Megatron1999

Hi. Someone told me that the Sega's Video Chip (VDP) is a non standard Version of the Yamaha V99x8 Video Chip...is this true and what differences are there between the two chips ? Is it possible to make your own homebrew Sega using say a V9958 ?? Thanks

Hi. Any more details on Video Options?? Would/will there be: TMS9918 TMS9928 TMS9929 V99x8 ?? Thanks

Does anyone know When's the Colecovision Replacement Motherboard 1.2 going to be available ? And Where do you get the video boards that plug in ?? Thanks

I'm sure I've read somewhere that someone is design/making a NEW Powertran Cortex with a TMS99105 CPU ... or was I just dreaming it.

The point I was trying to make is : Wouldn't it be great to have a NEW TMS9918 Chip (everything in on one piece of silicon) based on the F18A. I'm not knocking the F18A as it's very good but due to small production runs etc this limits it's use. I was wondering if anyone had even considered approaching a commercial company to see if they'd be willing to MASS produce an F18A type Chip, as I'm sure there must be a reasonable demand ? Well just a thought !

Hi. Does anyone know if there's a Single Chip version of the F18A or something similar in development as a Drop in replacement to the TMS9918. The idea of a single chip with all logic RAM etc all on one chip is an interesting idea and must have some commercial possibilities/success if developed. The idea of a 'NEW' improved single chip TMS9918 wouldn't just appeal to old Retro computer Geeks but the masses of people using microcontroller needing/wanting a VDP to generate Text & Graphics.

Hi. Does anyone know if there's a Single Chip version of the F18A or something similar in development as a Drop in replacement to the TMS9918. The idea of a single chip with all logic RAM etc all on one chip is an interesting idea and must have some commercial possibilities/success if developed. The idea of a 'NEW' improved single chip TMS9918 wouldn't just appeal to old Retro computer Geeks but the masses of people using microcontroller needing/wanting a VDP to generate Text & Graphics.

Probably easier just to Rob a Bank and probably more likely to be successful as 80% of Crowd funding fails !

It'll be MESSy and Very Very Smelly !! You've been warned !

"£$"$%£$^$%&%^*%&...... I Can't wait much longer for the replacement Colecovision motherboard. If it doesn't come out soon I'm going to POOP Myself !!

Does anyone have an idea of when these Colecovision motherboards will be available to buy?

Yes .. let the TI-99/4A last forever !! But seriously it does allow faulty ones to be repaired ..by popping in a new motherboard or if you have a TI-99/4A case you could insert a new motherboard. The Colecovision has had a 'NEW' motherboard designed/made , I believe it uses the F18A VDP and is still in the prototype stage.

Sounds like a good idea, as I'd assume a GENEVE 9460 or a PEB with the necessary boards will be VERY expensive ? And as Old TI-99/4A start to die, then you could just pop an NEW improved motherboard in the case, so they last for ever !

Perhaps we should encourage more people to design & Build Colecovision hardware !

I spotted these kits on ebay.com.. that's if your into designing/.making hardware. http://stores.ebay.com/P-A-Electro-Components/DIY-Homebrew-Kits-/_i.html?_fsub=8692137013&_sid=1037341693&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

I believe there's some thing on this on an MSX forum as they're into this sort of stuff...multi VDPs superimposed etc ! Best to trawl the net something might pop up !

Can you buy them and how much are they ?

I've got G540 Universal Programmer good for programming GALs/PLDs, EPROMs,EEPROMs etc http://www.ebay.com/itm/G540-USB-Universal-EPROM-FLASH-GAL-AVR-PIC-Programmer-/121385641896?hash=item1c4325e7a8 USB Blaster .. a cheap programmer to program CPLDs like the Altera MAX EPM7128SLC84 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Altera-Mini-Usb-Blaster-Cable-For-CPLD-FPGA-NIOS-JTAG-Altera-Programmer-/371397950823?hash=item56790afd67

But perhaps it's time for a New Colecovision ? Original ones are quite expensive now and getting rarer (especially in UK)

Colecovision NEW Motherboard Is there a BOM (Bill of Materials) list for this ? So I can start buying ICs etc

So the Colecovision (II) Neo is a MYTH ! ** Should remove the website then !

Hi. I believe about 80% of all Crowd Funding projects fail plus the host site normally wants about 7% of any money raised !! It may be better to just get a team of hardware people together and design & build it yourself. Once you have a working prototype you could try getting Money from Pre-Orders to do a full production run. If you can genuinely make it for £50 to sell for £99 plus shipping you could well be onto a winner ? All the best and Good luck...

Hi. One expansion connector is somewhat limiting. If Stuart's Design was modified to have say four (4) expansion sockets, then it would be flexible enough to act as a intelligent backplane, allowing homebrew cards to be fitted. video Card, I/O Keyboard Card, CF, IDE Card etc etc .. It wouldn't take much work to change the design ??

The beauty of ROM is it's reliability .. they're bullet proof .. CF Cards, Floppy Disks can all be corrupted. To load an OS from disk could be an option but having ROM may still have advantages for reliability and instant loading ! Plus there'd be plenty of RAM ... 640K compared to the original 64K !!! Any OS could be loaded/stored in NVSRAM anyhow ! This way You have your Cake and Eat it .... SRAM , Non-Volatile RAM + ROM.. Plus let's face it....... it's a bit premature to worry about this ¬?

If 100ns memory is not fast enough then it can easily use 70ns NVSRAM / SRAM and 70ns EPROMs then that would be fast enough .. and 70ns are as easy, and cheap to obtain as 100ns ! 70ns 128kx8bit SRAM are $1.0 each and 512kx8bit 70ns NVSRAM are $2.0 each ... whereas 512K SRAMs are $3.50 each.. plus NVSRAM can clearly retain data there's no need for a boot loader as there'll be plenty of ROM & RAM .. This way it could have 640K RAM, 128K or 256K EPROM/EEPROM and space for memory Mapped I/O.