Commander X16 - Second Prototype PCBs are Here!

BruceMcF · Post by **BruceMcF** » Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:17 am

On 8/4/2020 at 3:58 AM, DY17 said:

I believe Playstation 2 controllers also use 9 connections, but have even more buttons, including the joysticks. I really like the SNES controllers A LOT, but I'm wondering why the SNES over the PS2, considering the greater number of buttons, and more modern controller. Is it a proprietary issue, cost, just personal preference?

PS2 would require more pins and have a bigger Kernel footprint. NES/SNES is Select, MISO, SCLK, while PS2 is Attention, Acknowledge, MISO, MISO, SCLK. You can do two SNES with four pins, while two PS2 requires a minimum of seven (since MISO, MISO, and SCLK can all be bussed).

"More buttons" tilts to SNES in part because they have identical interfaces from the system side, you just read 8 bits from an NES and 16 from an SNES. So you get more buttons WITHOUT using taking any GPIO away from the User Port.

DY17 · Post by **DY17** » Wed Aug 12, 2020 12:39 am

13 hours ago, BruceMcF said:

PS2 would require more pins and have a bigger Kernel footprint. NES/SNES is Select, MISO, SCLK, while PS2 is Attention, Acknowledge, MISO, MISO, SCLK. You can do two SNES with four pins, while two PS2 requires a minimum of seven (since MISO, MISO, and SCLK can all be bussed).

"More buttons" tilts to SNES in part because they have identical interfaces from the system side, you just read 8 bits from an NES and 16 from an SNES. So you get more buttons WITHOUT using taking any GPIO away from the User Port.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like the SNES controller is ideal.

Matej · Post by **Matej** » Mon Oct 05, 2020 2:12 pm

Beautiful. Also its good to have expansion cards like on PC. I think in future there will be SID soundcard (ARMsid or real SID). Or ports for C64 joysticks, network interface for MMORPG games or BBS :).

markboston36 · Post by **markboston36** » Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:19 am

have you guys thought of doing a kickstarter? not only would you be able to gauge interest but it may offset some of the cost.

troj · Post by **troj** » Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:46 am

24 minutes ago, markboston36 said:

have you guys thought of doing a kickstarter? not only would you be able to gauge interest but it may offset some of the cost.

The team has mentioned the possibility of crowdfunding on platforms such as Kickstarter but has not committed to doing so.

While such platforms do provide some benefits, the biggest is awareness. This project already has a great deal of awareness and following.

in addition, platforms such as Kickstarter create their own challenges and expenses.

Perifractic · Post by **Perifractic** » Wed Oct 21, 2020 2:42 am

have you guys thought of doing a kickstarter? not only would you be able to gauge interest but it may offset some of the cost.

Yes, this is mentioned in the FAQ and has been discussed (please use FAQ & search before posting in future thanks.) We will definitely launch with crowdfunding of some kind, but not necessarily on Kickstarter. [emoji106][emoji973]️

-N2 · Post by **-N2** » Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:22 am

what would it take to wire up one of these diskonchip roms? http://www.jkmicro.com/DiskOnChip.html

SlithyMatt · Post by **SlithyMatt** » Sat Oct 24, 2020 4:29 am

2 hours ago, -N2 said:

what would it take to wire up one of these diskonchip roms? http://www.jkmicro.com/DiskOnChip.html

You could put one on an expansion board, but the main unit already has an SD card port.

BruceMcF · Post by **BruceMcF** » Sat Dec 05, 2020 6:53 am

On 10/24/2020 at 10:22 AM, -N2 said:

what would it take to wire up one of these diskonchip roms? http://www.jkmicro.com/DiskOnChip.html

You could hang that on the User port ... three Port B line for WE, CE, OE, two for address latch enables, for two eight bit clocked latches, the Port A handshake line on the clock inputs of the latches, you'd be good to go. It would not be "plug and play" unless one of the user FlashROM blocks had the support routines for it.

But it's hard to see the use case for it unless the CX16 is providing bench system support to an SBC that relies on one. In most cases, using the built in SD card for mass storage will make more sense.

m00dawg · Post by **m00dawg** » Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:52 pm

Ya'll mind if you can take this topic to the General Chat forum? it's a good convo and one I'm interested in, but it's giving a false sense of excitement and then a let-down when I see there's an update to this thread that ultimately isn't about the actual prototype. Not trying to be rude and squash convos and I'm certainly one to make things fly off the rails regularly! But this is one particular forum post we should probably keep on the rails if ya'll don't mind?