List of Cores with ADC (Tape Input) and RTC (Real Time Clock) Support

[pgimeno]

From the release notes over at atari-forum and here, and other sources including contributors in this thread, I've found the following cores are mentioned as supporting ADC.

• Spectrum (verified)

• Amstrad

• Apple II

• ADCTest

• (Unofficial) Fabio Belavenuto's MSX1

• (Newer, now official) molekula's MSX1

• Acorn Electron

• Lynx 48 and 96

• Oric

• CoCo2

• AliceMC10

• SVI-328

• C64

• PDM 85

• Ondra SPO186

• Atari 7800

• Homelab

• Sord M5

Similarly, I have not found a list of cores that support the RTC, and from the release notes and other sources I have found these:

• (verified) Menu (on top of the panels)

• (verified) Minimig (Amiga) (Utilities > Clock)

• (verified) QL (Sinclair QL) (PRINT DATE$)

• (verified) Archie (Acorn Archimedes) (Apps > Alarm)

• (verified) NeoGeo ([DIP] Settings: ON > BOOK KEEPING > CABINET/COIN, check date of log entries)

• (verified) SNES (Daikaijuu Monogatari II, Tengai Makyou Zero - once set up, you need to reload the core for the clock to take the real time)

• (verified) GBA (checked with Pokémon Sapphire, wall clock in first room)

• (verified) Gameboy (GB and GBC) (Pokémon Gold: set clock, go one room right, set day of week, save, restart; clock is in the menu screen)

• (verified) ao486 (PC) (DATE on MS-DOS prompt)

• (verified) X68000 (DATE on HUMAN68K prompt)

• (verified) PC8801mk2SR (PC-88) (PRINT DATE$, shows year 85 but month and day are OK, and PRINT TIME$ shows correct time)

• (verified) Zet98 (PC-98) (DATE on MS-DOS prompt)

• (verified) MSX ("MSX3") (DATE on MSX-DOS prompt)

• (verified) BBCMicro (PRINT TIME$ in BBC Master mode)

• (verified) TSConf (top of Wild Commander screen, also MaxiClock plugin)

• (verified) ZXNext (ZX Spectrum Next) (main menu in Next mode)

• (verified) C64 (boot GEOS and use it to run the CP Clock application)

• C64 TOD clock in CIA chip (mentioned in the release notes: viewtopic.php?p=25021#p25021 - no idea how to test it - possibly not battery backed)

• CoCo3 (according to viewtopic.php?p=42665#p42665)

The entries with (verified) are the ones that I have personally verified, indicating how they were checked.

Any help making this list more complete will be appreciated.

[danielb]

Hi,

I just got an ADC for my Mister. I have successfully tested it with the above mentioned Spectrum and Amstrad, and also with the Oric. It is supposed to work with the Dragon core, but doesn't.

D.

[Higgy]

Pretty sure it is not yet supported on Dragon as I was talking to author. I was trying to use a CASdunio tape loader (.cas to audio signal device) which i used with a real Dragon and MSX so I knew it worked.

Tapes ruled in 80s UK.

[NML32]

Hi,

I just got an ADC for my Mister. I have successfully tested it with the above mentioned Spectrum and Amstrad, and also with the Oric. It is supposed to work with the Dragon core, but doesn't.

D.

I don't think the Dragon core supports the ADC.
I've been trying to keep track of cores that support the ADC add-on in my Google Sheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... 1304126374

[danielb]

Hi, thanks for the link to the Google Sheet. As the sheet says, it also works on the Acorn Electron. I just tested this this evening and it seems to work very well. I have not yet tried the Lynx core at all, but will probably get around to it eventually

I was under the impression that the Dragon was supposed to support it, but it seems I was wrong.

The ADC is brilliant. It really gives that 80s vibe. Interestingly, I get EXACTLY the same results using the ADC with the Spectrum core as I do with my real Spectrum. Exactly the same files work or don't work, in exactly the same way.

D.

[dshadoff]

I had considered implementing this for the TRS-80 Model 1 core - and indeed, the current core takes the .CAS files and modulates them according to the original 500 baud timing, so it may not be such a big effort remaining.

But as I was also going through old tapes this past summer, I found that the combination of Audacity and WAV2CAS/CAS2WAV utilities was far easier to use than the original tape device had been (setting the tape level was always a big issue since there is no particular feedback on volume levels/distortion).

There might still be use in implementing it for non-native tape formats such as B-17 or TC-8 though.

[LamerDeluxe]

I just recently got my ADC board, as I ordered the new acrylic case from misterfpga.co.uk, which has a hole for the connector. I was also looking for a list of cores that support it, glad to find it here.

I was hoping the VIC-20 core would work with it, but it doesn't seem to. Neither does the C64. Maybe it couldn't work, if it has to be able to pause the cassette player to function correctly. The Datasette has this functionality and if I remember correctly MSX computers (or was that the Spectrum?) have a remote control connection to do this, which works with a lot of regular cassette players.

[NML32]

I just recently got my ADC board, as I ordered the new acrylic case from misterfpga.co.uk, which has a hole for the connector. I was also looking for a list of cores that support it, glad to find it here.

I was hoping the VIC-20 core would work with it, but it doesn't seem to. Neither does the C64. Maybe it couldn't work, if it has to be able to pause the cassette player to function correctly. The Datasette has this functionality and if I remember correctly MSX computers (or was that the Spectrum?) have a remote control connection to do this, which works with a lot of regular cassette players.

A few posts up I have a link to my Google Sheet that I've been trying to keep track of cores that support the ADC or you can find the link in my signature (MiSTER RGB Sheet).

[dshadoff]

You should add the ADCTest core to the list of ADC support.
May be useful for setting volume levels and verifying functionality or tape quality, etc.

[mcj]

Just wanted to add that the NeoGeo core uses the RTC for the internal "Bookkeeping" feature so you can see when you played and how many credits you've put in!

[NML32]

You should add the ADCTest core to the list of ADC support.
May be useful for setting volume levels and verifying functionality or tape quality, etc.

The ADC Test Core is listed under the "Utilities" tab on the Google Sheet.
@dshadoff, thank you for the suggestion. I added your suggestion to the notes.

[dshadoff]

Oh, I hadn't noticed the tabs before.

[Moondandy]

The SNES and GBA both have RTC implemented, and the GB/GBC core has this added in branch and should be going into main very soon.

The Atari ST core could get it added, as people have added it to real hardware, so I raised a ticket.

The C64 could get RTC functionality on real hardware as well, so could potentially be added to the core.

It might be worth doing some digging to see what other cores could support RTC and ADC and making a list of those.

[pgimeno]

It might be worth doing some digging to see what other cores could support RTC and ADC and making a list of those.

That's what I've been trying to do, but I can't dig into the sources because I don't know Verilog. EDIT: Also, even if I knew, I wouldn't be able to distinguish whether it's experimental code that is not working, or fully functional.

I consider such a list a valuable resource for those who want to decide whether it's worth for them to purchase the RTC or the ADC module, that's why I started this thread.

[dshadoff]

NML32's list appears to complete - or at least very comprehensive.
(See post above from Sat Sep 19, 2020 2:49 pm)

It would be nice to get this put into the Wiki, similar to how the cores requiring SDRAM have a unique page... would that be something you could help out with ?

[pgimeno]

No, I'm no longer in GitHub.

[Moondandy]

I have been mentioning for about s year now on the forum that someone should update the list on this page:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... orting-RTC

It would be great to have an equivalent one for the ADC.

FYI, RTC clock now in the main GB/GBC core

[dshadoff]

Folks, it's really not that hard to do.
I did it just now.
Feel free to make updates/corrections.

[pgimeno]

The SNES and GBA both have RTC implemented, and the GB/GBC core has this added in branch and should be going into main very soon.

How can I verify those? I've tried with the SNES games Daikaijuu Monogatari II and Tengai Makyou Zero. For the former I have to input the date and time on every reboot, and for the latter I couldn't make it progress past the test menu, with "NG" instead of "OK" printed in one or two tests depending on what button I pressed. I have no idea how to test the RTC support in the GB(C) or GBA Edit: Verified for GBA using Pokemon Sapphire.

Does the SNES core need different file extensions depending on the chipset, like the Atari 2600 does? I haven't found any information in the README.

[lroby74]

The Datasette has this functionality and if I remember correctly MSX computers (or was that the Spectrum?) have a remote control connection to do this, which works with a lot of regular cassette players.

MSX, Amstrad, TI994A, and some others have Rem, Spectrum not

[LamerDeluxe]

The Datasette has this functionality and if I remember correctly MSX computers (or was that the Spectrum?) have a remote control connection to do this, which works with a lot of regular cassette players.

MSX, Amstrad, TI994A, and some others have Rem, Spectrum not

Thanks for clarifying!

[Moondandy]

I have popped a ticket in here for adding RTC to the Spectrum Next
https://github.com/benitoss/ZXNext_Mister/issues/9

[bazza_12]

[*]Acorn Electron

is this an official core, or did I miss it?

[jca]

It is not an official one, I never had any success with it and VHD and did not try with the secondary SD card.

[pgimeno]

I don't remember where exactly I got that from, possibly from here: https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 31#p380931

[Moondandy]

Did someone get the SNES core working with the RTC or does it need a ticket or to ask in the SNES section of the forum?

[pgimeno]

After I tried, my conclusion was that the support added was about making the emulated RTC work, but not synced with the actual RTC. Maybe worth a ticket.

[Moondandy]

Right, I see, are you able to add a ticket with the expected behaviour and your findings?

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SNES_MiSTer/issues

[pgimeno]

No, I left github for good.

[Moondandy]

OK, If you give a write up I can post a ticket.