Retroshop is legit, has been in the fpga/retro business for over a decade (specialized in MSX/ZXSpectrum/CPC) and is cheaper.
But by all means be my guest, pay more and wait
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MiSTer FPGA System
- Thread starter Hero_of_the_Day
- Start date
But by all means be my guest, pay more and wait
it's more about facebook than anything else. its not a diss on retroshop. maybe i'll crack, who knows
If you don't want to get it from FB directly, I bought my 128MB from Antonio Villena and because he doesn't make the standard ones himself, he forwards the order onto Retroshop :)
I'm not on any of this, can you provide a link to where I can contact him via facebook? Or should he be easy to contact through his store?
Yep! That's the one I ordered, and the order was done by Retroshop. I believe Antonio only makes the XXSD SDRAM because it's his own design, but it's non-"standard".
FWIW I think the order was passed on pretty much right away, because when I followed it up a few days later it had already been shipped by Retroshop. Both great sellers to deal with!
Awesome, ordered!
I picked up the Nano and cheapy usb hub RedOnePunch recommended. I think this is good enough to get me started before diving into the other addons.
Thanks all!
Contact him through his store
But honestly just register to the atari forums, it's the best place for MiSTer news anyway and all the legit builders are there
You won't be disapointed. Retroshop is a very sweet and helpful guy based in Portugal and has helped me out with various MiSter related issues over the years
I legit love this community! Helps that it's more tightly knit and the barrier for entry tinkering-wise is a little higher than something like a RPi, but everyone helps everyone out, points them to alternative sources if they themselves can't supply a product/service... it's just great.
Got the SNAC board today. Does anyone sell the HDMI to SNES controller adapter? Might have to make something myself if I can't find one for sale. Not sure if it's even worth it if tweaking USB polling rates yield similar results.
Ricardo from retroshop.pt is great. You'll be pleased. I'll post here if I get anything in stock. Admittedly I forget to check resetera for a few months but you can catch my news on Twitter misteraddons if you want to track my stock. $60 for SDRAM 128, by the way.
The Classic Gaming Discord's MiSTer channel is another great place to hang out. Lots of developers there, lag talk, controller talk, SNAC, BlisSTer, home of overclocked USB polling, etc. https://discord.gg/juwf79k
The Classic Gaming Discord's MiSTer channel is another great place to hang out. Lots of developers there, lag talk, controller talk, SNAC, BlisSTer, home of overclocked USB polling, etc. https://discord.gg/juwf79k
Yep! Most of the main sellers are friends with each other in some form or fashion. There's plenty of work to keep everyone busy.
A change was made to scan for games on USB drives, network shares, and SD cards automatically so users don't need massive micro sd cards. It was fleshed out on the Discord chat today :)
This is awesome because I was just today wondering about HDD compatibility because of Sega CD being added. I have a nice and big HDD ready to go, so it'll be great to not have to worry about buying another huge expensive SD card when I get my MiSTer
cool, ill come after you if something is wrong :D
i'm excited to be in the zeitgeist. maybe ill
be able to contribute in some way.
what does it mean by "if it's accepted"? is there a council? of what? i'm assume mister has its own os?
Well, in the most practical and dumbed down sense, someone controls the website/server from which the software is downloaded, unless you manually use another one.
(I actually think the tweet refers to some git repository stuff, but if you're confused about it, the difference is minimal unless you want to program some stuff yourself.)
You can already use network shares, and hard drives, but you have to manually switch between USB and SD in the menu. This change makes the main MiSTer code scan all relevant folders automatically. And yes, Sorg is the one who approves or denies all code changes, but Kitrinix (Rysha) is one of the top developers. It's a tidy solution that works well. There's a test build on the Discord channel.
For now, I'm opening my SDRAM orders so people can get started. IO and USB are great accessories, but also optional. I'm also selling a simple heatsink and fan setup, as well as WiFi and BT dongles for anyone needing something that works. misteraddons.com
I've purchased from him several times now. Quality assembly and friendly.
edit: Oops, was a page behind. Stand by my statement, though.
Do you need the RAM module for NES/SNES? Genesis works fine for me, but SNES loads to a black screen and NES to a grey one. Their README.md's don't mention the RAM expansion.
OP
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Yes. With no SDRAM you can run most arcade (not Neo-Geo) cores, 8-bit home computers, Genesis.
PCE and the recent GBA core will run using the DDR3 ram but this isn't considered ideal.
But, at least there's a bunch to mess with until you get one.
Edit: Here's the list https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g471imXA7U
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thanks! i'll stick to genesis for now. (funny enough i bought a classic genesis last week that i guess will just stay in its box forever)
OP
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If you are located in the US, I have an extra 32meg stick of RAM you can have free of charge. I upgraded to the 128, so have no use for it. Will do everything but a few neo geo and GBA games at the moment.
I've ordered a DE-10 Nano from Digikey today and will be collecting a few more pieces after Christmas.
Can I check on who are the preferred sellers for SDRAM, cases, and IO boards for the UK at the moment?
Can I check on who are the preferred sellers for SDRAM, cases, and IO boards for the UK at the moment?
Aw thanks, but i already ordered a 128 through Antonio Villena (who I guess passes it along to Retroshop). Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait.
As I am researching getting the mister I found this https://boogermann.github.io/Bible_MiSTer/ extremely helpfull. Especially since I was initially confused by the different add-ons.
That's a pretty good resource. Helps to cut through the madness of the MiSTer github site.
I've just discovered that compiling cores is super fucking easy, so if there are changes pending and you're waiting for a new release, you can do them yourself!
From the ClassicGaming Discord, specific to the actual MegaCD core because there was a file left out of the includes (or whatever):
The compilation program is Intel Quartus Lite, you can only use version 17.0, and it's free. From the same download page you need the Cyclone V support file, and of course the source for the core from GitHub (where it says "Clone or Download", just download as zip, then unzip).
Note: Doing this also gives you a bunch of interesting information, like this tells me that the logic utilisation is 19,592/41,910 (47%), meaning it's using about half the logic capacity of the FPGA. Well, I thought it was cool :/
Oh, and it took about 33 minutes to do on my fairly average work laptop FYI. I imagine smaller cores would be quicker.
From the ClassicGaming Discord, specific to the actual MegaCD core because there was a file left out of the includes (or whatever):
You can basically skip steps 2 and 3 for all other cores.
The compilation program is Intel Quartus Lite, you can only use version 17.0, and it's free. From the same download page you need the Cyclone V support file, and of course the source for the core from GitHub (where it says "Clone or Download", just download as zip, then unzip).
Note: Doing this also gives you a bunch of interesting information, like this tells me that the logic utilisation is 19,592/41,910 (47%), meaning it's using about half the logic capacity of the FPGA. Well, I thought it was cool :/
Oh, and it took about 33 minutes to do on my fairly average work laptop FYI. I imagine smaller cores would be quicker.
Mega CD is taking just 47%? Oh boy. You sure you aren't skipping something like the HDMI output circuitry? Sounds like they could fit a 32X in there and there would still be room to spare... I don't dare dream of Saturn, but, at this point, who knows?
The 32X has two of the same chips (SH-2) that were used in the Capcom CPS3 arcade boards. For comparison, the DE10 is yet to support CPS1 hardware, which is what games like Final Fight were released on.
So we'd need to emulate two chips that were the basis for the hardware running Street Fighter 3, plus a 3D processor, plus an entire Genesis core. And have them all talking to each other in the same way the original hardware did. So I reckon it's pretty unlikely that we'll get to see a 32X core running anytime soon (if at all). Would at least be some time off yet, and there are more theoretically simpler platforms that have to come first.
People have speculated that the very upper limit of what might be capable is the hardware that CAVE shooters like Dodonpachi run off, which is nowhere near as complex as CPS3 (from what I can gather).
And HDMI circuitry isn't part of the FPGA, so it's not considered a factor in replicating chipsets etc.
So we'd need to emulate two chips that were the basis for the hardware running Street Fighter 3, plus a 3D processor, plus an entire Genesis core. And have them all talking to each other in the same way the original hardware did. So I reckon it's pretty unlikely that we'll get to see a 32X core running anytime soon (if at all). Would at least be some time off yet, and there are more theoretically simpler platforms that have to come first.
People have speculated that the very upper limit of what might be capable is the hardware that CAVE shooters like Dodonpachi run off, which is nowhere near as complex as CPS3 (from what I can gather).
And HDMI circuitry isn't part of the FPGA, so it's not considered a factor in replicating chipsets etc.
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Nah, I cant see that early Cave stuff like Dodonpachi coming close to the limit of what the DE-10 can do given its spec. Especially given that the guy developing the core from MAME source code already has most of it running on a much weaker FPGA already.
You are probably thinking of the SH3 based hardware that came later, that will likely be beyond what is currently possible.
The logic utilization depends on how efficient the HDL code is. Neo-Geo, for example, was done by recapping chips and documenting them from a wire perspective, so it's extremely efficient when compiled. I've put together a list of core utilization here. It's not complete, but gives a good idea of at least logic gate utilization.
Nah, I cant see that early Cave stuff like Dodonpachi coming close to the limit of what the DE-10 can do given its spec. Especially given that the guy developing the core from MAME source code already has most of it running on a much weaker FPGA already.
You are probably thinking of the SH3 based hardware that came later, that will likely be beyond what is currently possible.
Someone did DoDonPachi as a Master's thesis for another FPGA development platform and started porting it to MiSTer. He didn't ever implement sound and has gotten bogged down with the port but hasn't released his code for help. I ping him periodically to keep him motivated :) Video and documentation.
There is a support "part" that does scaling which IIRC is/was by default not included in debug builds, with intended effect of speeding up the compilation time and a side effect of resulting bitstream only working with analog AV output. I don't know if that's still happening or not, therefore I'm asking.
FWIW 32X doesn't really have a "3D processor" though. It's really basic hardware aside from SH-2s themselves and the part which overlays framebuffer output on top of base Mega Drive's one. Although it does have a bunch of extra RAM, so skipping the RAM board doesn't sound possible at this point.
Happy to stand corrected, it just astonished me when you said the 32X couldn't be far off! Perhaps I'm expecting to see more things built off of existing/known chipsets before we start seeing things with as-yet-unreleased CPUs etc. Apologies if I sounded dismissive, I just don't want to get my hopes up :/
Given there's been a number of things working successfully with the 68000/Z80 combo (Genesis, Neo-Geo) I'm hoping we see more things that run off similar platforms. Specifically, the Sega Superscaler titles*, Capcom CPS1/2 and Taito Z hardware.
*From what it looks like, the later stuff like OutRunners used an NEC V70 which doesn't really fit into that scope. Probably a bitch to replicate, too.
At one point of of the devs was hypothesizing a build of a MiSTer hat with one or two SH-4s, which can also run in an SH-2 compatible mode. SH-4 is still in supply and *cheap*. The thought was more for dev and engineering (forwards and back) purposes. Probably not going to happen, but there is the potential for add-on processors, maybe, someday. Heck, there may be a MIPS processor still in supply that can run in the same mode as the PSP processor, not sure.
Anyhow, all I'm saying is there are possibilities beyond the current LE capacity of the DE-10 Nano that could extend the platform. Maybe. Someday. Fun to think of, don't plan on it.
Anyhow, all I'm saying is there are possibilities beyond the current LE capacity of the DE-10 Nano that could extend the platform. Maybe. Someday. Fun to think of, don't plan on it.
Thanks for those suggestions. My board has arrived and I've got a quick question about power supplies for the UK.
I can see that the boxed power supply does 100/240v and 50/60hz so I'm thinking I shouldn't have any problems if I plug that in with a suitable travel adapter. Anyone using a different power supply at all? I'd like to have something that looks a little neater than the usual white block travel adapter so open to suggestions on that front.
My other question is around inline power switches. Is anyone using one of these at the moment with their board, and have you had any issues with one of these? From memory I recall seeing something in the past about how inline switches were a bad idea in some situations as they would have an impact on the voltage being supplied.
I can see that the boxed power supply does 100/240v and 50/60hz so I'm thinking I shouldn't have any problems if I plug that in with a suitable travel adapter. Anyone using a different power supply at all? I'd like to have something that looks a little neater than the usual white block travel adapter so open to suggestions on that front.
My other question is around inline power switches. Is anyone using one of these at the moment with their board, and have you had any issues with one of these? From memory I recall seeing something in the past about how inline switches were a bad idea in some situations as they would have an impact on the voltage being supplied.
Thanks misteraddons for the utilization table. Does seem like some cores are definitely more "efficient" than others. I don't think we can determine the upper limit of what the current MiSTer can do based on these.
CPS3 would of course be incredible. I'd be Probably more excited about CPS2.
These work well. Haven't had any issues with mine.
CPS3 would of course be incredible. I'd be Probably more excited about CPS2.
These work well. Haven't had any issues with mine.
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Yeah, I think Jotego is essentially working his way up to CPS2 from where the cores he's developed are now. I still find it fascinating that once you get a certain component of an arcade board (or PC, or console or whatever) you can use that exact same hunk of data with anything else that uses it.
I believe Capcom arcade boards pretty much built upon their last iteration for a while, so when you get older games running it the time to get future platforms running. He already has this board running, which explains why we saw cores get released for Bionic Commando and Tiger Road. Next board revision is CPS, which spec-wise looks the almost the same? And that would give us these.
For reference my order from last week (io6.0/128MB module) shipped yesterday