Post by spannernick on Apr 25, 2018 20:41:48 GMT
spannernick1 21 Mar Edited
Allwinner A20 (sun7i) SoC features a Dual-Core Cortex-A7 ARM CPU, and a Mali400 MP2 GPU from ARM.
Allwinner A20 is a low-end (budget) version of the A31. It shares its Cortex-A7 ARM CPU architecture, but at the same time it is also pin-to-pin compatible with A10.
A20 is fully supported by the community from linux-sunxi 3.4 kernel and later.
A20 Dual-Core Cortex-A7 ARM CPU
Info here... linux-sunxi.org/A20
So C64 Mini has a Linux Kernel to boot into the GUI... I can see people hacking the the c64 mini.,,well maybe,
Wow a lot of things use Arm,like the Amstrad E-M@iler Plus and E3,remember them,It was Acorn who invented the Arm processor,it was in the Acorn Archimedes computers they made in the last 80s and in the Raspberry PI thats is made by the same people what worked with Acorn.Yep the Raspberry PI is British ... Yeap it was made in Cambridge,same as the BBC Micro Model B.. ,They were the days when a lot of computers were built here.
I liked the 80s,better computers then.than now,The PC is clone of a clone and just keeps being cloned and Apple wants to take over the world...hahahahahah. Looking forward to getting The C64 Mini in 8 days time...Not long now...
Jammet, Gurce, PantherUK, and 2 others like this.
nicolafugazzaro21 Mar
Yes, my friend ... TheC64mini says "I'm born to be hacked!"
Gurce likes this.
RetroBiker 22 Mar Edited
Yep, latest information suggests it is an ARM processor booting into a stripped down Linux with the C64 emulation performed using a custom build of VICE. Initial firmware supports only D64 files on USB memory.
Hacking the firmware install shouldn't be overly complicated. Hopefully!
Gurce and Goclastninja like this.
Gurce 24 Mar
I'm also looking forward to seeing what fun ways the community can help shape and evolve this platform
RetroBiker likes this.
spannernick1 24 Mar Edited
The A20 is used in cheap tablets,like the ones in Maplin and Argos,that are about £100 or so.(shame about Maplin.. ) I only posted it cause in there latest video,you can see them making TheC64 Mini and its board and clearly see a A20 chip on it,next to that,it looks like a memory chip ( flash memory) like in the C64 DTV,well probably the same one.The C64DTV was 2 MB flash memory.But the C64DTV was a simulation not emulation,Simulates MOS Technology's 6510, VIC-II, SID, CIA, and PLA.TheC64 Mini don't.so more work went into making the C64DTV cause its on a Atmel Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).But I like them both,I have version 1 and 2 C64DTVs and be getting the C64 Mini soon,and I have a real C64,I like anything that looks good and is commodore.I like how small it is,its a space saver and will not need to move my big C64 any more,well there's too much to move from one room to another with its 1541 Disk drive,Datassette,Mouse,Joysticks and games.I have a UK1541 and SD2IEC for it too.
Gurce 25 Mar Edited
spannernick1 Thanks for the link to the A20. I thought I'd have a browse through their wiki, found this page interesting:
linux-sunxi.org/FEL/USBBoot
Made me think, with enough elbow-grease, someone might be able to build an alternate linux-system for the device that is bootable off a usb stick.
That might be a nice way for hackers to play around in their own ecosystem (try out other emulators, etc), purely on the usb stick, while leaving the c64 team's firmware/ecosystem intact and untainted.
I might be tempted to nibble along these lines down the track, but for now, I reckon I'll be content to just play with the given ecosystem
23 DAYS LATER
sety 8 days ago
For anyone interested I've made a start on this and I'm hoping that someone with a little more programming experience will take over.
So far I have managed to get a root shell which is an encouraging start. I have put all the info I have found so far on the sunxi wiki.
linux-sunxi.org/Retro_Games_Ltd_RGL001
Cheers,
sety
Gurce likes this.
Gurce 8 days ago
Wow, congrats on your great progress and thanks for sharing! :-)
ultrapop 7 days ago
Thank you!! Very interesting post!
I hope someone will make a tool to add games directly to the carousel like hakchi2 does for snes-mini.
spannernick1 7 days ago
Thanks,nice work there,does anyone know anything about the USB ports,what drive or what chip it uses.Maybe then we might be able to work out what USB devices work properly with it..? Cause it hit or miss at the moment.
4 DAYS LATER
Gurce 3 days ago
Just wanted to add a cross-reference to the thread where jj_0 carried on from where sety left off
c64minicommunity.freeforums.net/thread/4/modding-thec64-mini
Allwinner A20 (sun7i) SoC features a Dual-Core Cortex-A7 ARM CPU, and a Mali400 MP2 GPU from ARM.
Allwinner A20 is a low-end (budget) version of the A31. It shares its Cortex-A7 ARM CPU architecture, but at the same time it is also pin-to-pin compatible with A10.
A20 is fully supported by the community from linux-sunxi 3.4 kernel and later.
A20 Dual-Core Cortex-A7 ARM CPU
Info here... linux-sunxi.org/A20
So C64 Mini has a Linux Kernel to boot into the GUI... I can see people hacking the the c64 mini.,,well maybe,
Wow a lot of things use Arm,like the Amstrad E-M@iler Plus and E3,remember them,It was Acorn who invented the Arm processor,it was in the Acorn Archimedes computers they made in the last 80s and in the Raspberry PI thats is made by the same people what worked with Acorn.Yep the Raspberry PI is British ... Yeap it was made in Cambridge,same as the BBC Micro Model B.. ,They were the days when a lot of computers were built here.
I liked the 80s,better computers then.than now,The PC is clone of a clone and just keeps being cloned and Apple wants to take over the world...hahahahahah. Looking forward to getting The C64 Mini in 8 days time...Not long now...
Jammet, Gurce, PantherUK, and 2 others like this.
nicolafugazzaro21 Mar
Yes, my friend ... TheC64mini says "I'm born to be hacked!"
Gurce likes this.
RetroBiker 22 Mar Edited
Yep, latest information suggests it is an ARM processor booting into a stripped down Linux with the C64 emulation performed using a custom build of VICE. Initial firmware supports only D64 files on USB memory.
Hacking the firmware install shouldn't be overly complicated. Hopefully!
Gurce and Goclastninja like this.
Gurce 24 Mar
I'm also looking forward to seeing what fun ways the community can help shape and evolve this platform
RetroBiker likes this.
spannernick1 24 Mar Edited
The A20 is used in cheap tablets,like the ones in Maplin and Argos,that are about £100 or so.(shame about Maplin.. ) I only posted it cause in there latest video,you can see them making TheC64 Mini and its board and clearly see a A20 chip on it,next to that,it looks like a memory chip ( flash memory) like in the C64 DTV,well probably the same one.The C64DTV was 2 MB flash memory.But the C64DTV was a simulation not emulation,Simulates MOS Technology's 6510, VIC-II, SID, CIA, and PLA.TheC64 Mini don't.so more work went into making the C64DTV cause its on a Atmel Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).But I like them both,I have version 1 and 2 C64DTVs and be getting the C64 Mini soon,and I have a real C64,I like anything that looks good and is commodore.I like how small it is,its a space saver and will not need to move my big C64 any more,well there's too much to move from one room to another with its 1541 Disk drive,Datassette,Mouse,Joysticks and games.I have a UK1541 and SD2IEC for it too.
Gurce 25 Mar Edited
spannernick1 Thanks for the link to the A20. I thought I'd have a browse through their wiki, found this page interesting:
linux-sunxi.org/FEL/USBBoot
Made me think, with enough elbow-grease, someone might be able to build an alternate linux-system for the device that is bootable off a usb stick.
That might be a nice way for hackers to play around in their own ecosystem (try out other emulators, etc), purely on the usb stick, while leaving the c64 team's firmware/ecosystem intact and untainted.
I might be tempted to nibble along these lines down the track, but for now, I reckon I'll be content to just play with the given ecosystem
23 DAYS LATER
sety 8 days ago
For anyone interested I've made a start on this and I'm hoping that someone with a little more programming experience will take over.
So far I have managed to get a root shell which is an encouraging start. I have put all the info I have found so far on the sunxi wiki.
linux-sunxi.org/Retro_Games_Ltd_RGL001
Cheers,
sety
Gurce likes this.
Gurce 8 days ago
Wow, congrats on your great progress and thanks for sharing! :-)
ultrapop 7 days ago
Thank you!! Very interesting post!
I hope someone will make a tool to add games directly to the carousel like hakchi2 does for snes-mini.
spannernick1 7 days ago
Thanks,nice work there,does anyone know anything about the USB ports,what drive or what chip it uses.Maybe then we might be able to work out what USB devices work properly with it..? Cause it hit or miss at the moment.
4 DAYS LATER
Gurce 3 days ago
Just wanted to add a cross-reference to the thread where jj_0 carried on from where sety left off
c64minicommunity.freeforums.net/thread/4/modding-thec64-mini