N64 Development Tools

[Conle]

Linux won yet another fight

[the|Gamer]

BTW what do you think is Linux on the N64 possible
I mean text based?

[Conle]

BTW what do you think is Linux on the N64 possible
I mean text based?

Yes it is possible.
Also with graphics its possible with ram expansion even if the n64 has
unified memory architecture.
There are some techniques to make textures smaller in size when you upload them to the video ram.I think its called "pixel swizzling".
So yes, with "pixel swizzling" & conversion to 8bit textures you can have a lot of room for a full port with graphics.

But better wait for ChillyWilly's reply if you want more accurate answer.
 

[ChillyWilly]

I seem to remember a site on trying to get linux running on the N64. Didn't look into that too much as I'm more concerned with the menu right now. Given the memory constraints of the N64, linux might not be a good choice. Something more memory efficient like AROS might be better. If you really want linux, you could probably get a 2.2 kernel running on it. Once there's SD card support for the N64 Myth, that might be a good time to experiment with it.

[sanni]

I've found a book called "The C Programming Language Second Edition", it seems to be ok.
First thing to do is:

Code: [Select]

#include <studio.h>
main()
{
printf("hello, world\n");
}

I also downloaded xubuntu-9.04 and installed it on VMWare. Then I placed your toolchain in my Home directory and typed the envvars into the commandline.
I saved above code to hello.c and typed: gcc hello.c
It made a file called a.out which I can run in the commandline via ./a.out

It doesn't run on my N64. I have to somehow convert it to a rom that has a header and so on. 
Does anybody know how to do this?

[the|Gamer]

Hohoho something intresting:

http://anythinglinux.blogspot.com/2007/05/n64-linux-project.html

[Conle]

I've found a book called "The C Programming Language Second Edition", it seems to be ok.
First thing to do is:

Code: [Select]

#include <studio.h>
main()
{
printf("hello, world\n");
}

I also downloaded xubuntu-9.04 and installed it on VMWare. Then I placed your toolchain in my Home directory and typed the envvars into the commandline.
I saved above code to hello.c and typed: gcc hello.c
It made a file called a.out which I can run in the commandline via ./a.out

It doesn't run on my N64. I have to somehow convert it to a rom that has a header and so on. 
Does anybody know how to do this?

This will not work on other platform but PC.

To use this with n64 you must use the N64 sdk , initialize the HW , then initialize the video & load up the font , then you can print some text.
Also you need a proper loop otherwise your app will exit before you can see anything 

[sanni]

I'm happy 



I found everything I needed in the test.v64 demo app for libdragon. 

[ChillyWilly]

Nice find! Now we have a couple of different devkits to work from. 

[ChillyWilly]

I found everything I needed in the test.v64 demo app for libdragon. 

You should have mentioned the changes needed to make this devkit work. The libs are compiled at the wrong optimization level, the mkdfs tool doesn't work on PCs due to endian issues, and the examples use the wrong address for the embedded dfs file.

Here's a properly altered version that actually works.
libdragon-src-20100427.zip
libdragon-20100427.7z

So now I have two devkits - hkz's libn64 (in the opening post), and libdragon. 

[Conle]

Excellent!!   

[sanni]

 , thats why I can't get the code samples to run on my N64.
I tried 3 different linuxes(ubuntu/xubuntu/mint) and also different versions of the libtools and gcc but couldn't get the filesystem to work, I though I messed up the compiling. Also wrote a email to the author but he never replied.

So thank you very much 
Now I will try to add an image to my allmighty hello world program   

[ChillyWilly]

Try the test proggy in the examples drawer and make sure it works. Then look at it as it shows how to make/use the dfs files.

[sanni]

I've made you a game 

You are a penguin and have to eat melons to gain energy, walking around will burn fat so you lose energy, if your energy drops below zero you're game over.

Controls:
DPAD - move
A Button - eat melons

Has more bugs than levels though 

Edit:

Updated it 
Now it has a Titlescreen and after you are Gameover you can restart without resetting the N64 and you also get more life depending how many times you died.
It has about 100 random levels.
Everytime you die and continue you will get a new set of 100 random levels, if you just reset the N64 nothing will change though.
So if you want you can always play the same 100 levels over on over.
Also you have now 1-9 melons to eat pro level.

Bugs:
- The "collision detection" sucks that bad that sometimes you will eat allmost all melons on the screen at once.

[ChillyWilly]

Pretty slick, but you need a better random... the melon always appears in the same places from one game to the next.