MINIMIG HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY & NEW TURBO MODE!

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I splitted the page into software/sdcard/display sections:
http://www.opencircuits.com/Minimig_compatibility

Otherwise the software list will be seriously cluttered eventually.

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I think it's better to add an entry (as done now) for a new core. And specify if works for it. That way you can figure out if a game works with the preprogrammed core. Or if you need to update it.
Suppose you can't have NTSC with the new core, but want to run a certain game.

Try to avoid the uppercase stuff:
"MINIMIG HARDWARE COMPATABILITY"
vs
"Minimig hardware compatability"

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Actually it's possible to use the spare I/O as 10Base-T ethernet directly by simply wiring it to an existing ethernet port on the PC/switch.
An ethernet controller can then be coded on the FPGA. Aswell as an virtual parallell( or rs232)<->ethernet bridge. Simultainiously with a SANA hw interface.

Iow, it can be done to 99% with some clever coding.
The only culprint is to make the received ethernet signal single ended. And protect the board against reverse currents. Also pay attention to ground loops when no magnetics is used.

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P-p-please skip the Ethernet-over-SPI thing. It's not needed and any solution using this approach will have a severe bottleneck in its path. Add the complexity of getting the ether-spi chip do the right things. And every manufacturer have their own setup..

The FPGA can do all ethernet stuff you can ever dream of. The only reason to use the MCU for ethernet is lack of i/o on the FPGA.

If there's got to be more chips. It's way more useful to have another FPGA + Ethernet_PHY rather than a more complex MCU with a lot of support chips.

Another idea came up.. maybe the NTSC/PAL, 15/31 kHz switches can be made as configuration bits on the SD-flashcard ..?

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Time for writing a more optimized tcp/ip stack...

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"building a receiver board that converts the tcp/ip stream back into IDE and connects to a real hard drive" - It's most likely to be raw layer2 data interpretated directly.

Speaking of memory. The main problem is that the ram is SRAM instead of DRAM which means big chips to high cost.

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DVI/HDMI output next?