FPGA Replay Board

[mikej]

ARGH! Please tell me you don't use record types on entity ports?

Next you'll be using arrays of records of enumerated types (guaranteed to feck up almost any FPGA synthesis tool!)

sometimes, although I try and minimize it.
The synthesis tools are pretty good at it now, only get problems occasionally with overloaded functions dealing with complex record types ....
You should see what we get up to in the ASICs..
/Mike

[mikej]

I completely agree with Billt. Yes, I work designing super large ASICs.
The RTL coding for an FPGA is really easy, the layout is a bit more tricky but not difficult.

However, you have to pay a lot of money for the tools and cell library - the basic building blocks optimised for the fab and process you are using.

The mask set costs for any modern process are HUGE. Then you have to design the place and route software which is many many person years of work.

I can get a modern FPGA on a 28n process for a few $ in volume, because the big boys split the development cost between zillions of customers.

Both Xilinx and Altera provide decent free software, so I would rather spend my time using start of the art devices than designing them in this case

/Mike

[mikej]

yup, that's whats happening now - production test development.
Cheers,
Mike

[mikej]

As soon as I finish testing the DRAM the first 10 will go out to early adopters.
Looking ok now.
I'll immediately kick off the assembly of another 50 or so early Feb.

/MikeJ

[mikej]

Good news, I am pretty happy with the hardware testing and I've sending the first boards out to the other developers .....
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Hi,
Sorry I realise it is a bit frustrating.

I've been on holiday last week and off to China again tomorrow - I'll pick up some more PCBs and components there as well. I've completed the minor layout updates for mass production. A few of the footprints needed tweaking and I've moved the DVI connector to make more space for the audio jack. I've also fixed the SVHS output resistor wiring.

All RevB boards with SVHS output are modifed, so there are no electrical differences in the boards.

I need to finish testing the first 10, but I don't want to release too many of them until we are happy with the soft core otherwise we will have unhappy people.

I have a list of everybody who has expressed an interest, and if I have spare non-developer boards (I will) I'll mail those who are first on the list. We should have lots and lots of boads soon.

Cheers,
Mike

[mikej]

-Production difference ? (Handmade / Machine made)
Fpgaarcade has the PCB factory made and the FPGA machine soldered. The rest of the components are hand soldered.

This was the case for the RevA boards, but RevB boards are double sided and machine made. The manufacturing is completely set up and the boards can be knocked out in high volume.

The code and schematics are/will be open source, the PCB layout is not.

The Replay board also has a daughter board connector to add USB/Ethernet/CPU and more memory.
/Mike

[mikej]

"Could you release the PCB layout in 5 years for free?"

If I evey stop making the board then I will publish the gerber files for production. However it is a 6 layer card and it costs a lot in NRE to produce the boards, so I don't see them being any use.
You also need to produce paste masks to assemble the board, which are very expensive.

In 5 years I hope we will be making Replay3 boards based on Spartan8 or something..
/MikeJ

[mikej]

I'm still in China but I have got almost enough parts now to build another 50 boards. Jakub has his up and running. I'll post some vids when I get home early this week.
/Mike

[mikej]

The daughter board is flat. There is a picture of my CPU sitting on the prototype patch card if you scroll down far enough on the website. Jakub has a similar board with ethernet/usb on it which I am working to adapt for the RevB board now.
Best,
Mike

[mikej]

boards #4 and #5 running here. I have the video camera out, but haven't had time yet to film it.

[mikej]

Well, I posted a pic of it running on my website (http://www.fpgaarcade.com)

Attempting to video it, proving tricky.
It's running AGA chipset, 68020 core and workbench 40.42.
It is still outputting standard PAL video at the moment, so it is as flickery as the original...
/MikeJ

[mikej]

I am trying to find a supplier for the ATX panel.
It's a bit complex as the production boards move the DVI connector slightly, you can see the audio connector is at an angle so I can get the DVI to VGA adapter in.
We also have the daughter board, so may add cut-outs for ethernet/usb etc.

So, yes but not just yet.
/M

[mikej]

Amigadave,

Thinking about it I did mail a few people about licenses but didn't get a response. I need to follow up.

The big thing now is the complete re-write of the codebase. Jakub is doing great with the new additions, but I am restructuring and cleaning up all the older code.

There is a risk of the code being re-used, but that's what you get with open source code....

I fully expect to increase the performance of the internal CPU as well.
/Mike

[mikej]

"Does the hardware provide direct access to the digital audio within the audio logic?
Real Amigas have integrated DACs, so there's no way to get digital audio output, but it should be possible to bypass the DACs in FPGA implementations of the platform.

Having digital audio to go along with the digital video signal would be really nice. "

Yes if required. The FPGA can output the signals which would go the DAC as spdif coded, so you just need to buffer an IO pin. I was thinking of adding a connector for this on the daughter board.
MikeJ

[mikej]

http://www.fpgaarcade.com/common/fpgaarcade_replay_b01_dimensions.pdf

I have provided complete placement data for interested people as well. As the production board moves the SD connector a little I would wait a bit longer ...

Loads of DVI + audio to HDMI combiner boxes out there :
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-SPDIF-Toslink-Converter-Adapter/dp/B0015YYOQQ

Personally, I just use a DVI to HDMI cable (same protocol) and wire the audio with a 3.5mm jack to RCA into the TV.

I should be getting more boards finished, but I'm busy watching loads of old amiga demos on the big plasma ....
/Mike