FPGA Replay Board

[Darrin]

or possibly WHDLOAD.

and that too

[Darrin]

I've merged in the latest changes (mainly audio fix) and I'll ship a board of to Boing4000 for development.
/MikeJ

Does that mean the rest of us beta board users can expect a new core to play with?  I'm off work in a week and I'll have 7 days off... hint, hint.  

[Darrin]

I really hope so...

Dancing banana time!!!  

[Darrin]

Yes - but removing the PS2 connector is a bit tough. If you have a good soldering iron you can try cutting the connector off then pulling each pin out in turn.
Or, you can return the board to me for this update.
/MikeJ

I might take you up on that later in the year when I go on one of my month-long business trips.

[Darrin]

@ ChaosLord

You hope your what is big enough for her?!

[Darrin]

@ Ral-Clan:

You're getting a little confused with all of the different postings.

The FPGA Arcade works as an AGA Amiga by itself and will have RTG, 64MB RAM, SD card slot (for HDF and ADF files).  The CPU however will be a softcore 68020 running at whatever speed they can squeeze out of it.  It will also be able to boot different cores to turn it into other computers/arcade games.

The daughterboard is for those people who want to "smell the rubber".  It will add an additional 128MB RAM, Ethernet, USB, Micro SD card slot (which will act as another hard drive without using a HDF file) and add a socket where you can use a real 68060 processor (plus some other stuff).

So, think of the bare board as an A1200 on steroids with a faster CPU, extra RAM, scan doubler, RTG and a hard drive.  Then think of the daughter board as a kick-ass trapdoor expansion.

[Darrin]

Ah, thanks Darrin, that clears things up nicely.

I'd be interested in seeing the speed difference between the bare FPGA and one with the daughter board...i.e. AIBB.

Just where are people expected to get the 68060 chips for the daughter board, nowadays?

I guess some people will have broken CPU cards.  Mike is/has tried to source some from China, but they're often not what they appear to be and have fake markings on them.

[Darrin]

Oh Fiddlestix!

How can I play Stunt Car Racer datalinked between 2 machines with an FPGA Arcade?  It needs a compatible serial port.

How can I play any of the great 4 player games?  4 player games require the 4 player adapter which plugs into the Parallel port.

And what's more, where can you find 3 other Amiga users in a small place like Texas!  

[Darrin]

What about when you want to fire up a game and it runs in non double PAL and you're wired up to a monitor that can't take 15kHz?

Nevertheless I'm sure someone will come up with a solution. WHDLoad+Mode Promotion?

Do you have a particular game in mind?  Remember, you have a scan doubler, just not a flicker fixer.

Off the top of my head, the only games I remember playing that made use of a flicker fixer were Sim Ant and SimCity2000.  I think Sim City could use other screen modes, not sure about Sim Ant.

[Darrin]

Hello,

   While a fan of the current board form factor... would you also consider a different layout of the board that contains the current FPGA Arcade and the '060 board?  I for one could definitely live with a larger board.  My thinking is either an ATX size board - or a board that we could fit inside of an existing Amiga case - like an A1200 or A4000.

Thanks!

But you can fit this board inside an A1200 case... along with another 9 or 10 of them at teh same time.  

Any new board would end up taking months (years) of development, so I doubt we're likely to see an "FPGA Arcade 2" any time soon.  I'd rather see resources used in improving this board and developing extra cores than in making another board.

[Darrin]

Question for MikeJ:

Regarding your USB keyboard/mouse modification, would that let someone use an A1200 keyboard on the FPGA Arcade via a KeyRah?

I've got an A1200 case conatining a KeyRah that I've used with WinUAE.  5 Minutes with knife and I could install my FPGA Arcade motherboard in it.

[Darrin]

Why?  I would rather have a single board solution myself.  Keep tacking on other components and it can get a bit kludgey - in my opinion.   Electrically I'm sure there would be more worries about noise and maintaining good contacts.  A re-do of the layout could happen any time - I'm not demanding anything - just a suggestion.  I could add about 15 different little boards to my A1000 too, and instead the GBA1000 is an awesome layout.  And as Darrin just mentioned, some of these would find homes in older existing Amiga cases - or if in ATX layout in any standard PC case.

The problem is that while you and I might like single product solutions, a lot of customers will be looking for the cheapest option.  It is easier to support and sell a single mobo with an optional expansion than 2 different mobos.

Again, I'm happy with the way things currently are - just bringing up some ideas.

Don't worry, I'm not knocking your ideas.  I think it would be great to have replacement motherboard options to put in different Amiga cases to resurrect broken machines.

[Darrin]

I think that's the point that is not clear.  People don't distinguish between the two, they just know it makes their modern monitor work.

Regardless of deinterlacing/flicker-fixing, will it output NTSC/PAL in a way that a modern monitor can display?

Yes, I can confirm that I use my Minimig and FPGA Arcade on the same PC displays via the VGA input.  My monitor of choice is my 1920x1080 Viewsonic VA2223 which will happily do PAL and NTSC modes, my Olevia wisescreen TV and my Panasonic 40" plasma TV.

Do make sure that the monitor you choose will dispaly PAL.  Viewsonic seem to be good about this, but always check the specs before you buy.  CRTs are no problem.

[Darrin]

How do I get on the list for a PS/2 capable version of replay + 060 daughterboard?

No way in hell do I want a version that requires a USB keyboard or USB mouse.  All my equipment is PS/2.  All my KVM switches are PS/2.  All my mice are PS/2.  All my keyboards are PS/2.  PS/2 works on everything in the universe.  USB does not.  No way in hell am I downgrading to USB keyboards or mice.  USB is for cameras and mp3 players and things that get disconnected and reconnected all the time.   For things that plug in and sit there, PS/2 is superior and is interrupt driven and doesn't waste any cpu power.

I'm assuming that will be an option when your board is ready to ship, like the video outputs.

[Darrin]

Wow, u have forgotten more about the Amiga than I have.

OTTOMH some other games that need/benefit from a flickerfixer are:
Total Chaos ECS 2
Total Chaos ECS 3
Total Chaos AGA 4
Total Chaos AGA 5
Total Chaos AGA 6
Total Chaos AGA 7
Robo(warrior?) whatever that robot programming battling game was called.
That German hires interlace Risk game
MechForce
A-Train (and/or some other train games)

If I was to dig thru my software collection I am sure I could find a lot more.

Most games that run in Interlace desperately need more bandwidth which Replay conveniently provides.

Some games have an easy way to select screenmode of DoublePAL or whatever but a lot of games do not.  Those other games need some sort of forced promotion util.  ModePro from Aminet might work for this purpose.

Is now a good time to admit that I've never played Total Chaos.  

The German "Risk" game that I play is called "Amber" and isn't interlaced.  Different game?

I haven't played A-Train or MechForce either.

I get the feeling I've been missing out.  :p

[Darrin]

I can tell you in secret that I'm working on a new board which integrates an FPGA and 060 CPU together with other goodies. It won't be a direct replacement of any existing Amiga mainboard.

You're telling us in secret on a public forum?