FPGA Replay Board

[mikej]

Does this mean I have to throw away my PS/2 ports to get USB? :huh:

PS/2 is way better.  No way am I getting rid of them.  All my stuff is PS/2 and PS/2 is better for mouse and keyboard (which are required).  USB is only better for nonrequired type things like my external 2TB drives and cameras and mp3 players and things.

Anyway I would rather have both PS/2 and USB.

Ae the PS/2 ports real PS/2 ports?  Like the ones on my Core i5 box?

@Platon42
Does this mean FPGA Arcade will gain some superduper awesome USB support in the near future? :hammer:

Hi.
No problem, let me explain.
I prefer PS/2 for mouse/keyboard and this is the default build option.

For people who want to put it in the case, or want USB mouse/keyboard this is an option to replace the PS/2 with USB.

These USB ports are directly controlled by the FPGA and appear as native Amiga mouse + keyboard.

The daughterboard has a real USB chip and already works with the Poseidon stack.

So you can choose...

Note, the main board also has two 9 pin inputs which accept real amiga/atari mice as well as joysticks.

/MikeJ

[mikej]

@mikej: Hum... sorry to keep asking but, wasn't a new core supposed to be released by now?
What's holding it back? I'm not in a hurry or anything, but I thought it was imminent two weeks ago.
Just out of curiosity, I'd like to read about the technical difficulties you may be finding.

No technical problems.  I wanted to make sure I had a viable USB solution before building new boards. Changing the main PCB and assembly would be expensive at this stage. It's taken a little while to get the USB CPU up and running and design the PCB.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

^ This. Or any kind of big box Amiga keyboards via some adepter.

I don't see any reason why the FPGA code could not be adapted - actually it's a tiny soft-core microcontroller doing the hard work.

If you use a PS2 to din adapter for the Amiga keyboards, are the clock/data pins in the same place? If so, we can do it.
/Mike

[mikej]

The A4000 keyboard pinout, A3000/A2000 keyboard with adapter and PS/2 keyboard pinout are identical. Data on pin 1, clock on pin 5.

I presume only the protocol is different.

Thanks Alex.
Should be easy then. I'll ask around the Amiga users here in Stockholm and see if I can borrow one to play with.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

MikeJ can I ask you where am I in the queue please - I have been in it for more than a year I think. Name is "Conrad F." (nostromo/everblue) - have tried sending you email and private message but didn't get a reply. Thanks!

Hi,
I don't often check the PMs but I do respond to all email.
There was a bit of a forwarding problem recently.
There's a couple of you here on Amiga.org who mail me regularly. I am hoping to get the current stock out to you guys shortly. Please keep being patient!
More are on the way.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

use
mikej at fpgaarcade dot com

I'm changing the forwarding settings, I've been having some email issues.
I take paypal and I'm in talk in with several distributors.
I still have the list...
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Can I get an FPGA Replay card with 060 card?
What are my options with 060 card?
Can I get one with an MMU?  How many Mhz?  How many $$$?

I have just answered a whole load of emails - if I have missed anybody I am sorry.
I am keeping a careful log of every order request.

The 060 card has completed layout but I am holding manufacture until the main board is rolling. They are finally kitting for production now, although some chips have not arrived at the factory yet.

I am having some problems sourcing decent 68060 chips of the last mask set, but you can fit your own processor if you have one.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

If you are part of the team for FPGAReplay is it possible...in the new version you can at least give the user the ability to use real storage media such as HD, Disk Drive, Optical Media, etc? Please, can you consider it in the future? Can you turn it into a desktop motherbord with  build in PCI, allow for video card too as well? Can you consider it? Thanks.

Hi.
I got an email with a similar question, but I will answer here as well.

Answer is no, the board is relatively cheap as it is small - it's as small as it can be and fit everything on. It fits on two normal ATX holes quite stably so it will go in an itx/atx etc case.

PCI does not help at all - it would have to be PCI express nowadays which is fairly complex to bridge. The idea is future daughter boards could add more advanced features.

SD cards give you significant storage and emulate hard drives as fast as the original Amiga drives pretty much in transfer rate. You can hook USB devices from the daughter board.

/MikeJ

[mikej]

Correct, the 64MB of mainboard memory assignment can be changed by OSD config. This modifies settings in the FPGA hardware. Changes are updated on reset.

The Amiga core already contains enhanced RTG graphics and 16 bit audio (DAC is 24 bit). ChaosLord is correct in that even a legacy graphics card will offer better 2D performance, but this is something we can maybe address in the FPGA. The DDR2 memory for bursts should outperform old VRAM.

In theory you could have a daughterboard which has a number of PCI sockets directly connected to the main board, although I need to check the IO configuration.  3V3/universal cards only.
The main problem was the drivers, but you could keep the prometheus memory map and use their drivers.
Anyhow, I prefer to enhance the main card and not worry too much about legacy stuff for now.

/MikeJ

[mikej]

Mail me at mikej at fpgaarcade dot com
There is a list. There will be website ordering from my site and I am talking to disties.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Well. AmigaClassicRule's posts are somewhat understandable.
It would be nice if all the important information in this thread would be compressed to the OP.

Furthermore, the FPGA Arcade homepage is severly lacking.

If it wasn't for mikej's (very much overdue) latest post, I'd probably still wait for a reply since the email address I wrote to is, apparently, not valid anymore.

Yes the website is out of date, the new one is under development.

http://fpgaarcade.com/dev/drupal/

but little content yet. I suppose I could work on that, or I could work on getting boards shipped

Blinx123, I do not read this site very much and I respond when I can.
All email is working as far as I know. Mail me again and stick Blinx in the message so I can correlate with the email address.
 
/MikeJ

[mikej]

yes, that's how we test them.
That's not the problem, finding any real ones is
/MikeJ

[mikej]

As an emulation author, using both hardware and software to perform emulations, I can tell you that if the device is not the original then it is being emulated... period.   To emulate is to mimic.  So, an emulator reproduces the original object.  Sheesh, I am not sure why the terminology matters to some.   I am just interested in making some emulators using the FPGA hardware because of the accuracy that is possible.

So, I will ask my original (non-emulated) question again... where can this hardware be purchased along with the 060 add-on?

HI Jim,
Production has started on the next batch although there are still some component sourcing issues.
The website is http://www.fpgaarcade.com

You can mail me at the address on the site to discuss.
Cheers,
Mike

[mikej]

Certainly won't make any money on it, but that's not the aim. I would like to recover my costs, which are over 10K usd so far...

Good news is I have got somebody to source all the components for me, it was taking too much time. They have tracked down nearly everything now - and we can order more at any point.

The PCBs have been produced and the assembly plant have completed the programming and are just waiting for the rest of the bits.

I have finished the PCB design and software for the USB adapter (which sits in place of the PS2 connectors). This works nicely with mouse and keyboard, and also through hub.

I am busy testing the new OSD and ARM firmware at the moment.
Best,
MikeJ

[mikej]

I got a bit of a bonus with work in December which means I can build the next 100 boards - I already had a lot of the parts and the sourcing company has got a complete kit now.
The PCBs are being manufactured now, so I should see these boards back for test in around three weeks. The money I get back from these will build the next batch etc.
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Yes they do, just not releasable yet. I've had the ST/BBC B and most of the arcade games running on it. The ARM software is completely re-written now.

1000 is still small numbers, Xilinx etc will not deal with you directly unless you are much bigger than that.
/MikeJ