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Author Topic: FPGA Replay Board  (Read 832390 times)

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Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2011, 12:42:43 PM »
Compatibility and providing a functional workbench clone in ROM are being worked on. We'll have to wait and see where WorkBook gets to, but it would be nice if it evolved into a simple icon-driven space-efficient desktop file management and application launcher. But it is good to talk about what people would want to see included by default in the ROM, and what extensions (non hacks, we need a proper API to extend the tool) would be desirable - custom menus, launcher-bar, etc.

Hey, maybe we could have a mock-up competition! Mock up your best WorkBook icon/lister/etc window, and WorkBook screen, with an aim on simplicity ('cos of the ROM thing).
« Last Edit: April 04, 2011, 12:44:53 PM by Hattig »
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #15 on: April 04, 2011, 10:31:28 PM »
Quote from: espskog;627911
For file management, I prefer Dopus 4.x.


Yeah, I did too back in the day - nice software.

But it won't fit into the odd spare 30KB on a ROM!
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #16 on: April 20, 2011, 12:43:55 AM »
Quote from: Darrin;632521
I have to ask though, if your running a 680x0 machine then what advantage does AROS give you over Amikit or ClassicWorkbench installation of a "real" workbench?


If you have a Minimig and no legal copy of Kickstart / Workbench to use with it?
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #17 on: September 15, 2011, 10:08:47 PM »
Exciting times Mike. Am looking forward to handing over some money for such a worthy interesting project.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #18 on: October 06, 2011, 04:49:26 PM »
Quote from: mikej;662681
The changes to b02 over b01 have been verified.
You can plug the DVI connector in at the same time as the audio.
The board powers off correctly even when back-powered from the TV.

Audio, DVI, Analog, Composite (with selectable luma trap), SVHS are all performing very well - in fact the analog picture and sound quality are excellent.

Memory testing on-going....
/MikeJ


Excellent news Mike! Can't wait!

Back-powered? Can the TV supply power to the board over HDMI/DVI so we don't need a separate power brick?
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #19 on: December 04, 2011, 12:58:17 PM »
Quote from: Nostromo;670158
Stupid question... what resolution (resolutions?) does this output at using the DVI connector? Will there be an option to have the hardware to say, double the resolution in size (triple?) rather than leave it to the TV to upscale?


I'm sure there will be a de-interlacer for hardware bashing games.

As for the desktop, I would hope that someone would eventually create monitor drivers for the following resolutions to drive the television at its native resolutions:

Widescreen: 1280x720 (720p), 1280x360, 640x360, 640x720
Widescreen: 1366x768 ("HD Ready" television and cheap monitors)
Standard: 800x600 (400x300, etc), 1024x768 (512x384, etc), 1280x960 (640x480, 320x240, etc), 1280x1024 (stupid 5:4 resolution)

I don't know if the hardware would be able to support the following:

Widescreen: 1680x1050, 1680x525, 840x1050, 840x525
Widescreen: 1920x1080, 1920x540, 960x1080, 960x540, (480x270)
Standard: 1920x1200, etc
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #20 on: December 07, 2011, 10:39:23 PM »
Can't wait for one of these to be nestling comfortably at home.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #21 on: December 13, 2011, 04:00:03 PM »
Thanks for the update mike.

If I'm not on the list for the first batch, then please put me on the list for the second batch :-)

Can't wait to see the finished product with a working Amiga @ '030/50 speeds!
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #22 on: December 31, 2011, 06:20:07 PM »
Quote from: Nostromo;673569
Sure why not? :) I want one ;)

By the way, layman question here.

Is the Amiga core for FPGA built around WinUAE or something else?


The FPGAArcade Amiga-core is actually a re-implementation of the classic Amiga hardware, rather than an emulation like WinUAE.

An FPGA is a device that has a large number of components that can 'programmed' to act as transistors or logic gates. Thus it can implement the classic Amiga hardware at a logic level. The FPGA also includes blocks of RAM and other functions (PCI interfaces, USB interfaces, memory interfaces) that are needed in most devices.

Of course, without access to the original Amiga hardware designs, the implementation is based upon the available documentation and reverse engineering. That often involves re-implementing the original hardware bugs!
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #23 on: February 04, 2012, 05:44:23 PM »
Google+ is the current choice for people wanting to turn themselves into products for online social corporations to sell to advertisers.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #24 on: June 17, 2012, 10:35:18 PM »
The only people to blame for pessimism about Natami are the guys creating the Natami, that have been talking it up for quite a long time. Now the hardware guy just wants to do it all himself as some sort of personal achievement thing... I have very little optimism that it will ever see the light of day in any form close to some of the stuff written on the Natami website. However the hardware did get to a second-board design, so hopefully there is some momentum there to get it completed - probably a long time after the FPGAArcade comes out.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #25 on: June 19, 2012, 11:08:59 AM »
Good luck SamuraiCrow :-)

I certainly hope that all the FPGA Amigas can implement basic new features in a compatible manner, e.g., chunky graphics modes, 8/16/n channel audio, 24-bit audio, 96kHz audio, 32-bit/64-bit blitter, etc.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #26 on: July 09, 2012, 10:57:26 AM »
Quote from: ravard;699504
Awesome news. This is going to be a fun project!


Yeah, I can't wait! Not least because DPaint is still 50x better than GrafX2.

Btw, what's the best classic development toolset these days (besides assembly, I don't quite have the time to go to that level)? I'm thinking C with some Amiga-specific libraries to take advantage of the custom hardware...
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #27 on: July 09, 2012, 05:24:54 PM »
Quote from: billt;699546
You'd have to test to compare to see which is "better". but I'd be surprised if you could afford a commercial core, let alone figure out how to be allowed to put it into a GPL project.

http://www.digitalcoredesign.com/ipcore/101/d68000/#info

There's other cores out there to play with as well. I suggest trying the one in the Suska atari project. It's free and GPL like Minimig is.


They've said they've tested the core in an A500 ... so would it be possible for them or somebody else to take that core and put it on a suitable FPGA that is mounted onto a PCB that itself can be mounted into the 68000 socket? (A600 is a bit more complex)

Bam! Super-fast 68000 ... still, it's not as interesting as a 68020, but I guess they're working on that as well.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #28 on: August 20, 2012, 06:50:13 PM »
I don't think I'd survive the stress of a self-build!

Can't wait for the FPGA Arcade though, glad to hear that things are moving along.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #29 from previous page: August 22, 2012, 10:27:08 AM »
Quote from: AJCopland;704581
Ah ha! That'd be the 4 bottles of Leffe and 1 pint of Cider effecting my judgement then. Possibly a good time to bow out of further posting before I'm too pissed to spell ;)


Not the 750ml bottles of Leffe I hope! :-)