On 9/28/2021 at 1:24 AM, Scott Robison said:
... I think it's a freaking miracle that we can replicate old chips that aren't cost effective to produce, and I have no problem with a complete computer made out of them myself. ...
Not sure if it will be broadcast live (if not, probably post event) but Stefany is giving a ‘class’ on how to create a rudimentary video controller on FPGA at VCF East on Friday Oct. 8th.
As you may be aware, she owns C256 Foenix and her VICKY II and III components are built on Altera Cyclone 10 (and now IV) FPGA.
I expect the class/talk to start with the basics (problem statement) of needing to take text or image in memory and manipulate clocking and data sync to fit the SVGA spec as Ben Eater’s Worlds Worst Video card did, but instead, leverage rocket fuel to take this to the next level.
VICKY has all of the bells and whistles (sprites, tiles, scrolling, dual head output and more) but this talk will probably just cover basics. Should be interesting.
Between some maniac (Ben) throwing graphics from ROM to screen without a CPU to the MiniPet, which uses an Atmel to emulate the CBM PET video circuitry, to SIDs and VICKY / VERA, it’s an amazing thing we are witnessing.
About 15 years ago, the company I worked for bought FPGA tech to process and route virtualized namespace storage network packets at [then] line rates and it was expensive as hell. Today, you can buy an FPGA Dev board on Amazon for about $150 or less and produce your own!