Buying a Minimig from AmigaKit!

[Darrin]

I bought mine when they first came out (manufactured) from ACube and it is still going strong.

Here is some important advice:  BUY THE 4MB MODEL.

The extra RAM comes in very handy, especially if you want to run WHDLoad game packs from Workbench.  If you just want to run basic floppy disk games though then the basic board will be OK.

However, unless you have spare cash, you might want to wait a little longer and get a FPGA Arcade instead which has more RAM, a better (emulated) CPU, faster speeds and... AGA!

The Minimig from Amigakit is going to be a little cheaper though:

$177 (basic board)
$227 (with extra RAM)

The FPGA Aracde will be around EUR200 or $290 minimum when produced in bulk.

Both will need power supplies, SD Card, mouse, keyboard and don't forget to add shipping costs.

[Darrin]

Here's my Minimig running ClassicWorkbench 3.x:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/darrin01311/SDC10114.jpg

Here's how I installed it into a PS2 keyboard:


Here's another shot of it running Defender of the Crown on a more sensible monitor:

[Darrin]

Cool! - I'm getting one for sure! - How does one get WB to load off an sd card on the Minimig? - Is it just with the ADF? Can anyone explain it?

You can either just mount ADF images of workbench disks and boot from a Hard File.

A Hard File acts just like a regular hard drive (and you can create one using UAE and copy it to a SD Card).  Once you have your bootable Hard File on the SD Card you can partition and mount it using your Workbench floppies just like normal and install your Workbench to it.

There is also a 1GB Hard File image floating around on the net which contains a ClassicWorkbench ECS install (looking remarkably similar to mine) complete with a functioning WHDLoad setup and included games to test.  Just copy that file onto your SD Card along with teh latest cores, set the Minimig to boot from the Hard File and off you go.  

I use a 2GB SD Card on my system containing:
1GB ClassicWorkbench 3.x Hard File
20MB Workbench 3.1 Hard File
Kickstart 3.1 ROM
Kickstart 1.3 ROM
folder containing lots and lots of ADF images.
Latest Minimig core file.

[Darrin]

I consider buying C-One with minimig extender module. Is it better choice than the Minimig, because of the extra computers in the C-One - Commodore, Amstrad, Amiga?
Or better buy ChameLEON for my C64 and forget about the Minimig and C-One?

I have a C-One too.  The experience of the Minimig cores was... interesting.  The last update resulted in a core that had very dodgy joystick detection while the previous version was fine.  Some people could get the Amstrad core to work, others couldn't.  Then the clip holding the RAM in place snapped so that was the end of that.  From the C-One Yahoo group it appears that development has stopped in favour of the Chameleon.

I have a Chameleon and it is currently a work in progress and updates to the core are frequent.

If you want an "Amiga" experience then Minimig is currently the way to go until the FPGA Arcade and Natami are released.

[Darrin]

You're much better off buying a real Amiga A1200 and a TV which can use it.

You'll save lots of money for lots of extra goodies.

MiniMig v1.1 is overly expensive for what it is.
It will never be able to be an A1200 (it is stuck at ECS).
It is not 100% compatible (yet).
It only has 4Mbytes RAM.
Without the ARM module hard disk emulation is not great.

I thought your free Minimig from ACube was unused and on a shelf and, due to your PIC, only flashed to run the original core from around 3 years ago?

The price of the Minimig is just a reflection of the limited production run and the fact that it is NEW and comes with a waranty.  Of course you can save money by looking for an A1200 on eBay and hoping that "as is"="working"...
The A1200 isn't exactly 100% compatible either with older software.  I dare say there are games that the Minimig will run that the A1200 will choke on.
Only 4MB of RAM (which can be user configured between Chip and Fast)?  Compared to the A1200 with only 2MB of Chip RAM?
The Hard Drive emulation without the ARM board seems to be OK with current users.
Now add the following advantages:
68000 running at turbo speeds (currently around 50MHz?)
Minimig uses ADF files rather than 25 year old corrupted floppy disks.
Minimig doesn't have a 25 year old floppy drive with misaligned heads.
Minimig uses a cheap PC keyboard.
Minimig uses a cheap PC mouse.
Minimig has a built in Scan Doubler.

C-One was a great experiment 8 years ago. It is obsolete hardware these days and once again overpriced for it's capabilities.

Yep.  My broken C-One and Extender Card will end up on eBay when I get a chance.

FPGA Arcade looks interesting if it can get enough developers and get the price down.

200 Euros isn't bad for an new AGA Amiga with a turbo 68020ish CPU, lots of RAM, Scan Doubler and a warranty.

[Darrin]

So better go for the ChameLEON? It's cheaper as well. My C64 does not load from tapes for some reason (Cassette drive, Interface, Faulty tapes...). Using Memory cards will bring new life to it. Looks like the C-One is unavailable without Minimig. Looks like the Chameleon can become more than a Commodore expansion some day. ChameMIGY may be?

Yep, definately get a Chameleon rather than a C-One now.

The D64 and T64 support is still being worked on, but I have loaded some D64 and T64 games using the same plug-ins from my old MMC Replay cartridge.

One downside of the Chameleon is that you can't use real cartridges with it, even if you have a multi-cartridge expander.  However, you can load (some/available) cartridge images.

[Darrin]

It still is

I don't know if you missed a reply I made to you in one of the other threads here, but I have a flashable PIC (the one I used before installing my ARM board).  You can have it if you want it.

[Darrin]

Thanks for the input everyone!

My parent's have allowed me to pay less rent this coming month, (I live at home to save money) so I can go ahead and buy the Minimig. I'm gonna order the SD card with it so that I'll have one when it gets here.

Does anyone have a good idea of a case for it? - I'm thinking of making one out of Plexiglass. The actual case that AmigaKit sells for it is out of stock. (And I don't want to spend 50+ for it) Plexiglass at Home Depot is like $10-15 for a small sheet, which makes more sense.

I'm so excited!!!

It is small enough to put in a cigar box.  

[Darrin]

Now that's an interesting idea! - The HEB down the street gives cigar boxes away for free. I used to grab them to store stuff in.

The flip-up lid will be handy to access the mobo for "reflashing" and a few holes cut/drilled will take care of the cables.  Perfect!