TRH9000 - The Yamaha V9990 based open-source video card for the MSX

Expert (87)

03-08-2022, 03:36

Friends - I was wondering about strategies to increase the number of game developers with access to V9990 based video cards for the MSX. I then decided to start a CERN Open-Hardware based project to "re-create" the GFX9000 video card.

It is a community effort to create everything required to build v9990 based MSX cartridges. I know it is hard to get our hands into V9990 chips these days, but I just got 15 from a supplier in Japan and need a project to use them!

What is my ask here? I'm a computer engineer with almost no experience creating hardware from scratch for the MSX. I've been implementing projects here and there (from other sources) and I have a quite good lab to prototype, but I need more experienced people looking into the project and helping me to create something for the whole community.

All the files will be available under the CERN-OHL-S license for anybody that wants to build a card.

If you think you can contribute, please check the project repo at https://github.com/cristianoag/trh9000, you can reply to this thread here or start a discussion on GitHub if you prefer. I invite you to give feedback and support the rest of the MSX community.

Cheers, Cristiano

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Por sdsnatcher73

Prophet (3967)

03-08-2022, 07:03

Hi Cristiano, I can’t really contribute in any other way than cheering you on! But that I will do. Great idea and it will definitely help the community to get more GFX9000 hardware in the wild. I hope some people from TMTlogic and TechnoBytes are willing to share their experience with creating similar devices.

Por lintweaker

Champion (465)

03-08-2022, 17:06

Lucky you managed to get a hold of 15 chips!
I have some experience with both the hw and software site of the V9990 creating my own board for it for use with my DIY MSX2+.

Por crisag

Expert (87)

03-08-2022, 21:46

linkweaker, please consider contribute to the project. check the circuit I have on the github repo.

Por lintweaker

Champion (465)

04-08-2022, 08:57

crisag wrote:

linkweaker, please consider contribute to the project. check the circuit I have on the github repo.

sure, no problem. I can upload the schematics of my V9990 + board to github if you like to take a look.

Por Amaury Carvalho

Resident (37)

04-08-2022, 16:27

It's a very interesting project. Please keep us informed on the progress. I have plans to include V9990 support in a future version of MSXBAS2ROM compiler, and testing it on your hardware will be a good start.

Por edoz

Prophet (2482)

05-08-2022, 08:50

This is a very cool thing! The devices is so nice and for future use this will be the way to go! I love what you are doing. Not sure if i can help but i like it!

Por lintweaker

Champion (465)

05-08-2022, 09:25

I've added the schematics of my V9990 board and output/interface module to a new github repo.
V9990 board and interface module
Checking your schematics, there are a lot of similarities (of course). Let me know if you have any questions or remarks.

Por PingPong

Enlighted (4142)

05-08-2022, 19:17

Hi, question, does your project allow to superimpose v9990 signal to standard MSX V99x8 signal ?

Por aoineko

Paladin (1011)

05-08-2022, 20:58

I can't help on the hardware side, but I hope this project will suceed! More V9990 for our MSXs means more potential programmers who may want to create software for this hardware.
And this is the side I can help. V9990 support is work-in-progress in my C game library, MSXgl.

Por crisag

Expert (87)

09-08-2022, 03:49

Hi, I was out busy with daily job, but back to the project now. @lintweaker, I'll check your schematics... thank you so much for the contribution. @Pingpong, first iteration will not have superimpose. I started working on the PCB earlier today and it is a challenge to fit just what I currently have on the schema... lets see the thing working first before thinking about that. One of colleagues helping with the project is actually working in something related to superimpose... hope we can agregate that in the future as well.