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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Got a spare Pico? Build a Macintosh....
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
I read a comment a bit back that there were no good emulators for the Pico. I just built this from a new file on github called a Pico-Mac (or pico-micro-mac). It boots to a black and white screen of a macintosh 128k from about the 1985 era. It loads a 30 meg "hard drive" from the sd card. It plays games , does the paint program , and about everything else that old machine did. I got the re-compiled program that lets you use 208K for the machine (thats all you can get from a stock pico). Not a great machine but a good way to pass time for us old retired guys. It outputs in VGA and uses a regular mouse of the usb type. If you have trouble getting the files to compile ( like me ) , i can send the files in a zip. I will write what is in the file so it won't get deleted. LOL like last time..... Jack |
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Frank N. Furter Guru ![]() Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 910 |
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! ![]() ![]() ![]() Frank |
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Mixtel90![]() Guru ![]() Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7151 |
I like. :) I suspect it's not that different in speed either. It may even be a bit quicker. Could you get more RAM using a Pico 2? Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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Frank N. Furter Guru ![]() Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 910 |
I would be very interested in the compiled files! What kind of display did you use? Frank Edited 2024-11-26 19:12 by Frank N. Furter |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
Frank, I used an old car backup monitor that had a vga input. Not a great picture but it was small enough to put in a case. Any vga monitor will work. The zip has files for pico and pico2 , the readme, and the file for the sd card to have a "harddrive". Lots of old games and stuff. Have fun!! Jack firmwareSDpico2.zip |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
Mick , the author is working on adding more ram with the pico2 but it is not yet ready. This file gives 208k working. |
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Mixtel90![]() Guru ![]() Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7151 |
Thanks, Jack. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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Frank N. Furter Guru ![]() Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 910 |
@gadgetjack: Thank you very much! Frank |
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Volhout Guru ![]() Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4562 |
If you see the DEMO video that is in the uMAC site, it is plenty quick. Near unplayable games. But maybe that is not the last release. Making it slower is always sooo easy. GadgetJack, thanks for providing the ZIP. I went the the uMAC website to find the wiring of the VGA. They drive RGB parallel from one GPIO with 100 ohm series. That may work but exceeds the max current for GPIO pins by far... Volhout Edited 2024-11-27 18:05 by Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
I made mine with 3 100 ohm resistors , one on each line. Kind of thought , better safe than sorry. |
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phil99![]() Guru ![]() Joined: 11/02/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2301 |
That will overload the Pico pin even more. Expect a short life. The minimum safe load resistance for any Pico output pin is about 220Ω, which can drive just one VGA input. To drive 3 VGA pins requires 28mA, that is way above the safe limit so you need a transistor emitter follower to provide the extra current. The emitter resistor should be 68Ω to 75Ω going to all 3 VGA paralleled inputs. The collector can be connected to 5V and the base directly to the output pin. Edited 2024-11-28 07:39 by phil99 |
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Martin H.![]() Guru ![]() Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 1145 |
a project for cold winter days Flying wiring but it works. Unfortunately I have not yet managed to enlarge the image section ![]() 'no comment |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
If you can compile code on a Linux machine, the author has fixed the screen size problem. It now fills the screen. I have trouble compiling it myself. Only got windows machines. |
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Martin H.![]() Guru ![]() Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 1145 |
me to, so i am not able to recompile ![]() also it would be nice to use 256 KB Ram on the Pico 2 'no comment |
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Frank N. Furter Guru ![]() Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 910 |
@gadgetjack: Do you have a link to the sources for me? Frank |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
https://github.com/evansm7/pico-mac |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
Frank , if you get the full screen version compiled , I would love a copy of the uf2. Make sure to use the 208k ram option or most programs will fail from lack of memory. Thanks. Jack |
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Frank N. Furter Guru ![]() Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 910 |
@gadgetjack: Thanks for the link - I'll ask a buddy if he can compile it. If it works, you will of course get a UF2 from me! Frank |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
Thanks Frank. I bought a blank pc board for the project the first time and got a copy of the software as of that date , but it has gotten better since then. I tried again on a laptop with Ubuntu installed , but no joy. I don't know enough about Linux to keep going. Jack |
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gadgetjack Senior Member ![]() Joined: 15/07/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 158 |
Had a friend compile this for me on Linux. It has full screen 640x480 so fills the monitor. Has the 208k memory also. I have not loaded it yet on my system but I trust my friend so here is a copy to try. firmware.zip Jack |
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