~mips@TTBP

23 october 2019

Slowly making more progress on my game. Found out the issue I was having last time again had to do with grabbing the wrong addresses. I have a table of low and high address bytes that when used in conjunction with an index value, I can read or select text based off a single index number. The error I was seeing last time had to do with pulling the wrong high address byte. The problem was temporarily fixed by having a hard-coded value pointing to the location of the high byte entries. This is not an elegant solution, and will need fixed as I add more text, thus changing the data offsets.

Here's what the tables look like:

TEXT_LO: .byte <TEST_TEXT ;Index 00 [more entries] ;Index 01

TEXT_HI: .byte >TEST_TEXT ;Still index 00 [more entries]

TEST_TEXT: .byte T,E,S,T, ,T,E,X,T

Of course, I have omitted all my other entries. Anyway, my program was incorrectly reading the high bytes, and always pulling the same value, #$B0. So, that's figured out at least. I've a few ideas on how to fix that though.

Not too much else has been worked on. Mostly been planning out my program, making flow charts, working on graphics, etc. I find myself working on either code or other things depending on how much I managed to get done the week prior. Helps keep me from burning out on coding or drawing.

That's all for now.

17 october 2019

I've finally made some headway on debugging my program.

The problem was in a routine that copied a chunk of ROM to RAM. Seems in my hurry to get results the other day, I managed to delete the high byte of my source address pointer. So, what this did was set an incorrect address for me to pull data from; instead of copying from $B000 it was some other address, $x000. Probably the value that was last put in this generic pointer that several routines share.

Of course with squashing that bug, I have another bug that seems a little more difficult to track down. Some of my text on the title screen displays fine, while others in my debug menus all have scrambled index values for some reason. I can see bits and peices of other lines of text. For now, DEBUG says RUMPO. Cool.

Theories:

Maybe my text index value (a table of 10 bytes) may be getting overwritten. Though if that were the case, all of my text would be wrong...
A dumb typo somewhere. This is usually the case.
Something else.

Need to stare at the source code some more. Gotta rumpo my program some more.

16 october 2019

Hey! I'm recording my feels tonight!

I Think I'll talk about something interesting my next few feels. Maybe I can debug my program this way.

I'm working on a videogame for the Atari 7800. I'm not sure if I have talked about it before or not. The game is 100% coded in 6502 assembly and uses neat cartridge hardware that has a custom mapper and softsynth software that runs separate from the 6502. Also included is 32KB of RAM and 512KB of banked ROM.

The game is a vertical shooter called Bullet Festival. Or at least it will be if I can get past a few hurdles. My current issue is my text engine is outputting incorrect graphics. It was working a few days ago, but I needed to change how I was storing and retrieving to be able to use a feature of the cartridge hardware. However, it seems I was too change-happy and managed to make too many changes to easily revert. I have a backup on my file server though, so it should be fine.

The program was stripped down to the bare minimum: hardware setup, RAM clearing, and (attempting) to give my text processing routine the proper data to display text. I'm simply trying to display 4 lines of test text.

Symptom:

Text is displaying incorrect texture. It seems to be pulling some textures of bullets and turret enemies.

Theory(ies):

The text processing routine is being given the incorrect values.
The mapper hardware is not configured correctly to accept data into RAM.
The text processing routine is bugged.
Data is formatted incorrectly.
Combination of all of the above.

I'll need to stop for tonight though, it's getting too late and I need to get up early. I'll probably start by ensuring that the text processing routine is working properly, double-check that the data being put into RAM is correct, re-read the documentation for the hardware and make sure it is set-up properly. Failing these checks, I'll possibly need to redesign the text processing routine or revert changes and not utilize a feature that is not mandatory for operation. Sure would make life easier and my program more flexible down the road!

Remember: cycles! Keep the program fast and try to use the fastest addressing methods.

Good night! :^)

01 july 2018

Woo! More of me. Nobody cares.

Managed to get through my previous classes just fine. I've since signed up for summer classes and will again attempt to get the CompTIA A+ certification. The whole self study thing I tried did'nt quite work out. Too many distractions in life. Need to get it this time though, there are some positions that are available at my work. If I can get this cert before winter, I have a chance to snag a nice job that starts around 26 dollars an hour, 40hrs/week! That'll be plenty to get my life on track.

I was browsing a neat site called Neocities (not Reocities.) They've got lots of pages with the old 90's look to them. I realised again that any website that interested me usually offered something. This could be knowlege, video game reviews, catalogs, etc... I need to offer something that others will enjoy instead of making a webpage dedicated to me. That's boring, who wants to read something about some rando? So yeah, I'll find something I can offer the world.

Hey if someone actually does read to this point, shoot me some mail. Maybe suggest something that people like to see in webpages around here.

Really, that's it. Just another year coming around again. Hopefully things will start turning for the better.

14 march 2018

Been kinda busy here lately; a few things have changed in my life. Let's start with school.

School has been keeping me busy. I'm only taking two classes, but between them and work I've had to re-learn how to manage my time. My networking basics class turned out to be not-so-basic.

My professor said there really should have been prerequisites to the class, but he said he'll get me through it. Truth be told though, it feels less like a class and more of a place to review what we were supposed to read the previous week. The guy knows his stuff, but the class does not feel like it is his top priority if that makes sense. See, he teaches at Texas A&M AND our community college, and I feel like his primary focus is with TAM. Our class should have also have had projects and hands-on exercises to put our knowlege to use like: building networks, wiring, server configuration, etc... But we have not done any of these things yet. Hopefully we are just powering through bookwork and will get to interesting things after spring break. He also ends class a lot sooner than it should have run. I dunno, I'll keep studying like a madman, but it's boring me to tears solely reading about the subject.

I've also returned to playing a really cool RTS: "Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak." When I was around 11 or 12, I played the original game quite extensively. Met some of the coolest -and strangest- people from that game. I miss them a lot sometimes... Anyway, shoutout to the old Homeworld clans! Xeno, LS, VX, PSA, SF, and GURU are the ones I remember. If anyone was there, shoot me an email!

Kinda weird work story to tell. Recently our facility's day yard controller was fired... Turns out he got into a fight and ended up going WWE on another shifter. One suplex and a broken table later, he and the other guy were gone. Maybe he can get a job as a pro wrestler if he's not in jail? :^) Sounds horrible, and I do feel bad for them, but work is not worth getting into fights over. People need to chill out around there.

Anyway, I'm going back to either studying or indulging in old internet things from the late 90s. Probably indulging. Later!

12 december 2017

Ok, so I finally talked to an advisor at my community college. Actually two. And now I have a starting point! I'll be taking a network fundamentals and an english class. I'm kinda nervous starting school again. I have been in this sort of limbo for nearly 9 years now just working and not really doing anything productive with my life. Aside from learning a few things here and there that is.

Anyway, I have been through a lot and now I have a better idea what direction to take. I'm making 2018 the year I focus on myself now, going to school, and finishing various projects that I started.

Let's see, I need to stop taking about myself all the time. I'll try sharing something new or mildly interesting once and a while.

Try adding a bit of sour cream to scrambled eggs before cooking them. About a tablespoon for one or two people.

08 november 2017

Good evening townies.

Well I don't have much, I just wanted to tell whoever reading this to have a good day/night!

:^)

Ok. Good night.

Oh wait! Heres some ascii art of Felix I found on the web:

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30 october 2017

Wow, I'm still here!

Nothing much has changed with me. What a drag. :T

I've been doodling here recently, been drawing a lot of Felix the Cat. I remember years ago sitting down and watching these silent cartoons and throughly enjoying them! It had a certain surreal-ness to it and was just wacky. Going back and watching these again spurred me draw a little. Anyways I may end up posting a few self made comics and attempting to emulate the style and feel of Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer. Maybe give a go at simple animation. All posted here of course, I don't think whoever owns Felix at the moment would take kindly to people making this sorta thing?

Let's see, other than that, not much going on. I'm waiting for school to start in spring; I have decided I'll actually make a serious effort this time. Only getting older you know?

29 september 2017

Good evening/morning townies!

Nothing too exciting to talk about. As usual. Though tomorrow my SNES mini comes in, so theres that!

A few days ago while I was doing some 7800 development I manage to kill my dev cart. :( It's actually a cartridge containing NVRAM instead of ROM. It also has a cool bios in it that boots games and handles mapping/bankswitching I believe. Well long story short the cart was bumped and probably wrote over the bios effectively bricking my cartridge. Had to send it back to the guy who made it. Says he has better hardware and software to replace it. Silver linings and all that.

After doing all the programming/music creation/art creation myself, I realise how important teams are. Going solo even on a rather simple project takes loads of time and effort. I can't seem to get my brothers too interested in this sorta thing, so I'm forced to wear all the hats. I guess it shows whatever you are good at, someone somewhere might need what you and I have. And I lost where I was heading with this...

I finally have some repair parts for my car coming in. I have put this off for a while in favor of other things. I have a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero. It's pretty cool. It has AWD, in good shape save for needing a new condenser fan and bumper, and thanks to some sweat and elbow grease is super clean on the inside.

Still have not made progress on my studies. It's rather difficult with everything going on here. I think going to school will be a good idea. It may help keep me focused. That and it would be really cool to say I have a degree in computer science. It won't be easy, and I will have to take some remedial courses. But it should be worth the effort.

Also a heads-up for anyone looking for a job and saying they can't find one needs to look a little harder. Well, let me specify: anyone looking for ANY job with little to no expirence. The jobs are out there. You probably won't like said job and may be bottom of the barrel, but any sort of movement is better than no movement. I have been trying to tell this to one of my brothers, but he still won't put in the effort. A couple examples especially with the holidays around the corner:

Walmart Yeah. They are always hiring. The job is ok for getting exposure to the working world or for retired folks to stay busy. They do have some school programs, though you have to get that information yourself from them. I would not recommend staying around there too long unless you find something you like. Like management or something. I have met some of the most interesting/ weird people in my life at this place. Been in some interesting situations too. It's not all that bad, but you will run into opposition. Someone will rub you the wrong way and you will run into that less-that-scum customer whos sole purpose is to make someone else feel bad. This is part of the whole gaining expirence thing. Just gotta grit and overcome it.

UPS Another place that almost always hiring. The work will be rough at first. In the words of Major Payne: "I'm gonna make you boys strawng!" Though honestly it's not all that bad. You'll most likely start off sorting packages in a hub, but you can quickly advance to management if you show you can at least show up and not quit. Another path is driving. Either package cars or driving semi-trucks. They provide training for everything. The place is Union-ized though. I don't really like em too much. This is the place I'm trying to get away from though. Simply does not align with my interests.

Really it just takes a little effort and you can easily get entry-level positions. Just keep bugging the employer and show you want to work and they'll eventually hire you. Who knows? May be you'll get out of a rut in your life? (or starting a new one if you really don't like the job)

Don't really know why I wrote this. Just sorta thinking out loud.

22 september 2017

Hmm, that whole "post something I have learned everyday" thing sorta... didn't happen. I admit it was an old hobby of mine that kept me distracted. It is quite enriching though so I don't feel too bad. I try to program for the Atari 7800 Prosystem when the mood strikes me. I like to hand-code in 6502 assembly. It's simple to learn but takes a while to master if you want to do really cool things. I'm currently working on a clone of "Ball", an old Game and Watch game. Start simple then gradually try harder things.

The weekend is here and bed is calling my name.

13 september 2017

Need to catch up on my feels! Here's what I have started to learn the past few days:

As stated, I am studying for my compTIA A+ certification. I started at the beginning of the book learning about computer hardware. And while I have learned a lot, it is also boring me to tears. So to break a bit of monotany, I have jumped to the networking section.

I started off with LANs, WANs, PANs, and MANs. LANs (local area network) mostly describe computers networked in the same physical building. Whereas WANs (wide area networks) can generally be used to describe multiple, disbursed LANs connected together. PANs (personal area networks) are more commonly associated with small bluetooth networks. MANs (metropolitian area network) are larger than LANs, but still cover a relatively small geographical areas like citys or large campuses.

I learned the differences (and similarities) between clients and servers. There could be no difference hardware wise between a client or server, and is safer to think at the software level here; PCs can host network resources too. These pcs can be termed a non-dedicated server. Dedicated servers provide specific services, and typically won't be used as a day-to-day workstation. Dedicated servers are typically the rack mounted hardware you see in dataclosets or server rooms. Resources can be printers, data storage and file access, or applications. This tilde server for example provides many resources and is most likely a dedicated machine.

There are different types of networks to access resources. Care must be given when setting up a network. Is it a large company or a home network? Does it need security and administration? Will it be expensive? Peer-to-peer networks have computers that act as both service requestors and providers. They are good for small and simple networks like in a home. Whereas Client-Server networks are better suited to large companies. These can be administered at a central location and is more secure. It is also easier to share resources. They are more expensive however.

There are sevral ways to physically network computers together. I won't go into much detail, but the most common way to wire a network is the star topology, where computers and printers are networked to a central location like a switch or hub. (Typically a switch.)

Currently, I am learning what is known as the OSI model. Things are starting to get a little comlex here, but basically it is a theoretical model governing computer communication. (Taken from my CompTIA book. This model is useful as a technician or administrator for diagnosing problems with a network. Since I'm still learning this, I'll write about this at a later date.

That was a mouthful! I also realised how nice it is to review what I have learned. Going to take a break now. Been studying for a couple hours now.

If you are still reading this I'm impressed. This is terribly boring. I'm boring. Go do something not boring! The implementation of this knowledge won't be boring though! Hopefully.

09 september 2017

Feeling pretty good these past few days. I think now I can start refocusing my efforts back towards learning things. (Linux, getting my compTIA cert, HTML)

Oh, I found out why I could not join the chat! The log files/configuration files were somehow messed up. I deleted these and was able to connect to chat again. Cool. I finally got to that point after browsing the Weechat manpage. Found out it created a hidden file in my ~ directory. I figured if the program can't access/append to files there, how 'bout killing those files and generating a new set? Nothing to lose.

Okay, this week is all about one thing: pick up that book and study! Every day, I will post a feels of what I have learned. Maybe someone else will find something interesting.

07 september 2017

I edited my feels page. Just found out I could, too! No offense to anyone, but that default pink is hard to look at for extended periods. At least for me. :-(

Yesterday I kept myself distracted with a bit of soldering. I have a Gameboy Camera that would not boot up. Every time would act like the contact were bad or had oxidation, but they were squeeky clean... Feeling I had nothing much to lose, I tried my hand at reflowing the surface mount components. I applied flux to the traces and raked the iron across the contacts. Worked like a charm after fiddling with a few bridged traces. Lo and behold, I brought the game back to life after years of not working. How'd a trace break in the first place??

I tried following up an application with a call, but nobody answered the phones! I tried a few times too... Ran out of time and had to go. I'll try again after work tomorrow. Not really a good thing now that I think about it. Nobody answering calls. Hm.

I have to take my cat to the vet Friday. He keeps getting discharge built up in his ear. I had medicine thats nearly impossible to apply to a cat. I have to get help just to keep him still. Anyway, I ran out of that and worried infection will set in. Better safe than sorry.

Not much to say. I'm still combatting procrastination and laziness. I'm trying to get into a study routine, but theres always something getting in my way and slowing me down.

I still find myself asking if this is what I really want to study. Will I enjoy this? Guess it boils down to just trying. Try to get these certifications. Try to get this job.

I'm really tired of where my life is headed right now. I don't really enjoy my current job. Even if it's tolerable. I'm getting too old to be doing this. I need to find what I enjoy doing. That sounds strange, you figure I would know myself by now. I recently cut something out of my life that has alway come back to haunt me. An addiction of sorts. Wait, just a really lame/bad habit. It always has stopped real progress and keeping me further distracted. I will keep it at bay this time.

If you are still reading this, I apologize. My thoughts are a little scattered tonight. Thanks for reading this far. Maybe if I keep writing like this I'll figure something out sooner.

03 september 2017

Why am I writing this at 03:45??? :^(

Man, weekends fly. At least I have tomorrow off.

Today I helped my dad with some work. The work is not 'fun' but it's always enjoyable doing things with him. I really want to go sailing or do something fun, but we always seem to be swamped.

Yesterday I finished building my consolized Neogeo! This project has been going off and on since January! Took much longer than I wanted. Maybe I'll try putting some pictures on my ~homepage. It's really cool crossing another thing off my list of things to do.

Not much else to write. Guess I'll try sleeping.

31 august 2017

Nothing too interesting happened today. Though I did break something at work by accident. Management just seemed to shrug it off; guess it only hurt what little pride I have at work.

I have been going through Codecademy's HTML lessons the past two days. Finally learning how to make a webpage that's hopefully compliant. I simplified my layout, removed useless text, and I've started to add links to other html files on my tilde home directory. Just started on learning how to use CSS. Got that in the page too.

I have no clue what direction to take my webpage, but I have been browsing a Geocities archive and looking at badly designed pages for inspiration. Well, some were bad. Most were typical of the time. It's pretty cool though seeing all these old pages. Like a section of the internet frozen in the late 90's. Go check it out, there's a link on my tildepage.

28 august 2017

Ah, it's quite wet outside.

I hear a childhood home of mine is probably underwater. Probably destroyed. Nature is scary like that.

I should have called and checked up on my employment status. I need to be a little more aggressive when it comes to persuing something I want to become.

27 august 2017

Today turned out a little frustrating. The rain made it impossible to finish painting the case. When things let up and I got going again, I managed to mess up my clear coat and the paint underneath. Ah well, sand it down and start another day. At least I finished soldering the electronics.

Weekends fly by too quick. Gotta go back to work tomorrow. I still don't like it there, though it's tolorable. Guess people just get comfortable with their routines and fear change?

I found an old floppy disk from when I was a kid. On the disk was a single shortcut pointing to the location of Neko '98. Was it 98? Too lazy to check. Guess I was trying to make a copy. Maybe I had the whole thing there at one point and deleted it? I also found some old powerpoints... Rather embarrassing contents. Still gave me a good chuckle!

26 august 2017

Was going to do a bit of cleanup today when I tripped over an old project I started a while back. "That's it. This weekend. I'm going to finish this."

I had purchased an old Neogeo MVS arcade board that I was going to consolize. I was going strong for a while fixing up the board, re-routing broken traces, replacing bad RAM chips, broken LEDs, etc... Finally got the wood cut out and lost steam. Got back around to building and sanding, lost steam again. But now? Everythings almost done. Got it painted, electronics in place, gonna finish tomorrow.

It's going to feel good having one more thing done and out of the way, plus I'll have a sweet arcade machine.

Still need get a move on with getting my life situation under control. Need to focus on getting a job as a conputer repair technician. Heard they offer paid training for the compTIA certification! Sounds like the perfect foot-in-the-door for the IT world; just gotta solve this life motivation issue.

Anyone reading this that works in the IT field? How'd you get started? Should I try to go to school or try to work my way into it?

I'm only a couple days into this community, but it feels nice. I have always had trouble feeling at home joining public forums or social media/microblogs. Hope I can call this a long-term home!

25 august 2017

This is a test feels. Not sure what to do with it. :T

Edit Neat, seems theres a webpage that displays everyone's feels! The more I dig into this community, the better it gets!

I definitely plan to learn lots from this community.