The next quickdev should be a little bit faster and should have more features. So we selected a new CPU, the Atmel at90usb1287 that can handle USB via hardware and has more SRAM. To simplify the logic part we opted for a XILINX CPLD xc95144xl. We used a bigger Cypress 16-Mbit SRAM CY62167E. The AVR would expose the USB interface to the PC side, as a masstorage device using the LUFA library. The AVR has a data bus to the CPLD. The CPLD is also connected to the external SRAM. In the CPLD we implemented a SREG, counter, commandmuxer and memory interface in Verilog.

The system top looks like this:

module system (

    inout [7:0] sram_data,
    output [20:0] sram_addr,
    output sram_oe_n,
    output sram_we_n,
    output sram_ce_n,


    output [7:0] snes_data,
    input [20:0] snes_addr,

    inout [7:0] avr_data,
    input [7:0] avr_ctrl,
    input avr_clk,
    output [7:0] debug
);

We have a 8 bit data bus and 21 bit address bus to the SRAM. 3 extra lines for OE,WE and CE. Then there is the same setup for the SNES side. 8 Data and 21 address line. No more control lines to the SNES are currently implemented. There is a 8 bit data and 8 bit control bus to the AVR. Finally we have a CLK line from the AVR to the CPLD and a 8bit debug bus. The AVR clocks its own clock into the CPLD, which is feed into a DCM and is divided by 2. This clock signal is feed into the FSM and SREG internally. The avr_ctrl bus is feed into a commandmuxer which drives the other components on the CPLD. Foremost it drives a FSM which manages the data routing between AVR <-> SRAM and SRAM <-> SNES.

module bus_fsm #(
    parameter DWIDTH = 8
)(
    input                   clk,
    input                   reset,
    input                   we_n,
    input                   oe_n,
    inout   [DWIDTH-1:0]    avr,
    inout   [DWIDTH-1:0]    sram,
    inout   [7:0]           debug
);

parameter SIZE   =  3;
parameter IDLE    = 3'b000;
parameter WE      = 3'b001;
parameter BUFAVR  = 3'b010;
parameter BUFSRAM = 3'b011;
parameter OE      = 3'b100;


reg   [SIZE-1:0]          state;
reg   [SIZE-1:0]          next_state;
reg   [DWIDTH-1:0]        buffer_avr;
reg   [DWIDTH-1:0]        buffer_sram;
reg   [DWIDTH-1:0]        buffer;

assign avr = buffer_avr;
assign sram = buffer_sram;

always @ (state or we_n or oe_n)
begin : FSM_COMBO
    next_state = 3'b000;
    case(state)
    IDLE : if (we_n == 1'b0) begin
            next_state = BUFAVR;
        end else if (oe_n == 1'b0) begin
            next_state= BUFSRAM;
        end else begin
            next_state = IDLE;
        end
    BUFAVR: if (we_n == 1'b0) begin
            next_state = WE;
        end else begin
            next_state = IDLE;
        end
    BUFSRAM: if (oe_n == 1'b0) begin
            next_state = OE;
        end else begin
            next_state = IDLE;
        end
    OE : if (oe_n == 1'b0) begin
            next_state = BUFSRAM;
        end else begin
            next_state = IDLE;
        end
    WE : if (we_n == 1'b0) begin
            next_state = BUFAVR;
        end else begin
            next_state = IDLE;
        end
  endcase
end

//----------Seq Logic-----------------------------
always @ (posedge clk)
begin : FSM_SEQ
    if (reset == 1'b1) begin
        state < = #1 IDLE;
    end else begin
        state <= #1 next_state;
  end
end

//----------Output Logic-----------------------------
always @ (state)
begin : OUTPUT_LOGIC
  case(state)
    IDLE: begin
        buffer_avr <= 8'bz;
        buffer_sram <= 8'bz;
        buffer <= 8'bz;
    end
    WE: begin
        buffer_sram <= buffer;
    end
    OE: begin
        buffer_avr <= buffer;
    end
    BUFSRAM : begin
        buffer <= sram;
    end
    BUFAVR : begin
        buffer <= avr;
    end
    default : begin
        buffer_avr <= 8'bz;
        buffer_sram <= 8'bz;
    end
  endcase
end

assign debug = { clk,we_n,oe_n,state,2'bz};
endmodule

From the AVR software side a SRAM write looks like this.

void sreg_set(uint32_t addr)
{


    uint8_t i = 21;
    #if SREG_DEBUG 
    uart_putstring("sreg_set\n\r");
    #endif
    SET_AVR_SREG_EN_HI();
    while(i--) {
        if ((addr & ( 1L < < i))){
            SET_AVR_SI_HI();
    #if SREG_DEBUG 
            uart_putchar('1');
    #endif
        } else {
            SET_AVR_SI_LO();
    #if SREG_DEBUG 
            uart_putchar('0');
    #endif
        }
        SET_AVR_SREG_EN_LO();
        SET_AVR_SREG_EN_HI();
    }
    #if SREG_DEBUG 
    uart_putstring("\n\r");
    #endif
}

void SRAM_write(uint32_t addr, uint8_t data)
{

    // set direction of data port
    AVR_DATA_DIR = 0xff;
    // load address
    sreg_set(addr);
    // disable OE and WE
    SET_AVR_OE_HI();
    SET_AVR_WE_HI();
    // wait for FSM to go into IDLE state
    nop();
    nop();
    // write data
    AVR_DATA = data;
    // enable WE
    SET_AVR_WE_LO();
    // wait for FSM to go into WE state
    nop();
    nop();
    nop();
    nop();
    // disable WE
    SET_AVR_WE_HI();
}

The development was done on our new prototype board, which Max layouted for us. I used an AVR Dragon for the AVR programming part and debugging via JTAG. For the CPLD side i used a homebrew Xilinx Platform cable alongside with ISE. I quickly stopped using the IDE and just cooked my own Makefile using the Xilinx commandline tools.

Most of the logic was developed using a testbench and running through iverilog. But having a module working in a testbench doesn't mean that it works on real hardware. We had todo a lot of debugging on the real hardware. This involved a lot of test probe soldering. Luckily we had my 8bit Saleae LA which helped a lot to track done some Problems. But the biggest issue was to get the timing right with the FSM for the memory bus.

We hacked this in a 3 day weekend sprint and implemented the SRAM read and write from the AVR side. But then we hit a wall and didn't implement the SNES side. The project lost some traction. Max had moved to Berlin we couldn't work together on the project anymore. We lost a little interest because the sd2snes project achieved what we we intended to do and Ikari_01 did far better job then we did. I recently got word the sd2snes is considered stable and a first batch is sold.

We plan to start working on this again. To implement the SNES side of the memory we would need to increase the speed of the FSM to get it into IDLE state and then in SNES state within 120ns or 200ns after the SNES does a CS on the cartridge. Since the AVR drives the CPLD clock with 20MHz, we would need some kind of PPL to run the FSM with like 60MHz, which should be plenty to run the FSM for the SNES SRAM read.

We appreciate any comment or suggestion for the hardware design of this project.

[flash]http://vimeo.com/11400325[/flash]

Download Video

• Faster upload because of IRQ driven communication between SNES and AVR
• Progressbar while uploading
• Display Rom infos
• ASCII and Katakana font support
• Eyecandy: new logo design with sine wave effect and bassdrum synced background effects..

Due to these features the loader blew up to more than 55kb, too much for our limited space in the AVR progmem (64kb – 4kb bootloader). Our main firmware is between 8kb and 24kb, depends on the debug-features that you compile in. So the recent task is to either reduce the loader size by skipping eyecandy, finding a better compression routine to compress it in the progmem or build a minimal firmware and put parts of the loader into the surplus 4kb eeprom on the AVR. Probably we will have to combine the different approaches.

One reason why the firmware is that big these days is the new “minimal debug terminal”, a serial command line where you can maintain the Quickdev system status. You can dump memory regions from sram, switch between the busses, write to the shared memory section, show the status of the hardware ports and use several other usefull commands. Check the project page for more details on the commands.

Feel free to order at david @ optixx.org.

We gonna build the first batch of 10 cartridges this week. So stay tuned.

When you turn on the SNES, the microcontroller extracts a small loader-rom into the cartridge RAM that is mapped into the SNES addressspace. This one copies itself to SNES’s WRAM and jumps into it. So the cartridge RAM is unaccessed and we can safely switch back to the AVR mode to push a real payload rom onto the cartridge. We are also working on a shared memory function so that we can use the cartridge RAM to exchange infomation between the AVR and the SNES. This will be used to display a proper Progressbar while uploading a rom.

As usal you can use our patched version of ucon64 – even under windows – to upload a game to the quickdev16. When the upload is done, the SNES reset line is pulled by quickdev16 and the game starts. When you press the reset button, you only reset the game, not the quickdev16 – it acts like a normal cart. When you press the reset button during the upload process or while watching the loaderscreen, you reset the quickdev and can abort uploads or just restart the quickdev16 – thats a really usefull feature. To initiate the upload of a new game, just start the upload process with ucon, the quickdev switches to the loader mode by itself and receives the new ROM.

So the steps are now to improve the loader code, finish the progress bar stuff, figure out how to solder the PCBs faster than now and add some minor features. Stay tuned for updates, it’s not too long to the release.

svgallery=

Why inoffical pre-orders list? A fews points are unclear right now. I don’t know the final price since this will depend on the assembling costs which are not setteld yet. I can’t say if the the new PCB are working 100% since we didn’t test it yet. Also we didn’t figured out if we gonna ship the cartidge with a CIC chip or not. The client software is tested and developed under Linux and OS X. Can’t say much about windows. But if you can compile ucon64 with libusb support in windows you should be fine. I will give this a shot soon.

These points will clear up within the next 2-3 weeks. But expect an sale price around 100 USD or 80 Euros. I gonna use paypal for international shipping and direct debit in Germany and even Europe. Will provide an an IBAN and paypal account later.

I don’t take any money before everything has clear up. So the pre-order is not binding as long as you are not happy with the final outcome of the project. I just started this pre-order list, since a few people start asking for it and they don’t want to miss the opportunity to get one.

Just a quick preview of up coming features.

• up to 16Mbit Roms supported
• Ucon64 upload via USB
• Lo/Hi Rom
• Serial Debug Console
• SNES Boot Loader
• SDcard Daughter Board planed