Commander X16

Discuss anything not related to the current Uzebox design like successors and other open source gaming hardware
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JimmyDansbo
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Re: Commander X16

Post by JimmyDansbo »

I need to correct danboid. I have built a community edition of the Commander X16. It was designed and the PCBs were sent to me by a CX16 forum user called Wavicle.

I also have another CX16 community PBC waiting to get populated with components..

I bought my SNES controllers from the cheapest seller on Ebay. I don't remember the sellers name. I bought 2 controllers, but when they arrive, one of them was not working. I contacted the seller who promptly shipped a new one to me. While waiting for the new SNES controller, I took the defective one apart and found that it was a single wire that had come loose.
I soldered it back in place and when the replacement controller arrived I had 3 working controllers :)

Now I just have to order 3 more so I have two controllers for each retro-system.
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

I had to mess that up somehow! Thanks for correcting me Jimmy. I'd love to build an X16 but I think I might wait a year or two until they're ironed out any kinks in the gen1. Will the gen2 still be DIY friendly or is that when it goes SMD?

I've ordered the MiSTer SNES to USB adapter which I'm hoping will 'just work' under Linux. I have no idea if it will but it was only £11 so I thought it was worth a shot. I want it mainly for using my Uzebox arcade stick with MAME on my laptop or ARM things.
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

I have posted your PCB and SD card socket Jimmy. It cost about £5 for P&P so I'm happy to eat that because we need more people developing for the Uzebox.

I'm 200% certain you'll build it several orders of magnitude faster than me. My Uzebox build could well be the most drawn out, slowest Uzebox build ever. Someone will have to put some effort in to outdo me!

Have you already received all the other components that you need to build it?

New Uzebox dev incoming!
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JimmyDansbo
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Re: Commander X16

Post by JimmyDansbo »

I am pretty sure the gen2 will not be sold in kit form, that is only for gen1

You can read a bit about the 8-bit guys thoughs about gen2 here:
https://cx16forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=25944

Parts for the Uzebox should arrive in a day or two, looking forward to receiving board and sdcard socket. - Thanks again.
Btw. do you have a tracking number?
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

I didn't send it recorded delivery so no tracking number.

Are your community designed X16 designs missing anything that the official rev1 has? Which X16 variant would you say is "the best" and why?

In one of your recent messages you said "The one from jbaum81 has a different VERA board but otherwise everything is on a single board. It seems that this board relies a bit more on FPGA's instead of using discrete logic chips."

A different VERA? Why? I presume it will still be backwards compat with the regular VERA. I presume you mean the FPGA is still the same model but its code/config is different?

A re-write of the VERA was inevitable but I didn't think it would happen before the first batch of official boards were out!

I'm not a fan or more and more open source projects using discord. They should know better!
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

JimmyDansbo wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 2:31 pm I am pretty sure the gen2 will not be sold in kit form, that is only for gen1

You can read a bit about the 8-bit guys thoughs about gen2 here:
https://cx16forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=25944
So now David wants to turn the X16 into a retro console that looks like the original XBOX? This means that all but one of the expansion slots a several ports get took away it seems. Not good!

I realise that the X16 couldn't be realistically used for many modern day computing tasks so maybe thats why he's decided it should be primarily a games console but for the last 4 or so years he's only ever talked about it being a retro computer. It's not an open platform like Uzebox either so I think I'm starting to lose a bit of interest in the official X16. I don't like the direction he's talking about taking it in.
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JimmyDansbo
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Re: Commander X16

Post by JimmyDansbo »

Well, if you want the real computer experience you will have to buy the 1st iteration of the computer.
It will be available in kit form and as a assembled system.

Gen2/iteration 2 is meant to reduce cost and as you see, it will most likely be envisioned as a console, but with sdcard, keyboard and mouse.

Gen3/iteration 3 will the cheapest solution and will most likely only have gamepad inputs and possibly sdcard.

So for developers and tinkerers, it will be the 1st iteration of the system that is worth while, but they will all be compatible so if you develop for iteration 1, your software will also run on the other iterations unless you expect more RAM than is available on the other iterations.
It seems to me like most games will be developed for systems with 512KB of RAM since that is the only guaranteed size.
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uze6666
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Re: Commander X16

Post by uze6666 »

For info, my best source for SNES connectors is AliExpress. They have many models available and very cheap. https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale- ... .1000002.0
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

Artcfox wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2023 6:11 am So from reading that thread, it seems like the biggest hindrance for people is the lack of a kit.

I wonder if we can streamline that process by just building the BOM on DigiKey, and allowing people to just click "Add to Cart" and then having a similar one-click solution for the PCB (offering several choices for the PCB version, personally I would keep the ESP and SPI RAM on the removable daughter board, allowing for other pluggable expansion cards). The SNES connectors and SD card slot might be the only exceptions besides the PCB that need to be ordered outside of DigiKey, though it looks like the myLists feature already has provisions for parts outside of DigiKey.

You could still offer a kit, but it would be more like drop-shipping, and you wouldn't have to be physically involved.
Are you going to create a (Digikey) BOM list item Uze?
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danboid
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Re: Commander X16

Post by danboid »

Using the Commander X16 Integrated Assembly Environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3E0MUsqzQo
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