8bits4ever has officially started selling the Carnivore2 cartridges

Earlier we reported about the release of RBSC's DIY kit of the multi cartridge Carnivore 2. From that time on this mighty beast seemed out of reach for people without the necessary soldering skills. Times have changed since 8bits4ever filled this gap with an assembled release of this cartridge.

To emphasize the magnitude of this news we summarize what this multi cartridge is about:

EP2C5Q208C8 Altera CYCLONE II FPGA
8MB FlashROM
Nextor ROM on-board
2048KB RAM on board. 1024KB RAM Mapper, 720KB pseudo-MegaRAM.
SCC, SCC+ and FMPAC (with backup RAM support)
PSG and PPI Clicker
One CF Socket (SD cards can be also used with SD-to-CF adapters)
NEXTOR and FM-BASIC ROMs on-board
Translucent cartridge case
Works on MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+ and TurboR
Propietary software utility to manage all functions, load ROMs into flash memory, switch on/off several functions, etc.

All the above for just a mere € 115,-

We could do a complete copy/paste from the producer's website, but it would be better if you just go there yourself and order one. Right now they're sold out, but a next batch is already on its way.

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Comments (36)

By gdx

Enlighted (6116)

25-06-2017, 15:31

Is the driver for Nextor specific or is it the same as the Sunrise CF interface?

By syn

Prophet (2116)

25-06-2017, 14:37

Great news!

By ARTRAG

Enlighted (6933)

25-06-2017, 16:08

It seems very nice

By alexito

Paladin (761)

25-06-2017, 17:59

Is OUT OF STOCK in just a few Hours?

What the hell?

By meits

Scribe (6534)

25-06-2017, 18:25

alexito wrote:

Is OUT OF STOCK in just a few Hours?

What the hell?

Alexey submitted the news when the first batch was already sold out. Mind you, Alexey is the developer of the cartridge, not the producer and seller of the assembled cartridge. If they alerted us, or one of us would have noticed it, this news post would've been posted a bit earlier.

By syn

Prophet (2116)

25-06-2017, 18:58

8bits4ever will make more they promised, so I won't be too worried. Just wait a bit

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

25-06-2017, 19:00

Guys, be patient. The 8bits4ever will have more units in stock soon. The news is more like a generic announcement about the starting of sales, it's not anyone's fault that the first batch was sold out so quickly.

By konamiman

Paragon (1194)

26-06-2017, 10:03

Amazing! But I'm curious about why CF cards instead of SD (which are the defacto standard everywhere nowadays)?

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

26-06-2017, 11:50

We had a proper IDE implementation borrowed from our MultiController cartridge. CF cards work nicely with IDE interface. Technically you can connect any IDE device (hdd, cd, etc) to the cartridge if you have a CF->IDE adapter. Also we could not find a proper VHDL implementation of SD interface at that time, so we decided to stay with IDE that proved to be working fine in our previous project.

But hey, if you have a CF-to-SD adapter, you can easily use SD cards with Carnivore2 cartridge. I tried that and it worked fine.

By Wolverine_nl

Paragon (1160)

26-06-2017, 11:50

I was wondering the same thing, I do own a few CF cards, so when I order one, then I wouldn't mind, but still, rather have regular SD cards (not the microSD size MFRSD uses)

By Guillian

Prophet (3516)

26-06-2017, 11:52

There is a typo in the product description:
"Carnivore2 its a powerful piece of hardware packed with many features: MegaFlashROM..."
It is not a MegaFlashROM cartridge, so it should be fixed in the web to avoid misunderstanding. Some users could think they are buying a MegaFlashROM product.

By tfh

Prophet (3318)

26-06-2017, 13:52

This looks like a very nice (almost) all-in-one artridge for your MSX.

It would be nice if MSX-Audio was added to it as well (I have no idea if there is still enough room left on the FPGA for this?

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

26-06-2017, 14:59

Guillian wrote:

Thanks, I informed 8bits4ever so they could change the description ASAP. That was unintentional. Sorry about that.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

26-06-2017, 15:02

tfh wrote:

This looks like a very nice (almost) all-in-one artridge for your MSX.
It would be nice if MSX-Audio was added to it as well (I have no idea if there is still enough room left on the FPGA for this?

Was there ever a VHDL implementation of MSX Audio? We are now collecting the specs for our new project - MultiSound cartridge. There will be SCC, OPLL, SFG as well as OPL1-4, possibly on a physical chip. If there's a open source MSX Audio implementation, we may include that as well.

The Cyclone II chip is pretty much full in Carnivore2, so there's no room for further modules.

By syn

Prophet (2116)

26-06-2017, 15:13

Ask Eugeny Brychkov, he has a MSX-Audio implementation in his Gr8net. I dont know if its written in VHDL or whatever language FPGA"s use (Im not that knowledgeable of this technology), nor do I know if its opensourced/licenced/self-written or anything.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

26-06-2017, 15:36

And I would like to personally say big thanks to Konamiman for his awesome Nextor BIOS with DSK image emulation! I hope further development continues some day.

By Wolverine_nl

Paragon (1160)

28-06-2017, 10:06

Question: are the CF cards hot swappable?

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

28-06-2017, 14:03

I would not try that.

By Wolverine_nl

Paragon (1160)

28-06-2017, 14:16

Alexey wrote:

I would not try that.

Ah, good to know. the MFRSD has hot swap, and it is good people read this and don't try it
When I can order it, I will. Great product, congratulations on that Alexey !

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

28-06-2017, 22:37

I mean I didn't try that myself and I won't risk it. But it doesn't mean that it's not possible. The CF slot is constructed so that the card is properly grounded before the power pins are connected. But how the Altera chip and the Nextor BIOS will handle the card change - that is unknown.

By djh1697

Paragon (1696)

08-07-2017, 01:45

mine arrived in the UK on 6/7 at Heathrow airport, still not here yet

By Sebbeug

Champion (399)

12-07-2017, 09:15

djh1697 wrote:

mine arrived in the UK on 6/7 at Heathrow airport, still not here yet

Go to your post office.
Same problem with me, track number says to me item was in France, but nothing in my mailbox. Finally, item was waiting in my Post Office ! French post can be "failing"... UK post office too ?

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

30-07-2017, 00:57

The SCC+ firmware for Carnivore2 cartridge has been verified to be working correctly. You can download the firmware and the configuration preset from here:

https://github.com/RBSC/Carnivore2/tree/master/SCCPlus

Please make sure that you read the "readme_sccplus.txt" file. It has the detailed instructions on how to enable the SCC+ mode.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

29-08-2017, 17:16

We are working on the new firmware that increases sound quality a lot and also has the 3-bit volume control for FMPAC and SCC channels separately. The firmware will be available once it's properly tested.

Compare the sound quality:

Old firmware: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xjYWTXlb9mR1MxaldQOXpfMVk...
New firmware: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xjYWTXlb9mclgzTnM3Y2drQmM...

Ignore the occasional clicking sounds - this problem is already solved.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2436)

05-10-2017, 23:08

I can't resist sharing here the results of the Google automatic translation of the Russian documentation on the Carnivore 2 registers:

+06 R1Mask - the width of the border of the map of the border of the river (this is the 
             regression of the direction of the flow of the mineral oil in the direction
             of the valley
             Example of the Konami 5 (SCC) curtains This is the front of the first bank
             5000h-57FFh, which is in the middle of the day
             the abyss of the middle baate is 11111000b and F8h
...
+07 R1Addr - An inverse of the wall of the castle, the east side of the valley 5000h
             is 50h
             The original classification 50h
+08 R1Reg - An extensive wall of the databank, facing the need for a full-blown
             staircase
 ...

+20 ConfFl - Defragmentation of the FlashROM
           2b - -BYTE = 0 for 8 daggered dinars, = 1 for 16 daggered dens
           1b - -RP - Reset / protect
           0b - + 12VPP = 1 set 12 to go to the stage of the emergency recording,
               = 0 to print + 12â

Sounds like the walkthrough of Maze of Galious or Golvellius - not sure to understand everything here

(luckily the source code of c2ramldr.asm is commented in English ).

By Grauw

Ascended (10713)

06-10-2017, 02:01

LOL

By Louthrax

Prophet (2436)

09-10-2017, 19:07

So I now have a Carnivore 2 from 8bits4ever, it works great, but I was just a bit disappointed by the FM-PAC sound quality. I decided to flash the latest firmware (the carnivore2.pof file) to fix that, but discovered that the 8bits4ever board has no soldered JTAG socket.

So, I have these questions:

I have a "USB Blaster" device, so I should use the "JTAG" connector right (asking because there's another similar connector on the opposite side of the cardtridge) ?
Would you recommend to solder a male or female JTAG socket (I have both plugs on my USB Blaster cable)?
Is there any jumper to change on the Carnivore board before flashing or, is some soldering required?
The Carnivore must be power-supplied during the flash operation right? Can that be done by having the cartridge inserted in a powered-on MSX machine or is that not recommended?

By Louthrax

Prophet (2436)

10-10-2017, 11:29

OK, so I've managed to update my Carnivore 2 to the latest carnivore2.pof firmware with some help from Sebbeug :

I powered the board with a USB cable that I cut and soldered on the GND / +5V plug (on the center-left part of the PCB). I had to solder it because the pins had been cut (probably because the PCB does not fit into the cartridge with these).
I used a GR8Net adapter that I did not solder put kept pressed on the PCB "AS" connectors (not the "JTAG" one, as I mentioned above) during the flash process. Not very professional but I had no "pins strip" to solder (and I'm wondering if that would fit in the cartridge anyway?).

Anyway that worked. The volume controls in new boot block are working, and the FM-PAC sounds are way better. Maybe not prefect yet (the "Compile sound" that you can hear when the Compile logo is displayed at the beginning of Aleste still sounds a bit weird).

Also, I noticed that the Carnivore does not boot at all when a Modulon slot expander is inserted in slot 2:

But it works with a Gouda slot expander.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

19-11-2017, 19:13

The repository has been updated with the new files today (19.11.2017):

https://github.com/RBSC/Carnivore2

Some updates from the changelog:

- English technical documentation
- English changelog
- Autostart skip option (3 second delay) in Boot Block
- Improved key assignments in Boot Block (see help screen)
- Boot Block version number is now visible in the Help screen
- Bugfixed C2RAMLDR utility, also a new feature has been added
- New utility to save/load the contents of FMPAC's emulated SRAM (savegames, etc.)
- More RCP files for tricky games

One more good news is that our engineer managed to include the PSG into the firmware. Works with the majority of games so far. Needs some fine-tuning and separate volume control channel. Stay tuned for more news!

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

26-01-2018, 22:21

Since December 2017 Carnivore2 supports PSG emulation. The firmware upgrade is required to get this feature working. The boot block must be updated as well. There were a few bugfixes in the tools. Also a new tool was provided to save/load the contents of FMPAC's emulated SRAM.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

02-05-2018, 00:08

Today we have a major release for Carnivore2:

Added Z80/R800 mode toggle for Turbo-R machines with 'T' button
Added Turbo mode toggle for Panasonic MSX2+ machines with 'T' button
Added indication of Z80/Turbo/R800 mode to the status screen
The CF card's clock speed is now independent from the CPU's clock speed. So the IDE will work correctly even if the CPU speed is above normal. Also a few minor errors in the firmware were fixed
The selected VDP frequency and/or Turbo/R800 mode is preserved for ROMs after system restart
Corrections were made into the documentation regarding the PosSiz register and the Turbo/R800 modes
When an RCP file with the same name as ROM file is found, the C2MAN, C2MAN40 and C2RAMLDR utilities are asking whether to load the RCP data. In autoloading mode the RCP data is loaded automatically
The C2RAMLDR utility can now reset the computer on-demand or automatically after loading the ROM file if the /r command line option is used; the restart option has been added into the menu
After writing IDE or FMPAC BIOS into the cartridge there's no longer a problem with directory editing. In the past the directory was shown as corrupted because of incorrect configuration after BIOS flashing.
A few RCP files have been added

By OeiOeiVogeltje

Paragon (1428)

17-02-2019, 15:45

so i got my hands on a Carnivore2 in Beuningen and i am wondering how i can identify the firmware version?

By Robby

Master (214)

17-02-2019, 17:22

OeiOeiVogeltje wrote:

so i got my hands on a Carnivore2 in Beuningen and i am wondering how i can identify the firmware version?

When you boot your carnivore with CF inserted, you will enter the boot menu. Press "H" (help), and you will see your firmware version in the bottom left side of the screen.

By OeiOeiVogeltje

Paragon (1428)

17-02-2019, 23:24

im having trouble finding versionnumbers on github.... which is what?

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

20-02-2019, 17:35

Unfortunately you can't identify the firmware version as it's not reported or stored anywhere. You can only identify the boot block's version in the Help menu.

When you buy from 8bits4ever or Carmeloco, you always have the latest available firmware installed. You might need to get the latest boot block (v2.06) programmed if you wish, as it supports joysticks and joypads to operate the main menu. See the readme file on Github for the instructions on how to update the boot block.

On Github there's always the very latest version of the firmware, tools and ROMs.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3571)

31-03-2019, 16:43

We have a big release for Carnivore2 today. The list of changes can be found below.

Added UI settings screen that can be called with "S" button into the boot block. A user can now enable sorting of the menu entries, enable/disable fade in/out effects, set the speed of the keyboard/joystick and customize the font and the background colors of all boot block's screens (on MSX2 and later computers). A user can also restore the default settings with just one button. The UI settings are stored in the configuration EEPROM
The F3 key loads the UI defaults on startup, but it doesn't clear the settings in the EEPROM. This function may be used to bypass bad configuration settings
The C2MAN, C2MAN40, C2RAMLDR, C2SRAM and C2BACKUP utilities now assume the default extension for their data files and ROM images if a user doesn't input the extension himself
The C2MAN, C2MAN40 and C2RAMLDR utilities got a bugfix to better identify the free directory entries in order to re-use them. The directory optimization now works better
The C2MAN and C2MAN40 utilities were optimized in size to better fit into RAM under MSX-DOS2
The new utility C2CFGBCK allows to backup and restore the data in the configuration EEPROM
The C2BACKUP utility asks a user whether he wants to preserve the existing boot block on the cartridge and in case of a positive answer it doesn't overwrite the existing boot block with the one stored in the backup file
Added C2IDETST utility to test IDE controller's functionality. The utility performs 16384 read/write operations and shows the status for each of them. In the end the utility shows the total/success/failed counters

The repository can be found here: https://github.com/RBSC/Carnivore2

I would like to thank Carmeloco, Pencioner and 8bits4ever for their help during the testing phase and for the new improvement ideas.

8bits4ever has officially started selling the Carnivore2 cartridges

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