MSX ARM - turboR upgrade kit in development

If the price is right, this might be a reason to have a 'turbo r' for me...

Oooo sounds great, just hope it's not too expensive....

It´s to good to see that the Brazilian hardware scene is on the go... again!!

Add some mapped RAM and this will be the dream cartridge for any MSXer!

What hardware is used for the Ethernet and USB parts, by the way?

But the question is: Will it work in a slotexpander... Got two slotexpanders here with just one empty slot left... None of the cartridges in it are being replaced with anything... I am SO stubborn...

A good idea, hope they will succeed and get it finished !
But, how are they going to place all of those expansion connectors inside a msx cartridge ?

Hi friends.

About your questions I'll try answer some

@sd_snatcher, In fact this project was restricted to GDM forum BUT is not forbidden anyone make announces about it in any other place . And, as I explained at GDM forum, this project is a initial development of hardware and software, then actually we have a lot of plans and a lot of hardware implementation, in progress. The embedded software development for the ARM layer will start soon (when the hardware layer become stable). This software layer will make a lot of "magic" to do the interfacing the MSX (BIOS calls, etc etc) with the ARM Cortex 4.

@konamiman All hardware needed to use USB, Ethernet and some other features present on MSXARM is embedded on Cortex M4 BUT, as I told before, needs a lot of software implementation to make this interfacing between MSX and ARM.

@WORP In fact is to soon to talk about the final product size, but I think that a external tiny box with a flat cable (like IDE flat cable) attached to a small MSX cartdrige is a alternative to fit all these connectors with the MSX ARM board, BUT, is too soon to tell something about this.

[]'s
PopolonY2k

@popolony2k
mmmm....quite good!

Great project! I'd like to see new Turbo-R software

"effectively upgrades any MSX2+ to MSX turboR"... does it mean that the onboard processor really takes over the internal Z80? How is this possible? And does it have the R800-specific instructions? So many questions...

And by the way, what happens if the cartridge is used in a MSX1 or MSX2? Does it work in degraded mode or something?

Well, I'll try to explain.

@konamiman In fact the new CPU will take over the internal Z80 CPU and this is made using the same thecnique what the ZX81 Computer uses to implement it's video display system to do the video processing. In MSXARM, Rogerio Matte called this tecnique "Z80 Zombie mode" and consist of a FPGA generating IN/OUT and NOP instructions to Z80 after the boot initialization (there a bootstrap ROM created to start this process), then while the ARM processor is running, the Z80 continues working in parallel, acting as a second core (slower than ARM processor, sure), processing other things, this is done because Z80 cannot to be completely turned off, on MSX, because it lacks of DMA.

With this pipeline tecnique and others parallel processing, we are expecting to speed up the VDP access, for example.

On MSX1 or MSX2, the R800 running on ARM will take full power, but it will be capable to interact only with the MSX1 or MSX2 hardware, then not runs TurboR specific games, for example, because it needs access the VDP of MSX2+/TR. But if you want to do R800 software, using MSX1 or MSX2 hardware, MSXARM will be capable to run it.

@PAC, this is a philosophic discussion but MSXARM is really near to a new full computer, but at this point we just want know about FPGA and ARM development and just this is something too big, for while.

A new complete computer, maybe in future.

[]'s
PopolonY2k

So if I get it right...

1) On an MSX1, MSX2, or MSXturboR you get a fast coprocessor that can use nice tricks like DMA and peripherals
2) On an MSX2+ you get all this, and as an added bonus you can run (most?) turboR software?

Or... does the MSX-ARM become the main processor and the onboard processor (Z80/Z80H/R800) the coprocessor?

Well, what esle can I say other than... shut up and take my money!!

Hi friend, about your questions....

In fact we're not using the FPGA's full power, and implement another hardware using FPGA isn't the focus on project, then, we are not thinking implement another soundchip, like MoonSound for example. The advantage of MSXARM is the compatibility with the legacy, then if you have a MoonSound, you can use it with MSXARM.

We are using the Altera Cyclone IV, but the final version will be running in a Xilinx Spartan 6.

[]'s
PopolonY2k

MSXARM Frequently Asked Questions: http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/FaQ

I looked at the architecture page a while back, I must say, it looks very nice. One side of me is worried that maybe there are too many features in this device, but on the other hand .... its damn cool I see you also have a extra ps/2 keyboard interface, any plans on joystick ports as well? (either usb or ps2 or whatever standard you choose)

So, any progress worth mentioning or are you guys just doing testing and more testing? I hope I am not being too pushy but this is something I wanted for years now ;)

Anyway, my compliments on this project ;)

MSXARM progress:

MSXARM (http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArm) PCB layout in progress
PCB Preview:
1 - MSX cartridge interface: http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxBreakoutSlim (Opensource hardware)
2 - MSXARM main board: http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArmMainBoard
3 - MSXARM expansion board: http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArmExpansionB...

MSXARM LUA BASIC interface: http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArmBasicLua

ok, how and where to (pre)order it?

Updates:
MSX breakout board slim(open source): Schematic/PCB OK: http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxBreakoutSlim
MSXARM mainboard PCB(http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArmMainBoard ): in progress (30%)

Turbor GT hardware versus MSXARM:
http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxarmVersusTurbor

Playsoniq hardware versus MSXARM:

http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArmVersusPlay...

@Randam, I rebooted my server and I think that's ok now

Using Msx slim breakout board with MSXARM:
HDL design source files (Preview): http://187.33.0.151/foswiki/bin/view/MsxArm/MsxArmBreakoutSlim
-- This design shows:
--- Z80 signals (address,data bus,MREQ,IOREQ,RD,WR,M1,INT) multiplexing
--- Z80 signals parity generators B-) (MSXARM bus error detection system)
--- One-bit Delta Sigma Audio bypass
--- LM4811 Audio chip volume control.
--- RGB led control

-

Updates. The MSXARM hardware are well under way in the design effort, so we(I and popolony2k) have started to develop software(software porting from prototype as well) to the new hardware. Here is a screenshot of our nice software development environment(Eclipse Kepler + ARM compiler/simulator):

Running MSX LUA on @MSXARM simulator

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

Hows everything coming along?

Dead project?

My R800 multiply instruction implementation in ARM Thumb2 assembly. Optimized to run on ARM CORTEX M7 processor that can run 2 instructions per cycle

;
; R800 8 bits multiply instruction
;@param r0 8 bits
; #7,4
macro
mulub
; HL = A * r0
mov r1, z80a, lsr#24
; SV flags are reset
orr z80f,z80f,#(1 :SHL: SFlag)|(1 :SHL: VFlag)
muls r1, r0, r1
; YHXN flags are unchanged
; Z flag is set when result is zero
orreq z80f,z80f,#1 :SHL: ZFlag
; C flag is set when result doesn't fit in 8-bit
movs r0,r1,lsr#8
mov z80hl, r1,lsl#16
orrne z80f,z80f,#1 :SHL: CFlag
mend

;
; R800 16 bits multiply instruction
; #8,5
macro
muluw $zreg
; DE, HL = HL * $zreg
mov r0, z80hl,lsr#16
mov r1, $zreg,lsr#16
; SV flags are reset
orr z80f,z80f,#(1 :SHL: SFlag)|(1 :SHL: VFlag)
muls r1, r0, r1
mov z80hl, r1,lsl#16
; YHXN flags are unchanged
; Z flag is set when result is zero
orreq z80f,z80f,#1 :SHL: ZFlag
; C flag is set when result doesn't fit in 16-bit
movs r0, z80de,lsr#16
orrne z80f,z80f,#1 :SHL: CFlag
mend

; mulub A,B
opcode_ED_C1_r800
mov r0,z80bc,lsr#24 ; #1,1
mulub ; #7,4
fetch 0, 14 ; #17,12

; mulub A,C
opcode_ED_C9_r800
mov r0,z80bc,lsr#16 ; #1,1
mulub ; #7,4
fetch 0, 14 ; #17,12

; mulub A,D
opcode_ED_D1_r800
mov r0,z80de,lsr#24 ; #1,1
mulub ; #7,4
fetch 0, 14 ; #17,12

; mulub A,E
opcode_ED_D9_r800
mov r0,z80de,lsr#16 ; #1,1
mulub ; #4,4
fetch 0, 14 ; #17,12

; muluw HL,BC
opcode_ED_C3_r800
muluw z80bc ; #8,6
eatcycles 0, 18 ; #1,1
fetch 0, 18 ; #17,12

; muluw HL,SP
opcode_ED_F3_r800
muluw z80sp ; #8,6
eatcycles 0, 18 ; #1,1
fetch 0, 18 ; #17,12

The MSXARM software development kit: R800 multiply instruction implementation in ARM Thumb2 assembly.

The MSXARM software development kit:

and now?

Those updates are a bit old now.
Is this very interesting project still going on?

Sounds interesting!

Looks like it could be possible to have two Pi-s connected?

Looks like a cool project.
What can it do by now or will be able to do?
Maybe emulate existing extensions, such as music cartidges or new expansions?
I do not fully understand how a raspberry can interact with an MSX, but I am willing to see the potential of it.

Cool.
Mame?

I regretted selling my TurboR GT. Still I have an MSX2+ now