Why no FPGA accelerator cards?

[fishy_fiz]

Something I've always wanted, but never really expected to get, is an accelerator card with some sort of rtg gfx solution onboard in addition to a cpu. Wouldnt need to be anything too fancy, even just 2d would do. Still unlikely to happen, but I guess with the popularity of fpga stuff these days it doesnt seem as impossible as it once did.

[fishy_fiz]

I think the big problem with building a powerful (I.e. Not a real 68k based) accelerator for a real Amiga is that (for example), if you pit an FPGA card in the trapdoor... You could add fast CPU, better gfx, better audio... Perhaps some USB ports, a nice fast mass storage device... Then you wonder why you have the original Amiga in the first place

I've heard this mentioned before and while it's valid from one perspective, another side of the coin is that I'd simpley like to be able to continue using the amiga as I always have, and that includes the software I like, a lot of which is reliant on the custom chipsets. If that means Im effectively running a new machine with an a1200 motherboard (or whatever) attached for backwards compatibility then Im still happy.

Well, hypothetically anyway as Im running amithlon at the moment and have no classic gear.

[fishy_fiz]

Its not always about money though. Even smart people have hobbies.

[fishy_fiz]

It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to keep using old 3.5 MHz graphics chips when SuperAGA is slated to run quite a bit faster.  The basic idea is that replacing the entire motherboard with an FPGA-based board would be more practical and cost effective than replacing only the CPU.

It will take some time before we get to that stage but things are looking toward the full motherboard replacement avenue and will be the most practical at least for the NatAmi MX board.

One could also argue that it doesnt make sense to use super aga when there's a plethora of faster options available for less money too. Simple fact is ocs/ecs/aga have been around for a long time and there's a lot of software for them that people want to use (as do some rtg standards). I understand the want for super aga, and I find it potentially interesting as well, but ocs/ecs/aga/rtg are more useful for now.