TIGSource: The Uzebox Project

The Uzebox Project

Derek Yu — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:19:00 +0000

You know, I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long while! The Uzebox is an open-source homebrew retro game console based on Atmel’s AVR 8-bit general purpose microcontroller. Its creator, “Uze,” has designed the system to be simple, but relatively powerful, so that hobbyists can easily put together their own system. Games can be programmed in C, using free software, and are compiled with the kernel and then flashed directly onto the main chip.

“AVR Megatris,” the Tetris DS clone Uze developed for the system, looks and sounds pretty good! The Uzebox supports 256 simultaneous colors onscreen, a 240×224 (40×28 tiles) screen resolution, a 4-channel sound engine, a MIDI In input port, and 2 NES joystick ports. It also has 4k of RAM and an overclocked speed of ~28.6 MHz.

The source and schematics are both available for download on the Uzebox website, under GPL. This would make a fun, and nerdy, weekend project. I’d love to see people develop games for this thing!

(Source: Brandon, via insert credit)

"The Uzebox Project" by magallanes

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:42:35 +0000

And, exist such thing as a emulator?, or are they expect to program (and debug) directly to the machine?

"The Uzebox Project" by magallanes

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:36:29 +0000

Sound great but i don’t think so this cpu is quite popular (not at least than the zilog or a SA).

"The Uzebox Project" by Uze

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:22:56 +0000

You got the point. There was already projects like the Hydra console and there’s many much more powerful MCUs out there. However they get very complex and intimidating for the casual hacker. With modern FPGAs we could easily replicate a SNES or even better. But it’s much more challenging interesting to squeeze out the last bit out of a low power cpu! And most importantly, it’s guaranteed to give that unmistakably cool, retro 8-bit look!

Cheers!

Uze

"The Uzebox Project" by GlingON

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:50:22 +0000

I like your work. It’s very inspiring. Will your ambitions continue on this track? Perhaps a 16-bit system? Perhaps custom hardware on an FPGA? Well I guess there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

"The Uzebox Project" by Uze

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:35:36 +0000

We have found a professional who will make circuit boards for the Uzebox. Perfect for those who dont have electronics skills!

"The Uzebox Project" by me

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:56:21 +0000

Make a portable version and I’m sold! It looks small enough to be able to fit on a handheld anyway.

"The Uzebox Project" by Uze (the Uzebox guy)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:47:21 +0000

In fact, you’re quite right, its really 6x8 pixels tiles (due to cpu limitations). Btw, its awesome so many peoples likes the project. Theres already a lots of fans proposing new features like SD card and Ethernet online gaming, just log in the forums…Cheers to all electro-freaks and hackers in here!

http://uzebox.org/forums

"The Uzebox Project" by Phasma Felis

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:35:28 +0000

240x224 would be 30x28 tiles, not 40x28. Unless he’s using 6x8 tiles somehow.

The original website says 240x224, but the tetris video is clearly 40 tiles wide, so I suspect a misprint.

"The Uzebox Project" by Lyx

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:17:56 +0000

@medO:

Thanks for the reply. I was considering that idea as well, but did not know how simple and cheap memory card support would be to add.

Unless i’m missing something, i wouldn’t worry too much about the 10.000 erase/write cycles - even if one plays two different games on every day, that still leaves you with a lifetime of about 13 years.

"The Uzebox Project" by colorFool

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:15:12 +0000

Heh, this is really cool. Quite nerdy, but still really cool. :P I’d love to see some Demakes of the compo done for this. ;)

"The Uzebox Project" by Let me be the first to say it

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:06:45 +0000

Auqaria rip off

"The Uzebox Project" by MedO

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:37:20 +0000

“It will not become interesting to non-geeks, simply because it does not support external memory”

Support for SD/MMC memory cards is not very hard to implement, and there are already libs available for this purpose, and for filesystem access as well. Since the atmegas have the ability to program their own flashrom, you could build a game selection screen that reads game info from the memory card, and flashes the game to the main chip when selected. Careful though, the flashrom is only rated for 10000 erase/write cycles ;)

"The Uzebox Project" by Eclipse

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:57:18 +0000

I’m mostly waiting for the Wiz, the new gp2x

"The Uzebox Project" by The Anger

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:50:49 +0000

Looks like this guy built this thing as an excuse to show off his mad Tetris skills.

"The Uzebox Project" by Golds

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:31:02 +0000

Owl Country 8-bit

"The Uzebox Project" by Anon

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:56:10 +0000

But will it run Crysis?!?!1

"The Uzebox Project" by Lyx

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:21:44 +0000

While from a geeks perspective, the project is impressive, it will not become interesting to non-geeks, simply because it does not support external memory - normal players have no interest to flash the whole thing for every software-change (i.e. changing games).

"The Uzebox Project" by Mike V

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:56:03 +0000

This reminds me a lot of the XGameStation: http://www.xgamestation.com/

If you don’t want to build the hardware yourself, you might opt for that instead.

"The Uzebox Project" by cuntface

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:05:41 +0000

Zomg! Pass me the sauce, Awesomeman!

"The Uzebox Project" by Esha

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:05:22 +0000

As if MAKE magazine doesn’t give me enough crazy things to want to create.

Still, I hope these will become popular because that could lead to some fun. I remember the “chip my console and I’ll give you something for it” sites of old, but those were always a bit shady.

Of course, a “build me a uzebox and I’ll give you something for it” would be eminently more nifty, and legal.

Beer for uzeboxes! It could happen. They just need to get some good PR/advertising going for this thing.

"The Uzebox Project" by Anonymous

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:34:51 +0000

awesome.

"The Uzebox Project" by namuol

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:56:19 +0000

Any emulators in the works?

It’s too bad that the display resolution is just barely too large for a DS screen :-/

"The Uzebox Project" by Skofo

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:08:57 +0000

So it’s a retro GP2X?

"The Uzebox Project" by cougarten

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:59:30 +0000

wolud someone please tell the right player how to drop that shit?

"The Uzebox Project" by sinoth

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:41:45 +0000

Give it an ethernet port and I’ll be sold.