Progress

Sections:
Development Blog
Software Release History

Development Blog

• June 9th, 2010
  • Well... Not much been posted here. I was maintining a blog on the PachiTalk forums, but there was a problem and the blogs aren't active for the moment. The development boards have been delievered and I can pick them up when I return to England for a holiday in a few days. In the meantime, www.PachiSystems.com has been registered to accommodate a move to that domain away from the Java Productions server (hey, this is a seperate project so fully deserves a separate domain). Also, a lot of work has gone into the systems and software which will be available for this project. Also, the return to England will herald a build up of stock for resistors, capacitors, crystals and all sorts of other prototyping stuff for the eventual rise of the Pachi Battle System! Just a bit narc'd that I can't fit a pachi in my suitcase... Oh well. Will continue to try and keep you posted!
     
• May 17th, 2010
  • Had a breakthrough on getting the development system. It's on order and currently winging its way to me. It will still be about another month until I can actually get my hands on it, but there's safe knowledge that I now have everything I'll need (almost) to be able to start trialling the hardware based battle system. The board I've ordered is an EasyPIC 6 from Mikro Electronika. Cost a small fortune (almost £200 all told) but that's the biggest benefit of approaching my 30th birthday! Yes, it is a gift and is also the reason I can't get it for another month... My birthday isn't until 15th June. Still, once I get my hand on it, I'll start trialling different things for battle counters and other pachi related products. Slightly miffed that I ordered a TFT screen with it... I should have gone for those 7-segs instead... Still, that's something I can get at a later date, I suppose.
     
• April 20th, 2010
• Not much going on in terms of software at the moment, but the hardware is coming along nicely. PIC programming isn't as easy as I thought. But with a good set of tools and simulators, I've got a couple of things worked out in terms of output. Inputs, however, are still eluding me. So far, I've been playing with 7-seg displays and LEDs (a common starting ground, from what I hear) and now I'm trying to get the simulators to work with inputs (buttons, switches, keypads...). This should give a nice grounding to the hardware required for the modules to connect to the machines. The EasyPIC6 is still on the horizon... It's a pricey dev kit, but I'm sure it'll be worth it! Keep you posted!
   
• April 15th, 2010
  • So... How far are we in 3 days? Well, not much further, but there might be a dev kit on the horizon. I've been looking through different microprocessors and think the PIC18 series might be the best choice. I've worked out the symantics of data transfer both from machine to PC and machine to machine, so it should (in theory) work smoothly. The dev kit I'm gunning for is the EasyPIC6 system from MikroElectronika. It combines the dev board with an in-circuit debugger and programmer, so shortens that required list quite nicely. I was also looking at the LCD displays on there and thinking... Hmmm... How about a remote system too? I KNOW! That's getting too far ahead. At the moment, I'm still messing about in dodgy simulation software that is as reliable as water running down your window... I never know where it's going to go next! If anyone has a decent PIC18 simulator (preferably freeware as money is a bit tight at the moment) I'd love to hear from you! Anyway, back to the PICs. Will keep you posted!
     
• April 12th, 2010
  • This is the first entry in the development blog since it is the day I created this website... Basically, the system is in a state of revival at the moment. I need to bruch up on programming for a few languages (C, C#, assembly and machine code) in order to advance to the next level. At the moment, I'm spending time playing with simulated hardware, but nothing can compare to having REAL hardware to use. So I'm currently looking into dev kits for microcontrollers and microprocessors with a nice prototyping area that can help kick the project up a notch. Also, it doesn't help that there are no pachi machines to test new ideas on... That really sucks. Anyway, as and when thing happen, I'll make sure to post it here first.

Software Release History