FPGA Replay Board

[Darrin]

TANGENT ALERT!

A couple of quick questions:
How long does it take to load a core on fpga devices? Is it an instant thing and is there a limit to the number of times you can write to a device (like flash)?

If I wanted to use a Keyrah interface would the core need to have support built in?

Thanks.

the core loads in the blink of an eye so you won't even have time to read the "credits" before the Amiga boots (abou 2 seconds approx).

Using a keyrah would require USB support.  Stick to a cheap PS2 keyboard.

[Darrin]

I understand.  I have an 8 bit and 16 bit Keyrah for WinUAE use, but while my A2000 and 3000 have original keyboards, I use PS2 PC keyboards on my FPGA Amigas, A4000 and A1200 towers and to be honest, I hardly notice.  plus F12 brings up the OSM and the might keyboards stop at F10.  :-)

[Darrin]

It doesn't completely work yet. When I get back from China at the weekend I'll fix it and let you guys try it.
You just replace a file in the root of the SD card with the new one.
You can rename the old one and swap back whenever you wish.
/MikeJ

Sounds great.  Looking forward to it.

[Darrin]

will this board ever be forsale to the masses seems to be taking ages ,it would have been better if people kept it in the background like natami thingy ,then we wouldnt have to pull our hair out waiting , or is this board just for the elite as usual?

Just what is this "Elite" you talk of?  The phrase you're looking for is "Betatesters".  We're the ones that fork out money (usually more than eventual retail price) to test boards, look for bugs and send it reports to aid development of the final boards.  We're the ones that pay for items in advance that don't actually work as intended and have no guarantee that they ever will (Don't believe me?  I have a CommodoreOne with Amiga card you can buy off me if you like).

We buy these items to help keep the developer's interest going so that everyone will eventually get a chance to buy one.  In the case of the CommodoreOne I mentioned above, that board cost me a nice large 3 figure sum and while it is now dead and buried, it spawned the initial NATAMI development and the Chameleon64, so as far as I'm concerned it was money well spent.

So, who are these "Elite" people you speak of?  What is this "as usual"?

Mike has stated that there are more boards to come and he has constantly delivered on his promises.

[Darrin]

This is a very exciting project and I know I have been waiting with great anticipation.  I have been hounding poor Mikej for months about securing a board that he probably has me on an email block by now.  I do want to thank folks like Yaqube, Darrin, wizard66, amigadave and the many others who have made the financial commitment to get a beta-board and help with fine tuning of the cores and the board in general.  Everyone who is wanting the opportunity to get this board just be patient as many have said to Mike's hard work that he is just one guy doing the job of many.

Firedawg

I'm always happy to support a great project and the FPGA Arcade had me drooling as soon as I heard about it.  As a long time Minimig user, I love the FPGA based machines and they get more use than my real Amigas... however I do treasure my A2000 and A4000.  

[Darrin]

Anyone else thinks that the Arcade FPGA has killed the Minimig completely?

If I had to choose between the two then there is no competition.

What I hope to see is a lot of second hand Minimig v1.1 boards hit the used market so those on a budget who can't justify paying for the FPGA Arcade, Chameleon64 or NATAMI will get a chance to buy one cheap.

Also, if you only want OCS/ECS and to play A500+ games then the Minimig v1.1 is perfect.

Edit:  What Shapeshifter said.  

[Darrin]

I've been waiting forever to get this but may just buy a minimig. I don't think I'll miss aga stuff too much, but thats hard to tell without trying it, and I'm also afraid the minute I buy one something much better will also be available.

The average Amiga enthusiast is always looking to add extra RAM, a faster CPU, a bigger hard drive, etc regardless of what he buys.  

If you can get a Minimig on the cheap then I'd say buy one, but if you can hang on then I'd seriously recommend the FPGA Arcade.  Especially once additional cores are released.

[Darrin]

We're totally on the same page here Darrin It's strange, but the "Next Gen" PowerPC Amigas and OS4.x for some reason just never excited me in the same way the FPGA Replay has.  I think it's because I have always been a "Classic Amiga" fan, and I have never really had much interest or saw much benefit in buying a big, bulky, expensive AmigaNG system just to be able to run a small number of extra apps.  I'd rather see evolution and improvement of the classic, and at a low price.  Replay is much more in the spirit of what I've been looked and waiting for.

It will replace my expired A4000 very nicely, it's modern, it's compact, it's powerful, it's expandable, and it's NOT emulation but "the real thing."

haywirepc, if expandability is important to you, there's no contest between the two; you have to get a Replay.  The MiniMig just isn't designed for expansion. But if the ability to expand isn't important to you, and A500/ECS is enough, then Minimig is perfect, as Darrin said

You're exactly right.  The FPGA Machines "feel" like real Amigas.  The main reason I still use my A2000 and A4000 is simply because of Internet, USB and... RTG!  Once my FPGA allows RTG screenmodes and I have access to USB (and the Internet via a USB ethernet dongle) then I doubt that my trusty A4000 will get much use.

I also love it if I screw up my hard drive installation on my Minimig or FPGA Aracde because it just means copying a backup from my laptop onto the SD Card, as opposed to curing and swearing for several hours as I try and restore the Hard Drive on my "real" Amiga.  

[Darrin]

Once you have the FPGA board one can always write ones own RTG without contributions of others.

I'm an "end user", not a developer.  

[Darrin]

In the past (months ago) I have enquired with MikeJ about the Arcade FPGA but I am not sure I was actually put on a pre-order list. So I messaged him again to make sure that if I am not on the first batch, he puts my name on for the second

Do you guys know if he answers messages? He hasn't answered my last few when I enquired if I was on his list :/

He sometimes takes weeks to reply to me.  He's a busy man.  

[Darrin]

Wow, what a thread I stumbled upon.  Had my share of Amigas - heck, the A1000 is still in the basement, but the A500, A600, A2000, A3000, CDTV and CD32 are all long gone.  This project looks fascinating.  From the layman's POV, can "just anybody" order up and assemble one of these boards into a working Amiga?  What's involved?  Who do I talk to, and is there a ballpark cost estimate for what's needed?  Thanks in advance.

Email/PM "MikeJ" above and he'll add you to the list to receive an assembled board once each batch is completed.

[Darrin]

Thanks for your feedback... I was asking because you know, A1200 + Accelerator + Indivision costs I believe twice the price of an arcade FPGA, if not more.

Just to add to Wizzard's comments, I've been using a Minimig since the aCube boards were available and I've been using the FPGA Arcade for a long time.  I've been using a 68000 version of ClassicWB with no issues (the OS3.9 version of ClassicWB has some problems at the moment which I hope will vanish with the next core update).

Both FPGA solutions run and feel like "real" Amigas.  The only differences are the second or two the core takes to load when you first switch it on and using ADF files instead of floppies, which actually comes as a relief considering the number of floppy disks I now have errors on them.

If you have some spare time on your hands then I also recommend making ADFs of your floppy collection while you wait.  "TSGUI" on Aminet is an excellent program to use for this purpose.

Right now I'm using a 4GB card on each machine.  I have a 2GB Hard File which included WHDLoad and a selection of my favourite games.  The rest of the card is for the core files, ADF images and ROM images.

[Darrin]

Thanks Darrin for your input m8ty ;-)

Welcome as always.  I just hope we get that OS3.9 running smoothly.  Roll on the core update.

Meanwhile, I need to upgrade my Chameleon64 Minimig core.  I brought a IR CDTV remote back from the UK with me (Thanks AmigaKit) so I should be able to play games with a little more ease now.

[Darrin]

Thanks guys for the feedback.

On a sidenote, I made 1 HDF file using WinUAE, and divided it into 2 partitions (500mb for Workbench and 3500mb for WHDLOAD). Every time I format the 3500mb partition I get a "Non Valid DOS disk" error.

I still can view the HDD and everything (says 3500mb free) but I dont want to have a duff partition which is a time bomb

Strange, there shouldn't be a problem creating the two partitions within  the hard file.  Personally, I just stick to 1 partition and I have a folder for WHDLoad.

[Darrin]

Is it possible to use a harddrive image with kickstart/Workbench 1.3 on an FPGAArcade/minimig?

One of the systems I'm hoping to replace is an A500 with an A590.

Thanks.

Hmmm... never tried myself.  I'll have to give it a try.  It will be WB1.3 running with KS3.1 though.

[Darrin]

@Darrin: How compatible is your Chameleon64 compared to the original Minimig? I've the Chameleon too and I find it's rather incompatible at the moment... Lost Vikings or Ishar won't play (black screens, gurus...) and they are perfect with the Minimig 1.1.
I'm using the exact same HDF I use in the Minimig, just copied it over to the Chameleon.

Sorry for the little offtopic...

Like you, I started testing using the same HDF I use on my Minimig v1.1 and I found that certain games that worked on the v1.1 wouldn't on the Chameleon.  I put this down to either the early version of the Minimig core containing bugs, the soft 68000 containing bugs or a combination of both.  As the Chameleon64 core lacked joystick support I was also forced to test games using the keyboard keypad.  I eventually gave up in frustration.  There is now an updated core available for me to test, plus I have the CDTV controller to use as a joystick so once I have some time I'll start testing again.

I'd like to have the updated FPGA Arcade core first so that I can test games on all 3 FPGA solutions at the same time.

At this moment in time, the Minimig v1.1 is the most stable/compatable solution, probably due to the length of time that has been spent tweaking the core, plus it actually uses a real 68000.