Sidekick20 Aufbau, Fragen, ...

I assume that your screens with HDMI socket are 16:9. When I use Sidekick20 on my Samsung monitor/TV there were no changes needed. The VIC-emulation was displayed in the correct aspect ratio.

In case your HDMI displays are TVs you can change the aspect ratio via the remote control or the settings menu. If you don't want to do that you have to configure a screen setting in the file sidekick20*.txt in the root folder of the SD card. There is a section "hdmi_mode" (as is described in the README).

I think the Raspberry Pi documentation for hdmi_mode can be found here:

https://www.raspberrypi.com/do…config_txt.html#hdmi_mode

Hi rvanzo1971,

Interesting observation. I get this on my tv as well . I actually have never taken notice of it before.

Maybe this is a clue on how to fix it. I understand that it is for some other bit of hardware.

https://www.driversupport.com/…pecific%20aspect%20ratios.

Quote from emulaThor

I assume that your screens with HDMI socket are 16:9.

Yes, I made tests connecting the RPI output directly to my Asus VG258QR (16:10), and an HDMI to USB capturing device (16:9)

In both cases, the output I obtained is the one I showed.

I could only change the aspect ratio by forcing the rendering format to 16:9 in the VLC settings for the capturing device, I found no way on the monitor.

Quote from emulaThor

think the Raspberry Pi documentation for hdmi_mode can be found here:

https://www.raspberrypi.com/do…config_txt.html#hdmi_mode

Thanks, Thor: your suggestion gave me some hope... even if for a short time!

Using modes 17 instead of 18 (for PAL) and vice versa did not cause any change in the HDMI output format (on the rendering device I use). This does not make any sense to me!

I played with different formats and different rendering devices (and cables...), with no results in changing the aspect ratio. I also tried Group 1 and Group 2 different modes, but - I discovered - the only ones that make sense are 576 resolutions for PAL.

I was going to conclude that my Asus monitor does not support this signal format very well. Then I got a "last resort" idea! I tried with an HDMI to AV converter! I inputted the HDMI to the converter and the resulting AV output on the same Retro-LCD Monitor I normally use for the direct AV output from the VIC 20, and what I got was this:

20240718_232150.jpg

I suspect there's something strange about the format coming out of the Rpi with the SK64 shield in some way...

Quote from banman

Interesting observation. I get this on my tv as well . I actually have never taken notice of it before.

So I'm not the only one to note

Quote from banman

Maybe this is a clue on how to fix it. I understand that it is for some other bit of hardware.

https://www.driversupport.com/…pecific%20aspect%20ratios.

Both My Retro-LCD monitor and my HDMI monitor do not have any aspect ratio or resizing option, so I'm stuck.

But a native 4/3 signal on HDMI should exist! Why the 17 hdmi_mode, which should address this, does not work on my rendering device?

I tested Sidekick20 HDMI with my Samsung Syncmaster P2770HD and it worked plug'n'play there - I did not have to make any changes. Aspect ratio looked good for me, example video follows.

Quote from emulaThor

I tested Sidekick20 HDMI with my Samsung Syncmaster P2770HD and it worked plug'n'play there

The aspect ratio in your case is simply perfect!

Probably your LCD automatically resizes the HDMI input, and mine does not.

For curiosity, have you ever tried to change the hdmi_mode to 17 to see if it makes a difference?

Hi rvanzo1971,

I just saw this YouTube video..

Might be of interest, not sure if it relates to your issue or not.

is it possible the Vic 20 Megacart can be made to run on the Sidekick?

An emulation should be pretty simple, but the SK20 covers the functionality of the Megacart already (except for saving hiscores and stuff in NVRAM, at least I read about this feature). What's the missing feature?

Quote from Frenetic

An emulation should be pretty simple, but the SK20 covers the functionality of the Megacart already (except for saving hiscores and stuff in NVRAM, at least I read about this feature). What's the missing feature?

Thanks for replying Frenetic. Just to check are we talking about the same thing, ive sent you a PM with a link to the cart file. The Megacart with all the cartridge and disk/tape games included its been dumped as a bin file I cannot link to it on here as the forum wont let me ive been using the Megacart bin file on MiSTer but would love to try it on real hardware.

If I understand you correctly, there's one big file which contains all the ROMs etc prepared to run on the Megacart hardware. This would require an emulation of the cartridge logic. That's not difficult, but I can't find the time to do this at the moment. If there's a way to extract the ROMs/PRGs from the binary (or take them from somewhere else) then you can have pretty much the same functionality (plus more) on the Sidekick20.

Quote from Frenetic

If I understand you correctly, there's one big file which contains all the ROMs etc prepared to run on the Megacart hardware. This would require an emulation of the cartridge logic. That's not difficult, but I can't find the time to do this at the moment. If there's a way to extract the ROMs/PRGs from the binary (or take them from somewhere else) then you can have pretty much the same functionality (plus more) on the Sidekick20.

Its basically a multicart that was available a few years ago but is no longer made. Its very similar to the newer Penultimate cartridge thats sold by TFW8B.com

yes, that's clear. What I meant is the following: if you have one large binary for the multicart, then the Sidekick20 would need to emulate the logic of the Megacart hardware.

The binary, however, just contains ROM and PRGs. If you would be able to extract them (or source the files from somewhere else) then you can do the same with the Sidekick20 directly.

Quote from Frenetic

yes, that's clear. What I meant is the following: if you have one large binary for the multicart, then the Sidekick20 would need to emulate the logic of the Megacart hardware.

The binary, however, just contains ROM and PRGs. If you would be able to extract them (or source the files from somewhere else) then you can do the same with the Sidekick20 directly.

Thanks for the reply what programme would you recommend to extract the files I tried Power ISO but no joy.

It's definitely different from ISO files, so that won't work. If the Megacart doesn't come with a tool for creating own collections, then it would require quite some reverse engineering. I'd be surprised if you wouldn't find the same programs/ROMs in other collections as well. Simply copying the files to the Sidekick20-SD-card is enough then.