News

GR8BIT news

Feb 25 2021

Finally added pictures of new GR8BIT I/O board and video board into the Sample pictures section.

Jun 26 2020

SCC cartridge design was updated. There was a mistake in the KONAMI 051650 device design, the component connected between its pins 1 and 2 is not 10k resistor, but 0.1 µF capactior. The update did not affect the PCB design as the mentioned component is an internal element of KONAMI 051650 DAC.

Aug 24 2019

Slot board/slot bay mount assembly STL files made by Matthew Splett were published. He uses 3D printer to print several parts, and then assembles them into the slot board holder and then mounts the assembly into the computer chassis. He has put cartridge insertion protection switches into the assembly, thus the whole device will function in the compilance to the MSX standard, and machine will turn off protecting itself and the cartridge in case the cartridge is forcefully inserted or removed from the system being powered on.

Aug 23 2019

Finally have YIS805 MSX personal computer circuit published on the internet. The information that there is such circuit was published here (in Spanish) and here (translated to Russian) a time ago. Thanks to Alexey Podrezov from RSBC for reminding me that I have this treasure hidden in the attic.

Feb 23 2019

GR8BIT card brackets STL files are now available for download to print the backplane brackets for the internal cards installed within your GR8BIT. Made by Matthew Splett and based on GR8BIT original drawings.

Jan 12 2019

GR8programmer design is published. Original device - GR8blaster - was proposed in April 2018, and PCB was developed by Emil Sokolowski in August 2018. He has built several devices, and used his board successfully to update his GR8NET.

Mar 29 2018

There were no news published for quite a long time; that definitely does not mean that there was nothing done. I have just moved into another place to publish regular news, particularly to my Facebook account, several interest groups (MSX Home Computers and others), as well as staying on the MSX Resource Center. Right now I have updated knowledge base with design notes DN0005 and DN0006 about GR8NET.

Nov 24 2014

The new KB0017 article "How to successfully design and build your own electronics project" is published. It discusses business implications of the process of building the homebrew electronic devices.

Oct 21 2014

Mega Flash-ROM 512K design is available for download. Initially designed by Jipe, it was slightly redesigned and put into the Konami cartridge casing. For manufactured Mega Flash-ROM products please contact Eric Boez.

Oct 20 2014

Design note DN0004 is released. Now you have a guide installing V9958 into your GR8BIT. However please read about the benefits of having V9958 in the system before you proceed with modifications.

Mar 03 2014

Design note DN0004 is released. It explains design of the dual-port SDRAM controller, which was implemented on the GR8BUS Master board.

Jan 22 2014

FM-Pak board is designed, you can download schematic, board and Gerber files in the downloads section.

Jan 03 2014

Knowledge base article KB0015 is released. Should be of interest for those who starts using EAGLE EDA tool for their designs.

Nov 08 2013

• Knowledge base article KB0014 is released. Following step-by-step, you will build color composite output for your GR8BIT. The information in this article can be reused in other projects which require composite or Luma/Chroma signaling.
• Audio images of the King's Valley and Vampire Killer were published in downloads section for educational purposes. You can try these games loading them through the serial I/O (cassette) port using your multimedia device (e.g. mobile phone).

Jul 01 2013

Knowledge base article KB0013 is released. It is an attempt to find out how VDP works with its video RAM. GR8BUS master board's configuration samples states of the signals on the VRAM lines, collects them in its memory and then GR8BIT downloads sampled data. Data can be visualized using Microsoft Excel. You can download configuration and samples in the downloads section.

May 30 2013

Knowledge base article KB0012 is released. It discusses and shows how you can build a slot bay for your slot board to be installed into the storage bay of the ATX chassis.

Apr 26 2013

MSX breadboard design was released. Package contains schematic, board and library for your developments. Gerber and drill files for breadboard manufacturing are available upon request.

Jan 03 2013

Micro-SD card interface implementation was released, together with browsing and file download software. Watch video "GR8BIT and Micro-SD card"

Dec 21 2012

LAN interface implementation was released, together with SPI bus arbiter. Watch video "Googling GR8BIT"

Dec 02 2012

Konami SCC FPGA source configuration file for GR8BUS master board is added to downloads

Nov 25 2012

ByteBlaster-II design to configure GR8BUS master board (and any other FPGA-based device) is released, see KB0011

Oct 23 2012

GR8BUS master board prototype was built - see sample pictures tab

Oct 19 2012

Covox device design and software was released

Oct 12 2012

GR8BIT is proven to run at 12MHz properly (with minor limitations) - see KB0009 and "videos" section

Sep 10 2012

Major upgrade to the GR8BIT storage subsystem with built-in GR8STORM™ was released

Jun 18 2012

Minor update v.1.0a for PS/2 keyboard microcontroller was released (special thanks to Jan Wilmans for reporting)

May 10 2012

Storage microcode v.2.0a with hard disk support was released. This release features improved reliability and performance for the floppy disk interface, and IDE hard disk support. Please read design note 2 (DN0002) for the information how to configure, use and program storage subsystem

Apr 04 2012

Storage microcontroller upgrade version 2.0 was released: includes direct replacement of the MCU from 8MIPS to 16MIPS one, and improved microcode in terms of reliability and speed for microcontroller and GR8BIT main CPU

Mar 14 2012

Updated and improved storage subsystem microcode package version 1.0b is released. It supports legacy 720K disks, has improved reliability and introduced disk change handling routines for individual disk drives

Mar 03 2012

Update for keyboard microcontroller and language pack was released (ver 1.0a), related knowledge base article KB0004 published

Feb 24 2012

Knowledge base articles KB0001 and KB0002 were published

Feb 09 2012

GR8BIT was presented to the leading Hong Kong and Mainland technology universities and colleges on the annual Education and Careers Expo in Hong Kong

Feb 05 2012

GR8BIT Philips keyboard interface is released

Jan 26 2012

Storage subsystem ROM update version 1.0a is released

Jan 21 2012

GR8BUS board symbols were published to be used in your developments

Jan 03 2012

Knowledge base article template is available for download - now you have an opportunity to co-author and get articles credited towards your academic or professional record

Dec 27 2011

Nishi-san bloadable photo is published - see Downloads section

Dec 26 2011

GR8BIT Philips keyboard interface was developed

Nov 29 2011

GR8BIT onboard Storage subsystem microcontroller and ROM microcode was released

Nov 29 2011

PS/2 Keyboard microcontroller microcode was released

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