Hydra sneek peek from Parallax....

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Socoder -> Misc Gaming -> Hydra sneek peek from Parallax....
Fri, 17 Nov 2006, 04:35
power mousey	hi everybody, a sneek peek of the Hydra: www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=32360 cheers, Spartan Soldier
Fri, 17 Nov 2006, 15:00
magicman	ok, mr. power mousey, i am becomming interested, so i have a few questions to ask you! first of all, on that site it said that you can use any basic language, dose this mean blitz basic? or dose it mean like pure basic or just plain BASIC? dose it have 3d capability? how many bits is it? dose it take discs? can you create somthing on your computer and then put it on the hydra or dose it have to be made on the hydra? how much memory? And if you wish to tell me anything else i would be delighted to read it. thank you! -=-=- Stuff... Yeah...
Fri, 17 Nov 2006, 15:44
power mousey	thank you, great grandson of Harry Blackstone....magicman. okay, first of all if you have some coding experience in a Basic or even C programming language....then, the Hydra is aimed at you in the sense of not only playing games but also to learn game programming utilizing the languages within the Hydra development kit. As well as learning about micro-controllers and especially the propeller cel chip, parallel programming and multiprocessing too. from what I'm reading from excerpts from selected chapters from the book of Game Programming For the Propeller Powered Hydra: when you boot up the Hydra computer.....you can load up the Hydra Basic(variant of Tiny BASIC from Doctor Dobbs journal ) with the supplied game cartridge and with it inserted or by loading it up from the PC off of the CD disc/hard drive via USB interface cable. If no game cartridge is inserted....a Hydra asteroids clone game is run from and contained in the onboard 128k EEPROM chip. If you are running the game....and insert the game cartridge...then reset the Hydra and it will load up the program(s) residing on the game cartridge. Viola!! you are READY: to code in the Hydra tiny Basic. cheers, power mousey
Fri, 17 Nov 2006, 16:32
power mousey	further down the rabbit hole....magicman within the enclosed cd from the book....you can install the Propeller tools and IDe. Also on the cd are the Spin and asm programming languages too. With help and guidance from the book you can learn both Spin and asm for the propeller chip contained in the Hydra. You can code programs within the IDE and compile them and test and run them in the IDE. Then, upload them into the Hydra and run them via the USB interface cable that connects the PC to the Hydra. You can even save them onto game cartridges too. For myself....I'm going to slowly get acquainted with the hardware architecture and operation of both the Hydra and propeller cel chip. As well as code and program in Hydra Tiny Basic. Let alone...it will take me many months to read,learn and understand the 900 page book of Game Programming For The Propeller Powered Hydra. I'm just taking my time too. true. you can download excerpts of selected chapters of the Hydra....and over at www.parallax.com but not to worry....the Spartan Soldier will keep a journal and is willing to share his adventures and conquest within the Halls of the Hydra. oh yeah...and I forgot to mention. the usual storage format of programs,games and other applications will be on cartridges. And in varying sizes of blank experimenter cards, 32k, 64k, and 128k too. there is also a guy..user named Cjmovie... is working on an interface with the blank experimenter card to function with programs,games,apps in 'save to' and 'read from' SD cards. cheers, power mousey
Fri, 17 Nov 2006, 17:17
power mousey	so, what do you think magicman? what say you?? cheers, power mousey
Sat, 18 Nov 2006, 17:36
magicman	well, im still a little confusilled, but it sounds good. also, dose it have its own programming language? this tiny basic? -=-=- Stuff... Yeah...
Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 08:34
power mousey	yes, the Hydra computer has its own programming language. In fact a few programming languages. With the cd in the drive and accessed you can load the Hydra Tiny Basic into the Hydra computer via USB cable is connected from your PC and to the Hydra itself. The Hydra Tiny Basic interpreter will load in within the remaining 96k of the onboard 128k EEPROM.....and then you reset the system and the Tiny Basic starts up. The first 32k from the onboard 128k EEPROM is dedicated to a Asteroid clone game called Parallaxoids...or something like that. But much easier is this: insert the game cartridge that contains the Hydra Tiny Basic into the 20 dip pin slot....with the EEPROM chip and the text facing you. true. Either power up the Hydra or reset the Hydra and the Tiny Basic interpereter will load and run. Tiny Basic is originally a subset of Basic for first generation home computers and with limited memory. This version of Tiny Basic and for the Hydra computer is written in pure assembly language and is blazingy fast for an intepreter Basic due to the multiprocessing characteristics contained within the propeller cel chip inside the Hydra computer and also the fact its written in pure assembly. Other available languages and very advanced ones will be the high-level Spin language and also the low level assembly language for the propeller chip. I have also seen and read in the works for the Hydra computer both a Hydra C language and also a Forth language too. The advanced languages of Spin and assembly are on the cd and you code applications,demos and games with these languages on the PC and in and thru the Propeller IDE. You can run them thru the IDE and even save them on the hard drive of yout PC. However, you create executables only if they are saved and loaded into memory or game catridges for the Hydra computer. They will, unfortunately not run as stand alone executable programs or applications on the PC. However, they will run thru the IDE on the PC and also be converted to stand alone executables when save into the Hydra...primarily in the memory or game cards. Provided that the USB cable is connected to both your PC and also your Hydra computer. cheers, power mousey
Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 12:19
magicman	ok, cool! next question, will i be able to load graphics or will i have to settle for in code graphics that arnt made in a program like paint? and just to make clear, 3d? -=-=- Stuff... Yeah...
Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 15:31
power mousey	hi magicman, from what I have been reading recently from the short samples or excepts of selected chapters of the book Game Programming For The Propeller Powered Hydra....you can utilise both in code graphics and use 2d and 3d graphics from some of the objects such as video and animation objects that the cogs on the propeller chip utilize...I think...think, they are derived from various tv and graphic drivers: TV_DRV_010.SPIN and GRAPHICS_DRV_010.SPIN With these Parallax drivers and utilizing other objects and with extra coding in either Spin and/or the assembly language raycaster engines,demos and other graphic engines have been created for you to use: The COP graphics engine....and especially in the COP Graphics Engine test programs and tutorials; psuedo-3d parallax scrolling techniques; multi-cog graphics engine and with overlay loader, a ray casting engine and demo...such as in the 3d racing game X-Racer, which is reminiscient of Pole Position, and also the GFX Engine...as in the and with the 4GFX Engine Demo. there also toher engines and demos derived from these engines and the drivers and other cog objects too. Dang!! and sigh I wish I had the whole book now. But hey, you can download and read these selected chapters from the Hydra and in .pdf format from www.parallax.com when I do get the Hydra book...900 pages in all, and also the whole complete Hydra computer package for Christmas, I'm coming in as a novice and beginner for sure to learn both the hardware and especially the software of the Hydra computer and the propeller cel chip contained in the Hydra. And that includes going from the beginning with Hydra Tiny Basic and all the way into the deepest dimensions of both Spin and the assembly in both parallel programing and multiprocessing too. I'm also interested in the propeller OS for the Hydra, and especially the Hydra C and Forth too. cheers, power mousey