Uzebox - open source 8 bit console - kits now available!

[danboid]

I've waited years to post this.

The Uzebox is a fully open source, retro minimalist games console, heavily inspired by the NES and SNES and is still having new games written for it almost 15 years after its introduction. It has a spec inbetween the two original Nintendo consoles but is closer to the NES (although the CPU is a bit faster than the SNES') as its based on a 8 bit Atmel microcontroller, similar to the Arduino. It uses SNES joypads.

Some of my fave Uzebox games include:

Starduino - a demake of Starfox. Possibly the most impressive 8 bit game I've ever seen.
Tornado 2000 - like Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar. Speaking of the Jag, I think the Uzebox now has more games written for it than were commercially released for the Jaguar!
Flight of a dragon - A polished platformer. Reminds me a bit of Turrican on the C64.
Joyrider - Like an 8 bit GTA.
Alter Ego - a fun puzzle platform game.

There are also remakes of Super Mario World, Great Giana Sisters, Castlevania, Bubble Bobble, Bomberman and Columns amongst others for the Uzebox, in various stages of completion.

Everything relating to the Uzebox is fully open source including the kernel, the PCB gerber files, the schematics and the documentation. The source is freely available for most games too, which is great for those wanting to learn games dev who understandably might feel overwhelmed by hugely complex modern game engines like Unity, Unreal and Godot etc or even the Amiga.

The big news today is that kits containing all of the parts (except the SNES connectors) required to build your own Uzebox are available from Digikey now. See this forum thread for the details:

https://uzebox.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=35517

I was able to successfully build a Uzebox with precisely no previous electronics experience. It is undoubtably one of the most fun and rewarding things I've ever done and something I'd highly recommend to all fans of retro computing who would like to learn the basics of electronics and have fun developing a truly open platform.


https://uzebox.org

[dreamkatcha]

Interesting. I wouldn't buy a kit, but have noticed that various emulators are available. I might check those out seeing as the Uzebox supports various system-exclusive games.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by dreamkatcha

Interesting. I wouldn't buy a kit, but have noticed that various emulators are available. I might check those out seeing as the Uzebox supports various system-exclusive games.

Could you post (a) link(s)?

[dreamkatcha]

Yep, there's a breakdown of what's available on the official site.

[TCD]

Ah nice Thank you

[danboid]

cuzebox is the best Uzebox emulator. It's very portable. If you have SDL available it will probably build although I've not tried building it under AmigaOS. cuzebox built without any modifications under Haiku which blew me away.

The RPi 4 is fast enough to run cuzebox full speed, as is any PC faster than a core2. It also runs full speed on my TV boxes running Armbian.

[danboid]

I've got a couple of spare Uzebox PCBs which I'm willing to send to anyone willing to pay for the postage.

Recently the Uzebox gained the ability to load roms via wifi using netloader:

https://github.com/ry755/netloader

[danboid]

There is now an easier to build version of the Uzebox called the Uzebox Omega.


I have uploaded a short video of me using Linux and vim via telnet on a Uzebox Omega using Uzenet wifi and a PS/2 keyboard adapter:


[ Show youtube player ]

[danboid]

I have put my most recent Uzebox Omega build up for auction on ebay:

Included in this bid:

* A fully assembled and tested Uzebox Omega v1.1 console with 3D printed silk silver copper case.
* A Uzebox compatible Adafruit SNES / Uzebox controller.
* A "universal" power supply adapter.
* A 16 GB Uzebox compatible SD card (the Uzebox can only use the first 2 GB)
* An unshielded Mega Drive 2 SCART cable.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335365807709