This core is a RW-FPGA dev team project implemented by Ricardo Martinez (KYP) initially in ZXUno. A port to Altera has been made, covering the boards, MiST, MiSTica, SiDi and MiSTer by KYP and rampa069. This core has been designed from scratch.
Port to MiSTer by alanswx, CAS tape support by Flandango.
The Colour Genie was released in 1982. It was an attractive machine, with a solid full-stroke keyboard and 16K BASIC in ROM. As well as the 63-key typewriter keyboard and powerful BASIC, it featured the trusty Z-80, running at 2.2 MHz, 16k-32k of RAM, 3 channels of sound, 8 colours (4 for text), 40 columns x 24 rows for text (initially) and 160 x 102 pixels for graphics.Ports which included RS-232, Joysticks (2), light pen, RGB and audio.
Z80 running at 2.2 MHz
Video Hardware
Motorola 6845 CRTC
40×24 text (original ROMs) or 40×25 text (upgraded ROMs), 16 colours,
128 user defined characters
160×96 graphics (original ROMs) or 160×102 graphics (upgraded ROMs),
4 colours x up to 4 pagesSound Hardware
General Instruments AY-3-8910
3 sound channels, ADSR programmable
1 noise channelThe core works in RGB (15khz), VGA (31Khz) and HDMI. Both Basic and Machine Code programs are loaded through the audio input ( CLOAD or SYSTEM ) TRS-80 style. CAS tape support via OSD (see instructions below).
When the computer starts, you will see this:
MEMORY?press ENTER
This prompt will appear:
COLOUR BASIC
READY
>type "SYSTEM" and press ENTER
Then at this prompt:
*?press FIRST LETTER OF THE CAS FILE (for example T) and press ENTER
Choose any CAS file with the same first letter and select Play/Pause in the OSD
You will see some "**" appear in the top right as the CAS file loads. It is real-time, and might take a minute or two.
Then at this prompt:
*? press "/" and press ENTER
The loaded CAS file will now run.