FPGA Replay Board

[Iggy]

Yet another stupid question in reference to this post on another thread.

Hey, I still use the disks to start my A1000.  Main reason is I have so many old games that will not boot under  anything higher than 1.3 (1.2 in several cases!). I need to figure out  how to add the ROM, AND still be able to boot from floppy.

 So some people are booting from floppy anyway to load old revisions for game compatibility.
Willing AROS offer better compatibility, or the ability to boot to a floppy?

[Iggy]

If you were to place such a hypothetical board in the ROM socket, it'd need to implement logic for bank switching. Not impossible, but it'd be messy. E.g. you could have some tiny bootstrap logic copy the initial 512K or 1MB to RAM, and have some logic set up so that attempts to read/write a specific address in the ROM address space trigger a change in additional address lines on your card. But if you want to do that, then you *need* to copy the contents to RAM, as there's no way to make the whole image available at the same time via the ROM socket if it exceeds the size limit.

A device on the Zorro bus, like a Deneb for example, is probably a better option then.

Your last comment is valid, but I like the idea you mentioned in the first paragraph. The delay would be minimal and it would solve the size issue.

[Iggy]

To make your own:
http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/DC-KF500

There were tries in the past from some guys like ROMflash that sadly never made it in the open.
I found that making your own custom kickstart is cool. If you map it via MapROM (like ACA cards) or in FPGA Arcade is better and full of win

Wow, so there are some hackers here (and in the Amiga community).

I'm really impressed with where you guys are going with this and the question becomes - why not?

[Iggy]

The ROM is the first 512K, the EXT is the "extended rom" which is the 2nd 512K.

The CD32 always used 2 roms.

You'll notice in WinUAE you can map a 2nd "extended" rom file.

I didn't know that. Will WinUAE only map a second extended ROM only with 512MB ROMs or will it accept larger ones?

[Iggy]

WinUAE can map Normal + Extended ROMs, or also Large ROMS like 1MB custom ROMS.

For example if you make an 1MB custom kickstart image, you can either map it as Normal and Extended ROM under WinUAE, or Append the Normal+Extended into a big 1MB ROM image and then:
- Mount it in WinUAE as a big Normal ROM
- Kick it via MapROM using an ACA accelerator
- Burn it in an Eprom Programer (after ByteSwaping the image).

Whoa!

[Iggy]

At this point... what kind of stupid question is that?

In defense of Darrin, that is in no way a stupid question. Why trade a know product for a product that is likely to be slower and less reliable (at least initially)/

[Iggy]

More update goodness!

http://www.minimig.net/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=36&start=67

Wow, that is nice! And tiny too!

[Iggy]

It sounds like more gates equals new package.
I was curios if a package with more gates could be soldered in place of the existing at manufacture.

You might want to research BGA packaging before you repeat this again.
This component is soldered to the board.

[Iggy]

Does Mike's board have enough gates to emulate a Sharp X68000?
And what about the '060 daughter board. Would that only work under Amiga emulation or could that be used for X68000 emulation as well?

[Iggy]

PCI-e would be great, but a single lane connection would be a severe bottleneck (so would a PCI connection).
However, a PCI-e X1 or X4 connection could be useful for expansion.

[Iggy]

I can't see a serialized Zorro bus being very useful. I do see the points made in favor of PCI. Radeon 9200 and Voodoo3 cards would work well in that type of slot (and there are drivers for them).
I can't think of any PCI-e cards that have legacy drivers (with good reason as there are no legacy systems with PCI-e expansion).

[Iggy]

I do see your point, but with a totally non-standard bus we'd have to create the cards that use it ourselves.
That's why, after considering it, I opted to agree with the post on PCI expansion. The cards are available and the drivers already exist.

[Iggy]

I don't see what use a computer expansion bus would be for a device primarily made for reproducing arcade games.

That may have been Mike's initial intention, but if your emulating an Amiga an expansion bus would be very useful.

[Iggy]

OK, I'm definitely with you on the Ethernet PHY, but I'm still not convinced about the utility of Zorro bus expansion. I just can't think of any Zorro bus cards that I'd want to use.
Now PCI expansion cards, video, USB, wireless networking, etc.
Even with the added complication, I can see more use for this.

[Iggy]

Yeah I think Fpga Arcade 2 will be something to look forward to. No offence to Natami but they are elitest.

I'd second that. And the Natami is a closed project.
While I look forward to seeing what they introduce, I'm still more likely to support Mike's boards.

[Iggy]

I've no idea what batch my board came from... it has been so long!  It still works though so it was definately made to last.  It hasn't even got a case, it just sits ontop of the desk with cables hanging off it.

Personally, the only computer I have with the case completely closed is a Power mac G4 (and then only because the processor doesn't get cooled unless the case is shut - typical stupid Apple design).