Elan Enterprise Core Release Candidate by RW FPGA-Dev Team

[nrx]

A very active forum exists for the Enterprise 64/128 over at: https://www.enterpriseforever.com/

There are also these Facebook groups if you're into that sort of thing:

• ENTERPRISE Hungarian User Group (original group - very little in English) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/112679608813524
• ENTERPRISE International User Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/575054502866388

[bazza_12]

just bumping this up as i'd love to see an official release

[EeDee]

just bumping this up as i'd love to see an official release

I'll join you in that as I agree

[akeley]

I've checked up on this core. There seems to be a newer version (2022115) available for download here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/elan-enterprise-84254732

Apparently there was also another update this year: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep, which hasn't been ported to MiSTer yet though. Translated forum message (link in 1st post) from the dev says:

I've halfway through the version of MiSTer but I got stuck when trying to use the SDRAM, apparently it's a bit special. At some point I'll take it back.

The version of MiST is more complicated, it doesn't have enough BRAM. I passed the sources to gyurco and adapted them to use SDRAM based on putting in waiting states but although it seems to work it doesn't do well, when there's a lot of graphic load the waiting states make the image lose.

This is from June 2023. Any more info on the core's status would be appreciated.

[Kyp]

Hello, I'm Kyp, the creator of the core. I just updated my repository with the latest version of the core. Source code is also included.
Added support for a floppy disk thanks to @ramp069's updates to the WD17xx driver. Enterprise need a very precise implementation without shortcuts.

Here: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep/tree/main/releases

Please note that I started the development with other FPGA boards in mind, so it doesn't follow the standard project and folder guidelines. I don't even use the suggested version of Quartus.

[thera34]

Thank you for this very nice surprise !

Testing it a bit, besides selectable CPU speed/RAM amount, discovered that SymbOS running on Enterprise has now working mouse support.

[Kyp]

Yes, I have added mouse support and two external joysticks up to three fire buttons.
I don't know any game that uses three fire buttons. Sword of Ianna uses two.

[mapf]

Here: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep/tree/main/releases

I tried to access your repository, but get a 404 error from github. Am I doing something wrong, or is github having a bad day?

[akeley]

The latter, try again.

[Kyp]

Please note that no ROM is required as one is built into the core, but it will be be replaced at startup by a file called boot.rom if exists or can be loaded at any time from OSD. Also the actual hardware requires SD ROM to be the one at slot 7.

[LamerDeluxe]

I had the pleasure of encountering this exotic computer at the local Commodore club meeting last Saturday. I had brought my MiSTer and remembered that there's an Enterprise core for it.

Let's hope it can be added to the official cores soon.

IMG_20240217_152318.jpg (3.48 MiB) Viewed 5311 times

IMG_20240217_123405.jpg (3.36 MiB) Viewed 5311 times

[bazza_12]

I had the pleasure of encountering this exotic computer at the local Commodore club meeting last Saturday.

such a great looking machine.. coupled with the obligatory WHSmiths CPD8300

[LamerDeluxe]

I had the pleasure of encountering this exotic computer at the local Commodore club meeting last Saturday.

such a great looking machine.. coupled with the obligatory WHSmiths CPD8300

I like how the UI has the same colors as the hardware. The compartment for function key labels is a nice touch. And the Atari CX40 style joystick looks cool (too bad this one has the top missing).

I like how the data recorder has an old-school electro-mechanical level meter. The owner mentioned it was his go-to recorder for most of his classic computers.

[Monos]

I had the pleasure of encountering this exotic computer at the local Commodore club meeting last Saturday.

Wow! What a beauty.
Comparing with the same decade computers (C64, Spectrum, BBC....) it's a unbelievable design.

[LamerDeluxe]

I had the pleasure of encountering this exotic computer at the local Commodore club meeting last Saturday.

Wow! What a beauty.
Comparing with the same decade computers (C64, Spectrum, BBC....) it's a unbelievable design.

It really is, the design looks quite ahead of its time.

[Bristles]

It was a beauty, especially at that time.
Other machines of the era that I personally think were great looking machines were, the Memotech MTX 500/512 - Such a slick looking machine for its time. The Oric Atmos, with its striking Red & Black design, and one of my favourite machines of the era, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4a Silver and Black version - such a good-looking machine.

[ron]

It was a beauty, especially at that time.
Other machines of the era that I personally think were great looking machines were, the Memotech MTX 500/512 - Such a slick looking machine for its time. The Oric Atmos, with its striking Red & Black design, and one of my favourite machines of the era, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4a Silver and Black version - such a good-looking machine.

For Enterprise latest releases: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep/tree/main/releases
Memotech MTX ( Rememotech by AndyZ for MiSTer) is here: viewtopic.php?t=248

[FPGA64]

It was a beauty, especially at that time.
Other machines of the era that I personally think were great looking machines were, the Memotech MTX 500/512 - Such a slick looking machine for its time. The Oric Atmos, with its striking Red & Black design, and one of my favourite machines of the era, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4a Silver and Black version - such a good-looking machine.

For Enterprise latest releases: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep/tree/main/releases
Memotech MTX ( Rememotech by AndyZ for MiSTer) is here: viewtopic.php?t=248

Memotech would be a good core if the CPM and ghastly front end were omitted. Yes I know it had CPM but precious few would ever have seen it. I would kill for a Memotech core that just booted to the Blue OS screen

[ron]

It was a beauty, especially at that time.
Other machines of the era that I personally think were great looking machines were, the Memotech MTX 500/512 - Such a slick looking machine for its time. The Oric Atmos, with its striking Red & Black design, and one of my favourite machines of the era, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4a Silver and Black version - such a good-looking machine.

For Enterprise latest releases: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep/tree/main/releases
Memotech MTX ( Rememotech by AndyZ for MiSTer) is here: viewtopic.php?t=248

Memotech would be a good core if the CPM and ghastly front end were omitted. Yes I know it had CPM but precious few would ever have seen it. I would kill for a Memotech core that just booted to the Blue OS screen

With Rememotech you only need to type : MTX , and that 9918 blue screen will appear when change Screen from OSD.

[FPGA64]

For Enterprise latest releases: https://github.com/Kyp069/ep/tree/main/releases
Memotech MTX ( Rememotech by AndyZ for MiSTer) is here: viewtopic.php?t=248

Memotech would be a good core if the CPM and ghastly front end were omitted. Yes I know it had CPM but precious few would ever have seen it. I would kill for a Memotech core that just booted to the Blue OS screen

With Rememotech you only need to type : MTX , and that 9918 blue screen will appear when change Screen from OSD.

It would be nice to have it boot to that and be able to choose tapes in the core menus like the other cores. I know its a port of the original Rememotech and thats how that behaves but its such an opaque user interface. Thats and then typing Noddy to go into the Hyper text like Language that the memotech supported back in the 80's

[ron]

Nowadays, it is relatively easy to make a new Memotech MTX-500, 512 or even RS-128 core.

To give an example, the SVI328 core was born by using 32KB memory banks, not like the native MSX which is 16KB. In the end the ports are different but it is absolutely feasible to make an MTX core with a native rom and it is not as complicated as it seems.

The same thing happens with all the cousins and relatives ranging from the Sord M5 to the MSX.
Sord M5 (Molekula), Adam Computer (alanswx), Sega SC, SG, Memotech MTX, Tatung Einstein (pierco), Spectravideo 318/328(retriovader), and the MSX...
Apart from Z80 and TMS VDP9918/9, some have the audio with a Texas Instruments SN76489 and others with a Yamaha AY-8910 as PSG. There are a lot of software and ported versions between these machines, amazing to try.

For a MTX core, then will come the expansions, the disk controller, the memory, the 80 columns card, to get to the same point we are at. Therefore, the versatility that it offers as a whole is difficult to bring together in a new core, of course, what is there can be improved, but for that we need coders and interested people and there are not many of them.

But think about all the expansion options and how flexible the expanded MTX is as a whole. A delight, thanks to AndyZ and the MiSTer port of retrovader, which in turn has been ported to boards such as MiST, MiSTica, SiDi, NeptUNO, Unamiga Reloaded and Poseidon.

The original design of the Rememotech (core FPGA) is by Andy Key. IF anyone knows MTX well, it is this man.

In the 1980s, Andy Key worked writing Memotech software, including many of the best games, for the Memotech MTX range. His deep knowledge of Memotech software is complemented by a strong understanding of hardware.
Andy has taken advantage of this knowledge to produce a number of improvements to the MTX range, including fantastic software emulation (MEMU) and a number of stunning hardware designs.

"REMEMOTECH is a modern reimplementation of a Memotech MTX / FDX / SDX. It implements enough hardware to allow you to run MTX BASIC, various MTX and CP/M games." The advantage of this type of FPGA core is that they include everything necessary to be able to enjoy the micro from the simple Basic prompt to the most complete CP/M on the hard drive. That's why he said that now that I have been able to thoroughly test all the elements I have a more complete idea of what Memotech was looking for with the MTX500, MTX512 and RS128.

Give that core a chance

Regards