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Operating System Specific Discussions => Other Operating Systems => Topic started by: bloodline on October 02, 2011, 10:44:15 AM

Title: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: bloodline on October 02, 2011, 10:44:15 AM
I know this has been mentioned before, but some probably haven't heard of this yet... So here it is, an ATMega328 (a very cheap 8bit micro controller) based board that really shows the age of the Amiga Hardware.

On a bright note, if you fell in love with the Amiga because of how easy and fun it was to program, and write your own games... you will love it!

http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: ognix on October 02, 2011, 01:53:26 PM
Yes, you're right!
I've already seen this when it was on Kickstarter for raising funds (if I'm not wrong).
It's very cool and resembles Amiga success in the early 90s: low cost machines with great capabilities; not just $$$ thousands bucks for big boxes for few people, but "computer for the masses".
That's the reason why I don't join most new "Amiga" flavours...

BY!

P.S. Don't tell there was the A3000T/A4000 costly stuff: I know... but the reason of Amiga success (at least in Europe) was due to large user base of A500 and A1200.
Video applications helped a lot especially in US with the Video Toaster.
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: HenryCase on October 02, 2011, 02:25:27 PM
Get a Gameduino? Nah. $53 is a rip off for what you get. I'd much rather pay $25/$35 and get a Raspberry Pi:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/?page_id=2
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: Digiman on October 02, 2011, 02:53:57 PM
Without the back catalog of classic games neither have any interest for me.
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: Duce on October 02, 2011, 02:57:26 PM
Looks like a neat little piece of kit to fiddle around with.
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: nicholas on October 02, 2011, 04:04:06 PM
Quote from: bloodline;662176
I know this has been mentioned before, but some probably haven't heard of this yet... So here it is, an ATMega328 (a very cheap 8bit micro controller) based board that really shows the age of the Amiga Hardware.

On a bright note, if you fell in love with the Amiga because of how easy and fun it was to program, and write your own games... you will love it!

http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/


I love it, especially this demo! :)

http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/samples/ball/index.html
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: bloodline on October 02, 2011, 05:21:35 PM
Quote from: HenryCase;662195
Get a Gameduino? Nah. $53 is a rip off for what you get. I'd much rather pay $25/$35 and get a Raspberry Pi:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/?page_id=2
I'm raspberry Pi's biggest fan, but the Gameduino is a totally open game platform, no need to spend a year learning posix and OpenGL just to make a blob move across the screen... Plug it in, program it and go :)
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: Daedalus on October 02, 2011, 05:37:37 PM
Ooh, that's a sweet little unit! I'm *very* tempted to get one... I program the ATMega chips in work (although smaller ones than that - the 8535 being the most common), they're pretty nice to work with.
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: bloodline on October 02, 2011, 05:46:52 PM
Quote from: Daedalus;662221
Ooh, that's a sweet little unit! I'm *very* tempted to get one... I program the ATMega chips in work (although smaller ones than that - the 8535 being the most common), they're pretty nice to work with.
I have been nothing but impressed by the ATMega chips, they have to be the best 8bit chips ever made :) though my current uC of choice is ARM :)
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: HenryCase on October 02, 2011, 06:22:06 PM
Quote from: bloodline;662217
I'm raspberry Pi's biggest fan, but the Gameduino is a totally open game platform, no need to spend a year learning posix and OpenGL just to make a blob move across the screen... Plug it in, program it and go :)


You don't have to learn about POSIX and OpenGL to program a game on Linux. For example, could use KidsRuby (which was recently featured on the Raspberry Pi blog) + Gosu. Take a look:
http://confreaks.net/videos/637-gogaruco2011-kidsruby-think-of-the-children?player=html5

PyGame is also very popular for getting started with making games:
http://pygame.org/news.html

There are tons of libraries like Gosu and PyGame that make game programming easy. Plus, the advantage of using libraries like that is that by the end of it, not only have you got a game, you've also taught yourself a versatile programming language for more practical tasks.
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: nicholas on October 02, 2011, 06:50:50 PM
Quote from: HenryCase;662226
You don't have to learn about POSIX and OpenGL to program a game on Linux. For example, could use KidsRuby (which was recently featured on the Raspberry Pi blog) + Gosu. Take a look:
http://confreaks.net/videos/637-gogaruco2011-kidsruby-think-of-the-children?player=html5

PyGame is also very popular for getting started with making games:
http://pygame.org/news.html

There are tons of libraries like Gosu and PyGame that make game programming easy. Plus, the advantage of using libraries like that is that by the end of it, not only have you got a game, you've also taught yourself a versatile programming language for more practical tasks.



All valid points, but nothing beats banging the hardware directly which Gameduino seems perfect for.
Title: Re: Gameduino (or how a $5 chip can outperform an Amiga :( )
Post by: mousehouse on October 02, 2011, 07:15:26 PM
I absolutely LOVE it!

Must... resist... urge... to... buy... immediately...