Over the few months this page has been active we have received a lot of mail from people offering Employment services and Ai things.
We use Ai sometimes to look up things in large datasheets or to find pinouts of old IC chips, but all that we create is from a human brain, and we intend to keep it that way.
Humans are creative beings, Ai will never replace that.
So please ACTUALLY read this post and stop bothering us. We don’t need you for basic functions we do ourselves and we are not interested in the latest Ai scam get rich quick, speed up nothing rubbish that you are peddling to us.
We hope to post more regular content from next week, as we build thing for the future of Bryish Systems.
In 2006 I bought a couple of website, one was https://www.zeroshadow.com named after my cats. It was the main page for all my work, a bit like this site you are reading this on now. I’d been playing a few online games PBBG (Persistent Browser Based Games). One was Torncity, which is still around I believe. I left because you know politics, even back then games had bullying and drama, and I had enough of that in my life.
So I decided to write my own. I didn’t start off very well. Then I found a game called Kingdom of Riches, played for a while and then one day I logged in and was confronted with a page full of gay porn. It had been hacked. A few days later it went up for sale. I bought it and fixed the security problems, made it safe and secure and relaunched it. I was a beginner in this stuff, though I was a programmer in Embedded Systems and PHP/MySQL did not hold much difficulty for me, apart from so many problems back then with PHP itself.
So here we are 2025. I have decided to write a new game on ZeroShadow, to be launched next year.
There will also be a new Kingdom of Riches game in 2026, its 20th year. Where did the time go? https://www.kingdomofriches.com
I’m working on both on and off at the moment, when I have time around a few repairs I’ve been doing for people (I don’t usually charge for these, stupid I know).
Keep an eye on those pages as I update on progress and things. Its going to be a busy year 2026 it seems. Hopefully, finally, a good year.
I am a fan of C, C++, C#, Pascal. Not done much with python, but eventually maybe.
But, assembler in stand alone microelectronics projects are a must I think. Smaller devices can be used, smaller memory but cheaper costs. I maintained a projects over 10 years in an 8k device and never passed 1.5k, even after adding extra features. You learn the best way to fit things, get the most speed, learn what the processor can and can’t do. Another skill you learn is reading a datasheet, when i started also that the datasheet may tell you about features they removed from the chip and forgot to remove from the datasheet, lol.
I always find a bit of code in assembly language improves my mojo, the thrill of getting it to do the thing I had in my head, nothing beats it. I used to be able to visualise the code in my head and run it until I thought it would work, then I’d commit it to the machine and see if it was right. Not so much these days, as I learnt more over the years, but still it makes me happy to see code running and working as I expected it to do.
Huge project for a beginner
I once did a project, it was my second project for the company, after I’d sorted out a project started by someone else, that had hit a road block. I rewrote it from scratch, got the hardware changed and got it to work. So they moved me onto my next project. It was a programmer for CPLD’s. I was more than one programmer, not sure what they were thinking getting one person to write the code for such a huge task. I did it anyway, but it took a lot longer than they expected and they never got that it was a multi person project.
It involved writing code in C, for Linux, Windows, AT89, AT90S8515. The code had to work on all of them. The same code. So my first problem was making sure the C code would fit in the 8k processor, it was always in my mind. The Linux and Windows code used a Parallel port dongle to write the code to the CPLD, which I did first. Starting on Windows. All the time trying to write the code as compact as I could. I learnt a lot, both in programming terms, processor terms and how not to manage a large project like this without taking into account the scope.
I was a beginner like everyone else back then, at the time Atmel only had about 3 AVR chips ready to use, and honestly even those were not fully working yet.
Hobby coder
RML380Z, school computer, used by me about 1979, before I got my zx81, had a very sparse BASIC, and two 5 1/4 ” floppy drives.
I started out owning a Sinclair zx81. It had 1k, I later upgraded it to 16k with a Memotech ram pack, so I never had any of the ram pack wobbles everyone else moaned about. The 1k machine though soon showed me I needed to learn assembler language, was only about 600 bytes to play with, the screen taking the rest. So I started learning and became quite good at making little 1k games, never published them back then, all lost now, wish I could remember them and relive the experience, but I was 13 and who knows what I did with them. Once I got 16k I turned to more and more BASIC programming.
My fully working Sinclair ZX Spectrum+. Now a retro thing apparently.
My next machine was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k, whoa, all that extra space. Wrote a lot of games on that, have one listing and a disassembly of my first attempts at a game in assembly language. Futurenoids, later to be started in PC assembler, C, Pascal and more. Never did finish it, but it was always a personal project I used to learn not complete, maybe one day. I also got far into a Fruit machine game.
I enjoyed getting performance out of slower speed processors. z80 was my starting point at 3.5mhz. I never did 6502 stuff, but have a c64 clone and hope to get into that soon. I’m on the look out for 6809 things. I’m looking at creating some games on these systems, there are a lot of people getting back into this stuff and I’m one of them. Its easier these days with the way you can code on the PC, emulate on the PC, and then test on the original machine. Saving the games via the PC’s audio sockets.
Modern world
Modern things are ok, but the satisfaction of getting an old retro chip to do things that people say is impossible in a small micro outlasts any other tasks. The experience gained and the knowledge cannot be underestimated. Not that I won’t be doing modern things too. Using my own rules, rules have ruined the fun. I have been a professional coder, it wasn’t the same as doing things as you like, as you want. Breaking the rules is fun. I like doing my own thing, I like writing my own code, every project is a learning experience, I write all the code, try not to just use an include of other peoples stuff and say that will do, unless I’m trying out something and need to be sure its working before I start something new.
So that is what I intend to do with Bryish. Bryan ish, as maybe there will be more than me working on things in the future, who knows. I prefer B-sys though as a name now. Its a journey. I have a million ideas and only one me. Time will tell how this will all work out.
I’ve bored you enough today. Will try and post more regular from now on. This may seem a bit of a ramble. Dyslexic and maybe a bit ADHD, so..
PS. This is my sole thing now, as I am no longer employed.
Welcome to my new Bryish Systems website. It’s a work in progress, there is a lot to do just yet.
I am, at the moment, the only person working on things. I have a long term vision for things, its going to take time. I have a job, working 4 x 12hr shifts each week, with 4 days off. Most nights, after a shift, I am too tired to work on things, it’s basically a 15hr day and at 57 I need my rest.
As time goes by I hope to post here, build my ideas and bring other people into the project to help make it all a success. It will take time, and I have a lot of time to utilise.
I have been a computers and electronics enthusiast for around 40+ years. I worked in embedded systems, in high level interface programming, firmware creation, drivers etc for most of my career. I also dabble in hardware electronics design and building.
I love learning new things and exploring how things work. I want to share my enthusiasm on this website. All as part of my learn, build and play idea.
I will try and give more information and clues over the next few months as I build my strategy from and idea in my head into a substantial real physical thing.
Join me in my new journey. Hopefully it will be a success, and help me make a difference.
