WPC on a single FPGA

[beaver]

Latest update from my FPGA work. I now have the WPC CPU board core
components (68B09 cpu, ASIC, RAM, glue logic) and the DMD interface on
one FPGA. A single board now runs the WPC ROMs and directly drives a
DMD display.

http://www.edcheung.com/album/album07/Pinball/wpc_sound.htm#cpu

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[heckheck]

Most excellent. As a firmware developer myself I'm very impressed
with the level of effort you have put in to reverse engineer the
interfaces. Kudos. Did you find the PinMAME software to be of any
help in deciphering any of this? I imagine since they emulate DMD
games, there must be code in there to do similar stuff.

h_h

[vinito]

Most excellent indeed.
As an electron idiot, I am blown away by what you guys can do and wish
I had even a little knowledge in that area. I have brainstorms but no
chops to carry anything out.

I don't know if your hard work is ever fully appreciated Edward, but
muchos kudos to you. The PB community is lucky you are into it and you
do some extremely interesting things.

[500VDC]

Wow! Fantastic work, Ed! That is a great application for an FPGA. They
are amazing devices. You sure put some time into that project. Very
impressive.

Matt
Muskegon, MI

[beaver]

The PinMAME source file WPC.H (thanks Martin Reynolds) was very
helpful. It shows the locations of the registers and the comments
assisted me greatly.

I will add a link to that in my write-up. Good reminder.

Thanks for the compliments guys. They DO keep me going.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[kenny_ii]

Any thoughts on productizing this?

K2

[beaver]

Nothing definitive at this point. I am doing this project for
educational purposes, and my worry that one day we would have
dwindling supplies for electronics.

BTW, up next is a way to bypass the security PIC, and come up with a
universal WPC CPU board.

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[seymour-shabow]

I'm thinking you could make a combined WPC-CPU./Audio/DMD board from
this - that would be cool, like the pascal all in one board for system
1's!! Nice turnkey solution.

Nice work Ed - remember Allentown this year is May 2nd-4th no excuses!!
Bring the family.

-scott CARGPB#29

[Kenbo]

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:36:41 -0800 (PST), beaver <e...@edcheung.com>
wrote:

Very impressive work! If this ever becomes a product it will be a
great day for pinball.

Your dedication to this effort deserves cheers from the entire
community!

[vinito]

There ya go.
Universal WPC CPU/Sound board with Security PIC bypass.
And all this for less than $50. What a guy!
;o)

You're working on a desirable gadget Edward.

In a few years it will all fit in your shirt pocket.

[JKirby]

All I can say is WOW. That's outstanding. Keep up the good work!!

Joe

[beaver]

I am soooooo looking forward to that.

And the Allentown show too 8-).

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Taylor-VA]

> > -scott CARGPB#29- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Ed, I have no idea what the hell you are talking about but am really
impressed. :)
nice job

[Grauwulf]

All I can say is my hat's off to you! Amazing work!

James Johnson

[TheKorn]

beaver <e...@edcheung.com> wrote in news:151ede8e-ac5e-4d18-95e5-d099944755d7
@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com:

Man, that's crazy impressive, both from an accomplishment standpoint and
how much time you've sunk into the project to get TO that point!

--
Have a home video that's trapped on your camera? Want to share it on the
web or on DVD?

http://www.webwidevideo.com/

[TheKorn]

vinito <vini...@yahoo.com> wrote in news:b5d3306d-b748-4bfc-83a5-
9fefef...@e23g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

> There ya go.
> Universal WPC CPU/Sound board with Security PIC bypass.
> And all this for less than $50. What a guy!
> ;o)

I wouldn't hamstring him with the $50 price. A board like that could
easily be sold for $200, similar to the AllTeks.

[JimS]

Incredible Ed! There are times when I think this hobby will eventually
end do to a lack of parts to keep it going, then someone such as
yourself puts in a major design effort and finds a way to replace some
of the hardest to get parts (those darn asics). Just Fantastic!!

Jim

[metallik]

Let me pile on the praise for you and this project... that is some
seriously impressive hacking. I figured it was conceivable to get the
WPC system running on modern hardware, but to see it actually being
done is amazing. Your work will help keep these games running for
many decades. No more obsolete ASICs!

[beaver]

You guys are just so encouraging! Thanks for the nice comments. I
soldier on....

Edward Cheung CARGPB26

[Chris Hibler]

Pretty danged cool Ed. And all this time I've been fretting about
obsolete WPC ASICs.
Your level of dedication to the project is very impressive.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm

[AL]

An amazing piece of work Ed. Not only the project, but your
outstanding documentation of it should be commended as well.

AL CARGPB 33(1/3)
www.Team-EM.com

[-Al]

Ed,
Wow, dude! You are a HARDCORE GEEK! But I mean this in the BEST
was possible! I read all the technical information, and could only
follow the most very basic stuff. However, it is clear that you have
a HIGH degree of technical knowledge, and I'm glad to have you in the
pinball community. If you ever end up producing these replacement
boards, I'll be signed up for it!

-Al

[american...@hotmail.com]

I'm guessing Double E student or graduate.

[vinito]

On Jan 28, 1:52 pm, TheKorn <TheK...@TheKorn.Net> wrote:
> I wouldn't hamstring him with the $50 price. A board like that could
> easily be sold for $200, similar to the AllTeks.

in case you didn't get it the first time...
;o) = humor, not hamstrings
Not to say that $50 wouldn't be unbelievably cool.

[warp9pinball]

Wow. Wish I had a bit of spare time to toy with that.