Multiple Classic Computer Colecovision Mod

[Guysho]

A little while ago, I wasted my money on a device called the MCC-216. It's basically an FPGA device which
allows you to run older computing platforms such as the Commodore Amiga, Atari 2600, and ZX Spectrum.

Why was it a waste? Because none of the cores contained are 100% compatible with their respected software.
Aside from the Atari 8-bit computer which is 100% compatible, the rest is hit and miss which was a huge
disappointment for me with the Amiga core. You can download and update files on the system, so perhaps
one day somebody will release a proper Amiga core. Until then:

To alleviate some of the buyer's remorse, I took a broken Colecovision console I've been keeping and made this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHrBBnxwNJE

 

I personally found the MCC-216 itself very ugly in design and I love the aesthetic of the Colecovision.

I gutted the 'vision and carefully screwed the MCC inside, the controller ports fit neatly in the expansion
module. Before adding the cartridge port I utilized the micro SD slot between the controllers, but that proved
difficult for removing and inserting the card. At that point I tore off half the Colecovision's motherboard so it
could fit inside the shell. Then routed the wires directly to the appropriate pins on the cartridge slot.

Pulling the rom chips from the cartridge was easy, I soldered an SD adapter for Micros and was surprised
I didn't mess up on the pins of the SD card =p

[Keatah]

The mcc-216 is about as appealing as the farting and belching at 0:09 hahaha! Bbbrroooppptt! Ahhhh...

 

I only wish the cores were in active development. That's the thing with fpgas, the knowledge is specialized and there aren't many developers around. Whereas with software the situation is totally opposite. It's simply not good enough to have something upgradable, ya'gotta use the capability.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Keatah

[Guysho]

The mcc-216 is about as appealing as the farting and belching at 0:09 hahaha! Bbbrroooppptt! Ahhhh...

 

I only wish the cores were in active development. That's the thing with fpgas, the knowledge is specialized and there aren't many developers around. Whereas with software the situation is totally opposite. It's simply not good enough to have something upgradable, ya'gotta use the capability.

 

I am really wishing another owner of the MCC makes a better Amiga core at the very least. It's the primary platform I was eager to play on the thing,

and it would make my pet project here a lot more appealing. In the video, you can see a list of the first Amiga games there. All of those function,

but there are quite a few missing. Around half of my Amiga games don't work on the thing! But at least the THIRD PARTY Atari 8-bit computer is

nearly 100% compatible.

[Newsdee]

Whereas with software the situation is totally opposite. It's simply not good enough to have something upgradable, ya'gotta use the capability.

 

That's only because a lot of emu authors agreed to open source their code and they're written in popular languages that many people like having as a hobby/practice.

With FPGAs both are a problem - first there's less people to go around and among the few pros, apparently few agree to open source for various reasons. And it's hard for people to pick up unless you're really into EE.

 

Now apparently with the MCC-216 (based on what I've read in forums so Google and make your own opinion) they've modified open source code from Minimig without releasing the changes,

so unless you start from scratch expanding the cores is not an option. I certainly can't find any info about source code from their website.

 

Contrast with the FPGA Arcade or the MiST where everything is open source. MikeJ (Arcade) is working on a cycle-exact amiga AGA core (from scratch) which is supposed to become open source once done. Priori to that Chaos (Rok Krajnc) beat him by updating the Minimg port of the MiST to work with AGA (which nobody thought possible). So assuming the Arcade releases the code (and there's no reason to think they won't given past track record), there will be two open-source AGA cores available. Nobody's is making crazy money out of these (other than maybe bragging rights and something to put on a resume), but that's the kind of firendly competition you want to see, instead of lone developers who make or break the system.

 

There are other cool projects / updates in the past year. One quite interesting in general is that Till Harbaum (designer of the MiST) has put up a few tutorials on VHDL from scratch which hopefully will get more people involved with FPGAs. There's a lot of potential but it's quite a different paradigm from CPU programming, so it's not like you can ease into it from previous knowledge unless you are already familiar with designing your own electronics.

 

Edit: I should add there's a Coleco core (play in HD 60 fps for best results)

Edited February 12, 2016 by Newsdee