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Total Replay's demo mode is much more elaborate than simply running random games with the sound turned off. Most of the time it is a slideshow of graphics extracted from the games. Only some games actually run, since most are not very suitable to run in demo mode. Running games at random does not make a good screensaver or a good demo.
The Macro feature of the ESP32 SoftCard added in version 5.03 is perfect for what you are asking. Simply copy the games you like in a separate directory and record a macro starting the emulator from that directory. You can skip most of the logos and get to the demo part of the games as part of the macro. Then run the recorded macro in a loop.
Shipping for $9 to the US is back and it will no longer be necessary to go through the super expensive DHL.
I found a new postal carrier that ships to the US that is only a couple of bucks more expensive than Bulgarian Posts. This is a small difference in the price that I am happy to cover myself in order to bring back the $9 universal shipping rate. Once again the ESP32 SoftCard on Tindie is the least expensive option at $125 + $9 for shipping and that goes for US customers as well. Upon delivery a US buyer does not owe any additional fees or tariffs.
P.S. By "found" I meant Plamen from Apple II Heaven told me about it. He already used it to ship a few things to the US successfully. I also already send two cards myself, the first one 3 days ago and the second one yesterday. I can see that the first one already arrived in the US and is now moving though the USPS network.
Hi all!
Which is the maximum SD capacity for the ESP 32 soft card?
Independently of Apple II capabilities, of course.
Does it depend by hardware or firmware ?
Thanks!
FAT32 supports up to 2 TB partitions. I don't own such a large microSD card, so the largest one I have tried is 256 GB.
Yes, ok for FAT 32. :-)
Just yesterday I've found 2 TB SD available online.
Quite impressive!!
I remember SD to USB converters, for example, had capacity limitations, growing overtimes, depending on the conversion chip embedded in the dongle: 512 MB, then 1 GB, 16 GB and so on.
Since I don't recognize a speciialized chip for SD handling on your card, the first curiosity was: how are you handling SD cards ??
:-)
The microSD card is connected to the ESP32 module through a dedicated SPI bus. It talks to it directly and there is no conversion to USB.
I was able to get a hold of a 2 TB microSD card and I can confirm that the ESP32 SoftCard works with it without any issues. The only thing I will do in the next update is make it display terabytes instead of thousands of gigabytes for cards that are larger than 1 TB:
2TB.JPG
Thank you !
Hey CVT, first of all, thank you for making such an awesome card.
I am having some trouble on the Apple II Plus when trying to play Doom, Wolf3D, or Sega Genesis. I have read all 12 pages of this thread and have not found a definitive fix. I tried the "C" version of the loader but that made no difference. At one point you mentioned "they all send just a KeyPressed event, instead of the more game-friendly KeyDown/KeyUp events" I wonder if that is what I am running into. When I press any movement key the character moves slightly and stops; their is no continous movement in Doom or Wolf3D. In the Genesis emulator it is noticeable as Sonic does not jump the full height. Is their any potential fix for this or am I out of luck?
Lastly, I have a feature request if its not too much trouble. Would it be possible to add an IRC client?
Hi Klaiviel
Could it be because Apple Ii+ does not have Auto Repeat like Apple iie ?
Great observation, that was it. Didn't realize that was a thing. If I bind my forward key next to the Rept key I am able to use Rept as a crude gas pedal. Good enough for me.
Indeed, the Apple II+ keyboard is quite limited for playing games, precisely because there is no key-down or key-up events and there is no auto-repeat. If you don’t want to constantly hold down the <REPT> key, the best option is of course to get a joystick or a mouse.
I also tried to mitigate this situation by making the keys <I>, <J>, <K> and <L> sticky. Basically, pressing them once is equivalent to holding them down and pressing them a second time is equivalent to releasing them. Some early Apple II games like Seafox used this approach and this is where I got the idea. The sticky functionality is enabled in all the game console emulators as well as Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. However in Doom they are not set by default, so one needs to go to Options -> Setup -> Key Bindings and set them up. I chose those particular keys, because they form an inverse T arrow pattern on the right side of the keyboard:
AppleIIPlusKeyboard.JPG
CVT, thanks for responding. Good to know about the sticky keys.
How doable do you think an IRC client would be? I am hoping someone has already developed one for the esp32.
I am not sure it is needed, ever since a telnet client was added in v5.00 of the firmware. There are plenty of telnet sites and BBSes that offer access to IRC. For example you can telnet to bbs.cyrellia.com and once you register you have IRC:
Cyrellia BBS.JPG
Cyrellia IRC.JPG
Very nice work! :D
Looks lovely.
In the same spirit as the previous major version teaser, here is the next one:
v7Hint.png
Interesting!
That must mean there are some IIGS shenanigans afoot..
No, that's not a 65C816 CPU.
I thought the "CMDµ" brand chip made it pretty obvious, although you could still roll the dice on PET, VIC-20, or C-64. Either way, congratulations.
A dual core Apple //e would not be bad !
:-)
I'm assuming probably an Apple //e emulator, although I've seen the California Micro Devices G65SC02 in original //e it wasn't one of the more common ones found. The GTE and NCR versions seem to be the most common in //e that I've looked at. Being able to emulate a //e would be a big benefit because the ESP32 can probably emulate a //e at several times the original speed as well as it would allow things like switching between enhanced and unenhanced emulation as well as emulating a //e on ][+ and clones which normally can't run //e specific software. Also it should be possible to emulate more than 128k in machines with 128k or less, as well as possibly emulating other peripherals like maybe Mockingboard, etc., even on machines w/o the native hardware there.
I'd also love to see C64 emulation, maybe PET and others, but I'll happily take what ever CVT gives us.
That is correct. The processor is from an Apple IIe Platinum motherboard that I recently acquired and it happens to match the maximum configuration of the upcoming Apple II emulator. Of course it can also emulate an unenhanced Apple IIe, an Apple II+ and the original Apple II. Performance-wise it can run up to 4 times the normal speed.
In terms of configuration - this is what I have settled on:
v7.JPG
That is going to be awesome! A lot of people are really going to love this, especially people who only have a ][+ or clone or a minimal //e. An emulator actually running inside the Apple actually has advantages over other emulation options like on a modern computer because it is going to have much more of the authentic feel of using the real thing, but with the speed and power advantagees the ESP32 can bring.
And yes, now that you mention it, I think the only //e that I've ever seen the CMD made CPUs in were late Platinum //e.
And this is exactly where i stand. I have a rev04 and no intention of getting one of the later apple iis as thats where my interests lie. But with this i will be able to dabble in apple //e land with no extra hardware and keeping my apple ii footprint in the house under control ;)
This is another fantastic update inbound. The amount of stuff this card does and hangs on to its retro vibes is astonishing. Thanks CVT!!!
p.s. Those cards listed in the configuration wont be emulated will they? No connections? Just trying to get my head around it and probably another dumb question from me :)
In the picture above I am simply running Card Cat from the Apple II emulator, so the cards it shows are all emulated. From inside the emulator, they are real and they work – printing goes to a text file on the SD card, you can use the extra RAM, you can use the mouse if one is present, you can hear the sound from the Mockingboard, you can load .dsk and .po diskette images or up to 32 MB hard disk images, etc. However, from the point of view of the Apple II machine hosting the ESP32 SoftCard they do not exist.
Far out ....that is pretty incredible. Sounds like a lot of work emulating cards as well.
This brings up all sorts of wild ideas. I'll behave myself for now.....no distractions.
Looking forward to this.
That's how I imagined it would work, maybe I was not clear with my expectations. Actually emulating those devices back to the host Apple II would be a much bigger undertaking that you'd probably need a bus interface more like the A2Pico/A2VGA, etc. What you are doing fits your design perfectly and still provides tremendous capabilities.
This is awesome news. I'd been hoping for an emulated Apple IIe experience so I could use my physical hardware, but play games like Ultima with Mockingboard sound, which I never got to enjoy growing up (had to listen to the regular, boring beeps and boops).
As it happens, I just recently managed to get a Mega Audio board from A2Heaven, so now I have "actual" Mockingboard (dual, even) support, and Ultima IV and V do sound amazing. But this is still a cool new feature to look forward to. Even just having the emulated hard disk option is a great feature.
@CVT Just got my card and set it up. I had some minor issues - a bad/dirty card slot, uncertainty about the audio polarity, and audio jumpers that were too big for the IIe header pins, but it is working and I am having fun with it! Amazing work!
I saw a few issues trying to run the SEGA Master System emulator where the IIe keyboard became non-responsive and video glitched across the middle of the screen (some kind of hard crash), but the Genesis version seems to work fine. And...no R-Type? ^_^
I think I have to take my IIe apart and clean the whole thing and then see if I still have problems. It is long overdue, and the problem could be anything - oxidized connection on slot or RAM, etc.
Anyway - just getting started and looking forward to exploring all the crazy things it can do.
Does anyone know if there are any disk images compatible with the BMOW Floppy Emu that have a collection of CP/M apps? - dBase II, SuperCalc, Turbo Pascal 3, the Zork games, etc.?
Thanks!
I am glad you are enjoying it!
The audio polarity of the SPEAKER IN connector will simply not work if it's reversed and you will not hear the Apple II's beep when you boot. You cannot damage anything when it's reversed, so trial and error is the best way to go. The SPEAKER OUT polarity doesn’t matter that much, but it is hard to reverse it due to the shape of the Apple II's speaker connector.
Is the issue with the Sega Master System consistent and does it happen with all games or just one?
R-Type is one of the featured games of the TurboGrafx-16 emulator. Just type TG16 and look for it towards the bottom of the list.
re: Audio Polarity
I saw the note about not damaging audio in the docs, so I wasn't too worried about it. I think it would be helpful to include a drawing in the docs showing the Apple II audio connector polarity with enough of an image to establish motherboard orientation. Also, it would be nice if the audio polarity silkscreen labels were more prominent and located to the side of the pins instead of inline with the connector. You probably only need the + signs. If you want to leverage the connector geometry, then the kit should include a keyed double header jumper like the original Apple II one (with pin openings that are the correct size for the posts). The individual white/black jumper wires I received in my kit are not keyed and the female sockets were slightly too big for the pins - basically useless. Luckily, I had other ones. Ultimately, I used your YouTube beep video to more easily see the polarity and immediately got it working. With a few small changes, the setup process would be foolproof and you wouldn't need the "trial and error" comment in the docs. The direction would be to use the keyed connectors that match the polarity orientation as shown in the related images of the motherboard and card.
re: Master System Issue
I only tried the SEGA Master system once and had the input issue. The IIe became unresponsive and the video was glitchy, but still operational. No keyboard or mouse input worked and Sonic was just tapping his foot becausee of inactivity, but video/audio were still running. So, it was some keyboard/mouse input issue maybe. Anyway, I think my IIe needs deep cleaning, then I can report more. But, I will try the Master System version of Sonic again to see if I have the same problem. I guess if it were a IIe problem, the same thing should have happened with the Genesis emulator (but it didn't - worked fine), so it might be something about the emulator. I'll let you know if I can reproduce the problem.
re: R-Type
OK - got it. I think I originally played it on the Master System and maybe Genesis also. I just assumed it would be in one of those 2 emulators. I'll have to look at my old cartridges. I have my original Master and Genesis consoles around here somewhere. Maybe they still work. ^_^
ps -- re: the HELLO menu item in the startup app -- is that just using a menu item to say HELLO, or is it intended to run something when typing 'BRUN HELLO'? If it is intended to run, it doesn't work. Just curious. Thx.
Perhaps, but I still think the trial and error is the easiest approach, since it is universal and it takes only a few seconds to switch the polarity on the card side. For example, the connector on the Apple II/II+ is buried underneath the keyboard and it is hard enough just to get the cable plugged-in. If you also had to worry about the polarity, it would be twice as hard. Not to mention all the clones that exist - I wouldn’t even know which side is the plus and which side is the minus.
This usually happens when for some reason the Apple II crashes. Without the Interface program running, you are simply stuck at whatever the ESP32 SoftCard was doing right before the crash.
It was for the Sega Master System. They never released it for the Genesis. There is a modern effort to port it though.
HELLO is just a Basic program that runs automatically in DOS33, sort of like AUTOEXEC.BAT. Right now it simply executes the CATALOG command, but you can modify it to run either ESP32NTSC or ESP32PAL. There are also versions on the Net to present you with a menu: https://www.apple2programs.com/programs/2019/03/31/hello.html
re: Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog (UE) -- Yes - reproducible. I started the game and was randomly hitting the arrow keys clicking the mouse and pressing the spacebar and the IIe immediately crashed at the start of Green Hill 1 with the same issue-- no more user input and glitchy video. I also tried the Genesis version and it worked fine -- played to the end of the 1st level of Green Hill with no problems. Anyway - bear in mind that it could be my IIe, but the problem seemed to be related to keyboard input (possibly the space bar).
re: Audio - up to you. If you can make small changes to improve user experience, that always beats trial and error. I would suggest supplying different jumpers as above. Mine were no good. I thought I had connected it correctly and had everything put back together, so I had to move everything again to fix the audio issue. Do you think you would ever add DSP audio to the board?
re: R-Type - cool - found it. Thanks.
I am having trouble reproducing this. When the Interface program running on the Apple II crashes, you get no input, but you should not be getting glitchy video. Glitchy video usually means that the ESP32 has crashed. If it happens again, can you take a picture?
If it is happening only in this one game, it is possible that the ROM on the SD card somehow got corrupted. I am posting the original here:
Sonic The Hedgehog (UE) [!].zip
If you could download it and overwrite it, that will eliminanate this possibility.
The female jumper cables are a very snug fit on both the Apple II/II+ and Apple IIe motherboard connectors. I have sold hundreds of cards and I never had anyone run into problems with them, except you and one other person on Facebook less than month ago: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5251478676/permalink/10166640311853677/
This close together in time leads me to believe that it might be a bad batch. I can definitely see how the trial-and-error approach fails completely if the jumper cables are not making contact. One thing I could do is try to explain the polarity in the documentation at least for the genuine Apple II machines. The polarity is not marked on any of the motherboards, but the plus is always the one towards the front of the computer and the minus is towards the back. Cables with keyed connectors are obviously the best approach, however I could not find any place that sells them. There are some fan cables that look similar, but they don't fit.
Btw, only the minus of the SPEAKER IN connector is used. The plus is simply the +5V rail and on the ESP32 SoftCard side it is not even connected to anything. This is also the reason nothing can get damaged if the polarity is reversed. However most people expect two wires, so it's easier to give them two, instead of trying to explain all this.
In the next hardware version there will be a Bluetooth capability and it will be possible to add some software-based DSP functionality.
In the previous post I showed that the emulator will have a RAMWorks 1024K card in the AUX slot. I am now changing this to a RAMWorks 4094K card.
Details:
The ESP32 module has a very small amount of internal RAM - only few hundred KB and it is mostly used up. It does have 8 MB of external RAM, however only the lower 4 MB is directly addressable. The upper 4 MB is only addressable through bank-switching and as a result it has remained unutilized. However, is it perfect for a RAMWorks card, which also uses multiple 64K RAM banks. In the upcoming Apple II emulator, the entire upper 4 MB of the external RAM is divided into 64 banks of 64K each and is allocated exclusively to the RAMWorks card.
Btw, I don't know how I would have gotten this to work if it wasn't for RAMWerks:
RAMWerks.JPG
Some people might ask: why would an Apple II need 4 MB of RAM? What program could possibly utilize this?
Well, A2Desktop is one:
A2Desktop.JPG
Looks great! The RAMWorks card includes an 80-column card in the Aux slot on the IIe. If you are implementing a virtual RAMWorks card for the IIe, will it also include 80-column support. And, in that case, would Slot 3 still need the virtual 80-column card?
Yes, the 80-column support is there in the upcoming Apple II emulator on slot 3 as well. I am running RAMWerks through the emulator in the post above and you can see that it's in 80-column mode.
On a real Apple IIe, the 80-column firmware is on the motherboard itself and not on the AUX cards. However, it is automatically wired to slot 3 if a memory card is present, so that when you type PR#3 the 80-column firmware executes. The physical cards only have the extra memory that is needed to display 80-column text.
re: Master System - The game is still running. The video glitch is momentary/periodic -- one theory might be a bad dereference stomping on memory, screwing up the keyboard and mouse input and maybe affecting the video timing? If so and if not a corrupt game ROM, it might be in the keyboard input handler, since I think I saw the problem as soon as I started hitting keys. It could also be my old IIe, as I mentioned. Anyway - I will take a video and also try reloading the game. I will also save the original for comparison.
re: Jumpers - they are definitely too big for the headers. Otherwise, the other changes you suggest would be helpful. Maybe Ali Express? https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832463351064.html Perhaps a bit long...but there are probably shorter ones. Just did a quick search.
>However most people expect two wires, so it's easier to give them two, instead of trying to explain all this.
Haha! ^_^
Stereo BT audio out from the board would be cool, assuming not too much overhead on the ESP32. But...maybe it would just need mono cloning with delay/pan. Does the ESP32 see Audio In on the current design?
Thanks for the info about 80 column support. For my IIe, I had planeed to put a RAMWorks card in the Aux slot and some kind of accelerator in Slot 3 (that supersedes the ROM conflict issue) -- like maybe a FastChip or Transwarp board. That's why I asked...but different from an emulated environment. Another option might be a coprocessor board. Not sure yet.
They are not too big, it's just yours were damaged somehow. They fit very tight on my Apple IIe Platinum motherboard and I need to apply considerable force to pull them out:
Platinum.jpg
Same with my Apple IIe PAL motherboard:
PAL.jpg
In fact since this motherboard is by itself right now, I can lift it completely by the jumper cables and they don't come out. I got them from AliExpress as well, here is the link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004647016228.html. Their connectors are the same dimensions as the ones in your link.
Btw, were yours not fitting properly on the card side as well, or just on the motherboard side? And was it both sides of the jumper cables or just one side that was too loose?
No, it's just a simple pass-through and mix with the audio from the ESP32 before it does into the amplifier chip.
Well...I just looked at the jumper again and, whether or not it's too big, it seems to have minimal spring force on any of the 4 female connectors on the 2p female female black/white jumper. So, maybe the problem is happening during jumper assembly when inserting the pins into the plastic housing. Or, maybe a certain lot of the female pins are just bad. Anyway - the jumper is not usable for its intended purpose. And, since there is minimal spring force, it is probably the same issue on the card and board side. Sounds like it's not an isolated incident. Anyway, I used my own jumper wires that have no issues. Glad yours work for you. If I feel motivated, I will pop the retainer clip on jumper pins and look at the pins.
For audio, I will try a mono to stereo adapter for the 3.5mm connector on the back -- and going to computer speakers. I should be good enough for cloned stereo out.
The 3.5mm connector on the back of the Apple IIe is CASSETTE OUT and it cannot be used for that. If you want to connect computer speakers, you need to do the AUDIO OUT mod described in the documentation and also here: https://www.applefritter.com/comment/103277#comment-103277
This mod will let you hook the audio from the ESP32 to any amplified speakers, but not the sound from the motherboard. Do not use SPEAKER OUT as AUDIO OUT, because connecting any of its pins directly to the common ground will burn the amplifier chip on the ESP32 SoftCard. You can only safely connect the SPEAKER OUT to an isolated unpowered speaker.
Yeah for tape backup. DERP. What was I thinking?
OK - I will figure something out that doesn't blow anything up. Thanks!
A lot of stereo computer speakers have the power supply, amplifier and volume control in the right body with a cable going to the left body, which contains nothing else but the loudspeaker itself. One thing you can do if you don't want to do the AUDIO OUT mod is take just the left unpowered body and connect it to SPEAKER OUT. This will improve the sound quality tremendously and you will still hear the sound from the Apple II itself through it.
There are also inexpensive audio transformers that can be used to isolate the grounds of their input from their output.
IMG_2373.jpg
IMG_6935.jpg
IMG_6948.jpeg
Summary:
For the past three years I have been shipping the ESP32 SoftCard with a 64 GB microSD card. However, soon I will be switching to 16 GB, since prices have doubled and I can no longer get 64 GB or even 32 GB cards at a reasonable price.
Details:
In order to ensure quality, I ship every ESP32 SoftCard fully tested and I only use brand name microSD cards that have been licensed to be sold in the EU with a two-year warranty. As a result, I never had a single SD card-related customer complaint. I did try cheap Chinese SD cards from AliExpress, but they all failed my tests and went straight in the trash.
When I first started selling the card I was able buy a few dozen Taiwanese 32 GB Kingston Canvas SD cards + adapter for €3 per card ($3.30 USD at the time). They were perfect, since they came preformatted with FAT32 and 32 GB matched nicely with the 32-bit ESP32. However, when they ran out, I was able to secure hundreds of 64 GB Kingston Canvas cards for only €2.50 per card ($2.75 USD at the time). They required me to format them with FAT32, but I didn’t mind the additional step. If you own a ESP32 SoftCard today, chances are it came with one of those 64 GB Kingston Canvas cards with the color-changing stripe on the side.
When I finally ran out of those towards the end of last year, I discovered that prices have doubled. Luckily, I was able to test and secure about 50 Chinese 64 GB Philips cards for €3 per card ($3.55 USD today). My current stock and MacEffects' US stock entirely consist of ESP32 SoftCards that come with these Philips 64 GB cards. They do not include an adapter, but I never mention the adapter in any of the listings. If the card happens to come with one, I put it in the box. These should last for another 2-3 months, considering that there is a new major firmware update coming out within this timeframe.
In the meantime, I have been desperately looking for brand-name SD cards at a good price. A couple of months ago I found some Korean 32 GB ADATA + adapter for €3 per card ($3.55 USD today), but by the time I finished testing them they ran out of stock and I was only able to buy 10 cards. I will most likely use these for the eBay listings.
About a week ago I finally got a break and found some Chinese 16 GB Netac cards without an adapter for €3 per card ($3.55 USD today). I bought 10 cards to test them and after I made sure they are good I bought the rest of the stock, which was 90 more. As soon as they completed my order, the store doubled the price, but at this point I should be good until the end of 2026 and the price of the ESP32 SoftCard will remain the same.
SDCards.JPG
Hello,
No big deal in my opinion to sell it with smaller cards, as they are vastly larger than the software libraries of the computers and consoles emulated by the card.
Concerning the ESP32 Softcard, I have two issues with mine and could use some advice, even though I have read the full thread.
My computer is an Apple IIGS ROM 01, with a picoPSU-90 and adapter from Tindie, AppleSqueezer V2, LiteSound audio board, A2FPGA, Number Crusher FPU board, Uthernet II (+ internally a Vonets WiFi adapter connected to the Uthernet II), CFFA3000, and still a 1 MB RAM card. I have a Wombat to use a set of wireless keyboard and mouse, and a GABE adapter to use a wireless gamepad.
1/ The ESP32 Softcard has its composite output connected to a RetroTINK 2X and to my HDMI monitor. The problem is that the output shows flickering lines, prominently on the lower part of the screen but also toward the top. I have read about the 1.54 MHz signal interfering with the output in the previous pages.
Here is what I have attempted to reduce the issue:
I thought it was catching the WiFi signal from my internal Vonets adapter — it is the same without the Vonets.
I thought the interference came from the composite output of the IIGS — I completely disconnected it and used only the HDMI output from the A2FPGA and the output from the ESP32 Softcard, and it is the same.
I thought I needed better shielded and shorter RCA cables — I replaced them but it is still the same.
At first I used a cheap composite-to-HDMI converter with the same issue, and I replaced it with the better RetroTINK 2X, but it is only very marginally better, if at all.
As I read about the problem being related to grounding, I replaced the external 12V PSU connected to my picoPSU with a grounded one (the previous one wasn't grounded) from a good brand — still the same.
I have yet to try adding ferrites to my cables.
Also, my case lacks the upper shielding; I may have to add one from a spare computer.
What else could I try?
A possible solution would be to get rid of the composite output and use a VGA output instead. From what I have read about the ESP32, it can't do HDMI but it can do VGA. Is there a way to wire a VGA output from the card?
2/ About WiFi on the ESP32 Softcard: I can connect to my network, I can launch FTPSERVER and connect to it anonymously. The problem is that either I can't see the directory contents, or the board crashes completely if I try to upload something to the card. What am I doing wrong? I have already tried several FTP clients.
Thanks for your help.
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