More VRAM

[Fenner Machine 9]

More VRAM would be nice.

I know it’s possible to work around some limitations of 128KB VRAM, or it even inspiring creativity, and maybe that’s half the fun.

But, more dedicated VRAM in VERA would make it easier to have larger bitmaps & tile maps, more animations & tiles, larger sprites, and take advantage of the native 640×480 resolution and 256 colour mode.

[TomXP411 213]

This has been discussed, and I believe it's not actually possible with the current FPGA being used for VERA. 

The memory in VERA is dual port RAM and is part of the FPGA package. Using external memory for the FPGA would require much larger and more expensive components - potentially costing more for just the video hardware than the current price target for the entire system.

** update

@Frank van den Hoef is the designer of VERA, so he might be able to shed more light on the hardware and its capabilities.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by TomXP411
added VERA creator

[Fenner Machine 9]

OK, that makes sense.

I did a search and found discussions of VRAM limitations, but not about why it can’t or won’t be increased.

Work within the limits and use workarounds, gotcha.

[TomXP411 213]

3 hours ago, Fenner Machine said:

OK, that makes sense.

I did a search and found discussions of VRAM limitations, but not about why it can’t or won’t be increased.

Work within the limits and use workarounds, gotcha.

I think the conversation was on the Facebook group, but I can't find the specifics there, either. (FB is terrible about losing conversations.)

Hopefully, Frank will chime in with which FPGA is being used and why he chose that particular model.