kestep
New member
After reading many threads and some private messages about problems obtaining custom chips (in my case for a Gorf), the thought occurred that there should be a way to produce new version of these custom chips.
So I did the right thing. I searched the forums.
About two years ago, there was a similar discussion. Here is one comment
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=1390419&postcount=10
In this discussion, people were talking about the possibilities 10-20 years from now. Unfortunately for some platforms (Astrocade comes to mind), 10-20 years seems to be here now or just around the corner.
So the question isn't a theoretical "can it be done?", but is there any way to do this NOW?
Given that MAME and other emulators are able to, well, emulate these parts, pinouts are known, and there are still working boards that can be used to test designs, can these custom chips be replaced by FPGAs or other reproductions?
I am not inferring that this is an easy task; on the contrary. I'm betting it isn't.
I, like many people, would prefer to have the original game running. Yes, we can use MAME, but it isn't quite the same.
Is there anyone out there that would be interested in taking something like this on? Maybe a kickstarter project or some other method to fund the cost, if it were possible.
What do you think?
So I did the right thing. I searched the forums.
About two years ago, there was a similar discussion. Here is one comment
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=1390419&postcount=10
Chip replacements - Some parts may well become hard to source. However, there are two ways forward: You can try to get the original chips re-spun somehow (given the level of fabrication technology that is available these days, it's not hard to imagine that in 10 or 20 years, a desktop chip fab might well be in the 10-15K range). Or, you can go ahead and use the original board's schematic as input to an FPGA and re-create the whole blasted thing in a single part. This has the added advantage that once you get it working correctly, it's pretty easy to move it forward to newer, bigger, better, cheaper replacement parts.
In this discussion, people were talking about the possibilities 10-20 years from now. Unfortunately for some platforms (Astrocade comes to mind), 10-20 years seems to be here now or just around the corner.
So the question isn't a theoretical "can it be done?", but is there any way to do this NOW?
Given that MAME and other emulators are able to, well, emulate these parts, pinouts are known, and there are still working boards that can be used to test designs, can these custom chips be replaced by FPGAs or other reproductions?
I am not inferring that this is an easy task; on the contrary. I'm betting it isn't.
I, like many people, would prefer to have the original game running. Yes, we can use MAME, but it isn't quite the same.
Is there anyone out there that would be interested in taking something like this on? Maybe a kickstarter project or some other method to fund the cost, if it were possible.
What do you think?

