Sega DevKit

[ElBarto]

Hello all,

I've started a mini devkit for the megadrive in asm (gnu asm) but all the function are intend to be call from C (as I'm more fluent in C ).

The goal is to have a full devkit for the megadrive/megacd and 32X.
I have a gnu/bsd compatible makefile to install all the toolchain (binutils 2.17 and gcc 3.4.6) and my libsmd.
The devkit provide a ld script and a makefile to include with default rules for compiling.

For now I have no cvs as I'm the only one to dev for it, so are you interested in a "community" devkit or not at all ?

I'm still on IRC if somebody want to talk with me about that

[Chilly Willy]

I'd love to help, but you need to get your tools updated a bit.

My current gcc toolchain uses gcc 4.1.1 for the 68000 and 4.4.1 for the SH2. You'll find my LD files in the libs directory.

gendev20091130.7z

I use it for compiling Wolf32X, the Neo Myth MD Menu, and all the little examples of audio compression I do.

The above is for linux, but a newer Windows toolchain can be put together in a similar manner. For Windows, I'd use the gcc toolchain for MiNT for the 68000, and KPIT has gcc for Windows as well as linux for the SH2.

[ElBarto]

Is gcc-4 really needed ?
I don't think it improved the m68k support.

I've just updated the binutils to 2.20.
I'm currently documenting the function with doxygen, when I'm done I'll post my lib and the toolchain makefile here.

[Chilly Willy]

Well, I suppose if you're going to stick with GCC3, 3.4.6 isn't too bad. Where v4.x comes in handy is when you're converting something - most current coders modified their projects for gcc4, so gcc3 won't compile a lot of recent code without modification.

[Stef]

Hello all,

I've started a mini devkit for the megadrive in asm (gnu asm) but all the function are intend to be call from C (as I'm more fluent in C ).

The goal is to have a full devkit for the megadrive/megacd and 32X.
I have a gnu/bsd compatible makefile to install all the toolchain (binutils 2.17 and gcc 3.4.6) and my libsmd.
The devkit provide a ld script and a makefile to include with default rules for compiling.

For now I have no cvs as I'm the only one to dev for it, so are you interested in a "community" devkit or not at all ?

I'm still on IRC if somebody want to talk with me about that

Heya,

I would be really interrested in doing a community to develop a real devkit for the sega 16 bits system. As you probably know i already wrote my own dev kit sometime ago, i don't know if your is more advanced or not but for sure it would be better to join all our effort in onyl one single project instead of doing severals devkits which does almost the same stuff...
My devkit is mostly wrote in C, i tried to keep things fast but i do know ASM would perform better on some criticals parts, it's why we can easily use ASM when needed. C is a good base for people who want to join the project but without any 68000 asm knowledge. Anyway writing a devkit requires a good experience in programming, i guess we can't accept everyone to join a such project... do you think it's possible to merge the best of all available dev kit in one open SVN project ? imo it would be awesome...
I've a more recent version of my dev kit sitting on my hard drive, it includes some news but unfortunatly incomplete fast polygon rendering API (using tile), i would love to complete them but i'm not happy which what i have now so i never got the motivation to finish them...

Edit : Just realized your dev kit included my dev library but in ASM format which isn't convenient for future modification, what about using C sources then generating the .a file with the makefile. By the way, i saw you're using many of the default C libraries, how they are actually behaving on megadrive ? I mean, can we really use them ?

[ElBarto]

Heya,

I would be really interrested in doing a community to develop a real devkit for the sega 16 bits system. As you probably know i already wrote my own dev kit sometime ago, i don't know if your is more advanced or not but for sure it would be better to join all our effort in onyl one single project instead of doing severals devkits which does almost the same stuff...

It's clearly in very early stage, just basic low level vdp and joy functions are done.

My devkit is mostly wrote in C, i tried to keep things fast but i do know ASM would perform better on some criticals parts, it's why we can easily use ASM when needed. C is a good base for people who want to join the project but without any 68000 asm knowledge. Anyway writing a devkit requires a good experience in programming, i guess we can't accept everyone to join a such project... do you think it's possible to merge the best of all available dev kit in one open SVN project ? imo it would be awesome...

An open CVS project yes, but not SVN

I've a more recent version of my dev kit sitting on my hard drive, it includes some news but unfortunatly incomplete fast polygon rendering API (using tile), i would love to complete them but i'm not happy which what i have now so i never got the motivation to finish them...

Edit : Just realized your dev kit included my dev library but in ASM format which isn't convenient for future modification, what about using C sources then generating the .a file with the makefile. By the way, i saw you're using many of the default C libraries, how they are actually behaving on megadrive ? I mean, can we really use them ?

I think you refer to Chilly Willy devkit, I, personnaly, don't use any of the gcc lib (not even libgcc).
http://www.megadrive.org/~elbarto/md/mddev.tar.gz
Here is the last version of my devkit.
Remember that it's really in early stage
It include the makefile in the toolchain directory for building binutils and gcc for m68k and sh2.
The libsmd and the crt0.
Some basic examples.

You should have no problem compiling it with gmake except for the example, I don't know the gmake syntax for including a file (I use the bsd make as I'm on freebsd).

I'll create a public cvs soon (probably next week) with anonymous access and if anyone want to join me fell free to talk to me on irc

[ElBarto]

Little update : http://www.megadrive.org/~elbarto/md/md ... 231.tar.gz

Changes :
- Rename vdp_dmatovram to vdp_dma and now can dma to VSRAM and CRAM too.
- Remove the vdp_pointto** and add a generic vdp_pointto with access code in parameter
- Remove vdp_writepal and add vdp_writetocram.
- Add a vdp_writetovsram.
- Update all examples to use the new functions.
- Update doc, now all functions and defines are in it.

I think it's all

I'll create the cvs next week.

[ElBarto]

Sorry to triple posting like that

Two little things :
1) I haven't test the lib on hardware for now.
2) The license of the lib is 2 clause BSD and it will stay like that.
No GPL licensed code will be imported (in fact I'll prefer to not have imported code at all)

And happy new year in advance

[Stef]

You're right, i was refering the Chilly Willy devkit.
About your devkit, it seems very promising but also very similar to what i already done. Instead of rewriting same stuff, what about working on the same project ? I mean, you'll lost a lot fo time in re-implementing all stuff i already done. I know it's not always fun to continu code started by someone else as we all have our own method to do stuff, but i think the mini dev kit is good enough to start with (i valided it on real hardware). Also it can be interesting to include some part of Chilly Willy's dev kit for Sega CD and 32X support.

[Chilly Willy]

Chilly will also be adding Neo Myth support in his stuff shortly, so people can read/write files on the SD card and make use of the memory in the MD Myth.

[Shiru]

Just my two cents. I think, there is more need in Windows IDE-based SDK, with simple automatic installation, detailed documentation, and some examples, rather than one more gcc-toolkit *nix cli-based SDK. People, who are able to setup and use such a things, are also able to do everything by their own, without SDK at all. Just look, there is many BEX users around the web, but quite a few users of C compilers and Stef SDK.

[Chilly Willy]

Just setup CodeBlocks or Eclipse to call the tools. There's no need for yet another crappy .Net IDE specific to something.

[Shiru]

Just setup CodeBlocks or Eclipse to call the tools.

I don't need this.

There's no need for yet another crappy .Net IDE specific to something.

Say this to any beginner retro game developer, who interested in SMD, show him few pages of instructions how to setup everything, and see how he runs away in direction of the Flash or Gamemaker, and never returns.

Also, I didn't said anything about specific crappy .Net IDE, I've only said about ready-to-use SDK/IDE with easy install. It could be not crappy, and not .Net. It even could be the same CB or Eclipse, but without need to setup many things manually.

[Chilly Willy]

If they are that much of a beginner, they won't be able to work on anything meaningful on these old consoles. These systems require the finest a programmer is capable of, with a heavy emphasis on assembly skills. Try to make a devkit for such a noob that they can't even install the devkit is like trying to make brain surgery tutorials for grade school dropouts.

We don't need noobs making yet another pong for the MD. Anything else would be beyond someone not capable of using gcc. It's my "test" for if someone is capable and committed to developing for the platform. If they can't be bothered to learn the existing tools, they aren't going to make ANYTHING worth running. They DO make stuff worth laughing at and pointing and posting mocking replies.

[Shiru]

We don't need noobs making yet another pong for the MD.
...

I just wondering, do you really have the right to speak for all the community?