retroillucid Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 I'm in the middle of my first beer, the weekend is ahead, and I'm motivated to say out loud just how stoked and excited I am about the Phoenix. A single compact FPGA unit that will play all my ColecoVision and Atari 2600 games and, fingers crossed, a future ADAM core compatible with all ADAM games. What's NOT to like ! ! ! ! ! ! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted November 2, 2018 Author Share Posted November 2, 2018 Just to be clear, Plan B details are not final yet. As soon as everything is completed we will let everyone know the plan. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Just to be clear, Plan B details are not final yet. As soon as everything is completed we will let everyone know the plan. Right on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 Less than $1,000 needed to kick this project over $100k! ColecoVision Fans! Go help out and back this project! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1408938247/collectorvision-phoenix-an-fpga-colecovision-conso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 Now only **ONE** system away from crossing the $100k milestone! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1408938247/collectorvision-phoenix-an-fpga-colecovision-conso/description Someone go make this happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 $100,000!!! Congrats to Brian and CollectorVision! That is quite impressive! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 I'm all for the Phoenix and I've been watching the Kickstarter, but have not yet pledged. Had it been closer to its goal, I probably would have, but at this point I'm in "why bother" mode. I'm not being negative, just realistic. If I wake up on the last day and it's somehow miraculously close to the goal, I'll put my money up. Until then I'm looking forward to "Plan B" whatever that will be. And I applaud CollectorVision for having a "Plan B". This shows they are thinking ahead and want to get this thing done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 at this point I'm in "why bother" mode. I'm not being negative, just realistic. So, I get that. But here are some legitimate reasons to consider bothering, even if we are all fairly aware that the chances are not great that the Kickstarter will fund: - The more people who do fund the better placement a campaign may get in Kickstarters "suggested" campaigns, on the website and in their blast emails they send out. And in the final couple of days of the funding, that could be beneficial to the campaign. - When you back something on Kickstarter, it will alert other people of your funding who may be following you. - You can choose to share your pledge on social media which helps spread the word of the campaign. - When a project has more funding, people may be more inclined to pledge because they think it has a shot at making it. - We don't know how many other people are saying "why bother?" What if there are another 200-300 people who may be interested but are all taking the "why bother?" mentality and if those people could be prompted to support the campaign, maybe it would make a difference. Again, even if the campaign doesn't fund, the fact that CollectorVision will still be able to use Kickstarter's update system to inform interested parties of how to get the console after the Kickstarter ends is a HUGE HUGE benefit to this project's success. And the more people we can get to fund the project, even if we think it won't succeed, the better chances CollectorVision has of selling more units after the campaign. And the more money that is brought in, the better chance we'll have of getting the injection molded case, possibly more cores, etc... So if you are on the fence about supporting the Kickstarter, consider funding it, because even if the campaign doesn't succeed, you are still helping, more than you may know! Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1408938247/collectorvision-phoenix-an-fpga-colecovision-conso/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 $100,000!!! Screen Shot 2018-11-02 at 9.47.06 PM.png Congrats to Brian and CollectorVision! That is quite impressive! Congrats I know it's not the goal but it is a milestone. To be honest before the kickstarter started I imagined the goal was around $100,000 to $150,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 OK, ColecoVision Fans! The Phoenix crossed the $100k milestone but now it needs to cross 400 backers! Do your part and help fund this project! Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1408938247/collectorvision-phoenix-an-fpga-colecovision-conso/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjchamp3 Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 It's hard to parse what you wrote, but assuming I interpreted it correctly, I'm not sure any other method would have yielded more support. They put the number they did because that's what was needed for the type of casing that they wanted to go with, among other things. If you take out the overhead of Kickstarter, I'm sure the number could have been a bit lower, but likely not low enough to make an appreciable difference. It's not difficult fill in the blanks I am not here to be Grammar correct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjchamp3 Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Let's hope there is a plan B for this to happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 (edited) The sad part is is that although this is an amazing modern uber ColecoVision system, because it's FPGA-based, it can also accurately reproduce other systems, which I don't think is clear to casual browsers. Perhaps that should have been more prominent to help goose sales with say, the Atari and MSX faithful. Agreed 100% and I hope this aspect is pushed harder with Plan B. Let everyone know what cores are possible and may be worked on for the near future aside from the 2600. The Colecovision is a great little system but it is niche and perhaps other aspects of what the Phoenix can do should garner more of the spotlight. Edited November 4, 2018 by AtariLeaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmer Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Perhaps that should have been more prominent to help goose sales with say, the Atari and MSX faithful. The MSX community have already had an FPGA-based console since 2006 with the OneChipMSX, which has been cloned and made as the Zemmix Neo, and most recently as the SX1 (https://www.8bits4ever.net/product-page/SX-1). Since the FPGA software was made Open Source by the company that designed the OneChipMSX, it has been improved and enhanced over the years by fans in the MSX community to add MSX2+ compatibility to the original FPGA hardware (and the clones), and it now also runs on the Terasic DE1/DE2/DE0/DE0-Nano, and also the Mister board. I suspect that CollectorVision would have a hard time pushing the Phoenix in the MSX community unless they can actually show it being fully compatible with MSX2+ hardware, including cartridge slots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 The MSX community have already had an FPGA-based console since 2006 with the OneChipMSX, which has been cloned and made as the Zemmix Neo, and most recently as the SX1 (https://www.8bits4ever.net/product-page/SX-1). Since the FPGA software was made Open Source by the company that designed the OneChipMSX, it has been improved and enhanced over the years by fans in the MSX community to add MSX2+ compatibility to the original FPGA hardware (and the clones), and it now also runs on the Terasic DE1/DE2/DE0/DE0-Nano, and also the Mister board. I suspect that CollectorVision would have a hard time pushing the Phoenix in the MSX community unless they can actually show it being fully compatible with MSX2+ hardware, including cartridge slots. Well said. The MSX community is indeed a very different beast. An MSX core, should it ever be released on the Phoenix, should only cover the MSX1 and be presented as a "PS2 keyboard curiosity item" for North-American owners, who I'm sure would prefer a Coleco ADAM core anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Well said. The MSX community is indeed a very different beast. An MSX core, should it ever be released on the Phoenix, should only cover the MSX1 and be presented as a "PS2 keyboard curiosity item" for North-American owners, who I'm sure would prefer a Coleco ADAM core anyway. The SX-1 is $190 shipped. Question is, could folks get the core and a cart adapter for significantly less for the Phoenix. Granted, those who already own the MSX clones may have questionable need for the MSX2+ core in the Phoenix, unless they are interested in consolidation. Those who don't own one may get a much better deal if they want a multi-purpose console. It seems doubtful an Atari 2600 and MSX cart adapter would be made for the SX-1 and its predecessors. However, I also think the Intellivision and Atari 5200 (if only digital) could make use of the colecovision controller keypad layout, a combined 7800/2600 cart adapter, like what is already on the Atari 7800 could be a good 2-in-1 combination and the keyboard is well suited to the Atari 8-bit computers, as well as the Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Just to be clear, Plan B details are not final yet. As soon as everything is completed we will let everyone know the plan. Just curious. I know this would be quite a ways off, but would analog control ala Atari 5200 be reasonably possible on the Phoenix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 BTW, if you total up units sold on and off kickstarter, you get about 435 units. However, people who ordered two or more of the same on kickstarter are not shown as ordering multiples, so I would say close to 450 units, maybe more - in 30 days! I know there will be the potential to sell a lot more. Also, if you add in the early bird pre-orders, we are already over half way to the $230,000 goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 The SX-1 is $190 shipped. Question is, could folks get the core and a cart adapter for significantly less for the Phoenix. Granted, those who already own the MSX clones may have questionable need for the MSX2+ core in the Phoenix, unless they are interested in consolidation. Those who don't own one may get a much better deal if they want a multi-purpose console. It seems doubtful an Atari 2600 and MSX cart adapter would be made for the SX-1 and its predecessors. However, I also think the Intellivision and Atari 5200 (if only digital) could make use of the colecovision controller keypad layout, a combined 7800/2600 cart adapter, like what is already on the Atari 7800 could be a good 2-in-1 combination and the keyboard is well suited to the Atari 8-bit computers, as well as the Adam. An MSX cartridge adapter is likely to be very difficult to implement. The MSX cartridge slot is 50-pins, the Coleco cartridge slot, which I believe is what the Phoenix is using, is 30-pins. The Atari 5200 has a 36-pin connector, but several of those pins are redundant. The Intellivision uses a 44-pin connector, and it may be possible to whittle down the unneeded pins to 30 if you limit its functionality to ordinary cartridges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Hierophant Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) How can one recover from an interrupted firmware update? Firmware updates for FPGA consoles usually take a few minutes, but if your power fails during the update, you could have bad firmware residing in the serial flash on the Phoenix. The corrupted firmware could make the console totally unusable, even to the extent it can't update the firmware, until it's reflashed. Edited November 5, 2018 by Great Hierophant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 An MSX cartridge adapter is likely to be very difficult to implement. The MSX cartridge slot is 50-pins, the Coleco cartridge slot, which I believe is what the Phoenix is using, is 30-pins. The Atari 5200 has a 36-pin connector, but several of those pins are redundant. The Intellivision uses a 44-pin connector, and it may be possible to whittle down the unneeded pins to 30 if you limit its functionality to ordinary cartridges. The Phoenix was setup with this in mind. The expansion port can be used to supplement the cartridge port to create a larger cartridge port adapters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted November 5, 2018 Author Share Posted November 5, 2018 How can one recover from an interrupted firmware update? Firmware updates for FPGA consoles usually take a few minutes, but if your power fails during the update, you could have bad firmware residing in the serial flash on the Phoenix. The corrupted firmware could make the console totally unusable, even to the extent it can't update the firmware, until it's reflashed. The core selection and upgrade code is located in a separate flash space then the other cores on the system. There is a mechanism to upgrade the Colecovision and other cores that doesn't touch the loading and core selection. If a core gets a bad update, you would still be able to boot the system and fix the bad core. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPR Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Calling all ColecoVision Fans! Only *NINE* more backers to go for the CollectorVision Phoenix to hit 400! If you haven't pledged yet, do it now! Even if this console does not fund on Kickstarter, the more support we give CollectorVision, the better chance we have of this system being successful when it goes on pre-order after the Kickstarter is over! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1408938247/collectorvision-phoenix-an-fpga-colecovision-conso 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 BTW, if you total up units sold on and off kickstarter, you get about 435 units. However, people who ordered two or more of the same on kickstarter are not shown as ordering multiples, so I would say close to 450 units, maybe more - in 30 days! I know there will be the potential to sell a lot more. Also, if you add in the early bird pre-orders, we are already over half way to the $230,000 goal. Too bad the KS couldn't have run 60 days. 60 days in conjunction with proper message board promoting would put it over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 Perhaps with Plan B two cartridge slots can be provided. One for MSX and one for CV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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