d3fmod Ironclad Question

[earthprime]

Does anyone have experience with the Ironclad board by 'd3fmod'? The board includes a 5-pin header labelled 'pi-conn' for a MT-32 pi, but no guidance on how to connect or integrate the MT-32 pi to this 5-pin header.

[kconger]

I believe this is for his internal MT32pi Hat.

[FPGA64]

http://www.d3fmod.com/internal-mt32pi-news/

[earthprime]

That makes sense. But then the next question is where to find this pi hat, since he advertises the following as "For the Ironclad Plus without “Pi-CONN” header"

https://www.d3fmod.com/product/mt32-pi- ... -retrofit/

[kconger]

His latest update says soon: https://www.d3fmod.com/1st-anniversary- ... d-updates/

[lu_source]

If you already have a regular MT32Pi hat you can also use a DB9 to USB adapter to connect it externally.

This is the adapter that I use for my Ironcald Plus board
https://www.antoniovillena.es/store/pro ... 3-adapter/

[NML32]

I installed my MT32-Pi in my MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus 4th batch board.
I used the instructions from the Mt32-pi Internal Hat (Retrofit Kit) to assemble and install mine. (For the Ironclad Plus without “Pi-CONN” header)
https://www.d3fmod.com/product/mt32-pi- ... -retrofit/

Note: The mt32-pi internal hat uses the secondary user i/o port so, for now, it needs modified cores to work, you can replace your existing cores or have both installed at the same time. Work is been done to include this cores into update_all script to make things easier, it will be available soon For now you can download the modified cores from here (download the “+” versions)

Ironclad_MT32-Pi_4th_batch_board.JPEG

[gruposox]

I installed my MT32-Pi in my MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus 4th batch board.
I used the instructions from the Mt32-pi Internal Hat (Retrofit Kit) to assemble and install mine. (For the Ironclad Plus without “Pi-CONN” header)
https://www.d3fmod.com/product/mt32-pi- ... -retrofit/

Note: The mt32-pi internal hat uses the secondary user i/o port so, for now, it needs modified cores to work, you can replace your existing cores or have both installed at the same time. Work is been done to include this cores into update_all script to make things easier, it will be available soon For now you can download the modified cores from here (download the “+” versions)

Ironclad_MT32-Pi_4th_batch_board.JPEG

Howdy, I just built my mister with the ironclad plus and internal pi-hat. Every seems to work except the MIDI BGM. Testing with X68000 enhanced core.

Results - Game loads, plays, soundFX are fine. No BGM.

I've tried a few configuration changes to the config file with no success. Question - how are you outputing the audio, via HDMI to yoru TV via TOS link to a receiver?

[chimaera]

For the MT32 Pi, I'm quite sure you'll need a ironclad plus specific core.

https://www.d3fmod.com/downloads/mister ... _cores.zip

[gruposox]

yup. I downloaded these and was, at least I think I was, meticulous when following instructions.

the visual display does show the typical bar visuals of the MT32 but no matter what no BGM is output.

I am connected via HDMI from the ironclad to the TV.

[gruposox]

Here is what I am seeing with the X6800 enhanced core (the one recommended by d3fMod). You can see the core is saying it is playing something and the MT32 is recognized, however there is a missing option "current config" in the MT32 submenu.

I am currently download the AO486 games to test that core and MT32 friendly games to see if I have the same results. Will report back shortly.

I also reached out D3Fmod as well for guidance.

IMG_2823.JPG

[chimaera]

I am just guessing now, but for the Hi-Fi Blaster addon, you had to flip a dipswitch on the DE10 Nano for it to work, maybe it is thje same for the MT32-Pi?

[gruposox]

I did check that. since I have the HD sound add-on from d3fmod - I did flip the dip switch as mentioned by d3fmod. tried it with and without add on. same result.

I will try with another core later and if that fails. I'll try re re-do everything from scratch. more to come.

[gruposox]

Exact Same results with ao486 core.

going to rebuild to see if there is something I screwed up in the mister INI file.

[LazurWulf]

FWIW, i can't get my internal MT32 to be recognized at all and it's driving me nuts. I ran a GPIO test (https://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Testing) and the headers all report fine. I've set and reset the MT32 5 times now, and I can't get it recognized.

What's weird is the Mister knows it's there, it shows me the MT32 options and when I program the remote on the Iron Clad, it knows the hat is there because I have to program the buttons for it.

But when I run the MT32 script to create the SD card, it fails out because no sd cards are detected. I've even put the SD card into a linux box and run the script on that so it creates the SD card fine, still nothing.

I feel like I'm missing something basic.

[gruposox]

Posting an update. Thanks to the tip about checking the GPIO headers. i found some of my amateur soldering of the header pins caused the problem. The mister was showing me the MT32 as functional so I assumed this was fine. I can't be upset at all as this is open source and not every error can be handled.

In the end, I re-soldered all raspberry pi headers and it is now working 100%

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and tips.

Especially LazurWulf!

[LazurWulf]

To clarify for everyone who's gotten this to work: You install a Pi onto the header from D3mod, plug it all in and run the setup script... and it just works?

My mister sees that MT32 is installed because the menu options appear, but the modified cores never show anything is playing even those the MT32 option is turned on.

I went and bought an external MT32 hat and plugged my Pi 4 into it, put the SD card in, and plugged it via the SNAC USB on the back of the IronClad plus... still nothing!

What am I missing, any help is greatly appreciated!!!

[kconger]

Sounds like you need to build and configure the MT32pi SD card.
https://github.com/dwhinham/mt32-pi/wik ... -and-usage

[LazurWulf]

Yes, I've done that multiple times, still nothing. Very weird and frustrating.

[dpezet]

I'm not sure if this is the same for every core, but there are extra steps to get it working in ao486. The MT32pi hat is connected to the second user I/O port and ao486 expects it to be on the first user I/O port so it doesn't actually see it. You have to either download a modified core or compile the core yourself so that it points to the second user I/O port. I downloaded the modified cores from here:

https://github.com/MiSTer-Enhanced/Dist ... /_Computer
https://github.com/antoniovillena/2ndus ... r/releases

[dpezet]

I forgot to mention, you will want the plus (+) core not the minus (-) core.