Yes! Plus it’s cool that the FPGA card can simulate multiple cards in different slots.

I’m jealous, would love to see the Bayeux tapestry in person. I’ve seen the Book of Kells, which is impressive but you only see one page at a time 😀

@@CT6502 All you have to do is schedule a trip to Europe! I recently bought round-trip tickets for $630, so it can be pretty affordable.

Hmm, I don't recall where I bought it. I looked on my Amazon orders and it's not there. I do recall that it was just a bit big for the case opening, and I had to widen the opening with a dremel. So it wasn't perfect, and maybe it's better for you to just look on Amazon and find a different one.

No problem. Just wondered. Found one on Amazon that looks like it might work. Oh and thanks for replying.

Thanks for filling in that information - I should have pointed that out in the video. I'll add this to the show notes!

Thanks!

Arkanoid II and Rastan both use the Ensoniq chip for sound - that is not currently understood by the A2FPGA card - the sound just goes thru the motherboard speaker, not the powered speakers. If I had a stereo sound card like the "LiteSound" then I could certainly hook a set of powered speakers up to that, but I am hoping that the A2FPGA team adds support for the Ensoniq. For other programs, if you are using the A2FPGA card then you can use the DIP switch to toggle whether regular Apple II sounds go thru the HDMI or the motherboard speaker. With the A2FPGA card, Mockingboard sounds will always go thru the HDMI. So it is Ensoniq -> motherboard speaker always, Apple II $C030 sounds -> HDMI OR motherboard, Mockingboard -> HDMI always

Yes, the screen and menu definitely help. But you are right, Bluetooth is just a pain in general. At least this seems to work pretty well!

Thanks Dan!

Thanks!

Thanks for your comments. I think a lot more could be done with the ESP32 - let the community know if you build something!

@@CT6502 Thanks, will do. My channel has mostly robotic stuff. I have not posted any Apple/8-bit stuff yet. I plan to do a video in the future using the Lego control system, and programming in BASIC, as a means to do Home Lab, Home Automation, & robotics stuff.

Very true!

Well, that's an interesting problem. I didn't intend for the assembler in my apple2ts emulator to replace a full featured assembler like Merlin. I just added the assembler in apple2ts to make it easier to do some simple programs. I can certainly think about adding support for HEX. But note that "HEX" isn't a 6502 opcode - it's just something made up by assembler programs (like Merlin) to make it easier to input data.

Good question - it would obviously have to be a complete redesign of the board, but certainly doable. There is the Mockingboard 4c which came out a few years ago - that doesn't get you the HDMI or the Supersprite, but does at least give Mockingboard support...

Only the large version is available. The tiny one isn't officially discontinued but no one really seemed as interested - just too small! I agree with you about the bezel size, but since this is a hobby project, the tolerances are just not as "tight" - the case is a hard plastic, and it might be difficult to get a thinner border without switching to metal or going with a totally custom molded plastic, which would probably require a run of 10,000 rather than a dozen 🙂

No recent firmware updates. There would be a fair bit of work to support the IIGS. And Woz support would require floppy disk emulation which is much harder than simple ProDOS block reading/writing. But those would certainly be cool!

Yep, if you've got something that already works well, no need to spend the extra money.

Yeah, it's nice. I usually don't like emulated scanlines, but with the A2FPGA I actually like it.

I'm assuming that you've selected "Your card" for slot 4 in the IIGS control panel?

@@CT6502 Yes. What happens with different cracks of the game running from floppy and earlier Total Replay versions is that the opening music plays fine, I start a game, and it locks up just after the cockpit loads. Never a problem with the Phasor in my IIe. >> I just downloaded the latest Total Replay and now it works in my GS too!! <<

Good question - it seems safer as it doesn't randomly erase floppy disks. The A2FPGA seems like more of a "real" card because it is truly running the same logic as the original card. From what I recall, the VidHD is really a full-blown OS (Linux?) so it seems a bit heavier handed. But they both look great on HDMI.

Thanks for watching!

Currently there's no way to add multiple HD images, but that's a good feature request.

Well, the price is fairly reasonable since you're getting at least three complete cards in one (HDMI, Mockingboard, Supersprite). And I like to support the original developers. But I don't have any financial stake, so to each his/her own.

Not that I'm aware of. I've (briefly) thought about it, so I can play Rastan and Arkanoid II, but I don't know very much about the IIGS so it would be uncharted territory...

@@CT6502 there are IIgs emulators around and existing 65c816 emulation. Most of the IIgs has to work like a //e so it can run all the software. Different audio and other accessories but it seems like the ultimate Apple 2 emulator option as it should run the most software.

@@TimRiker Yep, it just seems like a fairly big project, perhaps almost a separate emulator. But I agree it would be very cool!

The SSC is currently disabled on the card since they ran into some problems. I'm not sure about the status.

Yes, unfortunately. I didn't show this, but when I went to play Arkanoid II, I had to go back into the Control Panel and re-enable the mouse in slot 4.

Thanks Rudy!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thank you!

Yep, the last video was long enough as it was. Plus it was better to devote a full video to the IIGS.

I'm not sure. You needed a stereo card for the IIGS to have stereo output, correct? I don't know whether the FPGA can be made to replicate the same functionality of a stereo card.

@lemonherb1 The HDMI core used in the "firmware" is only tested to 2 channels, but in theory it should work with 8 channels. For now the ES5503 core only supports stereo, but there's no reason it couldn't be more.

Yeah, I don't have one either...

Nice! Don't forget to update the firmware, unless ReactiveMicro already did it.

Good choice! I just bought mine as well.

It's actually a "no-name" brand. The label on the back says 11.6" monitore, OHM-1106. I got it from ReactiveMicro: wiki.reactivemicro.com/12-inch_LCD_Display

@@CT6502 thanks. it still might work for what i need it for. i did find a spec sheet for it. part of a whole family of fixed-resolution monitors made for security systems. atlasgentech.co.nz/media/wysiwyg/OHM-1106A_Data_sheet.pdf

Interesting, I've never heard of that happening, and I don't recall ever seeing that happen when I was a kid. But perhaps it depends upon the machine or the floppy drive. I had a II+ with a Disk ][ growing up.

Yeah, you're right, I didn't even think of that! I did end up using the "save emulator state" feature a lot, and then I never needed to go back to the Castle entrance to save the game.

Yeah, I thought Joe was actually going to cover that in his video, but I didn't see anything either. Maybe I'll do a followup.

I asked the team, and Joshua said: "Likely to be fine with the RomXe CD and EF ROMs. Could be a potential problem with the optional 32-font video ROMs though as the a2n20v2 Multicard has its own copy of the //e character ROM that it uses for display." Both product are sold by ReactiveMicro so you might reach out to Henry and see what he says.

Not out of the box, but I'll pass along that idea to the developers.

The latest firmware update (which I did wrong) actually fixes the two different volumes so they're at the same level. Then you can just adjust the overall volume on your speakers/monitor.

Thanks!

Good question on the firmware update process. I'm not sure if it's the particular board that they chose? wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/tang/tang-nano-20k/example/unbox.html

Actually, Joe Strosnider did some testing on the Apple IIGS on his channel. I might do more testing once they've added more features, and I could do the IIGS.

Definitely! It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the VidHD (with the fancy graphics modes), but it also doesn't erase your floppy disks like the VidHD is prone to do ;-)

Those all sound like cool projects! Maybe post these on the Facebook page or the Slack Apple2Infinitum and see if you can drum up some support!

@@CT6502 thx. I never did FB, and was hoping it’s something you or Jav wanted to do. You guys will always have the support of many enthusiasts and followers, and I know time is always a factor. Firstly would it actually be possible? 👍

Yes, I imagine it would be possible - it's a small form factor. They would just need to piggyback on top of one of the other chips, similar to how the Mockingboard 4c works.

No, unfortunately. It sounds like they got the FPGA code for the Mockingboard from somewhere else, and that person hadn't implemented the speech chips...

@@CT6502 yeah, but the chips are known and the schematics are somewhere. Maybe a firmare update in the future will add it. I ordered the card. I always wanted to get the sprite card, but couldn't ever find it.

@@berighteous yep, I think they just need to prioritize what features they add. And it's true, just need a firmware update!