Holtek HT1130 CPU core, and preliminary driver for a brick game using it

[mamehaze]

new machines marked as NOT WORKING

Brick Game 96 in 1 (E-23 Plus Mark II) [azya52, David Haywood]

[mamehaze]

there are emulators at https://github.com/ilyakurdyukov/brickgame-4bit and https://github.com/azya52/BrickEmuPy (with decapped ROM)
I haven't used the emulators at all, the implementation here is from scratch

dumping research is at https://habr.com/ru/articles/773040/

disassembler implementation is based on https://pdf.dzsc.com/88889/5606.pdf CPU manual / instruction set reference.

[happppp]

When the disassembler is functional, it can be added to unidasm too (src/tools/unidasm.cpp).

This is the game? https://image.konsolenkost.de/item/images/1022336/full/Specials-Hand-Held-Super-E23-Plus-Mark-2-Brick-G-a.jpg
You didn't include the actual title "Brick Game" in the title string. E-23 is not the game title, it's the model, right?
something like?: Brick Game: 96 in 1 (E-23 Plus Mark II)

[mamehaze]

Yes, that thing, I'll change the title later. There are hundreds of these things (many on different techs)

unfortunately it looks like sound isn't going to be possible unless somebody finds that on the die too, because the manual seems to indicate there are 16 sounds, with 'sound library' and the first 12 can have 32 notes, while the rest can have 64. Sounds to me like there should be another melody ROM area like the later G&W titles.

[happppp]

Yeah, sound handling isn't documented at low level in the datasheet.
If more HT1130 LCD games (there are plenty) are dumped, hh_ht1130 would be a better driver? So the common code could be shared between the games.

[mamehaze]

this is definitely running now (albeit a bit too fast, as I've no idea on frequencies etc.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNyPXEhJdyw
@happppp do you think you could take this and do a better internal layout? I suck at such things

[happppp]

Internal layout? No, this needs an SVG screen.
You could spend a few hours making a .lay file with 7segs and text labels, and a placeholder for the fruit icons. It may be useful for testing but is it worth the effort? Just buy a cheap one and request to someone experienced to scan the LCD?

edit
BrickEmuPy has a nice SVG, but it looks handmade, so you'll get frowns directed at you if you copy it.

[mamehaze]

yes, I saw there was an SVG, but as mentioned, I'm not using anything from that emulator (as it seems to be GPLv3) so for now I'll just make the internal stuff more functional, until such a time as a fresh scan is available.

[mamehaze]

Anyway I'm done with this until such a time that somebody can do an SVG and hook it up (that is beyond my ability)

It works as a proof of concept that the CPU core is running as it should, and the basic internal layout lets you see the main pit, and control the pieces.

Hopefully there won't be too many issues preventing it from being merged

[mamehaze]

all feedback addressed I believe

[mamehaze]

brick.zip
so the BrickEmuPy author gave us permission to use their svg.
as MAME's 'romset' SVGs don't typically include the case image (that is left for external artwork) I've stripped it back down to the above file.

I however can't figured out how to hook it up properly at all
for Game and Watch etc. the output finder is
m_out_x(*this, "%u.%u.%u", 0U, 0U, 0U)
but looking at the Game and Watch SVGs the elements are just named gxxxxx, I don't see anything named/labelled with this x.x.x format in the Game and Watch SVG files, so I'm not sure how the output finder is finding anything to work with, therefore don't know what additional work is needed to link this one to the emulation.

@happppp / @galibert any tips here?

[happppp]

brick_v2.zip

• For segment bits that belong together, group them (ctrl G in inkscape). eg. see NEXT and SPEED, and the 16 pixels at the right side, where I already did it.
• Add segment IDs to the titles (object properties -> title in Inkscape), see the NEXT seg where i filled it with "seg_id_here"

[mamehaze]

ahh, I see, I'd missed the 'title' field looking at it before

[mamehaze]

brickv4.zip
I started from the original version because your ungrouping seemed to lose some names / groups that were already useful. this is the file I'm using now.

[happppp]

I did some googling, apparently the company is E-Star.
Whether or not Holtek programmed it, is speculation IMO.

[happppp]

According to the docs, 1 machine cycle (eg. a 1 byte opcode) takes 4 system clock cycles (from OSC pins).
The timer rate can be configured with a mask option (system clock / 2^n), n=0-13 (except 6 for some reason). So, timer rate can be faster or slower than machine cycle rate.

Add a TODO note if you want to do it later.

[mamehaze]

given that we don't even know the frequency, or how those options are configured, I'll leave it as a note.