FPGAARCADE minimig compatible board, comments?

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:
So, everybody happy with using the VGA/DVI/SCART connector on the main card and only having Composite out on the daughter card ??

Living in SCARTless USA, I'd rather have a composite or S-Video out on the card.  :-)

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:
Yes, this has been pointed out. I ran out of IO space.

The daughter board will have comp/s-video out. I may do a tiny little board which plugs into just the small connector in the bottom middle which has just the comp/s-video connector and coder on it. Thats what the extra hole to the right of the connector is for

That works for me.  :-D

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:

Defender

OK, I'm happy.  Any chance of Pheonix too?  ;-)

[Darrin]

tonyyeb wrote:

General Arcade Machine Emulator (G.A.M.E.)

Amiga Retro System Emulator?  (A.R.S.E.)?

[Darrin]

How about Custom Loadable Arcade/Amiga/Atari/Anything Platform (C.L.A.P)?

You could ahve slogans like:

Have you got The CLAP?  Fancy getting The CLAP?  Get The CLAP and play with your friends!  Give a loved one The CLAP for Christmas!

Can anybody think of some more?  ;-)  :-D

[Darrin]

tonyyeb wrote:

Oh dear... Things have started to go downhill!

I'm available for a job in marketing if anybody wants to hire me.  I'm sure Commodore would have snapped me up!  :-D

[Darrin]

Just look at the Minimig as the original A1000.  I always expected an A2000 or A500 to follow close behind, but without people showing support for the original and being prepared to pay for it then I don't think there would be the same enthusiasm for future models.

I bought my Minimig to see what was possible and I always intended to upgrade to a better design when one became available.  When that happens, I'll pass my Minimig v1.1 onto my kids.

@The Daddy:
This is why I was concerned by the amount of time and money you seemed to be putting into your case design.  To be honest, I could never see you selling more than a couple of cases judging by the costs of your limited production run.  Also, you're too late into the market and most Minimig users will have already put their boards into some sort of case.  Wizard sold his cases because he was ready and waiting for the first production run while I'm afraid you've missed the boat.
If you want to make a case then I'd recommend waiting for the final pre-production GAME/ARSE*/CLAP to be revealed and then jump in quickly and run a batch of 30-50 boards off as quickly as you can and have them ready for the first production orders.

* I'm also going to suggest:

FPGA Entertainment Computer Klassic (F.E.C.K)
Designer Retro Implemented Niche Komputer (D.R.I.N.K)
Grand Interactive Retro Leisure System (G.I.R.L.S)

and we can use father Jack Hacket on the posters:
http://a980.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/00288/97/94/288234979_l.jpg

[Darrin]

TheDaddy wrote:
Well it's too late now to backtrack. There are lots of people out there with a Minimig and no case, hopefully they'll buy it and support another "Amiga" developer.

A lot of people are happy to voice support, but when it comes to actually opening up their wallets then things change quite quickly.

Wizard's case is two pieces of plexiglass/perspex and some spacers and screws for £20 (GBP) circa. I am offering an enclosed solution, sure it will be more expensive but then these are the costs in today's market.

True, but it was "cheap" and did the job, plus it was available at a time when people were ordering the hardware.

I hope you sell what you make, but if I was you then I'd post a final price, shipping costs and then try and get some names first.

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:
Some really good suggestions. I think we want to stay away from certain fruit related products.
/Mike

Bugger!  I just spent the last 24 hours trying to come up with something that spells "pomegranate".  :-(

;-)

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:

Updated layout pictures from the complete board at www.fpgaarcade.com. It's off to manufacture we go ....

Regards,
/Mike

Edit: clicking on the link doesn't seem to work, but then hitting reload does. Odd.

Excellent work/news Mike.

I hope you don't mind if we create a new section over on www.Minimig.net for your board.

Personally, I cant access the page at all from AOL.

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:
Board is complete and initial testing is going well.
Power supplies, FPGA and ARM controller all working ok.
/Mike

Great news.  What sort of transfer speeds are you getting from the hard file, better than on the Minimig v1.1 or the same?

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:

Thanks. Not there yet, I'll keep you posted.

Cheers.  

I was getting between 450-500KB/s with the ARM, mobo mod and the CPU clocked at 28MHz.
Around 340KB/s with the ARM, mobo mod and the CPU clocked at 7MHz.
Around 208KB/s with the ARM, no mod and the CPU clocked at 7MHz.

I like the design of this board and would make a nice addition to my collection.  The kids could have my v1.1.  :-)

[Darrin]

mikej wrote:
The ARM is now booting and mounting the SD card file system. I hope to have some performance numbers soon.
/MikeJ
www.fpgaarcade.com

Great work.  This will be a hell of a board when it's finsihed.  :-)

[Darrin]

You missed the later A2000 off the ECS machines.

[Darrin]

So today I have done the 2MB mod.
My minimig have 2 mb chip and 2MB (minus 512kb kickstart) normal memory.
So I'm ready for the Arm Controller ;-)

any tips?  I still have the chips ready, but I've been working my backside off and haven't got around to trying to solder them on yet.