GFX cards

[melott]

Hi ...
 Here's where I really show my ignorance.
 I have Blitz 2.1 and downloaded the upgrades fron
 Aminet. Now I have a Retina Z11 gfx card that is
 not supported under picasso 96.
 I would like to program a driver for RTG for this
 card. I played some with basic on my old C64.
 I know this could be a daunting job for someone
 as uneducated as myself, but I'd like to try.
 If someone could give me some kind of outline--
 I mean --WHERE DO I START?
 I have all the Rom Kernal books and numeris
 other programing books I bought for my son
 before he seen the "INTEL" light.
 I know I should start with something easer,
 but I have a need for the driver and I would
 rather struggle that than some meaningless
 little util.
 So any help here would be greatly appreciated.

  Mel Ott :-?

 :-?  :-?  :-?

[N7VQM]

Whoa!  You're talking about a hell of a programming project! :-o

0 - Get general C/C++ programing books if you don't already have some.  Some books on advanced topics probably wouldn't hurt, either.
1 - Get a good C/C++ compiler and assembler.  I highly doubt Blitz is up to the task.
2 - Aquire as much hardware documentation about your Retina as you can find.  You'll need memory maps, control register descriptions, etcetera.  This step will probably require experimentation to find out what register does what.
3 - Get familiar with AmigaOS internals.  If you ask those P96 guys nicely, they might give you some pointers about that.  Among other things, you'll have to learn how to locate the card in system.
4 -  Get some wrist braces or a very nice wrist support...I think you're going to do alot of typing.
5 - Don't get mad - get even!  When that library function to set a screenmode doesn't work, show it who's boss by debugging it! (Ok, ok...not really a step this early in the show but....)
6 - Don't be ruffled when something doesn't work right the first time.  So much can be learned from mistakes.

Somewhere around step 500, you might be ready to write that driver.  However, what you do between step 6 and then, I don't know.  I'm not that far myself.

Best of luck,
Steve

[Ilwrath]

@melott-

In addition to all that N7VQM said...  I'd like to chime in with a little knowledge of the Retina Z2 card.  It's a very old card...  Created back before the idea of RTG had really been thought about.  Hardware was also very expensive back then, and as such, some corners were cut with this card.  It uses some very strange addressing modes.  This means, an already difficult task of writing a low-level device driver is that much harder because it's a low-level driver to interface with outdated, strange, and poorly documented hardware.  

The team for CyberGraphX have attempted to support the Retina Z2 several times (and have been met with very limited success, as I understand) and these are the people with the very best qualifications to do something like that.  If you really insist on giving this a run, I'd recommend getting proficient with C/C++ and Amiga assembler.  You'll need it.  Then, contact the CyberGraphX team, and see if they even think it's POSSIBLE to support the hardware in any useful form, and ask for any notes on it they might have.  You'll need them.  This is a LOT bigger project than you are imagining.

[melott]

OK.... :-)
  Like I said in the begining :-) I'm showing my
 lack of knowledge.
 I have SAS-C also, a gift from a friend of my son.
 He also went over to the "BOX" , he is a very good
 programer( make his living that way working some
 company or other). Anyway he gave me his SAS-C
 and all his books but I though I would start with a
 language that is a little more familiar.
  I'm guess I'm like the old saying goes
 " All these books and I CAN'T read alick".
  So --- I'll check this stuff out.
  Thanks much, I'm not proud. I except help from
  where-ever I can get it. :-)  :-?
 
 Mel Ott

[JurassicCamper]

Goto vgr.com

the nice people over at vgr.com  have posted upyour message there with some information for you

[iamaboringperson]

hmm... you really need assembler & C...
a graphics driver(especialy for AmigaOS) is quite a bit more difficult than any application

but GOOD ON YA! if thats what you want to do!!  ;-)

put blitz basic aside to make a pong clone one day!
 ;-)