Everdrive ... 1 vs 2

[MNKyDeth]

Well, I was just looking to get an Everdrive. I know I missed the big roundup here on the forums.

Krikzz site has the Rev 1 in stock but not the Rev 2.

I just bought an Arcade Card Duo and that should be here soon but in order to use it I need to region mod my system.

It says for both of the Everdrives that they may not work correctly with a region mod on the system. So... A US Duo + an Obey chip region mod which one would be my best option in terms of compatability?

Anyone have issues or no issues with the Obey region mod and either of these Everdrives? Any and all input of users with region modded consoles using either one of these.

[CrackTiger]

My modified white PCE with IFU works fine with both.

My modified SCD doesn't work with anything if the v2 is used.

[elmer]

Krikzz site has the Rev 1 in stock but not the Rev 2.

I just bought an Arcade Card Duo and that should be here soon but in order to use it I need to region mod my system.

It says for both of the Everdrives that they may not work correctly with a region mod on the system. So... A US Duo + an Obey chip region mod which one would be my best option in terms of compatability?

My modified white PCE with IFU works fine with both.

My modified SCD doesn't work with anything if the v2 is used.

KRIKKzz has to put that disclaimer on his site because there are so many different region mods and he can't be responsible for the quality of those mods.

It doesn't mean that the TED absolutely won't work ... and you're doing exactly the right thing in asking for people's real-world experience.

I always wince when I hear about people modding US systems to play Japanese games when Japanese systems are so relatively-cheap anyway ... but I guess that's just me.

I believe that people have had success with TED v1 and some regions mods ... but someone else should be able to answer that better.

TED v2 has been a bit of a mess for KRIKKzz ... it's the first time that he's used that FPGA chip, and all the 3.3V-to-5V level-shifting that it requires, and the early boards have been a bit unstable on some systems.

Unmodded DUO and IFU systems seem OK, but TG-16 and SCD systems don't seem to work with the v2.2 boards that a lot of us got.

My own v2.2 card won't work in my unmodified CoreGrafx + SCD, but will work with my unmodified SuperGrafx + SCD ... for whatever reason.

KRIKKzz will be getting in new v2.4 boards any-day-now, and the problems were all supposed to be fixed in the v2.3 boards ... but until someone here gets a newer one and tests it, we really don't know for sure.

I sent my own v2.2 card back for warranty-replacement this week, but I have no idea how long that will take.

So at this point, a V1 card seems like the safer purchase, but the v2 really will be a "better" card whenever it is 100% fixed, so you may choose to wait ... or you may just find a killer deal on a v1 card.

[MNKyDeth]

Well, I do have some PC Engine Duo's and Duo-R's heading my way so my US Duo may hit storage status again soon.

I picked up a couple games like Battle Lode Runner and some more controllers so I can play with at least 4 people. Already have Bomberman  and Bomberman 93 and both Dungeon Explorers so when my brothers come over for a night of drinking we can kick back in some old school bliss. Might grab Bomberman 94 at some point too...

Man I hope that's not the collectard coming out in me... I stocked up on caps for the consoles and a couple A/V cables for RGB to scart but I may need more chips from Turbokon... Obey and RGB.

I mostly wanted to know cause if I bought the V1.2 on the site if it would most likely work as the V2 is sold out and not in stock. If the V2.4 doesn't have any issues I may go for it but then that's another wait and see from my perspective and I kinda want one now lol.

[csgx1]

I have a V1.1 ED and it works on all 3 of my region modded systems with original Obey chips.  PCE Duo, Turbografx and Turbo Express.

[EmperorIng]

I had heard some scattered chatter about problems working with doujindance Duo-Rs. Is this just bulk? I don't imagine his mods would make much a difference.

[elmer]

I had heard some scattered chatter about problems working with doujindance Duo-Rs. Is this just bulk? I don't imagine his mods would make much a difference.

Even the TED v2.2 with all of it's problems worked fine in my doujindance RGB-modded Duo-R.

Sorry, but I don't have one of his region-modded systems to check that part out.

[jperryss]

I have a v1 Everdrive, it works perfectly on my region-modded Duo-R and my unmodded briefcase.

[nopepper]

I have a doujindance region modded duo-r, purchased early this year, and it works great with v1 Everdrive. Hope that helps.

[crazydean]

I haven't had a single problem on my RGB/Region-modded PCE Duo with TED V2.

[Opethian]

both TED V1 and V2 worked fine in Laseractive pacs, SCD, and briefcase setups

[wilykat]

v1 is older (obviously) and used flash ROM to store a ROM image to be played. This allows the Everdrive to play a game without SD card, just load a ROM first, shut it down, remove, and the game generally auto starts.

v2 uses RAM for faster loading time but it does require micro SD card be present and requires OS file present as well.  v2 also has extra 4MB RAM to be used with Populous game and future homemade game that may want to take advantage of extra RAM. 

All v2 other than the newest 2.4 has shown problem running on certain hardware. It seems if you have extra accessories such as Turbobooster or CD system, the address and data lines becomes flaky and the TED doesn't work at all.  If you use a Duo or PC Engine or Coregrafx with no additional accessories or a TE or GT, those should be OK. If you plan on console with added accessories or any of TG-16, wait for 2.4 to be available to be safe.  Krikzz never discovered this issue until it was too late because he never owned a TG-16 to test with.    He now has one 

Both versions cannot be used to play any Arcade card (RAM works differently) and cannot run Tennokoe card.  Also IIRC v1 can't run System 3.x on a non Duo system because it doesn't have the required extra RAM.

I'm sticking with v1 for now.  I may get another so I can leave one with custom painted black and orange cover in my TE and one to leave in my Duo-R

[MNKyDeth]

Well, I guess it can wait till 2.4 drops then. I was tempted to go after the version 1 and I still may but I want to see how the version 2.4 fares now in comparison.

Seems they both have advantages and disadvantages so....

Thanks for the feedback, keep em coming if you like, more info the better.

[Groover]

My understanding is that Ver2 is more compatible and is faster at loading. Something about the memory.

I have a Ver1 and it works on my US TurboDuo with no mods. I also have a Duo R region modded and it works fine. My understanding is that for some it doesn't. If your in doubt get version 2.

[elmer]

All v2 other than the newest 2.4 has shown problem running on certain hardware.

Just to clarify in case this is read in a few years time by someone buying a used one here or on eBay ...  the problems were supposed to have been fixed in version 2.3.

But KRIKzz made very, very few version 2.3 boards (only for replacements AFAIK), and is already up to version 2.4 now (which is just a change for cost-reduction).

[Joe Redifer]

Wouldn't it be relatively easy for someone to write an app that allows transfer of game saves to and from the SD card? Not in bulk like the ghetto-ass Tennokoe Bank does it. That's for homeless people. I'm talking a slot-by-slot transfer and backup. I'd love transferring saves around the internet so y'all could see my wicked high scores on your own screen. Unless Krikzz doesn't allow the TED to write to the card?

[TurboXray]

Supposedly it's possible to read/write the SD card from the PCE side.

Someone was already working on a SD READ/WRITE library for the TEDs, on the PCE side. Well, reading lib part is up and running, not sure about how far they got with the write function. This wasn't a coder from Krikzz crew though.

Saw this:  http://pcedev.blockos.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=90
So writing to the SD card works.

[wilykat]

At this time, there isn't a way to transfer saves.  You are stuck looking for Tennokoe bank card and an adapter for USA system.

I do hope someone comes up with a program that can transfer saves between SD card and the internal memory (Turbobooster Plus, Tennokoe 2, CD system, and Duo)

[elmer]

Wouldn't it be relatively easy for someone to write an app that allows transfer of game saves to and from the SD card?

Yes, definitely, but it would be even easier to write it to a PC with the TED's USB port, and nobody has done that yet, either.

Someone was already working on a SD READ/WRITE library for the TEDs, on the PCE side. Well, reading lib part is up and running, not sure about how far they got with the write function. This wasn't a coder from Krikzz crew though.

Saw this:  http://pcedev.blockos.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=90
So writing to the SD card works.

As far as I can see, both Mooz and MegatronUK are still fighting to get stable FAT/FAT32 access working, although MegatronUK seems to be close, if not yet already there.

The silly thing is that IIRC there's already a stable-and-tested 6502 FAT/FAT32 library available ... but it won't work for them because they're insisting on using HuC instead of something a little more modern and standards-compliant like CC65.

KRIKzz seems to have HuC6280 SD Card functions working ... the TED wouldn't work otherwise, particularly TED v2's new "save" feature.

KRIKzz has said that he's using CC65.

Is there a connection? 

[TurboXray]

MooZ doesn't use HuC - he's all asm. It's MegatronUK that wanted HuC support. Modifying CA65 code (not CC65) is fairly easy. I added some functionality to PCEAS2 that kinda helped (those stupid +++ and ---- labels).



 But I dunno: I read this

Postby MooZ » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:15 pm
Huzzah! Multiple sector writes are defeated! The start/dostuff/stop sequence routines were removed. Instead disk_read_sector, disk_write_sector were added.
You can find the code here: sd.asm
I still need to add the C "exports" and send a pull request to John.

..as the asm side was pretty much done, but I have talked with MooZ in quite some time - so maybe not.

[elmer]

MooZ doesn't use HuC - he's all asm. It's MegatronUK that wanted HuC support.
...
But I dunno: I read this .. as the asm side was pretty much done, but I have talked with MooZ in quite some time - so maybe not.

Yep, it looks like Mooz's low-level ASM routines for reading-and-writing an SD card sector were completed about a year ago.

MegatronUK slowly continues to battle to get the higher-level FAT/FAT32 routines written on top of that low-level access.

Here are 2 open-source projects with FAT/FAT32 "C" code suitable for small processors, but they require an ANSI "C" compiler, and so won't directly work on HuC.

http://elm-chan.org/fsw/ff/00index_e.html

http://ultra-embedded.com/fat_filelib/

[MasonSushi]

Does anybody have a Doujindance modded system and use an Everdrive?

[elmer]

Does anybody have a Doujindance modded system and use an Everdrive?

Here's one guy ...

I have a doujindance region modded duo-r, purchased early this year, and it works great with v1 Everdrive. Hope that helps.

And there's a guy on KRIKzz's forum that just got a TED v2.1 working on his Duo-R, but he had to rewire the region-mod to take it's power from a different point (the 7805's input, not output). That worked for him because he's powering his Duo-R with a 7.5V PSOne power supply, and not a regular NEC power supply.

[780racer]

I know I have a US turbo duo that is region modded, and works great with my V1. #JustMy2Cents

[elmer]

KRIKzz got in a new supply of Turbo Everdrive v2.4 cards for sale yesterday.

Anyone feeling brave?

My v2.3 warranty-replacement card is still slowly on it's way over from the Ukraine, so I can't comment on how well the new revision of the card works.

[KlytusImBored]

I ordered one (v2.4) yesterday. I have a doujindance modded Duo-R, so wish me luck.

Anyone have an idea of how long it usually takes to get the ED once it's ordered?

[mickcris]

I ordered one (v2.4) yesterday. I have a doujindance modded Duo-R, so wish me luck.

Anyone have an idea of how long it usually takes to get the ED once it's ordered?

I know that the v2.2 version would not work in that console.  The old v1.2 that I have did work great though.  Hopefully the redesign of the v2.4 will make it work.

here is a thread discussing it:
http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=3279.0

worst case you may have to return the v2 and get a v1 (or find someone here who wants to swap carts)

[StarDust4Ever]

I have the Turbo ED 1.2. I also have the Super ED 2.0 with a DSP1 chip I added myself.

I bring this up because I feel that Krikzz has run himself thin with feature creep by supporting so many different Everdrives. The Turbo ED 2.x had compatibility issues but the bog standard 1.x works great. Likewise with the DSP emulation not working on the Super Everdrives and the necessity of adding BIOS files for the DSP chips.

Just say I'm glad with what I got but if I had bought a Turbo ED and it not worked on my unmodded TurboGrafx system, I would have been upset. I do wonder about future homebrew for TurboGrafx/PC Engine, but aside from Atlantean and a few demos, there's not much yet, and I don't know of any homebrew on the horizon that require the ED v2.x

Turbografx homebrew seems to still be in it's infancy and sadly the majority of homebrews cater to CD-ROM crowd which I cannot afford the add-on or a Duo. 

[TurboXray]

Turbografx homebrew seems to still be in it's infancy and sadly the majority of homebrews cater to CD-ROM crowd which I cannot afford the add-on or a Duo. 

A lot of homebrew, the 8 and 16bit era, seems to be trending towards profit nowafays. As in, the rom isn't released for free. Not all homebrew, obviously, but a good amount. So a flashcard won't help you in that respect.

[StarDust4Ever]

Turbografx homebrew seems to still be in it's infancy and sadly the majority of homebrews cater to CD-ROM crowd which I cannot afford the add-on or a Duo. 

A lot of homebrew, the 8 and 16bit era, seems to be trending towards profit nowafays. As in, the rom isn't released for free. Not all homebrew, obviously, but a good amount. So a flashcard won't help you in that respect.

I've tested a lot of WIP homebrews using flashcarts on my Atari. If it's good, I usually end up buying it when it comes out. Ditto for NES titles. Oftentimes with NES there is a demo ROM with just the first level playable.

Many games are also now being released on custom flash mappers instead of recycled old Nintendo PCBs. This makes piracy difficult because the custom mappers aren't supported on flash carts or popular emulators, which is fine by me. Pirating 20 year old games because they are too rare or expensive is one thing; pirating newly released homebrews is just douchey.

The Santatlantean demo was very fun and the mechanics were great. Since it uses the same engine, it's enough for me to know Atlantean is gold. I messaged the person doing the Atlantean homebrews as to when another batch would come out. I enjoy supporting the community but it appears they are all gone atm.

Sorry if I'm going off topic. Krikzz is adding the RAM into the v2 Everdrives so future advanced homebrews may take advantage of, but more compatibility problems arise. I'll probably buy an adapter eventually to play Japanese games, but as Krikzz said some region mods don't behave nicely with the v2 Everdrives and I'm wondering if the Obey mod is one of them. If the Hucard RAM uses a bidirectional bus, it might cause problems with the region select chip whereas a straight wired adapter would pass the signal both ways. Forgive me but I'm a little ignorant on how the RAM is utilized.

[blueraven]

Elmer, great stuff in that post. I think I'll go with the v1 on your recommendation, or the 2.4 when it comes out, and then I will report back.

[elmer]

Elmer, great stuff in that post. I think I'll go with the v1 on your recommendation, or the 2.4 when it comes out, and then I will report back.

The latest batch of v2.4 boards went on sale this week, and I got my v2.3 board back from "warranty replacement" today ... I'm still in the process of testing it.