I bought a book "The Z80 Microprocessor: Architecture, Interfacing, Programming , and Design" by Ramesh Gaonkar and am almost done reading it. A question I have regarding development of SNES, GB/GBC and early 8-bit microcomputers which I am trying to get into, is How do we know how much "work can be done" until a frame is drawn and work involving the memory-mapped video chip must be momentarily paused?
To take the Gameboy as an example that doesn't get into television details, is it that there are "X" T-states that are available before an interrupt fires signalling the beginning of the screen draw, and then "Y" more T-states until it is safe to touch video chip memory registers again?
Sorry for the very basic question, I have been reading Pandocs and Fullsnes, but coming from basic modern PC development I am unfamiliar with the fundamental operation of 8- and 16-bit computers and unable to comprehend the details of those documents. I was thinking I could begin with just trying to output some graphics and then move on to audio once I understand more.
To take the Gameboy as an example that doesn't get into television details, is it that there are "X" T-states that are available before an interrupt fires signalling the beginning of the screen draw, and then "Y" more T-states until it is safe to touch video chip memory registers again?
Sorry for the very basic question, I have been reading Pandocs and Fullsnes, but coming from basic modern PC development I am unfamiliar with the fundamental operation of 8- and 16-bit computers and unable to comprehend the details of those documents. I was thinking I could begin with just trying to output some graphics and then move on to audio once I understand more.