super-reu -- an advanced FPGA-based ram expansion module for C64/C128

Features

The extensions that super-reu offer over a regular 1700/1750 REU are:

• Larger storage capacity (up to 16 mibioctets)
• Paced DMA transfers
• Multiple DMA channels
• External data generators/consumers

See also:

• Register manual
• m64conv manual
• m64 format specification
• Porting guide

Movie player demonstrator

An example application demonstrating the capabilities of the super-reu in the form of a full screen movie player is included in the repository. The application can stream full screen bitmapped video (320x200 in hires or 160x200 in multicolor) at 50 fps and sampled sound at 16 kHz from an sdcard.

Chameleon v2 and Orange Cartridge top level design

While the DMA engine and MMC64 modules are not tied to any specific FPGA solution, this repository contains two top level designs integrating the modules onto the Chameleon v2 and Orange Cartridge hardware, respectively. Although the super-reu does not depend on any address decoder PLA tricks, and thus should work fine in a C128, note that the default core of the Chameleon v2 does use such tricks and thus it is not safe to use it in a C128. Using the super-reu with the Orange Cartridge poses no such problem.

The Chameleon v2 top level design does not support the VGA port or 3.5mm stereo-audio plug on the Chameleon. Please use the DIN video connector or RF output on the C64 for audio and video connection.

Prerequisites

Chameleon v2

To build the movie player demonstrator for Chameleon v2, the following is needed:

• Quartus 18.0 Lite Edition
• cc65 development package

Orange Cartridge

To build the movie player demonstrator for the Orange Cartridge, the following is needed:

• Project Trellis
• nextpnr with ECP5 support enabled
• yosys
• cc65 development package

Building and installing

Chameleon v2

To build the movie player demonstrator for Chameleon v2 and m64conv tool, run

make TARGET=chameleon2 QUARTUS_SH=/path/to/quartus_sh

specifying the correct path to quartus_sh in your Quartus installation (default is /opt/intelFPGA_lite/18.0/quartus/bin/quartus_sh). ca65 and ld65 need to be present in the executable path.

If everything goes well, the core and ROM can be flashed on Chameleon v2 using

make TARGET=chameleon2 SLOT=n flash

If no SLOT is specified, slot 2 will be used. chacocmd must be present in the executable path.

Orange Cartridge

To build the movie player demonstrator for Orange Cartridge and m64conv tool, run

make TARGET=orangecart

yosys, nextpnr-ecp5 and ecppack, as well as ca65 and ld65 need to be present in the executable path.

If everything goes well, the core and ROM can be flashed on the Orange Cartridge using

make TARGET=orangecart flash

dfu-util and dfu-suffix must be present in the executable path.