FPGA Based Videogame System

[cacophony]

What is a little more involved is upgrading the firmware, needs changing a specific file on the SD card and won't work via FTP. Still rather simple.

 

You mean upgrading the MiSTer file itself? According to Sorg that can be done via FTP as well. You just need to reboot afterwards.

[spoonman]

It's pretty quiet in here.

I was hoping we would get a few new details about the Mega Sg after the initial introduction.

 

A few things I'm curious about....

 

A. Will it have some sort of special start-up jingle like the Super NT has?

 

B. More details on how the 32X and Sega CD will interface and work with the Sg.

 

C. Confirmation that Virtua Racing, and obscure accessories will work, such as the Super Magic Drive + Floppy Drive.

 

 

XBAND Modem, Sega Activator, and other odd stuff.

 

D. Will there be any pre-loaded games like with the Super NT.

 

E. If no pre-loaded games are included, will there be a way to remotely power cycle the system, so those of us with a Mega EverDrive X3, X5 don't have to get up and physically switch the system off and back on again.

 

With the Super NT + SD2SNES I would load up the built-in Super Turrican, then select "RUN CARTRIDGE" from the menu. This was only necessary when the in-game hooks didn't respond, such as wirh SA-1 games.

[Atariboy]

I know it's hardly official confirmation, but I think we can safely count on A and C.

 

They're stressing that it has the "same unparalleled compatibility" as the Super NT and that the experience with Sega's 8 and 16-bit library would be "free of compromises". They'd be raked over the coals if stuff like Virtua Racing didn't work after past precedent and these statements, where as up front honesty like with the 32X would easily make 80% of their customers look past something like incompatibility with a single cartridge or obscure accessory.

 

D is an interesting question. We were spoiled by some nice extras with the Super NT. Would be a pleasant surprise to see that happen again.

 

Since I know they won't say anything about jailbreak support (Although it sure would be nice if it's not going to happen, for us to know now). I'd personally like to learn more about Everdrives and how they can interact with this system with Sega's 8-bit library.

 

For an example, what happens with SG-1000 roms on a SMS Everdrive? Will we get the proper SG-1000 color palette, or will it act as it does on a real Master System?

Edited November 10, 2018 by Atariboy

[zetastrike]

I know it's hardly official confirmation, but I think we can safely count on A and C.

 

They're stressing that it has the "same unparalleled compatibility" as the Super NT and that the experience with Sega's 8 and 16-bit library would be "free of compromises". They'd be raked over the coals if stuff like Virtua Racing didn't work after past precedent and these statements, where as up front honesty like with the 32X would easily make 80% of their customers look past something like incompatibility with a single cartridge or obscure accessory.

 

D is an interesting question. We were spoiled by some nice extras with the Super NT. Would be a pleasant surprise to see that happen again.

 

Since I know they won't say anything about jailbreak support (Although it sure would be nice if it's not going to happen, for us to know now). I'd personally like to learn more about Everdrives and how they can interact with this system with Sega's 8-bit library.

 

For an example, what happens with SG-1000 roms on a SMS Everdrive? Will we get the proper SG-1000 color palette, or will it act as it does on a real Master System?

I'd like to know if you can run all the 8 bit roms from the Genesis Everdrive. I'd hate to have to shell out for a SMS Everdrive, and I have the GG Everdrive but it is severely lacking in compatibility with some key games.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using Tapatalk

[Andromeda Stardust]

D is an interesting question. We were spoiled by some nice extras with the Super NT. Would be a pleasant surprise to see that happen again.

 

Since I know they won't say anything about jailbreak support (Although it sure would be nice if it's not going to happen, for us to know now). I'd personally like to learn more about Everdrives and how they can interact with this system with Sega's 8-bit library.

 

For an example, what happens with SG-1000 roms on a SMS Everdrive? Will we get the proper SG-1000 color palette, or will it act as it does on a real Master System?

 

You bring up a valid point. Bundled games would be nice, but I wouldn't count on it. Super Turrican Director's Cut was a special case of a software developer searching for an outlet to release a game, and a hardware developer looking for a pack. We may or may not get lucky this time around. I could see a potential homebrew deal going down, maybe Piko or Collectorvision has something they could share with analogue.

 

I'd like to know if you can run all the 8 bit roms from the Genesis Everdrive. I'd hate to have to shell out for a SMS Everdrive, and I have the GG Everdrive but it is severely lacking in compatibility with some key games.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using Tapatalk

I am also curious of how the adapters function. Is the SMS adapter a straight pinned solution like the Powerbase Mini, or does it communicate with the fpga somehow? (ie passively connect certain pins acting as jumpers, or otherwise actively communicate which system is connected). Perhaps the Analogue adapter will simply function like a Powerbase Mini on oem hardware?

 

I do not own a Master Everdrive currently, just an Everdrive MD and a Powerbase Mini adapter (and a modest collection of SMS carts). Master Everdrive and Everdrive MD will play SMS titles on a Genesis through a Powerbase Mini or directly in the case of the Everdrive MD. FM sound support over Genesis requires either the more expensive Mega Everdrive, or a Powerbase Mini FM and a Master Everdrive. Also none of these solutions is good for playing SG-1000 games without a Sega Master System, since the Megadrive/Genesis don't support them.

 

But will SG-1000 ROMs, or SMS/SG-3000 ROMs w/ FM sound support and GG ROMs work on the Everdrive MD via the Genesis cart slot? Again, all this is moot with release of the all-but-confirmed jailbreak software.

 

It would be neat to play FM-enabled SMS, SG-1000, or Game Gear ROMs through the Everdrive MD, but this may or may not be possible if the core is locked to Sega Genesis operation upon insertion of the Everdrive MD. FM sound would be easy to add to the Genesis core with SMS backwards compatibility. Not sure if Game Gear or SG-1000 is feasible on the fly without reconfiguring the Genesis core though.

[retroillucid]

You bring up a valid point. Bundled games would be nice, but I wouldn't count on it. Super Turrican Director's Cut was a special case of a software developer searching for an outlet to release a game, and a hardware developer looking for a pack. We may or may not get lucky this time around. I could see a potential homebrew deal going down, maybe Piko or Collectorvision has something they could share with analogue.

 

 

 

I would not mind sharing some of our games with Analogue

 

[Pixelboy]

You bring up a valid point. Bundled games would be nice, but I wouldn't count on it. Super Turrican Director's Cut was a special case of a software developer searching for an outlet to release a game, and a hardware developer looking for a pack. We may or may not get lucky this time around. I could see a potential homebrew deal going down, maybe Piko or Collectorvision has something they could share with analogue.

 

I am also curious of how the adapters function. Is the SMS adapter a straight pinned solution like the Powerbase Mini, or does it communicate with the fpga somehow? (ie passively connect certain pins acting as jumpers, or otherwise actively communicate which system is connected). Perhaps the Analogue adapter will simply function like a Powerbase Mini on oem hardware?

 

I do not own a Master Everdrive currently, just an Everdrive MD and a Powerbase Mini adapter (and a modest collection of SMS carts). Master Everdrive and Everdrive MD will play SMS titles on a Genesis through a Powerbase Mini or directly in the case of the Everdrive MD. FM sound support over Genesis requires either the more expensive Mega Everdrive, or a Powerbase Mini FM and a Master Everdrive. Also none of these solutions is good for playing SG-1000 games without a Sega Master System, since the Megadrive/Genesis don't support them.

 

But will SG-1000 ROMs, or SMS/SG-3000 ROMs w/ FM sound support and GG ROMs work on the Everdrive MD via the Genesis cart slot? Again, all this is moot with release of the all-but-confirmed jailbreak software.

 

It would be neat to play FM-enabled SMS, SG-1000, or Game Gear ROMs through the Everdrive MD, but this may or may not be possible if the core is locked to Sega Genesis operation upon insertion of the Everdrive MD. FM sound would be easy to add to the Genesis core with SMS backwards compatibility. Not sure if Game Gear or SG-1000 is feasible on the fly without reconfiguring the Genesis core though.

One small question (which I brought up before) is whether the Mega SG switches FPGA cores automatically when a cart adaptor is used for SMS, GG and SG-1000. I think it would be kind of annoying to have to do the core swap manually from a config menu every time one switches to another cart adapter.

[Andromeda Stardust]

One small question (which I brought up before) is whether the Mega SG switches FPGA cores automatically when a cart adaptor is used for SMS, GG and SG-1000. I think it would be kind of annoying to have to do the core swap manually from a config menu every time one switches to another cart adapter.

This would also block playing anything but bog standard sms roms from running on an everdrive md cart. The flash cart needs Genesis core to boot up. However with Genesis backwards compatible with SMS, SMS/SG-3000 backwards ckmpatible with SG-1000, and Game Gear having mostly identical hardware to SMS sans smaller screen and different inputs, could the missing hardware all be added back into the singular Genesis/Megadrive core without breaking things?

[Atariboy]

Again, all this is moot with release of the all-but-confirmed jailbreak software.

 

That's a bit of a stretch...

 

Not a leap to picture it not happening. Look at how downscaled it went from the NT Mini to the Super NT. And now Analogue has cartridge adapters that they're selling for Sega's various 8-bit platforms, which is new territory for them.

 

The right thing to do is to not restrict us. But the temptation will be to push sales of their adapters and even though the people with collections of stuff like SG-1000 games will be buying the ~$10 adapter regardless of what can be played from SD card, there's a legitimate chance someone will be concerned it could still cut into adapter sales.

 

So it's not difficult to picture the feature being excluded entirely or being limited where backwards compatibility is concerned, in the mistaken belief it's necessary to encourage sales of their various adapters (i.e., perhaps free access to the Master System core sans adapter via jailbroken firmware when playing SMS roms loaded off SD card since that adapter is included in the box and not threatened via SD rom support, but not the other 8-bit cores which can only be active when the appropriate Analogue produced adapter is inserted).

Edited November 11, 2018 by Atariboy

[cacophony]

 

That's a bit of a stretch...

 

Not a leap to picture it not happening. Look at how downscaled it went from the NT Mini to the Super NT. And now Analogue has cartridge adapters that they're selling for Sega's various 8-bit platforms.

 

Not difficult to picture the feature being excluded entirely or being limited where backwards compatibility is concerned to encourage sales of their various adapters.

 

Seems unlikely they're actually making any money on the $10 cartridge adapters. They're offering something people want to boost sales of the base unit, and as a added bonus the jailbreak can now more easily justify being for all of the consoles covered by adapters. If a jailbreak isn't released then I think it will hurt sales quite a bit going forward.

[Atariboy]

 

Seems unlikely they're actually making any money on the $10 cartridge adapters. They're offering something people want to boost sales of the base unit, and as a added bonus the jailbreak can now more easily justify being for all of the consoles covered by adapters. If a jailbreak isn't released then I think it will hurt sales quite a bit going forward.

 

I don't know about the damage to sales going forward, but you raise some good points (Even though when $20 shipping is added, they might end up pretty profitable ).

 

To add to my first post, I'm not suggesting I think it's likely that SD rom support will be absent shortly after launch or be heavily restricted. I just don't think it's far fetched that it could be the case.

 

Just like how the calmer heads encouraged at this same time a year ago with the Super NT for people to wait and see what happens if their satisfaction with a Super NT hinges on the core store being ported over (while others were saying it's all but confirmed to be there), I suggest people wait and see what actually happens.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Atariboy

[cacophony]

 

I don't know about the damage to sales going forward, but you raise some good points (Even though when $20 shipping is added, they might end up pretty profitable ).

 

To add to my first post, I'm not suggesting I think it's likely that SD rom support will be absent shortly after launch or be heavily restricted. I just don't think it's far fetched that it could be the case.

 

Just like how the calmer heads encouraged at this same time a year ago with the Super NT for people to wait and see what happens if their satisfaction with a Super NT hinges on the core store being ported over (while others were saying it's all but confirmed to be there), I suggest people wait and see what actually happens.

 

There's a certain percentage of users (I'm one of them ) that own very few physical carts and are not interested in building up a collection. But I do want high accuracy, low lag, sharp hdmi output, and convenience. If the jailbreak were taken away then people like me would need to also purchase a separate flashcart, which raises the price significantly. I think that would affect sales for that group of people for both the Mega SG and all future Analogue products going forward.

[Andromeda Stardust]

But will SG-1000 ROMs, or SMS/SG-3000 ROMs w/ FM sound support and GG ROMs work on the Everdrive MD via the Genesis cart slot? Again, all this is moot with release of the all-but-confirmed jailbreak software.

That's a bit of a stretch...

 

Oh, really?

 

Unlike Segas early consoles that embraced black to appear edgier than Nintendos colorful hardware, the Mega Sg will be available in four different color options, including a gleaming all-white box. And for those of you who long ago lost your Sega cartridge collections to over-zealous garage sale parents, or whove amassed a healthy collection of ROMs over the years (for all the games youve already purchased, of course!), Analogue has confirmed that the $190 Mega Sg will also be upgradeable, via unofficial third-party firmware, allowing you to load ROMs via the consoles SD card slot. For some, that could be reason alone to make the upgrade.

https://gizmodo.com/the-guys-behind-the-best-nes-and-snes-clones-have-built-1829633330

 

Had Analogue not made this statement, they could have easily requested that Gizmodo remove the inaccurate quote. Yet it still remains, so someone must have made this statement, and Gizmodo and Analogue both know it.

 

Boooo-Yaaah!

[Atariboy]

Annoying rolling eyes aside, I'm glad to see that.

 

I usually like to be right, but don't mind being wrong in situations like this one.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Atariboy

[Reaperman]

 

Seems unlikely they're actually making any money on the $10 cartridge adapters.

 

 

We may think that now, but just wait until we see the $50 UPS ground shipping.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Reaperman

[phoenixdownita]

 

I would not mind sharing some of our games with Analogue

 

Just out of curiosity, what if Analogue for the MegaSg comes out with a ColecoVision adapter for 10US$?

The core is not that different from the SG-1000 really, Kevtris already has a CV core running on the NtMini anyway ....

[Great Hierophant]

Just out of curiosity, what if Analogue for the MegaSg comes out with a ColecoVision adapter for 10US$?

The core is not that different from the SG-1000 really, Kevtris already has a CV core running on the NtMini anyway ....

 

Then the CollectorVision Phoenix would have some serious competition. Unlike it, Analogue would license the ColecoVision BIOS from whomever holds the rights to it or reverse engineer it to make a fully legal adapter.

[SegaSnatcher]

 

Then the CollectorVision Phoenix would have some serious competition. Unlike it, Analogue would license the ColecoVision BIOS from whomever holds the rights to it or reverse engineer it to make a fully legal adapter.

That would be awesome, but 100% not happening.

[+eebuckeye]

How does the FPGA in the DE10 for MISTer compare with the Super NT? Less powerful?

[cacophony]

How does the FPGA in the DE10 for MISTer compare with the Super NT? Less powerful?

 

More powerful. It's got over 2 times the number of LEs (110k vs 49k). The current retail price on just the FPGA is $246.42, so the de10-nano is heavily discounted for development purposes.

 

https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?Language=English&CategoryNo=205&No=1046&PartNo=2

 

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Intel-Altera/5CSEBA6U23I7N?qs=hFKXOjF5Mkbg493w%252bJXetA%3D%3D

Edited November 11, 2018 by cacophony

[+eebuckeye]

Wow.. I had no idea..

 

Of course the problem is that they do not have full time people working on cores, etc.. especially no one like Kevtris.

 

I guess the more powerful FPGA does not matter if you can do everything you need to 99% accuracy with the FPGA you have.

[cacophony]

Wow.. I had no idea..

 

Of course the problem is that they do not have full time people working on cores, etc.. especially no one like Kevtris.

 

I guess the more powerful FPGA does not matter if you can do everything you need to 99% accuracy with the FPGA you have.

 

That's true, though some cores that utilize the extra hardware are actively being worked on. Neo Geo by Furrtek (https://www.patreon.com/furrtek), and it sounds like Sega CD, 32X, CPS2, PS1, and even N64 are possibilities for the future, though little work has been done thus far AFAIK. But new cores have a tendency to just appear sometimes like with the Atari ST core.

[Newsdee]

Of course the problem is that they do not have full time people working on cores, etc.. especially no one like Kevtris.

That's less of a problem given the cores are open source. Most of them e.g. the NES core has been improved by several authors over time.

Even modest contributions are useful. I added a 2-way palette switch a long time ago (FCEUX vs. FirebrandX's Unsaturated V6) and I'm glad to see it was upgraded to accept 8 palettes options now.

 

It's true that you can't expect a specific road map given people are doing it on their own time, though. My usual advice is to take a look at what exists "today" (which is much more than a year ago already) and decide if it's for you based on that. If you go in with that mindset, anything extra is going to be a bonus.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Newsdee

[Andromeda Stardust]

We may think that now, but just wait until we see the $50 UPS ground shipping.

If shipping is really $50 for a $10 adapter that would otherwise fit inside a $3 USPS bubble mailer, we might consider doing a community group buy. Someone could take names for AA members and which adapters they would like to purchase (I would personally buy one Game Gear adapter, since carts are plentiful and cheap), and when the amount of requested adapters reaches some threshold, the $50 shipping charge becomes negligible.

[atmn]

I have a Super Nt and Nt Mini and Im still wondering about if I can change cart on the fly.

 

Lets say I play from a rom file from my Nt Mini and wanna go physical cart, can I just pop one in and "run cart" ?

Now I always power down the systems before inserting the cart. Is it needed?

 

Dont wanna screw around with a 2G system