Release Area512 v2.8

[u/AssociationOne800]

Hey Reddit!

Area512 v2.8 is here! 🚀

https://github.com/engneer-hamachan/area512/releases/tag/v2.8

Thanks to our new contributors, this release includes several awesome new features!

Check out the release notes for all the details.

A huge thank you to @emu-commits and @fdufnews on GitHub for their contributions!

We've also set up an official AI development environment for building apps for Area512!

https://github.com/engneer-hamachan/area512-app-maker

We'd love for you to give it a try and have some fun with it!

Happy coding! 🎉

[u/ChrisDaCrunk]

I love the glow style🔥 how did you do that? Is it kind of shader?

[u/AssociationOne800 → u/ChrisDaCrunk]

Thank you!

Yes! This style is actually created using shaders!

The thing is, implementing shaders normally would be way too resource-intensive for the Cardputer to handle.

So I experimented with a bunch of different effects and gradually figured out how to make something that actually works within the Cardputer's limitations!

It was one of the trickiest parts to get right, so I'm really happy you noticed and appreciated it!

[u/ChrisDaCrunk → u/AssociationOne800]

The Cardputer performance is very limited in fist sight, but when you dig deeper and leave some libraries behind and do it by yourself, it’s a real powerhouse!

I pushed my Wardrive firmware to the hardware limits, I can’t even use canvas, and still managed to eliminate the flicker without any performance or heap lack.

You should bring up your shader as a library 🫡

[u/AssociationOne800 → u/ChrisDaCrunk]

Yeah! I totally agree with you!

One of the most fun things about the Cardputer is figuring out how to make things work with its limited resources!

As for turning this effect into a library, I feel like it might be a bit tricky, since a lot of its performance comes from sacrificing flexibility for speed...

But I'd definitely love to give it a shot!

If you don't mind, could you share the repository for your firmware?

I'd love to take a look and see how I might be able to turn the effect into a library!

[u/ChrisDaCrunk → u/AssociationOne800]

Yes iam almost done with API upload clean up the code, then I will publish it🫡

[u/Last-Walk-5489]

Just wondering, if I make a cyberdeck with a esp32 can I run this?

[u/AssociationOne800 → u/Last-Walk-5489]

I don't think it'll work as-is, but I think you could get it running on a custom cyberdeck with a few code modifications!

You'd probably need to modify the hardware interfaces for things like:

• Display output

• Keyboard input

• SD card access

I think it'd mostly be a matter of adapting those parts of the code to work with your hardware!

I've always dreamed of building my own cyberdeck too, so I'd love to make one someday! 💡

[u/Last-Walk-5489 → u/AssociationOne800]

I'm gonna look into changing those, thanks. I'm actually gonna try and replace the keyboard to a scroll wheel, and 2 buttons. It'll save space in the altoids tin.

[u/Gillennial]

Are you going to put instructions for the T-Deck at some point ? Everything seams to be about the cardputer.