FPGA Based Videogame System

[CZroe]

As someone who's been involved with third-party firmware for a variety of gadgets (primarily MP3 players) there's really no reason he has to be involved or is certainly involved. It's certainly *likely*, but it's nowhere near as certain as you seem to think. Time may provide more evidence, but there's really no reason to say someone must be 'deluding' themselves. Depending on what kind of validation the hardware does, etc, and whether or not this is really just a hidden existing feature someone discovered, this may just be a relatively trivial edit to an existing thing.

...sure, like changing one byte to re-enable the backup option in a Bung Doctor V64 BIOS. The difference here is that it comes from SmokeMonster and some affiliate and both insist that they didn’t code it and refuse to comment on the origin (sound familiar?). Also, SmokeMonster is routinely trusted with early hardware in the flashcart scene, like ArcadeProjects/DarkSoft. It’s just the latest example of people behind the scenes involving him before they involve the rest of us.

 

When we have Analogue, Kevtris, SmokeMonster, and that other guy all basically speaking in the same voice and saying the same thing (“no comment”) and with a history of this stuff, it’s pretty easy to infer what’s going on here beyond reasonable doubt.

Edited February 16, 2018 by CZroe

[mrpopsicleman]

Long Post

I could see it being more of an issue if the SNES were currently on the market and had new games coming out for it every week, which was the case when Bung was making various "development" devices. Though modern devices, like the Everdrives, the Powerpaks, and the Super UFO Pro 8 (which is readily available on Amazon) have never had legal action taken against them, otherwise they still wouldn't be selling them.

 

Not that it isn't an issue. Nintendo doesn't seem to care too much about clone console for NES or SNES. But then if you have a cycle accurate, high end SNES with HDMI output that semi-officially has ROM file support, then legal action might be an issue. Such a device could potentially take a chunk out of Nintendo's profits from their own HDMI SNES (that amusingly also semi-officially has ROM file support) or the Virtual Console. Though no legal action (that is publicly known) was ever taken over Kevtris' jailbroken firmware for the NT Mini allowing NES and other ROM files to be played, there's nothing wrong with plausible deniability.

 

My point is...I don't really have a point. Just making discussion. Doesn't matter to me either way.

[Mattelot]

long post

 

They would only be satisfied if their needs were satisfied.

 

I agree that there is a good reason he has not commented on it. I have my theories as to why but as others, they're only assumptions (amongst the many I've read here).

 

I've already stated that whether or not the jailbreak comes from Kevtris, I will still buy the Super NT for it's intended purpose. I will just use the SD2SNES for my own personal peace of mind. That's my business just like anybody who chooses the firmware, is their business. There is no right/wrong answer and some people just cannot seem to grasp that. They hear someone isn't doing what they're doing and immediately grab their torches/pitchforks and make odd claims that those who are not following their suit are secretly implying something.

 

I don't care which of you does it but one of you stop responding to the other. All you are doing is spamming my inbox with a bunch of notifications about people being morons and not about the updates I followed this thread to receive.

 

I will respond to whoever I wish. As far as your inbox, with all due respect, that's not my problem. I suggest changing your notification settings if you're that concerned, considering the 4 posts you've made here.

 

Also, nobody here ever commented that they were worried about the jailbreak calling the police or blowing up or whatever conjecture. For me, it's about confidence in the product quality, especially long-term, which we're nowhere near.

 

 

EDIT: Took one from mrpopsicleman's page and snipped.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Mattelot

[phoenixdownita]

Wrt proving who did the JB ... maybe!!! (pure speculation on my part, mind you)

Here is a theory, IF the firmware needs to be signed (via an X509 certificate or other keys) to be considered valid by the SuperNT then we know that only someone with the encryption key can build a valid one.

 

Not saying the SuperNt fw is signed/encrypted to begin with, but IF it is either the key leaked (and that would be bad for a whole another set of reasons) or only Analogue/affiliates can sign a valid fw.

 

Anyone did a hex diff to see how much of the FW changed/got displaced around?

If it is just few bytes here and there it means the feature was there all along (and likely no encryption, still it may be signed) and the JB itself is more of an activation, if it appears totally different then it may well be encrypted not simply signed (and that alone means it comes from someone with the keys), it big chunks are different then whoever added the feature needed to know way too much in such a short time to be able to whip it up so fast ... that's too much conspiracy theory for today.

 

I do believe in Santa Claus and the Elves of the North but I also have a slightly heightened sense of smell.

 

Enjoy the SD loading fw or avoid it, either way kevtris rules.

 

Now if next week we get a few cores in on the thing ..... that would rock.

[Mattelot]

Though no legal action (that is publicly known) was ever taken over Kevtris' jailbroken firmware for the NT Mini allowing NES and other ROM files to be played, there's nothing wrong with plausible deniability.

 

 

Unless there is possibly some blurb in a subclause within a NDA. All the NDAs that I've seen, it's pretty comical some of the things that they include there. Some things you would read and think "seriously, guys?"

[CZroe]

I could see it being more of an issue if the SNES were currently on the market and had new games coming out for it every week, which was the case when Bung was making various "development" devices. Though modern devices, like the Everdrives, the Powerpaks, and the Super UFO Pro 8 (which is readily available on Amazon) have never had legal action taken against them, otherwise they still wouldn't be selling them.

 

Not that it isn't an issue. Nintendo doesn't seem to care too much about clone console for NES or SNES. But then if you have a cycle accurate, high end SNES with HDMI output that semi-officially has ROM file support, then legal action might be an issue. Such a device could potentially take a chunk out of Nintendo's profits from their own HDMI SNES (that amusingly also semi-officially has ROM file support) or the Virtual Console. Though no legal action (that is publicly known) was ever taken over Kevtris' jailbroken firmware for the NT Mini allowing NES and other ROM files to be played, there's nothing wrong with plausible deniability.

 

My point is...I don't really have a point. Just making discussion. Doesn't matter to me either way.

I understand what you’re saying but you never know when Nintendo is going to suddenly assert themselves, like with the NES Classic Edition suddenly triggering their concern for knock-off NES controllers (despite them being on the market for several years).

 

Kevtris is American (Indiana) and so is Analogue (Washington). Krikzz/Everdrives (Ukraine), Super UFO (China), Bung (Hong Kong), etc generally operate beyond Nintendo’s reach and Bunny actually stopped making the Power Pak. Even before that, he stopped blatantly selling Nintendo World Championships bootlegs due to increased scrutiny (it definitely wasn’t legal). If the Power Pak were marketed even half as much as the Super Nt was then I would think it’s very possible to end up in Nintendo’s cross-hairs, especially as they roll out the SNES Classic and Switch Virtual Console (assuming it happens).

 

It seems to me that American companies and individuals have to be extra careful with this stuff. It’s reasonable that Analogue and Kevtris are doing exactly that. They want to stay above-board and beyond reproach all while giving us exactly what we wanted.

Edited February 16, 2018 by CZroe

[LewisD]

Is there a post/video/website that shows people how to download smokemasters rom packs? Not really grasping the whole Github distribution deal.

[Mattelot]

It seems to me that American companies and individuals have to be extra careful with this stuff. It’s reasonable that Analogue and Kevtris are doing exactly that.

 

Unfortunately. And even if it gets to a point where they're allowed to talk about it, there may be a chance that they can't talk about why they couldn't talk about it in the first place.

[CZroe]

Wrt proving who did the JB ... maybe!!! (pure speculation on my part, mind you)

 

Here is a theory, IF the firmware needs to be signed (via an X509 certificate or other keys) to be considered valid by the SuperNT then we know that only someone with the encryption key can build a valid one.

 

Not saying the SuperNt fw is signed/encrypted to begin with, but IF it is either the key leaked (and that would be bad for a whole another set of reasons) or only Analogue/affiliates can sign a valid fw.

 

Anyone did a hex diff to see how much of the FW changed/got displaced around?

If it is just few bytes here and there it means the feature was there all along (and likely no encryption, still it may be signed) and the JB itself is more of an activation, if it appears totally different then it may well be encrypted not simply signed (and that alone means it comes from someone with the keys), it big chunks are different then whoever added the feature needed to know way too much in such a short time to be able to whip it up so fast ... that's too much conspiracy theory for today.

 

I do believe in Santa Claus and the Elves of the North but I also have a slightly heightened sense of smell.

 

Enjoy the SD loading fw or avoid it, either way kevtris rules.

 

Now if next week we get a few cores in on the thing ..... that would rock.

If they ever plan to sell the Nt Mini again (perhaps with a revised controller?) then it may make sense to limit the overlap but seeing a new core added to both simultaneously would definitely signal who is behind it.

[Jakir]

Also, nobody here ever commented that they were worried about the jailbreak calling the police or blowing up or whatever conjecture. For me, it's about confidence in the product quality, especially long-term, which we're nowhere near.

What possible long term quality could be affected by this firmware? If it doesn't get updated with some future thing the official firmware does nothing is stopping you from switching to that official firmware (and back to the jb firmware if you want the functionality of both). It isn't going to change the internals of the hardware. The only possible thing you could lose IF the firmware was seriously flawed would be the easily backed up data on your sd card.

 

There is literally no risk to using the firmware and flooding the thread with a hundred messages about it is just dumb.

 

And lets look at the evidence for who could have possibly released it:

1) It came out 1 week after the official release, just like the nt mini jb did.

2) It came out when most people didn't even have their consoles yet, mine didn't arrive until after the firmware came out and the firmware has checks in it to prevent games with enhancement chips to be run so I'm betting it took a little bit of time to get it so nice.

3) It is a firmware for the super nt. How many people do we know that can code for the Super Nt? I doubt Krikzz thought it would be a good marketing strategy.

4) How has Kevtris reacted to the knowledge of the jb? He hasn't even mentioned it. No "wow I'm impressed" or "Wow I can't believe someone hacked my firmware" or "It was me, I love you guys", he hasn't said a word about it. Sure sounds like a person that isn't allowed to talk about it. Also as the firmware doesn't break any copyright laws I can only think of a single person on the entire planet that wouldn't be allowed to say they made it. Sure other people could choose not to but the odds of that happening combined with the other factors are about the same as the odds the jb will turn your console into a decepticon which then murders your whole family.

 

And after Kevtris leaves this epic present for us all he sees is 100 messages of "hurr durr what if it's evil???" Honestly people like you ruin good things and you should feel ashamed.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Jakir

[Mattelot]

What possible long term quality could be affected by this firmware? If it doesn't get updated with some future thing the official firmware does nothing is stopping you from switching to that official firmware (and back to the jb firmware if you want the functionality of both). It isn't going to change the internals of the hardware. The only possible thing you could lose IF the firmware was seriously flawed would be the easily backed up data on your sd card.

 

There is literally no risk to using the firmware and flooding the thread with a hundred messages about it is just dumb.

 

And lets look at the evidence for who could have possibly released it:

1) It came out 1 week after the official release, just like the nt mini jb did.

2) It came out when most people didn't even have their consoles yet, mine didn't arrive until after the firmware came out and the firmware has checks in it to prevent games from enhancement chips to be run so I'm betting it took a little bit of time to get it so nice.

3) It is a firmware for the super nt. How many people do we know that can code for the Super Nt? I doubt Krikzz thought it would be a good marketing strategy.

4) How has Kevtris reacted to the knowledge of the jb? He hasn't even mentioned it. No "wow I'm impressed" or "Wow I can't believe someone hacked my firmware" or "It was me, I love you guys", he hasn't said a word about it. Sure sounds like a person that isn't allowed to talk about it. Also as the firmware doesn't break any copyright laws I can only think of a single person on the entire planet that wouldn't be allowed to say they made it. Sure other people could choose not to but the odds of that happening combined with the other factors are about the same as the odds the jb will turn your console into a deception which then murders your whole family.

 

And after Kevtris leaves this epic present for us all he sees is 100 messages of "hurr durr what if it's evil???" Honestly people like you ruin good things and you should feel ashamed.

 

You're asking me as if you're going to change your mind. I'm not going to use the jailbreak unless I know who made it. That's my position and not your business. No matter what reason I give, you'll fire back with some kind of rationalization. Stop trying to push using it on people.

 

Once again (I really hope this is the last time... *sigh*...) nobody is claiming the jailbreak we have is evil, going to blow up or call the cops. You just sound really silly each time you make one of these stupid comments up.

 

And I'm not ruining anything for anyone. I'm not here nor was anyone else here saying "DO NOT USE THIS!" I'm just here saying "I'm not using this." Take off the tinfoil hat and relax.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Mattelot

[Dubon]

Hi guys, ive been wondering if anyone knows what those j8 and j9 solderpoints on the pcb are for? They look to be arranged in such a way that you could solder a pinheader to them, so im curious if its just a left over from development or if theres something else going on there. Cheers.

[Jakir]

 

You're asking me as if you're going to change your mind. I'm not going to use the jailbreak unless I know who made it. That's my position and not your business. No matter what reason I give, you'll fire back with some kind of rationalization. Stop trying to push using it on people.

 

Once again (I really hope this is the last time... *sigh*...) nobody is claiming the jailbreak we have is evil, going to blow up or call the cops. You just sound really silly each time you make one of these stupid comments up.

 

And I'm not ruining anything for anyone. I'm not here nor was anyone else here saying "DO NOT USE THIS!" I'm just here saying "I'm not using this." Take off the tinfoil hat and relax.

I'm going to the bathroom.

 

See no cares. You don't have to announce what you do. Go hang out with some vegan crossfit cultists at the gym if you feel the need to announce your actions to everyone.

[Mattelot]

I'm going to the bathroom.

 

See no cares. You don't have to announce what you do. Go hang out with some vegan crossfit cultists at the gym if you feel the need to announce your actions to everyone.

 

You obviously read nothing I said in any of my posts at all other than seeing somebody who didn't want to use the jailbreak and just HAD to throw in your 2 cents for no valuable reason.

 

Have a nice day and enjoy your Super NT.

[NE146]

Heck I'm using the firmware that came shipped out of the box.. too lazy to change it just yet and it's working just fine.

[Mattelot]

Heck I'm using the firmware that came shipped out of the box.. too lazy to change it just yet and it's working just fine.

 

Be careful mentioning out loud that you're not using the jailbreak. It apparently makes some people extremely angry.

 

[Jakir]

 

You obviously read nothing I said in any of my posts at all other than seeing somebody who didn't want to use the jailbreak and just HAD to throw in your 2 cents for no valuable reason.

 

Have a nice day and enjoy your Super NT.

Did narrating your life choices in this thread have any valuable reason?

 

I would tell you to enjoy your super nt but you probably have it in a Faraday cage so it can't receive order 66 from the mothership and go all skynet.

[Riptide]

Is there a post/video/website that shows people how to download smokemasters rom packs? Not really grasping the whole Github distribution deal.

go back in smokemonster's thread and look for the archive.org links

[+remowilliams]

For the love of god please stop repeatedly asking the same questions which CLEARLY aren't meant to have an answer for OBVIOUS reasons.

[Mattelot]

Did narrating your life choices in this thread have any valuable reason?

 

I would tell you to enjoy your super nt but you probably have it in a Faraday cage so it can't receive order 66 from the mothership and go all skynet.

 

If that's what you think I did, then that proves you did not read anything I wrote other than a piece that angered you, as I speculated.

 

Enjoy the tinfoil hat and have a good weekend.

[snatcher1996]

Smoke (and his team) have poured literal hundreds of hours into making the best possible install and go packs they can provide and they do it free of charge, no ads, no subscriptions, no bs. Don't know what game you want to play? Browse through the game series collections and pick a type shmup, action, platformer, franchise (maybe you want to play a new Zelda or Kirby game or something), or you can even browse 2 player games if you have a pal over and want to entertain with something new. It is so easy and all you have to do is open the game series collection menu.

 

And because everything is well sorted if you have a game you only sorta remember from years ago and want to play it again that makes it super easy to find.

 

Even if you don't download the game series collection addon the regular lists are still designed to have everything broken up so that they don't have too much in a single folder which can break or seriously slow down some flash carts. They also include hacks, homebrews, and translations pre-patched which the no-intro packs do not. So if you ever feel like playing a Final Fantasy where the last boss is actually still tough even though you've leveled up to max, or a Zelda game without the freaking heart beaping sound, or a game you know like the back of your hand with a path randomizer so it is actually an adventure again, or Super Mario with a Sonic Sprite or basically any other hack known to man you don't even have to go out and hunt down the hack and patch it yourself it is already done and included. Heard about an awesome game that was released in Japan and never made it to the US because companies thought that "Americans don't like Japanese styled games like rpgs and such"? Well odds are that game and its English translation is already included in the pack.

 

And even if absolutely none of that appeals to you I don't think SmokeMonster has ever done a thing that can be interpreted negatively by anyone. Watch one of his streams. He just hangs out, listens to mellow music, talks about how much he loves arcade stuff, and patches roms.

 

He's right up there with Kevtris and Bob from RetroRGB where if someone has anything negative at all to say about them I immediately suspect the person that said it is probably full of crap.

 

Point being if you can't trust Smoke or the thousands of people that claim the jailbreak didn't cause their Super Nts to call the police then who can you trust?

 

But i wasn't even interpreting anything Smoke (or his team) did negatively or talking bad about him (them). I just doubt that this "curating" should have taken hundreds of hours if he didn't dump all the games by himself.

 

I commented on the following he has and those who excessively praise and aggresively defend him, the latter even when he is not attacked by any means. This says more about his followers than him to be honest.

 

Also I didn't write in the context of this jailbreak he wrote or helped distribute and didn't express distrust towards him. I trust him as much or little as I trust anyone I don't know in person or have directly interacted with and so should you.

[CZroe]

@Kevtris > this has probably been asked before but are you planning on including your SPC player in the official FW ?

(finally got my super nt tonight after a lot of trouble with ups and terrible weather in Paris airport, and I just want to listen to some cool SPCs while cleaning my carts... guess foobar2000 will do for now )

 

On a side note : it's been already said a thousand times, but been following this from day one, I can't believe I'm holding a Super NT in my hands, I'm in awe and almost tearing up, congratulations, and thanks a lot man!

I thought he used a modular SPC from an early SNES for that (hardware device and not a software player). In that respect, it already has an SPC player.

[Mattelot]

 

But i wasn't even interpreting anything Smoke (or his team) did negatively or talking bad about him (them). I just doubt that this "curating" should have taken hundreds of hours if he didn't dump all the games by himself.

 

I commented on the following he has and those who excessively praise and aggresively defend him, the latter even when he is not attacked by any means. This says more about his followers than him to be honest.

 

Also I didn't write in the context of this jailbreak he wrote or helped distribute and didn't express distrust towards him. I trust him as much or little as I trust anyone I don't know in person or have directly interacted with and so should you.

 

We know you didn't. This guy tried pulling the same thing with me... twisting what I said into something it wasn't. It reminds me of the limo driver in "Me, Myself and Irene" when he and Charlie get into it.

 

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbFKyxAtFJY

Edited February 16, 2018 by Mattelot

[dj_convoy]

Can a mod step in and make this thread be about what the NT is as opposed to what it isn't or bitching about what it isn't or shadowy whatnot? I want to see how this thing performs for our fellow gamers in the community to help me decide if I want to buy one. This thread should be about the unit and experiences with it, bugs, or reasonable questions or stuff you'd realistically like to see down the road. Sick of people bitching about a/v setups of others, motivations for firmware release, repeated disbelief in firmware, etc. Enough! If you distrust the jailbreak, say it once and move on. YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE THE LAST WORD. THIS THREAD IS NOT A CONTEST.

[Mattelot]

Nobody said this thread was a contest. People talked about the firmware coming out. Others talked about using it. Some people questioned if it was from kevtris and we got no response. Others then talked about wanting to wait to use it which for some reason got some people angry and then all the made-up stuff started.

 

This thread was created originally to ask what kind of FPGA console we would like. The results of the poll are exactly what the Super NT is about. Now it continues as a haven.