FPGA Replay Board

[mikej]

It's ok to email, I try to respond to everybody!
There is 50 in this batch. The FPGAs will not be delivered until mid June, so if all goes well I can get the boards built first week in July. It normally just takes a day or two to build.
Best,
MikeJ

[mikej]

@mikej If im on the list for the batch to be completed in July 2011 would i be able to get before for 13th July? since im going on holiday then. If not can I still pay for mine. Then you ship it to me once im back in the uk?

I won't know until the FPGAs have arrived. All I know is late June at the moment.

"1-2 days to build one board?
Manual or machine assembly? "

1-2 days to build all of them. Machine assembly of course, but some final hand assemble of through hole components is required currently.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

The main problem is space actually on the expansion board, the processor is huge!
The second problem is tracking. It may be possible to stick rams on both sides which would double the capacity. I'm just starting to look at this seriously.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

No feature creep on the main board - the B02 board is production ready as far as I can tell. Everything seems to fit and we are processing the manufacturing data.
FPGAs should be delivered next week then we are good to go.

I added some pics on
http://www.fpgaarcade.com

Note I also have the new ATX power control board back as well. The chips to build it with arrive at the weekend.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Hi Mike,

are these the FPGA Arcade boards in China ready to ship or do I have you confused with someone else?  


(Sorry, I couldn't resist)

One day ....

[mikej]

I've just stuck all the connectors on the board, and I'm happy to say the widest DVI cable I have fits nicely now between the audio and SD card (just). Happy days.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Asfair he used a 32 MB chip in an earlier PCB schematic. But technical data has to be compiled from different sources and files. Thus mistakes are easy.
.

The baseboard on all revisions has always had a 64MByte chip. I made a mistake on the comment on the schematic originally and labled it as a 32M chip.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

soon.
I'm waiting for the FPGAs to be delivered - should be this week.
I am still checking stock, but I believe I have everything else in place and am starting to kit for production of the 44 production pre-run.
If all goes well, these should be with me mid July, and they can be shipped out immediately.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

you forgot the 4th way mikej's atx pcb adapter

The ATX adapter still connect to the 4 way molex (hard drive connector) - the other end connects to the 20 pin ATX supply.
The adapter boards main job is allow you to turn the PSU on and off with the push button.


The boards come fully assembled to me, the same machine fits all components - including the BGA.

I'm in discussions to build 500 after the next 44, this will happen as soon as the 44 are shifted out and appear to be completely stable.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

I'm about to head off to Glastonbury music festival, so I'll be out of email contact for a week.
Cheers!
MikeJ

[mikej]

MikeJ, Isn't 500 boards a huge economical risk? The first 100 boards should be no problem. But 500..

If you are going to do something, might as well do it properly!
Volume is the only way to get the price.
Lets see how we go.

[mikej]

We'll, i'm just back from Glastonbury. Amazing as always,

I'm still working through a backlog of emails, but I built an atx power controller board to test it and boxed up my Replay board so it is more mobile. You can see at :

http://www.fpgaarcade.com

No firm dates on production yet, still waiting for FPGAs.

/MikeJ

p.s. some good random festival pics can be found here :

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=136701&st=1360

[mikej]

The Replay board currently works a little differently to the minimig boot.
The board boots up an FPGA image which displays a boot menu, which lets you scroll through directories to chose a platform. (Actually, the boot platform is just the one it files in the \replay directory - it could be any core)

Each directory can contain a .ini file which sets up video standards, clocks and other core specific options (these also appear as on screen selections)
The ini file also gives a list of files to load into DRAM at specific addresses (think ROMs here).
Finally, the ini file also can select default image files to mount as floppy/hard disk images. The ini file can of course be easily edited by sticking the SD card in a PC.

This is all driven by the ARM controller. I am still developing this code, I'm not quite there at the moment, but close.

sorry a bit brief, on holiday at the moment so using the 'phone.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

@mikej, Still waiting for those pesky FPGA chips?

Sadly yes

[mikej]

Xilinx always ship through distributors (unless you want 100K sort of quantities).

You get a lead time when you place the order, sometimes they can pull it in. I know there is high demand at the moment so with the volumes I need I get what they give me !
Cheers,
Mike

[mikej]

Good news, a big box of FPGAs has just landed on my desk!