13 replies to this topic

[newcoleco]

Instead of giving you a file here and not being able to update it once in the message, I've decided to make my new web site during the weekend and post the devkit there.

Please notice that Internet Explorer is not compatible with my web site.

http://www.ccjvq.com/newcoleco

Notice that the web site runs pretty fast, almost getting everything is less than a second.

And just in case the web site change or is down while you read this message in a few years, try looking at newest messages instead.

NewColeco's devkit include : libraries ( coleco library by Marcel de Kogel but no more compatible with its original version, my toolbox named getput, and a bunch of decompression routines ), graphic tools ( bmp2pp and ICVGM ), sample codes and more. This kit works with SDCC ( since late 2009 ) and I've no idea if it will still works when you'll read this message.

* AND AS USUAL... *

If you find any bug or if you have questions, please, send me a message.

Take care!

Edited by newcoleco, Sun Jul 4, 2010 10:10 PM.

[evg2000]

thanks, i will have to give it a try when i get some time. your site is quick, works fine in safari

[newcoleco]

* UPDATE *

NOW, SOMEHOW WORKS WITH IE7!

About this NewColeco's web site, I'm filling up each section gradually and I've find out a way to make it display fine at least for IE7, not sure it's works with IE6 or below. Well, try to stay "up-to-date" and you'll normally not waste your time trying to reach my web site. Talking about wasting time, apparently my web site can be loaded in less than 5 seconds with a 56k dialup modem, that's pretty cool, but I bet this will change by adding more and more content to the site.

NEXT STEP?

My next experiementation, after filling each section, will be probably trying to build a sprites sheet to use the CSS SPRITE capability to load a single giant image instead of a bunch of small images. The advantage should be an even faster load time by doing a single "get image file request" for all the pictures in the page, and I also hope that the combined pictures file will be smaller in term of file size (in bytes) than the total size of the same pictures.

I'll try to avoid fancy things to keep it fast, and as usual, it will be very difficult to maintain and update because it's my optimized work, which means not easy to modify without screwing some parts. Anyway, that's all for now.

[newcoleco]

* News *

Not about the devkit but the web site... still in progress

+ Games section in progress.
+ Dialup 56K load time for the entire site is less than 10 seconds (which represents approximately a download of about 44 to 48 KB total).
+ Optimization with CSS Sprite works more than expected. Grouping pictures halfed the total bytes size to load.

Looking for a way to test the loading time of your site?
URL : http://www.websiteop...rvices/analyze/

[ten-four]

Hi Daniel.

Your new site works fine with IE8.
And as you say: It's pretty cool.

EDIT: Picture.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by ten-four, Sat Jul 10, 2010 3:02 PM.

[newcoleco]

* OPTIMIZATION - ZIP FILES *

I've optimized the size of the ZIP files by using 7zip, ZipMax + LZA, KZIP and ZIPMIX. In theory, none of my zip files can be reduced more than what they are at the moment except by reducing the size of the archived files inside these ZIP files first. I've done this optmization for all my ZIP files, including my devkit. So, if you download again my devkit from my web site, you'll notice the reduction of size for the zip file, but you get the exact same devkit.

ZipMax uses LZA (command-line 7zip) to try to generate a smaller ZIP file of an existing ZIP file. KZIP generates a ZIP file usually smaller than those made by any other compressor capable of making ZIP files. ZIPMIX analyze 2 ZIP files that contains the same stuff inside and pickup the smallest encoding for each file encoded in these 2 ZIP files to make a new ZIP file smaller or equal to the smallest of the 2 original ZIP files.

Ok, I know it's technical and very complex but it works pretty well. And many users of CLRMAME did use or I've at least heard of ZIPMAX one day or another.

+ ZipMAX is not easy to get, I've find one from the author at archive.org for the clrmame web site.

+ LZA can be downloaded from 7-zip web site, as a 32bit command-line (for DOS) variant.

+ KZIP and ZIPMIX are available freely at the author's web site. Google them, it's pretty easy to find.


* WORK IN PROGRESS *

I didn't check every pages (or panels) I've done so far, and I still have contents to add in my web site, including at least 2 games.

If you find a problem about my web site or about my devkit, just tell me.

Edited by newcoleco, Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:03 PM.

[youki]

Your web site seems very cool , unfortunaly i can not see it with my browser... I'm "retro" even with browser!!.. I use IE6

[newcoleco]

youki, on Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:55 AM, said:

Your web site seems very cool , unfortunaly i can not see it with my browser... I'm "retro" even with browser!!.. I use IE6

IE is the worst Internet browser for its compatibility. Microsoft is acting in its way regarding the support of standards like HTML 4 and CSS. Because of this situation, people making web sites are constantly dealing with patches to add in their codes and things to avoid regarding how to support also IE instead of just making web pages normally. And, on top of that, Javascript runs also slower with IE than every other browsers. It's a nitemare!

I wanted first to use the good old (only 1 decade old) frames, but apparently this should be avoid for reasons like "a bad practice", "an old no more standard". I should use, instead of frame tags, XHTML and CSS. So, the strategy is to simulate frames or making something completely different, and I've decided to make something completely different. Unfortunately, older IE browsers do not support my approach... and I can't patch this to make it works. It's a nitemare!

So, try with another Internet browser... it may be more secure for you to also update your Internet browser.

[evg2000]

newcoleco, on Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:19 AM, said:

youki, on Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:55 AM, said:

Your web site seems very cool , unfortunaly i can not see it with my browser... I'm "retro" even with browser!!.. I use IE6

IE is the worst Internet browser for its compatibility. Microsoft is acting in its way regarding the support of standards like HTML 4 and CSS. Because of this situation, people making web sites are constantly dealing with patches to add in their codes and things to avoid regarding how to support also IE instead of just making web pages normally. And, on top of that, Javascript runs also slower with IE than every other browsers. It's a nitemare!

I wanted first to use the good old (only 1 decade old) frames, but apparently this should be avoid for reasons like "a bad practice", "an old no more standard". I should use, instead of frame tags, XHTML and CSS. So, the strategy is to simulate frames or making something completely different, and I've decided to make something completely different. Unfortunately, older IE browsers do not support my approach... and I can't patch this to make it works. It's a nitemare!

So, try with another Internet browser... it may be more secure for you to also update your Internet browser.

Have you looked at jQuery, might be a little heavy for what you want to do, but it deals with the different browsers so you don't have too.


later,
charles

[newcoleco]

evg2000, on Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:27 AM, said:

Have you looked at jQuery, might be a little heavy for what you want to do, but it deals with the different browsers so you don't have too.

later,
charles

I've heard of this solution years ago, and it's probably filled with patches I didn't want to include in my own web site... a javascript solution already 24KB will simply double the size of my web site just to support IE6... I don't feel it's justified.

But, back to the main subject, anybody tried this version of my devkit yet? It works with all my musics you can find here and there on Atariage.

Edited by newcoleco, Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:35 PM.

[retroclouds]

newcoleco, on Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:11 PM, said:

evg2000, on Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:27 AM, said:

Have you looked at jQuery, might be a little heavy for what you want to do, but it deals with the different browsers so you don't have too.

later,
charles

I've heard of this solution years ago, and it's probably filled with patches I didn't want to include in my own web site... a javascript solution already 24KB will simply double the size of my web site just to support IE6... I don't feel it's justified.

But, back to the main subject, anybody tried this version of my devkit yet? It works with all my musics you can find here and there on Atariage.

jQuery is really cool. I have been using it for some of my projects at work.
24K is not that bad I'd say. A lot of the images on the web are way bigger than that, and then you have the browser cache.

Either way, great job on your website Daniel!

[newcoleco]

Ok, I really need a feedback, even a single one, because actually the only one I've got except mine is someone telling me that my devkit doesn't work, which I find very strange considering that I'm not having a single problem compiling the samples that came with it.

So, if someone have time, try to install SDCC and DEVKIT the way I'm suggesting it in the text file that came with the DEVKIT, you can also refer (partially) to the video you can see at the DEVKIT web page.

There is no direct link to the devkit so please visit my web site
http://www.ccjvq.com/newcoleco

[newcoleco]

I've done this video real quick to show how I install and use my ColecoVision devkit with SDCC.



Please note that my devkit is still in beta version, so any bug report is welcome.

Remark : Slap yourself in the face if your only comment is "I can't read french".

Edited by newcoleco, Mon Aug 9, 2010 6:17 PM.

[evg2000]

newcoleco, on Mon Aug 9, 2010 6:15 PM, said:

I've done this video real quick to show how I install and use my ColecoVision devkit with SDCC.



Please note that my devkit is still in beta version, so any bug report is welcome.

Remark : Slap yourself in the face if your only comment is "I can't read french".

Took me about 15 minutes to get it to run.
Stuck for a minute because I didn't download SDCC at first
Didn't have BLUEMSX downloaded, needed to DL, install and figure out how to use it.
Compiled and Linked fine, clicking run didn't do anything so I had to load the result.rom manually

So besides me not following directions, the only issue was the auto run, and I'm sure that's an easy fix if I spend a few minutes looking.

the 15 minutes was pretty much start to finish including all 3 downloads I needed to do.