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Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

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Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#121

Post by moftz »

pkiller wrote: post #38
Yhippa wrote: post #34

I know this has been said before but this is one of the coolest things I've seen posted here on HN. My undergrad is in computer engineering and this post brought back a flood of writing VHDL and doing design in Mentor Graphics. I'm going to read this a few more times. It's like reading a good book about my hopes and dreams.

Thanks :) (I don't mind people saying it over and over again, believe me :P) I actually started building a much smaller video game console with a cheap Cyclone II FPGA board (a friend of mine wanted one and I tried to figure it out how I could make something smaller and cheaper but still retro and cool) and I'm using VHDL, it's not exactly easy to learn but it's pretty cool, and I find it really hard to find good res…

You could use a Zynq FPGA that has a built-in dual core ARM processor. It has 512K of L2 cache and 256K of memory, more than enough to basically copy the same architecture into that design. It also has ADCs built in so you can implement analog joysticks too. It's also probably fast enough to build a graphics processor in logic. Only thing you may want to keep is the sound processor because there is no built-in DAC so you would need to implement that anyway.

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#122

Post by martin1b »

Very impressive. My first thought is, why? Just use a Pi with Retro-pi. However, you wanted to be down at the metal. That's quite a challenge, particularly when you work alone.

I'm always impressed when someone is skilled at both hardware and software to make a finished product. It's Woz-like.

Very impressive work.

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#123

Post by ertoiuert »

pkiller wrote: post #38
Yhippa wrote: post #34

I know this has been said before but this is one of the coolest things I've seen posted here on HN. My undergrad is in computer engineering and this post brought back a flood of writing VHDL and doing design in Mentor Graphics. I'm going to read this a few more times. It's like reading a good book about my hopes and dreams.

Thanks :) (I don't mind people saying it over and over again, believe me :P) I actually started building a much smaller video game console with a cheap Cyclone II FPGA board (a friend of mine wanted one and I tried to figure it out how I could make something smaller and cheaper but still retro and cool) and I'm using VHDL, it's not exactly easy to learn but it's pretty cool, and I find it really hard to find good res…

Port it to MiSTer?

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#124

Post by rafaelvasco »

martin1b wrote: post #122

Very impressive. My first thought is, why? Just use a Pi with Retro-pi. However, you wanted to be down at the metal. That's quite a challenge, particularly when you work alone. I'm always impressed when someone is skilled at both hardware and software to make a finished product. It's Woz-like. Very impressive work.

Because the journey is more important than the destination.

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#125

Post by Shaanie »

bantunes wrote: post #117
Rooster61 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said anything about Portuguese people as a uniform block? That doesn't even make any sense as it's not only Portuguese people that speak Portuguese lol. I only referenced those who have either chosen or were involuntarily exposed to English as a second language who speak Portuguese natively.

> and their English mistakes are pretty uniform due to the specific differences between the languages, esp regarding prepositions and tense This is not the case. Different people make different mistakes, as any exposure to a high-school level English class will allow you to discover. There's a case for clusters of similar errors, but then again any generalizing statement is true for a sufficiently high level of clust…

That's a very strange view. Of course people with a native language will make similar mistakes when learning a new language. Swedish speakers have issues pronouncing "jump" ("yump" ) and cheap ("sheep") because the language doesn't really have those sounds. Because were and was is the same word in Swedish, that's also a common mistake.

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#126

Post by pkiller »

Rooster61 wrote: post #113

This is a wonderful project. Well done. You might just inspire this software engineer to take his first crack at hardware. :) One somewhat personal question, if you don't mind. You say you are Portuguese. Is English a second language for you? I don't see the telltale signs of a Portuguese -> English speaker (I have a lot of experience interacting with Portuguese speakers, and their English mistakes are pretty uniform…

Thank you, if it's something you like, you should try a hardware project, for sure :)

And yes I am Portuguese, born and raised and I do know what you mean, there are mistakes that are somewhat common for Portuguese speaking English and I do make an effort not to make the same mistakes. However I know my English is far form perfect and it's always easier when it's in written form. I think that the fact that I've always spent too much time watching american/british movies and TV shows made me pay more attention to how English should be spoken :).

But anyway, thank you for saying I speak perfect English, it's actually a great compliment. :)

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#127

Post by growlist »

I love these posts of new retro consoles. I would love to see one that maintains the audio-visual aesthetics i.e. FM chip tunes, sprite-based 2D graphics yet otherwise pushes the hardware to the absolute max of what is possible today. I think the zenith of 2D gaming was consoles like Neo-Geo and Sega Saturn (and possibly a 2D arcade board whose name escapes me?) and I'm thinking of something along those lines. Does such a thing exist?

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#128

Post by pkiller »

rafaelvasco wrote: post #124
martin1b wrote: post #122

Very impressive. My first thought is, why? Just use a Pi with Retro-pi. However, you wanted to be down at the metal. That's quite a challenge, particularly when you work alone. I'm always impressed when someone is skilled at both hardware and software to make a finished product. It's Woz-like. Very impressive work.

Because the journey is more important than the destination.

Yes the journey was very important, absolutely.

Also I had set myself a specific set of goals that obviously are not going to make sense to most people and I understand that.

It could seem like a daunting task at first, but breaking it into milestones actually makes it easier and makes the journey a lot better.

Re: Show HN: A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time

#130

Post by pkiller »

eldavojohn wrote: post #119

I never comment on here. This was cool enough for me to try to figure out my password and log in and say that you are the tinkerer/creator I wish I could be.

Thank you so much :)

I'm actually a bit overwhelmed with all the comments and I'm trying to answer at least a few of them.

Just wanted to say that, even without knowing you, I think you could absolutely be a tinkerer or creator, just choose something you would like to build, start small and go from there. :)

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