Hi Everyone...
I am Julian, I am a very inactive active CPCer from the start I have much to do...
Anyway, I have previous suggested the following to a couple of people and thought now is time to suggest to this forum and see if there is any interest.
I am wanting someone to partner with to create a hardware expansion for CPC. Mostly it will be funded by me.
HW Requirements:
- as an Mother X4 expansion card - perhaps it can fit in the 5th slot (that is the through connector) so 5 cards can fit...
- lets the CPC user connect a Raspberry Pi directly to the expansion port
- if the cost is marginal to allow two Pi's to connect to the expansion port at the same time, will consider thiscurrent Work In Progress circuit:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bS1CLDIN0jPP3GI2pCcTU7_VIf2otQ10bVm-NL0F2eQ/edit#gid=0SW Requirements:
- build a minimal communication method (API or just a pattern) between CPC and Pi C application. From this pattern we can then pass data back and forth and work from there, whether the CPC is a dumb terminal to the Pi, or whether there is a greater integration through RSXs
[Added 20170128...
Ultimate Goal of this board when a Raspberry Pi 3B is attached:- 16kb Memory Mapped I/O Space
- 512Mb General Use RAM 8192 x 64kb blocks accessed as 32768 x 16kb blocks (available in addition to other CPC RAM expansions) usable for data and turbomode
- ARMv8 Native code libraries callable from CPC covering:
- text, window and 2d graphics primitives
- opengl 3d graphics
- video and mp3 playback
- keyboard, joystick & mouse I/O
- Z80 CPU emulation to run code in turbomode (with fallback to standard CPC if PI board is not present)
- RSXs to make use of the above from BASIC
- a CPC ROM to make the above facilities more easily available without taking up too much of the CPC's RAM
...]
Possible Uses:
- run Z80 emulators on the Pi in parallel to CPC and offload Z80 code
- play NES and other games on your Amstrad CPC (ok, on the Pi... but do we only support Pi video? CPC video is it possible? or... passthrough the video Genlock style?)
- use the Pi's ethernet from the CPC indirectly thereby gaining internet access
- use the Pi's USB and even HDMI as additional modes on CPC
- use the Pi's audio capabilities from the CPC
- use other PI facilities and RAM (as a RAM drive) from the CPC indirectly
Funding:
- well, I did say 'mostly' funded by me, so this can be done in a few ways. I am not limited to the following suggestions but I am happy to kick off the project...
- i fund it 100% and i retain 100% of profits from sales of it (I don't expect to make money from it, but recoup some of my costs if not all)
- it is funded by myself in conjunction with the partner i can find
Other requirements:
- for me to fund you, you must have proven to have already created a commercial piece of CPC hardware or similar.
I am not a bottomless pit of money but just something fun for me to give to the CPC community (if it cannot even come even with cost)... I am a software guy, not a hardware guy
Now, it is all in fun but if done in a pretty simple way as Pi's get upgraded we can replace them with newer Pis using this same bridge card.
Anyone want to discuss with me?
Julian (From Melbourne, Australia)