WTB: ARM controller for minimig

[Darrin]

Can someone remind me of exactly what the Arm board for the MiniMig gives you above and beyond the regular PIC controller?

If I install 4mb of RAM on my MiniMig v1.1 project (I bought a bare pcb and all the parts) and use the PIC controller instead of trying to find an Arm board for it, what will I be losing?

The ARM controller will allow you to use large HDF files at normal hard drive speeds (The PIC alone struggles with large HDF files - the larger the HDF the slower the response... and I mean a BIG difference here when you're using HDF files in the Gigabyte range).

Also, upgrading the ARM simply means putting the updated file on the SD card and using the onscrean menu to reflash the ARM.  No buggering around with TinyBootloader and serial cables.

[Darrin]

The ARM controller only speeds up disk access.

The latest 4MB firmware does everything the ARM can except access to the SD card Hard Disk File is slower.

We asked the original creator of the ARM controller if we could manufacture them for sale in our webstore, but unfortunately had no reply.

Keep at him.  I know a lot of people keep asking about them and IMHO they're worth the money.

[Darrin]

@darrin: Hello again friend! Who exactly is the "him" in the "keep at him" phrase? Who makes it? Supports it? Created it? A user here? email addr?

Hey mate

Actually it is 2 people.

The ARM controller was designed by Jakub who is the same chap who is designing the daughterboard for the FPGA Aracde.  He made the sources for the ARM board "open" and then Farenheit made a little production run of them (not sure how many or what they cost as I got my prototype from Jakub back when it was being tested).

[Darrin]

As a customer how has purchased a good amount of Amiga equipment from you over the years including 2 Minimig's 1 with 2MB and a second with 4MB plus my sam440ep and a good amount of other toys for my A1200's I would like to say thanks for always providing a first class service. :-)

At some point in the future I would love to purchase a second arm controller for my original Minimig from you if you secure the rights to manufacture and sell them, as I expect it will be a few years before the FPGA Arcade reaches the same level of compatibility and maturity that the minimig v1.1 has currently and even at that stage the current Minimig's I own will run A500 games every bit as well as they do now so I expect to get as many more years of fun out of them.

Seconded.

Even with my FPGA Arcade, I don't think I could ever part with my Minimig.

If it ever does end up on eBay though it will be a nice buy:  4MB, ARM, built into a black PS2 keyboard.