Newbie queries

[Hal]

Hello, I just wanted to say that I found time recently to build my Rev E Fignition.

It's been sitting there looking at me for well over a year and after a few hours I had it built and it worked first time!

It was a fun thing to do. Now, after playing for a while, I am curious about the following:-

1) Is the source code available?

2) Forth is fun but I'm greedy. Any thoughts on getting a version of basic running? Perhaps a tinybasic?

3) Any plans for colour? How hard would this be?

4) I'm also interested in what's happening with the Libby8.

Thanks again for Fignition, figtastic!

Hal.

[Julian Skidmore]

Hi Hal,

> It's been sitting there looking at me for well over a year and after a few hours I had it built and it worked first time!

It's really exciting isn't it? :-)

It was a fun thing to do. Now, after playing for a while, I am curious about the following:-

Perfectly fine questions!

 

1) Is the source code available?

 The source code up to version 0.9.7 is available on GitHub:

https://github.com/Snial/FIGnition

I plan to update it when I get to 1.0.0, which is pretty close.

2) Forth is fun but I'm greedy. Any thoughts on getting a version of basic running? Perhaps a tinybasic?

There are a few main reasons for choosing Forth. The first reason was because I wanted a Jupiter-Ace type computer, they're too rare for everyone to have one. The next major reason was because I wanted to create a computer that could run user-code at similar speeds to real 8-bit computers from the 80s. However, the AVR microcontroller inside FIGnition can't execute AVR code from RAM or from external memory and so the only way to get user-code to run quickly enough was to put forth on it. The third reason was because when the BBC rang me up in 2011 to ask for a couple of kits, the only way I could develop it quickly enough was to put forth on it.

So forth is there because it's powerful (more powerful than basic), as fast as 8-bit machine code (nearly) and amazingly compact. But it's not as easy as Basic. If the firmware was rewritten to support basic the best way would be to have it translate into forth codes. It'd take quite a lot of development though.

 

3) Any plans for colour? How hard would this be?

There are two main problems with colour. Firstly, it takes up far more memory and this impacts writing FIGnition programs. E.g. The bitmap mode takes up 3200bytes of ram, but 4-bit color takes 12800bytes, so you'd need a FIGnition with 32kb of ram.

The major problem though is that The AVR isn't fast enough to do colour composite video and doesn't have enough pins to do e.g. SCART or VGA video. It is possible to create a game console from an AVR that supports SCART/VGA colour, but then all the video images need to be stored in the firmware that's used in each game.

So, basically; it's far harder to do colour on a FIGnition than it might seem.

 

4) I'm also interested in what's happening with the Libby8.

Libby8 was a good concept, designing a computer with a traditional CPU and using an AVR for the glue logic. However, FIGnition I believe is a better computer: faster, more capable and far easier to build. Libby8 would have to return in quite a different form to make it worthwhile if I was going to pursue it in the future.

Thanks again for Fignition, figtastic!

Glad you've enjoyed it so far :-) hope you get a chance to enter a few programs learn a bit more; upgrade to 0.9.9 (and soon 1.0.0); share your success with the group and if it's something you're interested in, why not check out FIGkeys, the PS/2 keyboard add-on for FIGnition!

Cheers from Julz 

Hal.

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