PCE FPGA

[martinine]

Just watched this week's episode of Gamesack featuring the Analogue Nt Mini. Thanks Joe and Dave. I want a PCE FPGA solution. Anyone heard of or know one?

I searched the forums, and the last real discussion was from 2012. FPGA has progressed rapidly in those 5 years.

[CrackTiger]

kvetris has one ready to go. Just wait for an update for the Analogue Nt Mini and then buy one for $500.

Or get a Raspberry Pi3 now and enjoy an equally inauthentic yet good enough experience.

[elmer]

One exists, but it has some compatibility problems, and is base-PCE-only ...
https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-board/wiki/CoreDocPCE

The FPGA source code is here (supporting a few more FPGA boards) ...
https://github.com/robinsonb5/FPGAPCE

I believe that there's someone in Japan working on one too, but I don't know how far he got.

The one to wait and pray for is Kevtris's Zimba3K (because of his attention-to-detail), but that is probably still years away.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/

In the meantime, he's ported his large collection of 8-bit-console FPGA cores to the Analogue NT Mini (which I hope that GameSack mentioned).

[elmer]

The one to wait and pray for is Kevtris's Zimba3K (because of his attention-to-detail), but that is probably still years away.

kvetris has one ready to go.

He does? Where did you see that?

I know that he was looking at doing one ... but didn't see anything about it actually being finished.

In fact, I just saw this post ...


http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/page-50#entry3697865

As for TG-16,  let's just say that some people in the "community" have sapped any desire for implementing the TG-16 any time soon.   After the way I got treated there, I am not going to bother implementing it at least for awhile.  Sorry 'bout that.

That's really sad news. I wonder who pissed him off?

[Dicer]

The one to wait and pray for is Kevtris's Zimba3K (because of his attention-to-detail), but that is probably still years away.

kvetris has one ready to go.

He does? Where did you see that?

I know that he was looking at doing one ... but didn't see anything about it actually being finished.

In fact, I just saw this post ...


http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/page-50#entry3697865

As for TG-16,  let's just say that some people in the "community" have sapped any desire for implementing the TG-16 any time soon.   After the way I got treated there, I am not going to bother implementing it at least for awhile.  Sorry 'bout that.

That's really sad news. I wonder who pissed him off?

I don't know, but that sucks...portions of this community can be "counterproductive" to say the least which is kinda sad.

And before anyone has a panty twist...I'm not talking about this forum specifically, most of the riff raff is kept out of here, thankfully.

[martinine]

Or get a Raspberry Pi3 now and enjoy an equally inauthentic yet good enough experience.

Everything I've read about the FPGA (Like the Analogue Nt) is that since it is hardware emulation, not software based like Retron 5, it is spot on.

Does anyone know if these FPGA's are not as legit as advertised? I haven't tried one.

I do hate to see that "the community" has pissed off Kevtris, and yes, Joe and Dave did mention him in their show. I know that Game-Tech US also prominently features Kevtris.

[LostFlunky]

That's really sad news. I wonder who pissed him off?

I don't recall him ever getting any guff here... I wonder if it was emu developers that he was referring to as the "community"...?

[ccovell]

Everything I've read about the FPGA (Like the Analogue Nt) is that since it is hardware emulation, not software based like Retron 5, it is spot on.

Does anyone know if these FPGA's are not as legit as advertised? I haven't tried one.

I do hate to see that "the community" has pissed off Kevtris, and yes, Joe and Dave did mention him in their show. I know that Game-Tech US also prominently features Kevtris.

FPGAs in theory can have no lag, shearing, frame stuttering, or slowdown, as opposed to software emulators on non-realtime OSes.  However, a poor designer can still make a shitty FPGA core that doesn't work accurately, so FPGAs are not a silver bullet or anything.

I have used a Minimig, an Amiga custom chipset recreation on an FPGA board, for several years, and it is pretty awesome.  Not perfect, but still really good.  I'd have bought a MIST emulation box a while ago myself, if it weren't for all the incomplete and experimental cores on that thing.

I guess it goes to show just how having a perfectionist like Kevtris designing the cores on the NT mini and Zimba 3K can make them far more attractive for being super-accurate.

Anyway, about the PCE, Kentaro in Japan had been working on an FPGA core for the PC-Engine for several years now, though his project is somewhat dormant/slow.  His info page: wayback.geocities.jp/team_zero_three/PC2E/

[Joe Redifer]

Y'all pissed Kevtris off too much to care about the PC Engine/TurboGrafx. Yes, this forum. He told me. He says he might do it some day but the community has soured him greatly.

[mickcris]

Looks like this thread pissed him off
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18037.msg422889#msg422889

[elmer]

<sigh>

 

[ccovell]

I had no idea about the drama on that thread.  Who the hell was that PCEngineHell douchebag?  A collectard?  A goverrat? 

...but the community has soured him greatly.

I think that referring to that one complete jerk, among all of us, as "community" is totally wrong.

[Pokun]

I remember PCEngineHell was making lots of drama around the time I joined this forum. It looks like he has left or was banned at some point?

Yeah a big forum like this is bound to have a few douchebags, but I can totally understand Kevtris' feelings. He registered here to clear up some things about his work, and the first thing he gets is a bunch of personal attacks and insults to his hard work. I would be pissed!

[majors]

Meh...at least it'll keep facebook kiddos "out of mah hobbies". Double edge sword...open the gates for more to enjoy, and come with it the johnny-turbo-come-lately to the party...buying up over priced obey for even more gouger dollars.

I do not know Kevtris or have any care for anything Nintendo. If there is profit to be made with some FGPA turbob, it'll happen with or without forum hype or hate.

[NecroPhile]

I had no idea about the drama on that thread.  Who the hell was that PCEngineHell douchebag?  A collectard?  A goverrat? 

Definitely the latter. 

You might remember him as Mike Helgeson.

I think that referring to that one complete jerk, among all of us, as "community" is totally wrong.

Indeed.  There were more peeps defending kevtris and game tech than attacking.

[LostFlunky]

Looks like this thread pissed him off
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18037.msg422889#msg422889

okay... well that was typical...

[Dicer]

Looks like this thread pissed him off
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18037.msg422889#msg422889

I'm so glad that hunk of shit is gone...

[CrackTiger]

It was probably just gametechviolence relaying his version of the reception his spamming received here, which was overall positive. Some people just don't like being questioned in their ad threads and prefer a chorus of "shut up and take my money!"

I wonder if he'd nix support for Sega consoles if a thread dedicated to youtube videos for an NES mod didn't get the reception they wanted on sega-16?

[LostFlunky]

It was probably just gametechviolence relaying his version of the reception his spamming received here, which was overall positive. Some people just don't like being questioned in their ad threads and prefer a chorus of "shut up and take my money!"

No - it was PP repeatedly making fun of kevtris' appearance and lack of Hollywood star charisma.

[ginoscope]

FPGA are cool I tried out the high def nes and the avs last year and have since sold them both.  Not that I did not like them but I just prefer to play the original hardware via RGB on CRT.  I even sold my XRGB mini since I really prefer the CRT look for my older games.

It is awesome that these exist as a form of preservation.

[xcrement5x]

Y'all pissed Kevtris off too much to care about the PC Engine/TurboGrafx. Yes, this forum. He told me. He says he might do it some day but the community has soured him greatly.

Looks like this thread pissed him off
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18037.msg422889#msg422889

Well that sucks.

[CrackTiger]

It was probably just gametechviolence relaying his version of the reception his spamming received here, which was overall positive. Some people just don't like being questioned in their ad threads and prefer a chorus of "shut up and take my money!"

No - it was PP repeatedly making fun of kevtris' appearance and lack of Hollywood star charisma.

Wow, guess I totally missed that.

It sucks when people dismiss the entire PC Engine community because they don't like something about this forum, let alone the actions of a single person.

The rest of the people who have a problem with pcefx dismiss it by saying that it doesn't represent the PCE community as a whole.

[SignOfZeta]

I'd say Kevtris is wise. The only way to escape the wrath of PCEFX's self-appointed classic gaming sheriff is to wait until he deletes his account. Kevtris figured that out in three posts and it took me hundreds.

[DildoKKKobold]

Looks like this thread pissed him off
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=18037.msg422889#msg422889

Perhaps he may 'forgive' the community, now that the biggest blowhard self-deleted because a Neo-Geo admin was a big meanie.

[Joe Redifer]

I think that referring to that one complete jerk, among all of us, as "community" is totally wrong.

Yep. I even sent him an e-mail a couple of weeks ago apologizing for any hard feelings on behalf of the forum since I'm a mod here and also informed him that PCEngineHell is gone. According to his reply he was still kind of soured but we'll see.

[NecroPhile]

Tell him we give free lap dances and reacharounds.

That'll sweeten the pot.

[esteban]

I think that referring to that one complete jerk, among all of us, as "community" is totally wrong.

Yep. I even sent him an e-mail a couple of weeks ago apologizing for any hard feelings on behalf of the forum since I'm a mod here and also informed him that PCEngineHell is gone. According to his reply he was still kind of soured but we'll see.

I don't mind waiting until Kevtris feels inspired to delve into the PCE again. Even if it takes several years, I have a feeling that the PCE is in his soul—and he can't shake it.


Because PCE.

[OldRover]

Oh... OF. FUCKING. COURSE. it was Mike who did this. WHAT A FUCKING SHOCK. That fucking troll has been up in people's shit for years. He just likes to stir up shit, he doesn't give a flying fuck about anything but his own sticky hands. Mike does not, nor will he ever, speak for the PCE scene.

[Joe Redifer]

And you just KNOW he'd feel that what he did was a good thing, given the results. He'd feel that he saved the Turbo/PCE from being de-glorified by the existence of an FPGA or some shit. He'd feel the community is better off without it. OG hardware only. Who cares if the quantity is limited? That just makes owning one more 1337.

[gojira1954]

Any FPGA in the works looks likely to be hucard games only tho?
I'd really like to see a solution that accurately outputted 240p RGB that could handle all the PCE CD games - original CD hardware is shite.
I've tried raspberry pi 3 with 240p output recently and it wasn't up to scratch :/

[Arkhan Asylum]

OK, to be fair, that thread wasn't just Profprof being a dick.   Others of us were a bit apprehensive of the happenings of the mod and the auctions.   I would really like to think that wasn't what pissed the guy off, because it wasn't particularly horrible, and you have to expect questions and shit like that when you are on the internet.

That SmokeMonster guy was also a giant dong with poor reading and comprehension abilities.  He didn't help the situation, nor did DarkKobold really.   Necromancer even had to say shut the hell up at one point.   

Did kevtris actually say it was PP that made him pissed off enough to leave?

I didn't reread all of PPs posts.  They're too long, and I ran out of cookies.

I get having a community piss you off to the point of fucking up your enjoyment though.   

I, being ~13-17ish at the time, was bullied a bit on the Commodore 64 forums by what I came to learn were mouthbreathers/manchildren.    It to this day has made me enjoy that thing less.

I myself have even gotten a little "meh" about the PCE scene, mainly due to what Facebook has done to it, and the attitudes of people.   It really isn't the same. 

I'd say Kevtris was here getting upset around the same time that shit started to it's descent into fucksville.

[spenoza]

I think this forum can, at times, be one of the less agreeable communities in classic gaming. We're no saints. We have no shortage of drama and assholes. Hell, there have been occasions I've wondered if the mods actually mod anything around here.

I myself have even gotten a little "meh" about the PCE scene, mainly due to what Facebook has done to it, and the attitudes of people.   It really isn't the same. 

I'd say Kevtris was here getting upset around the same time that shit started to it's descent into fucksville.

I pretty much avoid Facebook for anything that's not keeping up with a few friends and family, so I can't speak to your experiences there, but do you have any thoughts on what the community needs to make it more welcoming or more interesting?

[martinine]

I had a crazy week after my last response and came back to this awesome thread. Thanks for all the responses guys.

As someone who grew up being 1 of 5 people in my hometown with a Turbo back in 1990-1991 and someone who is relatively new to the forums here: I can really see both sides of the argument. I've had nothing but love and respect  for this forum, and received nothing but love and respect from you guys. Thanks for being who we are, the good and the bad.

I think Kevtris could be upset because he has poured heart, souls, and time into these projects. It's a big deal to work that hard at something while some people here in the forums feel there is something chaste and sacred about the pce. Outsiders shouldn't be allowed to love it, and peoeple without original hardware are mud-bloods.

Honestly, I think the healthy discourse about all this stuff is good for our scene. I do feel like the community has been a lot less active this year, so maybe a little anger and nostalgia is what we need? Ha.

Seriously, thanks to everyone who replied with ideas and info about FPGAs as well. I'm interested in getting one of these NES clones. I too truly prefer the look of CRT with scanelimes. I'll be damned if the warped Trinitron Wega screens aren't killing me though. I have an amazing Toshiba flat screen but it's  only a 10 inch screen. Serious dilemmas.

[SmokeMonster]

I pretty much left being active here over that thread too. At the time, it felt like a personalized group attack on Kevtris and Jason (Game-Tech), and those defending them. I definitely went overboard, but it was in defense of Kev and Jason at least. If you look back in retrospect, PP pissed us all off with his unique brand of ranting. Even those of us who never get involved in drama.

[SignOfZeta]

Prof was by no means all bad. He was no collectard or anything like it.

This forum has a rep for busting scammers and sticking up for itself and Prof was a big part of forming that reputation. He was an eBay vigilante that saved real people real money and busted shitty sellers. He just has issues knowing when to take a step back from something. He pisses up every available rope for so long and so hard that soon it's raining piss all over the place. I'm sure he behaves this way because it's worked for him more times than not but he can't seem to know when to cut his losses sometimes. He's well aware of this self control issue and that's why he deleted his account here both times. I think it was his doing both times anyway, I could be wrong.

[DildoKKKobold]

Prof was by no means all bad. He was no collectard or anything like it.

Apparently, in your book, collecting too many video games/paying too much is worse than drawing dicks on someone's kids foreheads? Seriously? He stalked people's families, threatened to call child services over a picture of one dirty room, and a myriad of other unforgivable things... Its not surprising that now that he's gone, people are coming out against him. He was scary in how far he'd take things.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Prof was by no means all bad. He was no collectard or anything like it.

Apparently, in your book, collecting too many video games/paying too much is worse than drawing dicks on someone's kids foreheads? Seriously? He stalked people's families, threatened to call child services over a picture of one dirty room, and a myriad of other unforgivable things... Its not surprising that now that he's gone, people are coming out against him. He was scary in how far he'd take things.

ProfProf's unique brand of vigilante justice has benefited PCEFX more than once.  A lot of it predates your existence here.   What are you even talking about with "stalking people's families"? 

He's honestly incredibly good at getting under people's skin and pressing buttons when people have gotten out of line.   He was also part of the group of people who outted Tobias's shady bullshit.

a lot of the way PCEFX operates stems from having fuckall in terms of moderation for over a decade.

We became our own moderators, and vigilante justice is how things worked. 

ProfProf is actually a fairly reasonable dude.   You just got into it with him a lot.  You've gotten into it with others too.    Some of that stemmed from you being relatively new, walking in, and throwing punches without really having a proper frame of reference for wtf is going on, or how things operate.

I pretty much avoid Facebook for anything that's not keeping up with a few friends and family, so I can't speak to your experiences there, but do you have any thoughts on what the community needs to make it more welcoming or more interesting?

Facebook breeds shitposting dipshits that either post complete and utter nonsense, or constant barrages of "mail calls" and bins of their games and shit.

Honestly.  We all know what a copy of Ninja Spirit looks like.

Some people here have fallen pretty hard victims of that.

If I had a nickle for everytime Tats posted the same 3 goddamn pictures of his bins of games or his CoreGrafx boxed in response to someone else's mailcall pics, I could probably go convince that idiot with PC Cocoron to actually sell me it.



There's not a great way to fix it.  We'd need more actual PCEFXers to go start posting and keeping things in line.

Currently, I'm one of the only people trying to corral all the dipshits.   It usually leads to people crying, blocking me, and talking shit about me later.

"HE MADE FUN OF ME FOR TRYING TO SELL MY GAME FOR 5X THE REAL PRICE, THEN HE CALLED ME STUPID FOR BUYING A LOOSE TURBO GRAFX FOR 120$"

lol

[DildoKKKobold]

There's not a great way to fix it.  We'd need more actual PCEFXers to go start posting and keeping things in line.

Currently, I'm one of the only people trying to corral all the dipshits.   It usually leads to people crying, blocking me, and talking shit about me later.

"HE MADE FUN OF ME FOR TRYING TO SELL MY GAME FOR 5X THE REAL PRICE, THEN HE CALLED ME STUPID FOR BUYING A LOOSE TURBO GRAFX FOR 120$"

lol

Yes, because "YOU ARE RETARDS 98dfytads897fgsdafubasdfjdaksbnfkadusga" isn't going to change any minds, they'll just think of you as a dipshit. Your methods are about as effective as using gasoline to put out a fire.

Also, the PP shit happened years before I joined. I'm well aware of what PP did under his original Mike Helgeson account. He's a shit human being.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Yes, because "YOU ARE RETARDS 98dfytads897fgsdafubasdfjdaksbnfkadusga" isn't going to change any minds, they'll just think of you as a dipshit. Your methods are about as effective as using gasoline to put out a fire.

Actually, I've tried politely explaining to people about prices and other misinformation, on numerous occasions.   

You are doing that thing where you make assumptions and act like you have all the information ever on a topic when you open your mouth. 

The real problem is, most #eliteretrogamers don't like to be told they aren't the 100% supreme guru of the thing they just started collecting 30 seconds ago, so they immediately flip the fuck out and start acting stupid.   They're not looking to be corrected or told they overspent.   They are just looking for attention and praise from strangers online about their new purchase.

There have been countless times were others, not just me, have tried explaining to someone that their facts are wrong, or that they overpaid, or are asking too much.    It almost always results in some new guy rage quitting after he lashes out like an idiot.

It boils down to a general disrespect of senior members when joining a new group.  It's generally poor form to show up out of the blue and start arguing when the people who know better are trying to tell you stuff.

Facebook is terrible about all of this.  Joining gaming groups involves a simple click.  It at least takes 3 more brain cells to register a forum account, and is more effort to post a picture, so the dipshit count is far lower.

Also, the PP shit happened years before I joined. I'm well aware of what PP did under his original Mike Helgeson account. He's a shit human being.

Curious, honest question:  If you weren't joined here, where are you getting your information from?  Second-hand possibly one-sided games of telephone and shit with forum drama really isn't the best way to formulate a view on someone.

People tend to misremember or misexplain shit when rehashing it later.   It's like when you argue with someone, dwell on it, think about what you should've said, and then that becomes what you DID say when you repeat it later.

It's a thing people do, and it's not reliable.

Mikes headhunting was a bit .. thorough at times, but for alot of those times, there was a legitimate reason for things he was doing.

He did help the PC Engine community on various occasions with things, as well.   Calling someone a shit human being for things you weren't involved in, and weren't there for is a bit ... doofy.

[OldRover]

Mike's research ability is about on par with the National Enquirer. For every one thing he gets right, he gets nine things wrong. He tells so many mistruths and blows so much shit out of proportion that it's impossible to actually take any of it seriously. In the end, he's just talking shit. If he'd stick to actual facts and not try to be an armchair tabloid journalist, maybe people would actually take him seriously. Did it ever occur to anyone that the reason he is so hated is because he talks so much untrue shit?

[NecroPhile]

LOL at DerpKobold teaching Zeta about Mike.  Zeta's new here.

[spenoza]

Mike/Prof was decidedly an ass. Sometimes he was an asset to the community, but not enough to make it worth tolerating his BS within it. The ends do not justify the means.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, as if I didn't clash with that fuck for a dozen pages or so of posts. As if the one or two photos of me that exist online haven't been located and shopped into "humor" memes by Mike a decade before "meme" became a popular term.

Realistically though, if I had to have breakfast at a giant round table at Denny's with a bunch of PCEFXers Mike is not one of the people I'd refuse to sit with, which is more than I can say about some other people here, people who I doubt I could make peace with for even a half hour because they are such assholes. People who I can't imagine ever having one decent conversation with, even if locked in a freezer like Archie and Meathead, because there clearly isn't one overlapping aspect of the human condition that we share. People who's initials are the same as Donkey Kong's.
 

I agree about Facebook, btw. I've dumped almost every group since it really is almost exclusively people posting pictures of shit they bought, often before they've even received it. A lot of "what's your guys' opinion of all this stuff I just bought?" posts, which we occasionally get here. It doesn't matter the subject. The car groups are like this, this synthesizer groups, the robot toy collecting groups. Facebook can ruin anything.

[Gredler]

kind words

Dennys serves beer right?

Pretty sure I could sit at dennys with most people here then

[NecroPhile]

I could sit at Denny's with anyone here...... but like most dinners at Denny's, it's probably gonna end with a knife fight in the parking lot.

[elmer]

Back to Kevtris and an FPGA PCE ... it sounds like it's definitely still on his radar, and he's recently talked about the potential difficulty with getting the PCE's fast RAM access-speed working on the Analogue NT Mini hardware.

He was complaining about the lack of public info on the PCE hardware, but he's received all the system docs now.

BIG BUT ... he doesn't want to do any console CD-emulation in the near-future, so whenever he does eventually do a PCE FPGA, it'll probably be HuCard-only for the first revision.

[Gypsy]

Ah damn, wouldn't be a want for me unless it could also do cds.

[NecroPhile]

I'm okay with huey for round one (ya gotta start somewhere), but I'd hope CD support was added soon.  There's just too many great cd games, plus cd support seems like it'd be more desirable in terms of cost, reliability, and load speeds compared to 'real' hardware.

[Gentlegamer]

Need CDs images to play off SD card.

[DildoKKKobold]

Yeah, as if I didn't clash with that fuck for a dozen pages or so of posts. As if the one or two photos of me that exist online haven't been located and shopped into "humor" memes by Mike a decade before "meme" became a popular term.

Realistically though, if I had to have breakfast at a giant round table at Denny's with a bunch of PCEFXers Mike is not one of the people I'd refuse to sit with, which is more than I can say about some other people here, people who I doubt I could make peace with for even a half hour because they are such assholes. People who I can't imagine ever having one decent conversation with, even if locked in a freezer like Archie and Meathead, because there clearly isn't one overlapping aspect of the human condition that we share. People who's initials are the same as Donkey Kong's.

Nice avoidance of the original question. Apparently, in the world of SignofZeta, people who spend too much money on video games are WORSE people than those who literally stalk people because of an internet argument.

Yeah, its OK, I'd rather not go to Denny's with you. I don't think I could handle 10 minutes of your old man pants-on-head retarded ranting.  Ironically, last time I was with Gredler, we were at Village Inn (Baker's Square for you midwesterners). Its way better than Dennys. We had a good time.

 

I could sit at Denny's with anyone here...... but like most dinners at Denny's, it's probably gonna end with a knife fight in the parking lot.

I LOL'd.