Qm Tech FPGA Questions / Suggestions

[sheister]

I have an OG Galaga Cab -Non Jamma. Im seriously considering a QM Tech FPGA for mostly Galaga Emulation. The idea is to spare my OG Galaga boards from the wear n tare of daily use. So the standard QM Tech FPGA kit only comes with VGA output. But I found they make a Qmtech FPGA to jamma Adaptor. And this idea finishes up with a mikes arcade Galaga to Jamma Adaptor.

Thie entire idea feels like Im taking the long way to accomplish all this, and needing not 1 but two adaptors feels like like adding more points of complexity and failure.

Heres the links to the QM Tech FPGA and the Jamma Adaptor

Thoughts?

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807671695689.html?gps-id=pcStoreLeaderboard&scm=1007.22922.271278.0&scm_id=1007.22922.271278.0&scm-url=1007.22922.271278.0&pvid=932dd4b4-5579-404e-a4f4-39b4e1cf9674&_t=gps-id%3ApcStoreLeaderboard%2Cscm-url%3A1007.22922.271278.0%2Cpvid%3A932dd4b4-5579-404e-a4f4-39b4e1cf9674%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238114%231999&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%22586%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2212922%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22recommend%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21USD%21281.20%21239.02%21%21%21281.20%21239.02%21%402103201917588451343895820e1e3f%2112000042562839738%21rec%21US%21%21ABXZ%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29910%3Bd%3A40443234%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.smartLeaderboard_482569345.1005007858010441&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802774307339.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.12.398b70We70WeQ3&algo_pvid=817e73c8-2642-4a2f-a61b-9469d0403c12&algo_exp_id=817e73c8-2642-4a2f-a61b-9469d0403c12-11&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2221%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22fromPage%22%3A%22search%22%7D&pdp_npi=6%40dis%21USD%2199.90%2199.90%21%21%2199.90%2199.90%21%402101c71a17588451126223408ebcab%2112000022968314298%21sea%21US%210%21ABX%211%210%21n_tag%3A-29910%3Bd%3A762ee9ee%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&curPageLogUid=HSGhNWnF1JnU&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A%7Cx_object_id%3A1005002960622091%7C_p_origin_prod%3A

 

[Radford119]

If you're just interested in Galaga emulation, I'd go with a BitKit2 and call it a day. It works extremely well for this and is JAMMA.

Side note, I am tempted to grab one of these QM Tech setups just to see how it performs first hand. Let me know if you get one!

 

[mhcapps]

My thought is keep it original and forget all that Chinese junk.

 

[sheister]

If you're just interested in Galaga emulation, I'd go with a BitKit2 and call it a day. It works extremely well for this and is JAMMA.

Side note, I am tempted to grab one of these QM Tech setups just to see how it performs first hand. Let me know if you get one!

Yes Im also strongly considering a BitKit 2. While I could be wrong. the impression I get is the bitkit 2 might be lacking horsepower if I ever decide to repurpose it . If I end up going with the Bitkit, I'll still need Mikes Jamma Adaptor which seems pretty straight forward. Initially I was very intrigued by the MisterCade which has the Jamma slot built in. But those are expensive and out of stock. I was looking for something with the horsepower of a Mister cade that was less expensive and not sold out. That lead me to the QM tech FPGA frankenstein idea.

BTW everything I've learned about the QM tech has been very positive in terms of its performance. There are some gripes that its not entirely compatible with other Mister boards, and it seems they may have some other cost cutting measures that may not be performance effecting but lacking the fit and finish of a MisterCade Heres a review.

 

[sheister]

My thought is keep it original and forget all that Chinese junk.

No doubt. But I do play Galaga a lot. One board set is out for repairs forcing me to pay over 400 for a new set. I'd like to keep the mileage down on my working OG boards. I'll swap in the FPGA to practice and play casually with. My OG boards will be used for record attempts and for special occasions. Save for the ability to swap in an FPGA and swap back to OG boards, my Galaga cab will stay all original. I cant even begin to tell you how many times I was looking for a Galaga cab, only to learn it was converted to the cheap 60in1 boards with the control panel all modified. It took way too long to find an all original cab at a fair price.

 

[mhcapps]

Working galaga pcbs are quite common and way less than 400. They can be dependable as well.

 

[sheister]

Re

Working galaga pcbs are quite common and way less than 400. They can be dependable as well.

I don't disagree, But my options were ebay and FB market place. I did check Arcade Flea Market on FB...With the exception of 1 special offer from an ebay seller...everything was 400+. Seller offered to drop it to 325 but failed to answer a question about some video artifacts seen in the video of it. So I passed.

 

[VectorCollector]

I still run OG Galaga boards in my cab, and I probably will do so forever. (If something fails, I'll just fix it).
That said, the only other option I would consider would be a BitKit2.
Not only for its excellent Galaga performance, as recommended by other KLOVrs, but also the bonus of extra vertical games. YMMV

I'd also use a PCBJUNKIE adapter for the cabinet.

JAMMA to Namco (Galaga) Cabinet Adapter – pcbjunkie.net

pcbjunkie.net

 

[Mattspad]

Don't listen to these clowns who don't know what a mister is. The mister is so much better than the bitkit it's not even funny, it can play galaga perfectly. It can play dk perfectly, damn near any game you throw at it is indistinguishable from real hardware. If you setup your mister properly you can easily have a better experience than with a bit kit. No shame in running a mister, we're getting to a point where repairing broken pcbs can be a losing battle and it takes special tools and equipment most collectors don't have. These kinds of solutions are going to become more common you are just ahead of the curve. I say do it, I'd love to see the results and if you have any questions on how to setup a mister let me know because I'm working on a mister project myself.

 

[mhcapps]

I know exactly what it is. Galaga is one of the most common pcbs out there, no mister needed. Broken pcbs are not a loosing battle its folks not willing to learn to work on them, or support others who do know how to work on them I see part of collecting as repairing the original hardware. Keep telling yourself you are collecting with your games full of misters and reproduction art.

 

[Mattspad]

I know exactly what it is. Galaga is one of the most common pcbs out there, no mister needed. Broken pcbs are not a loosing battle its folks not willing to learn to work on them, or support others who do know how to work on them I see part of collecting as repairing the original hardware. Keep telling yourself you are collecting with your games full of misters and reproduction art.

 

[sheister]

I still run OG Galaga boards in my cab, and I probably will do so forever. (If something fails, I'll just fix it).
That said, the only other option I would consider would be a BitKit2.
Not only for its excellent Galaga performance, as recommended by other KLOVrs, but also the bonus of extra vertical games. YMMV

I'd also use a PCBJUNKIE adapter for the cabinet.

JAMMA to Namco (Galaga) Cabinet Adapter – pcbjunkie.net

pcbjunkie.net

Im absolutely interested in an FPGA and the Bitkit is the most likely choice. Although there is another FPGA by QM Tech Im considering. Since the Bitkit is jamma ready it seems to be the most practical choice. Im probably going to start playing a 6-10 hours per week like I was before my 1st board set died. . I just finished playing for about 5 hours. I put up 2.4 million and 1.5 million. All 1 ship Rank D (no double ships). But I worry about the wear and tear and would prefer to use the bit kit for practice and casual play , holding back my replacement OG board for special occasions or record attempts. Of course if I had the knowledge to fix it, I'd have much less concern.

 

[sheister]

Don't listen to these clowns who don't know what a mister is. The mister is so much better than the bitkit it's not even funny, it can play galaga perfectly. It can play dk perfectly, damn near any game you throw at it is indistinguishable from real hardware. If you setup your mister properly you can easily have a better experience than with a bit kit. No shame in running a mister, we're getting to a point where repairing broken pcbs can be a losing battle and it takes special tools and equipment most collectors don't have. These kinds of solutions are going to become more common you are just ahead of the curve. I say do it, I'd love to see the results and if you have any questions on how to setup a mister let me know because I'm working on a mister project myself.

Yes I was absolutely drooling over the MisterCade. But its sold out and much more expensive. Expense isn't really the deal breaker but there's nowhere to get one. I thought I learned the bitkit lacks the horsepower of a MisterCade. And I'd like the option of possibly repurposing the FPGA and I believe the Mister has options for that and could handle some other more powerful cores for say N64 games should that need arise. I've also looked into Mister Pi and Qm tech as both get very good reviews.

 

[Mattspad]

Yes I was absolutely drooling over the MisterCade. But its sold out and much more expensive. Expense isn't really the deal breaker but there's nowhere to get one. I thought I learned the bitkit lacks the horsepower of a MisterCade. And I'd like the option of possibly repurposing the FPGA and I believe the Mister has options for that and could handle some other more powerful cores for say N64 games should that need arise. I've also looked into Mister Pi and Qm tech as both get very good reviews.

Make your own mistercade for cheaper. Mister is incredible for n64! I've been playing oot on mine, makes having an hdmi modded n64 pointless. Get the aliexpress mister and jamma adapter board and program it yourself. Fully assembled mister ready to play n64 is 189 on aliexpress, the only difference is these units don't have a power button so just remember to get an ac shutoff switch unless you want to unplug it every time. They can be disassembled and the de-10 nano can be taken off and put on a jamma adapter. The galaga implementation is indistinguishable from real hardware. You can change your control panel for one that has some more button holes in it and make a usb to diy input device and wire the new control panel to it. Leave the original wires and harness in the machine so it's reversible and bypass it.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809372013172.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.22ad18022NgNcz&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Price went up a little since I bought it but you still cannot get a bare de-10 nano for this price. That vga port outputs cga, ybpbpr, and vga if you change some settings. It comes with mister fusion installed, all you need to do is put the update all script on the sd card, connect it to the internet either wireless or ethernet, change some settings so it gets all the roms for arcades during the download and run it. After that you put your n64 games and whatever on there. Even dos stuff works great on the mister like doom! Basically anything before gamecube will work damn near indistinguishable from real hardware. As someone who collects real hardware and has every nintendo console I can say I'll probably be unhooking almost everything and just using the mister from now on its that damn good.

 

[sheister]

Make your own mistercade for cheaper. Mister is incredible for n64! I've been playing oot on mine, makes having an hdmi modded n64 pointless. Get the aliexpress mister and jamma adapter board and program it yourself. Fully assembled mister ready to play n64 is 189 on aliexpress, the only difference is these units don't have a power button so just remember to get an ac shutoff switch unless you want to unplug it every time. They can be disassembled and the de-10 nano can be taken off and put on a jamma adapter. The galaga implementation is indistinguishable from real hardware. You can change your control panel for one that has some more button holes in it and make a usb to diy input device and wire the new control panel to it. Leave the original wires and harness in the machine so it's reversible and bypass it.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809372013172.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.22ad18022NgNcz&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Price went up a little since I bought it but you still cannot get a bare de-10 nano for this price. That vga port outputs cga, ybpbpr, and vga if you change some settings. It comes with mister fusion installed, all you need to do is put the update all script on the sd card, connect it to the internet either wireless or ethernet, change some settings so it gets all the roms for arcades during the download and run it. After that you put your n64 games and whatever on there. Even dos stuff works great on the mister like doom! Basically anything before gamecube will work damn near indistinguishable from real hardware. As someone who collects real hardware and has every nintendo console I can say I'll probably be unhooking almost everything and just using the mister from now on its that damn good.

I could be wrong here. But I think those Mister Clones aren't using a De10 Nano . The Mister Pi and Qm Tech , etc are using something very comparable but not actually a De10 Nano?

 

[Mattspad]

I could be wrong here. But I think those Mister Clones aren't using a De10 Nano . The Mister Pi and Qm Tech , etc are using something very comparable but not actually a De10 Nano?

It's a clone, it'll work on anything a de10 nano will. Same soc and gpio

 

[sheister]

It's a clone, it'll work on anything a de10 nano will. Same soc and gpio

Friend is going to let me borrow his bitkit. So I'll be giving that a go soon. But I may be seriously interested in another FPGA like the QM tech. I really really want to play gyruss. But finding a cab isnt easy. So I might purchase a project cab and slap something together so I can play Gyruss and perhaps some other games. I noticed the rounded 8 way restrictor plate works very well for Gyruss coming very close to mimicking the circular motion. I'll search around here and see if there are any suggestions or offers for cabs. I'll report back when I get the bitkit running.

 

[Mattspad]

Friend is going to let me borrow his bitkit. So I'll be giving that a go soon. But I may be seriously interested in another FPGA like the QM tech. I really really want to play gyruss. But finding a cab isnt easy. So I might purchase a project cab and slap something together so I can play Gyruss and perhaps some other games. I noticed the rounded 8 way restrictor plate works very well for Gyruss coming very close to mimicking the circular motion. I'll search around here and see if there are any suggestions or offers for cabs. I'll report back when I get the bitkit running.

I Just got my mister to run on a pvm for the first time today so I could test out how the 15khz signal works. Works outstanding for arcade games, they will automatically flip vertically or horizontally when connected over cga. This makes it ideal for running arcade games in original cabinets. It limits the functonailty of the mister when connected over cga because if you have it in a vertical monitor cabinet you'll be able to play any vertical game like normal, in a horizontal cabinet it'll work for all horizontal games. I have to do more testing to see if there is a way to force it over analog video to rotate the output to fit a vertical/horizontal monitor. I know there is a way to make it output inverted cga as well. Post results of how the bit kit works. I can tell you though with a mister hooked up to your galaga the possibilities will be endless and it will give you a 1:1 experience like you were using the original pcb. I also played a lot of n64 on the pvm using rgb from the mister and wow I've never seen a n64 look that good!

 

[funkydays]

The mister is so much better than the bitkit it's not even funny

I have 2 MiSTers, and 3 BitKits and can honestly say it depends on what you're looking for. MiSTer is an incredible piece of kit, especially for consoles; but some of the older arcade cores have some serious audio issues that don't seem to be in the pipeline to be fixed, even years later. Reproducing analog audio in a solely digital environment is no easy task.

That's where BitKit really shines. Even though BitKit supports a smaller number (but still a large number) of games, CraftyMech goes above and beyond to make sure the games it does support are implemented properly, including audio.

Galaga plays great on MiSTer, for example, but I couldn't play "Galaxian" without the audio making me want to jam an ice pick in my ears. Both Galaga and Galaxian sound amazing on BitKit.

 

[Mattspad]

I have 2 MiSTers, and 3 BitKits and can honestly say it depends on what you're looking for. MiSTer is an incredible piece of kit, especially for consoles; but some of the older arcade cores have some serious audio issues that don't seem to be in the pipeline to be fixed, even years later. Reproducing analog audio in a solely digital environment is no easy task.

That's where BitKit really shines. Even though BitKit supports a smaller number (but still a large number) of games, CraftyMech goes above and beyond to make sure the games it does support are implemented properly, including audio.

Galaga plays great on MiSTer, for example, but I couldn't play "Galaxian" without the audio making me want to jam an ice pick in my ears. Both Galaga and Galaxian sound amazing on BitKit.

It really depends on the game for the Mister, I've found 95% of the stuff I play on it is 100% accurate. The good news is it's all subject to improvement with updates for things like galaxian. Each option like the Mister vs Bitkit has its pros and cons. So far I've tested these games and had 0 issues donkey kong, pacman, ms pacman, mappy, dig dug, galaga, donkey kong 3, mario bros, centipede, millipede, frogger, and 1941. I did have some slight audio wonkiness on Dk junior. Still way more to test, if you have any suggestions let me know. I think the Mister has the greatest potential as an FPGA replacement for several arcade pcbs it just needs more hardware and software development.