zxnext_layer2

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C layer 2 graphics API for Spectrum Next

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# C Layer 2 Graphics Library for Spectrum Next

The **zxnext_layer2** project provides a C API for using the layer 2 screen of
the ZX Spectrum Next as specified at https://www.specnext.com/tbblue-io-port-system/.
This API is a thin C wrapper on top of the I/O port interface of the layer 2
screen system. In addition, this C API also provides a graphics library of
drawing functions.

The [demo](demo) folder contains example programs demonstrating how to use this
API.

## Disclaimer

This project still works but is a bit out-of-date. It will be updated someday
when I have the time ;)

## Download

The latest version of this API can be downloaded here:

* [zxnext_layer2.zip](build/zxnext_layer2.zip)
* [zxnext_layer2_z88dk.zip](build/zxnext_layer2_z88dk.zip)

The zxnext_layer2.zip archive contains the following header file and libraries:

* zxnext_layer2/include/zxnext_layer2.h
* zxnext_layer2/lib/sccz80/zxnext_layer2.lib
* zxnext_layer2/lib/sdcc_ix/zxnext_layer2.lib
* zxnext_layer2/lib/sdcc_iy/zxnext_layer2.lib

The zxnext_layer2_z88dk.zip archive contains a packaging of zxnext_layer2 that
can be installed directly into your z88dk installation for convenience, see the
tip below.

If you want to build the zxnext_layer2 libraries yourself, see the "How to Build"
section below.

## API Documentation

The zxnext_layer2 API is documented in the following header file:

* [zxnext_layer2.h](include/zxnext_layer2.h)

## How to Use

1. Download [zxnext_layer2.zip](build/zxnext_layer2.zip) and unpack it in a
suitable place. It contains the files listed in the "Download" section above.
For convenience, you can instead download
[zxnext_layer2_z88dk.zip](build/zxnext_layer2_z88dk.zip) and install it into
your z88dk installation, see the tip below.

2. Install the latest version of [z88dk](https://github.com/z88dk/z88dk) and
the [ZEsarUX](https://github.com/chernandezba/zesarux) or
[CSpect](https://dailly.blogspot.se/) emulator.

4. Read about how the layer 2 screen work in the "Layer 2 Screen" section below
or in the official specification at https://www.specnext.com/tbblue-io-port-system/.

5. Familiarize yourself with the zxnext_layer2.h API.

6. Include zxnext_layer2.h in your program and start creating layer 2 graphics.

7. Compile your program with z88dk and link it with the appropriate version of
zxnext_layer2.lib.

8. Run your program in the ZEsarUX or CSpect emulator.

**Tip:** See the [demo](demo) folder for examples of how to use
zxnext_layer2.h and link with zxnext_layer2.lib.

**Tip:** You can install zxnext_layer2 into your z88dk installation by using
its third-party library installer z88dk-lib. Unpack the zxnext_layer2_z88dk.zip
archive in a temporary directory, go to this directory (where the unpacked
zxnext_layer2 subdirectory is located) and enter the following command:

> z88dk-lib +zxn -f zxnext_layer2

The -f option will make z88dk-lib overwrite any existing files without
confirmation (e.g. if you update zxnext_layer2 it will replace the older version).
Run z88dk-lib without any arguments to see a list of all its options.

The z88dk compiler will now automatically find the zxnext_layer2 header file and
library without the need for setting up any include and library paths. The
zxnext_layer2.h header file is now included with **#include <lib/zxn/zxnext_layer2.h>**
and the zxnext_layer2.lib library is linked against using **-llib/zxn/zxnext_layer2**.

**Tip:** There are two C compilers in z88dk; the SDCC compiler and the SCCZ80
compiler. I recommend to use the SDCC compiler since it generates more optimised
code than the SCCZ80 compiler. There are two versions of the C runtime library
for the SDCC compiler; one called sdcc_ix and another called sdcc_iy. From my
experience, sdcc_iy is the more stable version. In summary, for optimal
performance, use the SDCC compiler with the sdcc_iy C runtime library. However,
the SCCZ80 compiler still has its use during development since it compiles much
faster than the SDCC compiler.

**Tip:** To start the ZEsarUX emulator directly in Spectrum Next mode, start it
with the following options:

> zesarux --noconfigfile --machine tbblue --enabletimexvideo --tbblue-fast-boot-mode
  --quickexit --enable-esxdos-handler --esxdos-root-dir <virtual_mmc_root_folder>
  \<program\>.nex

**Tip:** To start the CSpect emulator directly in Spectrum Next mode, start it
with the following options:

> CSpect -w2 -tv -zxnext -mmc=<virtual_mmc_root_folder>/ \<my_program\>.nex

## How to Build

If you want to build the zxnext_layer2 libraries yourself, follow the steps below:

1. On Windows, you need [MinGW](http://www.mingw.org/),
[UnxUtils](https://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/) or
[Cygwin](https://www.cygwin.com/) for the basic Unix commands. Add the chosen
set of Unix commands to your path.

2. Install the latest version of [z88dk](https://github.com/z88dk/z88dk) and add
it to your path.

3. Download the zxnext_layer2 repository either as a ZIP archive using the
"Clone or download" button at the top of this page or with Git using the
following command:

> git clone https://github.com/stefanbylund/zxnext_layer2.git

4. Go to the zxnext_layer2 repository and enter the following command:

> make all

## Layer 2 Screen

The Spectrum Next provides a new graphics mode called the layer 2 screen.
The layer 2 screen is a 256 * 192 pixels screen with 256 colours where each
pixel is an 8-bit index between 0 and 255 into a 256-colour palette.
The pixels are laid out linearly from left to right and top to bottom.

The layer 2 palette consists of 256 9-bit RGB333 colour values, i.e. the
total number of colours is 512. There are actually two layer 2 palettes,
which one is currently used for diplaying the layer 2 screen can be selected
at runtime. The colour encoding of the layer 2 palette is the same as for the
palette of the ULA screen and hardware sprites.

At reset, the layer 2 palette is initialized with the RGB332 colours 0 to 255
using a one-to-one mapping between palette indexes and palette colours, i.e.
palette index 0 contains colour 0, palette index 1 contains colour 1, ...,
palette index 255 contains colour 255. The effective palette colours will be
9-bit RGB333 colours where the lower blue bit is an OR between bit 1 and bit
0 in the 8-bit RGB332 colours.

One colour is defined as the global transparency colour. This colour is an
8-bit RGB332 colour value so the transparency is compared only with the 8
most significant bits of the 9-bit RGB333 colours in the palette. This means
that two of the 512 possible RGB333 colours will be transparent. By default,
the global transparency colour is set to the pink colour 0xE3 (227).

Tip: If you're drawing your graphics in a general-purpose paint program, it's
good to know that the default global transparency colour 0xE3 corresponds to
the 24-bit RGB colour 0xE000C0 (224, 0, 192).

The layer 2 screen can either be located behind or in front of the Spectrum
ULA screen. If it is in front of the ULA screen, the ULA screen will show
through in those pixels of the layer 2 screen that match the transparency
colour. If the layer 2 screen is behind the ULA screen, the layer 2 screen
will show through in those pixels of the ULA screen that match the
transparency colour.

Sidenote: The ULA screen in Spectrum Next supports four graphics modes;
standard Spectrum mode (256 * 192 pixels, 32 * 24 attributes, 16 colours),
Timex high-colour mode (256 * 192 pixels, 32 * 192 attributes, 16 colours),
Timex high-resolution mode (512 * 192 pixels in 2 colours) and
low-resolution mode (128 * 96 double-sized pixels in 256 colours).

There are actually two layer 2 screens: the main screen (also called the
front buffer) and the shadow screen (also called the back buffer). Only the
main screen is visible on the display. In order to manipulate the main/shadow
screen, it has to be paged-in to the Z80's 64 KB memory space. Since it would
be impractical to page-in the whole 48 KB layer 2 screen in its entirety, it
is paged-in in thirds. The layer 2 screen is divided in a top, middle and
bottom 16 KB section of the size 256 * 64 pixels and one section is paged-in
at a time to the first 16 KB (0 - 16383) of the memory space where the
Spectrum BASIC ROM normally resides. By default, the main layer 2 screen
resides in the extended RAM banks 8, 9 and 10 and the shadow layer 2 screen
in RAM banks 11, 12 and 13. Note that the layer 2 screen is paged-in in a
special way and is only accessible for writing. If you read the paged-in
screen memory, you will see the Spectrum BASIC ROM and not the layer 2 screen.
However, it is possible to treat the main/shadow layer 2 screen as an
off-screen buffer that is paged-in as any other RAM banks to the top 16 KB
RAM (49152 - 65535) where it is both readable and writable. When the main
screen is paged-in to the top 16 KB RAM instead of the bottom 16K, any writes
to it are still directly displayed.

The main and shadow layer 2 screens can be flipped at anytime so that the
shadow screen becomes the new main screen and the old main screen becomes the
new shadow screen. This technique of having two screens where one is currently
being displayed and the other is being updated in the background and then
flipping them when the updates are complete is called double buffering or
page flipping. Using double buffering and performing the flipping between the
main and shadow screens in the vertical blanking interval avoids displaying
any intermediate updates, stutter and tearing artefacts.

This API provides a graphics library of functions for drawing on the
main/shadow layer 2 screen or on a layer 2 off-screen buffer. The drawing
functions automatically page in the screen/off-screen sections as necessary
and take care of the complications when a drawing operation covers more than
one section. The graphics library provides support for drawing pixels, lines,
rectangles, filled rectangles, text, loading of layer 2 screen files and
various types of blitting.

Note: If you're drawing on a layer 2 off-screen buffer, the code to be
executed, the stack, the interrupt vector table and isr(s), and any required
data cannot be located in the RAM bank at 0xC000, which will be temporarily
paged out when drawing on a paged-in layer 2 off-screen buffer.

### Hardware Scrolling

The layer 2 screen supports horizontal and vertical pixel-smooth hardware
scrolling. The scrolling is done by offsetting the screen in the X and/or Y
direction in a wrapping manner. Without any offsetting applied, i.e. with the
X and Y offsets set to 0, the screen is made of up 256 pixel columns in the X
positions [0, 1, ..., 254, 255] and 192 pixel rows in the Y positions
[0, 1, ..., 190, 191]. The screen offsets are easiest described by the
examples below.

If the X offset is set to 1, the columns of the screen will be reorganised as
[1, 2, ..., 254, 255, 0], setting it to 5 yields [5, 6, ..., 254, 255, 0, 1,
2, 3, 4], setting it to 254 yields [254, 255, 0, 1, 2, ..., 252, 253],
setting it to 255 yields [255, 0, 1, 2, ..., 253, 254], and setting it back
to 0 yields [0, 1, ..., 254, 255]. Thus, setting the X offset to 1, 2, 3, ...,
254, 255, 0 will scroll the screen, one pixel at a time, 256 pixels to the
left so it will be back in its original position again. Setting the X offset
to 255, 254, 253, ..., 2, 1, 0 will scroll the screen, one pixel at a time,
256 pixels to the right so it will be back in its original position again.

If the Y offset is set to 1, the rows of the screen will be reorganised as
[1, 2, ..., 190, 191, 0], setting it to 5 yields [5, 6, ..., 190, 191, 0, 1,
2, 3, 4], setting it to 190 yields [190, 191, 0, 1, 2, ..., 188, 189],
setting it to 191 yields [191, 0, 1, 2, ..., 189, 190], and setting it back
to 0 yields [0, 1, ..., 190, 191]. Thus, setting the Y offset to 1, 2, 3, ...,
190, 191, 0 will scroll the screen, one pixel at a time, 192 pixels upwards
so it will be back in its original position again. Setting the Y offset to
191, 190, 189, ..., 2, 1, 0 will scroll the screen, one pixel at a time, 192
pixels downwards so it will be back in its original position again.

To scroll between multiple screens horizontally, you must fill in the column
being scrolled out of the screen with the corresponding column from the
screen to be scrolled in. To scroll between multiple screens vertically, you
must fill in the row being scrolled out of the screen with the corresponding
row from the screen to be scrolled in. When scrolling between multiple
screens, it is convenient to use layer 2 off-screen buffers for the screens
to be scrolled in.

The [demo](demo) folder contains several scrolling examples that make it easier
to understand how the hardware scrolling of the layer 2 screen is actually done.

## Known Problems

Hardware scrolling is a bit jerky in ZEsarUX compared to CSpect.

## License

This software is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.

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