forum.defence-force.org

Chema wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:09 pm You know I am not very keen on software that need expansions that did not exist back then (or worse, with technology that did not exist back then),

Oh, I mostly agree. I have never used the turbo CPU speed on my Ultimate64 yet, and extra graphics for me defeats the purpose of retro.

Network access is a bliss though. No need to swap SD cards or USB drives anymore, just FTP or SMB to your retro and be done. Ideal for developing and testing. And swappable ROMs is also ideal so you can switch between Oric standard BASIC, SEDORIC, dflat or Orix on the fly. So that would be about my wishlist

xahmol wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:31 pm

Chema wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:09 pm You know I am not very keen on software that need expansions that did not exist back then (or worse, with technology that did not exist back then),

Network access is a bliss though. No need to swap SD cards or USB drives anymore, just FTP or SMB to your retro and be done. Ideal for developing and testing. And swappable ROMs is also ideal so you can switch between Oric standard BASIC, SEDORIC, dflat or Orix on the fly. So that would be about my wishlist

Same here, I mostly see that as a development tool, not as something to use for final production.

For example the PlayStation devkits had twice the amount of memory compared to the real console, but that meant you could run work in progress code with non optimized assets. Same thing with networking, or directly memory access (practical for debugging), etc...

Small update: I've just received new batch of ORICART PCB's (in black color this time),
from a new PCB manufacturer who did great job with V-cuts as it was designed !
(V-cuts are for easy separation of the 4 small PCB's from the panel - it breaks like chocolate).
Tomorrow I'll show you something more interesting ....

Please tell me when to order and how, I will take 3!

I would love to order two .. depending on the price.

@ibisum, @jbperin and @(all intersted): Little more patience, really!

To finish the whole project now I'm adding the final touches to the FlashPump for ORICART.
The FlashPump links the Oric parallel port to PC's usb and transfers data to be programmed into the empty flash memory.
Here is the prototype (nice "official" PCB are already ordered):
... and the Oric-side software interface:
Later I'll post more "in-action" pictures/videos .

I that a VGA/DSUB output on the top?

Dbug wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 10:04 am I that a VGA/DSUB output on the top?

Yes, a quick hack . The video quality is not good but it's very compact and for my hardware experiments is just perfect.
(I posted about it previously HERE).

Small update:


After many rewrites of the Oric and Arduino code, now transfer to the ORICART are fast (around 3288 bytes/sec.) and rock solid!

Terrific! Now just crowbar an ESP32 into the mix somehow ...

Small update in pictures:

ORICART and FLASHPUMP side-by-side: FLASHPUMPs in red or black:

ibisum wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 6:17 pm Terrific! Now just crowbar an ESP32 into the mix somehow ...

All unused Arduino pins are available on the left un-soldered connector and can be used as link to an ESP and the micro-USB cable will be used only as +5V power supply.

@Dbug - answering your twit: Another possibility is to reverse the data direction (i.e. from Oric parallel port to USB) then FLASHPUMP will become a PORTSUCKER and everything LPRINTed (or LLISTed) will be received in the PC from the emulated USB-serial port and can be printed to any recent printer .

iss wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:08 pm @Dbug - answering your twit: Another possibility is to reverse the data direction (i.e. from Oric parallel port to USB) then FLASHPUMP will become a PORTSUCKER and everything LPRINTed (or LLISTed) will be received in the PC from the emulated USB-serial port and can be printed to any recent printer .

Could be practical to dump software directly from the Oric to a PC:
- Launch the ripper from the flash cartridge
- Reverse the direction from pull to push
- Start a "recorder/downloader" on the PC
- Load from tape and send to the PC directly

Could also be used to output debugging information, or possibly with a proper protocol, use that to remote control the Oric, like to run a proper debugger on the PC but run the code on the real Oric.

To be 100% honest, I've only a fuzzy memory of what these two cards can actually do

Apropos ESP32 integration (which is gonna be AWESOME btw), I could join the project and add that support if I had a board. I've done quite a bit of professional ESP development over the years (magicshifter.net is my most fun project with wizard23) so I'd be very happy to bang on this if you want company. Will cover costs, etc.

hello,

like two please

also were did you get serial interface ?

regards

john davi UK

Hello there,

Sorry for this potentially rookie question: what is the current status of the ORICART project ? It looks utmost amazing but there seems to be no update since awhile. Did the project fork under another name ? Is there some kind of homepage/repository somewhere ?

Thanks for your enlightenment !

Jacques