JBerel Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Thanks for the explanations. That clears it up a bit. So to the question of capability, is there a known system limit on what it can duplicate? In NES feasible, but not Megadrive for example? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loafer Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Nes is 8 bit so falls in the range of this hardware while megadrive is 16bit so it does not . Although 8 bit the NES has a bazillion mappers to deal with so don’t know how that impacts the FPGA hardware emulation but will be interesting to see One of the great decisions the team has taken here is the open source approach to the cores. So assuming the Phoenix is mildly successful we should eventually see a lot of cores released. Personally I Would have loved if the FPGA hardware supported the next tier (so 16 bit system could be added) but I totally understand the philosophy and of course the economics behind their decision to go with what they did. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 It would have to have an nes cartridge port, but the beauty of fpga is that it does not have to deal with mappers. Unlike software emulation, fpga does not have to emulate the cartridge hardware, it deals directly with the cartridge. The system limit is not so much how many bits but how many logic gates and memory units. So it might not be able to do a complex 16-bit system like snes but could handle the 16-bit Intellivision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loafer Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 (edited) Hmmm the problem with this is that the Phoenix is sold as both running the real thing as well as off the sd card for Roms. So although a hardware adapter to read nes carts can work, how do you deal with Roms on the sd card if you end up with mapper issues? Its true that there is nothing written that promises anything other than the ability to load colecovision Roms off the sd card but... Intellivision: i keep forgetting technically its a 16bit system but yeah I doubt its beyond the Phoenix Abilities. I think what people are wondering is where does the Phoenix fit in with snes/genesis-megadrive/neogeo? To some extent I think the pc-engine/tg16 is either 8bit or 16bit depending on how you look at it but I would guess its beyond the abilities of Phoenix Edited February 1, 2019 by Loafer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Ram is going to be a limiting factor as to what can be run. The Phoenix has 512k SRAM so it really limits what is possible. It is possible to have a NES core running, but might not be able to run 100% of the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 So far as what level of technology a specific FPGA can reproduce goes - you aren't getting a clear answer because it's not a clear problem. Until someone has actually written the core in question, you can't really say beyond an incredibly vague generalization how many gates its going to need... and that's the main datapoint you need to know if it's going to fit into the FPGA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Ok, since these are all pretty popular systems that I'm sure folks would like to be able to run, and there have been multiple emulators out there for all of them for quite a while, can an educated estimate be made about feasibility for supporting: Atari 7800 Sega Master System / Game Gear NES / Famicom (It sounds like the estimation is a definite maybe on this one) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 (edited) Someone familiar with each systems's fpga core code would have to take a look at what's inside the phoenix and see it it fits. I suppose you could look at other fpga systems that a core is known to work with and compare. Not sure if there is a working, open source fpga atari 7800 core out there. Edited February 1, 2019 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodge2001 Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Will the limited edition Adam version have it's own special Adam stickers or are the stickers the same for both? Will we be able to see both versions with their stickers soon? Also, will we see a picture of the SNES controller that's being offered? I have 3 official ones as well as many various generic ones so I probably don't need to order one unless it's unique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted February 4, 2019 Author Share Posted February 4, 2019 Will the limited edition Adam version have it's own special Adam stickers or are the stickers the same for both? Will we be able to see both versions with their stickers soon? Also, will we see a picture of the SNES controller that's being offered? I have 3 official ones as well as many various generic ones so I probably don't need to order one unless it's unique. Yes, the ADAM version stickers will match the ones on the ADAM Computer The stickers on the Black unit will match the ones on the ColecoVision console We should have them printed soon enough for you to see SNES Controller are just generic ones (clones) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonie Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 So are threre any working cores yet? I may have missed it. Long thread. Need to see working cores for this stuff before I shell out the wifepissingofftwohundredclams for this thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Atari 2600 core will be included...arcade and ADAM cores being worked on. Hey, you have the same kind of money I do -- wifepissingofftwohundredclams. So are threre any working cores yet? I may have missed it. Long thread. Need to see working cores for this stuff before I shell out the wifepissingofftwohundredclams for this thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 The Colecovision core has been up and running for a while now. The other cores are still in development. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killersquirel Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 I have a recommendation for the arcade cores. Would it be possible to add an option to make a save state for the high score boards? It would be great to make a save state when you finish, and then load that state when you start your next session to save all of your best scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonie Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 (edited) Hmmmm. Might could sell one of my 5200's, Intellivision and maybe even my CV to buy this thing... 7800 core possible? Edited February 6, 2019 by Zonie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I have a recommendation for the arcade cores. Would it be possible to add an option to make a save state for the high score boards? It would be great to make a save state when you finish, and then load that state when you start your next session to save all of your best scores. Since fpga precisely emulates original hardware, it's unlikely. Not sure if it's even possible but if it is it would be lots of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killersquirel Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Since fpga precisely emulates original hardware, it's unlikely. Not sure if it's even possible but if it is it would be lots of work. I understand what the FPGA does, but what I'm asking is to make a snapshot of the RAM. On the Mister there are some cores that allow the save state of cartridge saves. Also on several everdrives there are save states as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 It's not just a snapshot of ram, the registry values of all processors have to be saved. And because it's fpga there is no operating system to make this easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Actually it's the memory + the states of each element in the FPGA. All is required in order to resume where left off. Throw in an OS to keep it all straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil7833 Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Are you guys building your own arcade core from scratch? fpgaarcade.com has an interesting concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 Are you guys building your own arcade core from scratch? Yes, we do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErebusMaligan Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 You do not need to get the order linked to the new site. Your order is still good and won't be lost. We will be sending out an email in the next week to all early access users to collect some information for their orders. Did this ever happen? I was one of these people as well and don't recall seeing anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Did this ever happen? I was one of these people as well and don't recall seeing anything. No I haven't had a chance to get the email out yet. I will post here when it goes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killersquirel Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 With the built in F18a support, is it possible to have a Ti99/4a core in the future with F18a support as well? That would be awesome. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 With the built in F18a support, is it possible to have a Ti99/4a core in the future with F18a support as well? That would be awesome. Many things are possible with the Phoenix So, I would say it's not impossible 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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