Re: TI-H: 4-Way Doodad
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Re: TI-H: 4-Way Doodad
PXGray@aol.com wrote:
> I am interested in building a piece of hardware that allows 4 calculators to
> plug in and:
> a. Chat
> b. Play Specially Designed Games (Compatible with the 4-Way Linkport)
> c. Host a "server" in which other calcs could download files.
>
> I think that the Gameboy 4-way connector would be a good reference/possible
> conversion. I will need someone to write drivers, preferredly in ASM for
> Usgard, and possibly someone who is a little more knowledgible about this
> stuff than I am. I'll try to have a schematic of the gameboy 4-way connector,
> and a possible schematic of my 4-way connector soon.
MBus already allows this, and MChat shows that it really works. MBus uses
I2C and a higher-level protocol to interface between calcs, and works with
straight wire and up to about a hundred calcs (I've never tried it out with
that many, though...). I admit that CalcNet is slightly faster and, at present,
more compatible with other calcs than the TI-85, but it is also a lot more
expensive and at least a bit harder to make. I see no need for a third,
competing design, and instead I'd like to see more development on the MBus
and why not CalcNet too. Some people have shown interest in porting the
MBus routines to other calcs than the 85, but I haven't heard of any
complete ports yet. A MBus multiplayer game by me is on the way. The
current MBus drivers were made for ZShell, but I'll probably make an Usgard
version soon because the game should be easier to make with Usgard. The
differences won't be big, though.
Your idea seems to be to connect calcs together in the same way as Gameboys
are connected together. Although I don't know how Gameboys link together, I
can assure you that you have to either do some pretty advanced electronics
if you want to use the TI internal protocol (use a microcontroller as CalcNet
does) or use a custom protocol with simple hardware (use I2C as MBus does).
Both approaches have their good and bad sides, and I think both CalcNet and
MBus are about as good as they can be, so we don't need a third system unless
it relies on some really new and great idea.
This blurb probably seems confusing, check out my MBus page at
http://www.clinet.fi/~ozone/mbus/
and Grant's CalcNet page for more info.
-Ozone
--
*** Osma Suominen *** ozone@clinet.fi *** http://www.clinet.fi/~ozone ***
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