retro_fan

Another cool FPGA video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zrqYy369NQ

Do you think that you could gray out/"remove" options which do not work for certain outputs (mostly analog, I suppose) like cropping or this text highlight when using these output methods? So that people wouldn't wonder, for instance, why the cropping slider does nothing, and just to keep the menu clean. Yeah, I guess going for the cleanest RBG and HDMI outputs is the right decision. And wherever possible recreating composite outputs for the ultimate nostalgia factor.

Five interesting links: Apple2fpga: Reconstructing an Apple II+ on an FPGA Emulation vs FPGA ASIC, ASSP, SoC, FPGA – What's the Difference? VeriSNES (FPGA-based SNES) FPGA gaming on reddit

Good question.

Finally CRT people are speaking up for themselves! Let us not be bullied by those Horribly Demented Media Intruders! But to be honest, I am actually willing to pay more, so that both HDMI fans and CRT fans are happy. It's just great to have a choice with FPGAs between enhancement and preservation. As I have already mentioned my favorite output is composite. Exactly, The Case for Composite. It's also worth mentioning here that even emulator users who always had access to the pixel perfect image are degrading it on purpose A Link to the Past: How To Add CRT Filters to 16-Bit Games on PC.

Maybe instead of the chip tune version you would like to listen to the real deal? It seems that the NES can actually play high-quality audio (it starts at 9:57): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA9nlUtepR4

If anyone was wondering whether a Patreon can be a viable financing option, CEMU (experimental Wii U emulator) is now at the $13,000 a month level. I guess this is is somewhat related to this news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vBE7Ueas7E Well... How is this connected with the Nt mini/Z3K you ask? For instance, Kevtris' reply to whether Sega and TG-16/PCE CD hardware will be supported should not be "the amount of work for it is insane" because it makes it sound as if he wants to suddenly stop working on the Z3K after release (we know that you're working on this alone, and it's not like we cannot wait 2-3 years after the Z3K release for CD hardware support), but instead "I need more funds, I'm setting a new goal on my Patreon page". If time is money than more money means more time. This CD hardware matter was just an example, but continuous Zimba 3000 support would ensure that new units are being sold.

I think "Zimba" is a really nice name, but I have another suggestion as well... CHAMELEON 3000

It does not seem to be possible, this thing operates on a similar level as real hardware. Have you ever seen a .pdf reader on NES? Manuals in text files + some tips & tricks might be possible though (and maybe + some simple graphics, but we need to ask kevtris). Of course, such text files should be provided by the community.

Apart from these FPGA projects mentioned by Newsdee there are also quite a few interesting hobby/computer science experiments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7TWjnaF_U4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBLUrRrSCE There are already a few NES implementations, for instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-nf4N9ZTbY I have already mentioned this in the Z3K thread, DOS gaming on FPGA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s73LzJVA5o Some people want to improve old hardware using FPGAs, check out the MEGA65 project or the Vampire 2 Amiga accelerator.

This stream is really awesome and you should definitely watch it guys (I know it's long, but there's lot of useful info). What you can learn from this video and what is really bothering me is that kevtris is buying practically all the hardware (often very expensive) himself and doing most of the work in his free time. I think it would be good if the community could finance this stuff... maybe there would be enough funds for kevtris to spend more time on his retro FPGA projects.

Have you tested the FDSEmu with the analog output of the Nt mini (timing is different)?

It's awesome that you're even considering adding stuff like this. Of course, it is not a priority, but still super-awesome for the sake of completeness.

To be honest, I wasn't referring to HDMI here (mainly). In the Nt mini specs you can find that 48khz 16 bit audio is generated for the analog output as well, so this is what I'm wondering about. An optional old TV audio filter would be nice, but I'm actually considering hooking up the Nt mini/Z3K to a real old TV via composite/RF. Let's not forget that the Nt mini/Z3K is also very interesting to people that don't want to use HDMI -- I stopped using emulators years ago so that I could enjoy raw, dirty composite picture again. Regarding hooking up the Nt mini/Z3K to an old TV, there was also this really interesting question by Great Hierophant that kevtris probably did not notice: "If or when the cores for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Odyssey2, Intellivision and Colecovision are released, how will their analog lo-fi color signals be processed? The NES generates composite color inside the chip, not RGB and the Nt Mini outputs the exact same composite signal that the real NES does. From what I can tell, the Atari consoles and the Intellivision also generate color in the composite domain. The Odyssey2 and Colecovision seem to generate color in the RGB or YPrPb domain."

Yeah, you're right it's digital, I simply got too much into the cd vs vinyl analogy. Hmm... But this "48khz 16bit" does mean something, doesn't it? I have nothing against bringing back the buzz as an option. You can already find there settings which do much worse things to sound than some buzzing. I'm not sure kevtris referred to the Twin Famicom in the fragment I quoted...

Well, maybe I will ask a few audio related questions too. 1) Nt mini generates 48khz 16bit audio, so I guess this results in crisper sound and that's cool... But maybe original lower quality NES audio has some nostalgic value as well. Err... something like cd vs vinyl? I love how you recreated the NES composite signal with all the artifacts, is something similar possible for audio, i.e. recreation without all this digital crispness, or are there some technical limitations connected with the analog nature of the audio signal? Original quality audio seems like a nice (optional!!!) feature. 2) If the Famicom "has some lowpass filtering" maybe it could be implemented for expansion audio in your NES core as well (at least optionally), since the expansion audio was originally present on the Famicom and not the NES. 3) Kevtris, how do you check your FPGA implementation against original audio? A simple ear test or do you look at some signals (or maybe both)? 4) Some time ago you talked about problems with implementing "external analog hardware" for your C64 core. Could you explain this in more detail? I don't know much about the Commodore...

Kevtris, do you think that during the development of Nt mini/Z3K cores you would have to decap any chips? It looks like a very interesting process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT1FStxAVz4

Do you need a whole PAL console for testing? Or is it enough if someone will send you PAL chips for these consoles from Europe (smaller package)?

Do you have any numbers, Kosmic? I wonder how many chips would have to be implemented to cover at least popular 8-bit and 16-bit arcade publishers, i.e. Konami, Capcom, Sega, etc. If kevtris will decide at some point to work on arcade machines, he could join forces with, for instance, the MAME project (to get arcade boards + documentation -- the PCBs aren't cheap...), I guess they also might be interested in good FPGA arcade implementations. BTW, there was this project called MameVHDL (archived link) whose goal was "generating electronic schematics from M.A.M.E. into VHDL", but it does not seem to be active any more.

When it comes to interesting FPGA videos I can recommend this one as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sft7i6aNrYw

He can always make the cart some time after the Z3K release. And of course, it's bit a different target than the Zimba, I suppose. "I'm only playing on a original console" type of thing. Mind you that mappers and software are already there, so it's a matter of reusing this stuff in a clever way.

Great idea for a new product! Some time ago, kevtris was also asking whether people are interested in the Ultimate NES flashcart. I'm sure kevtris' flashcarts would sell well too...

Good question! I'm not sure I fully understand the concept of "digital RGB to composite/s-video converter" that kevtris is talking about here. BTW, I have really enjoyed your article The Case for Composite, Great Hierophant.

You may want to watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLWY7fCXUwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y864KODwrU0 LOL!! Maybe the Zimba 3000 should come with some built-in games? Kevtris, could elaborate on the issue with those two Game Gear games you talked about in the RetroRGB video, please? It's interesting.