Frequently Asked Questions about PIC-Pong and PIC-Tetris

Q: I canīt compile the pong game, why ? 
A: It was written with a really old version of mpasm, so new versions canīt compile it. But lucky for you I have already compiled it and the compiled file is the pong.hex included in the zip-file. 

Q: How should I set the fuses when programming the pic ? 
A: If your programmer isnīt to shitty it will underdstand that the bits are already set in the HEX-file, but if it donīt understand that set it to: HS, wdt:off   pwr:off   cp:off 

Q: The game works, except for that I donīt see any menus / the menus are fucked up. What is the problem ? 
A: You didnīt program the data-eprom, your programmer might not support it, if so try a better programmer. 

Q: The music in tetris sounds like shit, is it that I canīt build stuff or is it supposed to sound like that ? 
A: There is probably nothing wrong with your hardware, the music is not played during the vertical sync, and during some intensive scanlines, so it gets shopped up, and that creates a lot of distorsion, so it is supposed to sound like shit. 

Q: I donīt have a C64 joystick, is it possible to build one ? 
A: Yes, connect (on)-off switches to ground from the pins at the joystick ports. 

Q: Where can I get info on videosignals ? 
A: The best place to look is in a book. Iīve searched a lot on the Internet on the subject,
but there is very little information. I looked at one of the libraries on my school
(Lund University) and found quite a lot of info. First look for books on Video signals or
TV-technical stuff, but if you donīt find much (you will probably not find as much as you want)
then try to look for Electronic Handbook, the kind of books that deals with all electronic
subjects, there are quite many of them, search for "Electronic Handbook" or something like
that and  you will probably find something. If you want to know about how videosignals can be
created in software, then look at the source of my Tetris game, there are not very much
written on the subject. The best I've ever seen written about video signals on the internet
is the documentation to Marcelo Maggi's pattern generator.
(ftp://ftp.picpoint.com/projects/video_en.zip)  He generates the pattern with a pic
but uses a special color video signal generating chip to get a color video signal.
If you want to se more pic's generating video games, check out David B. Thomas's "VCR-Pong"
(http://www.rt66.com/dthomas/pic/pong.html)

Q: Is it possible to create color signals in software with a pic ? 
A: No, a pic is too slow to do that, but on a SX chip it might be possible, Iīm actually working on that, but Iīve not come so far yet. (Due to the shitty sx-key works so poorly, and also that Iīve got no free time) 

Q: I would like to learn about pic processors, how should I begin ? 
A: Start looking at microchips homepage (http://www.microchip.com), and dowload the datasheet for PIC16F84 and read it. After that you should look at a couple of the Application notes, and then check out all the links on Alexey Vladimirov's (ORMIX) linkpage. (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/5807/) Now you know everything about pic and you should  build yourself a programmer, for example Jens Madsens programmer (http://www.jdm.homepage.dk/newpic.htm) and start making cool projects.  

Q: Are you planning to make more pic-games ? 
A: If I get time to do so I will probably make some more, but my time is very limited and if I get time to do something with pic it will probably be something very different to what Iīve done before, because I like to move on to new ideas. So I will probably not make more games in the near future, not on this hardware anyway. 

Q: I don't understand how the game can create a video signal in software, could you explain it to me ?
A: There is a description of how to generate a video signal in software on my microcontroller page, check it out (http://www.efd.lth.se/~e96rg/mc/video/rtvideo.html), if you don't understand it, don't ask me about it.

Q: I have a programming/hardware problem with some stuff i'm doing, can you help me with it ? 
A: No I dont have time to do that. 

Q: I have a programming/hardware problem with some stuff i'm doing, can you help me with it if I give you some money ? 
A: No, you donīt have that much money. 
  
  
Always remeber to check out my page for the latest info: http://www.efd.lth.se/~e96rg/mc/mc.html