Something I've been working on.

mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
s8n187 said:
hi mike , ive been going by the videos on Youtube , http://unibios.free.fr/pc2neo.html and some of this thread.................


are the USB Interface units going to be manufactured and sold to the public ? , i really hope that hasnt already happened and ive missed out
Click to expand...

Yes, these units are still for sale and built to order. Just to be clear, this is a different device then what you've referenced here: http://unibios.free.fr/pc2neo.html , that's the parallel port interface for the MVS. The current MVS universe bios does supports both USB and parallel port interfaces however this was designed primarily with the NGCD in mind and requires the new NGCD bios to use all of the development and CD loading features provided in the PC client software.
 
mastamuzz

mastamuzz

Eager Beaver
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Posts
678
interesting stuff there mike!

just a few questions if I may,
this set up is made so the TL haves a NBM with a USB port for communication? how does this works on the FL cause I assume the DB on the TL has the BIOS socket and the communications hardware on it, but if the FL is a direct replacement how you get the hardware going for the communications port?

assuming it has a NeoBiosMasta that will make swapping a BIOS chip easy for when a UB is ready right? how is the PC2NEO going to work on this one cause I assume it is by the mentioned USB port right? it haves its own interface for windows or will just be CP based? (or to Raz: are you taking this setup in consideration with the UB?)

do you have any pictures of the hardware to be installed? what about installing? how noob friendly is it?
 
mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
mastamuzz said:
interesting stuff there mike!

just a few questions if I may,
this set up is made so the TL haves a NBM with a USB port for communication? how does this works on the FL cause I assume the DB on the TL has the BIOS socket and the communications hardware on it, but if the FL is a direct replacement how you get the hardware going for the communications port?

assuming it has a NeoBiosMasta that will make swapping a BIOS chip easy for when a UB is ready right? how is the PC2NEO going to work on this one cause I assume it is by the mentioned USB port right? it haves its own interface for windows or will just be CP based? (or to Raz: are you taking this setup in consideration with the UB?)

do you have any pictures of the hardware to be installed? what about installing? how noob friendly is it?
Click to expand...

>>this set up is made so the TL haves a NBM with a USB port for communication?
yes

>> how does this works on the FL cause I assume the DB on the TL has the BIOS socket and the communications hardware on it
I don't have a FL but Neoturfmasta has been testing this. As you've mentioned, with a socketed bios no NBM is needed. All units require the USB hardware as the communication is PC->PC2NEO->NEO . There's a USB connection to the PC2NEO and then a joystick connection is made from PC2NEO to the NEO.

>>assuming it has a NeoBiosMasta that will make swapping a BIOS chip easy for when a UB is ready right?

Yes, this is correct. It will just be a matter of swapping eproms. The UB should have all the same PC2NEO functionality built in as well.

>>it haves its own interface for windows or will just be CP based?

There is a windows and command line client. In fact I have OSX and Linux binaries as well for the command line tools but those are just ports of the same PC command line client.

>>do you have any pictures of the hardware to be installed? what about installing? how noob friendly is it?

I don't have any close up pictures of my setup but its a bit different then what is shipping as mine uses a ZIF socket attached to a ribbon cable to make development easier. The last page of the NBM pdf explains what's involved in installing in an NGCD: http://neogeofanclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/install.pdf

Thanks,

Mike
 
D

Deathx

n00b
Joined
May 6, 2008
Posts
17
Wow, thats awesome, some of you guys should figure out how to stick all of this in a cf card/usb stick or everything that remove the pc using and does the job by simply stick it in the console... I'm pretty sure you will sell a hell lot of them
 
mastamuzz

mastamuzz

Eager Beaver
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Posts
678
mikew said:
I don't have a FL but Neoturfmasta has been testing this. As you've mentioned, with a socketed bios no NBM is needed. All units require the USB hardware as the communication is PC->PC2NEO->NEO . There's a USB connection to the PC2NEO and then a joystick connection is made from PC2NEO to the NEO.



Mike
Click to expand...

I assume then its the same gizmo that haves the connection for the PC2NEO from the controller port and the USB and the issue with the controller not working is solved right?

just thinking on ways to make this an internal mod so everything could be housed inside the console and just hook up everything on pc and monitor with no loose stuff.

Deathx said:
Wow, thats awesome, some of you guys should figure out how to stick all of this in a cf card/usb stick or everything that remove the pc using and does the job by simply stick it in the console... I'm pretty sure you will sell a hell lot of them
Click to expand...
there are better ways for you to play games that you don't own, this is for a complete different purpose.
 
Last edited:
mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
Deathx said:
Wow, thats awesome, some of you guys should figure out how to stick all of this in a cf card/usb stick or everything that remove the pc using and does the job by simply stick it in the console... I'm pretty sure you will sell a hell lot of them
Click to expand...

This is primarily a Neogeo development tool so the PC is a critical component in the chain.
 
mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
mastamuzz said:
I assume then its the same gizmo that haves the connection for the PC2NEO from the controller port and the USB and the issue with the controller not working is solved right?
Click to expand...

Both controller ports work. The unit connects to the 2UP port but it also has a pass-thru connector which allows you to use the port when a transfer is not occurring.
 
D

Deathx

n00b
Joined
May 6, 2008
Posts
17
mastamuzz said:
I assume then its the same gizmo that haves the connection for the PC2NEO from the controller port and the USB and the issue with the controller not working is solved right?

just thinking on ways to make this an internal mod so everything could be housed inside the console and just hook up everything on pc and monitor with no loose stuff.


there are better ways for you to play games that you don't own, this is for a complete different purpose.
Click to expand...

Wrong explanation..
i have the ngcd (and z) with games, all i want (most i think do want) reduce the loading times.. if there will be a way to fast this by sticking some sort of usb thing i will definetly play and collect it with more satisfaction
 
mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
Deathx said:
Wrong explanation..
i have the ngcd (and z) with games, all i want (most i think do want) reduce the loading times.. if there will be a way to fast this by sticking some sort of usb thing i will definetly play and collect it with more satisfaction
Click to expand...

This device reduces NGCD load times dramatically which of course lends itself well to playing games you own or have borrowed. This wasn't the initial intention of the device, it's a side effect of the highly optimized data transfer protocol and data handling routines.
 
mastamuzz

mastamuzz

Eager Beaver
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Posts
678
Deathx said:
Wrong explanation..
i have the ngcd (and z) with games, all i want (most i think do want) reduce the loading times.. if there will be a way to fast this by sticking some sort of usb thing i will definetly play and collect it with more satisfaction
Click to expand...

If you want no loading time buy a cartridge system easy as that. No need to beat around the bushes!
 
xsq

xsq

Thou Shalt Not, Question Rot.,
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Posts
7,414
the cartridge systems don't have the CD soundtracks....
 
mastamuzz

mastamuzz

Eager Beaver
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Posts
678
yeah like the cd soundtrack for MOTW and MS 3,4,5 and X or KOF 2000,1,2 and 3 I bet those are awesome on CD!

oh wait they don't have a CD version too bad, you can't have it all right?

so choose your poison.

but hey that's a good question what about the cd soundtracks on pc2neo? you can't load a cd? just roms? or how does that work for development?
 
Razoola

Razoola

Divine Hand of the UniBIOS,
Staff member
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Posts
4,662
CD audio is played from the CD (if its present) in the drive even if loading is done via pc2neo.
 
Razoola

Razoola

Divine Hand of the UniBIOS,
Staff member
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Posts
4,662
A little update to keep you guys up to date with the current situation on the bios side of things.

After much testing on the three CD system types the bios now works on all three with the needed functionality. This means tray ejecting works on the front loader without issue. This was actually quite a pain to get working correctly and I have to give Brian a big thanks here because I think he tested around 25 different revisions before we got it working just right.

Currently the bios can only detect a front loader. The user has to choose between Top Loader or CDZ and this setting is then saved into the memory card when the system does not know what the hardware is. I would like to try and change this but presently I do not know of a way to do it. So far tests using DMA have not worked but its something I will look at more.

I have spent much time looking at cheats. This was an area I was hoping would not need much alteration but it seems I was wrong, cheats for MVS/AES games do not work for the most part on CD versions. I have corrected cheats for many games but still have some to do.

As far as PC2NEO goes we already know it works on the top loader and after some quick testing it appears its working on the front loader also. There looks to be an issue on the CDZ after the first test but at this point we need to look at it more before knowing if its just a hiccup of something more serious.

Raz
 
Last edited:
V

Valt C

n00b
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Posts
30
Thanks for the update Raz!!!

When done, finally we can put Geese in the RBS CD, that I'm convinced being not unlockable(bug?) in this version, even though the game giving the code to unlock (such a troll game)... hehe, kidding

This week I'll have some glimpse of pc2neo and another bios myself, looking forward any news, the neo cd seems to have lots of things to surprise yet.

And BTW... Am I wrong or do you(and maybe Mike and NTM are included) have some ideas to develop for NGCD hardware(mod?)? I can tell that you are researching a bit beyond an Unibios CD project, like the system routines, the loading routines, do you plan new things for the future?
 
Razoola

Razoola

Divine Hand of the UniBIOS,
Staff member
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Posts
4,662
At the moment I have not looked beyond the stuff related to unibios and PC2NEO. There is no reason why I would not want to spend some time looking into ways expanding the systems memory if people wanted to look into that or any other advancements.

Raz
 
Mendel

Mendel

Vanessa's Drinking Buddy
Joined
Sep 3, 2012
Posts
1,187
This would be very nice if someone coupled this with a neo geo cd edition of naopi.

rapsperry pi+sd card+lcd screen mounted on the console and you could just select game and go. If it works for naomi, why not for this?
 
mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
Mendel said:
This would be very nice if someone coupled this with a neo geo cd edition of naopi.

rapsperry pi+sd card+lcd screen mounted on the console and you could just select game and go. If it works for naomi, why not for this?
Click to expand...

The difference here is that the neo isn't network enabled. We need to bitbang a synchronous protocol over the joystick port which has very tight timing requirements. The way the pi handles GPIO under Linux is likely not "real-time" enough for this directly but the pc2neo connected via usb to the pi would likely work. The other option is to scrap Linux on the Pi and build the app bare metal on the ARM. You would then need to implement your own filesystem code, interface code, etc which is doable but not practical (imo). Keep in mind this is a development system. You write code on your PC and upload it to the Neo like you would any other development board. Having a Pi in between would suggest it would also be the development environment, that too isn't very practical.
 
mastamuzz

mastamuzz

Eager Beaver
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Posts
678
have you seen the files on the SNKdan version of bios for cheats? he had some working so far.
 
Razoola

Razoola

Divine Hand of the UniBIOS,
Staff member
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Posts
4,662
No I have not looked at those, maybe I will as one game I'm having trouble with at the moment is stakes winner given it seems the CD version of the game is quite different from the MVS/AES version.

Raz
 
Neodogg

Neodogg

Dogg-Father,
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2002
Posts
5,607
MOTW, KOF 2000,01,02 were released on DC, just saying...

mastamuzz said:
yeah like the cd soundtrack for MOTW and MS 3,4,5 and X or KOF 2000,1,2 and 3 I bet those are awesome on CD!

oh wait they don't have a CD version too bad, you can't have it all right?
Click to expand...
 
mastamuzz

mastamuzz

Eager Beaver
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Posts
678
I said cd not GDrom hahahahaaaa

ohh and can I have those US versions of KOF 2000, 01,02 on DC please?
 
Last edited:
KalessinDB

KalessinDB

Mr. Big's Thug
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Posts
202
mastamuzz said:
there are better ways for you to play games that you don't own, this is for a complete different purpose.
Click to expand...

To be fair, this wouldn't be the first system we've gotten an optical drive replacement for. There's the SD card loading GDEMU for DC and the USB replacement for 3DO, plus I know others are in the works. One of the biggest downfalls of optical drive based systems is eventually those optical drives fail, and the replacement isn't always easy to do for the average user (or even possible to find sometimes)
 
cdoty

cdoty

n00b
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Posts
47
Damn, that's some awesome news. Might be a perfect excuse for Frog Feast 2... or not.

Any idea on a price point?

Could a similar concept work on systems such as the 3DO?

When uploading MVS games, are you doing the graphics bit swap in real time?
 
Last edited:
mikew

mikew

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2012
Posts
245
cdoty said:
Damn, that's some awesome news. Might be a perfect excuse for Frog Feast 2... or not.

Any idea on a price point?

Could a similar concept work on systems such as the 3DO?

When uploading MVS games, are you doing the graphics bit swap in real time?
Click to expand...

>>Any idea on a price point?

The USB dev system is $150 but you also need a NeoBiosMasta ($15) from NeoTurfMasta.

>>Could a similar concept work on systems such as the 3DO?

Maybe? I'm not familiar with the technical aspects of that console. You would need a replacement bios for the transfer/debug routines at the very least.

>>When uploading MVS games, are you doing the graphics bit swap in real time?

Yes, the required 68K patching and V-ROM/C-ROM demultiplexing is also done in realtime. You can basically point it at an MVS rom and it will figure out how translate that to NGCD code on the fly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top