Search found 224 matches
- Sun Apr 16, 2023 9:35 pm
- Forum: The Welcome Area
- Topic: New QL user & owner
- Replies: 47
- Views: 29960
Re: New QL user & owner
Only 32KB ROM, interesting, maybe it needs a dongle, or is a pre-release.
- Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:29 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
Great! In my latest ula clone, I didn't replaced the ram but added a 64K shadow ram that the ula uses to read the video ram faster and it has a 30% video speed improvement because it steels less cycles from the cpu when it accesses the video ram but still with the 68008 that has the 8bit bus and a ...
- Fri Apr 07, 2023 6:25 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
The ULA gets 18 of the 20 address lines, so without extra connections it's limited to the original 128 KB of RAM.
- Thu Apr 06, 2023 9:40 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
Was the video memory implemenetd with SDRAM oder SRAM? My Mister has 32 MB SDRAM that is used for everything, including storing the QL RAM. I made no changes to that part of the QL FPGA code. Had Sinclair really created a business+multimedia computer at the time, my guess is that they would have ha...
- Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:05 am
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
I've finally found some time to tweak some demo code I've had for a couple of years and make a video out of it that shows the extended QL graphics idea:
- Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:55 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
Graphics accelaration was the Commodore way, making those machines expensive. It contibuted to the ZX Spectrum's a huge success to avoid this, addressing the less monied audience. Considering the QL was a low cost machine, not even aimed at games, and Sinclair had to cut costs somehwere , I think t...
- Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:51 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
The QL architecture already suffers a bit from its "dumb" plain frame buffer, loading the CPU with moving about large chunks of memory (even larger and probably getting into the unbearable when we consider larger color depths). If you're looking for inspiration, it would probably make sen...
- Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:42 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
I totally understand you, to explore FPGAs and what hardware I could build myself I created a CPU (the Lion CPU) and a working computer with sprites, sampled audio and vector graphics from scratch. It's fun to do it your way, and you learn a lot. Wow, that's seriously impressive! :o Congrats! Love ...
- Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:49 am
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
To 'cut to the quick' (no disrespect) the V9958 off the QL ROMport would fit the bill exactly! Come on, where's the fun in that? :D But thanks! I will take a look at the manual in case there's any interesting ideas. Probably 100 people wanting to enhance the QL graphics abilities would come up with...
- Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:45 pm
- Forum: Hardware
- Topic: "what-if" QL extended graphics
- Replies: 45
- Views: 11361
Re: "what-if" QL extended graphics
Thank you Derek and Nasta, those are interesting suggestions to increase graphics capabilities!
When it comes to games, 256x256x16 plus extra colors for sprites is probably relatively good (for the 80s) despite the odd aspect ratio. Arcades like Pacman had a resolution of 224x288.
When it comes to games, 256x256x16 plus extra colors for sprites is probably relatively good (for the 80s) despite the odd aspect ratio. Arcades like Pacman had a resolution of 224x288.