HYPEEEEE brb hiring a secretaryOK. So here is the latest news on this project.
The cartridge is going to be FPGA based...yeah! .....but will also have flashes for sound partGraphics and code go via DDR.
Why? Because this Frankestein mixture is the fastest and cheapest option of them all. We keep the flexibility of the FPGA and we avoid using more expensive FPGAs by putting the sound part in the flashes.
Loading time as discussed should be in the worst case 10 secs. Firmware fully updatable from the microSD and support for all games supported by MAME.
That's it! This is final now.....I hope.
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FPGA version will take a little bit longer. I'll keep you guys updated...
Some of you have been asking about why the mix of DDR and Flashes. Here is the answer:
as you can imagine, everything is done in order to minimize costs without impacting the performance.
The whole PCB is controlled still by an ARM CPU which is reading from the microSD and gives commands to the FPGA. If the FPGA has to handle all buses with DDR, I would need to go for a bigger more expensive FPGA. For that reason, I decided to use the same ARM to program 2 flashes directly (AudioCPU and fixed in MAME) so we avoid having to use a bigger more expensive (about 40 EUR more) FPGA.
as you can imagine, everything is done in order to minimize costs without impacting the performance.
The whole PCB is controlled still by an ARM CPU which is reading from the microSD and gives commands to the FPGA. If the FPGA has to handle all buses with DDR, I would need to go for a bigger more expensive FPGA. For that reason, I decided to use the same ARM to program 2 flashes directly (AudioCPU and fixed in MAME) so we avoid having to use a bigger more expensive (about 40 EUR more) FPGA.
synbiosfan
Enthusiast
Glad you've managed cost/performance so effectively!
Very excited about this news, DS. For those of us who are technically inclined, is there anything immediate that the community could provide or track down in order to take some of the burden off of you? Tech manuals for the NEO-GEO, hardware donations, etc.?
Hi Darksoft!
I am so excited for this ! Cant wait to buy one from you, however please let me know will you also sell the cart in a MVS/AES shell? How will you design those, if you will give order for them, may I ask you to make the AES label area of the cart a little bigger than what the SNK official carts looks like so that we can have a nice big SNK MultiGame cart art, and for the MVS cart, if you wanna give orders maybe you can ask them to make something like below:
I hope you take this into consideration. Just asking, its Ok whatever you like.
I am so excited for this ! Cant wait to buy one from you, however please let me know will you also sell the cart in a MVS/AES shell? How will you design those, if you will give order for them, may I ask you to make the AES label area of the cart a little bigger than what the SNK official carts looks like so that we can have a nice big SNK MultiGame cart art, and for the MVS cart, if you wanna give orders maybe you can ask them to make something like below:
I hope you take this into consideration. Just asking, its Ok whatever you like.
Cartridge cases and labels will be coming from http://www.saveyourgames.it/index.p...uct&keyword=cps-2&category_id=0&product_id=69Hi Darksoft!
I am so excited for this ! Cant wait to buy one from you, however please let me know will you also sell the cart in a MVS/AES shell? How will you design those, if you will give order for them, may I ask you to make the AES label area of the cart a little bigger than what the SNK official carts looks like so that we can have a nice big SNK MultiGame cart art, and for the MVS cart, if you wanna give orders maybe you can ask them to make something like below:
I hope you take this into consideration. Just asking, its Ok whatever you like.
They already have the carts and the forms to make them, so I won't reinvent the wheel here....
Price has already been discussed, it'd be about 400 USD.Hi Darksoft!
I am so excited for this ! Cant wait to buy one from you, however please let me know will you also sell the cart in a MVS/AES shell? How will you design those, if you will give order for them, may I ask you to make the AES label area of the cart a little bigger than what the SNK official carts looks like so that we can have a nice big SNK MultiGame cart art, and for the MVS cart, if you wanna give orders maybe you can ask them to make something like below:
I hope you take this into consideration. Just asking, its Ok whatever you like.
qwertylesh
Beginner
well fuck..
i can't afford that shit
i can't afford that shit
My plan is to make it compatible with all versions. I'll keep you updated as the design is getting more and more ready.
Vigormortis
Beginner
If you have MVS, just buy a cheap secondhand 161 in 1 multicart when the supply spikes due to this new flashcart.
If you have AES.... wtf are you doing complaining about things being expensive?
I'll eventually sell off my MVS carts after getting the flashcart, so I figure it'll pretty much pay for itself.
You can have my 161 in 1 for $5 plus shipping. Shit, nevermind, my son uses to play with his legos, I was previously using it as a doorstop. Its not that bad, I just hate everything about it except for the original games that actually do play on thing. At one point I thought about opening it to see if I could repurpose any of the components.
qwertylesh
Beginner
400usd, that's 530AUD
I can buy a car.. or a really mint prostitute for that kind of money.
shit i can buy 2 AES consoles at that price.
I was expecting it to be around or slightly less then the cps2multi. not near double
I can buy a car.. or a really mint prostitute for that kind of money.
shit i can buy 2 AES consoles at that price.
I was expecting it to be around or slightly less then the cps2multi. not near double
Double of what?
The CPS2 multi is $325 and the neo geo multi will be around $400.
\o/.k.
Its less than 100 more than the cps2 multi. I think your calculator needs new batteries.
LOL!
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