, do you have an ssd?

Sure - it's attached.

This isn't quite the final version as I toyed about with some of the timings on the machine and still need to get that version off the SD card. However, it's pretty close.

It'll run in Kieran's modified B-Em (https://bitshifters.github.io/content/w ... 170728.zip) but, as the smooth horizontal scrolling isn't supported, you'll just get the normal 6845 byte-wise scrolling. It's Master/Compact only as it uses shadow RAM...

[dominicbeesley]

WOW!

[trixster]

That's unreal!

Might you demo be made to work on a Beeb fitted with shadow ram?

[RobC]

Might you demo be made to work on a Beeb fitted with shadow ram?

Have to admit that I've not used shadow RAM on the Beeb very much

The demo needs more than 20KB of screen RAM as it uses two copies of each character row to achieve the scrolling wrap-around.

Does anyone know of any shadow RAM boards that allow the CRTC to display the contents of the additional RAM? I have a Watford shadow RAM board but I don't think it allows this...

EDIT: Looking at the screen data requirements again, it might be possible to fit it in by using almost all of main RAM for the display and having the code run from sideways RAM on a B. I'll look into it.

The other possibility would be to load the screen data as required from a GoSDC or from a DC's 1MB RAM.

[atcurtis]

What would be fun would be a combination of the NuLA + ARM Copro (Pi) with BasicV and extra stuff so that one can use simple programming in Basic and the graphics output drive the NuLA to get the rich colour mode.

[RobC]

What would be fun would be a combination of the NuLA + ARM Copro (Pi) with BasicV and extra stuff so that one can use simple programming in Basic and the graphics output drive the NuLA to get the rich colour mode.

The VideoNuLA extended VDU drivers will work on the ARM copro as BASIC V just calls the OS on the host. So, you can do VDU 19,0,p,r,g,b and it will set physical colour p to analogue colour (r,g,b).

I use the Pi 6809 copro quite a bit for Flex and usually have the display setup as amber on dark blue.

[paulv]

Wow!

On some levels, seeing a Beeb do that is all kinds of wrong! It's utterly astounding too. Speechless. Can't wait to drag the Master out of storage and fit all my upgrades to it including the VideoNuLA

Awesome work!

Paul

[CharlesMouse]

Holy moley this is utterly amazing. I'm so glad Rob made these, and I'm lucky enough to have one of my own. This really needs to become a required upgrade for Beeb owners.

[marcusjambler]

Looks like I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and de-solder a Master VidProc...
I may need some help with this since I would prefer that the chip was still useable afterwards.

[RobC]

Looks like I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and de-solder a Master VidProc... I may need some help with this since I would prefer that the chip was still useable afterwards.

If you can't find anyone near you and are happy to cover postage on the Master PCB, I'm happy to remove the existing ULA and fit a socket.

Alternatively, I'm hoping to be at the November ABUG so could do it there.

[marcusjambler]

Sounds like a plan thanks Rob... I'll get a Master PCB off to you as soon as I can...
Also.. Please put me down for another Nula

[RobC]

Here's a version of my "Shadow of the Beast" demo that uses one bank of sideways RAM rather than relying on shadow RAM in the Master.

Almost all of main memory is used for the screen - only pages 0, 1 and 2 are left!

To run it, first load the SOTBROM ROM into sideways RAM using *SRLOAD or whichever command your RAM board uses. Then, do CHAIN"RUNME".
(The sideways RAM code is self-modifying so won't work if burnt to an EPROM.)

I've tested it in B-Em (in B and B+ mode) and on a real Compact so it should work on all machines.

I've also put up a video that I made a while back to get some screenshots for the manual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65dyaePHH3Y

It's mainly me just playing around with the VideoNuLA board so probably nothing that hasn't been seen before...

[grobda]

awesome stuff!

took me a while to get it running, beeb b with retroclinic SRAM mod & 1770 DFS

for any other noobs with same setup ( I had to google around a bit on how to use SRAM);

*SRLOAD SOTBROM 8000 7

ctrl-break

CH."RUNME"

[KarateEd]

Looking every bit as good as I thought it would! Is there any chance someone could have a go at recreating the amiga Tutankhamun image?

Already been done - it's on disk 2 and looks amazing on screen

This is from B-Em as I've lost my DVD recorder remote!

tut.jpg

Holy crap!!! That's frikkin' unbelievable, with or without the tweaks you want to do.

Ed......

[sbadger]

Hi,

I fitted the Nula at the weekend without problems, gladly.
I've been trying to use Simon's slide show but it just sticks on the VideoNula logo.
I'm running the image of an SD card with SmartSPI rom, is it not compatible?

Thanks
stew

[RobC]

I'm running the image of an SD card with SmartSPI rom, is it not compatible?

It seems not - sydney reported problems with the gallery demos and SmartSPI earlier in the thread but Simon has said he'll look at it when he has some time.

Unfortunately, I don't have a SmartSPI/SD card but I have tested the demo disks successfully with GoSDC and DC (with DTRAP on).

If you have sideways RAM, my Shadow of the Beast demo should work.

[sbadger]

It seems not - sydney reported problems with the gallery demos and SmartSPI earlier in the thread but Simon has said he'll look at it when he has some time.

If you have sideways RAM, my Shadow of the Beast demo should work.

must have missed that - thanks.
Yes, your SOTB demo works - it's looks amazing!