Unstablewarpfield Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 Finally a last pic through the ossc on my 55" oled after toying around a bit with the ossc's settings. Current part shortage makes prototyping this mod difficult right now. While parts are on hold I'll tackle automatic region detection and a linedoubler for this one. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted October 17, 2023 Author Share Posted October 17, 2023 And... to catch up on this again... I returned to this mod after forgetting about it for like a year and a half... You know... life and all that. I now have a regenerated sync signal for a PAL Intv without any glitches. The problem I'm having at this point is that the OSSC is not locking on to the sync signal, where it would perfectly fine about a year ago. What I can see on my scope is a jitter in edges of about 2 to 5 pixels... I assume that is where my problems come from. It might be my test console that has been abused so much these past years that it needs replacing... We'll see, but I'm happy with the sequential logic for the new sync signal. I guess the next move would be to try and get a new (NTSC?) Intellivision and pick it up from there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted October 18, 2023 Author Share Posted October 18, 2023 So I did a bit more digging and found that the 5V line was still connected to Vcc on the STIC, instead of the 5.65V. I did this in the early stages of testing a replacement power supply and forgot about it... wired power up as it should be and the mod functions perfectly. I guess the STIC really wants that 5.65V for some reason. Without it sync timing was way off. I attached a picture of what sync looks like now. I made sure it is according to PAL spec and glitchless. . I'd be very interested in trying to adjust the code a bit so this works on an NTSC console. Should be easy enough. I might scout ebay a bit until I find what I'm looking for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted October 22, 2023 Author Share Posted October 22, 2023 Just a quick update for people following along. - Had a batch of test pcb's made. They are on their way. - Ordered all components to build several test boards. - Obtained a second Pal Intellivision. - Ordered a 3.579545 Mhz Xtal. Still looking for an AY-3-8900-1 stic. Pcb's were kinda pricy considering 4 layers with 0.2 via's and 0.09 trace width. I'm taking a shot at handsoldering the 132 bga fpga and the 0201 components. We'll see how that goes... When I have a working prototype I'll be able to switch easily between pal and ntsc machine to develop code for the latter. I'd prefer auto region detection instead of bridging a jumper for one or the other. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash7 Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 This thread is fascinating to read. But can somebody please translate this for me in simpler terms? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted November 3, 2023 Author Share Posted November 3, 2023 In the mean time all components to build a prototype are in. NTSC code is done. As soon as I have a couple of prototypes build I will inplement auto region detection. This will take some time... next week all new window frames and doors get installed here... work in between all of this and the mrs pushing me to finish up some long overdue woodworking projects will probably cost me my weekends until the holidays... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 (edited) I have been out of it for a bit due to some health related issues. Still feeling weak, but last weekend I wanted to solder again so I managed to cook up a quick testboard. It's not perfect and sizewise the 0201 components might be a bit overboard but at least it keeps things neat. Small though... Based on this prototype I made a revision with a usb C connector. This prototype has a wrong usb footprint. I also decided not to use Vcc from the STIC but tap into the neighbouring 5V from the ROM chip. This will also be in the revision. Furthermore I gave a bit more space for the STIC legs by opening the plated holes a bit wider. I'll also get rid of that "huge" tantalum cap but this was the only one I had. A size smaller would be more nice. I now need to setup the microcontroller so windows sees it as a device and I can upload code to the ice40 fpga through usb. I didn't have a programmer for the PIC so I am currently waiting on that to arrive. We'll see what happens 🙂 Edited February 6 by Unstablewarpfield 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Is the USB C a programming header? What are the 7 through holes near the USB C for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 (edited) 1 hour ago, grips03 said: Is the USB C a programming header? What are the 7 through holes near the USB C for? Yes. The fpga can be programmed via usb. The 7 holes are V3, V4, V5, rst, clk, GND and Vcc (of which Vcc won't be taken from that pin in the next revision) from the STIC. V1 and V2 are on the opposite side. The board is soldered directly onto the stic on the bottom of the motherboard. Edited February 7 by Unstablewarpfield 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Awesome. Do you plan to sell mod board here? I have yet to mod my NTSC Sears Super Video Arcade. I'll use with OSSC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterZero Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 This is an amazing project! Great work! Probably a step beyond, but pin compatible FPGA replacements for the AY-3-8900 CCIR and AY-3-8900-1 NTSC STIC (or event switchable!) would certainly be useful for repairing dead consoles. Next we need a drop-in pin compatible replacement for the RA-3-9600 SRAM... The failure rate of these GI chipsets is too darn high. - HZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 (edited) For those of you following along... I had a test run with this board. Works as it should. In the mean time I made a revision with a bit easier access to the pic for programming it, and another way of getting Vcc to the board. Also took care of a usb receptacle. Shifted some components and I'm still looking for a way to get rid of the 2 LDO's and use one IC for that. I'll have to measure and see how much current the board draws under load to select the right component. I hope to get away with something a bit smaller for power management than what I have in there right now. Space is at a premium on this one. I'm toying around with the idea of totally omitting the pic and usb connector which would make the firmware updatable through SPI. This would save space at the cost of convenient programming. Choices... I think the next update will be in a couple of weeks when I have soldered up and tested this new revision. Edited February 18 by Unstablewarpfield 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 New revision has been soldered and confirmed working. I measure a total current draw of about 82 mA under load, so I want to make another (final?) revision with an AP7312 LDO in DFN package to save a bit more space on the pcb. Current LDO's are rated at 500 mA, which is too much headroom for the space they take up if you ask me. I'll just keep on hobbying until I get it right 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unstablewarpfield Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 On 2/7/2024 at 7:53 AM, grips03 said: Awesome. Do you plan to sell mod board here? I have yet to mod my NTSC Sears Super Video Arcade. I'll use with OSSC. I see I didn't answer this question. My plans are to open source the design on my Github. The latest revision uses one smaller IC for managing power instead of two LDO's and the number of 0201 components got down from 27 to 9. It's doable to solder these but 0402 is a bit more friendly towards home soldering. I couldn't get rid of all of them though. Before releasing this into the wild I'd like to know exactely how it performs on the Morph 4K so as soon as I have an analog bridge I'll give it a run on this scaler. It works on the Framemeister and I perfected timings on the OSSC which almost gives it an emulator-like quality. Haven't tried any of the Tink products since I don't own one. Things are moving ahead, but slowly. Also my health is still not where it should but, so that's not helping 😞 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 1 hour ago, Unstablewarpfield said: I see I didn't answer this question. My plans are to open source the design on my Github. The latest revision uses one smaller IC for managing power instead of two LDO's and the number of 0201 components got down from 27 to 9. It's doable to solder these but 0402 is a bit more friendly towards home soldering. I couldn't get rid of all of them though. Before releasing this into the wild I'd like to know exactely how it performs on the Morph 4K so as soon as I have an analog bridge I'll give it a run on this scaler. It works on the Framemeister and I perfected timings on the OSSC which almost gives it an emulator-like quality. Haven't tried any of the Tink products since I don't own one. Things are moving ahead, but slowly. Also my health is still not where it should but, so that's not helping 😞 I only have a Tink2x SCART myself since I use an OSSC in my main AV setup in the game room. I believe thought, that if you have it working well for the OSSC, then it should be fine with the Tink series of products also. As for the Morph 4K, I don't know anyone personally with one and it hasn't been something I've looked at since I'm still only using a 1080P display in my game room. 1080P at the size it is in my small game room still seems perfect for me so not sure when or if I will make the 4k jump. Likely when the current TV goes out since 4k is all you can pretty much buy these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash7 Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 (edited) I have King Crayon's RGB board in my Super Pro System, and I use a 4K jack to go along with the RAD2X and a standard HDMI cable, and there's no lag at all. My TV is 4K also. This is currently out of stock though. https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/sega/mega-drive-2/SEGA-MEGA-DRIVE-2-GENESIS-2-32X-HD-RAD2X-HDMI-480P-CABLE Edited March 30 by Crash7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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