WhiteStar
Encyclopedia
The WhiteStar Board System is an arcade system board
used for several pinball
games designed by Sega
Pinball and their successor, Stern Pinball, between 1995 and 2004. It is the successor to Data East
Pinball / Sega Pinball's System 11-derived hardware, licensed from Williams
.
1995's Apollo 13
was the first game to use the WhiteStar System, and 2004's NASCAR (Grand Prix outside the US) was the final game to use the WhiteStar System.
It is succeeded by Stern's "S.A.M. System", which was first used in 2005's World Poker Tour
.
was released, the WhiteStar's audio hardware underwent major changes. The Motorola 6809
/ BSMT2000
sound system was changed to a 32-bit Atmel
AT91SAM
CPU with three Xilinx
FPGA
s. This adds hardware emulation
of the 6809-BSMT2000 system for backwards-compatibility with previous WhiteStar-based games, as well as adding 16-bit ADPCM compression for the audio. The 16-bit audio is used from Lord of the Rings to NASCAR / Grand Prix.
This revised board is called the CPU / Sound Board II (or the CPU / Sound II Board) in the official schematics.
Arcade system board
An arcade system board is a dedicated computer system created for the purpose of running video arcade games. Arcade system boards typically consist of a main system board with any number of supporting boards...
used for several pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
games designed by Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
Pinball and their successor, Stern Pinball, between 1995 and 2004. It is the successor to Data East
Data East
also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...
Pinball / Sega Pinball's System 11-derived hardware, licensed from Williams
Williams (gaming company)
WMS Industries, Inc. is an American electronic gaming and amusement company based in Waukegan, Illinois. The company's main operating subsidiaries are WMS Gaming and Orion Gaming. WMS traces its roots as far back as 1943, the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded by Harry E. Williams...
.
1995's Apollo 13
Apollo 13 (pinball)
Apollo 13 is a 1995 pinball machine based on the film Apollo 13. It was designed by Joe Kaminkow and Joe Balcer, and released by Sega Pinball. It is notable for its 13-ball multiball mode, the largest of any pinball machine ever made.-Gameplay:...
was the first game to use the WhiteStar System, and 2004's NASCAR (Grand Prix outside the US) was the final game to use the WhiteStar System.
It is succeeded by Stern's "S.A.M. System", which was first used in 2005's World Poker Tour
World Poker Tour (pinball)
World Poker Tour is a Stern pinball machine released in January 2006. It is based on the series of poker tournaments of the same name.-External links:**...
.
Hardware revisions
In 2003, when The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings (pinball)
The Lord of the Rings is a 2003 pinball game designed by George Gomez and distributed by Stern Pinball. It is based on the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which was first released in 2001...
was released, the WhiteStar's audio hardware underwent major changes. The Motorola 6809
Motorola 6809
The Motorola 6809 is an 8-bit microprocessor CPU from Motorola, designed by Terry Ritter and Joel Boney and introduced 1978...
/ BSMT2000
BSMT2000
The BSMT2000 is an audio DSP created by Brian Schmidt for use in various pinball and video games ....
sound system was changed to a 32-bit Atmel
Atmel
Atmel Corporation is a manufacturer of semiconductors, founded in 1984. Its focus is on system-level solutions built around flash microcontrollers...
AT91SAM
AT91SAM
AT91SAM are a family of Atmel chips based on the 32-bit RISC microprocessors from ARM. Some are targeted as applications processors, with external memory busses used to access RAM and flash, and large sets of integrated peripherals...
CPU with three Xilinx
Xilinx
Xilinx, Inc. is a supplier of programmable logic devices. It is known for inventing the field programmable gate array and as the first semiconductor company with a fabless manufacturing model....
FPGA
Field-programmable gate array
A field-programmable gate array is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by the customer or designer after manufacturing—hence "field-programmable"...
s. This adds hardware emulation
Hardware emulation
In integrated circuit design, hardware emulation is the process of imitating the behavior of one or more pieces of hardware with another piece of hardware, typically a special purpose emulation system. The emulation model is usually based on RTL source code, which is compiled into the format...
of the 6809-BSMT2000 system for backwards-compatibility with previous WhiteStar-based games, as well as adding 16-bit ADPCM compression for the audio. The 16-bit audio is used from Lord of the Rings to NASCAR / Grand Prix.
This revised board is called the CPU / Sound Board II (or the CPU / Sound II Board) in the official schematics.