FPGA Based Videogame System

[Razzie.P]

23 minutes ago, NE146 said:

I think everyone's just already used to it.. Maybe no one cares about Analogue's delays anymore since they already take forever by default.  Everyone just files it back into their dormant memory until: 1. A solid release date and 2. Product in hands. THAT's when discussion will happen. ?

That makes sense.  But, you know... when did a little thing like "making sense" ever stop us (the internet) from bitching, whining and bickering non-stop over <insert thing here>?  ?

 

[Pixelboy]

1 hour ago, Razzie.P said:

That makes sense.  But, you know... when did a little thing like "making sense" ever stop us (the internet) from bitching, whining and bickering non-stop over <insert thing here>?  ?

In this case, I would think that after over a year of mostly staying home (because of the ongoing pandemic) and playing video games, and after years of buying all sorts of mini consoles and clone consoles, people's interest in this kind of hardware is beginning to wane. It's like going to the amusement park for the 10th time, you feel like you've seen it all, and the "gotta have it now" feeling is not quite as intense as it used to be. We know the Pocket is coming, and we can all do other things while we wait for it.

 

[Atariboy]

Finally updated my Mega Sg with the most recent firmware (The jailbroken version). Desert Strike for the Sega Master System still is broken. I was hoping that the "fixed Z80 inability to write to the cartridge bus" item in the jailbreak v7.8 change log might've been the fix that this game needed. 

 

I wonder what the point was of the issues reporting section of the SmokeMonster GitHub page (The host of the jailbreak) when it's just been ignored? And while I'm keeping it in perspective that existing issues such as mine are very minor and isolated (And make no mistake, I'm very much happy with my Mega Sg and don't regret the purchase in the slightest), it's still irritating when phrases like "total accuracy", "no compromises", and misleading statements about 100% compatibility with Sega's complete 8 and 16-bit cartridge library were officially advertised by Analogue yet many of the small lingering issues never get addressed.

 

If nothing else, I would think they'd want to snuff out small minor compatibility issues that contradict their marketing promises just to protect their butt from an Analogue customer popping up that has their lawyer's phone number in their contacts list and isn't afraid to use it for every frivolous annoyance that they encounter in life.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Atariboy

[zwooky]

15 hours ago, Atariboy said:

Finally updated my Mega Sg with the most recent firmware (The jailbroken version). Desert Strike for the Sega Master System still is broken. I was hoping that the "fixed Z80 inability to write to the cartridge bus" item in the jailbreak v7.8 change log might've been the fix that this game needed. 

 

I wonder what the point was of the issues reporting section of the SmokeMonster GitHub page (The host of the jailbreak) when it's just been ignored? And while I'm keeping it in perspective that existing issues such as mine are very minor and isolated (And make no mistake, I'm very much happy with my Mega Sg and don't regret the purchase in the slightest), it's still irritating when phrases like "total accuracy", "no compromises", and misleading statements about 100% compatibility with Sega's complete 8 and 16-bit cartridge library were officially advertised by Analogue yet many of the small lingering issues never get addressed.

 

If nothing else, I would think they'd want to snuff out small minor compatibility issues that contradict their marketing promises just to protect their butt from an Analogue customer popping up that has their lawyer's phone number in their contacts list and isn't afraid to use it for every frivolous annoyance that they encounter in life.

It has been shown by Analogue that after the release of a new product, they update for a few months then completely forget about said product and move on the next (delayed) one.  If you are going to be an Analogue customer you have to expect and accept 4 things:

1.  ALL new systems get delayed.

2.  ALL new systems get updated after release for a few months then forgotten. 

3.  ALL new systems get a jailbreak soon after their release.

4.  ALL new systems, whether they are still actively updated or not, are AWESOME and do exactly what Analogue has promised.

 

I'm not 100% happy with how Analogue does things, or their customer service, but I am extremely happy with every system I have purchased from them. (Mega SG, NT Mini, NT Mini NOIR, & Super NT)

I am skipping the Pocket, but I will definitely be the DUO whenever that finally lands.

[GarrettCRW]

Analogue has occasionally updated the firmware after a major restock, but this isn't applicable right now since the Super Nt and Mega Sg are in stock and appear to have been for a while.

 

Quite frankly, the community is going to have to create its own firmware (as happened with the Powerpak) to see the remaining issues with Analogue's hardware ironed out if the status quo maintains itself.

[+eebuckeye]

I really like the systems but it is quite disappointing that Analogue stops support after a few updates.  I don't think they ever quite meet their goal.  I also don't understand why they seem to have an obsession with the Amico when there are plenty of internal things to address.

[Reaperman]

22 minutes ago, GarrettCRW said:

Quite frankly, the community is going to have to create its own firmware (as happened with the Powerpak) ...

Holy cow! brb, I have to go update something.

[roots.genoa]

3 hours ago, zwooky said:

2.  ALL new systems get updated after release for a few months then forgotten.

Kevtris actually plans to release updates for the current Analogue systems. He's just focused on the Pocket right now, that's all.

[cacophony]

18 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Kevtris actually plans to release updates for the current Analogue systems. He's just focused on the Pocket right now, that's all.

Plans change, especially when there are new products in the pipeline. Kevin works for Analogue, so they ultimately dictate where he spends his time. He had also planned on finishing his port of the intellivsion core to the Nt Mini (v1) but that plan became impractical after the Noir v2 was released. By the time Kevin has time to fix some longstanding bugs, it may coincide with Analogue releasing updated hardware, and it would not be surprising if the older hardware didn't get the fixes.

 

 

[cacophony]

4 hours ago, zwooky said:

1.  ALL new systems get delayed.

Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't the original Nt Mini and Super Nt ship on time (or very close to it)? I don't remember the Mega Sg being that late either.

 

edit: Nt Mini said it would ship Jan 2017 and I received mine before the end of Jan 2017. Super Nt said it would ship Feb 2018 and I received mine mid Feb 2018.

Edited September 28, 2021 by cacophony

[Keatah]

On 9/22/2021 at 11:53 AM, NE146 said:

I think everyone's just already used to it.. Maybe no one cares about Analogue's delays anymore since they already take forever by default.  Everyone just files it back into their dormant memory until: 1. A solid release date and 2. Product in hands. THAT's when discussion will happen. ?

Makes sense because, why waste time on something that doesn't exist yet? Or is not available yet? The noise becomes annoying. Then boring. And we move off into something else that's real and available.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Keatah

[Keatah]

On 9/22/2021 at 12:18 PM, Razzie.P said:

That makes sense.  But, you know... when did a little thing like "making sense" ever stop us (the internet) from bitching, whining and bickering non-stop over <insert thing here>?  ?

Recently I'd suppose. Whining and bitching about an upcoming product can and does get old after a while. A pattern in the discussions emerge. And we've seen it all before.

 

On 9/22/2021 at 1:45 PM, Pixelboy said:

In this case, I would think that after over a year of mostly staying home (because of the ongoing pandemic) and playing video games, and after years of buying all sorts of mini consoles and clone consoles, people's interest in this kind of hardware is beginning to wane. It's like going to the amusement park for the 10th time, you feel like you've seen it all, and the "gotta have it now" feeling is not quite as intense as it used to be. We know the Pocket is coming, and we can all do other things while we wait for it.

It is indeed like going to the amusement park. Or trekking to the same small town year after year. There's only so much interest to go around in discussion groups, especially with the oldsters that have seen it all ten times before. Not only that, there's other options while we wait. Yes. More things to do in the here'and'now.

 

The internet tends to stretch this marketing stuff out too long. You hear about a product in a concept stage and then have to sit through the drudgery of updates and rescheduling and delays and changes. I tell'ya this would turn off any kid. And when the art was new in the 70's & 80's we didn't have any of this. Product advertised = product availability in a couple of months tops.

 

In fact new stuff would be out so often we didn't have time to follow pre-release antics.

[Steven Pendleton]

2 hours ago, cacophony said:

Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't the original Nt Mini and Super Nt ship on time (or very close to it)? I don't remember the Mega Sg being that late either.

 

edit: Nt Mini said it would ship Jan 2017 and I received mine before the end of Jan 2017. Super Nt said it would ship Feb 2018 and I received mine mid Feb 2018.

Mega Sg actually shipped early from what I remember.

[roots.genoa]

9 hours ago, cacophony said:

Plans change, especially when there are new products in the pipeline. Kevin works for Analogue, so they ultimately dictate where he spends his time. He had also planned on finishing his port of the intellivsion core to the Nt Mini (v1) but that plan became impractical after the Noir v2 was released. By the time Kevin has time to fix some longstanding bugs, it may coincide with Analogue releasing updated hardware, and it would not be surprising if the older hardware didn't get the fixes.

 

 

The Nt Mini is discontinued though. The Mega Sg and Super Nt are not. Actually they're still in stock.

[cacophony]

9 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

The Nt Mini is discontinued though. The Mega Sg and Super Nt are not. Actually they're still in stock.

For now they are, yes. But that doesn't really mean anything if the fixes aren't coming for a few years.

[roots.genoa]

I don't understand. Super Nt's firmware was updated this month. Mega Sg's in August. How does this make Analogue "forget" about their products? ?

[NE146]

1 hour ago, roots.genoa said:

I don't understand. Super Nt's firmware was updated this month. Mega Sg's in August. How does this make Analogue "forget" about their products? ?

Stop.. you're ruining the premise!

 

On 9/28/2021 at 1:56 PM, eebuckeye said:

I really like the systems but it is quite disappointing that Analogue stops support after a few updates.  

 

[Atariboy]

Those dates aren't correct. The v4.8 firmware for the Mega Sg and the v5.0 firmware for the Super Nt both came out in February.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Atariboy

[cacophony]

6 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

I don't understand. Super Nt's firmware was updated this month. Mega Sg's in August. How does this make Analogue "forget" about their products? ?

I thought the point of this topic was to discuss whether Analogue would ever fix the long-standing bugs. 

Many of the Super Nt bugs were originally reported in early 2018: https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Super-NT-Jailbreak/issues

And many of the Mega Sg bugs were reported in 2019: https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Mega-Sg-Jailbreak/issues

 

At the current rate of bug fixing, maybe those bugs will be fixed in ... 2025? 2030? idk... but it seems likely Analogue will have introduced the new Super Super Nt V2 and Mega Mega Sg+ by then (and discontinued old models), so ...

 

I hope not. I hope Analogue fixes all these longstanding bugs. But they like introducing / updating products (Nt -> Nt v2 -> Nt Mini -> Nt Mini v2), and they do seem to stop supporting old products when newer versions are introduced.

Edited September 30, 2021 by cacophony

[roots.genoa]

I get it but you can't really blame a company for ignoring issues reported in the GitHub for unofficial firmware, technically. ?

The official firmware may have been updated back in February, but it's not exactly what I would call "forgetting" about systems (that mostly work, even though I'm aware Analogue likes to describe them as "perfect" - well, it's marketing). Personally I trust Kevtris but I know he's quite busy right now with the Pocket...

[cacophony]

1 hour ago, roots.genoa said:

I get it but you can't really blame a company for ignoring issues reported in the GitHub for unofficial firmware, technically. ?

The official firmware may have been updated back in February, but it's not exactly what I would call "forgetting" about systems (that mostly work, even though I'm aware Analogue likes to describe them as "perfect" - well, it's marketing). Personally I trust Kevtris but I know he's quite busy right now with the Pocket...

 

The Github page is just a community driven place to track all known bugs. Kevtris is aware of the list and as a result aware of all the bugs. In fact, it was originally requested that all official firmware bugs be posted there.

 

Analogue has clearly not forgotten about the Super Nt or Mega Sg and seems to be interested in continuing to update it. I'm just hoping that feeling lasts long enough for the important bugs to be fixed.

[Razzie.P]

4 minutes ago, cacophony said:

 

I'm just hoping that feeling lasts long enough for the important bugs to be fixed.

What are some of the "important" bugs?  I'm not really up to speed with what's been reported and what needs fixed asap, so kinda curious.

[Razzie.P]

Is this an odd, er... resolution to this type of issue?  Or is it perfectly normal for SD cards and gadgets and I've just been oblivious all this time?

 

5. *IMPORTANT* Some SD cards have difficulty making contact if they are not inserted carefully, depending on the brand. Try inserting your SD card 3/4 of the way and powering on, 4/5 powering on, etc. Until it registers and updates your system.

[cacophony]

6 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

What are some of the "important" bugs?  I'm not really up to speed with what's been reported and what needs fixed asap, so kinda curious.

It really depends on what you care about. I linked the issues list above if you want to look. For some people, maybe none of them would be considered important. For others, they might be big flaws.

[Steven Pendleton]

3 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

What are some of the "important" bugs?  I'm not really up to speed with what's been reported and what needs fixed asap, so kinda curious.

I personally consider Sonic CD not working to be something that is rather important. It actually works with the MegaSD through the cart slot, but I think I tried it through the edge connector a while ago and it didn't work. Or maybe it did and I forgot, but I think it didn't. Anyway, Sonic CD not working is a pretty big problem since it's Sonic CD.