Use the Dazzler with the Z80 Processor

[unilein]

Hello, everyone,



I would like to use the Dazzler 3 with a Z80 processor. For this I built an SPI interface (untested so far). I program the Z80 in assembler and would like to know which SPI commands can be used to address the Gameduino.



Does anyone have any tips for me? I googled and unfortunately couldn't find anything about the command structure of the Dazzler.



I would be grateful for a little help.



Regards

Unilein

[unilein]

Hello everyone,

in the meantime I have found this article: excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/porting.html
Googling with the right keywords brings the solution

Does anyone here happen to have an SPI interface for the Z80 or the 6502 as a circuit diagram?

I have already built an SPI interface, but somehow I can't get communication with the Gameduino.

Thx
Unilein

[mattp]

I think that guide is for the Gameduino 1. I developed a library for my 68000, is it possible to use c or c++ for the z80 library? I ported the GD2 library and then made simplified c routines which I can call from a gcc compatible assembler.

github.com/mattuna15/merlin-software/blob/master/gd2-lib/GD-c.cpp
github.com/mattuna15/merlin-software/tree/master/gd2-lib

[unilein]

I'm afraid that won't work. The Z80 can only manage 64 KB of memory. A library with its overhead is certainly beyond the possibilities.

If so, then the library must be written directly in machine language. And I would probably be able to do that if I knew something more about the Gameduino.

[mattp]

Ah ok.

So here is the datasheet www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/DataSheets/ICs/DS_FT81x.pdf

Perhaps you could start with a framebuffer type application? 

github.com/jamesbowman/gd2-lib/blob/master/examples/paletted.ino

It initialise the Gameduino GD.begin, sets a random palette and then puts random points. This is a very simple but powerful way of using the GD. You get a HD graphics adapter with 1mb of frame buffer. Plus it limits the number of SPI commands you need. I used it to create an HD mandelbrot plotter.

[mattp]

This document is also useful brtchip.com/wp-content/uploads/Support/Documentation/Application_Notes/ICs/EVE/BRT_AN_008_FT81x_Creating_a_Simple_Library_For_PIC_MCU.pdf