Elan Enterprise Core Release Candidate by RW FPGA-Dev Team
Posted: Sun May 01, 2022 11:51 pm
HI folks !
It is very nice to invite you to test the candidate release for the Elan Enteprise's core.
There are three versions available. For MiSTer and for NeptUNO and Unamiga_Reloaded.
Here: http://retrowiki.es/viewtopic.php?f=107 ... p200154146
Pending to review and activate (ToDo): EXDOS Disk Controller. DSK image as unit A: or B:
Download Enterprise core:
You'll need this rom:
Place rom as boot.rom in /media/fat/games/Enterprise
( for neptUNO place at SD's root as ep.rom )
Reset Core: C + F9
After cleaning and revision, the source code will be published very soon in our git.
RetroWiki FPGA-Dev Team: Elan Enterprise core attempt on FPGA Started by Kyp in Xilinx, ported to Altera by Yo_Me and Rampa069 and candidate releases by Kyp and Rampa.
The ENTERPRISE 128 SD Adapter Premium is also implemented, You will be able to use the SD images in VHD as if it were a physical Enterprise. Available drives from F: to P:
More info: https://szergitata.blog.hu/2015/05/04/e ... t_guide_uk
Nick, Graphics Chip.-
Resolution:
320x200 4 colours
160x200 16 colours
80x200 256 colours
The video chip is called "Nick" and it executes a display list. This allows the mode to be redefined every scanline. The Enterprise has a variety of bitmap modes, ranging from cell based bitmap modes similar to the Spectrum, to bitmapped modes like the CPC. It also supports hardware text mode, and 256 colors (8 levels of red * 8 levels of green * 4 levels of blue).
The machine was specifically engineered for games, with display resolutions up to 672×512 pixels and up to 256 colours per pixel, one byte per pixel being particularly easy to program, though full colour capabilities were limited to its 80×180 pixel mode. Sound was 4 channels, stereo. Coprocessors for graphics and sound take some of the workload off the central processor, called "Nick" and "Dave" respectively, named after their designers: Nick Toop, who had previously worked on the Acorn Atom, and Dave Woodfield.
Therefore converting graphics and code from either platform was fairly easy, although mode 0 of the CPC was made somewhat more difficult by the fact that only the first 8 colors of the palette can be chosen freely, while the second 8 colors are generated by using the lower 3 bits of the color index as the most significant bit of the red, green, and blue components, and the remaining 5 bits are added from a "fixbias" register. For this reason, a 16-color CPC conversion usually needs to find a good "fixbias" value, and convert all pixel data to the changed order of colors in the Enterprise palette. In the case of Spectrum conversions, it was also necessary to convert the attribute data.
Sound chip Dave: 3 Channel sound (non AY)
The sound chip is called "Dave" and has 3 channels of sound (square wave or noise), and a fourth channel that can only generate noise; it also has 6-bit stereo volume control for all channels, simple (digital) filters, ring modulation, various noise waveforms, has a selection of interrupts and can play samples easily.
Basically, all this make approximately the same capability as a ZX spectrum128, combining an AY-3-8910 and a beeper
The Enterprise doesn't just have more colors though! compared to the CPC, a screen that can be split into sections, and each section can be a different screen mode and color pallete - this can be done with clever interrupts on the CPC, but the Enterprise does this in hardware, without interrupts or cpu power used - allowing for far more colorsplits, The color palette is also better - the regular CPC has 27 possible colors, but the Enterprise has 256.
I/O PORTS:
RGB Video / Audio output, Expansion port, Tape Interface, Joystick (2), Cartridge slot, RS232c (Serial/Net), TV output, Power input, Printer. (There were a lot of expansion ports compared with other machines of the day. Unfortunately, like most other cheaper computers of the way, the edge connectors were left bare, with the appropriate sockets to be added as optional extras later!)
Language was IS BASIC, added by an external rom cartridge. This could be unplugged and swapped for other languages, such as FORTH, Pascal, and even an ASM editor.
An EXDOS floppy drive interface was made as an official peripheral by Enterprise Computers. This plugged into the side of the machine (in contrast to the original intention of making a stackable unit to go underneath?) You could add up to 8 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch floppy drives. These could read a variety of formats, including MS-DOS and Atari ST disks.
Enjoy the core.
Soon more info.
Bye ! Cheers !
It is very nice to invite you to test the candidate release for the Elan Enteprise's core.
There are three versions available. For MiSTer and for NeptUNO and Unamiga_Reloaded.
Here: http://retrowiki.es/viewtopic.php?f=107 ... p200154146
Pending to review and activate (ToDo): EXDOS Disk Controller. DSK image as unit A: or B:
Download Enterprise core:
- minter01.png (142.59 KiB) Viewed 22108 times
( for neptUNO place at SD's root as ep.rom )
Reset Core: C + F9
After cleaning and revision, the source code will be published very soon in our git.
RetroWiki FPGA-Dev Team: Elan Enterprise core attempt on FPGA Started by Kyp in Xilinx, ported to Altera by Yo_Me and Rampa069 and candidate releases by Kyp and Rampa.
The ENTERPRISE 128 SD Adapter Premium is also implemented, You will be able to use the SD images in VHD as if it were a physical Enterprise. Available drives from F: to P:
More info: https://szergitata.blog.hu/2015/05/04/e ... t_guide_uk
Nick, Graphics Chip.-
Resolution:
320x200 4 colours
160x200 16 colours
80x200 256 colours
The video chip is called "Nick" and it executes a display list. This allows the mode to be redefined every scanline. The Enterprise has a variety of bitmap modes, ranging from cell based bitmap modes similar to the Spectrum, to bitmapped modes like the CPC. It also supports hardware text mode, and 256 colors (8 levels of red * 8 levels of green * 4 levels of blue).
The machine was specifically engineered for games, with display resolutions up to 672×512 pixels and up to 256 colours per pixel, one byte per pixel being particularly easy to program, though full colour capabilities were limited to its 80×180 pixel mode. Sound was 4 channels, stereo. Coprocessors for graphics and sound take some of the workload off the central processor, called "Nick" and "Dave" respectively, named after their designers: Nick Toop, who had previously worked on the Acorn Atom, and Dave Woodfield.
Therefore converting graphics and code from either platform was fairly easy, although mode 0 of the CPC was made somewhat more difficult by the fact that only the first 8 colors of the palette can be chosen freely, while the second 8 colors are generated by using the lower 3 bits of the color index as the most significant bit of the red, green, and blue components, and the remaining 5 bits are added from a "fixbias" register. For this reason, a 16-color CPC conversion usually needs to find a good "fixbias" value, and convert all pixel data to the changed order of colors in the Enterprise palette. In the case of Spectrum conversions, it was also necessary to convert the attribute data.
Sound chip Dave: 3 Channel sound (non AY)
The sound chip is called "Dave" and has 3 channels of sound (square wave or noise), and a fourth channel that can only generate noise; it also has 6-bit stereo volume control for all channels, simple (digital) filters, ring modulation, various noise waveforms, has a selection of interrupts and can play samples easily.
Basically, all this make approximately the same capability as a ZX spectrum128, combining an AY-3-8910 and a beeper
The Enterprise doesn't just have more colors though! compared to the CPC, a screen that can be split into sections, and each section can be a different screen mode and color pallete - this can be done with clever interrupts on the CPC, but the Enterprise does this in hardware, without interrupts or cpu power used - allowing for far more colorsplits, The color palette is also better - the regular CPC has 27 possible colors, but the Enterprise has 256.
I/O PORTS:
RGB Video / Audio output, Expansion port, Tape Interface, Joystick (2), Cartridge slot, RS232c (Serial/Net), TV output, Power input, Printer. (There were a lot of expansion ports compared with other machines of the day. Unfortunately, like most other cheaper computers of the way, the edge connectors were left bare, with the appropriate sockets to be added as optional extras later!)
Language was IS BASIC, added by an external rom cartridge. This could be unplugged and swapped for other languages, such as FORTH, Pascal, and even an ASM editor.
An EXDOS floppy drive interface was made as an official peripheral by Enterprise Computers. This plugged into the side of the machine (in contrast to the original intention of making a stackable unit to go underneath?) You could add up to 8 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch floppy drives. These could read a variety of formats, including MS-DOS and Atari ST disks.
Enjoy the core.
Soon more info.
Bye ! Cheers !
, so, I have my RBF in place, I have the .rom in the games folder, I have the two VHDs in there too.
