Latest additions to the X68000 Wiki

Started by eidis, December 03, 2011, 11:10:37 AM

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caius

#40
February 02, 2013, 06:27:38 PM
Quote from: lydux on February 02, 2013, 10:04:33 AM
Hi !



Far more easier : with the help of those schematics, it only took a single hour to me to find the problem and fix a black screened CZ-600CE.
Unfortunatly, no FDD schematics or infos. You are looking for extra pinouts on PRO's ones, right ? I promise you we'll spend some times on this (btw, I've restarted our "project" :) ).





Hi Lydux and thanks for replying.Sorry if I didn't post my PRO hand-made FDD controller circuit schematics but I didn't have spare time do to this, I have prepared all the info and pictures, I have only to combine them .I think now with the help of this schematics it will be more easy to undestand the whole thing since the FDD controller circuit is always the same (same customs ICs, I presume).Good to hear that you restarted "our" project, feel free to ask me all the tests you need, I'm here at your disposal! ;).

eidis

#41
May 30, 2014, 06:40:47 PM Last Edit: May 30, 2014, 06:43:53 PM by eidis
 Installing games to hard drive was updated with Example #6 which was discovered by Caius. It explains how to use 2hdsim with three or more floppy games.

Installing games to hard drive
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:installing_games_to_hard_drive

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#42
June 03, 2014, 11:18:09 PM
 Hi Guys !

Here comes another GameSX exclusive. Today I present to you Human x68 v1.01 which is currently not in the latest TOSEC. It consists of three disks which came with my ACE HD.

Get it here:
http://nfggames.com/X68000/OperatingSystems/Human68k/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#43
June 04, 2014, 07:43:33 AM
Hard drive on SASI machine article was overhauled and updated with info about SCSI2SD adapter which was kindly confirmed as compatible with X68000 by our forum member A24Tanabe San. どうもありがとうございます.

Hard drive on SASI machine:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:hard_drive_on_sasi_machine

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#44
June 22, 2014, 11:10:11 PM
Added a few more compatible floppy drives to the list.

Correct procedure for writing disk images to 3.5" floppies
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_3.5_floppies

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#45
June 24, 2014, 02:49:33 AM Last Edit: June 24, 2014, 03:17:00 AM by eidis
Hi Guys !

Finally made the so much needed cleanup of the FTP's Upload directory.

http://nfggames.com/X68000/

The following directories have been updated:

Documentation
Games
Misc
PC_Tools

The missing PC98 stuff can be found here:

http://nfggames.com/pc98/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#46
June 24, 2014, 03:37:32 AM
 Hi Guys !

Here comes another update ! Using PC floppy drive on X68000 was compared with Caius provided pinouts. Added Density signal and corrected Ready signal from pin 18 to pin 17.

PC Floppy Drive on X68000
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:pc_floppy_drive

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

neko68k

#47
June 24, 2014, 03:55:03 AM
The fmpmd archive belongs in pc98/music instead of x68k/music.

eidis

#48
June 24, 2014, 04:55:48 AM Last Edit: June 24, 2014, 04:58:15 AM by eidis
Done! Thank you to Caius for making the arrangements. The original file has been removed from the X68000 FTP.

http://nfggames.com/pc98/Music/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#49
June 28, 2014, 08:25:33 PM
 Some updates to the FTP

http://nfggames.com/x68000/

Mirrors: added mirror of smcnet.ddo.jp
Misc\drivers: added drivers for Neptune-X
Documentation: Added manuals for SASI interface, Neptune-Evolution, TS-XM1
Cleaned up the sub-directory structure and sorted the contents to make it look more clean.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#50
June 28, 2014, 10:10:16 PM
Added new article to the Wiki

X68000 Product Catalog
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:x68000_product_catalog

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

neko68k

#51
June 29, 2014, 12:59:17 AM
$2600 for a network card, haha.

Keep up the good work :-)

H68k

#52
June 29, 2014, 10:13:53 AM
Looking at this stuff. it really does make me wonder how much of a "mark up" these machines where originally sold for..

Sharp must of been making damn good money on everyone sold.

eidis

#53
June 29, 2014, 10:40:30 PM Last Edit: June 29, 2014, 10:47:11 PM by eidis
 Gentleman,

Today marks a milestone for our community. Once again we have matured into the next level.

A24Tanabe San has pioneered translating of technical documents and has successfully pawed the way for Inside X68000 translation. One thing is for sure, the X68000 scene will never be the same. Thank you A24Tanabe San for your hard work, dedication and generous contributions.

Inside X68000: Screen Control
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:screen_control

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

AnnaWu

#54
June 29, 2014, 11:02:11 PM
@eidis

I like your efforts to help user and the Wiki maintenance very much!

eidis

#55
June 29, 2014, 11:51:18 PM Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 12:36:36 AM by eidis
 Hi AnnaWu !

Thank you for your kind words. I would like to tell you a story.

Approximately six years ago there was an ongoing trend of collecting arcade PCB's and X68000 was accidentally discovered. It was a dream come true, so I thought at the time ;) A ton of arcade perfect ports, two oldskool 5.25" floppy drives with soft-eject, great looking design and very powerfull hardware. Yahoo auctions were unknown territory at that time and, after looking for a long time, one of them was found on eBay. The price was right and it was bought it in a heart beat.

It arrived from Spain, in a big and heavy cardboard box, full of straw. The box looked busted up and like it did not contain anything valuable and for that the seller has my sincerest gratitude because I did not have to pay customs. Once the box was opened, my eyes started to glow. It had one ACE-HD in cosmethically very good condition, four original SHARP books (Human68k, xBasic, Word processor and that other which has tons of pinouts), 127 2HD floppy disks with tons of good games, a keyboard, mouse and a game-pad. It even had a video socket converter from Japanese type to standard VGA.

Right, let's give it a shot. Everything powers on fine, it is reading floppies, 1Mb is not enough, the picture on LCD looks awful, the hard drive is dead, I have no idea how to connect a modern HDD or transfer software to it, everything is in Japanese, etc. Back to the box you go ! :D

It sat there for more than one year and then purely out of curiosity, and because of recent acquisition of Microvited monitor, which arrived busted up with the help of UK's Royal mail 1st class shipping, it was ROUND2 fort the X68000. After the monitor was miraculously repaired, and the broken PCB stitched together, the X68000 started looking like a very interesting and mysterious machine. This forum always showed up, while searching for X68000 technical info. At that time the floppy drives already showed tear and wear. One of them started reading disks only after the X68000 has been switched on for 15 minutes. That was strange and I developed a paranoia that they can fail at any time, that the system will be useless without them and that I need to find a way how to connect a hard drive and run games from it, and pronto.

Even back in the days there was the legendary article about connecting a hard drive to X68000.

Internal hard drive:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:internal_hard_drive

It confirmed that it is possible but gave rise to tons of questions. What are the pinouts for the SASI and SCSI cables, which SCSI to IDE converters work, where to get one, what is SxSI and why do I need it, what exactly does it do, etc. I felt like a complete lamer and was afraid to register in the forum and ask for help. However, #X68000 on Efnet was soon discovered and I made contact with an extraterrestrial being called NFG. The first encounter was very simple and I asked a lame question "How do you transfer software from floppy images to real floppies ?" "xFloppy", he replied. Some of you might not believe me, but it is because of that simple answer that we are able to enjoy the benefits of many Wiki articles and the HDD image.

xFloppy opened a way to new software. Half a year of research, and then one more to refine it, led to the creation of this article:

Hard drive on SASI machine
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:hard_drive_on_sasi_machine

Broken floppy drives led to the now common knowledge that most problems are linked to capacitors. Connected hard drive led to the creation of HDD image and finding a way how to transfer it to PC and back to physical media. The list goes on and on.

The bottom line of this story is, you never know who will ask for help. It might be someone who will be of great help to everyone in the future.

P.S. Sorry for my long rant.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#56
July 09, 2014, 07:27:45 AM
 Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today I present you a vast amount of technical documents for those who like floppy drives. There are plenty of jumper settings and service manuals in there. Check it out.

Floppy Drive Documentation
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Documentation/Floppy%20Drives/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#57
July 11, 2014, 09:13:24 AM
 Today is once again a very very special day ! The Wiki has been updated with a very in depth and detailed info about driver development for the X68000 which was kindly contributed by our forum member Lydux. Thank you for your hard work and efforts in helping to move the forum to the next level !

Here are the updates:

The fantastic reference manual for writing X68000 drivers by Lydux
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_drivers

Neptune-X schematics by Ito Yasushi
http://nfggames.com/X68000/Schematics/Neptune-X/Ito%20Yasushi/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#58
July 11, 2014, 06:44:03 PM
Updated: X68000 product catalog has been updated with original prices for X68000 systems and their release dates.

X68000 product catalog
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:x68000_product_catalog

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#59
August 06, 2014, 10:46:19 PM
Added the following articles:

CZ-6BE2A - Memory expansion board
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:cz-6be2a_-_memory_expansion_board

CZ-6BE2D - Memory expansion board
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:cz-6be2d_-_memory_expansion_board

POLYPHON - FPU, MIDI, PCM, 8MB Memory board
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:polyphon_-_fpu_midi_pcm_8mb_memory_board

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#60
August 08, 2014, 12:28:27 AM
Added a very nice article about X68000 keyboards.

Keyboards
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:keyboards

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#62
August 08, 2014, 11:34:52 PM
 Hi Guys !

The following articles were added:

X68000 Models
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:x68000_models

X68000 Monitors
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:x68000_monitors

Added better quality pictures to the following article:

CZ-6BE2A - Memory expansion board
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:cz-6be2a_-_memory_expansion_board

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

costa

#63
August 09, 2014, 02:14:23 AM
Quote from: eidis on August 08, 2014, 12:28:27 AM
Added a very nice article about X68000 keyboards.

Keyboards
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:keyboards

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

I can see there is a variation in the keyboards of same part number.
The compact DSETK0025CE01 that I have, for example, has a red X68030 in place of the white X68000 that is in the picture in the wiki.

eidis

#64
August 09, 2014, 02:23:54 AM
 Hi Costa !

Could you please take pictures, just like in the Wiki, and upload them to the FTP ?

http://nfggames.com/X68000/upload.htm

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#65
August 09, 2014, 09:23:55 PM
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#66
August 10, 2014, 01:20:35 AM
Added the following article:

Mini DIN 5pin to DIN 5pin MIDI cable
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:midi_cable

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

costa

#67
August 10, 2014, 05:04:40 AM
Uploaded, please check if they are good.

DSETK0025CE01(X68030)-1.JPG
DSETK0025CE01(X68030)-2.JPG
DSETK0025CE01(X68030)-3.JPG

Quote from: eidis on August 09, 2014, 02:23:54 AM
Hi Costa !

Could you please take pictures, just like in the Wiki, and upload them to the FTP ?

http://nfggames.com/X68000/upload.htm

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

eidis

#68
August 10, 2014, 05:25:06 AM
 Hi Costa !

Those are perfect, thank you very much. Article has been updated.

Keyboards
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:keyboards&#dsetk0025ce01_x68030

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#69
August 10, 2014, 07:05:45 PM
 Hi Guys !

Added the following article:

MIDI synthesizer modules
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:midi_synthesizer_modules

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

H68k

#70
August 11, 2014, 12:42:22 AM
A good start so far with the MIDI devices section of the Wiki eidis.

Here's some misc stuff and quirks about the SC 55 you might want to add to the Wiki, Eidis.

There's a variant of the SC 55, that cosmeticly wise. looks no different to other SC 55's, but it has an upgraded ROM that slightly changes some of the instrument mappings that makes it more compliment with the then finalized General Midi (GM) standard over the General Standard (GS)


The SC55 Mk2:

The Mk2 model has an upgraded ROM, that has a few more instrument sets that are not in the original SC 55 and brings the total number of notes it can play at once to 28 (over the 24 of the first one)

It also has an RS232 port that the first one does not have, allowing computers that only have a serial port to communicate with it over RS232 using special MIDI drivers or software that support MIDI through a serial port.

The DAC in the Mk2 models was also upgraded to an 18 bit one, over the 16 bit one of the original.

It's quite easy to tell these from a non Mk2 model.. as they all have orange markings on the front fascia to state it's a Mk2 model. :)

eidis

#71
August 11, 2014, 01:04:56 AM
Hi H68k !

Thank you for the suggestion. The article has been updated:

MIDI synthesizer modules
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:midi_synthesizer_modules#roland_sc-55mkii

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

BlueBMW

#72
August 11, 2014, 05:29:55 AM
Midi synth section looks great!

I know a few games could use the sound bank cards on the cm-64 so that may be worthy of mention.  Also dont a few games support later GM and sound best on more modern GM modules?  Maybe some mention of that would be good.

Also maybe add the SC-88 since its fairly popular and as far as the x68000 is concerned is basically an sc-55mkII.

H68k

#73
August 11, 2014, 08:38:55 AM Last Edit: August 11, 2014, 08:40:33 AM by H68k
Castlevania is the only game I've encountered so far that has support for the CM-64.
There maybe other games that have support for the CM-XXX series, but I'm not sure witch ones, Superdeadite would be the one to ask, as he seams to be the X68k midi expert around here. (he has a few videos about this stuff on his youtube channel, so it might be worth checking out I think)

You have the right idea BlueBMW, trying to use a game that supports GS/GM, in GM mode on something like an MT-32 or CM-64 would sound horrible.. as they both have there instruments mapped to different program numbers compared the GM standard.

The SC 88 has even more instrument sets and effects than the SC 55, from what I've heard from the demonstration videos of it on youtube. it doesn't really sound any better than what the SC 55 already has to offer.

eidis

#74
August 11, 2014, 07:51:16 PM
 Hi BlueBMW and H68k !

BlueBMW,

Thank you once again for the valuable suggestions. The article has been updated:

MIDI synthesizer modules
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:midi_synthesizer_modules

Please have a look and tell me if anything is out of whack.

H68k,

I have come to the following conclusion while doing the article. MT-32 was introduced in 1987, just when the X68000 came out. SC-55 came out in 1991 when X68000 went in XVI stage. The majority of games which we love are pre 1991 era so they use Linear Arithmetic synthesis and thus should sound better on MT-32 or the CM-XX models.

Here is a living proof:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_SC-55

SCC1 is equivalent of SC-55 so it should sound the same. Please listen and compare Space Quest III intro song.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#75
August 13, 2014, 06:08:20 AM
 Hi Guys !

Added Beta version of very important article:

How to open X68000 Compact
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:how_to_open_x68000_compact

The translation is very flimsy. Can anyone, who has done it, please check the instructions for errors and either correct them or post corrections in this thread please ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#76
August 13, 2014, 06:04:01 PM
The following article has been added:

How to open X68000
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:how_to_open_x68000

This one turned out a lot better than the previous.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#77
August 15, 2014, 05:40:39 PM
The following article has been added:

ATX Power-On signal inverter
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:atx_power-on_signal_inverter

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

eidis

#78
August 20, 2014, 07:05:04 PM
The following article was updated:

If you don't have a mouse
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:don_t_have_a_mouse

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
X68000 personal computer is called, "X68K" or "no good good" is called, is the PC that are loved by many people today.

caius

#79
August 25, 2014, 12:56:20 AM
Quote from: eidis on August 13, 2014, 06:08:20 AM
Hi Guys !

Added Beta version of very important article:

How to open X68000 Compact
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:how_to_open_x68000_compact

The translation is very flimsy. Can anyone, who has done it, please check the instructions for errors and either correct them or post corrections in this thread please ?

They are correct.'d say that even with instructions, it's a trial and error process!  :D

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis
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