Avoid AntonioVillena’s Products at All Cost

[vanfanel]

Hello there,

For years I suffered glitches in arcade cores and even SNES due to his incompatible RAM modules.
Some months ago, I finally got a RAM module from other seller (there are many reliable sellers in Europe, like UltimateMister, Manuferhi, or RetroCastle on Aliexpress) and everything is working as intended.

It's not only that his RAM modules are incompatible with the Saturn core (that could be corrected, I guess, no guarantees) but other cores are affected and his designs also made my MiSTer full of static on the connectors, to the point I would receive an small electric shock most times I touched his MiSTer design.

Ultimately, I was helping people with incompatibility issues to understand the situation with his 4chips design on Telegram, and he deleted all my informative messages and banned me there, so I am trying to make it public here for our own good. Avoid.

[kathleen]

Hello @vanfanel,

Thank you for your feedback.

I cannot judge about the one from Antonio Villena as mines come formUltimateMister & Manuferhi and I agree, I've never had any compatibility issues as you faced in.

Just one question, how is it possible that you receive an small electric shock, I mean strong enough to fell it with an input voltage of 5 Volts ?

[vanfanel]

Hello @vanfanel,

Thank you for your feedback.

I cannot judge about the one from Antonio Villena as mines come formUltimateMister & Manuferhi and I agree, I've never had any compatibility issues as you faced in.

Just one question, how is it possible that you receive an small electric shock, I mean strong enough to fell it with an input voltage of 5 Volts ?

No idea, really. Asked him time ago and didn't give a clear answer.
But yes, it was strong enough to feel it every time it happened.
There was a LOT of static on the case, too.

Never had incompatiblity issues with other MiSTer setups (I have one from UltimateMister and like 3 from RetroCastle), only with AntonioVillena's ones.

[kathleen]

No idea, really. Asked him time ago and didn't give a clear answer.
But yes, it was strong enough to feel it every time it happened.
There was a LOT of static on the case, too.

Never had incompatiblity issues with other MiSTer setups (I have one from UltimateMister and like 3 from RetroCastle), only with AntonioVillena's ones.

Ok, so most probably a leakage current coming from your transformer. Have you tried to use the one of UltimateMister on the AntonioVillena's Mister ?
If not, maybe check this to confirm that this issue comes from your external PSU and not from the Mister itself

[Jeruro]

I have an Antonio configuration and have never experienced the problems you describe. I replaced my old SDRAM module for the Antonio's 2.9 version and Saturn works perfectly.

[Neocaron]

Let's not go back down that road again, Antonio's product are definitely really good quality, he was one of the first to actually have nicely design cases, awesome accessories as well as really cool custom builds when it wasn't a thing really. The ram thing was poor judgement on the long run but that's his only mistake. I never had static issues either, I don't say you can't have your opinion, but "avoid at all cost" sounds a bit dramatic based on most feeback about his products outhere. And if don't trust me ask Lu, he covered his products extensively.

[annette]

I also had issues with the Antonio Villena memory module XXSD128 board.

His version of this memory was bad with certain cores due to board routing issues I owned one and had nothing but problems on the neo geo core, once faults were known product was withdrawn, nothing from him to help me, no exchange or replacement.

I said before save these possible problems down the road always use official mister project memory.

[Neocaron]

Pretty much everyone had issues with the memory module and I guess it would have made sense to offer a replacement for half price of the module since it does work (but not in every core scenarios) and can be use in a dual memory setup (I use it this way) but like I said it doesn't mean Antonio's products are bad. It's one mistake poorly handled that's it.

[chimaera]

I have a tty2oled from Antonio Villena and it works perfect, I have no issues with the build quality or function of that product from him.

[thorr]

I really like my iousb mini6 because it has full 888 RGB and digitally converted high quality analog audio output on it. I only have two issues that I can live with. I can't seem to run long wires to the three I/O buttons (reset, OSD, User) and have them work properly (and I tried some extensive stuff to get it to work to no avail), so I have to use the keyboard shortcuts for these functions and the keyboard shortcuts don't always work right (especially when skipping unwanted buttons during the mapping process). The other issue I haven't really looked into, but I don't think I can add a second SDRAM module to it if I wanted to. Since this is my second MiSTer that is dedicated to my arcade cabinet, I haven't had any need yet for this functionality (or on my main MiSTer for that matter either).

[CartoonDonkey]

I also have a tty2oled from him which runs perfectly. Mistakes happen. Think before you drag someone's name through the mud over a small hobbyist purchase.

[Bumtree]

I recently bought one of his SCART switches and couldn't be happier with the customer service or the quality of the switch itself.

Absolute supreme level product.

[vanfanel]

If it was only me, I wouldn't have started this thread to give advice to potential buyers.
But as you can see on this thread, he was selling incompatible RAM modules massively: everybody with 4-chip RAM modules has not working Saturn games, and most importantly, glitches in another cores.

It's not about me: I have replaced Antonio Villena's poor quality MiSTer setup with other sellers components time ago.

Oh! And I don't have a rug or use shoes at home. So you are the one sounding like a kid.

[kathleen]

@vanfanel,

Have you tried what I suggested ? I mean use another PSU (the one from your other Mister where you did not notice this behavior for instance) ?

[Sorgelig]

While i don't want to be involved in customer-seller dispute i suggest to be more constructive if you are talking about incompatible addons. And i think it's fair to let users know if some specific addon is incompatible. But avoid general hate thread, please.

About static: de10-nano is development board, not consumer one. It has little to none protection against electricity leakage. Many power supplies leak some electricity. Some time ago i've used electric fountain for my cats and decided to check if there is an electric leakage by "live wire" tester. To my surprise - all PSUs i've tried gave positive results! I couldn't fund any PSU, even from reputable manufacturers. So, always be careful while touching metallic parts.