ZX-Uno ROMPack Tool ROM configuration file proposal

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XoRRoX
Mensajes: 3
Registrado: 20 Mar 2019, 11:41

ZX-Uno ROMPack Tool ROM configuration file proposal

Mensaje por XoRRoX » 14 Oct 2019, 17:48

Besides the official ROMs, there are a lot of different ROMs out there such as Garry Lancaster's +3e, Geoff Wearmouth's Gosh Wonderful, Source Solutions' Derby and Daniel A. Nagy's ZX85, each with their own set of features.

With the fabulous ROMPack Tool, one can create a combination of machines and ROMs which can then be selected at startup (by pressing Esc).

However, one needs to know the specifics of the environment each of these ROMs require to be able to set the required configuration options in ROMPack Tool for each ROM. Without successfully doing this, things might not work at all or unexpected behaviour could arise.

People wanting to try out the machines+ROMs are of varied knowledge levels, from very technical to very little.

I think the threshold to try out should be as low as possible to make it more inviting to do so for less technical people, and thus, ultimately make better use of the potential of the Uno as a whole.

Tools like the ROMPack Tool serve great purpose in this direction, with the exception of one having to know the specifics of all possible configuration options + which ones that specific machine+ROM needs.

One way to fill-in this gap is to create and publish a table with the necessary options so that they can be manually set in ROMPack Tool (I already made a start with this - see below).

Another way would be to add a feature to ROMPack Tool which simply reads the options from a configuration file and sets them in the interface. The configuration file could have the same name of the ROM and is read (if available) when selecting either the ROM file or the configuration file.

This would also make it possible to keep a collection of configuration files per ROM in the repository.

For both, I already created an initial draft;
- configuration file: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EAd ... sp=sharing
- settings table : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing


What are your thoughts on this?

Who created and or maintains the ROMPack Tool and what language is it written in?

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antoniovillena
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Registrado: 27 Sep 2015, 20:41

Re: ZX-Uno ROMPack Tool ROM configuration file proposal

Mensaje por antoniovillena » 16 Oct 2019, 14:53

XoRRoX escribió:
14 Oct 2019, 17:48
Who created and or maintains the ROMPack Tool and what language is it written in?
It was created by Quest with Visual Basic. But there are no sources available.

I did a command line version GenRom and you can do the same with scripts. Look at this folder:

https://github.com/zxdos/zxuno/blob/master/modflash/

XoRRoX
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Registrado: 20 Mar 2019, 11:41

Re: ZX-Uno ROMPack Tool ROM configuration file proposal

Mensaje por XoRRoX » 23 Oct 2019, 10:43

Thanks Antonio.

Too bad that the source isn't available. Isn't Quest reachable so we can at least ask?

I looked at GenROM. Although it's a very nice toolset, it's not as easy to use for people with less/no technical background.

Thanks anyway.

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antoniovillena
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Registrado: 27 Sep 2015, 20:41

Re: ZX-Uno ROMPack Tool ROM configuration file proposal

Mensaje por antoniovillena » 23 Oct 2019, 14:17

XoRRoX escribió:
23 Oct 2019, 10:43
Too bad that the source isn't available. Isn't Quest reachable so we can at least ask?
No. I'm sorry. Quest is not reachable.

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