Granlunds FrankenSTein

[exxos]

.. and the awesome award goes to..... :thumbup:

[stephen_usher]

:bravo: :yay: :dizzy: :stars:

[agranlund]

Must admit I actually prefer 800x600 resolution on that tiny monitor though but it's cool that it works :lol:

[Cyprian]

Maybe not super interesting for most people but STBlitter_RevC is now on Github:
https://github.com/agranlund/STBlitter_RevC

(along with the DIY rom+rtc and ram boards for the short ST model)

As ET4000 prices are rising and availability is falling, maybe would be worth to replace CPLD with FPGA chip?
That would allow to add to it features like e.g. graphics card or lan.

[Umberto1st]

Now stable at 1280x1024, the native resolution of my BenQ monitor :yay2:

1280x1024.jpg

This is with the standard stga driver?

[agranlund]

As ET4000 prices are rising and availability is falling, maybe would be worth to replace CPLD with FPGA chip?
That would allow to add to it features like e.g. graphics card or lan.

I agree with you but it's probably a mammoth task for someone no matter which route one would take.
A big benefit would be that it'd be more likely you could put that thing on the 68030 bus instead of being restricted to the 8Mhz timing that the ET4000's requires.

If you implemented something that is ET4000 compatible enough for the current drivers then at least you wouldn't have to write new drivers, but you'd probably end up with a huge hardware task ahead of you until you've reached that compatability.
Or, make something completely new / repurpose existing open source gfxcard such as the Amiga VA2000 but then having to write new drivers from scratch..

I actually think the best way forward is the direction the Phoenix H5 platform is already heading in by reimplementing the current custom chips in FPGAs. This could probably open up the possibility of expanding and accelerating them in the future in a more seamless way.

Personally I'm quite happy to use the ET4000 in my machine for now but if someone creates something new and shiny I'd be happy to purchase it.
I am quite intrigued by @troed's DoubleST stuff though and I'm tempted in giving that a go as well at some point :)

[agranlund]

Now stable at 1280x1024, the native resolution of my BenQ monitor :yay2:

1280x1024.jpg

This is with the standard stga driver?

I'm using the standard NVDI 5.03 driver (The ET4000 one, with the "custom" setting to configure it for STGA interface)
I did make new, and tweaked existing, screen modes for my particular card using the VMG4000 tool though. Most of them are not perfect yet but I oddly enjoy tweaking the modes to try and get rid of sync related artifacting.

I'm not very familiar with the standard stga driver, nor the stga version of the NOVA driver. Tried the NOVA drivers first but found it all extremely confusing so I tested the NVDI one instead and stuck with that one.
While still quite confusing it was a little less so to me at least (especially the screen mode editor) and since it works with MagiC+NVDI without having to remove/rename a bunch of files I haven't had a reason to break my current config to try something else :)

[Umberto1st]

This is with the standard stga driver?

I'm using the standard NVDI 5.03 driver (The ET4000 one, with the "custom" setting to configure it for STGA interface)
I did make new, and tweaked existing, screen modes for my particular card using the VMG4000 tool though. Most of them are not perfect yet but I oddly enjoy tweaking the modes to try and get rid of sync related artifacting.

I'm not very familiar with the standard stga driver, nor the stga version of the NOVA driver. Tried the NOVA drivers first but found it all extremely confusing so I tested the NVDI one instead and stuck with that one.
While still quite confusing it was a little less so to me at least (especially the screen mode editor) and since it works with MagiC+NVDI without having to remove/rename a bunch of files I haven't had a reason to break my current config to try something else :)

I agree it can be a little confusing. I am getting faster benches with the Nova drivers on my Vofa card. I do want to test the NVDI driver a little more though

20201127_094922.jpg

[Umberto1st]

I would love to see the Schem for VGA switcher at some point. Im going to make a CPU switcher/FPU/VGA switcher board for my Mega.in place of the CPU relocator that is present

20201127_094819.jpg

[frank.lukas]

NVDI ET4000 is a little bit faster than the nova driver but the nova driver is rock stable and more cards work with the nova driver ...