A Lisa Inside An FPGA

[coffeemuse]

My LisaFPGA is finally here, and it's truly a work of art.

However, I seem to have made a mistake in my calculations, or the physical boards are larger than the 3D model. The ports align perfectly, but the shell is slightly too small to accommodate the board. I'll need to spend some more time in Fusion360 to refine the design and make it usable.

Glad you like it so far!

Perhaps you specced the outer dimensions of the case to be the same as the board, so then when you expanded the walls inward, it ended up being too small? Just a total guess though.

That is very likely the cause. I created the box walls around the edge of the board, but I now suspect that I may have thickened the walls in the wrong direction. If so, should be a fairly easy fix once I have time to sit down to work on the project, which likely will not be until this weekend when I will have some time without distractions.

That's precisely what transpired. I increased the wall thickness inward, making the cavity smaller than the PCB. I'm currently reviewing every design element and double-checking my measurements before embarking on another 10+ hour print.

[ried]

Seeing that 3D printed case and reading Alex's comments about battery life on a power brick made me realize that...

The first person to make a LisaBook wins the Internet.

[warmech]

I think LOS needs:

• an xmodem file transfer program (that does binary files); this could be a command line program, but probably/eventually needs some assembly programming to achieve good throughput... the library serial routines have a lot of overhead.
• a GUI hex file/disk editor
• a peek/poke utility for use by EXEC scripts

edit: I realize now that I was thinking the "Workshop" rather than LOS itself.

It ain't XMODEM, but I did have to write a quick and dirty implementation of UUENCODE/DECODE for the Workshop for a uhh... different project I'm working on. It's not pretty and isn't technically directly compatible with the real UUENCODE/DECODE, as it requires accounting for the weird CR/LF issue with the Workshop, but it does allow you to send binary data over serial to the Transfer utility. And let me tell you, at 19200 baud with the LisaFPGA's improved serial buffer and overclocking, it makes moving files over sooooo nice, but I imagine it's dreadfully slow on actual hardware. I'll clean it up and post it to GitHub this week when I get some downtime in the evenings.

[bmwcyclist]

FujiNet for LOS!

A better document converter?

2nd on the xmodem

[ried]

I have an NEC MultiSync 1980SX, which has a maximum resolution of 1280x720. With the LisaFPGA attached and powered on, I get an "out of range" error on the NEC - presumably because the LisaFPGA is generating a 1080p signal. Is there any way to adjust its output resolution or is that fixed?

[AlexTheCat123]

It's fixed at 1080p; that's the lowest resolution at which the 720x364 3:2 upscaling works properly. 720*2=1440 and 364*3=1092, so 1920x1080 is what you need in order to fit the frame.

[bmwcyclist]

Can the FPGA run a real widget drive?

[karmann68]

I worked my way through a bunch of USB keyboards and mice I have on hand and finally found a set that worked, or at least I thought.

Even though my Lenovo mouse fully works in the boot menu, once I get into LOS the pointer moves but I can't seem to click on anything. Does this sound like a mouse compatibility issue or something else?

The HP RGB gaming keyboard works fine.

[AlexTheCat123]

Can the FPGA run a real widget drive?

Sure, just plug it into the external ProFile port with the appropriate cable and set the ProFile switch to EXT! You'll have to power the Widget separately though; the board doesn't have a Widget power connector on it.

Even though my Lenovo mouse fully works in the boot menu, once I get into LOS the pointer moves but I can't seem to click on anything. Does this sound like a mouse compatibility issue or something else?

Hmm, I don't see any reason why a mouse would work in the boot menu but not in LOS. Is it just double-click that doesn't work, or is single-click (like pulling down a menu) broken too?

[coffeemuse]

Even though my Lenovo mouse fully works in the boot menu, once I get into LOS the pointer moves but I can't seem to click on anything. Does this sound like a mouse compatibility issue or something else?

I've encountered a similar issue. My mouse worked until LOS fully loaded, displaying the desktop. However, I couldn't move the cursor or click on anything. I attempted a soft power cycle by with the Lisa soft-power button, but the mouse still didn't function. I had to perform a full power cycle by using the physical power switch located next to the USB power port, and then the mouse worked again. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reproduce the problem beyond that single instance. In my case, I was using a very inexpensive, generic wireless mouse with a USB receiver dongle when the issue occurred.  I really suspect mine was an issue with the mouse as I have seen it stop working on a modern PC and I'd have to remove the dongle and power-cycle the mouse.

[joeventura]

My LisaFPGA is finally here, and it's truly a work of art.

However, I seem to have made a mistake in my calculations, or the physical boards are larger than the 3D model. The ports align perfectly, but the shell is slightly too small to accommodate the board. I'll need to spend some more time in Fusion360 to refine the design and make it usable.

look forward to seeing it!

While I agree, the board is a work of art. The problem is there are so many switches and buttons in so many different places on the board. It makes it hard to put it in the case. If you need to access those buttons, I was hoping I could find a nice monitor with a flat back that I could mount the board to, and make it sort of a "all in one situation.

Alex, hats off to you, certainly the project of the year! I hope you have enough $$$ to keep making these beauties! 

[bmwcyclist]

Notes seem to say floppy emulator is not implemented.

Ok then that there is no display?

[coffeemuse]

Notes seem to say floppy emulator is not implemented.

Ok then that there is no display?

The small display panel is part of the ESPFloppy Emulation, so there is no code on the board to make it do anything...yet. We have the hardware, but not the firmware to drive it.

I am using the Big Mess o' Wires Floppy Emulator in the interim.

[Lisa2]

The ESP Floppy display works, press the Select button and it will light up with a message!

[AlexTheCat123]

While I agree, the board is a work of art. The problem is there are so many switches and buttons in so many different places on the board. It makes it hard to put it in the case. If you need to access those buttons, I was hoping I could find a nice monitor with a flat back that I could mount the board to, and make it sort of a "all in one situation.

Yeah, there were just so many ports, buttons, and switches that I had to squeeze on here and I didn't really see a better way of doing it without making the board absurdly long. And I figured that having ports/buttons on all 4 sides would be better than making it really long and more expensive but with ports on only 2 sides, so that's why I made that decision. Defintiely not ideal though.

In my case, I was using a very inexpensive, generic wireless mouse with a USB receiver dongle when the issue occurred.  I really suspect mine was an issue with the mouse as I have seen it stop working on a modern PC and I'd have to remove the dongle and power-cycle the mouse.

I'm honestly surprised that a wireless mouse worked at all! If anyone's still really struggling to find peripherals that work, then check the readme; I put a link in there to a cheap $14 keyboard/mouse combo that you can grab from Amazon that's tested and known-working.