SBTCVM-SBTVDI BIOS: new quicktest menu.

Memory size calculation.

Another, slower, more in-depth memory test.

Sound test & info option.

SBTCVM-DOS command.txe: memory state preserved between program loads.

This new memory backup support lets command.txe save its memory, and restore it when its reloaded. This not only makes drive letter selection persistent, but also opens the door for eventual batch script support once the disk IO is functional...

Not to mention, the overall formatting has been streamlined by only showing the READY status line on the first run of the session.

SBTGA Plotter: now with triangle support!

Seen here is the newly enhanced plottest rom, compete with a sort of spaceship made out of (2D) triangles.

(No 3D rendering capacity was used or yet exists in SBTCVM...)

PLRLE Enhancements

The PLRLE format has been upgraded in 2 important ways: 

1. The PLRLE encoder in gfxcon.py, can now perform a form of lossy compression on images. (as seen in the screenshot above)

2. The PLRLE decoder module has been optimized and split into 2 versions: one with alpha colorkey support, and one without. Both with sizable decode performance boosts.

SBTCVM-DOS command line arguments - now with new dosargs module!

Featured here is the newly revised help.txe,

which has all-new command-line arguments via the dosargs SSTNPL module.

SBTCVM-SBTVDI BIOS

The SBTCVM-SBTVDI BIOS fallback menu features SBTVDI Serial access, and the ability to re-attempt boot. With more features to come.

SBTVDI: Disks now directly bootable.

SBTCVM Can now boot directly into SBTVDI Disk images!

SBTCVM is now on Discord!

Check out the SBTCVM channel on the Computatrum Discord server!

New SSTNPL Module: segment

'plottertext' TROM showing segment in action.

The new segment SSTNPL module is an easy to use text renderer for SBTGA's plotter mode. its name comes from the 'segment-style' approach it uses for rendering text.


Features:

• automatic newline support
• built against the new SBTCVM Bi-directional buffer interface for printing text nearly as easily as SBTCVM's native TTY output.
• fully customizable color, scaling, character spacing, and line spacing.
• MUCH faster than drawing text using PLRLE tritmap images.

SBTCVM Bench: A single-taskng GUI for SBTCVM

basic 'desktop' layout.

SBTCVM Bench is a SBTVDI-disk based GUI for SBTCVM Gen2-9.


Its feature set is currently sparse, but it does have a lot of promise to be an interesting program.

It currently has about & credits screens, and a 'launcher' that loads up SBTCVM-DOS.

Expect more posts on this & SBTCVM-DOS in the coming months...

To run SBTCVM Bench, just type
run bench
in the XAS Shell (xas.py)

SBTCVM DOS - in progress program run support

SBTCVM DOS command prompt, resetloading into itself, then into the new help program.

video: SBTCVM - Oncoming Trains v1.7 - Balanced Ternary computer game

Oncoming Trains v1.7: Featuring new sound effects and music

demoscene - Ternary Dreams - SBTCVM (6.5Khz ternary VM)

This demo is different from most in the 'demoscene' in that this is running in a 'Balanced ternary' Virtual Machine. as in, not 1 & 0, but +1, -1, & 0.





Program Size: ~2KiloNonets (2000 9-digit half-words)



Written in SSTNPL (a custom, label-goto-based language with stack-based subroutines.  With some in-line assembly. (a custom assembler is used.)



demo code: https://github.com/SBTCVM/SBTCVM-Gen2-9/tree/master/demos/ternarydreams (see *.stnp files for code)



Music data hand-written using SBTCVM Assembly 'raw' statements:

https://github.com/SBTCVM/SBTCVM-Gen2-9/blob/master/demos/ternarydreams/tdmusic0.tas0



uses SBTCVM's custom music engine:



https://github.com/SBTCVM/SBTCVM-Gen2-9/blob/master/vmsystem/r_standard_lib/musicengine.stnp



--- (emulated) Machine Specs ---



sound: 4-channel stereo waveform synthesis  (only 2 used in demo)



graphics: framebuffered 'vector plotter' can plot 600 lines/rectangles a second. 243x243 grid. NOT directly addressable.



Interrupts: none.



'Hardware' Timers: none



Clock speed: 6.5KHz (yes, you read that right! 6500 Hertz!)