Playing Robotics on ZX UNO+

[Pegaz]

How did I miss this thread ?
I have to test this newcomer in detail...

[willymanilly]

Fine!!! Excellent video quality and the right angle !!!

Totally agree! These videos are a great reference!!!

[azesmbog]

Totally agree! These videos are a great reference!!!

Everything is bad and very bad
There is a new, final, series of 7 tests.
Z64K correctly shows only one test, the rest fail.
The ES.pectrum emulator shows correctly the first 5 tests, the last 2 - fail.
There is a video, but I would like better quality)
Can @Pegaz help us again?)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... ow48c0.tap

[willymanilly]

Totally agree! These videos are a great reference!!!

Everything is bad and very bad
There is a new, final, series of 7 tests.
Z64K correctly shows only one test, the rest fail.
The ES.pectrum emulator shows correctly the first 5 tests, the last 2 - fail.
There is a video, but I would like better quality)
Can @Pegaz help us again?)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... ow48c0.tap

I actually think this it good news! It's a great opportunity to update the ULA model. Could also be timing with other aspects of the emulation I'll need to look at. Of course will be very valuable to see results from a real zx spectrum.

[azesmbog]

Of course will be very valuable to see results from a real zx spectrum.

https://www.filemail.com/d/jlzazbnjrsvujqu

[ZjoyKiLer]

I will look forward to it !!
And in order not to get up twice - check and make a video
modifications of this test.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jhc_ts ... sp=sharing

Ok, finally managed to unpack my stuff and among them, my good old rubber Speccy to perform these two tests you asked.
It's more than three years, since I didn't turn it on and the old keyboard membrane seems to be no longer completely working.
Fortunately, the Load "and Enter keys worked, so here is the video for both tests, as I promised:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FZ-6Mx ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q4FxJt ... sp=sharing
Recording with my daughter's tablet in HD resolution from LCD TV, through RF output.
I used Spectrum 48k Issue 3, without any peripherals attached and both test programs have loaded with Android smartphone and PlayZX app.
I hope it will be useful, fiddling with all these old hardware, cables, sound adjusting, camera etc, wasn't easy as before.
Obviously, emulators and ZX-uno spoiled me, more than I thought.
btw, I looked at the old snow test and tried to compare with the SpecEmu.
It looks like pattern isn't 100% identical...

Hello Pegaz,

Thank you for testing this on real hardware. I'm working with azesmbog and many others to crack the snow effect. We have run azesmbog's tests on other Speccys and, in order to know if different results are produced because of different hardware, I am collecting information from each machine model on which they have been run.

Can you tell me the following for the hardware testing database?

Machine serial number
CPU model
ULA model

I'm uploading all results to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR5u5T ... C7_PEEg-XQ

Thanks!

[Pegaz]

My Spectrum is in the loft again, because I don't have enough space to keep him always on the desk.
But, I'll look for the info you need and I'll post here, soon...

[ZjoyKiLer]

My Spectrum is in the loft again, because I don't have enough space to keep him always on the desk.
But, I'll look for the info you need and I'll post here, soon...

Thank you very much!

[Pegaz]

My Spectrum is in the loft again, because I don't have enough space to keep him always on the desk.
But, I'll look for the info you need and I'll post here, soon...

Thank you very much!

It took me a little more time, but as I promised, here are the required data for the Spectrum, where I was doing the test:

Machine:
ISSUE 3
Serial no. 013-854520
CPU:
SGS Z8400AB1
Z80A CPU
28423
ULA:
FERRANTI
ULA 6C00IE-7
8413

Hope this helps.
Cheers.

[ZjoyKiLer]

Thank you very much for your help and the info!!

[desUBIKado]

I'm trying to load Robotics by Ocean (an old Z80, the TAP file in the archive and a Z80 file made from the TZX file) but when the game starts, I can only shoot, I can't move the character.

The keys are Fire: A, Up: S, Down: X, Left: N, Right: M.

However, the first Z80 file mentioned above runs OK in my Spectrum Plus and some emulators. Only the ZXUNO+ has problems in running it. I'm in 48k mode.

Any ideas?

Yes, update your ZX-Uno with new version of Spectrum core: http://retrowiki.es/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=200037915

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Thanks!

[Alcoholics Anonymous]

I finally got around to putting the kempston decoding on port df into the mainline spectrum next core and I was a little surprised with what I found.

The original problem raised in this thread was that some Spanish games were using port DF instead of 1F to read the kempston joystick. On interfaces that fully decode kempston to port 1F, this means the kempston joystick will not work with those games.

With the alternate port address implemented, I found out that Astro Marine Corps (and maybe other similarly affected games) actually implements two fire buttons: one for bullets and one for grenades. This really surprised me because this game was written in the 80s and as far as I know, there wasn't a commercial kempston interface available until post commercial times that supported more than one fire button, nevermind that few joysticks sold for the spectrum had more than one fire button on them.

So now it seems likely to me that there must have been a kempston compatible interface sold in Spain that did support two fire buttons and some games were written with it in mind.

But why use port DF instead of 1F? I am wondering if they were concerned about potential compatibility issues. Some software does not mask off bits when reading ports so if the user happened to be pressing the second button or there was some auto-fire feature that pressed it repeatedly, the existence of the second button would mean the software would not correctly interpret movements while the unknown button was pressed. Some software also (badly) tries to auto-detect the presence of a kempston joystick and a stray bit read from an extra button press on port 1F could disable the kempston on such programs after loading. The easy solution is for the user not to push the button but they could also expend another gate to disable the extra button when port 1F was read instead of DF. It's probably a stretch but it's also hard to explain programmers using another port address than the one kempston tells them to use.

Anyway, two fire buttons in AMC. How cool is that?