Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: marauderII on October 11, 2007, 05:05:45 AM
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I'm trying to justify spending time and Money for a minimig.
Whats the pros and cons? A used xbox with controllers can be had for $50. Usb for keyboard and mouse. Perfect Emulated amiga 500 computer. What can the minimig do that UAE on xbox or psp cant?
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Fit in an old portable DVD player that you got off eBay for $10 coz the drive is busted. :-D handheld/subnote amiga.
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Will the Minimig do NTSC?
I'm not trying to put it down. I'm greatful at the time and effort that has been put into creating the minimig. I just cant see spending +/- $200us and countless hours trying to find someone that does surface mount soldering.
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In my HUMBLE opinion...
A modded XBOX is unbeatable and it's an apples to oranges comparison. (the emulation is not perfect by the way)
Go buy your XBOX, mod it and have fun... It's a blast, media center is stunning...
From what I've read about Dennis great labor...
Mini-MIG is more about getting away from dependency on aging hardware, not just emulation. This product paves the way for complete hardware/ IP independent *LEGAL* Retro gaming platform due to the FPGA. This is more of a Hobbyist type device.
Mini-MIG is a specialty machine with the OCS running synthesized on hardware conected to an LCD TV. Not emulation hosted in an "active" Windows or MAC environment. IT's more of a "passive" sigle task type device, you turn it on and play games.
It's more of an experiemental unit to get the community going on future revisions.... It doesn't want to be the end all do all media center, web browser, thingy that will change the world...
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We're trying to structure it so we can do limited numbers of fully assembled debugged units without breaking the $200 mark.
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I totally agree with Crom00: a modded (especially a softmodded) XBOX is great and the Media Center is IMHO a killer application. Not the same thing as the Minimig though...
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marauderII wrote:
Xbox. Perfect Emulated amiga 500 computer.
Perfect, I dont think so. WinUAEx is very very old version of WinUAE, and quite buggy. It had to be, the latest WinUAE source was too slow on an xbox. Still good though.
What can the minimig do that UAE on xbox or psp cant?
MiniMig vs Xbox : More accurate emulation, non interlaced pictures.
MiniMig vs PSP : More accurate emulation, run at full speed, decent sound.
To be honest, if you're asking these questions, you should NOT invest in a MiniMig.
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Not only that Alexh.. but WinuaeX has ceased being updated.
So lets look at it again, it uses a *VERY* old version of the Winuae core and it is not being worked on any more.
Not only that but the 68000 has to be emulated on the Xbox, Minimig is using *REAL* 68000 opcodes. Thats a speed boost RIGHT THERE.
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whiteb wrote:
Not only that Alexh.. but WinuaeX has ceased being updated.
Development hasnt ceased completely. It's just it cannot be updated any further. The next WinUAE core update above the one WinUAEx uses proved too slow for the 733MHz Celeron at the heart of the xbox. XPort wasn't going to pick through the code to see what emulation improvements effect speed and which dont and try to merge the two. If you wanted to suggest changes with technical feedback I am sure they would be implemented if they didnt take too long.
Not only that but the 68000 has to be emulated on the Xbox, Minimig is using *REAL* 68000 opcodes. Thats a speed boost RIGHT THERE.
Erm... WinUAEx is emulation, MiniMig is an FPGA/CPU implementation. You cannot really make a "speed" comparison.
WinUAEx has A1200 AGA support ;-)
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WinUAE 1.4.4 (22.09.2007)
http://www.winuae.net/
Looks like its still very current to me.
I just picked up a used Xbox, I'm looking forward to trying out AmigaSYS 3.
http://amigasys.extra.hu/eng/index.html
Seems like AmigaSYS, for Xbox, will do a fair impersonation of an a1200. Those clever people are still working on a beta test, but I'm sure it will work out well.
The minimig will be a while too, I'm sure lots of people are putting tonnes of effort into it. Minimig will also rock.
New options are appearing on the horizon.
Every body who puts time into these projects has my respect.
My $.02 CAN, heh.
EDIT
Hmm, WinUAEX, not as current?
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thanos wrote:
WinUAE 1.4.4 (22.09.2007)
Looks like its still very current to me.
That's the PC version. WinUAEx v16 is based on 0.9.x I think.
thanos wrote:
I just picked up a used Xbox, I'm looking forward to trying out AmigaSYS 3. http://amigasys.extra.hu/eng/index.html
AmigaSYS 3 is not an emulator. It is just a collection of software and patches (that they didnt write) for the Amiga.
It just so happens you can use it on the Xbox because it has an Amiga emulator WinUAEx.
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Talking of which has anyone got an action replay and a c opy of mechassault/spliter cell/underfire for the xbox they want to sell me please?
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I got one of them green Xbox's maybe I aught to give it a go. Only thing is I am totally new to this and I don't know were I can find a reliable source on the net showing how to do it.
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There a re loads of good sources on how to do this.
Here is one
Click Here (http://www.productwiki.com/microsoft-xbox/article/how-to-go-from-xbox-to-xbox-media-center-in-30-minutes.html)
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JJ wrote:
Talking of which has anyone got an action replay and a c opy of mechassault/spliter cell/underfire for the xbox they want to sell me please?
You dont have to buy anything to softmod. Do a hard drive hot swap.
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I just picked up a used Xbox, I'm looking forward to trying out AmigaSYS 3.
http://amigasys.extra.hu/eng/index.html
Be advised that the Worbench Installs like system 3 really need a graphics card EMU and 030/030 emulation to run smoooth...
On an xbox you'll be waiting for the icons to update quite a bit. AND the hires interlace screen flickers horribly, even on a HDTV screen, haven't figured out how to fix this.
I also have not seen an option for graphics card, flcker free video, on the XBOX version,
Recommend using 16 color WB, not 64 or 256 with copper backgrounds.
All in all the XBOX UAE experience is great, It runs original CD32 games too. The Media Center makes XBOX360 MCE look like a joke. I run the xbox 360 skin in 1080i, really great.
Can't wait to have BOTH on my LCD TV.
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UPDATE:
We are working to get 2 functional units made, after that we have a quote to get 10 test units made up on the same production line that would make MORE Mini-Migs. The cost for such a low run comes out to about +/- $200 per unit plus shipping. These numbers come down with higher volume runs.
SEE THIS THREAD FOR DETAILS:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31555
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You dont have to buy anything to softmod. Do a hard drive hot swap.
I know of this way of doing it. However I bought the Xbox used recently from Gamestation and you get a year warranty with it so I do not wish to open it up at the moment.
The softmod way is reversible and untraceable and I just want to stream media off a network share and play backed up games. When the warranty is up will open it up and put a nice big HDD in.
So does anyone have the mentioned items for sale ?
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Thanks JJ, anything to enhance the Amiga experiance has got to be worth it. :-)
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Okay it seems Thanos has Winuae and WinuaeX mixed up.
Winuae, is the ORIGINAL, and is what is made by Toni Wilen, and is STILL CURRENTLY being updated. Winuae is a WIN32 (WINDOWS Binary) file.
Winuaex is the Xbox version. Toni Wilen *HAS NOTHING* to do with it. Toni Wilen Releases the SOURCE CODE to Winuae.
WinUAEX was made by an Xbox coding group called XPORT.
XPORT no longer updates Winuaex. To compile Xbox Binaries, you need the Microsoft Development kit for Xbox, and that is *VERY* difficult to get hold of.
Xbox (Original) has a 733mhz CPU with 64MB of ram, it does not have the "GRUNT" to decode 720p HDTV. While WinuaeX runs, it *STRUGGLES*. Xbox does not have the system resources to run fantastic resolutions and color modes offered by AmiKit and others. Please prove me wrong.
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by whiteb on 2007/10/11 9:34:55
Okay it seems Thanos has Winuae and WinuaeX mixed up.
Thanks everyone! It was early and I was on my way to work, I should have looked a little deeper.
Coffee 1st, post 2nd...
Having said that, it still looks like I will be able to get something for my efforts.
Lucky I got my Xbox as part of a swap, so I'm not out anything I wasn't ready to give up.
Now I'm sure I will have questions...
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I have modded probably 10+ xbox's over the last couple of years. It has got to be the overall best emulation box (thats what I call it) experience ever. Just about every retro console system ever made at your fingertips and adding a larger hard drive to hold all the games. Its does a great job of emulating the amiga.
I prefer adding the mod chip instead of soft modding. I haven't been in touch with the mod community in a long time. I am sure there are some pretty safe soft mod loaders, but I would imagine that if something went wrong you could brick your xbox.
WOWZER
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I am as we speak in the middle of softmodding my box by hotswapping, will let you know how it turns out
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JJ wrote:
I am as we speak in the middle of softmodding my box by hotswapping, will let you know how it turns out
Good Luck!!!
I got some invites to a private torrent site "bitgamer"
where you can get a lot of the needed modding files. If someone needs them.
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Got all the files I need. And it worked like a charm. Backed up my eprom now and on the weekend will be chucking a 80gig hdd in.
Im so happy :-D
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Just a thought: any mention of Amiga piracy on these forums is always considered a crime. In what way is the Xbox piracy you're talking here about any different?
:roll:
I mean modding an Xbox is illegal, right?
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Im not sure anybody was talking about piracy. We were talking about emulators and modding xbox's. Neither one of which is illegal. What somebody does with a modded xbox or how somebody obtains the roms would be considered illegal.
WOWZER
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I mean modding an Xbox is illegal, right?
M$ would like you to think that buying any computer without a copy of windows should be illegal, because it's an opportunity to pirate it... that will be $200 for your NOS A1200 Amiga Magic Pack and $200 for the Windows Vista license just in case you manage to get it installed inside an emulator....
Conversely, when you have a piece of M$ made hardware, they'd like you to think that running anything other than M$ originated/approved software should be illegal.
Imagine what will happen the day we let them get away with it.... you'll be in a restaurant with a realllll tender steak... you'll inadvertantly cut it with the side of your fork... then the knife manufacturers will sue you for infringement of their monopoly, and the fork manufacturer will sue you for unauthorised use, the meat supplier will sue you for unauthorised method of enjoying the steak, and the restaurant will sue you for illegal activities violating the restaurant terms of service......
Imagine what happens to those guys who see no point in having knives and sharpen the edges of their forks... in secret... at home... when they get reported to the gestapo.
In other words, if you buy a fork you should be quite entitled to use it as a knife, up until you stab anyone with it.
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_yak_ wrote:
Just a thought: any mention of Amiga piracy on these forums is always considered a crime. In what way is the Xbox piracy you're talking here about any different?
:roll:
I mean modding an Xbox is illegal, right?
Actually, there was a court case here in Australia recently where Sony sued an outfit for exactly that because they Modded Xbox's and Playstation. Sony *LOST* the case.
http://www.joystiq.com/2005/10/06/australian-court-mod-chipping-is-legal/
The court ruled that Mod chipping is NOT illegal, (To bypass Region coding) to allow playing of games and movies from outside the specific region.
it is my opinion that Region coding is unfair and illegal, and the court agree's.
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The XBOX Mod chips are not illegal if they ship with legal Linux distributions. They're simply a flash chip with Linux stored on it.
The illegal part is installing a bios like Xectuer bios that uses parts of the MS bios and selling the chip with the hacked HYBRID homebrew/MS bios installed.
It's really bad if you sell super xboxen with 100 xbox games, emulators, roms etc. In that case you're asking for trouble and it's just bad news, there was a big raid this spring/summer in the east coast where many criminals were rounded up.
With all this legal trouble Team Exectuer, a leading mod chip maker is backing away from MOD chips and concentrating on accessories.
Running XBOX media Center and Amiga emualtors with adf's and roms you bought is once thing...
Copying 100's of commercial games and re-selling them is piggish.
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All I have done is copied a differnet dashboard to the HDD of the xbox. There is no illegal sooftware on there. I did not want to do this to play copied games, but so I could use it as a media centre and enable 1080i on the xbox which you can not do with m$ dashboard.
There were no mod chips used. You basically just wait for the microsoft logo to appear and remove the data cable from the HDD and then the drive in unlocked. You connect it to your pc and the use a FATX program to copy stuff to the hdd.
Once this is done you put the drive back in the xbox and switch it off. Hey presto mediacentre xbox. Can even ftp to it now through the network connectio.
If discussing any of this is against the TOS and posting guidlines please feel free to moderate me. I think however that I am on safe ground.
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Modding Xbox's isn't illegal, it's only what you do on it depends weather its legal or not.