laserhawk64
Senior Member
Hello! I want to know if a PICAXE is the right microcontroller for my project. I rather suspect I need something with a little more horsepower, but TBH I'm not sure. (Please do be kind, I'm new to this stuff.) Let me give you what I've got so far, and you tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree, and why.
I'm considering an attempt to create a handheld-console-to-TV version of the popular game, Reversi (also called Othello). I need a chip which has three PWM outputs for video (RGB -- will be run through an R-2R ladder DAC), *maybe* a fourth for simple audio (simple beeps -- not music, not even beeps-as-music), and a few digital inputs for the controller buttons.
The controller button arrangement can be done four ways, but I need five buttons for each controller (four directional and one 'select'). The four ways are...
(1) ten buttons total, two controllers, using one GPIO for each button. Requires ten GPIOs.
(2) five buttons total, one controller (the two players would swap the controller between them), using one GPIO for each button. Requires five GPIOS.
(3) ten buttons total, two controllers with a shift register in each. Requires five GPIOs if I've got my mental pinouts right (chip enable 2x, ser_out 2x, and shared clk for both).
(4) five buttons total, one controller (like 2) but with a shift register. Requires three GPIOS (chip enable, ser_out, and clk).
...I *think* I've got that right. Remember that the NES and SNES controllers used the shift-register method, to great success.
I do want a color screen, but a /simple/ color screen. 240x320 (QuarterVGA) and four colors all at once. Blue background, red and yellow sprites for the game pieces (sprites?) and green for scoring. Composite video out to the TV. If I implement audio it will be two-line mono (Left and Right Audio plugs electrically tied together), and will be limited to a simple 'ack' bleep that indicates when a player has made a move. If even that much sound is too much, I can make it a completely silent game, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it!
I've a PICAXE 08M starter kit already (relax, I already know that chip isn't right for me, it has nowhere /near/ enough pins!), and I'm thinking that --since I never got around to assembling it-- I can repurpose some (most) of the parts from it onto a spare perfboard and substitute a 20M2 part from SparkFun. At the very least, I've got the parts for the programming circuit, which I can still use.
Bottom line -- will a PICAXE work for what I want, or is it simply not powerful enough for this project?
I'm considering an attempt to create a handheld-console-to-TV version of the popular game, Reversi (also called Othello). I need a chip which has three PWM outputs for video (RGB -- will be run through an R-2R ladder DAC), *maybe* a fourth for simple audio (simple beeps -- not music, not even beeps-as-music), and a few digital inputs for the controller buttons.
The controller button arrangement can be done four ways, but I need five buttons for each controller (four directional and one 'select'). The four ways are...
(1) ten buttons total, two controllers, using one GPIO for each button. Requires ten GPIOs.
(2) five buttons total, one controller (the two players would swap the controller between them), using one GPIO for each button. Requires five GPIOS.
(3) ten buttons total, two controllers with a shift register in each. Requires five GPIOs if I've got my mental pinouts right (chip enable 2x, ser_out 2x, and shared clk for both).
(4) five buttons total, one controller (like 2) but with a shift register. Requires three GPIOS (chip enable, ser_out, and clk).
...I *think* I've got that right. Remember that the NES and SNES controllers used the shift-register method, to great success.
I do want a color screen, but a /simple/ color screen. 240x320 (QuarterVGA) and four colors all at once. Blue background, red and yellow sprites for the game pieces (sprites?) and green for scoring. Composite video out to the TV. If I implement audio it will be two-line mono (Left and Right Audio plugs electrically tied together), and will be limited to a simple 'ack' bleep that indicates when a player has made a move. If even that much sound is too much, I can make it a completely silent game, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it!
I've a PICAXE 08M starter kit already (relax, I already know that chip isn't right for me, it has nowhere /near/ enough pins!), and I'm thinking that --since I never got around to assembling it-- I can repurpose some (most) of the parts from it onto a spare perfboard and substitute a 20M2 part from SparkFun. At the very least, I've got the parts for the programming circuit, which I can still use.
Bottom line -- will a PICAXE work for what I want, or is it simply not powerful enough for this project?
What kind of microcontroller should I look at?