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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: RedskullDC on August 13, 2009, 01:28:28 PM

Title: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: RedskullDC on August 13, 2009, 01:28:28 PM
Hi All,

Just released, new Altera based FPGA board from TerASIC:

http://de0.terasic.com/

$119.00 plus shipping.

I ordered one to have a tinker with. Should arrive early next week.

With 15,000 logic units, should be possible to shoehorn a version of Minimitg68 into it :)

Cheers,
Red
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: yakumo9275 on August 13, 2009, 04:25:11 PM
looks good but hamstrung by only 1 ps/2 connection. so you need to wire something up on the 40 pin expansion connectors.

4bit per r/g/b channel.. hmmmm
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: JimS on August 13, 2009, 07:17:11 PM
Quote from: yakumo9275;519080
looks good but hamstrung by only 1 ps/2 connection. so you need to wire something up on the 40 pin expansion connectors.

4bit per r/g/b channel.. hmmmm
The specs say thay you can use a splitter on the PS/2 port to connect a keyboard and mouse simultaneously. I've got one of these on my laptop.
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: FrenchShark on August 14, 2009, 05:48:13 AM
Quote from: RedskullDC;519064
Hi All,

Just released, new Altera based FPGA board from TerASIC:

http://de0.terasic.com/

$119.00 plus shipping.

I ordered one to have a tinker with. Should arrive early next week.

With 15,000 logic units, should be possible to shoehorn a version of Minimitg68 into it :)

Cheers,
Red

I prefer my MCC board (http://www.arcaderetrogaming.com/2.html): more RAM (16MB), more flash (16MB too), bigger FPGA and the "retro" interfaces already present : DB9 joystick, PS/2, stereo output (the DE0 does not have one !), buffered triple 4-bit dac, SD-Card with 4-bit SD mode.

Regards,

Frederic
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: mikej on August 15, 2009, 10:26:05 PM
I prefer my Replay board
http://www.fpgaarcade.com

more Ram(32MB) more flash (2G SD card) , really big Xilinx FPGA, 2 x db9, 2 x ps2, high quality DAC, buffered and filtered 3x8 bit DAC, SD card with 4 bit SD mode, expansion connector, ARM7 controller and more importantly a supported Minimig port and several other platforms.

Sorry Frederic, I couldn't resist this :)
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: alexh on August 16, 2009, 12:36:12 AM
Quote from: FrenchShark;519177
I prefer my MCC board
But it is not on sale!?

Quote from: mikej;519364
I prefer my Replay board
Same goes for you too!
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: alexh on August 16, 2009, 12:40:35 AM
Quote from: RedskullDC;519064
http://de0.terasic.com/
"VGA output. Uses a 4-bit resistor-network DAC"

I do hope that is 4-bit per colour component, i.e. 12-bit colour.
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: FrenchShark on August 16, 2009, 01:49:46 AM
Quote from: mikej;519364
I prefer my Replay board
http://www.fpgaarcade.com

more Ram(32MB) more flash (2G SD card) , really big Xilinx FPGA, 2 x db9, 2 x ps2, high quality DAC, buffered and filtered 3x8 bit DAC, SD card with 4 bit SD mode, expansion connector, ARM7 controller and more importantly a supported Minimig port and several other platforms.

Sorry Frederic, I couldn't resist this :)


Of course yours is better. But it is too expensive, my friend :-).
I am looking for something more affordable.
Concerning the RAM, I have option for 16, 32 or 64MB, I also have a 2GB SD Card and I use FatFS with LFN support.
What Spartan3 size do you have ? 3 millions gates ?
The EP3C25 I am using is equivalent to a 1.5 millions gates Spartan.
Right now, I am coding a Minimig AGA in VHDL, most of the Alice chip with an integrated SDRAM controller is done.
Yaqube's code is actually very useful for this porting.

Regards,

Frederic
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: FrenchShark on August 16, 2009, 02:06:31 AM
Quote from: alexh;519369
But it is not on sale!?


Same goes for you too!


It will be for sale soon.
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: yakumo9275 on August 16, 2009, 02:53:30 AM
@alexh, yeah I've looked over the pdf its 4bits per r/g/b.

@Frederic, sounds like you have some nice work in the pipeline :)

@mike, dude I want your board ;) just hope I dont need to extend my mortgage for it...
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: mikej on August 16, 2009, 09:50:57 AM
*alex production run in 2 weeks, you want one?

Price may come down a little with the option of a "lite" board without the large expansion connector, molex power or external input connector.

Frederic, we haven't seen schematics for your board, do you intend to release them?
What about the source code? I assume as you are building on the work of Dennis and Yaqube you will let others do the same?

Anyhow, looks interesting, good luck with it.
Best,
Mike
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: FrenchShark on August 16, 2009, 04:05:48 PM
Quote from: mikej;519415
*alex production run in 2 weeks, you want one?

Price may come down a little with the option of a "lite" board without the large expansion connector, molex power or external input connector.

Frederic, we haven't seen schematics for your board, do you intend to release them?
What about the source code? I assume as you are building on the work of Dennis and Yaqube you will let others do the same?

Anyhow, looks interesting, good luck with it.
Best,
Mike


Our goal is to sell the board at a fraction of the Minimig price.
The price reduction tricks we use are in the schematics. So, I cannot release the schematics yet.
Concerning the source code, it is a 100% rewrite in VHDL. The architecture is different, the bus runs faster and the DMAs are tightly coupled with the SDRAM.
I will release the source code once the board is for sale.

Regards,

Frederic
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: RedskullDC on August 17, 2009, 12:54:02 PM
Hi Alexh, long time no chat..
et al.
Quote from: alexh;519370
"VGA output. Uses a 4-bit resistor-network DAC"

I do hope that is 4-bit per colour component, i.e. 12-bit colour.


Board arrived today (day ahead of schedule actually).

Definitely 4bits per colour, and the PS/2 port supports the Y cable.

No audio output, but will be easy to add via one of the 40pin sockets if necessary.

Board comes with a DVD containing QuartusII V9.0, 4 sample projects with source, datasheets for all components, the control panel application etc.
One of the projects has an SDRAM controller, including source, which may come in handy for Minimig porting. Licence for the SDRAM code says "free to use on Altera designs".

Few pics attached showing the contents of the box, plus size comparison against a DE1 board.
Full size pics (for those who are interested):
http://au.geocities.com/redskulldc/dcp_1275.jpg
http://au.geocities.com/redskulldc/dcp_1278.jpg

Have a weeks holiday coming up soon, may make a nice project :)

Cheers,
Red
Title: Re: New TerASIC DE0 FPGA board - MiniMIGtg68?
Post by: Firedawg on August 21, 2009, 10:01:14 PM
Quote from: RedskullDC;519652
Hi Alexh, long time no chat..
et al.


Board arrived today (day ahead of schedule actually).

Definitely 4bits per colour, and the PS/2 port supports the Y cable.

No audio output, but will be easy to add via one of the 40pin sockets if necessary.

Board comes with a DVD containing QuartusII V9.0, 4 sample projects with source, datasheets for all components, the control panel application etc.
One of the projects has an SDRAM controller, including source, which may come in handy for Minimig porting. Licence for the SDRAM code says "free to use on Altera designs".

Few pics attached showing the contents of the box, plus size comparison against a DE1 board.
Full size pics (for those who are interested):
http://au.geocities.com/redskulldc/dcp_1275.jpg
http://au.geocities.com/redskulldc/dcp_1278.jpg

Have a weeks holiday coming up soon, may make a nice project :)

Cheers,
Red

Hey RedskullDC,

Interesting, but given the comparing specs of the DE1 to the DE0, would it be more prudent to pay a little more for the DE1?  The DE0 is smaller yes, but no audio out, current FPGA, but not much else jumps out at me.

The Dawg