Yes, you are correct sir, my fault. Is for this i say in an earlier post i have 0 electronics skills

But if the logic connections to the expansion slots of the DE1 board are already mapped to be MSX compatible i don't understand how in all this time no one has used that board only for expansions, pluged at a MSX slot, keeping the real MSX for compatibility. That board, used as a multi-purpose and reprogramable expansion module alone has so much posibilities...

SCC+, FM-PAC, 4 MB memory mapper, SD Reader, all of this for 150 Euros. How much cost each of that expansions separatelly?

Lot of people already have SCC , enough RAM, FM sound, and mass storage ( whatever it is )

But the MSX is a good playground for toying with fpga's , it is not so complicated to connect
an fpga to an MSX , the most simple way to write vhdl into the fpga that behaves just like
a ROM or an I/O port , you need :

some input lines from MSX cartridge port to FPGA for :
Chip select
Adress lines ( 8 bits can be enough )
/IORQ ( for I/O port )
/RD
/WR
/SLOT SELECT

and define the 8 bit data bidir bus :
it is easy the /RD signal with /SLOT SELECT is enough to control the bus direction.

And that is .

Now electro-mechnicanally you need :
- FPGA to output 5V on its I/O and not 1.8V or other low voltages.
- strap the wires : be care full !

here is an example ( i think it is the 3trd time i post it on msx.org this link ):
http://iledefra01.free.fr/msx/MSX%20EXT%20FPGA.html

Mmm didn't see that link before, thanks Leo.

by the way, THIS IS THE FORUMTHREAD NUMBER #10000 !!!!!!!!!

LOL !!

Ok, only for that reason now anyone please do the board adapter to connect the Altera to a MSX, i win, it's the number 10k !!

Interesting thread... I am trying to do that as well (actually my project is halted for a while, but I am trying to get back on it).
I have one DE1, and always thougth about doing this, but have not the skills needed.

I started the msx interface thing using an 8bitbaby, and have this thread from some time ago: http://br.msx.org/forumtopic5434.html

I wanted to prototype a simple interface, to acquire some knowledge, and them go further.

Hope this thread come back alive, I will follow it closer from now. I want to contribute as well.

i have ordered that baby board , but as you said previouly it is too wide , some msx though can take it because their rear slot is "outside" enough" like the sony hb-75.

finally i decided to make my own pcb , just costed 20 euros.
it is a pcb for a dip memory , so i can test it with a real mem chip before pluging an fpga.
additionally it is interesting to have a cartridge where you can put an eeprom ( i use a 8kb 28c64 , i bought
many years ago ) it makes an eprom programmer.

i think one critical &interesting point in this design is to have the possibility tp download fpga code from the msx itself. like not having a byteblaster cable between pc & de1 card.

Quote:

i think one critical &interesting point in this design is to have the possibility tp download fpga code from the msx itself. like not having a byteblaster cable between pc & de1 card.

Just wondering... theorically any MSX could download fpga code driving joystick-port i/o capabilities to implement an SPI protocol... probably not very fast but the hw adapter should be easy to "do it yourself".

usually
FPGA have JTAG protocol , you have :
TDI : for serial input data (input of fpga )
TMS : for selecting modes (input of fpga)
Tck : input clock
5v : cable detect
TDO : output data serial

so you need to drive 3 signals from Msx to fpga , it looks more like a 8bit I/O port outside fpga , in between msx fpga would be ok.

I am more a Xilinx guy , and i now some recent fpga models like spartan 3A are able to boot/load automatically code from external SPI eeprom.
making it more simple , but in that case i wonder if the fpga is not "master", so the msx has to cope with data rate ... there must be an application
note on xilinx.com on that topic.

For altera and DE1 board , i guess there is no SPI protocol , and just JTAG.

There are some commercial products using cplds to implement disk drive emulation using sd cards for msx and others 8bit computers.
Can't we group here enough knowledge to develop such project ?

I don´t have theoric electronic skills, but managed to glue some logic and create my system on chip:
http://www.opencores.org/project,z80soc,overview

I can help a little, and also have 2 8bitbaby, 1 Altera DE1 and 1 Spartan 3E board to prototype things, besides some MSX computers.

It would be nice to have something like the 1541 Ultimate for the MSX, emulating various peripherals. If you had just this thing and an MSX you'd be all set, and as a new MSX user I would have loved to have this thing around when I started looking for peripherals. Running out of cartridge ports, expensive old hardware, decaying diskettes, hard to find/expensive slot expanders etc. I think all this could be solved with an FPGA!

Quote:

so you need to drive 3 signals from Msx to fpga , it looks more like a 8bit I/O port outside fpga , in between msx fpga would be ok.

2 joy ports would be required...
I confused SPI with Cyclone's AS (active serial) configuration scheme, sorry.

Quote:

It would be nice to have something like the 1541 Ultimate for the MSX

I agree but I would prefer a general porpuse cartridge, not necessarily with SD or VGA or any specific connector supplied.

CPLD is not FPGA !
CPLD can be cheaper than standard ic , and smaller footprint on PCB.
FPGA is very expensive and more expensive than standard IC , can be a choice when facing obsolete components ( VDP ),
or for prototyping new function that does not exist in standard IC, also for toying or educational purposes.
...
ethernet , usb, sd card : are cheaper in standard IC , which are not obsolete.