nesdev.org

As promised, here is the little side project I've got going on...

https://rm-rfroot.net/nes_fpga/

Pz!

Your page is giving a 403 forbidden error...

Yeah. I'm working on that. The problem is due to the nature of my job in which my employer own the rights to every piece of code that comes out of my head 24/7. I need to first request that they waive their rights to the project (which I have already done) before I can release any more information about it. Fortunately, they won't have any interest in this - haha. As soon as the process is complete (which could be anywhere from a couple weeks to months) I will allow access to the website.

Sorry! :-/

Ah, no worries. Looking forward to checking it out when the site comes up

Reminds me of how Steve Wozniak got told "Normal people wouldn't be interested in computers."

Jeroen wrote:Reminds me of how Steve Wozniak got told "Normal people wouldn't be interested in computers."

They were right though. Normal people aren't interested in computers. But they love their porn, communication, and entertainment that they get thanks to computers. But to most people a computer is still just a magic box.

jwdonal wrote:Yeah. I'm working on that. The problem is due to the nature of my job in which my employer own the rights to every piece of code that comes out of my head 24/7.

A) so why would you post about it months before you got approval?
B) why would you work for a company with a clause (that should be illegal) like that?
C) since you're not selling it anyway, and I'm sure you'll answer B with "because they pay me"; why bother listing your real name at all? Release whatever you want, they can't prove who wrote it

I do look forward to seeing the project at any rate, keep up the good work :D

byuu wrote:C) since you're not selling it anyway, and I'm sure you'll answer B with "because they pay me"; why bother listing your real name at all? Release whatever you want, they can't prove who wrote it

Another person who did this was mooglyguy, he has been posting for years implied improvements to MESS he could do if only his employer let him do it. It's not exactly hard to simply paste something somewhere and not take credit for it if that is your aim. Though most people want credit for things, which is fine in my opinion.

I agree with you that it should be illegal such clauses, but they do exist and people sign contracts with such things because usually they are "bare foot and pregnant".

MottZilla wrote:

Jeroen wrote:Reminds me of how Steve Wozniak got told "Normal people wouldn't be interested in computers."

They were right though. Normal people aren't interested in computers. But they love their porn, communication, and entertainment that they get thanks to computers. But to most people a computer is still just a magic box.

Fair enough. But I think I misquoted it. I thin he really said "have use for"

byuu wrote: A) so why would you post about it months before you got approval?
B) why would you work for a company with a clause (that should be illegal) like that?
C) since you're not selling it anyway, and I'm sure you'll answer B with "because they pay me"; why bother listing your real name at all? Release whatever you want, they can't prove who wrote it

I do look forward to seeing the project at any rate, keep up the good work

A) Haha, I really shouldn't have but I didn't know any better until it was too late. It's still okay though because I hadn't really released any implementation/specific details.

B) I certainly won't disagree that it sux! But I understand since I work on some military defense projects and they want to make sure that none of the code that I release to the public would give away any "secrets". Haha. But things like an NES clone should be so blatantly obvious that I shouldn't have to wait at all. I think it's laughable that the US government needs to review my NES clone project/hardware/software description (which was quite a few pages of detailed technical info and block diagrams!!).

C) I would have to say because I really _REALLY_ love my job and it's not worth the risk of losing it. And because the application process to request the rights was "relatively" easy. And because I know that they will give me the rights to the source code (since it's not even remotely related to defense). And because I want credit for the original source code.

P.S. I didn't even know that there were any additional replies to this post except for the very first one. I just happen to click on this one again while looking for other information. How do I get NesDev to let me know when there is a reponse to a particular post??? I have the "Notify me when a reply is posted" box checked but it seems to only work once. Can I have the server e-mail me for all replies? Or is that not possible?

RetroRalph wrote: I agree with you that it should be illegal such clauses, but they do exist and people sign contracts with such things because usually they are "bare foot and pregnant".

Haha, when I signed my employment contract I didn't even know that I had signed that document. It was likely 10 pages of size 2 font single spaced. But honestly, even if they had told me exactly what it was I still would have signed the contract because I wanted the job so much (and not because I was "barefoot and pregnant" but because Sandia is IMHO one of the best places in the world to work!).

My site is back up now! Have a look.

https://rm-rfroot.net/nes_fpga/

jwdonal wrote:My site is back up now! Have a look.

https://rm-rfroot.net/nes_fpga/

One suggestion for future posts: please use PNG/GIF format for images rather than BMP.

Hmmm...okay. I like posting BMPs because it gives you the best video resolution and it's easier to spot glitches/bugs in the video output. Is there any particular reason that BMPs are very bad? Haha, besides the obvious of being much bigger.

I'm totally open to any suggestions and appreciate the feedback. But I'm curious why BMPs are no good.

Posting PNGs in the future is not a problem.

Pz!

jwdonal wrote:Hmmm...okay. I like posting BMPs because it gives you the best video resolution and it's easier to spot glitches/bugs in the video output. Is there any particular reason that BMPs are very bad? Haha, besides the obvious of being much bigger.

How does BMP give better resolution than PNG? Anyways, the main reason is the size. Second reason is that Google Chrome doesn't like BMPs too much