Issue 8 discussions...

[NormanDunbar]

Is that Orange County Choppers, by any chance? My house mate used to watch that years ago, drove me nuts. A more irritating family would be hard to come by, I suspect.

Cheers,
Norm.

[Dave]

It miiiiight be <shifty eyes>

We broke ground on the new video subsystem today. We know enough about what it's going to look like that we can do some prep work and prototyping.

Here's a challenge. Write a BASIC program that gives a benchmark speed or timing as an easy to understand number. I'll run any programs offered on the existing system on a few different QLs, including UK PAL and US NTSC units. I'll then make up a prototype of this video subsystem and do some comparison like for like tests.

Also, because the video subsystem is completely shadowed in SRAM, it's possible to run a QL headless, with no 8301 at all. This would give a good speed boost, and would be ideal for QLNET servers, etc.

[Dave]

I know only of one game that used screen 1 (don't remember the name but it was an Elite style game with wire frame 3D graphics that used blue/red glasses for viewing).

"Wanderer" maybe?

If anyone has a working copy of this, it would be useful for testing purposes.

[stevepoole]

Hi Dave,
Here's a benchmark program I used to time individual code statements (or longer) in 1986 !

It runs best on a standard QL with no extra jobs running, but will work on emulators too. (Just run it empty to tweak the overhead), then include the code you want tested where shown.

It may not be the best program, but it works OK, especially as the timing code is 'at the top'...

Good Luck,
Steve.

________________________

100 ::
110 REMark Code_timer_bas by S.Poole, v20feb2007
120 REMark First run and tweak line 170 overhead=ABS(result),
130 REMark using the largest negative result printed.
140 CLEAR : OPEN#1,con_128: CLS
150 :
160 FOR main=1 TO 10
170 overhead=ABS(0): REMark overhead=ABS(-173604): REMark on QPC2 @ 1.9Ghz
180 REMark Wait for the clock to tick:
190 d=DATE: REPeat loop: IF d<>DATE: d=DATE: EXIT loop
200 :
210 FOR cycles=0 TO 512
220 :
230 REMark no overflows please:
240 FOR COUNT_=0 TO 32767
250 ::
260 REMark Put code to be tested here :
270 :
280 : REMark LET x=RND: REMark short example statement
290 :
300 ::
310 IF d<>DATE: EXIT cycles
320 END FOR COUNT_
330 END FOR cycles
340 PRINT\ overhead-((cycles*32768)+COUNT_)
350 END FOR main
360 ::

[dex]

"Wanderer" maybe?

If anyone has a working copy of this, it would be useful for testing purposes.

https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/sinclair-ql-space-trading-game%3A-wanderer-in-3d-1994

[Peter]

Write a BASIC program that gives a benchmark speed or timing as an easy to understand number. I'll run any programs offered on the existing system on a few different QLs, including UK PAL and US NTSC units. I'll then make up a prototype of this video subsystem and do some comparison like for like tests.

QSBB_BAS, originally from http://www.jadiam.org/QL/QLAY2/

[RWAP]

I know only of one game that used screen 1 (don't remember the name but it was an Elite style game with wire frame 3D graphics that used blue/red glasses for viewing).

"Wanderer" maybe?

If anyone has a working copy of this, it would be useful for testing purposes.

I will send you a copy of Wanderer

[Dave]

I now have numerous copies of Wanderer. Thank you everyone.

I will use it for... ummm. "testing"... Yeah, that's it. "Testing."

[stevepoole]

Hi Dave,
I downloaded and ran QSBB.zip, but unfortunately it is limited to only three code examples.

If you use my code_timer_bas, you can include any code you like where indicated in the listing. Just insert lines and renumber as necessary.

And the program waits for the clock to tick, before counting... and returns a result in one second.

I timed every SuperBasic keyword and operation, and sent a synopsis to Quanta.

I also use it to compare programs on different machines. Just compare ratios of results between the machines you are interested in.

Best wishes,

Steve.

[RWAP]

I now have numerous copies of Wanderer. Thank you everyone.

I will use it for... ummm. "testing"... Yeah, that's it. "Testing."

Please remember that Wanderer is still copyright Pyramide. I am the only person who could have sent it to Dave, because I am the authorised distributor!

Please respect the copyright holders