Michael
says:
Hey
Naren says:
hi
Naren says:
How r u doin ??
Michael says:
Good, you?
Naren says:
Me fine too.
Naren says:
Good to hear from u after quite some time.
Michael says:
Yeah, been gone for a while, but I did figure a whole bunch of stuff out.
Michael says:
I've finally got the SH4 and ARM compilers setup.
Michael says:
I found a great tutorial on the web.
Naren says:
That's great news. so we are ready to move ahead finally.
Naren says:
So, have u formulated some task teams yet.
Michael says:
I've got some important tasks up, but first, do you know ASM?
Naren says:
Yeah i have worked on it during my grad years.
Naren says:
and i am pretty much interested in starting over again
Michael says:
Do you know how to call functions in an ASM program from a C program, something
with "extern"?
Naren says:
Read abt it. but never done that before.. I mean haven't practiced it
Michael says:
Some of the low-level functions must be written in ASM and then called by C.
Michael says:
Such as clrscr
Michael says:
and check_cable
Michael says:
and draw_string
Naren says:
okay
Naren says:
Is there any tutorial regarding that.
Michael says:
No, unfortunatly, but it's the basis of Marcus's tutorials and KalistiOS.
Naren says:
Yeah i have heard of KalistiOS
Michael says:
Basically with Marcus's maple example he includes video.h
Michael says:
Then video.h defines a function as such:
Michael says:
extern void draw-string(various arguments)
Michael says:
*draw_string
Michael says:
So really the video functions are not actually written in C but in ASM.
Michael says:
I think all Dreamcast hardware specific functions must be written this way.
Michael says:
Because obvoiusly the compiler won't know what to do with them.
Naren says:
okay
Michael says:
And they need to perform tasks dealing with hardware.
Michael says:
So, first we need to write a DreamOS video.s, this can pretty much be adapted
from Marcus's to fit our requirements.
Michael says:
All KalistiOS is is a library of these ASM files and their C counterparts which
contain the functions you can call. KalistiOS is basically just a whole bunch
of includes for developers.
Naren says:
okay
Michael says:
Whereas we'll write the "includes" and operating system.
Naren says:
so can we use them freely in our products and programs.
Michael says:
Yes, since
Michael says:
all of these sample programs and libs are GNU-License.
Naren says:
okay
Michael says:
The question is, how much to we want to write, how much to we want to adapt,
and how much do we want to copy?
Michael says:
to = do
Michael says:
do = do
Naren says:
First we need to find out how much is there and maybe we could then adapt it
to our needs.. Can we include all those libs in our resource page at sourceforge
?
Michael says:
Yeah
Michael says:
here, i'll send you one so you can see it, one second...
Michael says:
Actually, KalistiOS is an actual OS, whereas before I was looking a libdream
thinking they were synonomous, I guess the "lib" part explains it.
Michael says:
So the old libdream is more suitable for us.
Naren says:
okay
Naren says:
so where shall i find it ??
Michael says:
Go to
Michael says:
http://dev.dcemulation.com/devtools-libdream.htm
Michael says:
It may be kind f hard to gunzip it without a Unix environment, do you have one
or Cygwin?
Naren says:
i have red hat linux 7.0 installed at home.
Naren says:
and i can install it over there.
Naren says:
What else do we need ??
Michael says:
Go to
Michael says:
http://www.hangar-eleven.de/en/devdc-index.html
Michael says:
Although you'll have to watch out for the specific steps that apply to Cygwin
and adapt the guide to Linux.
Michael says:
Basically the same thing.
Naren says:
okay
Michael says:
I got it all up and running on SuSe Linux on a Sparc, probably the most difficult
platform, so it couldn't be that hard for any other platforms.
Michael says:
So, libdream seems to suit our needs much better than KOS (kallistios) since
it doesn't include a kernel or any centralization/intelligence.
Michael says:
libdream, that is.
Naren says:
okay
Michael says:
Once we get our video.s setup we need to write our "main function"
Michael says:
Actually these two tasks can be worked on simultaneously.
Michael says:
Do you have a Dreamcast?
Naren says:
No i haven't.
Michael says:
I think there are some decent emulators out there, anyway, if you get one make
sure it was manufactured after September 2000.
Michael says:
Not that you can tell if your on eBay
Naren says:
okay
Naren says:
Have u got one urself ?
Michael says:
Yeah, but I'm going to modify it for CD-RWs.
Michael says:
I go through $00.50 everydime I compile the code.
Michael says:
*time
Naren says:
Okay
Michael says:
Or, I may build the seriel cable and just boot it of seriel-upload-slave.
Michael says:
*off
Michael says:
You know what happened to everyone else?
Michael says:
I still haven't heard from anyone but you.
Michael says:
So our larget challenge now is figuring out how to make ASM and C work together.
Michael says:
Also, all Marcus's examples show how to place one file, 1ST_READ.BIN on the
CD.
Michael says:
What if you have multiple files?
Michael says:
How do the programs get modified to know the new name/path of their partner
files?
Michael says:
Then being converted and then burned after being compiled, not to mention under
a different name.
Michael says:
Anyway, it's something to think about, I've got to go, it's 2AM, bye.
Naren says:
okay that's quite a lot to do for a beginning
Michael says:
Yeah, but at least now we actually know what to do, bye.
Naren says:
okay i will work on it and send some inputs if i get any,.
Naren says:
okay
Naren says:
Bye