Apple IIGS MiSTer Core Progress

[Xbytez]

Looks like Pierre Cornier @pcornier is working on an Apple IIGS core for the MiSTer FPGA.

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[akeley]

Ooo....big news! That's one of the last few important missing puzzle pieces.

[lu_source]

An excellent core to add to MiSTer! It's a computer with really impressive graphics and sound. Always wanted to use it.

[Hodor]

Wow!, what a surprise!

[Estrayk]

woah! very very good news !!!!!!

[Mr. Encyclopedia]

Wow! My family had an Apple IIGS when I was growing up. Buying it was a terrible decision but I still have many fond memories of it.

[seastalker]

I still have an Apple IIGS and was hoping such a core would arrive on MiSTer!

[Xbytez]

Another update development update.

[thorr]

YES!!!! This is THE core that I have been waiting/hoping for. I came very close to just buying an Apple IIgs recently, but decided not to in the hopes that it would come to the MiSTer. I am very excited about this! I have many other cores on my wish list, but this one is at the top.

[nico24]

It would be very good to have this IIGS core! I've always wanted to get a system, it was just a little too out of the price range. Would be excellent to play around with this, so really good news it's in development.

[thorr]

I would love to hook this up to my Apple IIc monitor via composite whenever this is ready (in addition to my VGA CRT monitor). The IIgs supported composite and RGB, so it would be cool to see both via the MiSTer.

[kubbie]

Wow, been waiting and hoping for this to become a reality someday.

[cathrynmataga]

This will be glorious. It's the last of the set, Atari ST, Amiga, CoCo3 and Apple 2GS.

[thorr]

Still need Tandy

[Alkadian]

Super cool, that would be awesome. Thanks!

[Malor]

Man, I hope it works well. The IIGS has been a computer I've always wanted to experiment with.

[Chilli_Vibes]

My second most-wanted retro Apple computer, after the Apple IIe. But as usual, most go for stupid money, on eBay.
Looking forward to this core, and hearing that Ensoniq 5503.

[Malor]

Man, just emulating that Ensoniq chip will be a big deal, all by itself.

[Pierco]

FYI I'm not going to continue working on this core, I just wanted to complete the boot sequence to get the project started. That was the deal I made with Alan. But don't worry! Four much more talented developers will take over the work, and it includes the Ensoniq chip. They have already started and it's going great!

[kubbie]

FYI I'm not going to continue working on this core, I just wanted to complete the boot sequence to get the project started. That was the deal I made with Alan. But don't worry! Four much more talented developers will take over the work, and it includes the Ensoniq chip. They have already started and it's going great!

Thanks very much for putting down the foundation for this project. It's exciting to even hear that it's being looked at. Thanks to the devs that's taking over this project and looking forward to the day that we all can enjoy your hard work.

[vikinge]

Very excited to see this core someday

[duke_fsc]

FYI I'm not going to continue working on this core, I just wanted to complete the boot sequence to get the project started. That was the deal I made with Alan. But don't worry! Four much more talented developers will take over the work, and it includes the Ensoniq chip. They have already started and it's going great!

C'est vrai, vous n'allez pas continuer à développer le coeur ?
Rohhh, je suis dégouté, c'est la machine avec laquelle j'ai commencé l'informatique. Enfin la première est un Apple //c, j'ai encore mon //c et mon //GS.... Ils sont tous les deux en état de marche...

Je suis informaticien, mias je ne sais absolument pas développer pour FPGA, d'ailleurs mon métier n'est pas développeur même si je sais coder en quelques langages.

J'avais vu le tweet comme quoi le coeur avait été lancé en developpement et j'étais super heureux depuis que les émulateurs comme "Bernie ][ the Rescue" et Sweet16 ont été arrêtés... Et à part KeGS qui marche quand il veut... Il n'y a plus rien pour émuler un //GS sur un Mac.

Je rêverai de pouvoir m'y atteler moi-même.... J'ai Intel Quartus qui tourne sur un PC, mais je pense que la courbe d'apprentissage est trop raide et haute.

I first wrote my message in french because pierco is from french Swizerland but for english people, here is the translation of what I said:

Is it true? You really don't continue the core development?
I'm very sad because I began computers on this box when I was 10. My first computer was an Apple //c followed by the //GS with 1MB of RAM and a TranswarpGS accelerator card. I still have them and they are still working.

I am a computer technician but I don't know how to develop a FPGA core. My job is not developper but net/sys administrator even if I know coding in several languages.

I saw the tweet reporting that the Apple //GS core was under development and I was very happy since all emulators like Bernie ][ the rescue and Sweet16 were discontinued. Except KeGS, which works wobbly, there nothing left to emulates the //GS on Mac OS X (Apple Silicon M1)

I would dream to begin to do it myself... I run Intel Quartus on a PC... But I think that... the learning curve is too high...

[thorr]

Is it true? You really don't continue the core development?

He said that "he" is not continuing because four other seasoned developers are taking over the development, so it is still happening. It would be great to get an update on the progress of this development.

I am happy to help with QA and find any problems during the development. I have an Apple IIc that I have modded, and I am more familiar than a casual user with how things should work in general. I never used an Apple IIgs before, but always wanted one. My experience is limited to IIc/IIe stuff.

[duke_fsc]

Is it true? You really don't continue the core development?

He said that "he" is not continuing because four other seasoned developers are taking over the development, so it is still happening. It would be great to get an update on the progress of this development.

I am happy to help with QA and find any problems during the development. I have an Apple IIc that I have modded, and I am more familiar than a casual user with how things should work in general. I never used an Apple IIgs before, but always wanted one. My experience is limited to IIc/IIe stuff.

Hi Thorr,

Thank you for your answer and precisions. I'm going to follow the progression with the closest interest. :p

>>> I never used an Apple IIgs before, but always wanted one.

It was a wonderful machine. I still have it and it works well except the display that is tired.
I have my bunch of old friends who had the Amiga 500 and Atari ST (I also owned an Amiga 500) and we were so happy to compare these wonderful computers and yesterday I was at one of them's. We still talking about this era with nostalgia.

I had the //GS, with 4MB of RAM (not 1MB as I said in my original post), with the TranswarpGS (up to 8Mhz), a stereo card made by a friend and I when I was 14 yo, A 44MB SyQuest running as the main HardDrive, 2 3.5" disk drive, 1 5,25" disk drive and a 1200/75 bauds modem. It runs on GS/OS 6.

Really, If you find one, buy one!!! I really want to find a //e which I never had.

Do you know that it existed an upgrade kit to upgrade the //e to a //gs ?
https://picclick.com/RARE-Apple-IIGS-Up ... 43632.html

Unfortunately, my actual //c is not my original one but a "new" one I bought a few months ago 160€ bundled with an ImageWriter I. I still have the Image Writer II with the //GS. But this //c has, I think, memory issues. Some random characters appear on the display and the disk drive does not work anymore.
So I need to find what chip is faulty. Hope I'll find it.


So this being said, I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO SEE THE //GS COMING ON THE MISTER!

[akeley]

Really, If you find one, buy one!!! I really want to find a //e which I never had.
[...]
Unfortunately, my actual //c is not my original one but a "new" one I bought a few months ago 160€ bundled with an ImageWriter I.

Seems like you were lucky, 160E is a real bargain. I'd love to get a real US Apple II but here in Europe they are very pricey, even the Europlus ones.

Also, if somebody has a bit more spare cash lying around, then there's this Apple-I auction underway. Current bid is 250,000 USD

[Pierco]

Alan, Spacexguy and Steven-a-willson are still working on the core but this machine is so complex! @duke_fsc I'm in France but yes, close to the swiss border

[thorr]

I had the //GS, with 4MB of RAM (not 1MB as I said in my original post), with the TranswarpGS (up to 8Mhz), a stereo card made by a friend and I when I was 14 yo, A 44MB SyQuest running as the main HardDrive, 2 3.5" disk drive, 1 5,25" disk drive and a 1200/75 bauds modem. It runs on GS/OS 6.

Really, If you find one, buy one!!! I really want to find a //e which I never had.

Do you know that it existed an upgrade kit to upgrade the //e to a //gs ?
https://picclick.com/RARE-Apple-IIGS-Up ... 43632.html

Unfortunately, my actual //c is not my original one but a "new" one I bought a few months ago 160€ bundled with an ImageWriter I. I still have the Image Writer II with the //GS. But this //c has, I think, memory issues. Some random characters appear on the display and the disk drive does not work anymore.
So I need to find what chip is faulty. Hope I'll find it.


So this being said, I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO SEE THE //GS COMING ON THE MISTER!

Very cool! I am familiar with a lot of that stuff (Transwarp GS, etc.), but just from reading about it. When I was a kid I had a Laser128EX that had a built in turbo function. It was very helpful on some sluggish games.

Yes, most likely your IIc has memory issues. There are ways to determine exactly which chips are affected by what is displayed on the screen and you can replace the bad chips. There is an Apple II Enthusiasts group on Facebook and you could post there and someone could give you the answer: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/

I would love to have a real Apple IIgs, but I just don't have the room for it. When it comes to the MiSTer, I will have the official Apple composite monitor that my IIc uses and I have a VGA monitor, so I can basically have both monitor types that the IIgs supports (VGA is beyond the IIgs, but it should look similar). If the MiSTer implementation is done well, then I should effectively have a IIgs without having to take up more desk space that I don't have.

Regarding my IIc, I have a FloppyEmu that works as an external smartport hard drive and 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppy drives. I installed a Mockingboard 4c which gives it Mockingboard support (something a IIc never could do before because it has no slots), and I installed custom internal speakers and an extra volume control for it so I can adjust it independently from the speaker volume. I also designed and built my own custom MIDI device and wrote software for it that allows me to use my MT-32 and Sound Canvas with the IIc and play full multi-channel midi files. It is pretty slick. Someday I want to make a youtube video about this, but I have too much other stuff going on.

Can't wait to see this IIgs core come to life!

[duke_fsc]

Very cool! I am familiar with a lot of that stuff (Transwarp GS, etc.), but just from reading about it. When I was a kid I had a Laser128EX that had a built in turbo function. It was very helpful on some sluggish games.

Yes, most likely your IIc has memory issues. There are ways to determine exactly which chips are affected by what is displayed on the screen and you can replace the bad chips. There is an Apple II Enthusiasts group on Facebook and you could post there and someone could give you the answer: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/

I would love to have a real Apple IIgs, but I just don't have the room for it. When it comes to the MiSTer, I will have the official Apple composite monitor that my IIc uses and I have a VGA monitor, so I can basically have both monitor types that the IIgs supports (VGA is beyond the IIgs, but it should look similar). If the MiSTer implementation is done well, then I should effectively have a IIgs without having to take up more desk space that I don't have.

Regarding my IIc, I have a FloppyEmu that works as an external smartport hard drive and 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppy drives. I installed a Mockingboard 4c which gives it Mockingboard support (something a IIc never could do before because it has no slots), and I installed custom internal speakers and an extra volume control for it so I can adjust it independently from the speaker volume. I also designed and built my own custom MIDI device and wrote software for it that allows me to use my MT-32 and Sound Canvas with the IIc and play full multi-channel midi files. It is pretty slick. Someday I want to make a youtube video about this, but I have too much other stuff going on.

Can't wait to see this IIgs core come to life!

Woowww! Outstanding!

You don't imagine how I am happy to find someone who loves like me or even more the Apple //xx platforms.
How old are you? I'm 47.

Can you post some pictures of your //c customization? I would love to see it!

Thank you so much for the update about the facebook group. I'm not on facebook myself but have a business account so I will be able to follow it.
Does it exist some MT32 compatible games or software on the Apple //xx plateforms? I didn't hear something like that at this time?

[thorr]

Woowww! Outstanding!

You don't imagine how I am happy to find someone who loves like me or even more the Apple //xx platforms.
How old are you? I'm 47.

Can you post some pictures of your //c customization? I would love to see it!

Thank you so much for the update about the facebook group. I'm not on facebook myself but have a business account so I will be able to follow it.
Does it exist some MT32 compatible games or software on the Apple //xx plateforms? I didn't hear something like that at this time?

Thanks! I also am 47. It's always great to find like-minded people!

Here are some pictures of my Mockingboard 4c installation plus added amplifier with volume control and upgraded speakers (they are still small but better than what came with the Mockingboard 4c and sound pretty good). I think I replaced the black tape with hot glue after I took these pictures, but I can't remember.

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I don't currently have any pictures of my MIDI device because it is a proof of concept prototype. I rethought the design and bought the parts for a tremendously smaller version, but I haven't built it yet. My plan is (after I finish building my arcade cabinet) to build the new version and make a video. You hit the nail on the head. The Apple II did not have any support for the MT32 or Sound Canvas other than playing a single note at a time or so on a Passport MIDI card, but with my device, it has full functionality. So basically I can write new games and applications for it that support it. I plan to make a few awesome (IMHO) demos to show it off in my video. It will probably be awhile before I get to it though.

[Chilli_Vibes]

You don't imagine how I am happy to find someone who loves like me or even more the Apple //xx platforms.

Waves hand.
I have an Apple IIe, US version with UK PSU, 512k RAM, A9M0107 White Disk Drive, Mouse Card, 80 Column Card, Super Serial Card, RAM2E II 8MB RAM card, connected to a Sony CRT TV. Love it more than my 2018 Macbook Air. Don't have a modern SDCard solution yet, I would need to import from the US, since nobody is selling these in the UK, or EU. I still use 5 1/4" floppy disks, and use the super serial card to PC laptop to transfer real images back to the Apple iie disk drive. I also have a Kraft Joystick, which works ok. I prefer this to using the Mister, mostly because I can't get joysticks to work properly in Mister's core.