FPGA Based Videogame System

[Andromeda Stardust]

Yes, it works. NES and SNES controllers use the same exact protocol, so the Raphnet adapter is basically just a pin adapter and there's no active circuitry or anything. The adapter therefore also works with the NTT Data Super Famicom controller:

 

The keypad makes the Colecovision core and the other cores whose controllers have numpads fully functional.

I need to get one asap before the SuperNT arrives and potential jailbreak drops.

[cfillak]

I need to get one asap before the SuperNT arrives and potential jailbreak drops.

I was going to point you to the one listing on ebay but its gone! I hope you snagged it! I got 2 of them through a Japanese middleman buyer/shipper service called FromJapan.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I was going to point you to the one listing on ebay but its gone! I hope you snagged it! I got 2 of them through a Japanese middleman buyer/shipper service called FromJapan.

Unfortunately not. Not long ago these uncommon controllers were cheap and plentiful due to not having much utility. Kevtris created a market for these thingies now you cannot find them anywhere. How much did it sell for? I may have to save a search as auto notify.

[cfillak]

Unfortunately not. Not long ago these uncommon controllers were cheap and plentiful due to not having much utility. Kevtris created a market for these thingies now you cannot find them anywhere. How much did it sell for? I may have to save a search as auto notify.

I think it was 50 bucks including shipping. The ebay price range I've seen them for has been 40-90 bucks. They can be had for cheaper from the Japanese sites, but you have to factor in all the middleman fees and stuff. The two I bought went for 820 Yen each, but a 4100 Yen service charge for each item, which comes out to about 43 USD per controller.

[atmn]

Im using this with my Nt Mini and it works great! Kevtris added support for this in a jb firmware.

There should be possible to create a famicom to SNES adapter? If the protocol are the same?

 

Would be neat to be able to use the same adapter on both machines.

 

 

[Pixelboy]

 

Yes, it works. NES and SNES controllers use the same exact protocol, so the Raphnet adapter is basically just a pin adapter and there's no active circuitry or anything. The adapter therefore also works with the NTT Data Super Famicom controller:

 

The keypad makes the Colecovision core and the other cores whose controllers have numpads fully functional.

I need to get one asap before the SuperNT arrives and potential jailbreak drops.

 

I got myself one of those, and now I'm just waiting for the Super NT itself. One small thing I'm hoping for is that Kevtris will map the config menus (and game select in the jailbreak firmware menu) to the "C" or "." key on that controller, or maybe that little button above the "C" button. That would be way more pleasant to use than remembering a button combination on the standard D-pad and buttons.

[Shin_K]

All is well with SML2DX. I patched the wrong ROM last night. I did notice some very occasional tile glitching on the NT Mini only.

 

Gamecube GBI with CRT on left, Analogue NT Mini on OLED on right.

 

I played it a bit on Higan, where you can emulate GBC colors, and it make the game look a lot more natural, like SMW or something...is there a way to change the color palette in that way with the GBI or NT mini ? your CRT or OLED obviously look very different than the GBC i supposed to look with it's whashed out screen ^^''

 

see how much more mario's flesh looks more human-like instead of orange? even his pants, shirt and hat matches super mario world's colors, I think.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Shin_K

[Andromeda Stardust]

I got myself one of those, and now I'm just waiting for the Super NT itself. One small thing I'm hoping for is that Kevtris will map the config menus (and game select in the jailbreak firmware menu) to the "C" or "." key on that controller, or maybe that little button above the "C" button. That would be way more pleasant to use than remembering a button combination on the standard D-pad and buttons.

That won't work unless the game polls the controller 32 times. Standard snes protocol have 16 bits (12 buttons + 4 key bits to identify controller type). The data controller sends 32 bits, so unless the game being played requests all 32 bits, the Super NT won't be able to read them.

[Pixelboy]

That won't work unless the game polls the controller 32 times. Standard snes protocol have 16 bits (12 buttons + 4 key bits to identify controller type). The data controller sends 32 bits, so unless the game being played requests all 32 bits, the Super NT won't be able to read them.

Ah, okay. Thanks for the explanation.

[cfillak]

The NT Mini (both silver and black models), is out of stock on Analogue's website.

[Great Hierophant]

The NT Mini (both silver and black models), is out of stock on Analogue's website.

 

Analogue took about six months to sell out of this second run, so I would not count on a third run. Analogue only did two runs of the original Analogue Nt.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The NT Mini (both silver and black models), is out of stock on Analogue's website.

 

 

Analogue took about six months to sell out of this second run, so I would not count on a third run. Analogue only did two runs of the original Analogue Nt.

If the NT Mini is sold out (gone), all the more reason to release a price-reduced model similar to Super NT, or at least allowed to release the jailbreak firmware on Super NT if the NT Mini is no more. I see little reason to do another production run of the Mini when the Super is more powerful and more affordable.

[cacophony]

Analogue took about six months to sell out of this second run, so I would not count on a third run. Analogue only did two runs of the original Analogue Nt.

But the reason they didn't do a third run of the original Nt was due to not having a cheap/abundant source for original parts (CPU/PPU). The first two runs were from a large lot of cosmetically damaged original consoles that they obtained.

 

It wouldn't make any sense for them to discontinue the Nt Mini, even if all the cores end up being ported to the Super Nt. There's still a market for it due to the peripheral/cart support, analogue outs, and the fact that some people prefer single purpose consoles.

Edited December 29, 2017 by cacophony

[Beer Monkey]

A de-jitter mod for video has been developed for the NES and SNES. https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=61285

 

I do indeed see jitter in the NES/fami core on the NT Mini and always have (visible in the topmost rasters when not using overscan on my CRTs, Punch-Out!! is a good game to check this with). I used to think my Famicoms were defective and then when the NT Mini was released I realized it was a design flaw.

 

While this impressed me re: accuracy I've wondered for a while if the jitter could be fixed in the NT Mini core.

[kevtris]

A de-jitter mod for video has been developed for the NES and SNES. https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=61285

 

I do indeed see jitter in the NES/fami core on the NT Mini and always have (visible in the topmost rasters when not using overscan on my CRTs, Punch-Out!! is a good game to check this with). I used to think my Famicoms were defective and then when the NT Mini was released I realized it was a design flaw.

 

While this impressed me re: accuracy I've wondered for a while if the jitter could be fixed in the NT Mini core.

I could just.. turn it off I guess. (i.e. make it an option or something). it actually is in the hardware to disable it, since PAL systems don't do it. There's just no user way to do it yet.

 

The problem with that mod I see is the NES everdrive might choke on it, since it detects the clock stopping and resets the registers. I had major problems with the hi def nes because of this. I think the everdrive firmware was modified eventually to make the time longer but I am not sure how much longer. Originally if the clock stopped for a few hundred nanoseconds that was all it took reset the regs (and cause it to not work right).

[cacophony]

I could just.. turn it off I guess. (i.e. make it an option or something). it actually is in the hardware to disable it, since PAL systems don't do it. There's just no user way to do it yet.

Having an option to disable it would be awesome!

[Daschewie]

Wow, lucky timing. I ordered my NT mini on December 27, and just received it today.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I could just.. turn it off I guess. (i.e. make it an option or something). it actually is in the hardware to disable it, since PAL systems don't do it. There's just no user way to do it yet.

 

The problem with that mod I see is the NES everdrive might choke on it, since it detects the clock stopping and resets the registers. I had major problems with the hi def nes because of this. I think the everdrive firmware was modified eventually to make the time longer but I am not sure how much longer. Originally if the clock stopped for a few hundred nanoseconds that was all it took reset the regs (and cause it to not work right).

Real hardware does not pause the clock for a few cycles whenever it feels the need to. It runs 100%, 100% of the time. Problem is your fpga core is running at 100.1%, 99.9% of the time. Easy solution: bend the clock signal by .1% or whatever it takes by fractionally incrementing every clock cycle. You've got clock crystals accurate to 5 or 6 digits and pll control. Why not use pll control to slow the master clock down by .1% instead of skipping a clock every 1000 cycles like your hardware currently does?

[kevtris]

Real hardware does not pause the clock for a few cycles whenever it feels the need to. It runs 100%, 100% of the time. Problem is your fpga core is running at 100.1%, 99.9% of the time. Easy solution: bend the clock signal by .1% or whatever it takes by fractionally incrementing every clock cycle. You've got clock crystals accurate to 5 or 6 digits and pll control. Why not use pll control to slow the master clock down by .1% instead of skipping a clock every 1000 cycles like your hardware currently does?

because there's two PLLs. one for the HDMI and one for the system. I would still have some desynchronization issues. that's the main reason. I don't think there's a really good multiple to get 60.0000fps on the target system from the HDMI clock. Anything is going to be a compromise. I will still have to stop the clock at some point to compensate.

[Andromeda Stardust]

because there's two PLLs. one for the HDMI and one for the system. I would still have some desynchronization issues. that's the main reason. I don't think there's a really good multiple to get 60.0000fps on the target system from the HDMI clock. Anything is going to be a compromise. I will still have to stop the clock at some point to compensate.

Spread it out. Add one tenth of a cycle every cycle over ten cycles, for instance. Or maybe I should stop playing armchain quarterback and let the pros call the plays from the playbook.

[Wolf_]

I really think the best option is to have the option to run at native clockspeed because if your monitor supports it (and more and more do) then that is going to be the path of least resistance.

[Newsdee]

I really think the best option is to have the option to run at native clockspeed because if your monitor supports it (and more and more do) then that is going to be the path of least resistance.

True, but that makes it less of a turnkey solution. Which is one big advantage of the Analogue vs. other FPGA boards (the other being carts)

Edited December 30, 2017 by Newsdee

[Schizophretard]

But the reason they didn't do a third run of the original Nt was due to not having a cheap/abundant source for original parts (CPU/PPU). The first two runs were from a large lot of cosmetically damaged original consoles that they obtained.

 

It wouldn't make any sense for them to discontinue the Nt Mini, even if all the cores end up being ported to the Super Nt. There's still a market for it due to the peripheral/cart support, analogue outs, and the fact that some people prefer single purpose consoles.

 

I hope it isn't discontinued. I eventually want to get one for the three reasons you just stated even if the other cores didn't exist. I would be interested in the Super Nt for the same three reasons if it wasn't missing one.

[Wolf_]

 

I hope it isn't discontinued. I eventually want to get one for the three reasons you just stated even if the other cores didn't exist. I would be interested in the Super Nt for the same three reasons if it wasn't missing one.

Well it is entirely possible that this is just a break between batches, but on the other hand it is also entirely possible that Analogue plans on making cart adapters and an analogue out version/dac for the super nt and that would make the nt mini completely redundant so they would no longer have a need to stock it.

[Schizophretard]

Well it is entirely possible that this is just a break between batches, but on the other hand it is also entirely possible that Analogue plans on making cart adapters and an analogue out version/dac for the super nt and that would make the nt mini completely redundant so they would no longer have a need to stock it.

 

I guess that would depend on how they go about it. For an example, if someone isn't interested in the Super NES and just wants it as an NES. It might not be very appealing to have cartridge adapters, NES controller ports, and everything else it would need to make them equivalent permanently plugged into something that looks like a Super NES that is never used as a Super NES. It would be kind of like buying an Atari 5200 just for playing Atari 2600 games.

 

Anyway, I think it may be a good idea to release a Super Nt like version of the Nt Mini where instead of an aluminum shell it looks like an NES.