MIST - Atari ST / Amiga fpga CLONE

[ferrellsl]

Looks like a nice system.  Definitely better than a Minimig and better in some ways than MikeJ's fpga Replay board.  It sort of fits in between the Minimig at the bottom and Mike's board at the top in terms of capabilities and options.  Anybody have one yet who cares to comment about it?  I'd like to hear more before I buy this board or MikeJ's board.

Check it out here: http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=96

[XDelusion]

Curious. Though one thing to note...

 Lotharek doesn't have the best standing on Atariage.org. I've heard some of the electricians over there dog on his work, saying it's a bit on the sloppy and generic side...

....though that was about 3 years ago, maybe his technique has improved since then?

 This does look interesting though, wish it were more high end though. I'd love to have a 200Mhz 680x0

[ferrellsl]

I was impressed by the USB ports on the MIST which aren't present on either the Minimig or the Replay board.  Finding PS2 keyboards and mice isn't as easy these days as one would think.  And unlike the Minimig, the MIST doesn't use a real 68K CPU but a soft-CPU in the fpga that leaves the door open for higher speeds and more varieties of CPUs as well. Thanks for the info about Lotharek.  I hope that in 3 years his skills have improved!

[XDelusion]

The USB is nice!!! I hope someone orders one soon and comes back here with an in depth review.

[mongo]

I was impressed by the USB ports on the MIST which aren't present on either the Minimig or the Replay board.  Finding PS2 keyboards and mice isn't as easy these days as one would think.  And unlike the Minimig, the MIST doesn't use a real 68K CPU but a soft-CPU in the fpga that leaves the door open for higher speeds and more varieties of CPUs as well. Thanks for the info about Lotharek.  I hope that in 3 years his skills have improved!

The Replay has an optional USB port for keyboards and mice.

[Methanoid]

Looks fine but a lack of info about the hardware...

Can it run AGA Minimig or is the FPGA too small/slow? I wonder if Yaqube has been asked?

[ferrellsl]

That's a good question.  Lotharek's page seems to imply that there's up to 14 MB of chip RAM but I'm that sounds a bit odd.  I'm thinking it's actually 16 MB total RAM with 2 MB set aside for chip RAM.  Lotharek mentions that his board is using Minimig cores so it should be able to use the AGA core as long as there's enough room on the fpga.....not sure about that.

Edit----
I checked the Google hosted site for MIST and there's quite a bit more info.  The board maxes out at 16 MB of RAM.  The Minimig core takes up 2 MB so the remainder is used for Amiga FAST RAM and/or chip RAM.  Still not sure if it can use the AGA core.  It probably can but that's assuming you will lose more chip/FAST RAM to hold the larger AGA core.
I would like to see a 32MB or greater board.  I can't imagine that adding additional RAM would increase the overall price by a great deal.

[mongo]

That's a good question.  Lotharek's page seems to imply that there's up to 14 MB of chip RAM but I'm that sounds a bit odd.  I'm thinking it's actually 16 MB total RAM with 2 MB set aside for chip RAM.  Lotharek mentions that his board is using Minimig cores so it should be able to use the AGA core as long as there's enough room on the fpga.....not sure about that.

MIST can't do 24 bit video. If I remember correctly it's limited to 18 bit, so colours would be wrong with AGA.

[psxphill]

the MIST doesn't use a real 68K CPU but a soft-CPU in the fpga that leaves the door open for higher speeds and more varieties of CPUs as well.

At the moment it only supports ~8mhz 68000.
 
mikej's board can use either a soft cpu or a real 68060. The minimig can use a 28mhz 68000.
 
It's entirely possible that this will sit below the minimig in terms of performance, but above it in terms of ram.

[ChaosLord]

I was impressed by the USB ports on the MIST which aren't present on either the Minimig or the Replay board.  Finding PS2 keyboards and mice isn't as easy these days as one would think.

PS/2 keyboards and mice are widely available everywhere for very cheap prices throughout the entire planet except for Africa, certain repressive Islamic countries in the middle east, North Korea, Burma and certain isolated islands out in the ocean.  Which one of those places do you live?

[ChaosLord]

MIST can't do 24 bit video. If I remember correctly it's limited to 18 bit, so colours would be wrong with AGA.

You remember correctly.  On the website it says it is missing MILLIONS of colors.  It only has 18-bit color.  Out of AGA 16.7 million colors it missing 16.5 million of those.  So this board can never emulate AGA.

FPGA Arcade Replay is massively better than Mist.

[psxphill]

Out of AGA 16.7 million colors it missing 16.5 million of those. So this board can never emulate AGA.

It can, but it will either have banding or you'd have to simulate the extra colours with dithering. Not all LCD monitors can output 24bit either. You might struggle to notice.
 
 But yes, if you want all 16.7 million colours then this isn't for you.

[persia]

Best place to find PS2 keyboards are flea markets.

[ferrellsl]

@ ChaosLord

Radwaniyah, Iraq mate.  Care to ship me a few?

[ferrellsl]

@psxphill

If raw horsepower was my only concern I wouldn't even be looking at an fpga Amiga now would I?