A free Gamebuino if you compile the SD card bootloader !

[rodot]

For now, Gamebuino uses the Arduino UNO bootloader. It works great, but you need a computer every time you want to load a new game. With hybrid USB/SD card bootloader, you could switch between games just by restarting your Gamebuino !

That's why I need YOU, a bad-ass developer, to make it work. A guy already did that, but I didn't manage to compile the source yet. You'll find the links to his code in the Wiki : http://gamebuino.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bootloader

Te interesting part is that you'll get a FREE GAMEBUINO BEFORE EVERYBODY if you manage to make it work !

If you have any question, please post them here !

[Loopingstar]

That is a wonderful idea!

I had a similar to yours arduino project, but I quickly realized that arduino does not allow to compile / interpret the code on the fly.

My goal was to make a portable "mini-console" screen with a nokia 5110, it could change the game (stored on an SD card) on the fly with a button that would appear a menu without restarting the console.
The user could create games, but the Arduino IDE, just a text file with the commands that would be interpreted on the fly by the console.

Your project is just a dream for me

[Deneth]

How much do you want to see done? I don't have a 5110 screen...

[rodot]

@Loopingstar : I think I saw some of you posts about that in the Arduino forum... even if Gamebuino won't be able to run an interpreter, you will be able to store hundreds of games on the SD card !

@Deneth : I would like a working booloader able to :
1 - Load programs from USB
2 - Load a preset file like "LOADER.HEX" when a button is pressed during startup (this program will write a game's name in the EEPROM, but it's not part of the bootloader, I'll do it)
3 - If there is no USB and no button is pressed, load the program which name is saved in the EEPROM
You don't need a screen to do that, I will do the GUI. You just need an arduino, a programmer to burn the bootloader, an SD card reader and a button (you could just use a wire if you don't have a button).
If anyone is able to do that, that would be AWESOME. Really, I mean it.

Thank you very much for your interest guys ! I should hit Indiegogo in few weeks, stay tuned

[Xadiant]

Hi, Im working on the boot-loader and would like to propose a small change that may make using the device a bit smoother. Rather than using the "C" button to trigger the behavior of the boot-loader I believe that a software reboot would do the trick. here is an idea of how this could function:

1. Device begins to boot.
2. Boot-loader does not find file name in EEPROM.
3. Boots to hard-coded file-name instead that allows user to select from files.
4. (Allows user to select a file from list) Writes file name to EEPROM and performs software reboot.

-or-

1. Device begins to boot.
2. Boot-loader finds file-name in EEPROM
3. Clones to memory, removes file-name from EEPROM and reboots.

Thanks!

[Deneth]

Hi, Im working on the boot-loader and would like to propose a small change that may make using the device a bit smoother.

The C button method lets you play the previous game without having to re-flash the chip. Flashing wouldn't take long, but could cause excessive wear.

[rodot]

Hey Xadlan, welcome to the forum !

A software reboot would be nice, but I don't think it's possible to implement properly on the atmega chips (there is long threads about that on the arduino forum). Moreover, it would require to include the soft reboot in every game. I'm not saying "no", I just don't really believe in it But if you manage to do it, that would be awesome !

If you don't use the button C to trigger the "LOADER.HEX", it will load it at every other reboot when no game is selected ! But once again, if you manage to make something that work, I don't really care about the details, do whatever you think that would be good

Thanks for passing by !

[Xadiant]

Ah, I see the issues with my thinking now, forgive me for my experience is much stronger on PCs than on micros.

Upon working on this, however, I found a project that appears to fill your requirements almost entirely:
https://github.com/osbock/avr_boot

It is all set up for the 328p complete with makefile. It loads a filename from the EEPROM and if it exists on the SD card than the copy of a .bin file will take place into the program memory and then begin execution. Otherwise it will use a file "app.bin".

Modifying main.c with the following code (along with swapping a few predefined constants with the correct pinout differences on the "GameBuino") should do the trick.

Code: Select all

DDRD &= ~(1 << PC3); //Set PC3 to input

if (PINC & (1<<PC3))
{
   //PC3 is "high"
}


[Xadiant]

Unfortunately I do not have the hardware to burn a bootloader and test this currently.

[rodot]

Thank you Xadlant, I'll check this out this week ! Right now I'm pretty busy setting everything up for the crowd funding launch next week... tension is palpable (at least for me!).