RetroHQ demonstrates MegaBus gfx card

[alexh]

https://x.com/i/status/2012159727027790205

It's an FPGA based gfx card for Atari 16/32 bit computers consisting of an FPGA and some memory.

His first attempt was to adapt the existing shifter design from other FPGA based systems (I think it was reverse engineered from the schematics by ijor?). It suits on the MegaBus sniffing all data and mirrors the shifter onto its DVI port.

The plan is to have a mix of gfx card modes and native modes via the same DVI port.

RetroHQ has already successfully made commercial Atari hardware with the Jaguar GD, the 7800 GD, Lynx GD flash cartridges and several other designs.

Well done. Keep going.

[rubber_jonnie]

https://x.com/i/status/2012159727027790205

It's an FPGA based gfx card for Atari 16/32 bit computers consisting of an FPGA and some memory.

His first attempt was to adapt the existing shifter design from other FPGA based systems (I think it was reverse engineered from the schematics by ijor?). It suits on the MegaBus sniffing all data and mirrors the shifter onto its DVI port.

The plan is to have a mix of gfx card modes and native modes via the same DVI port.

RetroHQ has already successfully made commercial Atari hardware with the Jaguar GD, the 7800 GD, Lynx GD flash cartridges and several other designs.

Well done. Keep going.

Nice.

My only issue (And it's a personal one BTW) is that in my Megas the Megabus slot is filled with an IDE adapter.

Of course it is certainly something that could be worked around and I do have other IDE adapters, it's just a pain the Megabus seems so limited.

[alexh]

My only issue (And it's a personal one BTW) is that in my Megas the Megabus slot is filled with an IDE adapter.

The prototype card has an MMC card slot, I don't know if that is just for configuring the FPGA or if it is intended to be accessed by the MegaST also, time will tell.

I personally use an ACSI2STM with my MegaST.

it's just a pain the Megabus seems so limited.

You mean by capacity? e.g. how many cards you can have plugged in?

RetroHQ could and probably will consider making a multifunction card if he turns it into a product.

But a lot of the functionality I use today on my Atari ST's comes from a SideCartridge (Mass storage, WiFi, Floppy Disk emulation etc)

[rubber_jonnie]

The prototype card has an MMC card slot, I don't know if that is just for configuring the FPGA or if it is intended to be accessed by the MegaST also, time will tell.

Sounds interesting.

I personally use an ACSI2STM with my MegaST.

So it's not an issue for my main Mega as that has an empty Megabus slot since I use one of exxos old IDE/TOS upgrade cards that lets me run TOS and EMUTOS and plugs into the CPU spot, leaving the megabus free. It's the other machines that use the Megabus slot.

You mean by capacity? e.g. how many cards you can have plugged in?

RetroHQ could and probably will consider making a multifunction card if he turns it into a product.

Yes, that exactly.

But a lot of the functionality I use today on my Atari ST's comes from a SideCartridge (Mass storage, WiFi, Floppy Disk emulation etc)

I don't particularly want to go Sidecartridge as I already have the machines nicely set up and though have UltraSatan and CosmosEx devices I could swap to, they are external and I'm looking to be all internal. I do have some more of the Exxos IDE/TOS adapters so I could retrofit to free up the Megabus

[HigashiJun]

According to a post on another forum, Geekdot is also working on a similar expansion.

https://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=484620#p484620