pkiller

9 ms·

1. 1.▲
   by pkiller 5y ago

   I got some PCBs made a couple of years ago from JLCPCB and it wasn't that expensive, with shipping, 5 boards of small size (cheapest ones, not suitable for every project) was about €10 or €12. Of course for hobbyists who are going to n
2. 2.▲
   by pkiller 5y ago

   I've been prototyping for some time now and never really focused on getting my projects into PCBs. But yeah I guess you're right I can't really argue with you, I should improve my electronic design skills.
3. 3.▲
   by pkiller 5y ago

   A Mister uses a more powerful FPGA + ARM CPU board along with extra SDRAM (I believe) to simulate known retro systems. This was a personal project to make a custom video game console in this case using an FPGA, a couple of years back I fini
4. 4.▲
   Show HN: Yet another Homebrew Video Game Console, this time FPGA-based(internalregister.github.io)

   114 points by pkiller 5y ago|15 comments
5. 5.▲
   by pkiller 8y ago

   I knew what you meant by "easy" and I agree. Well, I think it isn't that hard to get an analog video signal going. Having a TV that took an RGB analog signal, meant that I could connect the microcontroller directly to the TV
6. 6.▲
   by pkiller 8y ago

   Like I've said in a few other comments (I've been trying to answer some of the comments, everyone has been really nice and really interested), one book that got me started was "Make: Electronics", I believe there's
7. 7.▲
   by pkiller 8y ago

   Thanks :) Actually they are still being manufactured to this day, that's one thing I didn't mention in the blog post is that you can get a brand new Zilog Z80 today, the 6502 (the CMOS version, 65C02) is also available. You can pr
8. 8.▲
   by pkiller 8y ago

   First of all thanks :) And if you do find some time that project seems really cool, I never really got to work with the STM32 micros, but they are really powerful and cool. Answering your question, well, even thought this is an electronics
9. 9.▲
   by pkiller 8y ago

   Yeah I did put more memory than the old school consoles had, absolutely, however the RAM in those days was only used for data mostly because they also had the cartridge ROM (or ROMs) to store the code. In my case I need to load the code to
10. 10.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    It looks awesome, congrats :) I'm sorry the hardware and code were stolen. And of course it's always worth reviewing, I got inspiration out of projects just like that and besides my code is a mess too, don't worry about that.
11. 11.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thanks for the comment :) I am proud and honestly reading all these comments of people like you saying awesome stuff and also saying this inspires them makes me even prouder :)
12. 12.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thank you :) I am considering doing a series of blog posts, I don't know how often I could write them or if I could keep them going, but I will try. I'm not big in social media and I have never written any posts or anything like b
13. 13.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thanks :) I'm gonna try and keep posting.
14. 14.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thank you :) I would love to learn more and be able to work with faster circuits like you. Yes it's way easier to work with "slow" digital circuits I had very little issues using breadboards and really long wires, that probab
15. 15.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thank you so much :) I'm actually a bit overwhelmed with all the comments and I'm trying to answer at least a few of them. Just wanted to say that, even without knowing you, I think you could absolutely be a tinkerer or creator, j
16. 16.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Yes the journey was very important, absolutely. Also I had set myself a specific set of goals that obviously are not going to make sense to most people and I understand that. It could seem like a daunting task at first, but breaking it into
17. 17.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thank you, if it's something you like, you should try a hardware project, for sure :) And yes I am Portuguese, born and raised and I do know what you mean, there are mistakes that are somewhat common for Portuguese speaking English and
18. 18.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Wozniak is a legend and this no where near the quality of his work. The way he designed the Apple II was just amazing. Thanks for the comment :)
19. 19.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    (I'm actually secretly a horrible person :P) Thanks for the comment :)
20. 20.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thanks :) And yeah you're right...my bad... (EDIT) It should be a bit better now, thanks for the warning
21. 21.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thanks :) Yeah, I already have another ongoing project based on a cheap FPGA board with a Cyclone II (quite old but it does the job), the idea is to keep it cheaper and much less complex. The FPGA has a Z80 implementation, video, sound and
22. 22.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Z80 rules! Thanks :)
23. 23.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    I'm really not that special, don't sell yourself short. And thanks :)
24. 24.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    I thought about it, I really did, however, I really felt I didn't need the extra RAM, especially for the kinds of programs and games I was aiming for. And in this case "a handful of 74244" is a lot more complexity and it got
25. 25.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Like I wrote in another comment. There's a great book called "Make: Electronics". And you can get started with an Arduino kit, it comes with a book and several components. After this when you feel comfortable, you can move on
26. 26.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thanks a lot :). A kit for this console would be crazy though, too many components, too much complexity. But for a smaller version, it could be done. Branding...yeah, I could never get a name for it, til this day I don't know what to c
27. 27.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    I agree (and thanks for calling me a smart individual :) ) Nowadays is so much easier to get information on how to build something apparently very complex. You don't need to go to a library or seek out and go talk to experts, you actua
28. 28.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Thanks :) (I don't mind people saying it over and over again, believe me :P) I actually started building a much smaller video game console with a cheap Cyclone II FPGA board (a friend of mine wanted one and I tried to figure it out how
29. 29.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    I totally agree. The reason I stuck to DIP ICs was because I could fit them into breadboards and I thought that was easier than any alternative. I was incredibly lucky on how all the breadboards were functional. And there were a few times w
30. 30.▲
    by pkiller 8y ago

    Obrigado :)