The Goal: System Card 4.0

[nodtveidt]

A VRAM dump to the card *might* be able to be done (sequential buffering to main RAM -> upload to memory bank on card...I think it could be done), but it really wouldn't help much since this is a planar tile + sprite system, not a linear pixel system.

[Kitsunexus]

You should add an FPGA that simualtes a SNES.


In all seriousness, this is freaking awesome.

[BigT]

This all sounds great:
Switchable rev 1.0, rev 3.0, and Games Express BIOS code + normal RAM
Full ACD support
New 4.0 BIOS, supporting the modern CDROM standard
Onboard 4-channel Vorbis decoder with 8MB buffer and mixer (would all but replace the built-in ADPCM circuit)
Built in Tennokoe Bank

Can you elaborate more on what an onboard coprocessor, possibly an NEC V810 would allow homebrew programmers to do?  Also, like someone else said, couldn't you just make 1 version of this card for all PC-E systems, Duo and non duo?  Or would it actually save you money to make separate versions? 

Is there any way to make a device that takes an internal screenshot and saves it to battery memory on this card or something?  Then you could save your best 10 scores or whatever on it and show them off/view them again?

Sounds like a fun project, but there is always a danger of creating a system within a system that does not really represent the magic and the spirit of the PC-Engine.

For Homebrew projects, ISO 9660 support would be nice to allow for much easier mastering of the CDs.  Extra built in memory banks also seem feasible.

Adding coprocessors and codecs may get complicated.  There's relatively little space to work on using a HuCard form factor, so it may be hard to hack together with a soldering iron and off the shelf components.  Plus, someone would need to synchronize this with the native hardware.  The easiest thing to do would be a video codec whose output would be overlayed over the native output (but I'm not even sure if the hucard has all the pins necessary for this.

Other features like screenshots and save states are theoretically possible, but are much easier to implement on an emulator.

[spenoza]

I guess for those developing and for those of us reading, we must recognize where desires and practical reality split.

I would be most supportive of a simpler design that keeps costs down. More memory is great and support for more standard CD formats (like ISO 9660) might also be very welcome. I would be very concerned about including additional CPUs, DSPs, etc... as that could raise the cost dramatically. What, essentially, is the best compromise between simplicity, features, and cost?

[Turbo D]

Is it going to be a region free hucard? I'd love to play my acd games without using a kisado for the system card.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm sure it would be dual region, maybe even auto switching. That sort of thing is peanuts compared to the borderline impossible stuff other people are talking about (ie: MP4 decoding).

[nodtveidt]

The idea for an onboard sound processor wasn't mine originally (someone wanted to do mp3, but that's not a good idea), but that could easily be removed, as it's mainly a "perk feature". Again though, the main idea for this was mainly to develop a new card that brought in the standard CDROM format so new software would be easier to produce (this might also lead to re-pressing of older games). Making it ACD-able is also important, since it's an existing technology and would greatly help any new game development efforts. I certainly don't want to add a whole mess of features, as it's really outside the scope of the project. As far as region-free goes...don't know about that, tomatheous would know more. But really, a lot of people are having region mods done lately it seems, so I don't see that as an immediate issue. We'll see what happens in the next couple of months.

[Kitsunexus]

The Old Rover: Forget all the extra features everybody wants and just make the basic universal System Card thing. Some people might bitch and moan about X feature might not be included, but it would be better to have a solid new System Card than some mediocre jack-of-all-trades "console enhancer".

Seriously, with all the features you guys want to add, why not just call his card the Aladdin Turbo Edtion.

[guyjin]

the aladdin was awesome. Wish I had one.

[nodtveidt]

Yeah Kitsu, I tend to agree with that train of thought. Making a universal card is pretty much my own personal goal for this project; a card that will play all PCE/TG16 software regardless of format, including that one title (Altered Beast CD, was it?) that only plays on the system 1.0 card.

[Black Tiger]

If you do consider some sort of save file storage, I think that it would be worthwhile to do if it could copy and manage single save files. Otherwise, a Tennokoe Bank style bank swapping feature isn't a worthwhile complication.

[ceti alpha]

I like the title of this thread. 

...best topic evar...

[Kitsunexus]

Hey TOR, while I think the sound processor is pointless, it does bring up a fascinating question:

Was the OGG format chosen simply because the Turbo cannot do floating-point maths, or were there other reasons?

[nodtveidt]

I chose a Vorbis player because it's patent-free and has better compression and quality than MP3.

[Arjak]

Thank you, Old Rover, Thank you! My day started out great, recently took a slight turn for the worst, and now, reading this topic has made it better than ever! I would definitely support this in any way I can! (Which at the moment limits me to moral support but hey, you never know!)

One possible feature instantly comes to mind: No Turbo/PCE games up to this point have ever been more than one disk. I was wondering if there was any way to implement this as is. If not, this would be a great feature for your new system card!

*Returns to bouncing off the walls in excitement!*