On the feasibility of PPC for Minimig/Fpgaarcade etc.

[Iggy]

I believe that there are some FPGAs with embedded PowerPC cores, so you don't need to re-implement them in VHDL. I don't know the price, nor the performance of the cores.

I'd like to know more about that (the above statement).

And to echo what's been said, an FPGA implementation of a PPC core wouldn't be practical as it would be too slow. There is nothing to prevent a PPC add on card for the Natami from being designed though.

[Iggy]

Virtex-5 FXT
I've looked at the price some time ago and they were too expensive at that time. I don't think PPC cores are integrated in the Virtex-6 Xilinx FPGAs anymore.

greets,
Staf.

I'd never noticed that before. An FPGA with up to two 440 cores. Pretty slick.
It would require a LOT of work, but that could be used.

[Iggy]

I'm sure that was once said about 68K or any other CPU softcore at one time.

What would be the point? Why not? For those decrying it as a sane business proposition, that's one thing. But some involved with such things like Minimig are doing it more to learn how and/or have fun than anything else.

There's a slight difference between emulating a 50Mhz processor and a processor like the one I have in my Powermac (which at 1.8Ghz runs 36 times faster).

No current FPGA (or any that's likely to be introduced soon) operates fast enough to emulate processors running at that speed.