Commander X16

3 minutes ago, Fabio said:

i was thinking: isn't flash memory much slower when written? can it sustain the 12 Mz frequence ?



the vera fpga has proved to be capable to integrate at least the 65c02 cpu and a usb controller: wouldn't be a less controversial saving to use it to emulate an FM CHip in the X16?

The flash on the card is probably just the storage for the FPGA bit stream. My guess (because I'm not familiar with the hardware) is that of the 128 KB of memory in the FPGA fabric, a certain amount of it is going to be allocated as ROM, a certain amount as system RAM and a certain amount as video RAM.

You know what I really want?  Just the VERA.

I already made mention that we're already talking about a  "VERA ecosystem", especially if both X8 and X16 are released, and @Birk reminded me:

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why not release the VERA module?  I'd love to have a video interface like the VERA for some other projects.  This would let me connect something like the STM32 to a monitor or TV, or add some cool features to Ben Eater's 6502 kit.  The VERA could become a whole product on it's own with higher priced versions that could go up to 720 or 1080i/p HDMI.

I already have fully working, fully license-problem free versions of 65xx systems sitting on the table behind me.  They're called the VIC 20 and the C64C.  I'll probably buy a 3rd 65xx system: Ben Eater's kit.   And, at this point, I may or may not buy a Commander Xxx.

But I would buy VERA modules for ALL of those (that didn't have it already).

Especially if there's more than one Xxx platform anyway.

38 minutes ago, x16tial said:

You know what I really want?  Just the VERA.



I already made mention that we're already talking about a  "VERA ecosystem", especially if both X8 and X16 are released, and @Birk reminded me:



I already have fully working, fully license-problem free versions of 65xx systems sitting on the table behind me.  They're called the VIC 20 and the C64C.  I'll probably buy a 3rd 65xx system: Ben Eater's kit.   And, at this point, I may or may not buy a Commander Xxx.



But I would buy VERA modules for ALL of those (that didn't have it already).



Especially if there's more than one Xxx platform anyway.

I have found my tribe!

There is a definitely a subset of us for whom VERA is the product. Perhaps if we can find enough of us, we can convince the dev team to release it as a separate product.

the VERA as seperate product.... puuh... then I have to buy a bundle X16,X8,Vera ?  but that's ok

13 hours ago, Fabio said:

i was thinking: isn't flash memory much slower when written? can it sustain the 12 Mz frequence ?



the vera fpga has proved to be capable to integrate at least the 65c02 cpu and a usb controller: wouldn't be a less controversial saving to use it to emulate an FM CHip in the X16?

No, I meant as ROM ... one of the things that RAM banks will be used for is to load code or data from SD card to have it available at the flip of the RAM bank ... if it can be in simulated ROM Banks already, that would cover that use.

If that is 2MB of flashROM that is loading the FPGA implementation code into the FPGA, which seems likely, the effective simulated flashROM for the running X8 system will be substantially smaller. Whether it is only enough to hold the Kernel and Basic (32KB), or is substantially more is one of the open questions to be answered by getting the LX8 system specs. It seems unlikely it would be substantially more.

Edit: Aha, it seems if the project sources "unofficially available" are correct, it's 512 bytes of ROM, overlaid on $FE00-$FFFF on power up to load the RAM with the system then quit ... so somewhere between 24KB and 32KB used by the system, depending on how much space the Kernel requires. 

 

59 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

I have found my tribe!



There is a definitely a subset of us for whom VERA is the product. Perhaps if we can find enough of us, we can convince the dev team to release it as a separate product.

Gathering resources, equipment, and foo to start breadboarding my own 8bit here. A VERA would solve a ton of issues. Circuitry to drive video  can be bigger than a main system using available off the shelf.

 

2 hours ago, Wavicle said:

I have found my tribe!



There is a definitely a subset of us for whom VERA is the product. Perhaps if we can find enough of us, we can convince the dev team to release it as a separate product.

This.

Originally, David was going to sell a C64 cartridge with VERA on it, or stand-alone units. I'd buy a bare unit, and drive it with a Teensy or Raspberry Pi Pico.... 

Imagine a VERA card for the PET.  Someone already mentioned a VERA for the VIC-20.

2 hours ago, TomXP411 said:

This.



Originally, David was going to sell a C64 cartridge with VERA on it, or stand-alone units. I'd buy a bare unit, and drive it with a Teensy or Raspberry Pi Pico.... 

Man, a C64 cartridge with a GEORAM compatible 512K SRAM (which IIRC uses two registers in Expansion Page 1 to set the page aligned target address of the page window and Expansion Page 2 as the page window itself) and the Vera registers based at Expansion Page 1+$80 space, I'm in on that crowdfund entirely independent of the CX16.

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  X16 has a TON more RAM -- this doesn't matter with fast SD speeds, that same 8k can be swapped from SDCard rather than switching banks
  

That won't fly in many cases. E.g. cc64 would exhibit abysmal compile speeds if I were to swap out significant parts of the compiler code to and from SDCard.