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Hermit
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 208 |
PhoenixSID project
I'm always so sad when I hear a person who likes & keeps C64 alive with hard work, passes away suddenly..
This happened in 2007 to a 29 years old man called George Pantazopoulos, and a promising project called PhoenixSID.
http://www.myhdl.org/doku.php/projects:phoenixsid_65x81
You can listen the recordings at the above given webpage.
This project is about modelling SID on modern FPGA hardware with analog filter using external capacitors like real SID.
This is not software emulation, but a real hardware SID-implementation of its paralelly working inner units programmed via HDL (Hardware description Language) more precisely, MyHDL.
The FPGA 'program' can even be simulated then 'netlist or wiring' can be transferred to the FPGA from memory..and voila - it's working instantly..
I was very much influenced by this project and maybe will work on it somewhen..
Imagine if this comparatively not so expensive FPGA could be used for 'real' analog filtered SID-sound in a PCI card or connected by USB...and the main point here is not disassembling and depriving many C64s of their SID-chips..
It won't be the real SID but this project is not for dying....anyone can continue if interested and has talent..
Hermit Software Hungary |
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linde
Registered: Jul 2006
Posts: 47 |
How about skipping the analog part and just interface a DSP chip running reSID-fp? That sounds more future proof, IMO. |
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Raf
Registered: Nov 2003
Posts: 343 |
realistically any re-implementation of SID is more expensive than real chip as for now ;)
there is also another one on ATmega8 uC:
http://www.roboterclub-freiburg.de/atmega_sound/atmegaSID.html
this one "crossed" with swidsid's c64 bus control would be chapest though obviosuly not exact replacement... I'm not quite into analogue electornics, but I wonder if it's possible to make cheap re-implementation of SID filetrs using few opamps. |
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Raf
Registered: Nov 2003
Posts: 343 |
BTW I just found that the guy responsible for 65x81 died:
http://www.myhdl.org/doku.php/users:george_pantazopoulos:memory..
what a pity... |
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clonK
Account closed
Registered: Aug 2008
Posts: 65 |
Quote: How about skipping the analog part and just interface a DSP chip running reSID-fp? That sounds more future proof, IMO.
The analogue part is one of the main draws for me.
I think this PhoenixSID project is onto something :) |
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Hermit
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 208 |
Some news: I recently bought an FPGA devkit (Digilent Nexys2 with Xilinx Spartan 3E core).
Among some experiment project I might pick up the existing material of this amazing PhoenixSID project.
(Anyway, in the future I'm planning to design my own computer-architecture with this FPGA, both hardware and software. This will be based upon similar concepts as C64 and other computers of 80's 90's, but with modern CPU/RAM/Video/Audio capabilities. The difference to C-One and C64 pumping projects is that it won't be compatible with anything, just the realtime and reliability, and special hardvare units will be taken as an idea of computing. Massive parallel/multitasking with many CPUs and AI neuron modules instead of overclocking and dissipation. But this is not the topic, not even the forum for it. I'll do it as opensource and create a webpage for it soon...)
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hermit |
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ready.
Registered: Feb 2003
Posts: 441 |
(about the offtopic from Hermit: I am looking forward to see this project) |
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Hermit
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 208 |
Some update on my researches for SID reverse engineering.
PhoenixSID sources don't seem to be shared anywhere.
I asked someone at MyHDL page to be so kind sharing the sources with us if they got any from George Pantazopoulos in the past. However as I haven't got reply yet, I'm afraid this 'quest' of mine won't be successful.
The great news is that there are some other projects I just found about SID reproduction at hardware (FPGA) level. There's even a Verilog (HDL) source code shared at the page:
http://skrasoft.com/blog/?p=222
http://blog.kevtris.org/?p=32
http://blog.kevtris.org/?cat=7
Also there's some effective reverse engineering of the SID die here:
http://visual6502.org/images/pages/Commodore_8580_SID.html
http://oms.wmhost.com/misc/
I took some notes while reading the interview with Bob Yannes. Maybe with these guys together, or using their solutions as idea, the FPGA SID becomes an alternative/replacement for the real, died chips. I checked the prices of smaller FPGA chips, they seem to be quite affordable around 15-20 Euros. Comparable with spare chip I saw on Ebay once for around 20-30 Euros. Of course this is still only an option for real enthusiasts not for some kind of mass production, as a complete second-hand C64 still costs less...
For the FPGA to operate on a SID-sized PCB, a cheap EPROM/Platform-FlashROM is needed with the layout-bitfile of the chip, and of course the filter capacitors, a little voltage regulator cirtcuitry, TTL conversion, opamp/transistor sound amplifier, and we're almost in...
(There are also non-volatile FPGA chips with Flash memory used instead of SRAM to store wiring, but I haven't checked their prices yet.)
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Mr. SID
Registered: Jan 2003
Posts: 424 |
What about the SID emulation in the 1541U2? Isn't that open source? |
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Hermit
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 208 |
Thank You very much for the info.
I somehow missed the news about 1541 Ultimate. This SID is indeed open source and is hardware based emulation. I could download the sources with svn, and they're in VHDL :)
Great newz! |
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Hermit
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 208 |
In case one missed the Wikipedia reference, there's V-SID project :), btw. no analog capacitor circuitry involved afaik.
But the point is it have good description at the page:
http://silvertouch.pagesperso-orange.fr/VSID.htm
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