Minimig PCB run - interest thread

[maffoo]

I would definitely be interested in a preassembled board. Not too bothered about how the ports connect (soldered on or ribbon cables.)

[maffoo]

basman74 wrote:


If someone is willing to do a 'pilot run' of 100 units (and 100 people commited to purchase :-P ), then I believe this is what it will take to get the process started. This would allow for further 'tweaking' of the design (if necessary) or hacking on 'improvements' etc.

I'll be one of those 100 people, if it goes ahead  :-)

Matthew

[maffoo]

jonssonj wrote:

Is it possible to run kickstart 3.1 rom and OS3.9 on the minimig? Is it possible to change the CPU to a 030 or 040?

I would imagine that Kickstart 3.1 would work, as long as you had the kickstart image. I doubt OS3.9 would work though, doesn't it need at least an 020? Plus AFAIK there's no hard drive support on Minimig yet.

Anyone know if there are plans to add hard disk support? I know there might not be enough pins for an IDE interface (my preferred option, with the low price of Compact Flash cards and adapters) but UAE hardfile support would be much appreciated  :-)

Another thought - if hard disk support was added, could the 68000 be replaced by a 68010? I understand that WHDLoad works better with 68010+.

Matthew

[maffoo]

JimS wrote:

I believe you'll also have to deal with the fact that other 68k family CPUs use 5v I/O while the FPGA uses 3.3V.

Does this mean that 68010 isn't an option? I know things get more complicated with later 68k CPUs but IIRC the 68010 could be used as a drop-in replacement for the 68000 in A500s. If it is possible to use a 68010, would there be any disadvantage? I'm wondering if there would be any value in having the CPU socketed so users could choose between the two CPUs.

As to IDE support... has anyone considered SATA? It needs fewer pins.

I had wondered about SATA, but I thought it might be too complex at this stage.

What I would like to see is USB for keyboard, mouse and joystick, and SATA for storage (although HDF support would be enough for me.) The reason being that PS/2 and IDE are becoming obsolete, it makes more sense to me to make it compatible with the most up-to-date technology.

Matthew

[maffoo]

freqmax wrote:
How is software compability for running with a 68020, 68040 or 68060 instead of 68000 ..?  esp for games.
If there's any minor incompabilities is it realistic to let the fpga hide those from the software. As the FPGA sits in between the cpu and ram ..?

It would probably be easier to implement some sort of hard drive/file support and run the games through WHDLoad.