OK... why no new 68K boards?

[Darrin]

Belial6 wrote:
You can argue that they are not 'good enough' accelerators, but that doesn't change the fact that they are A500s that can be boosted above the standard speed.  You have to start somewhere.  No doubt that as improvements happen, and new FPGAs come out, speed will increase, and someone will add 020 instructions, and the fact that they cost more doesn't change the fact that they are being produced.

So, maybe the original question should be refined to... Why no 68k boards that are faster and cheaper than used ones?  Personally, if I had the know how to make a new accelerator board today, I wouldn't bother.  Hardware wise, Dennis and the other MiniMig developers have freed us from AInc. and 20 year old hardware.  That is the direction I expect to see push us past current Amiga speeds.

Exactly.  The Minimig and the C-One are new hardware, even if they do cost more than a dirty, 2nd hand A1200.

While we don't have a 68020 or better, the Minimig's 28MHz 68000 adds a bit of oomph when playing Gunship or Wing Commander.  The C-One is also the prototype for the Clone-A so another offering is in the wings (when it's ready).

Now, if we could just get AmigaOS/Workbench/Kickstart replaced with an opens source version, the reigns would be off and we could run.

Freeing Kickstart from Amiga Inc, or at least having them sell Kickstart images on their online shop would be nice.  Copies of Workbench can still be bought "new" or copied from old Amigas for those who need them.

The Minimig v1.1 is now in a state to be manufactured in bulk for Christmas as a retrogaming beauty.  Why Amiga Inc don't put together a package:

Minimig v1.1 with latest PIC flash & PSU
Screwed to the bottom of a PS2 PC Keyboard
PS2 Mouse
SD Card pre-loaded with core and Kickstart 1.3
a selection of pre-loaded ADF games (and more to buy and download from their shop)

and

Jakub's ARM board with:
SD Card pre-loaded with with core, Kickstart 3.1 and Workbench 3.1 (plus a configured WHDload)

Well, that's what I would do if I had a serious interest in running a company and making some money.

[Darrin]

bloodline wrote:
I'll let you all into a little secret...

Run UAE on one of these:

Check out what you get... it will squeeze happily into an old Miggy case and give you EVERYTHING you could possibly want...

... except real joystick ports and the "feel" of a genuine Miggy running old games.

[Darrin]

bloodline wrote:
The Board comes with a Mini-PCI slot... Who doesn't one of the FPGA hackers here, build a breakout board with the Joystick ports... perhaps an RGB port... maybe even an Amiga floppy connector! the point is why not use a nice piece of high powered commodity hardware to do the boring stuff, and then use simpler hardware to do the exotic stuff...

Just looking around... the Pico-ITX boards are an even better fit!!!

As for feel... If you hid the host OS (Linux or Windows), you would never know you were running an Emulation! Until of course you brought up the config menu to run software than needs a specific hardware config... something real hardware simply can't do!

So, like I said, it doesn't do everything I want.  ;-)

Yes, a breakout board like you describe would be nice, so why hasn't anyone done it?

I use WinUAE and while it is very good, it still doesn't feel right.  Fiddling with the setting tabs, waiting for the S to boot and then running UAE... it's just not the same.  Close, but not the same.  I'd rather use my A4000 and Minimig.

[Darrin]

@ Dandy

What a great idea you had there.  I bet your dad will love it.  Thanks for sharing that story.