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Hi Xanxi,
There was an Apple IIgs video flicker issue back in 2023 discovered by sugix8, but with his help it was fixed completely by v2.0 of the firmware. Can you post a picture or video of your flickering? Often it is possible to determine the interfering frequency simply by looking at it. Does it happen with all the other expansion cards removed? Also, if I am not mistaken, you have an Applesqueezer accelerator on the motherboard running at 3 MHz, correct? Can you slow it down to 1 MHz to see if it still happens, or is 3 MHz the lower limit? Does it happen with a regular composite monitor, or just the RetroTINK? Does it happen with all the supported video standards: PAL, NTSC, PAL60 and NTSC50, or just some?
The ESP32 SoftCard cannot output VGA, only composite.
Regarding the FTP server problem, what operating system are you using and can you name a couple of FTP clients that it happens with? Hopefully I can find one of them for Windows and try to reproduce it.
I would LOVE if the card could do VGA output, as composite out on my Apple //e is not good either on my LCD monitor. It may be fine on a CRT, but I don't have one, and I'm not going to buy one of those time bombs at this point. I have a VGA card, which works great, but I cannot use the ESP32 with it.
The Applesqueezer cannnot go lower than 3 MHz, but can be deactivated. I have done that and the flicker is the same.
I will try to remove the cards one by one later, but for now i have tried my spare green phosphore Apple monitor. The flicker is there but is very faint due to the own flicker of the monitor.
Here is a video i have made on the ASUS LCD in HDMI out of the RetroTinker.
It is the same with all PAL or NTSC modes (50 or 60 Hz).
https://youtu.be/BXXoJklmCeM
As for VGA output, i have read that the ESP32 chip could do it (but not HDMI). Here is a link https://github.com/bitluni/ESP32Lib For now the ESP32 Softcard can't do it of course.
About the ftp issue, from the PC i have only used FileZilla. From other retrocomputers (Amiga), i have used other FTP clients (AmiFTP, AmFTP, AmitradeCenter) with same results.
I have also noticed that trying to connect to a WiFi network with the wrong password also makes the card to crash.
Wow, this is heavy noise! Looking at the picture you posted on Facebook, it looks like you have a lot going on.
This noise could be coming from a bunch of different places, including:
One thing you can do is try to drown the noise by increasing the video signal level of the ESP32 SoftCard. It is controlled by the first blue potentiometer labeled VIDEO LEVEL. Simply rotate it further clockwise. This will increase the overall brightness, which you can then readjust from the monitor.
I cannot reproduce the crash when you enter a wrong Wi-Fi password. Can you send me a PM with the name of your Wi-Fi network? Perhaps there is something special about the name.
I downloaded the FileZilla FTP client and there is indeed some issue with it, which I am investigating further and will provide a firmware update as soon as I fix it.
I am posting your picture from Facebook here for reference, I hope you don't mind:
Xanxi.jpg
I investigated this and it's not really a bug. The issue is that the FileZilla FTP client uses multiple simultaneous connections, while the FTP server of the ESP32 SoftCard only supports one. So to make it work, you simply need to limit the number of simultaneous connections to 1. Both Active and Passive modes are supported, but Active mode might be blocked by a firewall, so it's always better to use Passive.
FileZilla.png
Hi.
I have made some more tests as you suggested.
About the PSU, it is third party as it is a picoPSU 90 (design from Tindie) with a good quality power brick outside the computer. Since i have replaced the PSU, it has been working great as far as i can tell.
So i have removed the A2FPGA, the UthernetII, the Number Crusher Reloaded, and it hasn't changed anything.
I didn't remove the other card as they are needed to operate the computer anyway (CFFA3000 +++).
The squeezer, i can' t remove either as i don't have the original CPU at hands. I guess that even when deactivated the squeezer is still emulating the CPU.
I haven't moved the card on other slot because i can't use it in another slot anyway with my combo of cards and cable management limits.
I have tried to add some ferrites to my cables, especially the RCA cables going from the ESP32 softcard to the RetroTink but the issue remains. I have let the ferrites in place now as they can't hurt anyway.
I also suspected that the Wombat could interfere because i noticed more noise (or differences in the noise aspect) while hitting the keyboard. Actually, with the regular adb keyboard and mouse, it is the same.
Turning up or down the potentiometer of the video signal didn't solve the issue either. On the contrary, the picture seems more jittery when rotating a lot clockwise. The GABE bluetooh adapter for the gamepads is also not responsible as it was disconnected during those tests.
However, i have also tried the output on a very small black and white CRT integrated into a portable radio/CD player that i keep at home. When lowering the contrast to get a true black screen with white letters i can't see the artifacts no more. I can't try the same on my ASUS LCD as the OSD won't let me change anything when in HDMI mode, surprisingly.
I guess the LCD monitor is no good for this board, or that there is too much noise from the GS mobo itself (or the squeezer, or the PSU) and that i will have to live with it.
I will test again the FTP issue later.
Thanks!
When you use this PicoPSU-90 DC-DC converter + power brick, is your Apple IIgs still grounded? In other words, is there a direct electrical connection between the ground pin of the power outlet in the wall and the chassis of the Apple IIgs? If it is not, grounding it might help.
Ferrites over shielded coaxial cable will not have any effect. The noise is most likely being propagated through the Apple IIgs bus.
The CFFA3000 is also is not the cause. I have one myself and have not seen it to cause any noise in my Apple IIgs.
Well, i don't know.
The adapter is connected just like this in this picture from Tindie https://ibb.co/9kmsf1Hg
Then i have used an external brick either with two prong plus or three prong plug with same issue.
I guess the Apple PSU is in contact with metal parts of the case but apparently not this one.
How could i do? Running a cable between the ground plus and a small metal part on the border of the case is enough?
Yes, just to test if the noise gets reduced you can run a single wire from the ground pin of a power outlet and connect it to the metal chassis of the Apple IIgs. There should be a connection between the metal chassis and the shielding of all coaxial cables already.
Important: Make sure you are connecting the Ground (green arrow below) and not the Line or Neutal:
Power-Outlets-in-Paris1.jpg
Ok, i have type E wall plug here.
So i have touched the metal port of the RGB port and the ground of the type E plug with the multimeter with the computer turned off and i got a continuity beep. So i guess the computer is grounded.
Finally, as the CRT monitors seem to not show the issue after adjustments in brightness and contrast, or very faintly, i think there is probably a very small issue into the signal which is amplified a lot by my attempts to get a numeric output with the HDMI converter and the own scaler of the monitor. That's unfortunate that i have too few desk space to have a permanent CRT connected.
Not according to installation instruction, anyway. As the computer is connected to ground, i think this is settled.
As for powering the GS from a car, i have no idea and can't think of why i would want to be doing that. Anyway my picoPSU requires a 12V external brick center + of 90W.
There is no need to do this. An empty Apple IIgs with the original PSU consumes under 15W. If you fill it with cards, maybe it can go as high as 50W. All you need is a 12V to 120V converter from Amazon for your car.
I would probably have to look for a pure sine wave inverter if that were the case. But even so, there are some inefficiencies to convert the cars 12VDC to 120AC only to convert it back to DC again.
The PicoPSU adapter seemed like a neat idea to go from DC to DC. I happen to have the kit for my GS so I was wondering about other ways to use it aside from a desktop situation
No need for it to be pure sine wave, since the first thing the Apple IIgs' switching PSU will do is convert it to DC.
Hi.
Now the composite output has also been tested on an Apple A2M6016 monochrome monitor and artifacts are barely noticiable when contrast is setup good.
So, unfortunately, the composite to HDMI conversion and the non modifiable contrast on the LCD monitor are definitly emphasizing the noise issue on the picture.
Hi.
Me again. The issue is solved. It was the AppleSqueezer v2 all along. So far i tried to deactivate it by taking off the CPU acceleration and i thought it was enough, but the RAM was still activated because i needed some RAM to start my OS. Now i have received a new 8 GB RAM card and i could deactivate the AS completely and still have enough RAM, and the artifacts are 95% gone on the LCD, now very very faint.
So solutions are either :
- use a composite CRT and not an upscaled picture on LCD
or
- deactivate the AS. The ESP32 Softcard won't start with the AS set to more than 3 MHz anyway.
Thank you for completing the investigation and determining the root cause. I really appreciate it, as I cannot possibly acquire all the different Apple II hardware that exists out there and instead rely on users like yourself.
In watching some of the unboxings of the ESP32 card, it comes with this quite nice cable you use for display passthrough. I've been looking for a cable for mine, and I've been trying to find what that specific one is. Does anyone know what it is?
There are two different varieties: one that can go through every single port opening of the Apple IIe case and one that can only go through the wider openings, like 5, 6, 8, 9 and 12, unless you unscrew the ring of one of the RCA connectors, pass it through and screw it back. The former is featured in Action Retro's video, but I can no longer get it. The majority of cards are shipped with the latter, which is this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008408091794.html
Cable.png
Oh sweet, thanks for finding the cable. The one I have is the original one that came with the monitor, so it was starting to have some issues lol. I'm about to buy something from Ali so that's helpful
After looking at the link you sent, shipping for that cable (here) is insane. Could any S/PDIF RCA cable work?
I think you'll find the answer to this question in this video Mr. Carlson released yesterday. He is talking about the best cable for audio, but it covers video too, as long as the cable is fairly short.
Firmware Update:
Here is the seventh major version firmware update, which adds the Apple II emulator:
ESP32 SoftCard FW v.7.00.zip
To update, place the BIN file found inside the ZIP archive in the /Firmware directory of the SD card and then run the UPDATE command.
Version History: (Continued)
v7.00
- Added the Apple II/II+/IIe emulator capable of running up to 3x the normal speed. To start just type APPLE2.
- Activated the upper 4MB bank of external RAM on the ESP32 to use for the emulator's 4096K RAMWorks card.
Also some disk images gathered from the Net:
Apple2DiskImages.zip
(The disk images need to be in the /Apple2 directory of the SD card.)
Details:
Stop emulating the Apple II on a PC and start emulating it on your Apple II!
What started as an April Fools’ Day joke is finally here for real. The Apple II emulator comes with the following capabilities:
- Run as Apple II Original, II+, IIe and IIe Enhanced at up to 3x the regular speed.
- 4 MB RAMWorks card in the AUX slot when running as Apple IIe or IIe Enhanced.
- 16K Language card in slot 0 when running as Apple II Original or Apple II+.
- Parallel card in slot 1 capable of printing to a text file on the SD card.
- 80-column card in slot 3 when running as Apple IIe or IIe Enhanced.
- Mouse Interface in slot 4 when a real mouse is present.
- Mockingboard card in slot 5.
- Disk II controller is slot 6 that can mount 2 disk images from the SD card.
- Hard disk controller in slot 7 that can mount 2 disk images up to 32MB from the SD card.
- Joystick support when a real joystick is present.
- Supports a No-Slot clock for date and time.
- Speed control from 510 kHz to 3.01 MHz.
- Volume control for the speaker and the Mockingboard.
- Supports NTSC, PAL, NTSC-50 and PAL-60.
- Ability to convert the colors to grayscale when a monochrome monitor is selected.
- Ability to kill the color-burst signal from the menu when a color monitor is selected.
PrinceOfPersia.png
This is truly awesome and something that I've really been looking forward to! A very nice feature set and probably just the beginning of what is possible really.
One thing that would be nice would be the ability to make the Mockingboard be in slot 4 instead of 5 if there is no real mouse present in 4 since some software that uses the Mockingboard is hard coded to slot 4.
Another idea for future is making a slot 2 look like an SSC but allow wifi connectivity from the ESP32. This is less of an issue since the ESP32 SoftCard can already act as a terminal, but some people may want to use Apple II software for the communications connecting to BBSs, etc., like maybe ProTerm.
Pretty excellent option for ][/][+ and clone owners to be able to run //e specific software that wasn't possible for them before.
I hope to see a C64 or maybe even C128 emulator later.
Anyway, this thing just keeps getting better and better. It has already pretty much made the Apple II the ultimate retro platform as far as being able to run a massive variety of retro software.
Thanks so much!!!
Looking forward to playing with this.
This would be pretty useful. At least to me...but there would be a number of hoops to jump through, notably making sure the "modem" responds to the standard "Hayes" command set as set out in the Hayes Technical Reference for Modems and has functional virtual comms lines like DSR/DTR, RTS/CTS, CD, Tx and Rx.
I'd be all over such a product - most of the "Wifi modems" on the internet follow the "Zimodem" firmware which is sorely lacking in most of the above.
I really appreciate the input, but I don't think I want to go this way, for one very simple reason: the ESP32 SoftCard already has a Telnet client that supports both ANSI-80 and PETSCI-40 and it's very easy to use. Adding this will introduce a second approach that is both an inferior experience and much more complicated to use. Instead it would be better to concentrate the effort on improving the Telnet client, like for example adding SSH and support some file download protocols.
I can certainly understand that, and I also understand why some of the things that baldrick said as well could complicate that approach. I'm just kinda brainstorming ideas on things that would be cool. Prioritizing things makes sense, and frankly I'd rather see a CBM emulator sooner than later, even if it was only a PET emulator which would probably be pretty easy, especially since there is already code for PETSCI and 6502 emulation. Of course C64 or C128 would be even cooler. Maybe even VIC-20, although there really isn't a huge software library for that limited machine. For that matter there was never huge amounts of C128 specific software written, most of the people I knew that had them back in the day spent most of the time running them in C64 mode. And basically nobody I knew back then used the CP/M capabilities in the C128.
A CP/M emulator would be pretty cool too. Might be tough to shoehorn it in as a Softcard or Applicard in the Apple II emulator but probably wouldn't be tough to emulate a generic CP/M machine like an S-100 type machine or maybe an Osborne or Kaypro. Of course the most obvious as far as novelty goes would be the Altair 8800.
Another possibly simpler option for slot 2 in the Apple II emulator would be to just make it talk to the TX and RX lines on the ESP32 if those pins are not used elsewhere and are available to hook up to something. Of course that would probably require external TTL to 12V conversion to hook up to most traditional RS-232 devices but it would be extremely flexible since it could talk to traditional modems, printers or even an external ESP8266 or ESP32 based WiFiModem.
Again, probably pretty low priority since the ESP32 already has the other terminal options, but I'm just throwing out ideas.
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