One off source for Minimig FPGA

[wolfchild]

Around 8 months ago, as soon as Minimig PCBs were made available on Ebay, I made a big order from Digikey and bought the parts to assemble my own.

It took all of a week's lunch-breaks to assemble the unit's SMD parts, except for one thing - the FPGA.  In a fit of 'I know better' stupidity I ordered the wrong FPGA, and the project has been shelved for the last 8 months.

Does anyone know of a supplier for one-off XC3S400E-PQ208 FPGA's and without M.O.Q. restrictions?  Preferably in Europe as I don't want to pay some EUR30 in import taxes again.

I also have similar problems with the SD-card socket.  Farnell have an M.O.Q. policy that makes buying the socked a ridiculously expensive affair.

Thanks in advance!
Edwin

[wolfchild]

Thanks for the info!  We seem to be exactly in the same situation with project progress...

I looked closely at the SD card socket supplied with the kit, but in the photo is looks different from what Dennis used for Minimig.  The original part for the Minimig has the solder connections hidden somewhere in the middle of the socket, whereas the one from your link has the connections at the back.  Did it fit OK for you?

[wolfchild]

Why build a minimig when you can buy one from AmigaKit & other places?

Because if I had bought the right FPGA, I would have been amongst the very first to have a completed minimig!

Is it cheaper, or is it just for fun?

Cheaper it surely is not!  I've already paid too much import taxes and shipping and processing fees, but it's kind of cool having a 100% DIY Amiga :-)

[wolfchild]

Oh well, all attempts to get an FPGA from other sources proved to be complicated and led to nowhere.  I've given up the hunt and ordered almost everything from Digikey.

Now I have to source the Minimig's peculiar SD card connector.  Luckily I just found that Farnell has a local distributor here.  Well worth giving them a try...

Mmm, now I just need to buy me a new soldering iron, some lead-free solder and get it all done and assembled :-D

[wolfchild]

@skurk

..and, as it turns out, it didn't fit. But it did provide me with the pushbuttons, power connector and joystick port. And a helluva experimenter board to play with later

I thought so...  the particular SD card connector used in the Minimig seems to have no compatible alternative.  The kit is nice though.  I'd been eyeing something like it for quite some time as a tinkering toy.

@weirdami

Is that Maltish?

It is, as alexh pointed out, Maltese.  There's only two of us on this board who can communicate in it, apparently.
 
It's a pity, because at its peak, Amigas used to sell like hotcakes in Malta for Chrismas season, and the majority of my schoolmates had an Amiga at home.  I reckon that most never used the Amiga for anything but games... and have now moved on.