Connecting a real MSX to an Altera DE1, and mouse/joystick schematics

Resident (41)

03-07-2009, 22:39

Hello all, i recently purchased an Altera DE1 board an i like to know if possible a little things

As you may know, the board has two 40 pin IDE type expansion slots, may be possible to inter-connect the DE1 with a MSX using one MSX expansion slot?

I was thinking using an old IDE cable as short as possible, and soldering the wires of one side directly to a PCB of an old ISA card adapted to fit in the MSX Slot Expansion, or maybe using just the PCB of one cartridge game for it, removing first the ROM and all his components.

I ask this because i have 0 electronics knowledge. It's safe to connect the 2 things this way or will i toast the Altera board or my MSX? Do i need to put some resistors in it?

I think the schematic would be pretty easy for this, can anyone pretty please do it for the community?

I think it would be very useful, that way we can use the real MSX Hardware that is 100% compatible to play games and such, and use the Altera DE1 board as a Multipurpose and reprogramable expansion. We can put an SCC+ on it, one Memory Mapper or another VDP for example, the possibilities are infinites

On the other free expansion slot the Altera DE1 board has maybe we can do something like this:

http://img35.imageshack.us/i/68839205.gif/

That is an expansion PCB for the DE1 that has one PS/2 mouse connector and 2 joystick ports.

It can be useful for people that don't have a real MSX. As you know the Altera board only have 1 PS/2 connector used by the keyboard.

Thanks :)

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Par cax

Prophet (3737)

03-07-2009, 23:07

Did you try programming your DE1 with caro's OCM version ?

Par Devcon

Resident (41)

03-07-2009, 23:29

Nope, i have the board only from 1 day ago, but i will try for sure in the next few days, i'm loving all this VHDL world thing

I ask this because i know the VHDL implementation for the MSX is still not 100% accurate. And for people like me, that has the real thing but don't have any expansions for it, it's would be very usseful just using the DE1 for implementing expansions, upgrading a MSX to MSX 2, using it for a SD reader, etc, and use the MSX to retain 100% compatibility with all the software.

Par Leo

Paragon (1236)

04-07-2009, 10:18

if you hav 0 hardware knowledge it is going to be though , but it could be also a good way to learn.
How come you have 0 hardware knowledge but you know VHDL ?

Par Devcon

Resident (41)

04-07-2009, 10:47

Well, when i say i have 0 hardware knowledge im refering to soldering, resistors, capacitors, ICs, etc. But i know the basics of logic gates and transistors that i learned at institute.

I don't know VDHL, just started with the basics, interfaces, etc. But the VDHL code for de MSX espansions are already done by caro, i don't have to program nothing

I'm just thinking, that would be easy just taking the expansion VHDL modules like SCC+, Memory Maper, etc and discard the MSX core ones.

Par Leo

Paragon (1236)

04-07-2009, 12:55

Well, when i say i have 0 hardware knowledge im refering to soldering, resistors, capacitors, ICs, etc. But i know the basics of logic gates and transistors that i learned at institute.

I don't know VDHL, just started with the basics, interfaces, etc. But the VDHL code for de MSX espansions are already done by caro, i don't have to program nothing

I'm just thinking, that would be easy just taking the expansion VHDL modules like SCC+, Memory Maper, etc and discard the MSX core ones.

yep i like this idea of real mSX but taking advantage of modern fpga

Par TheRogue

Expert (116)

05-07-2009, 20:36

I think this is an excellent idea! It's already being done on other classic computer platforms, so it should indeed be possible on the MSX as well. Just as an example, check this out, it's an expansion card for the Apple II(+)(e)(GS) series of computers. It's called Carte Blanche and it is exactly what you guys are describing here.

http://www.applelogic.org/CARTEBLANCHE.html

Par Devcon

Resident (41)

05-07-2009, 20:52

Yeah, that would rock. We only need some nice person to draw the schematics to connect the Altera DE1 with a MSX with an IDE cable, imagine what can you do with a real MSX and 20k free FPGA gates

Par Manuel

Ascended (18694)

05-07-2009, 22:42

Yeah, it's the old idea we also got when the one chip MSX came along.

Use FPGA's and provide the logic for it as 'software'. Release a game which needs hw accel, provide the hw accel logic on the game media and program the FPGA when loading the game.

When is a console going to do this?

For the MSX case, just 'load' the hardware you need and then your software that uses it

Par AuroraMSX

Paragon (1902)

05-07-2009, 23:55

Yeah, that would rock. We only need some nice person to draw the schematics to connect the Altera DE1 with a MSX with an IDE cable, imagine what can you do with a real MSX and 20k free FPGA gates :)It's also what I proposed over here, but somehow the idea didn't catch on in that thread...

Par Devcon

Resident (41)

06-07-2009, 05:23

For the MSX case, just 'load' the hardware you need and then your software that uses it

Yes, i think "loading" only the vhdl hardware blocks should be pretty easy (or not? hehe), i just want to know if i can connect directly the Altera DE1 board with the MSX without the risk of toasting the machines, or i need to put some resistors on it.

Another question may be: Can i toast the Altera board with a bad VHDL design? Or i need only to control that the interface with the MSX is correct?