Rockford, IL
Quoted from Compy:Good memory. The chip you're referring to is U16 on the main CPU board which is a fused FPGA. From extensive reverse engineering for Kingpin, this acts like a multiplexing chip and handled various DMD and matrix strobing operations so that the CPU had more free interrupt space to do "fun" things.
The fuse prevents you from being able to dump the FPGA contents, which makes reproduction a significant pain. At this point, it's much easier to just reimplement its behavior by looking at its inputs/outputs and replicating its functionality based on the operational theory that we know about what it talks to.
Of course, I have time and retrospect on my side. Given where Gene was at in 2006 and the lack of technical resources, it would've been very very difficult.
Yep. When I bought my pinball magic it had a bad U16. Let me tell you, sourcing a replacement was not an easy task. In my research for this quest I learned a lot about the struggles trying to repro that chip and how it caused so many headaches for BBB remakes and why Kingpin never got off the ground.
This thread is amazing. Thank you all who have contributed.
Victoria, BC
