MEGA65 Production Update 17.04.2020

Es gibt 6 Antworten in diesem Thema, welches 2.472 mal aufgerufen wurde. Der letzte Beitrag (23. April 2020 um 13:41) ist von vicjack.

  • Hello Community,

    although we have been a bit more quiet for the last couple of weeks, it is just due to the fact that we had a lot (and we mean really A LOT !!!) to do and we are still working to all our personal limits!

    Our whole team hopes that all of you are fine during these trying times…
    PS: Anybody with a bit of time on their hand aka bored :D because they don’t have to commute every day? We’re looking for some Assembler cracks, who could help us debugging. (send a PM to adtbm or mega65)

    OK, but now to the meat. Let’s start…

    What has been achieved within the last couple of weeks ?

    We have completed the final Revisions for:

    - mainboard latest revisions have been made but need to be finalised, checked and implemented in the PCB layout
    - case 100%
    - keyboard 100%

    Hintsteiner (our injection mould and case manufacturer) is manufacturing the prototype of the latest case revision. Once sent and reviewed by us we will be able to give the

    GO to start production of the injection moulds.

    So to give you a sneak peak of what to expect, here some 3D renderings that show the major changes:

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Anhang zu sehen.

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Anhang zu sehen.Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen.

    Please have a closer look at the breakout-ports. Not only did we listen to you, the community and implemented several of them, we also added domes on the inside of the case, so you are able to easily screw add-on ports to the MEGA65 case to serve your own individual needs.

    Also, if you look closely, you can see that there is some kind of engraving inside the case, that is the list of the Top 8 supporters, becoming part of 8-bit history.

    The next blast follows up directly:

    We have ordered 500 Keyboards from GMK

    The final keyboard revision has a major improvement over the pre-series one.

    While most modern keyboards have the letters printed onto the keycaps and our pre-release version had this as well, we can now announce that the final revision of the MEGA65 keyboard will have the letters on top of the keycaps layed in. (just like the C64 had as well).

    For this we are producing our very own keycaps with moulds we especially produce for 2k injection moulding.

    (double shot keycaps).

    So even after years of using those keyboards, the letters won't fade, keeping the high level of quality the MEGA65 is known for.

    Currently the mainboard Rev.3 is in the works, it is a new revision of the prototype board with all implemented bug fixes and changes. The Mainboard Rev 3 will be inside the DevKits that will be soon available for pre-orders. They MIGHT be the final boards - developers will tell us if there is need for a v4 consumer version...

    We are very happy with steady progress on all ends. Mainly talking hardware in this update but if you have been following the latest blog posts, Paul got some more stuff in relation to the HyperRAM working. Which is an essential step to support cores for machines with higher demands (like an AMIGA).

    We're in communication with Trenz to prepare their website for preordering of the MEGA65 DevKit. The whole MEGA65 sale will happen through Trenz as our partner.

    The plan is still: pre order of a batch of DevKits. Those are more expensive than the final MEGA65 but they will be limited and they will help us to compensate the costs for the MEGA65 boxes.

    Here is a sneak peak of the MEGA65 DevKit: (Isn't it a beauty?)

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Anhang zu sehen.

    I hope this post shows you, what steps we have achieved within the last couple of weeks and why it might have taken a little bit longer lately to respond or post news...

    We hope you like how things are progressing.

    Of course, we will announce all updates and let you know once the pre ordering starts!

    So, as always, stay tuned !!!!

    :DJ

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- here you can find all MEGA65 related files, games, etc.

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- MEGA65 main Homepage. links to all important MEGA65 sites (links on top of the page to Files, Forum, GitHub, Manual,etc.)

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <-Pauls Blog - constant updates about current tasks, project status, etc.

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen.,Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- All Open-Source information regarding MEGA65. Found Bugs ? create an issue there please!

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- Join for live chat support and more --- The Future is 8-bit !!!

    2 Mal editiert, zuletzt von adtbm (18. April 2020 um 11:25)

  • Tnx for the great and informative update!

    I'm sure, no one here has any doubts you would hang around. Corona will not stop you guys! :emojiSmiley-123::emojiSmiley-40:

  • Cool! Do you have something specific in mind for the two round breakout ports?

  • Cool! Do you have something specific in mind for the two round breakout ports?

    Originally they were used as a Video/Audio out/in port (DIN) (like on the c64) and an external 1565 port (miniDIN), but since they are not needed on the MEGA65, we've added them for free use.

    Also, if a user in the future would like to add the component/s-video signal to the MEGA65 and would like to route this to the DIN connector, he would be able to add the port.

    At the moment there is nothing from our side planned for the breakout ports, we only gave them the look and dimensions of the original ports.

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- here you can find all MEGA65 related files, games, etc.

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- MEGA65 main Homepage. links to all important MEGA65 sites (links on top of the page to Files, Forum, GitHub, Manual,etc.)

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <-Pauls Blog - constant updates about current tasks, project status, etc.

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen.,Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- All Open-Source information regarding MEGA65. Found Bugs ? create an issue there please!

    Bitte melde dich an, um diesen Link zu sehen. <- Join for live chat support and more --- The Future is 8-bit !!!

    3 Mal editiert, zuletzt von adtbm (18. April 2020 um 07:23)

  • Wow, this is amazing news. You did a perfect work. You guys will have an high place in 8-bit history.

    ___________________________________________________________________________
    Ultimate64, TAPunio, SD2IEC, ZX Spectrum 48k, 1581 Replik, C64 Laptop, C64 MK II, C116, SX64,
    MiSTer FPGA, TI99/4A mit PEB, Atari 800 XL, Anycubic I3 Mega, Mega65, C64 Modular, Uniprom64

  • Anton has the situation fairly well summed up: We are too busy finishing the machine off, to implement specific things for them. However, by having them there, it means that there are no ports that were on the C65 or C64, that are not possible to replicate on the MEGA65, without having to get the power drill and dremel out to modify the case.

    Thus, if we (or someone else) has time at some point to design a userport, tape, component video output and/or 1565 external disk drive expansion board, this will be quite possible to do so. We did take care doing some quite creative "cable origami" tests to make sure that everythingn can in fact fit in to accommodate such a board -- but that is all the time we are able to bring to this particular angle for now.

    But if there is someone with PCB design experience, we'd love to see a PCB layout to provide these ports. Even just making the board outline with the ports, without worrying about the connecting electronics would help to accelerate things later, and/or might just reduce the remaining problem enough that someone else in the community can do the next part. This is one of the great things about open-source: The work can be divided, while the fun gets multiplied :)

    LG

    Paul.