BBC Bridge Companion

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John
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BBC Bridge Companion

Post by John » Fri Feb 19, 2021 6:58 pm

Hello Keith,

The BBC bridge companion is a classic 8-bit console of the British Broadcasting Corporation. I own this console. It has 12 game control keys. It is the first proper games console (by that I mean it uses cartridges) to be sold in England and made in England. It has TMS9--- VDP and a Z80 CPU. I am not aware it has sound-but maybe it can produce sound (similar to as is done with a ZX81 which has no sound). However on this page

https://obsoletemedia.org/bbc-bridge-companion/

it is mentioned it has very basic sound capabilities. Does your book or website cover programming the BBC bridge companion? There is no other websites, home brew games, or online programming communities, I have found for information for programming it. I have not seen a classic 8-bit system before that does not have a home brew game.

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akuyou
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Re: BBC Bridge Companion

Post by akuyou » Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:18 pm

Weird, that's not a system I've ever heard of before, so it's certainly not covered by my website or book.

Looks like it's Z80 based 2k ram, 16k rom, and uses a VDP virtually identical to the MSX1, so I guess it would probably be able to play ports of simple MSX1 games.

I can't say it's something I'm planning to cover at this time, my next 'goal' is to cover MIPS on N64 and PSX

There somehow seems to be a near endless supply of these retro systems!
Chibi Akuma(s) Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter! // 「チビ悪魔」可笑しいゴシックSTG ! // Work in Progress: ChibiAliens

Interested in CPU's :Z80,6502,68000,6809,ARM,8086,RISC-V
Learning: 65816,ARM,8086,6809

John
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:18 am

Re: BBC Bridge Companion

Post by John » Thu Feb 25, 2021 1:45 am

Yes, the VDP is the functionally exactly the same one as in MSX1. here is a picture of the inside of it

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... on-pcb.jpg

as you can see it has a TMS9129NL which is the same one as in VG 8020 MSX1 machine.

I don't know about it sound. The BBC bridge companion is emulated in MESS.

John
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:18 am

Re: BBC Bridge Companion

Post by John » Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:00 am

"There somehow seems to be a near endless supply of these retro systems!"

"I can't say it's something I'm planning to cover at this time, my next 'goal' is to cover MIPS on N64 and PSX"

N64 can be programmed with C e.g. see

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.co ... -64-titles

Programming PSX/PS1 or N64 it can be done with C or C++(so it is more like modern programming) for making games -they are not resource limited like older generation consoles or computers so using C or C++ is reasonable and so saves time.
Personally I find programming retro 8-bit system or retro 16-bit system more interesting than writing a game in C++.

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akuyou
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Re: BBC Bridge Companion

Post by akuyou » Thu Feb 25, 2021 1:02 pm

Yes, I'm aware that the N64 an PSX are programmable in C.

I'll only cover systems that can be done in Assembly, I understand that it's not the most practical way, but I want to cover MIPS assembly, and these systems are the ones people will be most interested in.

I won't be covering the PSP, as it seems the OS is very heavy on that system, the N64 is still bare metal.
Chibi Akuma(s) Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter! // 「チビ悪魔」可笑しいゴシックSTG ! // Work in Progress: ChibiAliens

Interested in CPU's :Z80,6502,68000,6809,ARM,8086,RISC-V
Learning: 65816,ARM,8086,6809

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