As I need to test my FPGA implementations, I had a look which could be the best platform (in terms of price/value) to use. I decided to go for the ZYNQ boards, explicitely the PYNQ-Z1 and CORA-Z7 boards.

Reason for that is, that there boards have a nice Ubuntu based OS to boot and a Python based framework to deal with the FPGA management. This simplifies this process, so I can focus on the hardware implementation itself.

These boards do not have any analogue video output anymore, so I also started with some HDMI implementation. I also got an Agilent HDMI tester for that purposes.

But in parallel, I also got some VGA interface PMODs, which I extended with audio output as well.

For about 15 years ago, I started to repair Arcade PCB boards. I soon faced the problem, that some custom ICs used are not easy to acquire anymore. Thus I started to investigate ways to replace them with modern parts.

Check out my project pages.

I restarted my Williams Arcade Platform project I begun quite some time ago on Spartan 3 FPGAs. These devices are no longer supported by the actual tools, so I started over again using newer hardware. Meanwhile it is working for several games on a BASYS 3 board (Artix 7).

Now I need to document it properly for a final release here – and hopefully before the hardware is not considered outdated again 😀

Check out my project pages.

I am about to release some new projects:

• A compact variant of the Wifi64 modem with some firmware improvements for online gaming
• A proper joystick adapter for the BBC-B which also provides 5V to the joysticks (e.g. for auto-fire functions)
• A joystick made of arcade spare parts

Check out my project pages.

I decided to use this block for way more than some FPGA projects, but retro projects in general. So I removed some stuff and I am about to fill it with fresh content here – stay tuned, please… 🙂