BuinoBasic - Basic Compiler and VM for the Gamebuino

[Muessigb]

By the way, I am right now working on the schematics and a prototype of the RAM expansion card that will boost your Basic RAM to 256KB!

[adekto]

thinking about basic, i cant help but think its going to be hard to type
so just some eurly design i got here for a keyboard module

based on the zx81 layout

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[erico]

A similar-styled add on for the gamebuino, keyboard and memory would be just amazing!

[Muessigb]

thinking about basic, i cant help but think its going to be hard to type
so just some eurly design i got here for a keyboard module

based on the zx81 layout

Woha awesome!
We could actually make both ones!
The SPI bus, we're using for the RAM expansion allows us to add even one more device.
So we take the SPI bus pins (the ICSP header) and the I2C bus (only for two chip selects, we disable I2C while in Basic)
This would allow us to add a serial input shift register and maybe interface that one to the SPI aswell.
But we would be still missing one pin. Any ideas about how we should interface the modules?

A similar-styled add on for the gamebuino, keyboard and memory would be just amazing!

Yeah, I really think it would

[adekto]

im not folowing you exactly but this keybourd needs some sort of chip
best bet would be an atmega
so it could store and buffer keybourd comands until the i2c buss is free again wen your doing your ram thing

also i got that oled "module"
might help for showing allot more text

iv also been looking at cheaper alternatives, and best bet would be IR reciver and an attiny and using like a remote as keybourd

but sure thing im up for making everyhting compatible and maybe in a single expansion pcb to get the cost down

[Muessigb]

im not folowing you exactly but this keybourd needs some sort of chip
best bet would be an atmega
so it could store and buffer keybourd comands until the i2c buss is free again wen your doing your ram thing

also i got that oled "module"
might help for showing allot more text

iv also been looking at cheaper alternatives, and best bet would be IR reciver and an attiny and using like a remote as keybourd

but sure thing im up for making everyhting compatible and maybe in a single expansion pcb to get the cost down

Well I2C is the worst and slowest bus available on the Gamebuino. The fastest accessable being the hardware SPI bus, which has a speed that is high enough to use an external RAM chip (actually we need two external chips, one level shifter and one Microchip SPI Ram with 256KB).
I will provide two versions of the VM, one with external RAM and one without (using the 1.5KB builtin RAM).
But SPI needs a chip select line. That's why I am using the I2C bus as digital IO. The keyboard could get a small ATtiny85 (or something with more IO) and be the keyboard controller (actually we could even add PS/2 keyboard and XBOX 360 Chatpad support to that controller). That controller will be driven using SPI (the second chip select pin). If we want to expand the number of available peripheral devices, we could use a shift register that could increase the total number of devices.
About the LCD, yeah, we could include that into the keyboard, but I guess it would be cheaper to just use an Hitachi HD44780 controlled 8x1 LCD.

[adekto]

complicated but alright

Hitachi HD44780 controlled 8x1 LCD.

wel thing is looking at ebay listings there the same price both bieng around €3 avrige
personaly the 8x1 seems pointles if you got the nokia screen already

but im looking forward to how you solve the isue

[Muessigb]

complicated but alright

Hitachi HD44780 controlled 8x1 LCD.

wel thing is looking at ebay listings there the same price both bieng around €3 avrige
personaly the 8x1 seems pointles if you got the nokia screen already

but im looking forward to how you solve the isue

So, we don't need an LCD?
I mean, it's totally not required, but I thought that you like one.
So, let's start designing the expansion modules.

[Skyrunner65]

Wow, I've been gone for a while.

How much do you think the keyboard will cost?

[Muessigb]

Wow, I've been gone for a while.

How much do you think the keyboard will cost?

Well, it always depends on the model.
I think about making two different models:
- A PS/2 and XBox 360 Chatpad keyboard controller (hook up your old full size PS/2 or the small and nice XBox 360 Chatpad to your Gamebuino through some processing circuitry)
- A small keyboard module with switches

I guess that the first one will be alot cheaper than the second one.
The Chatpad costs around 10€ or 13$ and a PS/2 keyboard can be obtained from almost everywhere for as little as 5€ or 6$ and the circuitry could cost around 10 - 15€ (very loose guessing; we have 2€ for the IC, around 1-2€ for the other electronical stuff and around 10€ for the PCB (even if it's very small). I guess it will cost around 20€ / 25$ at the end (+ shipping).

For the other idea; I guess it will be significantly more (I guess it wouldn't be worth it).

I will design a PCB and then see how much it would cost for the first model.

Should I make it SMD or Through Hole?
And should I solder it or would it be better as a kit?
Should the keyboard module contain the RAM expansion (would make wiring alot easier and would only add like 2€ / 3$ cost for 256KB more ram)?