Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Feel free to talk about any other retro stuff here including Commodore, Sinclair, Atari, Amstrad, Apple... the list goes on!
danboid
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Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by danboid »

Hi X16 fans!

My first computer was a C64, although I also had the original Atari VCS before that (which I still own), I still have an Amiga 600 and I've been a full time Linux user since '96. I'm very interested in the X16 and have been reading these forums for a while. What pushed me over the edge for signing up and posting to this forum was when I searched this forum for the Uzebox only to find that its never been mentioned on here so I wanted to right that wrong by telling you all why you should build yourself a Uzebox, or at least try the Uzebox emulator cuzebox.

The Uzebox is a fully open source, retro minimalist games console, heavily inspired by the NES and SNES and is still having new games written for it almost 15 years after its introduction. It has a spec inbetween the two Nintendo's but closer to the NES as its based on a 8 bit Atmel microcontroller, similar to the Arduino. It uses SNES joypads. I think the X16 should've gone for SNES pads as standard too, personally.

I have almost finished writing my first game for the Uzebox. I'd never written anything in C before yet still I've been able to do a remake of Atari's Combat for the Uzebox which shows how easy its API is to learn. What I like about developing for the Uzebox is that all the AVR tools required to flash, build and develop for the Uzebox are open source and are quickly and easily installed from the Debian and Ubuntu repositories.

My fave Uzebox games:

Starduino - a demake of Starfox. Possibly the most impressive 8 bit game I've ever seen.
Tornado 2000 - like Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar. Speaking of the Jag, I think the Uzebox now has more games written for it than were commercially released for the Jaguar! ;)
Flight of a dragon - A polished platformer. Reminds me a bit of Turrican on the C64 somehow.
Joyrider - Like an 8 bit GTA.
Alter Ego - a fun puzzle platform game.

There are also remakes of Super Mario World, Great Giana Sisters, Castlevania, Bubble Bobble, Bomberman and Columns amongst others for the Uzebox, in various stages of completion.

Has anyone here ever built a Uzebox? Have I tempted anyone to do so? Its lots of fun and very rewarding building your own games console from the individual components then 3D printing the case. Everything is fully open source including the kernel, the PCB gerber files and the schematics. The source is freely available for most games too, which is great for those wanting to learn games dev who understandably might feel overwhelmed by hugely complex modern game engines like Unity, Unreal and Godot etc.

uzebox.org
Last edited by danboid on Mon Feb 13, 2023 11:51 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Cyber
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by Cyber »

I did not know about this and now I'm interested. Thank you for sharing!

By the way, Commander X16 does use SNES controllers. It has 2 SNES ports on the back.
danboid
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by danboid »

Hi Cyber

I thought David and team had opted to use NES controllers instead. Good to hear it will also be using SNES controllers.

Retro gaming has gone mainstream in a big way in the last few years so I'm surprised the Uzebox isn't more popular than it is, although obviously you do have to have more than a passing interest to go to the length of building a console yourself and being a "modern retro" machine it can't rely on peoples childhood memories like the X16 and the Mega65 can with their close ties to the Commodore machines.

A decade or so ago there were a few people selling Uzebox kits and pre-assembled Uzeboxs but these days you have to source all the parts yourself although I have done this recently so I know all the parts are still available. Once you have obtained all the components and tools required its possible to build a Uzebox over a weekend.
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Daedalus
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by Daedalus »

This looks interesting, kind of a dog-simple absolute minimum low res game console. This would be pretty cool as an educational tool.

Doing a quick web search, there were kits and whatnot for it in the past, Adafruit Industries (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1291) had a "starter kit" at one point (But it did not come with a display or power adapter.)

In the few minutes I spent, I could find no one that sold PCBs, but you could download the design for the PCB, or recreate it in a different CAD format (It's a simple design.)

Personally, I would have thought an atmega, even overclocked to 28 Megahertz and change, couldn't emulate all the video and sound functions AND run the program at the same time, but... I guess that depends on the complexity of the actual feature set.

I would have thought this would be a LOT more popular, and used widely as an educational tool. But then, I probably greatly overestimate the number of people that are "like me", as in interested in building and programming something like this from the ground up rather than just "buying a toy to play games."
danboid
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by danboid »

I agree that the Uzebox is an excellent education platform to teach electronics, C programming and games dev. It is how I've learned C. I only knew a bit of python before I wrote my first Uzebox game.

It's dirt cheap to get the Uzebox PCB's printed, it was 3 for $5 or something last time I checked. I was lucky enough to get my Uzebox PCB sent to me for free by the designer of the Uzebox.
TomXP411
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by TomXP411 »

It's too bad that you can't buy the kit any more. I might have purchased one...

as it is, this will probably go on my "someday" list.
danboid
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by danboid »

It is a shame the kits aren't sold any more yes. You can buy all of the required components from digikey except for the SD card socket (available from Sparkfun) and the SNES connectors, which I bought from Zed labs.

There have been several open source, DIY hobbyist consoles and computers released over the last few decades but so far, the Uzebox has been the only one to amass more than a handful of games and to have more than a few users. Granted, I expect there will only be a few hundred or maybe thousand Uzebox users in the world but thats more than any other hobbyist or homebrew platform has managed, until the Commander X16 arrived!

A key difference between the two projects is that the Uzebox is and always was fully free and open source in its design and code. I hope that the X16 can become a fully free and open platform too as its notably more capable than the Uzebox and already has a larger community, even before its proper launch.

EDIT

There is also the Spectrum Next but that's FPGA too, which is what I don't like about the current X16.

Is the Next fully open source? I suspect it might depend on non free roms like the X16 does right? That would probably be the next nearest thing to the Uzebox. As an ex C64 and Amiga user, I'm much more interesed in the X16 than the Next. I wouldn't pay the asking price for a Next or one of its clones.
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Daedalus
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by Daedalus »

Danbold said:

"There have been several open source, DIY hobbyist consoles and computers released over the last few decades but so far, the Uzebox has been the only one to amass more than a handful of games and to have more than a few users. Granted, I expect there will only be a few hundred or maybe thousand Uzebox users in the world but thats more than any other hobbyist or homebrew platform has managed, until the Commander X16 arrived!"

I've been thinking about this a lot, not in the context of the Uzebox, but in the terms of "Hobbyist consoles and computers" that are NOT based directly or largely on vintage machines from the past.

As such, I don't include the X16 in the list as it's based on the Commodore series of "Pet, Vic-20, and C64." Basing a product on an established vintage brand with a huge, preexisting following is going to get you a lot of interest right away.

This leads me to a conclusion: For a project to have a certain level of mass market appeal (And "mass market" is a relative term here... meaning "Big enough to be self sustaining, even if that only means yearly sales in the hundreds.") you need to leverage the large percentage of the interested people that have lower technical skills. Projects with LESS appeal than that, like the Uzebox, eventually die on the vine because you can't get enough hardware into your prospective user's hands in an economically viable manner.

There's a "tipping point"... the point at which you can't sell a kit because the number of people willing to buy it are too low to justify ordering the parts, gathering them into kits, and shipping the kits to the users. WITHOUT the kit, you're limiting your already limited pool or prospective users to those few with the ability to have a PCB made, order parts from suppliers, etc.

I'm curious what others think.
BruceRMcF
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by BruceRMcF »

Daedalus wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:54 pm ... This leads me to a conclusion: For a project to have a certain level of mass market appeal (And "mass market" is a relative term here... meaning "Big enough to be self sustaining, even if that only means yearly sales in the hundreds.") you need to leverage the large percentage of the interested people that have lower technical skills. Projects with LESS appeal than that, like the Uzebox, eventually die on the vine because you can't get enough hardware into your prospective user's hands in an economically viable manner. ...
This seems right to me. That is, between genuine mass market and pure Hackaday DIY projects is a "sustainable hobbyist niche market" level, where if you fall short of that level, you are in the "this page explains how to buy something that is no longer available for sale" situation I often came across when looking at hobbyist Z80 boards.
danboid
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Re: Uzebox - open source 8 bit console

Post by danboid »

There's nothing hard about obtaining all of the parts to build a Uzebox. Building my Uzebox was my first electronics project and I've pulled it off but I agree that having to order all the parts from three of more different suppliers is definitely a barrier to entry. That part was no fun.

Those wanting to get into retro games development and want real hardware to run their games on are going to struggle more and more with each passing year to buy retro hardware as more retro consoles and computers die, requiring custom chips to repair that are no longer available and the hardware becomes increasingly expensive. I hope the Commander X16 doesn't get thwarted by chip shortage problems.
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