OSSC v1.xx series beta firmware

[Rochabian]

@marqs Thanks for your advices and for the firmware update, really appreciated. I’ll check for the de-jitter mod then. Keep up the good work !

[lito69]

In my case it seems that 0.90 is more tolerant with synchronization than 1.08, I will try what I have read here, I will try to make videos that everyone can see, I love trying things

[xepher573]

Would it be possible to backport some of the new 1.8 board’s firmware features (mainly the shadow mask/post-processing filters) to unmodded 1.7 boards? I’m not interested in some of the new features such as improved sync or 6X mode and I don’t feel confident on modding my board and sending it for a mod will result in excruciating taxes once the package is sent back to me due to my country’s jurisdiction (essentially, I’d end up paying twice the price I paid for my OSSC).

[Tsukiko]

Hi all,
I have an older classic ossc board (1.5-a3, official) which I audio modded a few years back, would there be any issues modding this for the 1.0x firmwares?
In terms of the mods, just to clarify a few things (for peace of mind):

• the wire is just being soldered to pin 25, it’s not being lifted right?
• the resistor R35 is being fully lifted off the board?
• Should the firmware be applied before or after the hw mod? I.e. do i apply the firmware, power-off and do the hw mod, then power on to get features, or can i do the hw mod and then apply the firmware afterwards?
• Is this reversible? Can the resistor be reattached and I can go back to 0.90 firmware without repercussions or is this is a one-way thing?
• With the Ossc Pro out, will this firmware be updated with bug fixes and new features (like masks/grills, or custom txt ones like the pro?) for the classic? Or will these be the final changes once bugs are ironed out?

Thanks peeps <3 I’ll probably mod mine in the coming week or two and get these delicious new features going 🙂 Def gonna try get the Pro in the early new year once the stock comes back.

 

[BuckoA51]

The mod works fine with the 1.5 + audio board (actually BetaGamma just did one of those for a customer last week)

You don’t need to lift pin 25

It doesn’t matter what order you do the update in

You can reverse the mod, yes.

Marqs is still doing bug fixes for sure, but the classic is just about maxed out now.

Would it be possible to backport some of the new 1.8 board’s firmware features (mainly the shadow mask/post-processing filters) to unmodded 1.7 boards?

unlikely that you will see this from Marqs but this is an open source project so if anyone in the community wants to take it on that’s entirely possible.

[Tsukiko]

Aaah, Thank you Bucko! That alleviates a lot of my fears going into it, I’ll do the mod and then do the firmware afterwards once i make sure it can still boot. Haha, if it works ok I can then report back another 1.5+audio working 😀

[xepher573]

Ok, so I did install firmware 1.08 on my unmodded 1.7 ossc and it does boot and the shadow mask filters work. But sync is broken on all my tested consoles.
I tried setting the timings manually but even then, it’s bugged and not worth it. Line multiplication also doesn’t work.

The ossc controller also stopped working and I had to resync it with the ossc by booting it while pressing button 1 and then remapping all buttons.

I really wish I knew how to modify and re-build the 1.08 firmware to make a custom version for unmodded 1.7 boards just for the shadow mask, 6x and HDR features 🙁

So I decided to revert back to firmware 1.07.

[xepher573]

Update: I actually had to revert back to firmware ‘latest_release_audio’ because every firmware I tried under “v1 series” (1.01 through 1.08) had issues with scaling not working, sync and image being duplicated on 480i sources.

So I’m guessing firmware versions 1.01 – 1.08 are meant for 1.8 boards? either that or I have a clone that only works with older firmware…

[marqs]

@xepher573: the whole 1.xx series firmware is only meant for v1,8 PCBs or earlier ones with the mod. Your clone apparently also uses some other remote codes if the default keymapping (which is applied if upgrading from v0.xx settings) does not work as-is.

[xepher573]

Interesting. Well, that explains it. Honestly, I think that it’s indeed a clone and in that case, I think doing the mod would probably result in issues anyways considering clones go for cheaper off-spec parts.

I’d much rather buy the original ossc but my country’s taxation policies on imports forced me to go for a chinese retailer (since this was the only way to dodge taxes back then and consequently, paying over 200% the product’s original price). I’m just glad you didn’t go for the scummy mega everdrive route where the original firmware bricks clone cartridges.

Now I’m left wondering if the OSSC’s available in my country’s amazon page are also clones or original models being resold for a higher price.
And in case I ever get my hands on a 1.8 board: would sync drops on resolution changes in PS1 games still be a thing on newer firmware? Is this issue only solved under the OSSC Pro?

[BuckoA51]

We only sell them on here and at classicgamestore.ch.Kaico were supposed to be an official reseller but I don’t think they ever actually did submit their BOM as per the agreement in the end.

Note that you can remove the mod and go back to the old firmware if it doesn’t work. Worst case scenario I would imagine would be needing a JTAG programmer to do this if new FW bricked the clone OSSC, but that seems unlikely.

[BuckoA51]

Update: I actually had to revert back to firmware ‘latest_release_audio’ because every firmware I tried under “v1 series” (1.01 through 1.08) had issues with scaling not working, sync and image being duplicated on 480i sources.

So I’m guessing firmware versions 1.01 – 1.08 are meant for 1.8 boards? either that or I have a clone that only works with older firmware…

correct all 1.xx branch firmwares require the hardware mod in order to function correctly.

[Nizce]

Hi!
Just made the mod to my OSSC and updated to 1.08.

During the mod I managed to rip the inner pad of R35..(never solder when you’re in a hurry) 🙁
So i scraped the traces leading to R35 and managed to solder the wire to the traces and onto the chip leg.

Firmware update went fine, and test picture looks as good as before.

But when connecting my PC via VGA i do get a vertical line which is “transparent” and darker. I tried to take a picture, but was quite hard to make it noticeable.

When in DOS the OSSC flickers rapidly between 1712-p and 1713-p and also between 120.29kHz and 120.22kHz. Please see pictures.

So I downgraded to firmware 0.9 and the picture is back to normal.

 

Since I ripped the pad, it might be that I got a bad connection when soldering to the traces.
Is there any way to verify that the actual hw mod went well?
Also, is there anywhere else on the board that I can bridge with the chip pin instead of R35 just to be sure?
Never used kicad but just fired it up, if I understand it correctly, would it be possible to use pin 46 on the chip labelled EP4CE15E22 as a substitute for R35?

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Nizce.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Nizce.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Nizce.

[Morpheus_79]

would it be possible to use pin 46 on the chip labelled EP4CE15E22 as a substitute for R35?

Yes… it is possible to remove R35 and then solder a thin enameled wire between pin 25 of U1 (TVP7002PZP) and pin 46 of U2 (EP4CE15E22 / Cyclone IV FPGA). It does basically the same as connecting pin 25 to the input pad of R35.

I did it and it worked flawlessly:

BUT soldering a wire to the pad of R35 is MUCH easier than soldering to pin 46 (especially if you had a hard time soldering to the pad of R35 in the first place). Accidentally shorting some pins on U2 could potentially damage the FPGA and therefore render the whole OSSC useless!

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Morpheus_79.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Morpheus_79.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Morpheus_79.

[Nizce]

Thanks!

Then I’ll start with checking continuity between pin 46 on U2 and pin 25 on U2. To verify if my workaround of the broken pad is to blame or not, for the problems I’m having.

If there is no connection I might go ahead and using pin 46 on U2 instead(although it’s very small and high stakes).

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by Nizce.

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