26 Jun
2013
26 Jun
'13
6:53 p.m.
On Jun 26, 2013, at 9:13 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
On Jun 26, 2013, at 5:19 PM, ben <bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca> wrote:
You nailed it. I like my NES, for example, but Nintendo's decision
to use that awful pop-up cartridge insertion method made the entire
line of systems unreliable after just a few years. If I start
playing a game, I literally can't TOUCH the system, or it'll likely
crash because of the tenuous connection the cartridge has to the
pins.
Of course, it added a whole bundle of interesting rituals to my
childhood (blow on the cartridge, blow in the system, insert the
cartridge, smack the top of the system, wave the dead chicken *just
right*, then turn it on). But I digress.
The other (related) issue is trying to connect old devices to the
peripherals you need to make them run. Most of my old SCSI and IDE
hard drives are dead, and the SCSI ones are especially getting hard
to replace. CRTs die, and new LCD monitors often look pretty awful
on a system meant for a low-res, fuzzy CRT (especially if it was
meant for an interlaced display). I have a solution in the works
for that, though.
So an FPGA emulation lets me at least get *close*. I can hook it
up to a new LCD, but have a video post-process that emulates the
phosphors and the cathodoluminescence so that it looks at least a
little more like it was supposed to. And I don't have to kill
any more chickens.
- Dave
PS. Why all this wanting of old hardware in FPGA's nowadays? At one time you could
get C-64's free with other assorted junk in a box for $ 2.00
Because every day, the stuff we love is getting harder to find. Sure, C64s and Apple
IIe's are still very very common, but they're getting less common all too quickly.
In 10 to 15 years, expect to pay real money for a working one. They're already going
for $40 to $75 now, depending on condition, and they often need repairs -- especially
replacement of filter capacitors!