NMI reset button

Dudas, cuestiones, sugerencias y peticiones en general sobre el proyecto / Questions and requests about the project
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Erratioherbartio+
Mensajes: 3
Registrado: 14 Feb 2017, 14:20

NMI reset button

Mensaje por Erratioherbartio+ » 20 Feb 2017, 18:27

A physical NMI reset button capability is needed for the next ZX-Uno ( or at least a feature on the PCB allowing this to be soldered in easily).

The DivMMC Enjoy Interface has was released a few years ago has this NMI reset button feature . I have been setting up one of these interfaces up on a "top plate clamp" and was very impressed with the way the NMI button lets you go to the TAP file games with no messing about with key presses . To my knowledge no ZX-Uno ,released so far, has this as a proper hardware press button facility. On the Zx-Unos ,as they are now , key presses are used to achieve the same NMI result but in my opinion this is not as "user friendly" as it is possible to do all the right key- presses but in entirely the wrong order (this is with a passing reference to the "Morecambe and Wise" comedian joke about "playing all the right notes but just in the wrong order: it is a good gag!)

So , I believe , the next Zx-Uno launched should have this feature in order to not be already out of date at the time of launch!

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antoniovillena
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Registrado: 27 Sep 2015, 20:41

Re: NMI reset button

Mensaje por antoniovillena » 20 Feb 2017, 23:11

The design philosophy of ZX-Uno is to keep it simple and use the expansion port to add the functionality. Also there is a problem when you want press a button if your ZX-Uno is inside a case. For this reason the master reset it's not a button, it's a 2 pin to connect an external button.

In the case of NMI you can do something similar with GND and other GPIO in the expansion port. Also you can change the keyboard to launch NMI when you press F5 (or the key you want) instead Ctrl+Alt+F5. In this image you have 40 buttons added to the expansion port:

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Erratioherbartio+
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Registrado: 14 Feb 2017, 14:20

Re: NMI reset button

Mensaje por Erratioherbartio+ » 23 Feb 2017, 02:54

Thanks for the reply Antonio

It is interesting that the GPIO can be used in this way and it appears there are some interesting things that can be done with this .My point is not meant to be a big one , but I think it is quite interesting that two different devices with very similar main use (ie games using TAP files) can have the NMI reset function done in very different ways . One device , the DiVMMC Enjoy , presents a very easy "push button" facility for the NMI reset . But , the Zx-Uno , in contrast , "expects" key presses from the user, to get started with game TAP files using the NMI reset function.With reference to this ,it could possibly be said that the ZX-Uno also has a more specialist side to it (in addition to its general TAP file games use) so therefore it would be "right" to expect a different style of user engagement right at the start : this means there is no right and wrong way to do it . But it also does "beg the question" about why the ZX-Uno is not being set up for the convenience of the general user with an "easy" front end NMI button but instead it has a requirement for the user to be"just a little bit" technical and able to cope with a variety of key-presses for different functions . Of course as said above , there is no right answer to this , but because this difference is right at the front end of the user experience when switching on , it perhaps appears to be more significant than it actually is.

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