FPGA Replay Board

[psxphill]

Yeah, countries like the UK... (UK VAT has been 20% since 2011)

Oh yeah, forgot about that we'd hiked ours. It's Sweden and Denmark with 25% that you need to watch out for.

[psxphill]

It's far closer to custom chipset than software emulation, if that's what you are asking. The FPGA simulates the hardware of the classic chipset directly (no software running on a generic CPU, but rather the FPGA re-implements the Amiga chipset), however the simulation is not the original hardware exactly (due to no-one having these details, and the gate level deconstruction of the original hardware is not complete yet) so there are going to be a few incompatibilities.
 
There are arguments about the meaning of emulation, simulation, etc, let's not go there again.

It's massively parallel emulation, while in a software emulator like winuae everything is serial.
 
The original question is meaningless in the context of an FPGA because the FPGA is programmable & is designed to be more than just an Amiga. IIRC mikej is more into Atari ST and it's just that others with the prototypes (and have been posting progress) are more Amiga focused.
 
The people writing the Amiga emulation seem to be targeting AGA with extra chip ram so far, but there is no reason it can't be extended beyond that. However any extensions that are made could be added to WinUAE if anyone cared enough.

[psxphill]

I think the lack of demand for SAGA (or whatever advanced AGA people are thinking about) in WinUAE says a lot of the need to do it in the FPGA. By all means give us a mode that make the functionality we already have insanely fast but do we really need new functions?

WinUAE is an emulator of classic amiga systems, so there would be no demand unless there was a system that supported something better than AGA.
 
There is more likely to be demand for PPC/WarpOS/PCI etc.
 

Technically you are getting new functions.
 
1) Insanely fast (new function)
2) More CHIP RAM (new function)

No these aren't new functions. Existing software will just work with these without any changes.
 

Since you already have these two might as well just add the last bit
 
3) Allow support for more than 64 colors per sprite....say 32 bit colors per sprite....like you see in RTG
4) Add 3D support
 
and you have yourself a new spanking SAGA custom chipset.

"might as well" is pushing it, there are many reasons why 3d support won't happen. Lack of space in the FPGA being one of them.
You'll be lucky to get graphics as good as a PS1.

[psxphill]

I'd say it's the opposite, actually: isn't Shapeshifter working with the new core (as seen on youtube), making a 68k mac core unnedeed?

A real 68k mac would be nice though, especially an original one.
 
You can run some ST software on the emulator for the Amiga too, but a real ST personality for the FPGAArcade would still be nice (and I have never owned an ST).

[psxphill]

the three custom chips were supposed to be one chip, but the tech of the day didn't go that far.

I've never seen anything to suggest that it was supposed to be one chip, I was under the impression that they set out from the beginning to make it three.
 
If fitting it all in one chip was possible then the design wouldn't have been as revolutionary as it turned out.

[psxphill]

The "chips" were designed with 74-series chips in the beginning and chipfabs just made it all more cheaper.

I was under the impression they designed the schematic for the custom chips, then made them using 74 series chips.
 
However, whichever way round they did it, the boards were already separated. http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/prototypes/cbm-lorraine-daphne-agnus.jpg
 
http://uber-leet.com/HistoryOfTheAmiga/
 
Amiga 1000 (Lorraine Project) being developed.
 Includes prototypes of
 Agnus (8 breadboards each with 250 chips),
 Denice (Codename: Daphne) and
 Paula (Codename: Portia) co-processors.

[psxphill]

Every time I have order something from the USA I have been hit with both a VAT and Import duty, plus a handling fee. Last time that added up to 40% to the price instead of the 20% VAT I would pay on anything ordered from inside the EU.

 I used to avoid charges by getting them sent to work. The courier decides which parcels get inspected and they never could be bothered if it had a work address.
 
 The reason was it cost them too much money while the driver waited for someone to be found who could pay. Now you get a letter through the post and the parcel doesn't get released until you pay customs & excise direct.