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A C64 mini... and never a CPC ?

Started by NiNxPe, 17:44, 29 September 17

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NiNxPe


DanyPPC

There is the ZX-Vega too, in order to Just Speccy 128, Harlequin boards, ZX Spectrum Next, etc.


Time ago also Just CPC, only a CPC 6128 motherboard to install in a mini-case.
CPC 464 with USB Floppy Emulator / CPC 464+ with USB Floppy Emulator / CPC 6128+ with C4CPC and Gotek HxC USB Drive Emulator

chinnyhill10

Quote from: DanyPPC on 21:11, 29 September 17
There is the ZX-Vega too


Wouldn't hold your breath on the Vega Plus coming out or anything else from that lot. Looks like the Speccy community have been taken for a ride.
--
ChinnyVision - Reviews Of Classic Games Using Original Hardware
chinnyhill10 - YouTube

Shaun M. Neary

I'm gonna be honest. I've never been too enamoured about any of these mini machines.
They're essentially jumped up raspberry pi's in a fancy case.


Anyone who bought any 'mini' was taken for a ride!  :laugh:
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

sigh

I must admit that I don't have any real interest in these new upgraded 8 bit machines such a Spectrum Next and the likes.
I wouldn't at all be interested in a "new" CPC version as I still feel that the CPC PLUS machines is unexplored territory at this point. There's been so much advancement in drawing out the CPC power, with unimaginable tricks, coding styles and new findings - just imagine what could be drawn out from the PLUS; a machine that has been barely scratched on it's surface.

Dagger

Think this maybe the nearest we will get

Life's a bitch. You marry one or two then you die !

tjohnson

I don't see much point of a mini shrunk computer like this, might as well use an emulator or a raspberry pi.

Sykobee (Briggsy)

The Spectrum Next is as close to a proper recreation we will get of the Spectrum, and being an FPGA it can run other cores once they are ported. Of course they had to add a lot of features to make the device not really a Spectrum (Plus-like sprites, ST-like palette, 256-colour screen), and boost the clock speed and add DMA and ...


The problem is that they are recreating the insane Spectrum keyboard layout (for obvious reasons) which would make it unpleasant to use with a CPC core, unless you get a different keyboard layer done. However the base hardware is probably adequate. And there is an external keyboard port.


A lot of the other mini systems are merely emulators on a cheap ARM board. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as these emulators can be cycle accurate for 8-bit hardware.

EgoTrip

Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 01:12, 30 September 17

Wouldn't hold your breath on the Vega Plus coming out or anything else from that lot. Looks like the Speccy community have been taken for a ride.

This is why I won't back anyone on a crowd funding site. You never know who is scamming you until it's too late, and these scammers always seem to be above the law when it comes down to it. When was the last time someone went to prison for fraud/theft after taking everyone's money? I may have missed it but I don't recall any major prosecutions.

chinnyhill10

Quote from: EgoTrip on 13:19, 30 September 17
This is why I won't back anyone on a crowd funding site. You never know who is scamming you until it's too late, and these scammers always seem to be above the law when it comes down to it. When was the last time someone went to prison for fraud/theft after taking everyone's money? I may have missed it but I don't recall any major prosecutions.


In the case of the Vega Plus, basically proposing something you can already buy easily (small portable handheld Android box) with some rainbow stripes on it.
--
ChinnyVision - Reviews Of Classic Games Using Original Hardware
chinnyhill10 - YouTube

VincentGR

This is a solution for someone who can't buy the real thing or he is to busy/don't know how to repair a machine and keep it working.
Many of them are just simple android machines as mentioned but it is ready to go.
Not for us but it's useful to some.


ZX Uno seems great though as it is fpga based and has tape input!

Dabz

The keyboard is just for show and you need to plug a USB one in if you want to use it "as a computer"... Bit lame!  :picard:


I would like to see a CPC version of one of these, but not "console'd" like they are churning out... I'd like to see a fully functional modern take on the CPC, USB instead of the 3" drive, connect straight to modern TV's easily, wireless networking (Most notably, print stuff over the network)... The biggest reason though, it'll probably see my days out, and I'll not have to worry when my 6128 drive goes... Again! :D hehehe


In all seriousness, the talent here for such things, and the love of Amstrad on the boards... It really does surprise me a few here havent taken the idea up!


Dabz

ThomH

Quote from: Sykobee (Briggsy) on 13:11, 30 September 17
The Spectrum Next is as close to a proper recreation we will get of the Spectrum, and being an FPGA it can run other cores once they are ported. ...

The problem is that they are recreating the insane Spectrum keyboard layout (for obvious reasons) which would make it unpleasant to use with a CPC core, unless you get a different keyboard layer done. However the base hardware is probably adequate. And there is an external keyboard port.
From a quick glance at it, there is the external PS/2 keyboard connector, an internal GPIO and it's built to be usable in an original 48kb Spectrum case so it must also be able to take the ribbon connector from the original Spectrum keyboard. So I would dare imagine that if a core were available, you could put it into a CPC case with a passive converter from the real keyboard.

How well would the CRTC play with HDMI though, across the range of frequencies a program might produce? I don't know at what level of abstraction HDMI communicates but presumably syncs are implicit; I'd guess that one negotiates an output resolution and then supplies a serialisation of that, rather than having direct control over the (long-since fictionalised) beam?

To me that strongly suggests you're going to end up with at least a frame buffer, and possibly with timing issues, e.g. when title A wants configures the CRTC for a field frequency of 50.x Hz but the TV is being fed at exactly 50 Hz?

Machines like the Spectrum and C64 with fixed frame sizes are much easier to adapt. If you look at something like the Analogue Nt, which reimplements the NES as an FPGA, they even tweaked the execution speed by a very small percentage to lock it to exactly 60 Hz for the benefit of screens with very fixed opinions.

ZbyniuR

This is real mini collection, for people which don't have time to play. ;)  Scale 1/6.




I wish something like this with American and British computers. :)
In STARS, TREK is better than WARS.

LambdaMikel

Just read that the C64 Mini is close to being released... fake keyboard is lame, but I think I am going to order one anyway. Anybody know what the difference is compared to the C64DTV? Are they related in any way?




DanyPPC

The C64mini use an emulator like SuperNes Mini e NES mini.


I preferer FPGA project.
CPC 464 with USB Floppy Emulator / CPC 464+ with USB Floppy Emulator / CPC 6128+ with C4CPC and Gotek HxC USB Drive Emulator

NiNxPe

Quote from: LambdaMikel on 18:15, 01 February 18
Just read that the C64 Mini is close to being released... fake keyboard is lame, but I think I am going to order one anyway. Anybody know what the difference is compared to the C64DTV? Are they related in any way?

The difference between C64Mini and C64DTV will be not known after 29 March 2018 (as said on french site clubic : http://www.clubic.com/jeu-video/actualite-842324-thec64-mini-commodore-64-miniature-disponible-28.html).

I will be not suprised that somebody modded the C64Mini to make tricks in order to fully use the keyboard....

pelrun

They're completely different; the DTV uses an ASIC, whereas the photos of the Mini board show an A20 arm processor.


Also, there's a whole bunch of rights issues about the DTV; the company responsible were a bunch of corrupt dicks and screwed over Jeri Ellsworth (who designed it for them) and also ensured that the remaining hundred thousand chips in their stocks would never see the light of day.




Gryzor

Really? Got any links on the whole story?

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