Ross BamfordAs I've mentioned before, the rosco_m68k has a super cool retro-appropriate video adapter capability thanks to Xark's Xosera. While this is using an FPGA, the features it provides are right out of the machines we all know and love from the late 80's / early 90's.
While Xosera is still very much in-development, I'm pleased to say that the Xosera expansion board for the rosco_m68k is now available on Tindie for just $30 (PCB only).
It's worth noting that, due to the fast pace of development, this is really aimed at early adopters right now, who don't mind living on the bleeding edge and are happy to source their own components (including an UPduino) - there is no kit option. Although things might change and you may have to reprogram the FPGA gateware at times, we're committed to continuing to support this adapter layout going forward, so you won't need to replace the hardware.
Take a look at Xark's project on Hackaday and the Github repository for all the details - for now, I'll just leave this Xosera version of a pretty classic demo here...
(I will just add that this is using scrolling palettes and the Xosera copper to do it's stuff, and I think it looks awesome! For more details check out the original Discord post where it was announced!)
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Thanks! 🙂 Yes, it has been time consuming and quite the learning experience for me (but lots of fun). It sure does give me more appreciation for the "hardware side" of common retro video chips I have programmed for (and those were created with much more primitive tools). I've had a few "so _that_ is why they did that like that..." moments. Still some re-organization and optimization work left to do, but the "video" part is mostly done and working quite well. I am now working on adding Amiga-esque wave-table audio (proof-of-concept working for one sample channel) and (hopefully) at least a sprite for a mouse cursor. I am currently taking a bit of time to go over the design to optimize and hone things, since the FPGA I am using is nearly full and very tight on timing (and I feel I need a bit more "headroom" to finish things comfortably). Still I got much more than I initially expected into one of the slowest and smallest FPGAs out there. Once this initial Xosera version is all done, I am thinking about a "bigger" version using ECP5 FPGA and more memory.
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Umm, I intended to reply to Stephen...
However, I'll take this opportunity to thank Ross for making a physical Xosera board possible (not to mention the excellent rosco_m68k computer to use it with and helping with the design - he is the Xosera "copper" architect). Thanks Ross!
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Demo looks good, been watching this for a while. The Xosera board is very interesting and after trying to make a FPGA based VGA card myself I can appriciate how much work has gone into it. Will be interested to see what it can do.
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