P96 RTG driver development for new hardware

[mikej]

Jim Drew and I have been working on an RTG implementation for the Replay (FPGAArcade) board.

I've implemented the display engine and dedicated blitter which is working fine, and the system is in a usable beta.

http://www.fpgaarcade.com/2015/11/21/amiga-rtg-graphics-card-working-and-in-beta/

The card driver is based on publicly available information, but we noticed the blitter is not used as much as expected.

To move forward, we would very much appreciate any details on the driver SDK or APIs for Picasso96.

This is not meant to be an open/closed/IP debate, I realize the waters are somewhat murky here, but to find a way forward which minimizes the amount of work and makes best use of the code currently available.

If Picasso96 is the best thing available now, it seems daft for us to re-invent the wheel when there are other fun things to be done.

/MikeJ

[mikej]

Oh, I forgot to add I have developer hardware available at cost if anybody is interested in working on this (or any other) area. May have minor cosmetic issues etc - mail me if interested.
/MikeJ

[AJCopland]

Just noticed when clicking on those images to see the bigger versions that the left image goes to:

http://www.fpgaarcade.com/wp4/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/rtg2.jpg

Instead of:
http://www.fpgaarcade.com/wp4/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/rtg1.jpg

As you probably intended.

All looking good and I hope that there is a good solution to all of this.

Andy

[mikej]

Strange. Seems to be fixed after a refresh. Thanks.

[OlafS3]

Oh, I forgot to add I have developer hardware available at cost if anybody is interested in working on this (or any other) area. May have minor cosmetic issues etc - mail me if interested.
/MikeJ

Have you already contacted Toni about it? If someone has deep insight knowledge then he

[mikej]

Have you already contacted Toni about it? If someone has deep insight knowledge then he

Not specifically, although Jim may have. I examined UAE of course when working on the first cut of the driver.

[JimDrew]

I asked Toni some basic questions when we were trying to figure out the problem with monitor files not even appearing in the ScreenMode setup.

The UAEGFX monitor file source really doesn't help with the Picasso96 stuff.  It just gives you a basic monitor file skeleton (which is nice).  I am looking for info on the system patches that are available for replacement.  The PicassoIV monitor driver has a bunch in there - more than any other Picasso96 supported board.  I have disassembled the monitor file some, and I should be able to use the disassembly along with a few bits of source code from FUSION to figure out some of the system patches.  I have a PicassoIV board in my A3000, so I can look at system vectors as well and see what doesn't point to the normal Intuition/Graphics routines.

[kamelito]

I asked Toni some basic questions when we were trying to figure out the problem with monitor files not even appearing in the ScreenMode setup.

The UAEGFX monitor file source really doesn't help with the Picasso96 stuff.  It just gives you a basic monitor file skeleton (which is nice).  I am looking for info on the system patches that are available for replacement.  The PicassoIV monitor driver has a bunch in there - more than any other Picasso96 supported board.  I have disassembled the monitor file some, and I should be able to use the disassembly along with a few bits of source code from FUSION to figure out some of the system patches.  I have a PicassoIV board in my A3000, so I can look at system vectors as well and see what doesn't point to the normal Intuition/Graphics routines.

@Jim
You could patch  setFuncrion() early in the SS (removing set patch if not needed for the test) and print which function is been patched and the name of the task doing it then you'll know.
Kamelito

[kolla]

Have you considered using AROS/m68k instead? It is quite capable. I have a plan to build a minimalistic OS3.1 like AROS distribution, targeting MIST and Minimig for now as those are systems I have.

[guest11527]

I am looking for info on the system patches that are available for replacement.

This is completely irrelevant for driver development. P96 patches over half of gfx to get its services announced, but the monitor driver is unrelated to that. It is the rtg.library which does that. The monitor and card files are regular libraries that offer their services to the rtg.library and provide elementary services for programming the video chip on the card, and provide basic facilities for 2D hardware acceleration.

[mikej]

This is completely irrelevant for driver development. P96 patches over half of gfx to get its services announced, but the monitor driver is unrelated to that. It is the rtg.library which does that. The monitor and card files are regular libraries that offer their services to the rtg.library and provide elementary services for programming the video chip on the card, and provide basic facilities for 2D hardware acceleration.

Thanks Thomas, that makes sense.

ORI.L   #(1<<15),(PSSO_BoardInfo_Flags,A2) ; BIF_BLITTER
        LEA     (BlitRectNoMaskComplete,PC),A1
        MOVE.L  A1,(PSSO_BoardInfo_BlitRectNoMaskComplete,A2)
        LEA     (BlitRect,PC),A1
        MOVE.L  A1,(PSSO_BoardInfo_BlitRect,A2)
        LEA     (WaitBlitter,PC),A1
        MOVE.L  A1,(PSSO_BoardInfo_WaitBlitter,A2)

[mikej]

Thanks Thomas, that makes sense.

We need to look more into the card driver and make sure we are setting all the board info flags. For example, during setup ( InitCard: )

        ORI.L   #(1<<15),(PSSO_BoardInfo_Flags,A2) ; BIF_BLITTER
        LEA     (BlitRectNoMaskComplete,PC),A1
        MOVE.L  A1,(PSSO_BoardInfo_BlitRectNoMaskComplete,A2)
        LEA     (BlitRect,PC),A1
        MOVE.L  A1,(PSSO_BoardInfo_BlitRect,A2)
        LEA     (WaitBlitter,PC),A1
        MOVE.L  A1,(PSSO_BoardInfo_WaitBlitter,A2)

We only ever see blit calls with mode 12 (dst = src). This is all we have implemented, but would be good to know if we can do more.

Likewise, for supported modes
       ORI.W   #$3FF2,(PSSO_BoardInfo_RGBFormats,A2)

Seems to be correct, but I want to add additional formats so I need to figure out the bits I need. I'll have a read around, maybe the details on the BoardInfo struct are documented and I missed it.

[wawrzon]

Have you considered using AROS/m68k instead? It is quite capable. I have a plan to build a minimalistic OS3.1 like AROS distribution, targeting MIST and Minimig for now as those are systems I have.

i think they are dismissing it since mikej said in the initial post:
"it seems daft for us to re-invent the wheel when there are other fun things to be done."
so i wouldnt try to pursue this further.

what concerns minimal aros that runs on an unexpanded amiga or the like, im also messing a bit with that. though currently im stuck because of few issues. for instance my desktop of choice, scalos is causing an illegal instruction fault. if you like we could make a separate thread on this subject.

[mikej]

"Have you considered using AROS/m68k instead? "
Happy for people to run whatever they wish! I can help with drivers etc as required.

[wawrzon]

"Have you considered using AROS/m68k instead? "
Happy for people to run whatever they wish! I can help with drivers etc as required.

it is not a problem with aros68k, it will accept a driver in a p96 format if you succeed to build one;)
my aros proposal was only meant as general solution to a repeated problems different parties are facing. but i have created a separate thread in case anyone has something to say in the matter:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=70091
please let us stay on topic. im eager to see you succeed, mike.