IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

This is the right place to discuss on how to implement hardware vsync, adding a VIA or AY chipset, puting multiple roms, or how to design a new flash expansion card.
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xahmol
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by xahmol »

As far as I know, the intro was not added for fun, but to perform the actual IJK patch. That’s why no intro has been added to games already having IJK support,
So yes, that is a problem on the Erebus. But you can not blame Raxiss for that, as I saw him nowhere stating that his adapted games would work on Erebus. And the interface itself is compatible with Erebus and works excellent on games that already support IJK.

By the way, Cumana Reborn supports every image that the Erebus does as you can very easy convert TAP images to DSK images. Have not used my Erebus once since getting the Cumana Reborn
That does not work for multiload TAP files alas, so no solution for the patched IJK games.

On the positive side, all new software will now surely have IJK natively as it is now the de facto standard.

And there is actually an SD card alternative that might work, the Maxduino. That supports multiload does it? as it exactly emulates actual tape load? https://forum.defence-force.org/viewtop ... 72&p=23297
Did not get one myself yet, as I am somewhat reluctant to buy something else again.

Also curious how @iss himself is using his TAP files on original hardware. Especially as I saw him suggesting somewhere he is working on an Oric expansion solution that ‘does it all’....
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by ibisum »

All .TAP files can be converted to .DSK files with TAP2DSK ...

And the #1 source of software for Oric on the Internet remains http://oric.org/ ...
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by coco.oric »

Hello, i've maxduino, tapduino, wavduino, erebus ..

If you want, i can try your software.
Wavduino seems not very relaible (i didn't find the good sound volume for)
Tap and maxduino are good. I've to try more as the speed of the maxduino form example is set at 3600 bps, i'll prefer 2400 bps

about oric.org, we should be able to select tap source compatibility in the filter, but there's a lot of work
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coco.oric as DidierV, CEO Member
Historic owner of Oric, Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by dizzy33 »

xahmol wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 10:18 am As far as I know, the intro was not added for fun, but to perform the actual IJK patch. That’s why no intro has been added to games already having IJK support,
So yes, that is a problem on the Erebus. But you can not blame Raxiss for that, as I saw him nowhere stating that his adapted games would work on Erebus. And the interface itself is compatible with Erebus and works excellent on games that already support IJK.

By the way, Cumana Reborn supports every image that the Erebus does as you can very easy convert TAP images to DSK images. Have not used my Erebus once since getting the Cumana Reborn
That does not work for multiload TAP files alas, so no solution for the patched IJK games.

On the positive side, all new software will now surely have IJK natively as it is now the de facto standard.

And there is actually an SD card alternative that might work, the Maxduino. That supports multiload does it? as it exactly emulates actual tape load? https://forum.defence-force.org/viewtop ... 72&p=23297
Did not get one myself yet, as I am somewhat reluctant to buy something else again.

Also curious how @iss himself is using his TAP files on original hardware. Especially as I saw him suggesting somewhere he is working on an Oric expansion solution that ‘does it all’....
Where did you see I was blaming on Raxiss ? I did not. As I said, its interface is very well designed, but the way he modified games for IJK compatibility does not work with the Erebus. As Erebus is one of the major games loader products for Oric, I think it would be good to notify somewhere that its modified games will not work with Erebus. What's wrong with that ?

Maxduino is just a tape emulator, it's very different from Erebus : Maxduino acts exactly the same way as if you were loading games in MP3 format from a mobile phone connected to the Oric via an audio cable (analog signal). This means you may face loading problems, and loading times are as long as back in the 80's.
So no, to my point of view, there is no equal product to Erebus. Cumana is another good product, very good product, but a lot more expensive (as it's more sophisticated), and as you said, not working better than Erebus with IJK modified games (if I understood well).
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by kenneth »

If all the games was "one-block" made, that could be more simple with DSK converting and all drive devices connected with the Oric computer...
But retrocomputing is freedom, not compliance. :mrgreen:
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by Symoon »

I need a reminder please :)
Would a multipart TAP file work with Erebus if each part was splitted into different TAP files, and loaded with the right name in the CLOAD command?
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by kenneth »

The Erebus looks for the beginning of the Tap file and no longer returns under DOS, all parts must be in the TAP file.
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by Symoon »

kenneth wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:03 pm The Erebus looks for the beginning of the Tap file and no longer returns under DOS, all parts must be in the TAP file.
Thanks. So I don't get it, ISS's multipart TAP files should work, wouldn't they? (all parts are in a single .TAP file)

I mean, there are 3 cases (actually it could be more, but let's not get into useless complexity):
1- One part, in one .TAP file (obviously !)
2- Several parts, in one .TAP file (ISS adapted games)
3- Several parts, each being in a separate .TAP file (which won't work with Erebus as I just asked here)

Or does that mean that 2 and 3 can't work?
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by iss »

dizzy33 wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 3:04 pm I just received the interface. From a hardware point of view, it's very well designed.
@dizzy33: Thank you very much for you kind words!
The rest of your message is irrelevant to IJK-egoist interface (at-least in this thread) ... That's All I Have To Say About That ...

Just small but very friendly remainder - there are some legal notes in bold, next to the download links on my site:
legal-disclamer.png
I hope we all - the Oricians - are fair-players!
And as proof from me here is a free gift for all:

Freshly adapted Doggy for IJK-egoist and for ALL other IJK-interfaces!

In single part TAP file, usable on all available devices (except: Toasters, Dishwashers, Tesla cars and maybe more...)
free-gift.png
Download: https://iss.sandacite.com/iss/ijk/#Free
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by dizzy33 »

Thanks a lot for Doggy !
Again, I am not blaming on you, or talking about legal things ... All I said is it would be good to say somewhere on your website that almost all files you modified for the IJK support does not work with the Erebus. I do not see what is bad with this suggestion.
If you don't want to, it's not a problem for me as for myself, now I know.

I just now hope that someone will be able to add the IJK support without adding an intro in each games.
To ISS : is adding an intro into the game the only way to add IJK support ?
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by xahmol »

dizzy33 wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 4:12 pm Where did you see I was blaming on Raxiss ?
I read this in your post that a disclaimer should have been placed 'not compatible with Erebus'. If not intended, then I misread your intented tone, apologies.

By the way, I feel the same frustration about not able to use multiload games that were build for tape and not disk. No device I have tried supports that for now. I do know of adapted tape .TAP images for Erebus that fix multiload, but those fixed images do not have the IJK patch. Would be great if someone would build some games that are both patched to work on Erebus and patched for IJK support. But lack the skill myself, and everybody is hobbying here, so can blame noone not having time and priority to do so.
Just am spoiled by my Commodores where disk image support is universal, joystick support is standard and most modern SD card/USB stick solutions swallow (almost) any image you throw at them. The Oric however has a much smaller user community and is also harder to develop hardware for I understand.

Meanwhile the Cumana Reborn is very strongly recommended, as it does much more than the Erebus. Disk support is really a game changer for the Oric as it allows things like save games and multi part games that do not fit in one go in memory.
But indeed it does not solve the TAP multiload thing, unless I really missed something.
ibisum wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 11:18 am All .TAP files can be converted to .DSK files with TAP2DSK ...
And the #1 source of software for Oric on the Internet remains http://oric.org/ ...
While this is factually correct. the resulting DSK images do not work correctly for multi load TAPs unless I am really doing something wrong.
All files within the TAP image are correctly placed within the DSK image by TAP2DSK. But part 1 of the game tries to load part 2 of the game by a CLOAD from tape instead of a LOAD from disk, and therefore fails. So in order to work for multipart, the individual modules should be patched to look on disk instead of tape for next parts.
TAP2DSK does flawlessly work however for anything that works on the Erebus. Reason for me to advice Cumana Reborn over Erebus if you have the choice. With indeed price and (for me the reason I bought an Erebus at start) leadtime to get one the downside.
Last edited by xahmol on Sun Jan 24, 2021 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by Symoon »

Not that I want to promote my work, but if you have a PC that can read WAV files and the suitable cable to link it to the Oric, converting TAP to WAV files does the trick.
TAP2WAV (standard speed), TAP2F16 (a bit faster), TAP2CD (much faster), Novalight (a bit faster than TAP2CD).
I used Novalight to test ISS's interface. But I have a computer that I know works fine for tape loading (with Wifi being shut down), I know it can be a really boring thing to have a reliable link.
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by xahmol »

Symoon wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 7:40 pm Not that I want to promote my work, but if you have a PC that can read WAV files and the suitable cable to link it to the Oric, converting TAP to WAV files does the trick.
Interesting. Was not aware of that option, missed that one on the forum apparently. What would be the cabling I need, and how fast is 'much faster'?
In other words, how long does it take to load a generic game that way (compared to the Erebus load times of almost instant, and also the very fast load times of the Cumana Reborn)?
EDIT: Nevermind, should do a forum search first: https://forum.defence-force.org/viewtop ... 900#p18900
So load times are 12-15 secs I see. Did not find which cable I need. Is that a standard Oric cassette cable connected from the headphone jack on the PC to the Oric?
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

Post by Symoon »

Demo of Novalight 1.1 (1.2 is faster but nothing really significant):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgCfp89MVUg

Now the boring drawback with multipart is that you have to stop the reading before the next part begins, until the Oric is in CLOAD mode again.
So considering the intro, let's say once you have the right volume set, any program can be loaded in about 1 minute (time to stop/start again).
Nothing that competes with Erebus speed or "easiness", but until we find if there's a way to load or convert multiple part programs, it's an alternative solution.

See there for the software:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/euphor ... e%20tools/

I'm using that sort of cable, with additional cynch/jack adapters
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/1-5m-Y-Cable-Ad ... 3889681203

Edit: yes the cable is standard. Not being a hardware guy, my goal was to try to do the maximum with standard things. But it doesn't compete with our talented Oric hardware people ;)
Edit 2: speaking of hardware, the Twilighte Card could be another option, but its cost is higher than Erebus, and it's a bit more complex to use (but has many other purposes).
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Re: IJK-egoist new joystick interface by [raxiss]

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Symoon wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 7:54 pm Edit 2: speaking of hardware, the Twilighte Card could be another option, but its cost is higher than Erebus, and it's a bit more complex to use (but has many other purposes).
I know. I since last week have one. Alas it does not work yet with my Atmos, so therefore can not yet recommend it from own experience.
Not saying anything negative of the great work of Jede though. He warned me this might be happening and that it might work or might not work, I willingly took the risk, and as we speak Jede is still trying to solve it to make it work for me. So fingers crossed I have an alternative with the Twilighte board soon as well.
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