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Author Topic: C128 in an FPGA?  (Read 9656 times)

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Offline Hattig

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Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #74 from previous page: April 02, 2013, 12:05:59 PM »
Quote from: ferrellsl;730937
@psxphill

I really don't care what some people "consider" a violation.  I only care about the facts. And all I've seen here is gaula92 using this thread as a personal attack directed at Frederic. Until someone cares enough to PROVE with facts that Frederic is violating the GPL, then they need to shut up and stop attacking his credibility while hiding behind an online forum.  If gaula92 is so convinced that Frederic has violated the GPL,  and he has proof of it, then he should file a law suit instead of turning this thread into a weapon for personal attacks.  Where I come from, that's called "Put up, or shut up!"  Right now I'd like a lot of "Shut Up" as far as this matter and GPL violations are concerned.

The only person that can file a lawsuit is the owner of the minimig source copyright - which is probably a combination of Dennis, yaqube and other people who have contributed to it over the years. The fact that they're not exactly screaming about this violation probably says a lot.

However I do think that the full sources to the minimig-derived core should be made available as per the license requirements, and I don't see the harm in releasing it.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2013, 12:31:07 PM by Hattig »
 

Offline psxphill

Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #75 on: April 02, 2013, 12:39:34 PM »
Quote from: Hattig;730965
The fact that they're not exactly screaming about this violation probably says a lot.

If they didn't care then I would have expected MCC to ask for a non GPL licensed version of the code so that they didn't have to provide source. If they'd done that then I'd have expected MCC to shout loudly that they had permission.
 
I'm not sure why Dennis wouldn't enforce the license, the FSF will usually help out. Faced with the prospect of a lawsuit then most people just release the source.
 
The biggest failing of the MCC is that they didn't open source everything & made it easy for anyone to develop for it, I would have bought one if they had.
 

Offline trekiejTopic starter

Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #76 on: April 02, 2013, 09:45:42 PM »
ugh.
I think I will buy a Ouya when it comes out. It is open to devs.
But, I could change my mind though.
Amiga 2000 Forever :)
Welcome to the Planar System.
 

Offline FrenchShark

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Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #77 on: April 04, 2013, 10:04:28 PM »
@all

Let me give you some technical insight on the MCC.
It has a unique feature : it does not have any configuration controller (such as a ARM or a PIC chip).
The FPGA is its own configuration controller thanks to the "Remote update" feature of the Cyclone III.
This has some consequences :
- If the "bootloader" that is responsible of loading the others cores is erased from the flash, the device does not start anymore.
- Some safeguards must be put in place in the cores' bitstreams to prevent the user from doing "stupid" things.
So, it is very difficult to open the platform to anybody.

As for the Minimig core, I told you already that I posted the modifications on minimig.net.
If anybody wants to get the HDL source, just send me a PM, I will send the archive.
A quick overview of the sources:
- YQ091224 Minimig source with changes in 8520 CIA and Paula/Floppy.
- TG68
- VHDL top level / wrapper
As for the "OSD" CPU in the design, it is NIOS based. Just ask Altera for the GPL source code. Good luck ;-).

PS: sorry for the C128 lovers to have hijacked your thread.

Regards,

Frederic
 

Offline gaula92

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Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #78 on: April 04, 2013, 11:06:29 PM »
Quote from: FrenchShark;731288
As for the Minimig core, I told you already that I posted the modifications on minimig.net.
If anybody wants to get the HDL source, just send me a PM, I will send the archive.

So even you finally recognize here that current Amiga core IS a Minimig adaptation (as Retrofan and you implicitly said many times in the past).
As an user, and one who bought not one but three of your MCC-216 machines, I see it a step in the right direction.

Quote from: FrenchShark;731288
So, it is very difficult to open the platform to anybody.

Wrong. Open it. Open it as much as you can, and for your own good, FACILITATE the work to let others to port cores to your platform and fix the cores.

Look: if you had opened it back in 2011, you'd have a VERY good Amiga core by now, open and legal, because the community would have found incompatibilites and developers would have fixed them. If you try current Altera DE1 Minimig, you'll see it's FAR superior to your outdated, broken Amiga core. That's because geniuses like Mmrobinsonb5, Boing400, Chaos and many other experts have addressed bugs and made it the wonder it's today.
You would also have a great Spectrum 128K core, and possibly many of the arcade cores the Chameleon 64 is receiving these days.
Your product would be admired and awaited as we admire the FPGA Arcade or the Minimig V1.1 board, because these products are not just funny but also exciting to explore, learn and try wild new cores on them, with unexpected results.

On the other hand, the MCC-216 remains obscure, unknown, not very attractive at all with outdated cores an NO POSSIBILITY for the community to fix them.

I suppose you had a different business model in mind when you started the MCC-216 project: maybe you wanted to sell the cores, or the games licensed by these Cloanto vultures, but as you can see, that's not going to work. No way.

Maybe you're in time, Frenchshark, and you can still open the damn thing and let people help themselves and help YOU, and make the MCC-216 a good product, not some obscure platform using illegal cores (but please replace the materials ASAP).
« Last Edit: April 04, 2013, 11:10:34 PM by gaula92 »
 

Offline juga

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Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #79 on: May 01, 2013, 12:27:17 AM »
Hi Frederic, how are you.

How is going the new Amiga core for the MCC?

What features will it have? Like kickstarts supported, configurable parameters (memory...), HDF support, OCS or ECS, etc.

Regards, Juan
 

Offline trekiejTopic starter

Re: C128 in an FPGA?
« Reply #80 on: May 07, 2013, 03:21:33 AM »
I change my mind to a C65. I guess it would not be as tough as a complete C128.
Amiga 2000 Forever :)
Welcome to the Planar System.