Syntax wrote:Wolf at it again with the unanswerable questions.
How longs a piece of string mate?
How can you ask people to determine your ability to fix an unforeseen problem? lmao.
Are you retarded? As in do you actually posses some form of mental faculty malfunction? If you bothered to read my question before responding and had an iq high enough to understand it you should easily realize that "Can the firmware be updated via everdrive?" is a pretty easily answered question from the person that built it...
You're assuming that any errors in the first batch will only be software related with that attitude.
You were present for the SSDS3 shamozle so you should know better.
I see what your getting at though, flashing via a cart would be nice and easy for updates but i'd say you'd need a programmer for it.
They are usually pretty cheap and walk thrus available.
Did you think I was asking if you could update a hardware problem with an everdrive? Clearly I was asking about firmware because it isn't a goddamn decepticon. If you had taken a second to think about what I was saying before you jumped on me out of some kind of blind hatred you would have seen what I was asking was a pretty simple question. Instead you just made yourself look like a right cunt.
@Kez I would think the same thing and yet you can supposedly update the ultrahdmi n64 mod with an everdrive so I was curious if that would also be possible with this mod. That might just be Marshall blowing smoke up people's asses though. He isn't exactly trustworthy. I just don't want to get an early version if it requires an update I'm going to have to mail it to someone to install because with half the mod hanging out the front of the console I don't want to deal with trying to ship it somewhere.
Wolf_ wrote:@Kez I would think the same thing and yet you can supposedly update the ultrahdmi n64 mod with an everdrive so I was curious if that would also be possible with this mod. That might just be Marshall blowing smoke up people's asses though.
I've personally updated my UltraHDMI from 1.07A to 1.08 using my EverDrive 64. The update was packaged as a .z64 ROM and only took a few minutes to install.
What I'm not clear on is whether it transmits update data through the video lines or if it's actually connected to one or more data lines for this purpose, and I have no idea if the GBA HDMI mod was developed with that in mind or if the GBA is even capable of the same or a similar update procedure. Probably would've made the most sense to just expose a mini USB port and use a Windows/Linux app to perform a firmware update.
Wolf_ wrote:@Kez I would think the same thing and yet you can supposedly update the ultrahdmi n64 mod with an everdrive so I was curious if that would also be possible with this mod. That might just be Marshall blowing smoke up people's asses though.
I've personally updated my UltraHDMI from 1.07A to 1.08 using my EverDrive 64. The update was packaged as a .z64 ROM and only took a few minutes to install.
Wow that's interesting, would love to know how that's done.
Wolf_ wrote:@Kez I would think the same thing and yet you can supposedly update the ultrahdmi n64 mod with an everdrive so I was curious if that would also be possible with this mod. That might just be Marshall blowing smoke up people's asses though.
I've personally updated my UltraHDMI from 1.07A to 1.08 using my EverDrive 64. The update was packaged as a .z64 ROM and only took a few minutes to install.
Wow that's interesting, would love to know how that's done.
Yea, I wouldn't have any problem flashing a firmware via usb either. I just don't want to have to buy some jtag device and open it up and risk dicking something up.
Wolf_ wrote:@Kez I would think the same thing and yet you can supposedly update the ultrahdmi n64 mod with an everdrive so I was curious if that would also be possible with this mod. That might just be Marshall blowing smoke up people's asses though.
I've personally updated my UltraHDMI from 1.07A to 1.08 using my EverDrive 64. The update was packaged as a .z64 ROM and only took a few minutes to install.
Wow that's interesting, would love to know how that's done.
Same. I haven't done the firmware update with both video outputs hooked up--just the HDMI--so I'm not certain, but I think it's possible that the ROM flashes a specific sequence in one or more frames to activate the UltraHDMI's flashing mode, then encodes the binary into RGB values, and streams it over the RGB lines. The UltraHDMI would just need to load the data into RAM, decode to a binary format it understands, verify checksums, and then flash the update. It's all digital between the GPU and UltraHDMI, so the fidelity should be lossless and error-free (assuming the GPU isn't bad and horribly artifacting, in which case the update should just fail a checksum and not be applied).
strygo wrote:Woozle and Game Tech shared an update video yesterday and it looks like the product is fast approaching release. You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugKvyCv6PY. There is a preorder raffle that you can enter, and if you're lucky, you could receive a device in the next month or so.
The options demonstrated in the video are quite impressive and it is shaping up quite nicely.
It will be interesting to see what the options are for outputting to a CRT. It looks like while RGB was available in earlier prototypes, it is no longer a feature. Game Tech's listing page doesn't mention 240p or 480p. I would guess that outputting these lower resolutions shouldn't be terribly difficult. I'm interested in community opinion here.
The one thing I'm not a huge fan of is the form-factor. I'd personally like a full enclosure like the Behar Bros. Game Gear. I had that old TV-out device for my GBA way back in the day and holding the device while playing was awkward. I can't imagine most people would go this route and would instead use the SNES controller port.
Quite exciting!
Thanks! I've entered in the pre-order lottery. Hope I get in! This looks exciting and I'm glad you can hook up an SNES pad. My 8bitdo SNES controller is ready...
nmalinoski wrote:
Same. I haven't done the firmware update with both video outputs hooked up--just the HDMI--so I'm not certain, but I think it's possible that the ROM flashes a specific sequence in one or more frames to activate the UltraHDMI's flashing mode, then encodes the binary into RGB values, and streams it over the RGB lines. The UltraHDMI would just need to load the data into RAM, decode to a binary format it understands, verify checksums, and then flash the update. It's all digital between the GPU and UltraHDMI, so the fidelity should be lossless and error-free (assuming the GPU isn't bad and horribly artifacting, in which case the update should just fail a checksum and not be applied).
That's how I would do it if I were to update the FPGA from a flash cart. As of now you'll need a JTAG cable to update the kit.
nmalinoski wrote:
Same. I haven't done the firmware update with both video outputs hooked up--just the HDMI--so I'm not certain, but I think it's possible that the ROM flashes a specific sequence in one or more frames to activate the UltraHDMI's flashing mode, then encodes the binary into RGB values, and streams it over the RGB lines. The UltraHDMI would just need to load the data into RAM, decode to a binary format it understands, verify checksums, and then flash the update. It's all digital between the GPU and UltraHDMI, so the fidelity should be lossless and error-free (assuming the GPU isn't bad and horribly artifacting, in which case the update should just fail a checksum and not be applied).
That's how I would do it if I were to update the FPGA from a flash cart. As of now you'll need a JTAG cable to update the kit.
Thanks for the response! I'm very interested in the product but I'll hold off a production run or two just in case it needs any updates.
The design isn't bad but as a consolized system, the SP would be a better option due to it being a box like clamshell. Hopefully, we can see this in a rev. 2 or 3.
@woozle I have followed the development closely for a while now and I'm really interested in how you programmed it. Would there be any change of you releasing this opensource?
@woozle I have been following the project for a while now and I'm really interested the actual code behind it. Is there any change of you releasing the hardware/software opensource?
After watching Bob's video on the GBA Consolizer, one thing that stuck out to me was the need to reboot the GBA to change color palettes for Game Boy games. Does the GBA not have any facility for rebooting the system, like how the Dreamcast has baked-in support for software-induced reboots?
If not, is it feasible to rig up something on the FPGA to cut power to the system briefly to simulate a power cycle, vaguely like how the UltraHDMI can perform in-game resets by grounding the physical reset button on the N64?
You can use palettes without a reboot if you press left+B when the gba starts up to put the gba into grayscale. If a palette option has been saved in memory the fpga presses the grayscale key combo for you.
If the gba isn’t put into grayscale mode by you or the fpga palettes are disabled.
Thanks Fudoh, I spent a lot of time trying to make the menu easy to understand.
Lawfer wrote:So can/will this output RGBS + 240p, or it's only 720p + HDMI?
The only output I saw in Bob's video is 720p over HDMI. You'll have the options of 4x, 4.5x, and 5x scales, but, aside from that, I don't believe there are any other output options.
Fantastic video, Bob! Nicely done. I love seeing all the options in the menu. That Color Wizard is pretty cool. Great for fine-tuning the video colors!
Have you thought about adding something like an 800p output mode so we can use 5x without cutting parts of the picture off?
I ask because I'm using a CRT PC Monitor, and I probably wouldn't be able to stretch the raster enough to get 4x in 720p to eliminate the windowboxing. If not, what about 640p? So we could have the 720p image minus the windowbox?
Also, did you ever get around to installing this in a GBA SP? I have scratched SP that I stole a screen from to put in a AGB-001, so the motherboard is just sitting in a box unused.
BazookaBen wrote:Have you thought about adding something like an 800p output mode so we can use 5x without cutting parts of the picture off?
I ask because I'm using a CRT PC Monitor, and I probably wouldn't be able to stretch the raster enough to get 4x in 720p to eliminate the windowboxing. If not, what about 640p? So we could have the 720p image minus the windowbox?
Also, did you ever get around to installing this in a GBA SP? I have scratched SP that I stole a screen from to put in a AGB-001, so the motherboard is just sitting in a box unused.
I have no plans to add an 800p mode. Check out the 4.5x zoom mode in the review video, it fills up the screen nicely.
Lawfer wrote:I think that nobody asked this, but can it also play GB and GBC games?
And does it output mono or stereo audio?
It can play any game a real GBA can, since it's a real GBA :p
You have the choice between direct digital stereo audio, or analog stereo audio.
Woozle wrote:It can play any game a real GBA can, since it's a real GBA :p
You have the choice between direct digital stereo audio, or analog stereo audio.
Awesome, have been looking into ways to play GB/GBC games on the big screen, any plans in the future for 240p RGB output for us who prefer to play on CRT TV/monitors?
Lawfer wrote:Awesome, have been looking into ways to play GB/GBC games on the big screen, any plans in the future for 240p RGB output for us who prefer to play on CRT TV/monitors?
I don't have any others plans for GBA at the moment.
robotvendingmachine wrote:I saw you guys are working on a box for this thing, will it be pre-installed or will I need to take my GBA guts and put them in?
It would be a DIY kit, so you'd have to solder the kit to your GBA and assemble the enclosure.
