Thanks to the help of Rafael Molina Chasserot some new features have been added to the TZXDuino and CASDuino firmwares which has freed up some memory as well, which may lead to more features being added in the future.
A percentage counter and a timer counter have been added to all screens so that you know how much is left of a file to play and how long it has taken to load.
The OLED1306 and PCD8544 use completely new routines for the firmwares saving a lot of memory.
Folder navigation is now different. Rather than using the Menu button on TZXDuino or the Stop button on CASDuino to return to the ROOT directory, if you press the stop button when no file is playing you will go up one folder only making it easier to navigate.
TZXDuino
The TZXDuino has had a menu added so that MSX users can set the Baud rate of TSX files so that they can load faster than normal.
A few more emulator only IDs have been fixed so that they are skipped by TZXDuino.
CASDuino
CASduino has had a Baud Rate of 3675 added to…
Hope to try this next weekend on my ZX81 (and Spectrum 48k). I modded v1.3 to work on my Arduino Mega with LCD Keypad shield - need to add the amplifier but for now it works with a headphone;)
ReplyDeleteNice. Do you have any photographs? It's always good to see other peoples versions.
DeleteI made a short video of the Ardiuno with shield working:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDi8nEtnpo
When I manage to test it with my spectrum I'll take more pics!
That looks great.
DeleteThe amp will be needed I suspect but I do know that many have tested theirs with the ZX81 and have had good results.
Sure I have a few audio Amp ICs lying around (TL081 LM741 etc) - I will add one with adjustable gain (I have a small pcb somewhere which I used as headphone preamp) - will post my results.
DeleteExcellent. Can't wait to see your results.
DeleteHi Duncan, I managed to load all the games I threw at it successfully without an additional amplifier. I just added a 2.2uF decoupling cap - here's my 48K loading a couple of games (with composite output mod):
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPOPK4qcYc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtWqcZ2V188
How did you connect the cap? That could be an interesting way to make things easier for people. I have to try that myself.
DeleteThe 2.2uF cap is connected in series with the digital output of the Arduino - positive on the Arduino pin which drives the output. I chose a rather small cap as the audio frequency of the output is in the 1-2 KHz range and this will definitely assure the signal. The Arduino Mega (as the Mini and Nano) outputs a 5V max "square" wave which is somewhat integrated by the cap smoothing it off slightly - this is a very high peak to peak amplitude, more than double than a headphone one (2.2V peak to peak on 600 Ohms around 1 milliWatt). The input of the Spectrum is in any case decoupled by a much smaller ceramic 100nF cap in series with a 10K resistor to ALU pin 28 so even connecting it directly should supposedly work though I have not tried it. One important aspect could be line noise or ground loops: if you power the arduino with USB and you don't have a good ground you could be introducing noise. I suggest using a battery powered Arduino (I use any LiPo 2 or 3S I have around) to avoid any ground loop related issues if you are in doubt, at least initially anyhow.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Definitely going to have to give that a try to see if it will work on my Speccies and MSX.
ReplyDelete