: RetroHQ :

September 4th 2024, 08:42:33

This is great! For those who remember cool and bizarre home made hardware from their youth that you built from a magazine, this is a fantastic re-visit. Well worth a watch and a great way to get into electronics. Make something simple that works!
@TheRetroHQ Thanks to Jelly load, you can relive those halcyon days and start to download programs slowly from YouTube.

1

: RetroHQ :

September 4th 2024, 08:35:47

Holy cow, watching TV programs and reading magazines from the 1980's is so refreshing! They encourage you to build things out of electronic components, type in your own programs and participate in actual technological advances! No wonder it bred a generation of techies. 😁

1

: RetroHQ :

September 2nd 2024, 08:35:48

Argonaut is a legandary name in the industry, I was massively lucky for it to be my first job and it's fantastic to see the head of the multi-coloured Argonaut again. Can't wait to see more come out of this. Congratulations all involved! 😄
Thank you, everyone.

: RetroHQ :

July 30th 2024, 16:51:10

An arcade joystick I made from an old JAMMA cab control panel about 25 years ago has now been re-wired for super-gun use! Much easier than poking wires into connector blocks. 👍

13

: RetroHQ :

May 30th 2024, 14:02:19

Some more improvements on the Jaguar voxel engine and a quick video! Doing stuff like this is my equivalent of giving my brain a holiday. 😆

With lower quality settings it achieves a pretty consistent 50fps. Voxel resolution is 160x200 rendered to a 320x200 image.

The voxel map…

3

: RetroHQ :

May 24th 2024, 16:46:14

A bit of optimisation by using the blitter to do the height map traversal and store it locally for the GPU to iterate linearly has given a good speed up, now getting a good 25fps at an acceptable visual quality. A bit chunky, but good for the era!

6

: RetroHQ :

May 21st 2024, 16:23:07

A quick rest from doing useful things, a voxelspace gpu renderer for the Jaguar! As voxels seem to be all the rage. GPU only rendering, no blitter, 160x200 running at 15fps.

1

: RetroHQ :

May 21st 2024, 08:43:09

For those of you who have a Jaguar GD and are looking for something new, why not support the awesome Reboot Games who are continuing to support the Jaguar even today!

Head on over and see if anything takes your fancy:
Updated the Jaguar port of Operation: Thunderbolt.... continues now work!

Check it out in the megathread on AtariAge.

8

: RetroHQ :

May 15th 2024, 13:35:17

There's another JagGD firmware update for people to grab. It should help again with CD stability and fixes some issues with memory track on homebrew (notably Yopaz and Alice).
Usual disclaimer applies: it's still not perfect and is unlikely to ever be, but it's improving.

4

: RetroHQ :

February 9th 2024, 08:43:55

Rather exciting, some long unseen Atari gerbers are being recovered! Falcon040?! 😄


1

: RetroHQ :

February 3rd 2024, 20:19:57

Not of interest to many, but I’m pleased with myself. 😆 My New Years resolution — half trail marathon this year. Going well, 10 miles trail running with 1000ft of climbs today. Furthest I’ve run. And with my trusty canine companion! Always nice to have company…

Pace was a bit…

1

: RetroHQ :

January 29th 2024, 13:57:54

Absolutely insane project, I love it! Great to see the progress.
Much improved reliability, booting every time now (except for a mysterious reset issue) and missing sound is restored! Video slightly improved but still washed out and vicious banding. Good enough to start working on the 32X side.

5

: RetroHQ :

January 25th 2024, 10:32:27

I now have a way to test MSX joystick compatibility! 😄

1

: RetroHQ :

December 19th 2023, 11:26:41

I’m feeling knackered and ill so I decided to do something fun. I’ve built up a T20 DVI out test board I designed ages ago and I’m pleasantly surprised I can output 720p directly from the LVDS outputs via a PTN3366.

3

: RetroHQ :

December 11th 2023, 16:38:49

Ahhh, I'm definitely getting into the 'adding too much' phase of testing and bug fixing for the MegaMulti. I've now gone and added a Mega7800 mode so you can use the Mega7800 multi-button features as well. 😬

: RetroHQ :

December 8th 2023, 16:54:41

Jetpac with the MegaMulti is good! B for thrust makes it a lot more enjoyable to play. #retrogaming

4

: RetroHQ :

December 6th 2023, 09:31:18

New 7800GD firmware released!

Firmware 23.12.0639
Added a few more games to the break warning list
Fixed instability issues with serial debugging


4

: RetroHQ :

December 4th 2023, 14:15:58

As I'm doing a general multi-system version of the Mega7800 for Atari style joystick pinouts, I guess I should do a MegaMSX as well?

3

: RetroHQ :

December 4th 2023, 10:09:37

A composite modded spectrum plus before 10am? I’ve over achieved already today!

3

: RetroHQ :

November 30th 2023, 12:17:12

3 button joystick input from a megadrive controller on a C64? Sure! Why not, eh? Made possible by the MegaMulti.

2

: RetroHQ :

November 28th 2023, 15:56:58

7800GD firmware update released!

Firmware 23.11.2863
Added support for 2600 EF mapper (Zippy the Porcupine)
Added auto-fix for bad headers for known ROMs


2

: RetroHQ :

November 22nd 2023, 09:45:27

This is the first use I’ve had for stripboard in years. It’s awesome! 😆 Super joyport sniffer.

4

: RetroHQ :

November 7th 2023, 10:11:30

7800GD Firmware Update 23.11.0741
Fixed an issue where the POKEY was out of tune under certain circumstances. Noticeable in the title music for E.X.O.


2

: RetroHQ :

October 23rd 2023, 08:51:00

Made some time over the weekend to add a coat or four of paint, starting to look nice!

2

: RetroHQ :

October 19th 2023, 16:34:23

Made a start on the case! Looks awesome. 😄

: RetroHQ :

October 18th 2023, 12:27:51

Starting some Christmas present manufacture… Gotta love the nixie glow!

5

: RetroHQ :

October 12th 2023, 10:28:29

Some MegaMulti prototype controller adapters made up and ready to send out. It’s nice to work on something which doesn’t take multiple years to get to this point! 😆

3

: RetroHQ :

October 10th 2023, 11:09:06

Skeet Shooting on the Amiga with a MegaMulti and Sega light phaser.

: RetroHQ :

September 29th 2023, 11:48:10

Hopefully this is visible, but that’s the CD32 pad reading working for the MegaMulti. Standard 1-3 button joystick also work well.

27

: RetroHQ :

September 29th 2023, 08:12:21

I’ve never used one of these things before in my life. Should be fun! Wish me luck… 😆

1

: RetroHQ :

September 28th 2023, 12:22:31

I’ve packed my greasy weazle into an Iomega external CDRW drive case, reusing the rear panel connectors and PSU. A very tidy, and cheap, solution for casing a greaseweazle setup!

4

: RetroHQ :

September 27th 2023, 10:23:43

Now working in compatible (single fire button) mode with the ability to add B as up for games which use up to jump.

Also has 2-3 button modes with active high (C64) and low (some C64, Amiga and Kempston). Atari 8bits could also use this, not sure if any games do though?
I did a quick new layout for the MegaMulti, which is to be a multi-platform version of the Mega7800.

It will support Amiga, CD32, Atari ST, C64 and Spectrum (Kempston). Amiga and C64 will also support light guns.

No Amstrad CPC unfortunately, as it's a bit weird. 🙄

: RetroHQ :

September 27th 2023, 10:09:22

I just tested this, and it explains an odd thing I remember as a kid. Sometimes the ST would just keyclick like mad when you booted and the keyboard wouldn't work. Yeah, guess what, this is because the keyboard controller was not running due to the fire button being held down! 😂
According to the data sheet, if you hold down mouse or fire buttons when you switch the ST on, the keyboard should not function as the ikbd will be in an external memory mode. This cannot be the case, surely? I don’t have an ST handy to try currently… 🤔

1

: RetroHQ :

September 15th 2023, 07:48:19

Upcoming retro computer event in Nottingham. Looks interesting!

6

Benjamin Yoris

September 7th 2023, 06:36:07

Hello there ! We've just released a new version of the first #MarioBros game on #Amstrad #CPC . Enjoy ! #retrogames #pixelart #SuperMarioBros

5

: RetroHQ :

September 5th 2023, 16:48:50

I did a quick new layout for the MegaMulti, which is to be a multi-platform version of the Mega7800.

It will support Amiga, CD32, Atari ST, C64 and Spectrum (Kempston). Amiga and C64 will also support light guns.

No Amstrad CPC unfortunately, as it's a bit weird. 🙄

1

Stone Age Gamer

August 28th 2023, 14:00:00

Would you like to have your entire Atari #Jaguar game library on a single cartridge? With t eJaguar GameDrive from @TheRetroHQ you can! Check it out in our latest product overview.

: RetroHQ :

August 28th 2023, 11:48:46

Really nice interview with @tailchao about Rikki and Vikki! Watch it now! 😄


2

: RetroHQ :

August 25th 2023, 15:51:26

It's firmware Friday! New 7800GD firmware just out.

Firmware 23.08.2562
Overhauled audio mixing to improve flexibility
Streamed audio (BupChip) now pauses correctly on break

More details in the firmware update thread here:

1

: RetroHQ :

August 18th 2023, 09:40:11

New 7800GD firmware available! Follow the instructions on screen when booting your cart to get the update.

Firmware 23.08.1839
Fixed dual POKEY bug, 2nd POKEY now working

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