FPGA Replay Board

[AmigaClassicRule]

Frankly speaking there is not much to show right now. Everything has been delayed slightly.
 
I should get the new revision of the board shortly after Mike has verified the design. The daughter board should be ready in January.
 
In the meantime Tobias has managed to implement missing bitfield instructions. It has increased the core size to 75% of the FPGA.
 
We are still working on fixing minor problems. Finally we've got the RNC Copy Lock games to work.

 
If you are part of the team for FPGAReplay is it possible...in the new version you can at least give the user the ability to use real storage media such as HD, Disk Drive, Optical Media, etc? Please, can you consider it in the future? Can you turn it into a desktop motherbord with  build in PCI, allow for video card too as well? Can you consider it? Thanks.

[AmigaClassicRule]

Hi.
I got an email with a similar question, but I will answer here as well.
 
Answer is no, the board is relatively cheap as it is small - it's as small as it can be and fit everything on. It fits on two normal ATX holes quite stably so it will go in an itx/atx etc case.
 
PCI does not help at all - it would have to be PCI express nowadays which is fairly complex to bridge. The idea is future daughter boards could add more advanced features.
 
SD cards give you significant storage and emulate hard drives as fast as the original Amiga drives pretty much in transfer rate. You can hook USB devices from the daughter board.
 
/MikeJ

 
Hey if you are saying that in the future there will be different daughterboards with different settings and upgrades and features and it is up to the user to which board or daughterboard they will buy, pretty much like a LEGO game THEN YOU HAVE ME AS A DEVOTED CUSTOMER all the way.
 
There is one request I would like ask. Can you make a new custom chipset from AGA similiar to what Commodore wanted with AAA? It does not have to be Nvidia quality, but at oleast allow for something like 256 MB of RAM chip RAM, FASTER SPEED AND BANDWIDTH than AGA and still support AGA/ECS/OCS for compatibility reasons, and it also support higher resolution AND IT CAN switch between PAL/NTSC and 31 Khz Monitor setting if the user wants too?
 
I mean if you manage to DO THAT you would have kicked Natami on the butt!! We do need more than 2 MB of CHIP RAM if possible and AGA is too weak to even run DOSBox or intensive media. :mad::rant:
 
Bring the Media back to Amiga is what I say!! :pint::banana::biglaugh:
 
Concerning USB devices, that is exactly what I will do. I will have a phsyical real USB HD and other USB media storage to run all my stuff. The SD cards will be used as a form of storage media and transfer between PC and it.  By the way, any advice of the most COOLEST casing for it that COMES AS CLOSE as possible as to Commodore style casing (unintentionally) that you think will fit well with FPGA Replay Board? Thanks

[AmigaClassicRule]

I think I remember a video of FPGA Arcade doing some 50+ MB of Chip RAM.
It will probably be configurable.

I do not mind it if it is static and not configurable (either) and you have to buy newer motherboard models for a Chip RAM upgrade or better yet, it have a maximum limit say to 32 GB of chip RAM or even 8 GB and you use a normal RAM DDR or whatever as a Chip RAM. Either way it is cool, but software configurable seems to me emulated (* shiver *)

[AmigaClassicRule]

Actually, I would prefer regular PCI . We have existing drivers, there are cheap PCI cards available for less than $10 and it's fast enough without a faster CPU. You get cheap gfx cards with 3D and more memory, SATA and SCSI cards, sound cards, etc. Can you really add features like USB, ethernet, SATA, memory as cheap as they can be added with a PCI bus? I bought a 100mbit ethernet card for $5 a couple of years ago. The only disadvantage is that it would take more space. I would like to have an expandable expansion board for a small tower and a small expansion board for a laptop. I understand the more advanced features later part though .
 
 
 
 
My CSMK3 does 30MB/s sustained DMA HD transfers with very low CPU usage. My Voodoo 4 gfx card gives 3D, very fast 2D (compared to AGA) and extra main memory. The fpga Arcade will be slower and a step down in many ways from what I have. I will still buy one with the expansion board as it has some kool features but PCI opens up many interesting possibilities that you are neglecting to see.

I also believe it is a step down because it still use AGA as the latest custom chipset. We need something AT LEAST like AAA for a starter as a default build in to the motherboard custom chipset, with PCI slots to allow users to upgrade to video cards if they should need better and more powerful graphics ability. Imagine the awesome new games and apps that take advantage of the hardware if we at least add these two features!!!

[AmigaClassicRule]

as much as i would like to see pci or pcie enabled upgrade to (68k) amigas id prefer the fpgaarcade (and the 060 daughterboard) to reach the consumer availability stage first asap, just before it turns into another vapor.
 
can we stop the feature creap demands for now, please?

You are missing the point. We are not demanding them now. We are giving him list of cool features to consider for the future. Right now I would also want it to come with 060 daughterboard and fpgaarcade at this point.
 
However, in the future whatever that be in years, we are simply inputing what we like as a cool feature. It is not like we have a control over what he decides. Also you could have worded your feeling more....say....politically -_-

[AmigaClassicRule]

IIRC the FPGA Arcade Amiga implementation provides a standard SVGA graphics card implementation alongside the AGA implementation, and in addition the AGA implementation is not held back by memory bandwidth issues, and can be clocked faster, and thus you shouldn't compare it with classic AGA. Indeed it can be coded to have a full 32-bit blitter I imagine, and multiple Paula audio blocks for more sound channels.

What you are saying that I could enjoy the pleasures of AGA on a TV without its limitation? That this new AGA is actually a new build in custom chipset not emulated and build from scratch and in fact could be treated as AGA+?

[AmigaClassicRule]

I'm sure that there will be a cycle accurate version, but there is no reason (limits of the FPGA notwithstanding) that the core cannot also be extended to include more features and higher performance - "AGA+" as you mention.
 
I'm not sure how much work has been done in the FPGA Arcade cores along this line, except that there is a Picasso96 compatible basic graphics card implemented alongside the AGA chipset support.

 
Two more questions:
 
1) Can I hook it into my Commodore 1084s/TV?
 
2) Where can I order it, how much it would cost and is it available for sale now, can you direct me to the most sexiest cases for it that come close to Commodore style case if possible that you could recommend?

[AmigaClassicRule]

Some nice details there, thanks yaqube!

Does the RTG implementation have any other acceleration - line draw, block fill, etc (functions within graphics.library would be the best things to accelerate)?

I'll be buying a Replay just because supporting it now makes the likelihood of a Replay 2 in five years time higher. Never mind the chance of updates to the Replay implementing even faster features.

I want one too. where can I order one?

[AmigaClassicRule]

Well, even the ECS in the minimig 1.1 when in turbo mode will outperform AGA in some cases....

Yeah, but still where can I get the board?

[AmigaClassicRule]

Seems AmigaKit have sold out.

If you do find some in stock then make sure you get the 4MB upgrade.  Personally I'd just wait for the FPGA Aracde at this point.

I am not interested in mini mag, I was asking where can I buy the FPGA arcade?

[AmigaClassicRule]

The daughterboard is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO beautiful:
 
http://faranheit.dyndns.org:8080/FPGA%20Arcade/Pictures/060%20Daughter%20Board.gif
 
What are those ports in the daughterboard for? I can hardly wait till I get my hands on one of these babies too

[AmigaClassicRule]

You got mail good sir.

I have emailed too!! I do not care if it cost me 1.5k dollars if this is the setup I am getting. A REAL PHSYCIAL 2.5" HD (even though they recommend SD card), a real physical dvd player (optical media drive), I get to choose the blue and white LED, sexy case like that..all configured and ready for me...then take the 1.5k dollar and give me the entire X500 with FPGA inside it configured and ready!! :laughing::flame::pint::pint:
 
STUPPIDEST question ever...but it means lot for me...does it have the filter LED feature, where it dims and undims based on the audio filter and it flashes when the Amiga crashes like the classic?

[AmigaClassicRule]

If there's a LED output, it's a piece of cake to fix.

What do you mean?

[AmigaClassicRule]

Perhaps someone here could help mikej put the new website up for the fpga arcade. I don't have the knowledge or the time for that matter.
Just a thought.

 
I will but for 50% discount of purchasing the FPGA Board of course :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:

[AmigaClassicRule]

In the other end of Ethernet you can place a terabyte fileserver far away so you don't have to be bothered by it's noise but still can enjoy the file space

 
Uhh, noise is why I seek motor HD instead of slate drive