And I got the SM-750 with HDMI output to work. Yay! Now I want to inject the audio over the HDMI cable as well. Not sure if that is analog and digital. If digital, I need to figure out to do the conversion first.
What did you need to do to get HDMI out working, and are there any graphics modes it doesn't deal with well via HDMI? I got some connectors and crimp pins for my SM750 card's sockets.
ahmadexp wrote on 2023-07-31, 21:40:And I got the SM-750 with HDMI output to work. Yay! Now I want to inject the audio over the HDMI cable as well. Not sure if that is analog and digital. If digital, I need to figure out to do the conversion first.
Cool that you got it working! I'm curious about resolutions and refresh rates though - does this support the standard DOS 720x400 @ 70 Hz for example...?
About audio.... I have a feeling this could perhaps involve more work than it's worth? 😬
AFAIK HDMI only supports digital audio, I think the most compatible and least complex would be stereo uncompressed linear PCM @ 192kHz/24bit, which means you'd need an appropriate ADC and hook it up, probably with some supporting passive components.
Eivind wrote on 2023-07-31, 22:39:About audio.... I have a feeling this could perhaps involve more work than it's worth? 😬
AFAIK HDMI only supports digital audio, I think the most compatible and least complex would be stereo uncompressed linear PCM @ 192kHz/24bit, which means you'd need an appropriate ADC and hook it up, probably with some supporting passive components.
Could the CS4237B's S/PDIF (aka IEC-958 Consumer Audio) output be used for this? You'd need to find some digital mixer to combine that with the Pi's I2S output for the synth emulators but I think it would be doable.
ExplodingLemur wrote on 2023-07-31, 23:07:Eivind wrote on 2023-07-31, 22:39:About audio.... I have a feeling this could perhaps involve more work than it's worth? 😬
AFAIK HDMI only supports digital audio, I think the most compatible and least complex would be stereo uncompressed linear PCM @ 192kHz/24bit, which means you'd need an appropriate ADC and hook it up, probably with some supporting passive components.Could the CS4237B's S/PDIF (aka IEC-958 Consumer Audio) output be used for this? You'd need to find some digital mixer to combine that with the Pi's I2S output for the synth emulators but I think it would be doable.
I don't think the HDMI spec allows digital audio to be transmitted using the S/PDIF / IEC-958 protocol, no.
Besides, reading up on HDMI now (I'm a complete noob), looks like the digital audio is baked into the main TMDS data stream, not transmitted over separate wires as I initially thought. That means you'd need some kind of HDMI muxer chip in addition to the ADC.
@ExplodingLemur: I just have to use a stronger USB-C adapter. Nothing really much. Again, just with a bad USB-C you will not get anything or a messed up image. This is the one I used: https://www.ebay.com/itm/295434434943 . In case you want to have fun with crimping, I added a picture of the wires on the connector.
@Eiving: Everything looks great and Sharp! Please find attached some photos. Also, I was thinking, would it be possible/or worth it to add the mini PCIe connector for the ITX board in case someone wants to use the mini PCIe card instead of PCI VGA? Feel free ignore this request.
With regards to Audio, I bought a cheap HDMI Audio injector from Amazon and look forward to test it first, if it works open it up and see if I can reverse eng it build it into the TL2.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Advantec … X3*dW5kZWZpbmVk
Hi!
I found a mini pcie graphics card.
Would this be compatible?
shimart wrote on 2023-08-02, 12:38:https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Advantec … X3*dW5kZWZpbmVk […]
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Advantec … X3*dW5kZWZpbmVk
Hi!
I found a mini pcie graphics card.
Would this be compatible?
From what I can tell it uses the SM750 chip, so probably. No guarantees though...
Eivind wrote on 2023-01-25, 09:27:For older games, the Vortex86VGA is pretty good! Reasonably cheap and power-efficient. For more demanding games (Quake-era stuff […]
Aaron707 wrote on 2023-01-25, 01:01:The new board and case looks great! Its the complete package now. Looking forward trying both out.
I tried out a bunch of different PCI graphics cards for fun. A few worked OK and some had the exact same freezing issue with 640x480 and above resolution in games like quake and duke3d that I saw on the ASpeed mPcie card. The PCI card that worked best was a S3 DX 4mB. Worked with everything really well. So that would be my choice if there is ever a big llama. But the main point of this PC is to be small and power efficient so I swapped back to the VortexVGA card. It matches the performance of the cpu pretty well. Question, do you think the video BIOS for the VortexVGA is at all interfering with other cards that have their own video BIOS built-in? If so would adding a disable option in the BIOS options be possible?
For older games, the Vortex86VGA is pretty good! Reasonably cheap and power-efficient. For more demanding games (Quake-era stuff), SM750-based Mini PCIe cards are way faster, while keeping the tiny physical size. They're usually pretty expensive though, because they're almost always sold as industrial components.
When testing my SM750 card, I experimented with removing the Vortex86VGA VBIOS from the SOM's ROM - didn't make any difference. I think the BIOS will pick the graphics card's VBIOS if present. Also, I don't really think the graphics card would work at all if paired with the wrong VBIOS. As an aside - my SM750 card's VBIOS came with a horrible font set, but I managed to swap that out with the "standard" IBM PC font from my BIOS during boot (INT 10h, AX=1110h, for those interested).
I'll be getting my hands on a Voodoo 3 PCI card hopefully tomorrow, curious to see how that'll perform in combination with the Vortex86EX and the PI7C9X118 bridge...
Just wondering about how you changed the font on the SM750. Not sure how to apply (INT 10h, AX=1110h, for those interested)
ahmadexp wrote on 2023-08-03, 04:06:Just wondering about how you changed the font on the SM750. Not sure how to apply (INT 10h, AX=1110h, for those interested)
I'm not changing the fonts on the SM750 per se, just changing where in memory the BIOS looks for text characters.
Here's a link that explains the BIOS routine, here's the alternative font data in the BIOS, and here's where I make the switch.
So, how can I enable it on my TL? Do I need to flash a new BIOS?
So, I kept digging and I found that I can feed the S/PDIF to the SiI9022A on the Graphic card which is an HDMI transmitter.
Then I looked into the CS4237B and noticed that it can provide the S/PDIF output. So, I did some soldering, but not results yet.
I used /XOS1 and no luck. (still digging). I do not see anything from the CS4237B on the scope (I tried both SDOUT pins).
I tried the 100nf coupling as well and that did not make anything better.
Should I change something in the EEPROM to enable S/PDIF? I tried both SDOUT pins of the CS4237B and now I am non the pin 5 (XD3/SDOUT).
Page 71 of the CS4237B datasheet:
Consumer IEC-958 Digital Output The CS4237B supports the industry standard IEC-958 consumer digital interface. Sometimes this st […]
Consumer IEC-958 Digital Output
The CS4237B supports the industry standard IEC-958 consumer digital interface. Sometimes this standard is referred to S/PDIF which refers to an older version of this standard. This output provides an interface, external to the PC, for storing digital audio (as in a DAT or recordable CD-ROM) or playing digital audio from digital speakers.
The interface is enabled by turning on the CSPE bit in C4 and SPE in I16. The data is sent out the SDOUT DSP serial interface pin. The other DSP serial interface pins still function properly when SDOUT is used for the IEC-958 interface.
The SDOUT pin can either be on joystick B’s CX pin or it can be on the peripheral port data bus pin XD3, controlled by the SPS bit in the Hardware Configuration data or register C8.
The data going out SDOUT can come from the ADC or from the DAC interface (which includes QSound 3D Sound if enabled). This functionality is controlled by the 3DSO bit in register C3.
Unisound lists /XOS1 as enabling S/PDIF for the Orpheus which is CS4237-based, but I don't know if it will set the same correct registers on the TinyLlama?
ExplodingLemur wrote on 2023-08-04, 04:31:Page 71 of the CS4237B datasheet:
Consumer IEC-958 Digital Output The CS4237B supports the industry standard IEC-958 consumer digital interface. Sometimes this st […]
Consumer IEC-958 Digital Output
The CS4237B supports the industry standard IEC-958 consumer digital interface. Sometimes this standard is referred to S/PDIF which refers to an older version of this standard. This output provides an interface, external to the PC, for storing digital audio (as in a DAT or recordable CD-ROM) or playing digital audio from digital speakers.
The interface is enabled by turning on the CSPE bit in C4 and SPE in I16. The data is sent out the SDOUT DSP serial interface pin. The other DSP serial interface pins still function properly when SDOUT is used for the IEC-958 interface.
The SDOUT pin can either be on joystick B’s CX pin or it can be on the peripheral port data bus pin XD3, controlled by the SPS bit in the Hardware Configuration data or register C8.
The data going out SDOUT can come from the ADC or from the DAC interface (which includes QSound 3D Sound if enabled). This functionality is controlled by the 3DSO bit in register C3.Unisound lists /XOS1 as enabling S/PDIF for the Orpheus which is CS4237-based, but I don't know if it will set the same correct registers on the TinyLlama?
I'm currently trying to get S/PDIF output working on the ITX-Llama, it's not that straight forward. I'm getting invaluable help from 640K!enough though, when we get it working I'll see if it's possible on the TinyLlama as well.
I'm currently trying to get S/PDIF output working on the ITX-Llama, it's not that straight forward. I'm getting invaluable help from 640K!enough though, when we get it working I'll see if it's possible on the TinyLlama as well.
[/quote]
Amazing: I will work on it in parallel to see if I can get it work from my end.
ahmadexp wrote on 2023-08-04, 13:44:Amazing: I will work on it in parallel to see if I can get it work from my end.
Great, thanks! 😀
Eivind wrote on 2023-07-31, 22:39:Cool that you got it working! I'm curious about resolutions and refresh rates though - does this support the standard DOS 720x40 […]
ahmadexp wrote on 2023-07-31, 21:40:And I got the SM-750 with HDMI output to work. Yay! Now I want to inject the audio over the HDMI cable as well. Not sure if that is analog and digital. If digital, I need to figure out to do the conversion first.
Cool that you got it working! I'm curious about resolutions and refresh rates though - does this support the standard DOS 720x400 @ 70 Hz for example...?
About audio.... I have a feeling this could perhaps involve more work than it's worth? 😬
AFAIK HDMI only supports digital audio, I think the most compatible and least complex would be stereo uncompressed linear PCM @ 192kHz/24bit, which means you'd need an appropriate ADC and hook it up, probably with some supporting passive components.
Update on this.
WhileI was trying to test the audio injection via the chip on on the SM750 card I tried different HDMI monitors. Not all monitors can output the HDMI signal that I guess DOS creates. I event tried my Sony TV and the result is, I get the screen but relatively small right in the middle of the screen (zoomed output). Perhaps the DOS 720x400 is really challenging for some monitors. One more observation; when running a new graphic mode (like starting Doom), it take about 2 seconds become the image appears while the MIDI sound already started. Once the image is out there is no lag between the image and sound (just a lag at starting).
ahmadexp wrote on 2023-08-04, 13:54:Update on this.
WhileI was trying to test the audio injection via the chip on on the SM750 card I tried different HDMI monitors. Not all monitors can output the HDMI signal that I guess DOS creates. I event tried my Sony TV and the result is, I get the screen but relatively small right in the middle of the screen (zoomed output). Perhaps the DOS 720x400 is really challenging for some monitors. One more observation; when running a new graphic mode (like starting Doom), it take about 2 seconds become the image appears while the MIDI sound already started. Once the image is out there is no lag between the image and sound (just a lag at starting).
Yeah the standard DOS text resolution probably isn't well supported over HDMI by most modern monitors. The length of the lag/glitch when changing resolutions just depends on the monitor, some are fast, others really slow. Not much you can do about that, unfortunately. This was all easier back in the CRT days! 😁
Surprisingly, my cheap HP monitor (M22F) works so well with it but my ROG does not even recognize it.
Dragon Caesar wrote on 2023-04-12, 23:02:Eivind wrote on 2023-04-12, 15:15:Dragon Caesar wrote on 2023-04-11, 12:15:Edit - For anyone else experiencing this, I figured it out. UniSound by default assigns IRQ 5, if you use SET BLASTER, specify I7, and then run UniSound to force IRQ 7 the game will run without freezing.
My documentation on Github clearly specifies using IRQ 7 the way you just said! 😉
Duh, serves me right for not reading!
Not sure if anyone else experienced this but I had some trouble with Doom 2 SFX using SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 P330 T4, changing T4 to T2 worked for me.
