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The hardware part fascinates me more. Has anyone fancied building a X-bit game console drawing schematics? I guess there are two ways to do it. One is to use a
by ferguess_k 2y ago
The hardware part fascinates me more. Has anyone fancied building a X-bit game console drawing schematics?
I guess there are two ways to do it. One is to use an FPGA board, but you would need to build a soft core. The other is to buy physical components (CPU, clocks, resistors, capacitors, ROMs/RAMs, etc.) and build a prototype on a few bread boards, in Ben Eater's style, but you need to purchase a lot of components.
I wouldn't go down the emulation route because it is less interesting.
The more I think about it, the more I think it's fun project. One gets to learn so much with it. I have always wondered how the Japanese built those little machines that made -- and still make the world gone crazy, but all those interviews with Nintendo/Sony/Sega people were mostly focused on game directors, producers, designers and artists. There were not even enough with programmers, let alone hardware designers. But I could be wrong. Maybe I just didn't look hard enough or need to learn Japanese.
- TheOtherHobbes 2y agoBuilding a system around a vintage CPU is pretty straightforward, especially if you keep it simple with static memory. Emulation with an FPGA is arguably harder. Hardest of all is copying the earlier video games where everything ran on discrete logic - often extremely clever. Even something like Pong is an interesting challenge.
- kjs3 2y agoHardest of all is copying the earlier video games On the other hand, many of the old games are exhaustively documented and built for component-level repair. A trade-off, I suppose.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago> Hardest of all is copying the earlier video games where everything ran on discrete logic What does this mean? I'm not aware of a big pickup in analog computing.
- ferguess_k 2y agoI think what he meant is that the earlier arcades were done directly in hardware with very little software, so you have to copy the hardware or use emulation.
- thaumasiotes 2y agoIs that different from other software? You have to copy the hardware or use emulation no matter what.
- ferguess_k 2y agoThank you. Looks like I overcomplicated things. I won't even use a vintage CPU, maybe a STM32, so that would be even easier. I guess the only complicated thing is if I want to invent "cartridges" so that involves some hardware. And yeah I agree those earlier discrete logic games are tough to copy. I think those games were made in hardware with little software.