MiniMig: One Random CRAZY Thought.

[EDanaII]

So far, I've stayed (mostly) quiet about the minimig situation. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fantastic what Dennis has achieved, and I'm curious to see where all this will lead, and I have one thought on this matter that I have no idea has been explored or not, so apologies if it has.

Why a minimig "board?" Or, more specifically, why JUST a minimig running with an m68k supporting only legacy games? Why not a minimig graphics card? In other words, forget keyboards, serial ports and all that jazz and instead create a MODERN graphics card using what minimig has learned to support UAE, AROS, MorphOS and OS4.0? Leave the keyboard, mouse, serial and even USB to UAE and the like, and use minimig to support the legacy software?

Like I said, just a random crazy thought. I'm no expert in this matter, but it seems feasible, and practical, to me to use what we have already today with what minimig can bring tomorrow to make a better Amiga, if only an emulated one.

Two cents.

Ed.

[motorollin]

I think it's a great idea. In fact I think I mentioned it when MiniMig was first announced.

Basically, I would like to see MiniMig on a PCI card. You then run an app inside your main OS which is similar to UAE, but instead of emulating the 68k CPU and custom chips it uses the real ones on the MiniMig card.

If the card were supported by AROS, MOS or OS4 it would provide great legacy support in a modern, AmigaOS-like environment.

--
moto

[little]

Problem is that would have been a cool when PCs were not fast enough to emulate the amiga. Nowadays it would not add anything you can't already have with winuae. Same would apply to a playstation one emulator on a card, you can already do that in software, why do you need a PCI card also?

[downix]

I don't think it's quite ready for that, yet.  But a revision or two, maybe.  

I'd be more worried by the fact that PCI itself is now on the way out.

[IOWASURFER]

Next time I make a billion bucks..I want
to buy up everything Amiga.inc and all the os goodies..
and turn it out to open source...

We need to take the minimig and run
with the spirit of this build out &
improve and expand it and make
everything on it and AMIGA
((AMIGA needs to be open source...))

This way just like Linux it will survive
no matter who tried to ummm commodore
it into the ground...

Joe......
 

[motorollin]

IOWASURFER wrote:
Next time I make a billion bucks..

Next time...?

--
moto

[McVenco]

little wrote:

Problem is that would have been a cool when PCs were not fast enough to emulate the amiga. Nowadays it would not add anything you can't already have with winuae.

Emulators will always be a bit quirky, no matter how well they are coded. There are still some flaws in WinUAE's sound output: some games just sound terrible. Now I don't know how good the sound of the Minimig is, but I would expect it to be pretty much accurate.

[Crom00]

Open source is the way to go. Any way Amiga items can get into more users is a good thing, especially if folks can tinker with a Mini-Mig style open source implementation of an Amiga tha can be rewoked into an Atari ST, or a Sharp X6800, etc or whatever.

There is also a great wow factor in having a sandwich box size Amiga connected to a Big LCD, without cumbersome VGA adapters, or spending 40 hours online looking for a HDTV that supports 15.75 klhz in RGB, and that can do pal for the occasional Pal game.

My dream is to have an AGA version in conjunction wuth a 3D VGA chipset. The VGA mode stuff would be available in WB via Picasso 96. For demos you couldcombine 3D VGA and AGA to and create some wild graphics effects.

For example have the VGA chipset scale the AGA screen.

Thinking out loud here...

[Steril707]

The minimig is also just "emulating" the custom chips of the original Amiga. Don't forget that. It's just done in hardware instead completely in software.

So, probably you will get something close, but not completely.

On the thought of a pci Amiga board, seems pretty redundant to me. like someone earlier posted WinUAE is good enough to emulate most of the Amigas quirks. And it will get better and better.

And yes, indeed, Amiga has to go opensource, the only way to survive for the system.  
 :angry:

[jimmyboy]

You mean something like this?

Altho i should think there would be probs doin it. But minimig is a good start IMO. Back to basics, starting small to work big.

Obviusly money is always a prob but if the amiga scene had a representitive and went to say Richard Branson and put down a pitch for funding or sponsoring maybe the amiga scene would get it. I say Richard Branson cos he seems to like investing in markets to give others headaches i.e trains, planes, broadband, phones etc etc never know it could work.

[freqmax]

little wrote:
emulator on a card, you can already do that in software, why do you need a PCI card also?

Software emulators will in most cases not be upto the latency requirements of the original. Also synchronisation may be lost. Parallel operations are possible with hardware in a whole another way.

[koaftder]

freqmax wrote:

little wrote:
emulator on a card, you can already do that in software, why do you need a PCI card also?

Software emulators will in most cases not be upto the latency requirements of the original. Also synchronisation may be lost. Parallel operations are possible with hardware in a whole another way.

It doesn't matter anyway because reimplemented hardware isn't any better than software emulation, it's not the original equipment so it's a moot point.

[Fixer]

It's a good idea - another reason to just stop using the real albeit dying original Amiga hardware altogether.

It also means we wouldn't be railroaded into using Windows' WinUAE anymore because up to now it has had the superior emulation.

You could use your:

Modern OS of choice + Amiga compatibility running alongside/inside

[koaftder]

You could use your:

Modern OS of choice + Amiga compatibility running alongside/inside

We already have that, its called UAE.

[alexh]

Hmmm, an FPGA with an integrated PCIe 1.0 phy eh?... Crap look whats on my desk