Why the interest in the MiniMIG?

[Steril707]

I guess this has been asked a couple of times before, but reading some threads about the MiniMIG i am not much wiser.

Wouldn't it been less of a hassle just buying a plain old Amiga 500 (if you don't already have one anyway), instead of a new MiniMIG?

Am i missing something here?

[motorollin]

MiniMig is brand new so is less likely to fail than old equipment.
MiniMig is smaller than an A500 so can be more easily fitted in to your house.
MiniMig uses disk images on SD card, so no need for stacks of floppies.
MiniMig can be built in to any case you want.
MiniMig supports VGA monitors directly without the need for expensive scandoublers.

Anything else? ;-)

--
moto

[sdyates]

Minimig would be the first Amiga "computer" released in years. It is the only one that looks promising. It is public domain, so I see no hold ups with A inc.

No more worrying if a classic will boot one more time. No more searching for expensive Amigas on ebay.

[DonnyEMU]

I think you are thinking about this wrong, if you look at this device, it's a hardware emulator, a totally new device in an "FPGA" all in one chip. It's not an "Amiga" and though it can do a lot of the same things and run a lot of the same code.. If you looked at the three custom chips and the circuits I am sure you'd find them not really the same thing..

The important thing about this is that it isn't a "copy" of someone else's property. It solves a problem for you but it doesn't have the name "Amiga".  It's a "minimig" and it just happens to be able to do most things the A1000 could do.

Why could A-inc hold it up anyway, as far as I have seen it doesn't violate any of their hardware designs or rights technically and not using any intellectual property. It's like a modern "clean room clone"..

I don't think we should be calling it Amiga, but it's name "Minimig". I don't think as a community we should call it an "Amiga" because that's giving a tip of the hat to a company that if they had anything to do with it's development we would have never see it come out..

[Hans_]

DonnyEMU wrote:
I think you are thinking about this wrong, if you look at this device, it's a hardware emulator, a totally new device in an "FPGA" all in one chip. It's not an "Amiga" and though it can do a lot of the same things and run a lot of the same code.. If you looked at the three custom chips and the circuits I am sure you'd find them not really the same thing..

I'm not sure that emulator is the correct term. An emulator, makes one device behave like a different one; whereas the MiniMig is hardware designed to replicate the behaviour of an A500. For all intents and purposes, it's a (not quite 100% compatible) A500 clone.

Hans

[Steril707]

MiniMig is smaller than an A500 so can be more easily fitted in to your house.
MiniMig uses disk images on SD card, so no need for stacks of floppies.
MiniMig can be built in to any case you want.
MiniMig supports VGA monitors directly without the need for expensive scandoublers.

----------
Isn't it part of the charm of that old hardware that they do things the way they do? And especially look the way they do?

Otherwise, shouldn't you just use UAE, if these things count for you?


I think i get the idea of being able to dodge the use of those old expensive scandoublers, but i am really not sure if i am convinced about the rest.


I like the idea of new Amigas getting built though... :-)

[amiga_3k]

@Steril707:

Minimig creates loads of possibilities for the talented coders. Remember, it could create a new scene of game-developers [homebrew] as the FPGA can hold just about any code (as long as it fits).

Minimig can set an example to Amiga Inc, especially when it's somewhat successfull. It should show them that they should have come from their hands years ago, producing nice little hardware.

[thanos]

How about this...

Its just cool. :-D

[little]

Minimig can set an example to Amiga Inc, especially when it's somewhat successfull

They do not care about succesful, they care about profitable and unless someone starts selling plug and play minimigs by the thousands that simply will not happen.

[downix]

little wrote:

Minimig can set an example to Amiga Inc, especially when it's somewhat successfull

They do not care about succesful, they care about profitable and unless someone starts selling plug and play minimigs by the thousands that simply will not happen.

Problem is, by that point it would be too late for them to join in.  Cannot put the genie back in the bottle.

[Steril707]

Yes, off course it's an awesome feat that Dennis accomplished, there's no denying this.

I just want to understand why people here get all crazy about this.

[JimS]

thanos wrote:
How about this...

Its just cool. :-D

And that is more than sufficient for me to want one. ;-)


But.... It also gives people who want to learn about FPGAs, and VHDL/Verilog something to play with that ends up being an Amiga. I can see grafting on new gfx modes, increasing the sound resolution or whatever.  

[Steril707]

Thats true, that would be something like "Hardware homebrew"...

Nice thought...

[Plaz]

it's a hardware emulator, a totally new device in an "FPGA" all in one chip. It's not an "Amiga"

I disagree and agree with you.

Using your perspective of "hardware emulation" we could say that the first A1000 was simply a hardware emulation of this....Lorraine. The chipset inside the A1000 was just a hardware emulation of the original prototype that used TTL, eproms and wirewrap. I would concider the minimig's FPGA a logical technilogical progression to the outdated chipset in an A500 as the OCS chipset was to the proto boards of the Lorraine.

I do agree that I would not necessarily call it "Amiga". If you wish to reserve that title for hardware originally manufacuted by Commodore, that's totally ok with me. Calling it and Ami-clone would be much more acurate I think. There we agree.

Plaz

[Homer]

Steril707: We have been waiting years for new hardware, and have seen countless hardware announced, then fail to make it to market.
At last we have some hardware that you can actually buy, hold in your hand, and even use !

We know its not the up to date market leader that we wished for in 1999.

Just google for things like: Amiga Walker, Amiga Boxer and what was that pci card Amiga  :lol:

This one is here, and it works.

OK everyone, PARTY !!!!!!!!!  :pint: :banana: :pint: :banana:

Well done Dennis, you've made a lot of people very happy  :-D