Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Discuss the CreatiVision hardware: models, revisions, fixing, hacking and modding.
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MADrigal
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by MADrigal » Wed Oct 04, 2023 12:17 am

OMG that's an excellent post and what an achievement!
There are a few inaccuracies in the historic part - just in case you wish to amend them
1. the Japanese CreatiVision was sold through Cheryco not VTech
2. there is a commercial US NTSC CreatiVision version, probably produced in a handful of units and no distributor known, so it's probably just an attempt to enter into the US market. I also own a prototype of that NTSC variant
3. it is worth mentioning the CreatiVision MK2 that has different wirings and allows the use of external peripherals such as the Colecovision adaptor (never released for the CV however the MK2 variant was engineered for that purpose)
4. Salora did not produce the Manager. VTech did: that was the Laser 2001. Salora rebranded it. Laser 2001 sold in Germany through Sanyo Computers but in a very limited amount. It sold more in Finland through Salora. Laser 2001 was designed and presented in 1983. The Manager variant came the year after.
5. VZ-2000 is likely just a prototype. 2 only seen so far on Ebay photos and are somehow related to a French magazine that reviewed it. Likely never hit the market but was meant for the French market only
6. Funvision is by VTech. Sold in Australia only through Dick Smith (yep, so in a Dick Smith Electronics store you would find Wizzard and Funvision on sale at the same time)
7. Educat-2002 is a rebadged Creativision for the Israeli market only, sold/imported through the local department of education

Thanks :)
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Mobsie
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by Mobsie » Wed Oct 04, 2023 7:09 am

Hi,
I tried to import the Kicad files to EasyEDA but still failed.
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leadedsolder
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by leadedsolder » Wed Oct 04, 2023 5:14 pm

I will make the edits! Thanks for fixing the misinfo.
Mobsie wrote:
Wed Oct 04, 2023 7:09 am
Hi,
I tried to import the Kicad files to EasyEDA but still failed.
It's KiCad7, so maybe the EasyEDA importer hasn't updated for the new version?
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by Mobsie » Sat Jul 27, 2024 9:01 pm

Hi,
any updates here?
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by leadedsolder » Sat Jul 27, 2024 9:04 pm

Sorry to say I haven't had much time to work on it. I did make an adapter for using a PS/2 keyboard and SNES controller, but the firmware is still not written. I plan to get back to it pretty soon!
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by leadedsolder » Sat Oct 18, 2025 3:10 am

Boy it's kind of embarrassing how long it's been. I am making progress once again:

First, after only two bodge wires, the adapter drives the 6821 pins as expected, and I now have all four fire buttons working on an SNES controller (1p and 2p fire buttons.) I'm going to experiment with the directionals this coming week, which should finish up the SNES controller functionality for me. For now, I'm using "Z" as the start button because that seems to work in Sonic Invader, but I have to take a look at the overlays to see if something else would make more sense.

Second, I've made a sketchy 27c256 version of Cheshire Noir's multicart so that I can load the Keyboard Test ROM. The hope is that I can pound out the PS/2 parsing stuff quickly this way rather than waiting for Sonic Invader to stop making its jingly noises. I'm going to pair it with one of the BASIC interpreters, although I'm not sure what the differences are between the ones in the MAME set. I'll probably use "basic" (claimed to be 1983 release 2.)

Hope you are all having a good time.
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by Mobsie » Thu Dec 25, 2025 10:20 pm

Great update 👍
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Re: Derivavision - a Creativision clone

Post by leadedsolder » Mon Dec 29, 2025 8:10 pm

Thanks! I do have the directionals working now, but I can only test left and right with Sonic Invader, and I'm not sure if I have the player assignments right.

After some fiddling I was able to load the Keyboard Test ROM but it aborts on a "BRA F0 FF," "BRA A0 AA," and "BRA FA FF" error which seems to be it expected to see $ff and got back $f0 during some test. I've got no idea what BRA means, but it does seem like I have quite a few bits stuck low that it didn't expect. I don't think the original keyboard membrane has any pull-ups, does it?

When running the same ROM, MAME complains about "CRB 80 00" and "CRB BF 3F," which seems to be a bit stuck high when it didn't expect one. That's likely incomplete emulation (maybe something with the tape?)

I threw it in the MAME debugger and was able to make the error message change to BRB, DRB, CRB, BRA, DRA, and CRA, none of which gave me a better idea of what's being read.
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