GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

Ace9921 wrote:Here's some direct capture of what I'm seeing on my SHVC-CPU-01 Super NES (this is the GBS-8220 passed through the XRGB-Mini with both set to 800x600 as I have no means to directly record VGA):

Image

I get this same picture using stock firmware on a Macintosh VGA CRT monitor as well as the Raspberry Pi on the Macintosh monitor over VGA, 26HL37 over Component and VGA as well as my Sony KV-30HS420 CRT HDTV over Component (I can't test VGA as there's no VGA input on this TV).

I'm thinking your theory of corrupt firmware is accurate. Why else would the board no longer respond to auto-adjust?
Just had another idea. Is your lm1881 powered from the scart cable or from elsewhere. I know my GameCube can't power the sync strike but my N64 can.
Ace9921
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by Ace9921 »

The LM1881 is powered directly from the 5V input on the GBS-8220. I don't see how that could be the problem considering I have this same problem with the LM1881 bypassed and the fact it never happened before until I used GBS-Control.

If it isn't too much to ask, I'd like to know how to dump the firmware from the MTV230M so I can ensure the code hasn't been corrupted in any way.
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Xyga
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by Xyga »

My PAL snes (with french scart cable) does this with every scaler I own.
Never found why...
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dwards
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dwards »

Ace9921,

I really think you should get another multiout cable or spend more time troubleshooting that part. The fact that other systems are working fine but all Nintendo systems that are using the same multiout cable are problematic tells us the issue is the cable. I get that it used to work for you before you tried CFW but i think that trying CFW is just the coincidence. The real problem is you have somehow damaged a wire, a solder point has come lose, a capacitor has stopped working or something is messed up on your multiout Nintendo system cable. I work in telecom and 9 times out of 10 its a bad cable. I hate bad cables :)

Thanks,
Dwards
Ace9921
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WTF?!

Post by Ace9921 »

...

I don't believe this. I dug up a crappy unshielded SCART cable for the Super NES I bought... I HAVE FULL WHITES! WTF?! How can a piece of crap unshielded SCART cable work while a good quality cable from RetroGamingCables.co.uk causes the picture not to display any whites? I am at a loss here.

EDIT: I am a f-ing moron. The cables weren't the problem. The problem was my SCART plug on the GBS-8220 missing a Ground the RetroGamingCables SCART cable uses. Ugh.

Auto-adjust still doesn't work, though, so this will need to be investigated further.
flagoss
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by flagoss »

Hi everyone ! I have been trying to get the GBS Control Pi software to work but it doesnt work.
1- Raspberry PI B with a fresh Raspbian installation. Works Fine
2- Have a Snes hooked up to the GBS8200 in RGB. Works Fine(Picture is showing on my monitor.
3- Installed GBS Control using the command. Install went fine no error.
4- Now I connect the SDL and SDA pins + ground from GBS to Pi.
5- Short P8.

In the control software, I can load setting or change setting. But the GBS is no responding to any command.
Then I unplug the GBS and plus it back. No image nothing. Button not responding. Pi command dont seem to do anything.
The probleme is that when P8 is shorted on the GBS8200 everything stop to work. GBS looks dead.
If I unshort P8. unplug and plug it back. Everything is working again but the GBS is not responding to anything from the Pi.
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TheRac25
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by TheRac25 »

Thanks for you work on this dooklink, its actually a usable piece of hardware now.
I've been messing around with the set files trying to get YPrPb input working and I've run into a problem where its cropping about 5-10 pixels on the right side
The OFW does the same thing and i find it interesting that the geometry menu seems to be disabled for the YPrPb input.
I think its some kind of blanking setting but when i have a play with those it does nothing or loops the device so badly that it has o be power cycled.
Here's an image to illustrate the problem. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

Image

and here in RGBs its getting the whole image
Image
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TheRac25
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by TheRac25 »

flagoss wrote:Hi everyone ! I have been trying to get the GBS Control Pi software to work but it doesnt work.
1- Raspberry PI B with a fresh Raspbian installation. Works Fine
2- Have a Snes hooked up to the GBS8200 in RGB. Works Fine(Picture is showing on my monitor.
3- Installed GBS Control using the command. Install went fine no error.
4- Now I connect the SDL and SDA pins + ground from GBS to Pi.
5- Short P8.

In the control software, I can load setting or change setting. But the GBS is no responding to any command.
Then I unplug the GBS and plus it back. No image nothing. Button not responding. Pi command dont seem to do anything.
The probleme is that when P8 is shorted on the GBS8200 everything stop to work. GBS looks dead.
If I unshort P8. unplug and plug it back. Everything is working again but the GBS is not responding to anything from the Pi.
did you hit F2 to send the loaded settings to the gbs? you see nothing on the vga output?
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

flagoss wrote:Hi everyone ! I have been trying to get the GBS Control Pi software to work but it doesnt work.
1- Raspberry PI B with a fresh Raspbian installation. Works Fine
2- Have a Snes hooked up to the GBS8200 in RGB. Works Fine(Picture is showing on my monitor.
3- Installed GBS Control using the command. Install went fine no error.
4- Now I connect the SDL and SDA pins + ground from GBS to Pi.
5- Short P8.

In the control software, I can load setting or change setting. But the GBS is no responding to any command.
Then I unplug the GBS and plus it back. No image nothing. Button not responding. Pi command dont seem to do anything.
The probleme is that when P8 is shorted on the GBS8200 everything stop to work. GBS looks dead.
If I unshort P8. unplug and plug it back. Everything is working again but the GBS is not responding to anything from the Pi.
The board is only initialised at boot. So it must be wired to the pi when starting the pi.
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

TheRac25 wrote:Thanks for you work on this dooklink, its actually a usable piece of hardware now.
I've been messing around with the set files trying to get YPrPb input working and I've run into a problem where its cropping about 5-10 pixels on the right side
The OFW does the same thing and i find it interesting that the geometry menu seems to be disabled for the YPrPb input.
I think its some kind of blanking setting but when i have a play with those it does nothing or loops the device so badly that it has o be power cycled.
Here's an image to illustrate the problem. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

Image

and here in RGBs its getting the whole image
Image
Have you tried using the hotkeys to reduce the Horizontal scalling? You can also move the image around as well.

Most monitors and TVs over scan the component inputs but not the VGA input. If you can't turn off over scan your only option is to reduce the scaling. But this won't work on all settings for vertical scaling. The 480p/576p modes have scaling turned off vertically, the HD modes allow for vertical scaling though. This is to get perfect line doubling alignment.

Lastly, I've found that component output needs a mod to the DAC resistor to get the correct voltage levels. New settings in v0.3 will be designed for this mod.
flagoss
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by flagoss »

dooklink wrote:
flagoss wrote:Hi everyone ! I have been trying to get the GBS Control Pi software to work but it doesnt work.
1- Raspberry PI B with a fresh Raspbian installation. Works Fine
2- Have a Snes hooked up to the GBS8200 in RGB. Works Fine(Picture is showing on my monitor.
3- Installed GBS Control using the command. Install went fine no error.
4- Now I connect the SDL and SDA pins + ground from GBS to Pi.
5- Short P8.

In the control software, I can load setting or change setting. But the GBS is no responding to any command.
Then I unplug the GBS and plus it back. No image nothing. Button not responding. Pi command dont seem to do anything.
The probleme is that when P8 is shorted on the GBS8200 everything stop to work. GBS looks dead.
If I unshort P8. unplug and plug it back. Everything is working again but the GBS is not responding to anything from the Pi.
The board is only initialised at boot. So it must be wired to the pi when starting the pi.
Well I finally got it to works !! My problem was that I2C was not enable in Raspbian !! Now it works well and the picture on my Snes is so nicer and stable than before. No more shaky image or Glitch.
Thanks !! Wainting for a cheaper version not needing a raspberry.
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TheRac25
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by TheRac25 »

dooklink wrote: Most monitors and TVs over scan the component inputs but not the VGA input. If you can't turn off over scan your only option is to reduce the scaling. But this won't work on all settings for vertical scaling. The 480p/576p modes have scaling turned off vertically, the HD modes allow for vertical scaling though. This is to get perfect line doubling alignment.

Lastly, I've found that component output needs a mod to the DAC resistor to get the correct voltage levels. New settings in v0.3 will be designed for this mod.
...
i was actually wondering what register would be causing the clipping of scanlines
HSync timing? clamping the ADC inputs?
the datasheet apears to be mocking me
eta: its happening before any scaling
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

TheRac25 wrote:
dooklink wrote: Most monitors and TVs over scan the component inputs but not the VGA input. If you can't turn off over scan your only option is to reduce the scaling. But this won't work on all settings for vertical scaling. The 480p/576p modes have scaling turned off vertically, the HD modes allow for vertical scaling though. This is to get perfect line doubling alignment.

Lastly, I've found that component output needs a mod to the DAC resistor to get the correct voltage levels. New settings in v0.3 will be designed for this mod.
...
i was actually wondering what register would be causing the clipping of scanlines
HSync timing? clamping the ADC inputs?
the datasheet apears to be mocking me
eta: its happening before any scaling
I'm not sure what you mean. Clipping scanlines? Can you elaborate?
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TheRac25
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by TheRac25 »

dooklink wrote: I'm not sure what you mean. Clipping scanlines? Can you elaborate?
Image
DrChaos
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by DrChaos »

Hi, I am new here, basically because of this project. I hope this solves my issues with my MIST FPGA, which outputs a nonstandard vga signal which is not recognised by most TV's. I get a picture with the GBS stock firmware, but the picture is badly centered in PAL modes, so I would like to give the mod a try.
However, I wanted to share a information which may be useful for some people here. In the German A1k.org Amiga forum (are Links allowed? http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php ... hlight=gbs) someone posted a tweak which obviously helped a lot of people to get rid of the signal noise. It's fairly simple, the guys just applied copper/aluminium foil with adhesive tape. My GBS did not have a noise issue (or I didn't notice, I had another problem due to a weak power supply), so I cannot confirm that it is working, but one guy reports that he can reproduce the noise by removing the foil.

Now it is time for jokes about aluminium hats...
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mgy1523
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by mgy1523 »

Any progress or hope in flashing the gbs8200/2200 with this?
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

mgy1523 wrote:Any progress or hope in flashing the gbs8200/2200 with this?
Flashing is possible from my testing thus far, but a long way off.

A lot of development work would be needed. I plan on finishing v0.3 with 720p modes, 2 volt full-scale YPbPr modes and dynamic de-interlace switching on the RPi controller. Then I'll move to working on a development environment for the MTV230M. I have a big work / uni project starting so may not be working on this for a while.

I plan on setting the following up:
  • Eclipse IDE set-up with SDCC C compiler for 8051/8052
  • Header files and drivers for the OSD and other hardware, maybe based on example code
  • Flash scripts for Raspberry Pi and Arduino to flash firmware / boot-loader
  • Write boot-loader to stop brick risk after first flash
  • Start C code for CFW
All of those things will take time to even get to something close to working. Any help is appreciated.
DrChaos
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by DrChaos »

Hi dooklink,

thanks for all your work, that is very much appreciated. This may be a dump question, but in your first post you wrote:

I2C SDA, SCL & GND connected between the Pi and Port 5 of the GBS board (Do not use port 6!!)

But you took the GND from port 6 in the picture, correct? Is there a reason for this?
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

DrChaos wrote:Hi dooklink,

thanks for all your work, that is very much appreciated. This may be a dump question, but in your first post you wrote:

I2C SDA, SCL & GND connected between the Pi and Port 5 of the GBS board (Do not use port 6!!)

But you took the GND from port 6 in the picture, correct? Is there a reason for this?
I couldn't de-solder the left over solder from the manufacturing. Some of the boards have solder in the via and spare ports, some don't. I think it depends on if wave soldering is used or not. I just couldn't heat up the Port 5 ground pin as it is connected to a massive ground plane.

I put the warning in as Port 6 will be in ISP mode when P8 is shorted. Any traffic could accidentally brick your device over Port 6. But this should be very unlikely as the MTV230 requires some very specific i2c commands to do ISP flashing.
DrChaos
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by DrChaos »

Ok, Thanks a lot for your clarification and your great work!
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

I'm posting this information both on the Shmups forum and English Amiga Boards forum for those interested.

I can confirm that the Jammerboards GBS firmware will sync and display 54~55 Hz arcade games. I used GroovyMame running R-Type and Mortal Kombat to test the Jammerboards firmware at 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768. It can be hard to get the full image on the output canvas, but it can be done. Also the default coast values need reducing and the default clamping values also need tweaking to occur during the horizontal blanking period.

What I could not get working is 50Hz PAL console resolutions. Oddly, 576i via YPbPr still worked, but not via RGBS. RGBHV is still reserved for 31kHhz+ signals and RGBS for 15kHz, which is annoying as GroovyMame is RGBHV by default.
I haven't tested 24kHz signals.
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mgy1523
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by mgy1523 »

I'll see what I can do to help. I'm doing a couple of things right now, but to be honest, it's nothing that's going to take a lot of time to do.

I'm not to well diversed in flashing or setting up script, but I'm all about learning and getting as much information as possible.

Have anything to throw my way so I can get some references?
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Xyga
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by Xyga »

dooklink wrote:I can confirm that the Jammerboards GBS firmware will sync and display 54~55 Hz arcade games. I used GroovyMame running R-Type and Mortal Kombat to test the Jammerboards firmware at 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768. It can be hard to get the full image on the output canvas, but it can be done. Also the default coast values need reducing and the default clamping values also need tweaking to occur during the horizontal blanking period.
Mmh...How does that translate in terms of menu settings on the GBS8220 ?

I mean I'm not sure you're saying the GBS sold by jammaboards can handle 54~55 Hz RGBs out-of-the-box, by itself, or if it can but through 'remote means' like you've been doing for your project ?

I'm asking because IIRC Crafty+Mech mentioned on BYOAC he couldn't get a Raiden II pcb to work with a GBS8220 'v4.0' whatever that means (maybe it wasn't a unit he bought from jammaboards, dunno).
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

@Xyga

I was referring to the GBS board firmware only in regards to 55Hz support. I have actually dumped the firmware of two boards and the binary files have matched. The Jammerboard's version did not match. The Jammerboard's firmware seems not to sync to 50Hz consoles, but it works with GroovyMame 55Hz arcade resolutions.
I'm not sure what the normal firmware will do at 55Hz yet, should have tested that at the time.

I'm not at the stage of getting self optimising settings for the Raspberry Pi code, but any input from 50 to 60 Hz should sync, it just may not be scaled correctly yet. The original firmwares refuse to output when the signal is outside a predefined range, even though hardware is capable of it. In my OP I described a way of proving this by syncing a GBS to a 60Hz console, then shorting P8, then feeding 50Hz. The image shifts and is scaled differently, but It works. And If you pre-adjust the scaling and offset, you could use it that way if you wanted. It will always output in 60 Hz though, unlike my 50Hz YPbPr output settings.
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Crafty+Mech
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by Crafty+Mech »

dooklink wrote:@Xyga

I was referring to the GBS board firmware only in regards to 55Hz support. I have actually dumped the firmware of two boards and the binary files have matched. The Jammerboard's version did not match. The Jammerboard's firmware seems not to sync to 50Hz consoles, but it works with GroovyMame 55Hz arcade resolutions.
I'm not sure what the normal firmware will do at 55Hz yet, should have tested that at the time.

I'm not at the stage of getting self optimising settings for the Raspberry Pi code, but any input from 50 to 60 Hz should sync, it just may not be scaled correctly yet. The original firmwares refuse to output when the signal is outside a predefined range, even though hardware is capable of it. In my OP I described a way of proving this by syncing a GBS to a 60Hz console, then shorting P8, then feeding 50Hz. The image shifts and is scaled differently, but It works. And If you pre-adjust the scaling and offset, you could use it that way if you wanted. It will always output in 60 Hz though, unlike my 50Hz YPbPr output settings.
I'd always heard that JammaBoards commissioned a special version of the GBS firmware to support some arcade resolutions with vsync rates under 60hz. Sounds like the that rumor might actually be true, I know people have had success with the JammaBoards board on games that the standard GBS would not sync with.
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dwards
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dwards »

Has anyone tried and recommend a VGA to HDMI converter / scaler to use with the CFW settings? I borrowed a friends Etekcity and it worked on the default GBS firmware with no noticeable lag (measured with SNES 240p suite Manual Lag Test)

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity%C2%AE-Sc ... pd_sim_e_6?
ie=UTF8&refRID=0NNR3YDM7E9KTWZ918NP

I did not get a chance to test the CFW settings because something happened with my rPi setup. I still need to troubleshoot.

Thanks
bulletbob
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by bulletbob »

dwards wrote:Has anyone tried and recommend a VGA to HDMI converter / scaler to use with the CFW settings?
I have had good luck with the converters that use the silicon image chip set, I just had to put heatsinks in them. I wrote a review on amazon for the sabrent version but it holds true for the portta unit as well
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by bulletbob »

Would the quad core 1g ram version of the pi work for this mod?
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dooklink
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by dooklink »

bulletbob wrote:Would the quad core 1g ram version of the pi work for this mod?
I have no idea. Maybe if the i2c port is the same in software.
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Re: GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

Post by MistyAntelope »

so i guess i can't keep lurking for ever...

first off this project is pretty awesome, i bought my gbs 8220 to play my snes on one of the pc monitors on my desk but then i found this project and i don't think i will ever use the snes with out this now...

i've been trying to get component input to work with my pal ps2 without luck so i was wondering if anyone in here has some working settings they would share..

i added bookmarks to the register definition pdf because i got tired of scrolling and i've made some scripts to make the .set files easier to read and turn them back into .set files again that i wouldn't mind sharing if anyone is interested.
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