VOGONS


Amstrad Mega PC

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Reply 160 of 228, by Tiido

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Yeah, the gameport will remain operational. All other functions should too, unless the ALS or RTL are configured to collide with something.

T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
Newly made 4MB 60ns 30pin SIMMs ~
mida sa loed ? nagunii aru ei saa 😜

Reply 161 of 228, by keropi

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phipscube wrote on 2021-09-22, 10:22:

[...]
I have a question... will the original Game port still work when adlib sound is disabled on the MD card?

the correct course of action would be to disable the amstrad adlib and use the OPL3 on Mega Card 😁
disabling the onboard adlib is very easy, lift pin19 of U1 74LS245 and connect it to pin20

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there are many mods one can do on the megadrive card to improve it...

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 162 of 228, by Zalog

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keropi wrote on 2021-09-21, 18:29:

the Mega Card is now a thing 😁

hope you like what you see

Looks fantastic - can't wait 😁 - btw will the connection from the scan doubler to the mega drive clock have a connector on the soundcard side so that they can be easily separated ?

Reply 163 of 228, by keropi

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Zalog wrote on 2021-09-23, 07:49:

Looks fantastic - can't wait 😁 - btw will the connection from the scan doubler to the mega drive clock have a connector on the soundcard side so that they can be easily separated ?

yes, it's just a 2pin header so it is detachable on the megacard side - on the amstrad side it needs to be soldered in 2 legs of the oscillator

also here are some pics of scanline modes - with added crappy photography from my cellphone 🤣

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HNoINVp.jpg

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🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 164 of 228, by keropi

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here are some pics from Sonic 2 - it uses brighter colors so better for my phone:

rfWwesG.jpg

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QPitJBq.jpg

JpdioT4.jpg

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and here is how the card connects to the system:

nO71ctJ.jpg

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 165 of 228, by phipscube

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keropi wrote on 2021-09-23, 14:11:
here are some pics from Sonic 2 - it uses brighter colors so better for my phone: […]
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here are some pics from Sonic 2 - it uses brighter colors so better for my phone:

rfWwesG.jpg

r4cv0oN.jpg

QPitJBq.jpg

JpdioT4.jpg

NT5VpnN.jpg

and here is how the card connects to the system:

nO71ctJ.jpg

Looks awesome Keropi! Do you have an estimate on how much The Mega Card will cost? 😀

Reply 166 of 228, by keropi

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phipscube wrote on 2021-09-24, 11:23:

Looks awesome Keropi! Do you have an estimate on how much The Mega Card will cost? 😀

I want to say something like 200~220eur shipped?
it's not finished yet - some stuff are added and I actually want to see how much time I need to solder one of the final versions
availability will be pretty low and there is nothing I can do currently - main issue is the FPGA that is not stocked and if stocked the price is ridiculous. 😐

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 167 of 228, by Jo22

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keropi wrote on 2021-09-23, 14:11:

here are some pics from Sonic 2 - it uses brighter colors so better for my phone:

Here are some photos, too.
I tried to capture the same scene of the same game..

Not sure if they are useful, but maybe they serve as a comparison:
It's a PAL MegaDrive, connected via RF to an authentic, classic color tv (no remote), as it was still common in the late 80s to early 90s

Some kids which got "the old stuff" by their parents, friends or family members may have had such tvs in their bedroom, too.

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"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 168 of 228, by keropi

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ah the classic RF setup... it does bring back memories!!!
very nice Jo22! 😀

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 169 of 228, by Jo22

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Glad to hear, you're welcome! ^^

I've taken a few more pictures with a true black/white TV (grayscale actually; rf signal) and a green monitor (composite signal; luma would be better).
- I've usen a few ferrites to get rid of noise, also.
It's astounding how clean an RF connection can be after spending a little bit of effort.
Maybe this helps or inspires other. Ferrites are no waste, I think.
(I assume some noise sneaks in via the power supplies. Makes me wonder how things would look if everything was battery powered.)

Hope that's okay. I do have a true video monitor (color, no tv) somewhere in the attic,
but I'm afraid this would be too much.. 😅

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"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 170 of 228, by Jo22

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.. and here's the green monitor, too.
Such a thing was also called "data display" in the Apple II days, or so I heard.

The picture quality in this setup is a bit so and so.
The chroma signal shouldn't belong here, I know.
Unfortunately, I do have no console that's modded for s-video at hand.

Not sure of some of the patterns are the infamous vertical lines, or just the result of chroma signals.

Anyway, I just thought that this would be interesting to look at.
Since the tv+monitor was in reach, I thought "why not". 😅

Hope that's okay, I'll try to refrain from interfering for a while.

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"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 171 of 228, by Zalog

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keropi wrote on 2021-09-24, 13:16:

I want to say something like 200~220eur shipped?
it's not finished yet - some stuff are added and I actually want to see how much time I need to solder one of the final versions
availability will be pretty low and there is nothing I can do currently - main issue is the FPGA that is not stocked and if stocked the price is ridiculous. 😐

It's a fantastic card, and its output looks excellent well done- definitely sign me up for one 😊. Don't worry about the time/parts delays, I think most of owners never dreamed that something like this would appear when we first got our megapc's, so we can definitely be patient 😁👍

Reply 172 of 228, by phipscube

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keropi wrote on 2021-09-24, 13:16:
I want to say something like 200~220eur shipped? it's not finished yet - some stuff are added and I actually want to see how muc […]
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phipscube wrote on 2021-09-24, 11:23:

Looks awesome Keropi! Do you have an estimate on how much The Mega Card will cost? 😀

I want to say something like 200~220eur shipped?
it's not finished yet - some stuff are added and I actually want to see how much time I need to solder one of the final versions
availability will be pretty low and there is nothing I can do currently - main issue is the FPGA that is not stocked and if stocked the price is ridiculous. 😐

That is reasonable 😀 my opinion is its probably best to wait until the worldwide shortages ease. I will certainly buy one off you when its ready so you can be sure of that. I'm actually quite amazed to see the card nearly finished already!

Reply 173 of 228, by keropi

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thanks for the kind words guys
well I do have 20x FPGAs already 😉
the lead time for any more ranges from 7 weeks to 46 weeks 🤣
we are just the bottom barrel fish, the fpgas that end up in the market are what are spared from buyers that get them by the thousands....

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 175 of 228, by keropi

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I am not sure what IMGUR will do to the 11mb JPGs but I managed to get better crt pics 😀
I suggest you click on the direct links to get the full resolution of the pics

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https://i.imgur.com/HujdSFc.jpg

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https://i.imgur.com/FmPIfVn.jpg

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https://i.imgur.com/8fogemA.jpg

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https://i.imgur.com/SlExC6M.jpg

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https://i.imgur.com/e2OUe7W.jpg

5owYeERh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5owYeER.jpg

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 176 of 228, by keropi

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Just a heads up for anyone else considering getting either the Mega EverDrive PRO or the MegaSD flashcarts for Mega-CD support:
I got a mega everdrive PRO and although it works fine on my normal megadrive 1 console on mega-pc it it very problematic - normal cartridge games have gfx glitches like missing or flashing pixels.
Mega-CD stuff do not work at all, you just get a black screen , no bios load or anything...

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on the other hand the MegaSD seems to load and play games fine - the video creator replied that all work without issues:

https://youtu.be/78VnQUecq2M

I have asked krikkz about the issue but he has no idea why this is happening - and tbh I do not expect anything to be done to help a rare system like the mega-pc.
On a side note I have the very first Mega Everdrive cart (from when it was just this and the normal everdrive that would flash game in eeprom every time) and it works fine with the megapc.

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 178 of 228, by keropi

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phipscube wrote on 2021-10-25, 08:01:

That's interesting...

My Everdrive X5 doesn't work either (just blank screen)..

😮
that is very unexpected
I ordered a X7 some time ago and it's been stuck in customs, I will update if that works or not
but the X5 is super weird it does not work!

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 179 of 228, by Zalog

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keropi wrote on 2021-10-24, 12:23:

Just a heads up for anyone else considering getting either the Mega EverDrive PRO or the MegaSD flashcarts for Mega-CD support:
I got a mega everdrive PRO and although it works fine on my normal megadrive 1 console on mega-pc it it very problematic - normal cartridge games have gfx glitches like missing or flashing pixels.
Mega-CD stuff do not work at all, you just get a black screen , no bios load or anything...

That's really odd as my EverDrive PRO works well on my MegaPC - and the SegaCD side works ok - I wonder what's caused the difference ? There are some things probably we can check to hunt down the issue.

1) the megadrive ISA board in my MegaPC is stock (bar the replacement of a couple of caps) - no region mods, or sound modifications. Keropi,it's a longshot I know, but do you have anyone nearby with a stock megaPC that you could test your Everdrive pro on - that would allow us to quickly narrow it down to modifications being a problem.

2) I had some problems with the version of the MegaCD Bios and it took a little searching to get one that worked well - probably not a discussion allowed here, but if you email me, we can have a chat about version numbers, and I can suggest a couple - and if it is the problem then perhaps we can at least post version numbers to help folk.

3) My Everdrive PRO is one of the first batch - and the firmware must be fairly early, and being lazy I haven't updated it since it was purchased. Next time I get chance I'll see have a look and if I can find any version numbers for both the cart and the firmware - perhaps something was broken compatibility wise in the newer versions of the firmware ? On the cart side, it might be worth asking krikkz if any of the electronics in the cart have been changed compared to the first batches ?

Hope that all helps - and will have a look for those version numbers as soon as I can !