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MSX VDP in FPGA

by snout on 02-11-2003, 16:13
Topic: Hardware
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After pin-compatible PSG and PPI replacements in FPGA, another interesting pin-compatible hardware product comes from Brazil. Hardware developer Marco Dal Poz and the LSI-USP team developed a replacement for the TMS9918a (MSX-1 VDP) made with FPGA, which adds new video modes of 512x192 and 512x384 pixels in 15-bit color. Needless to say, this FPGA will also support MSX2 (V9938) video modes in the future, including fast ADVRAM support. Right here you can find a movie in which this new VDP, including the new video modes, are demonstrated. However, to be able to play the movie correctly you'll need a recent version or DivX.

Relevant link: FPGA VDP in action (DivX movie)

Comments (8)

By Manuel

Ascended (19688)

Manuel's picture

02-11-2003, 20:02

Hmm, the video stops exactly when the 15bit color stuff is about to be shown...

By snout

Ascended (15187)

snout's picture

02-11-2003, 21:11

fixed it, it should work now.

By Arjan

Paladin (787)

Arjan's picture

02-11-2003, 21:12

am I the only one who can't play that file? GSpot still says the header is corrupt!

By Arjan

Paladin (787)

Arjan's picture

02-11-2003, 21:12

oh I see you've uploaded yet another version...

By jpgrobler

Master (154)

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03-11-2003, 09:05

How much would such a FPGA VDP, PPI, PSG etc cost?

JP

By snout

Ascended (15187)

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03-11-2003, 09:34

The developers are using low-cost FPGA chips which are quite cheap ($20)... however, it takes a lot more than 'just the chip' to make the thing work. However, the final result will probably not cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars Wink

By anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

anonymous's picture

03-11-2003, 12:43

I wonder if the scrolling is V9958 compatible...

By ricbit

Champion (438)

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03-11-2003, 18:48

No, it isn't. There are four new registers controlling high-x-scroll, low-x-scroll, high-y-scroll and low-y-scroll. (two bytes are needed because the values can be greater than 256, of course). Also, in interlaced mode, there's no need to place consecutive lines in different pages like v9938.