HAM registered version FREE for 500.000th visitor! READ! (tubooboo)

2002/3/19

Hi all, if you want a lifetime free updated registered HAMlib license for NO money, this one is for you: I will host a honesty competition on ngine.de, the 500000th visitor will get a full version of HAMlib for free. Now here is the catch: I will not take any precautions against cheaters at all. I will not verify that you are the winner at all. I will assume that, if you mail me saying you are the 500000th visitor, you really were, and are not trying to cheat on me. If you are not, please do not mail me about it. If I get more than one email, I am sorry, I will not send out any prize. This is going to be REALLY interesting ;) lets see if all my users are honest and fair enough :) have fun! Cheers Emanuel

HAM V2.15 released (tubooboo)	2002/3/8
Hi all, HAM v2.15 update has been released today. All information about the release is found on the HAM homepage. Have fun, and think about registering this product to show your support. Cheers Emanuel

HAM V2.1 released, and talk about nag screens. (tubooboo)

2002/2/26

Hi again all, it has been a few busy days since the release of HAM v2 and HAMlib. I received a lot of feedback, and worked on the most important issues that V2 had. Here is the result of it: HAM v2.1 now uses GNU make, is 30% smaller in download size (6.2 MB), has a better installer, and has had some additional sprite functions and help fixes. The single biggest change though remains in the new license of HAM, which is, as of this new version, freeware. This means, there are no restrictions on how you use HAM. A credit is greatly appreciated though. HAMlib and the intro screen: Sadly, although not entirely unexpected, the single biggest contact I receive about HAMlib is the presence of the 1.2 second introscreen that is forced when using the lib. People have insulted me, threatened me that what I do is against the GPL, told me the system should be boycotted because of it, etc ... so here are a few infos about it: HAMlib is not distributed incl source (yet), and NO, this does NOT violate the GPL People are free to not use the lib. If you don't want it, don't link it. HAM itself will not generate this screen... People that continue to moan about it via email loose all rights to use HAMlib :) To give people the possibility of creating games that do not show the screen, HAMlib will get available in a registered version. In a few days, there will be a way to register HAMlib online. The functionality will be the same as the trial version included with the latest HAM freeware packages, but it will not have the introscreen. In addition, you will get a debug / no debug version of HAMlib, the no debug one being slightly faster than the freeware lib (which has all the ASSERTing mechanisms turned on by default). Once you register, you will get free HAMlib updates for as long as HAM is developed. Introductory Pricing for HAMlib will be 29 US$ for a single user license. To say it one more time... HAM itself, like HAMlib, have been hard hard work of almost a year. It is freeware, it has documentation, and it is easy to use. Maybe think about registering HAMlib, this will also allow me to see if people are attempting serious work with my program. And, of course, I would thank you a lot if you registered to show your respect for the system i created for you. Thanks for Listening, now head over to the HAM section to get v2.1 !

HAM V2 released! (tubooboo)

2002/02/18

Hi all, today is a special day, HAMv2 is out! I am tired, so I ll just post what the features are... also, make sure you check out the new screenshots, and most important, give feedback... HAM v2 Devkit features:   the only free GBA devkit that works by just installing using a simple Setup.exe everything included, complete GCC toolchain, GFX converter, emulator, MBV2 send program and so on full documentation (you are reading it.) auto-starts your sources after compilation, either in VBA emulator (courtesy of Forgotten), or right on your GBA using a MBV2 cable. See the ===== section for more information    HAMlib v2 function library features:   fully automatic Hardware setup for BG, OBJ, Sound and Interrupts automatic memory allocation and management for BG and OBJ BG Memory manager supports all tiled BG Modes, including Rotation BGs BG Map manager, supporting all map sizes, incl rotation maps Map manager also supports copying rectangles of maps in ROM into a BG map of your choice Map manager automatically determines the location of tiles in memory, and adjusts map indices accordingly. OBJ Memory allocator supports all BG Modes (0-5) OBJ manager supports cloning of sprites Basic sprite control functions (SetPos etc) are available (work in progress) Full windowing support for Window 0,1,and OBJ window. Updates via HBL possible. Palette manager allows reloading/fading both BG and OBJ palettes, as well as a single color. Rotation functions are available for all Rotation BGs and OBJs Direct access to BG and OBJ objects still possible, giving you the freedom of creating your own functions to modify them Setting up an Interrupt is now as simple as a single function call Full printf functionality, either on a  MBV2 debugging console or right on the GBA screen (in tiled modes only)    extended debugging facilities, such as routine input error checking via ASSERTs, alarms displayed right on the GBA screen (supports all BG modes), and a heavily improved MBV2 machine monitor Lightweight: the whole HAMlib including the debugging font is <30kb, and can mostly be stored in ROM. Internal IWRAM overhead is about 4k including the fully set up memory managers. Fast: While you will see some improvments in future versions, the memory manager and most other tools in HAMlib are coded not only flexible, but also pretty fast.   HAM v2 macro language features:   Direct hardware access at blazing speeds, without the complexity of juggling with unreadable register names / return codes. M_BG1CNT_MOSAIC_SET_OFF just makes more sense than *(u16*) 0x040000A0 &= 0xFFBF; Absolutely minimal memory impact. Only the macros used get allocated in memory. Already around and kickin since v 1.4, and proven successful. improved the much-liked macro collection a lot by fixing at least 100 macros further hardened the naming convention for HAM macros. Nothing really changed since v1.4 but some definitions that were inconsistent are no more. added about 80 new hardware macros new DMA_ macros that make transferring a memory block very easy cleaner structure: CONTROL_ and DEBUG_ defines have been replaced by the more general HAM_ defines.     Get HAM v2 here.

HAM V2 release announcement (tubooboo)

2002/02/07

Hi all! I am in the process of finishing the features of HAM v2. The reason for the big new version is that the system has changed internally a bit, and something huge, new was added. First of all, the awkward mygba_sys, bg_info structs and bg_commit are all gone, since they were not intuitive nor easy to understand, and inflexible. These were introduced in a rush, without much thought, and I decided to go for something much cooler that will not need changing again soon. Second, there are about 100 new macros. Third, there are approx 100 fixes to macros, and new one line TOOL_ defines for setting a DMA in one go. The single biggest change though is the introduction of HAMlib, a pretty flexible library that incooperates a lot of valuable functions including: full VRAM memory management with block indexing and auto-allocation for Maps/Tiles on the fly as you load them. A facility to free unused Tilesets/Maps is available Reloading parts of tilesets/maps: just tell HAM where in the existing tileset to load them, or in case of Maps, specify the map rectangle to replace. full integration with BG setups, so, to set up a BG with a custom Map and Tileset all you do is load the Map, load the tiles, and assign the tiles and map to the BG. auto map shifting: when tiles could not be placed at the beginning of a base block because of memory constraints, the map (when assigned to work with this tileset)will automatically adjust ist tile indices to reference the tileset correctly. map and tilesets can be assigned to no/1/multiple BGs, making changes to the display a snap by just exchanging the map to display. all tile modes and all BGTypes (text/rotation) are supported for maps/tilesets a full set of easy to use rotation/zooming/scaling macros For BG and Sprites (still working on some ;)) smooth integration into the GBA specifics of rot maps, base blocks, you essentially do not have to know about them anymore. Set it and forget it ;) Interrupt handling got even easier, HAM needed 4 lines to init most interrupts, HAMlib needs one. a full fledged version of printf right on your GBA screen! MBV2 machine monitor improvements Palette loader/fader works out of the box without any further addons, just a crt0.s and your main.o is required. All other HAM 1.4 stuff has been integrated into HAMlib ...and really, this is by far not the end of the list.... The only thing I am a bit sorry about is that this shift is not 100% code compatible with the examples from HAM 1.4, but I could get lameball to work by changing around 10 lines of code. There will be MUCH improved samples in the v2 release. Beta testers will receive HAMlib asap, possibly by the end of this week, but no promises. HAM v2 should release in roughly 2 weeks and you know you want it ;-) Cheers Emanuel

HAM mailing list opens! (tubooboo)

2002/02/02

Hi all! A few people asked for it, so here it is: The official HAM development list opened its doors today. The list is for all people that have questions on HAM, suggestions, anything related to getting your GBA tick with HAM. If you want to subscribe to the list, it is as easy as sending an email (subject and body do not matter) to hamdev-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please bring it to life now. :)

Looking for a beta-test team for HAM (tubooboo)

2002/01/11

Hi all! Since HAM is getting bigger and bigger feature-wise, I decided to try and find a little beta test team for upcoming HAM releases. The next release of HAM will already need to be beta-tested a lot, features include C++ support amongst others, and hopefully the Application wizard. If you are sufficiently skilled in C or C++, and hav a few hours to spend, let me know via email and you might be in for the latest HAM before anyone else gets it. Write me and we'll sort it out, please include your skills in the email.

HAM 1.40sr1: if it STILL doesn't work... (tubooboo)	2002/01/01
The changes to HAM should result in it working for almost anyone running Win98. if it still barfs while installing, you need to upgrade your Windows Script Host. the download is found athttp://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/vbscript/scripting.asp ... this will fix your system to more recent DLLs and make it work. Usually, though, you ll be fine without doing this.

HAM Application Creation Wizard preview (tubooboo)	2001/12/21
As some people asked me about the greyed out installer checkbox labeled "Install HAM application wizard", I decided to post a preview screenshot of it. You might be interested :)   Most of it is not ready for release yet, but it should roll out with the next major release of HAM.

HAM 1.4 small installer issue (tubooboo)

2001/12/21

Some, very few people have reported that the HAM installer does not work correctly under Win98SE .. I will look into this as soon as I get a chance. You should be safe though with Win2000 or XP. If you really need it on your Windows98 box NOW :) then just copy an already installed HAM kit from a Win2k machine and update the installation path in system\master.mak, and you should be good to go. UPDATE: this still doesn't work for most Win98 users. Please wait for a patched version,which will be released soon. Sorry for the inconvienience...

HAM 1.4 released to the public (tubooboo)

2001/12/21

Hey dear Ngine visitors: Today is a special day. Like last year, shortly before christmas, I release a nice piece of software. But this time, it is not only one of three SNES emus for Dreamcast, but something bigger. To put it into perspective, HAM is a big collection of easy to use commands for Gameboy Advance programming. But that description doesn't quite cut the mustard. It actually is a TOTALLY easy to use environment finally freeing you from all of the pain to set cross compilers, their MBV2 connections and Multiboot linker scripts, their Makefile setups... the list goes on and on. I have been (more or less) constantly working on improving HAM in my spare time over the last 9 months, thats why there weren't any updates to Ngine.de. I am truly sorry for the lack of information about it, but this time, I decided to come up with something directly, rather than keeping to announce it. One of the two parts of HAM was to get the installation effort of the whole kit down to a single mouse click. The other component of HAM is to make programming a complex console such as the GBA easier, without providing a huge library system that will take up the precious space. In addition to that I wanted to provide a system that was dead easy to develop for as well as one that would be blazing fast. I think, while there is room for improvement, I have the feeling that this first release of HAM fulfils my plan in most areas. I am actually pretty proud of it :) ...It provides very good performance while creating a minimal overhead in RAM, due to the (excessive) use of Macros. Well, I could talk forever about it, but bear with this for now and check it out yourself, as it is now 4:30 AM and I am very tired from all the QA i did on HAM the last hours. Enjoy the first ever one-click GCC Cross compiler setup for the GBA. Read the Readme files, and, please, let me know if you like HAM or not, further development depends on your feedback. TIP: The best way to grasp the concept of HAM is by looking at easy samples, like the mosaic source. Now, go and get HAM 1.4 final . Write me an email how you like it here. Good night. tubooboo

HAM release date set. (tubooboo)

2001/12/19

Hy all, and thanks for checking ngine.de .... The project I have worked on all this time is now scheduled to be released tomorrow night, 20th Dec. I am heavily working to get it out the door for you guys, but I am not entirely sure if it all works out. I am at the moment working on some last fixes for the initial release, as well as an installer script. Expect the first release to have a few shortcomings, but check it out, you might like it. As for the much-discussed thread "better then Devkit Advance" - it is nothing like Devkit Advance, I am sorry this came up. However, this kit, while small, is all you need to compile GBA applications. Hope you are as excite about the launch as I am. Now, I sincerely hope I can hold my own, tight deadline. tubooboo

Update progress. (tubooboo)	2001/6/7
Hy there, you might have noticed the slow update progress in the last three weeks. Just want you all to know I am currently involved into a project in my job that keeps me more than busy. More bad news, its gonna stay like that for at least another three weeks. After that, I ll be back and kickin Hugo out to you guys. tubooboo

HUGO it (hopefully) is. (tubooboo)	2001/5/18
Cheer up all, ngine is far from dead :). I have personally decided on continuing to port a PC-Engine emulator, and after careful review of some sources, I would now really like to port HUGO over, a massively popular PC-Engine emulator by Zeograd. I have just mailed the author about it, lets see what comes out. tubooboo

PC Ngine tgemu port stopped. (tubooboo)

2001/5/11

Sad news for today. I received a mail from the tgemu author, and he is asking me to stop my tgemu port. No reason was given. While I technically would not *have* to stop working on it, I am pretty dissapointed with his email, and do not feel like porting it over anymore. I know many of you were greatly looking forward to a quick release of this emulator, and I deeply regret his decision to ask me to stop tgemu for Dreamcast. However, I am looking into other possibilities of PC Engine ports. Yours, tubooboo