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Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

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Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#41

Post by aidenn0 »

philistine wrote: post #38
functionmouse wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people go through so much trouble buying expensive converters, scalers, etc. to make their old games look good on their new tv when there's plenty of old CRTs at thrift stores for maybe like 50 bucks for an excellent one with all the fancy hookups like component and everything, I don't get it. I understand CRTs aren't gonna be around forever so we should in fact be working towards future proofing but, they are around…

> I understand CRTs aren't gonna be around forever We're there dude. I don't know where you live, but from where I'm at, CRTs are gone. Everybody wants hundreds if not thousands for them because the only ones left are those in the hands of retro gamers. All the cheap ones are in the dump at this point.

Just a week ago, I called up the local games store to ask if they wanted my 19" CRT (for free) and they said they didn't have room for any more CRTs, so I'm going to take it to e-waste.

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#42

Post by klaussilveira »

aidenn0 wrote: post #41
philistine wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I understand CRTs aren't gonna be around forever We're there dude. I don't know where you live, but from where I'm at, CRTs are gone. Everybody wants hundreds if not thousands for them because the only ones left are those in the hands of retro gamers. All the cheap ones are in the dump at this point.

Just a week ago, I called up the local games store to ask if they wanted my 19" CRT (for free) and they said they didn't have room for any more CRTs, so I'm going to take it to e-waste.

Where is that gold mine?

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#43

Post by aidenn0 »

klaussilveira wrote: post #42
aidenn0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a week ago, I called up the local games store to ask if they wanted my 19" CRT (for free) and they said they didn't have room for any more CRTs, so I'm going to take it to e-waste.

Where is that gold mine?

https://thecontrollab.com/

Note that the footprint of the store is very small, and CRTs are very large, so "no room" doesn't mean they have a lot. Presumably if they were flying off the shelves though, they would make room.

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#44

Post by klaussilveira »

functionmouse wrote: post #21
jaza wrote: post #20

Still got my Mega Drive, purchased circa 1994. Recently brought it back to life with a Level Hike (I know, apparently RAD2x is better, anyway works well enough for me) HDMI adapter (otherwise sadly it doesn't work with new digital-only TVs), the main unit and all my old games (Sonic 1 and 2, Columns, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Shining Force (needed new battery in cartridge for sav…

people go through so much trouble buying expensive converters, scalers, etc. to make their old games look good on their new tv when there's plenty of old CRTs at thrift stores for maybe like 50 bucks for an excellent one with all the fancy hookups like component and everything, I don't get it. I understand CRTs aren't gonna be around forever so we should in fact be working towards future proofing but, they are around…

> CRTs at thrift stores for maybe like 50 bucks

I haven't seen a CRT in South Florida thrift stores in years. And when you find something on FB or other marketplaces, people want $200+

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#45

Post by kraquepype »

sp8 wrote: post #13

I have such fond memories of my time back in the day owning a MegaDrive. It wasn't my first or last games console, but it was my formative one. It was a time in my life when I was into video games (Sonic 2 being the only game I ever played to completion). It pleases me to realise there's still a community around the MegaDrive and - as others has said - this is so crazy but wonderful to see!

That's my experience as well - my family had a 2600, but the Genesis was our first modern (for the time) game console.

I remember fondly all the trips to the video rental store and flea market hoping to find games we could afford.

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#46

Post by _nickwhite »

For my American friends who may not know this: The Sega MegaDrive console from the late 80's early 90's is what we call the Sega Genesis. When I saw this post, I assumed it was some kind of optical drive or the later released Sega CD (which the rest of the world called Mega-CD). We had a lot of good times playing Street Fighter II and Sonic on this system back in the day.

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#47

Post by MisterTea »

malux85 wrote: post #23
jaza wrote: post #20

Still got my Mega Drive, purchased circa 1994. Recently brought it back to life with a Level Hike (I know, apparently RAD2x is better, anyway works well enough for me) HDMI adapter (otherwise sadly it doesn't work with new digital-only TVs), the main unit and all my old games (Sonic 1 and 2, Columns, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Shining Force (needed new battery in cartridge for sav…

Streets of Rage 2 Ghouls and Ghosts Radical Rex Jurassic Park These megadrive games had great art and music and are still really enjoyable today

ToeJam & Earl - Jammin!

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#48

Post by ssl-3 »

functionmouse wrote: post #21
jaza wrote: post #20

Still got my Mega Drive, purchased circa 1994. Recently brought it back to life with a Level Hike (I know, apparently RAD2x is better, anyway works well enough for me) HDMI adapter (otherwise sadly it doesn't work with new digital-only TVs), the main unit and all my old games (Sonic 1 and 2, Columns, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Wonder Boy in Monster World, Shining Force (needed new battery in cartridge for sav…

people go through so much trouble buying expensive converters, scalers, etc. to make their old games look good on their new tv when there's plenty of old CRTs at thrift stores for maybe like 50 bucks for an excellent one with all the fancy hookups like component and everything, I don't get it. I understand CRTs aren't gonna be around forever so we should in fact be working towards future proofing but, they are around…

I haven't seen any CRTs displays for sale at thrift stores near me (Ohio, USA) for a decade or so. They certainly were common at one point, but that point seems to be rather far in the past.

Anyway, scalers and such: We've got a decent-sized end-of-era flat CRT TV sitting on a high shelf in a closet at the shop that I could take home and use but I really don't want to dedicate space in my house to it.

It's possible that there will never be a time when scalers will be able to fully emulate the qualities of NTSC/PAL/SECAM/whatever as displayed on a CRT, but a scaler is a lot smaller and easier to deal with.

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#49

Post by tndata »

What a Wow, this brings back memories from my own Sega Mega Drive hacking days. About 35 years ago I built my own hardware development kit from scratch as a way to learn more about the hardware.

I documented the project here if anyone is curious: https://nestenius.se/hardware/how-i-built-my-own-sega-mega-d...

It's really fun to see Linux running on the Mega Drive. I never would have expected that back then.

Re: Linux for the Sega MegaDrive

#50

Post by nxobject »

piltdownman wrote: post #34
nommuenjoyer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I plan to get this working on nommu mac at some point but I don't have one yet. I have a pile of 030/040 macs. Its not mentioned but this mc68000 kernel actually uses devicetree (like arm..) so its fairly portable. In my QEMU fork there is support for a 68000 virt machine so you can have a multi-ghz emulated 68000 with 128MB RAM (maybe more, haven't tested) if you really want that.

Much respect for your endeavours. N.B. The Author of Chip4Mac68000 has been planning a port of uClinux in the future with his SDK which explicitly avoids using the Macintosh ROM at all, running bare metal directly on the hardware. Might be worth taking a look at if you're unfamiliar.

Fascinating to think about the logistics with avoiding ROM – model compatiblity must've been a PITA! I'm even thinking about how to identify models – I know there's a pre-Gestalt Toolbox routine that doesn't need any Toolboxes, I guess?
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