What's the point of the MiniMig?

[Illuwatar]

I did my version of the Minimig just for the fun of it (I have a fully working A500+ with all options on it but hardly use it due to lack on easy access to software/games) and also to be albe to use ADF-files directly. The possibility to use standard PS2 keyboard and mouse adds to it, VGA too (I added S-video and Composite too in my alternated design).

And finally - there are two things more: Nostalgia and "Because We Can..."  ;-)

[Darrin]

Just to reitterate what so many people have already posted, my main reasons are:

ADF files:  I finally loaded WHDload onto one of my Amigas last month and I'm in the process of reinstalling my original games.  It's disappointing to discover just how many of them no longer work due to age.  Unfortunately, you can't even use most ADFs with WHDload because they're cracked.  I'm looking forward to an "Amiga" I can use for games which uses reliable ADF images and not having to dig out that old Zool code wheel to unlock the game.

VGA output:  Perfect for connecting to my big screen TV for better picture quality.

PS2 mice:  My Amiga mice are on their last legs and it will be great to be able to find a replacement by simply waling into Walmart.

PS2 Keybioards:  Thankfully my Amiga keyboards have developed a fault, but if they do fail the cost and time to obtain a replacement is a pain in the butt.

Why not WinUAE?  Surely I could do this with WinUAE?  I've tried, but to use real "atari" type digital joysticks means extra hardware and the "feel" is just not right.

[billt]

Some people just like to tinker with things. Amiga users seem more likely than your average computer user. It's a way to learn about computers, how they work, how to make them, how to improve on them, etc. Can you add AGA to your A500, PPC CPUs, built-in flickerfixers, more memory, modern DDR memory, PCI slots, AGP slots, PCI-Express slots, or shove it into a PowerPC system as an addon such as into SAM440's FPGA? Check out www.opencores.org for more possibilities to add in there... Maybe add an OpenGraphics core as well. Smaller system size could allow something like the C64DTV to happen.

Minimig is the first step in being able to do all kinds of things that can't be done with an A500. It allows a huge number of things to become possible, which are far less convenient to do with an actual A500, if possible at all. It can become more than an A500, in time it can become an A1200, an A4000, an A5000, or who knows what will be imagined into larger capacity/pins FPGAs and different form factors.

[ajlwalker]

gdanko wrote:

And if the MiniMig breaks, you can make another, and another, and another....

The chances of all four of my A500s dying are very slim. I paid probably 50USD for all of them.

All four?  Better update your sig then.  :-P

[AJCopland]

Not because we must, but because we can :-D

Plus its an ace little Open Sourece system to tinker with and perhaps expand beyond the OCS/ECS chipset with things that people wouldn't have bothered with back then. Triangle rasterising comes to mind. :lol:

Andy

[Rob]

@gdanko

The chances of all four of my A500s dying are very slim. I paid probably 50USD for all of them.

Have you checked the batteries lately?  

Here's my A500 as it looked a few weeks ago, notice the corrosion on the legs of the nearby chips and resistors.

It's now had the battery removed and been cleaned up and will be having a coin cell type battery fitted instead.

It turns out that coin cell holder from a dead PC is a drop in replacement.  I just hope no lasting damage was done, as it had started playing up a bit.

[freqmax]

I think the point is that HDL (vhdl/verilog) files don't break. While physical hardware will.
Some components may be obsoleted, but you can easily find a functional replacement. Try to find a factory made Agnus chip....

All your own Amiga hardware, AND the ones you buy from will have their hardware malfunctioning eventually. The longer time goes the less hardware there is to use as "originals" to model re-implemented HDL driven clones around.
(mains transient, thunderstorms, soda spills, cracks from fall, faulty connection, ESD, thermal cracks, shorts, moisture induced rust, leaky batteries)

Anyone had a dryied out capacitors within the powersupply fry their equipment on startup from not being used for a long time..?

A nice portable DVD player hack would be to replace the mainboard with a Minimig. So one could play anywhere.. :-D
And Amiga hardware is also quite efficient.. (MS-Pocket PC proberbly ain't..)

[CD32Freak]

The point of the Minimig is:
"Never give up, never surrender!"
:lol:

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Rob wrote:
@gdanko

The chances of all four of my A500s dying are very slim. I paid probably 50USD for all of them.

Have you checked the batteries lately?  

:-?
Maybe the A500+ has a battery standard in it, but a plain A500 not AFAIK :-?

[taunusand]

Tomas wrote:
I think all my a500 is starting to show signs of aging.. Main problem is the floppy disk drives. One of the floppy drives seems to be a bit out of alignment, since no other amiga can read the disk written by that drive. 2 other floppy drives have problems with the instert disk button/pin.. Sometimes it might suddenly act like you ejected the disk for a second, even though you never did.

New AMIGA diskdrives are cheap :-)
www.vesalia.de
I just had a big hardware order from them :-D

Diskdrives for A500/600/1200/1200T/2000/3000/4000 are available.

About dying caps.. They can be replaced, but som of them have to be exchanged with new ones BEFORE they burn something bad..

They also sell NEW CD32, NTSC version :-)

They also sell new chips/IC's for our amiga's.

I think MiniMig is cool, I would sergently want to buy one.

And my oppinion is, Because it can be done, we need our hobby like others need theirs :-D

Again.. I apologise for my bad grammar  :roll:

[alexh]

Rob wrote:
Here's my A500 as it looked a few weeks ago

Get it right ;-) That is what your A500 PLUS looked like. Regular A500's, which make up perhaps 8/10 of them, dont have that battery. Check back in the thread and I did exclude the A500+ in my post.

[Rob]

@Speelgoedmannetje & Alexh

Thanks for pointing out the omission.  I guess it would be quite annoying to dismantle your A500, only to find there's no battery.

[DBAlex]

Whats the point of the MiniMig?

If i'm being honest I don't really have a clue, who wants an A500 at the end of the day? Yes its useful for running games and legacy applications but there are an abundance of A500's for this task allready available plus of course there is UAE, WinUAE, E-UAE, WinFellow, MaxUAE etc etc etc

In my opinion what I would find more useful is a MiniMig clone/revision that would have say an 060 and possibly intergrated graphics that were supported in AmigaOS by the RTG  system, this would be a good machine for the interlude between classic and "modern" hardware in my opinion and would at least provide new purchaseable hardware that was not from ebay that is likely to break in the future.

Thats my dream, the reality is, that it will never happen.  :-D So, for now I can just sit and wait and dream (Oh and play with far superior operating systems such as OSX :-P) Hehe, Joking of course! :lol: :-o

[Homer]

Come on guys, there is no negative reason for the MiniMig existing ! Thanks to Dennis, we have a feasible future for dying hardware, and a possible future for expansion   :-o
Where is the negative in this  :-?

[DBAlex]

@Homer:
I understand that its great that its new hardware, I really do.

However its the fact that its so useless to me and many others, I personally don't need an A500, such a low powered machine, that is I suppose the only negative, the positives are that its a free open source amiga design that can be expanded on etc in the future.

I do honestly *like* the MiniMig project, I just don't think its useful for people like me at the moment! (People who would like to play around with AmigaOS on REAL fairly powerful hardware)

[da9000]

mike- wrote:
The Minimig is essentially our chance to do what amiga and ack so far has failed to do, hardware.

I must agree with Mike: The single most important reason, in my mind (other than all the other "duh" reasons already given). Also closely followed by another: Dennis wanted to do it, and just because he could, he did. Congrats to Dennis and his brilliant skillz! I'm very happy to know that one part of the future of the Amiga is in a TRUE AMIGAN'S hands, finally!


Oh, and one little comment for the impatient people ("not useful since it's so weak", or "I'd rather have a 10Ghz Amiga with all the bells and whistles"):

Clue #1: Dennis ain't making it just so you'll have your NeXT-GEN Amiga. Look to Amiga Inc. (hard laughter) for that. He's doing it for fun and for himself primarily, not you. Stop thinking of yourselves.

Clue #2: without crawling, you won't have walking, so either shut your whining (to put it mildly) and/or help Dennis and the other folks out so that your 10GHz Amiga comes sooner rather than later! And remember: you've waited since 1993-4 until 1997-8 for a more powerful Amiga (PPC), so why don't you give these guys the same amount of time and then come back and look at MiniMig. You might just be surprised!