NES Based PC

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Shinobi
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NES Based PC

Post by Shinobi »

Hi ..

Is there an NES/Famicom Based PC, I mean a PC with CPU, GPU just like NES/Famicom, and you can use it to program games in Assembly or BASIC, you know just like C64..

if there isn't then I see it's a great project to do.

And I know there is Dr. PC Jr., Famicom Disk system, and the chinese (Subor and Asder) .

for Dr. PC Jr. I heard that it can't play all games with some mappers.
for Famicom Disk System, it's just for games.
for the Chinese clones Asder and Subor, they have F-BASIC and G-BASIC, I didn't try them, can they do assembly?? how to save??

I would love to have a PC like C64 but as an NES/Famicom, that would be great since NES graphics are great for 8-Bit.
C64 Graphics looks muddy.
MSX computer graphics has limitation that each sprite can have one color and the scrolling issues (slow scroll)

Thanks
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tokumaru
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by tokumaru »

The NES/Famicom already has keyboards, disk drives, network adapters, flash carts that can read/write from/to memory cards... so yeah, the hardware is already there. If you want to use it for game development, all you need is the software. You'll never have an assembler as complex as the ones we have running on modern computers, but a barebones assembler is certainly possible. Some tile drawing tools already exist.

I don't know why anyone would choose a more limited development environment when more versatile options are available, though...
Shinobi
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by Shinobi »

Aha,

can you give me the names of some of those products so that I can check them, not that where I live (Iraq) you can just find Fami-clones, so what of those products you mentioned is compatable.

My goal is to use it for education for children, because when I was little, I got the MSX computer back then, but NES/Famicom is better yet simpler.
tepples
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by tepples »

tokumaru wrote:The NES/Famicom already has keyboards
Famicom more than NES though. Which keyboard plugs into the NES? I remember tpw_rules was working on one years ago, but real life (university) intervened.
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tokumaru
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by tokumaru »

I was thinking of Famiclones with keyboards, we've seen a few of those throughout the years. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any keyboards ready to be plugged on authentic NES consoles.
93143
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by 93143 »

Yeah, Family BASIC existed, but only in Japan. No idea about Famiclones...
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Dwedit
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by Dwedit »

There's always just PCs and emulators. Any PC (486 or better with VGA) can emulate the NES, but it won't be a native 6502 system for tinkering on the native hardware. It would still just be in a sandbox.
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lidnariq
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by lidnariq »

A decade ago there was an attempt to get a NoaC with integrated keyboard distributed to 3rd world countries—http://playpower.org/—but Moore's law has moved on beyond where that makes any sense.
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Dwedit
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by Dwedit »

Yeah, cheap Allwinner chips pretty much killed that thing.
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Memblers
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by Memblers »

I did a little digging on Alibaba and found one company, Cheertone Technology, seems to be the only one left that sells an 8-bit game system with a keyboard. They don't list it on their own website.

I'd be surprised if there was any useful software that came with it, other than bootleg games though. I doubt there's even a way to save data (though a FlashROM-based cart should be able to do it). Might be worth asking them for details, but prepare to be disappointed. Supposedly $6 each, but 1000 pieces minimum order... There seems to be nothing like it on Aliexpress, where it's normal to have smaller orders.

CT-K802 https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... b095chRLy9
CT-K803 https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... b095chRLy9
CT-K803 (again) https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... b095chRLy9
calima
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by calima »

Many sellers on Alibaba will sell samples in qty 1 if you ask nicely.
Pokun
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by Pokun »

The Famicom keyboard can be plugged into a NES with an adapter like ENIO. But a Famicom is cheaper than a NES anyway, so I'd just get a Famicom (although depending on where you live it may or may not be harder to get hold of).

I translated most of both Family BASIC manuals to English, links are in this thread.
ndiddy
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by ndiddy »

Here's the closest thing to what you were asking that I've seen:
https://helloacm.com/the-8-bit-dos-by-f ... the-1990s/
It's a Famicom with a 3.5 diskette drive that supports programming using BASIC and assembly (as well as LOGO if that counts) and runs a clone of DOS with most of the commands intact. It also comes with various productivity software, like a word processor, a spreadsheet, and even a debugger for debugging your homebrew right on the unit. You could even connect it to a PC to have it access the files on your hard drive (for rapid testing if you're developing on a PC).
I was really impressed when I found out about this clone, it's way better than the usual junk you get out of China.
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Gilbert
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by Gilbert »

Its producer, BBG. was actually quite well known here. It was a mainland brand most famous for its VCD players BiTD (especially the SVCD players), some of which actually had Famiclones (and possibky some models with Mega Drive clones) embedded inside.
allstone
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Re: NES Based PC

Post by allstone »

Gilbert wrote:Its producer, BBG. was actually quite well known here. It was a mainland brand most famous for its VCD players BiTD (especially the SVCD players), some of which actually had Famiclones (and possibky some models with Mega Drive clones) embedded inside.
where can I buy this BBG-1 or BBG-98 keyboard now ?
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