TG68 - The Open Source Minimig CPU into the FPGA

[MiniMorph]

Is this an Altera DE1 :-
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?name=544-1736-ND

Looks like it to me !!

[TobiFlex]

eslapion wrote:
What really gets my attention with the Xess board is that it is said to be able to carry up to 1Million gates. The DE2's cyclon II is said to be limited to around 68000 (hey nice number...) logic elements.

You can't compare Gates with logic elements. On the xilinx webside i found this:
XC3S1000 = 17280 LC's
XC3S1200E= 19512 LC's
On Alteras Webside I found this:
EP2C20 = 18752 LC's (the DE1 Board chip)
EP2C35 = 33216 LC's (the DE2 Board chip)
The Minimig Core on the the DE1 Board use 13708/18752 = 73% of the Logic elements. It include Dennis Minimig Core, my TG68 Core and my Spihost with Z80 Core.
The complet Core will fit into all this chips.

Minimorph wrote:
Is this an Altera DE1 :-

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?name=544-1736-ND

Yes it is the DE1 Board!

Belial6 wrote:
If there is any testing I could do, and I could get the bitstream (?) files from you, let me know, and I will get a DE-1.

You can test Games and applikationen. If you like I send you the Bitstreamfiles.

Viele Grüße
TobiFlex

[MskoDestny]

The Minimig Core on the the DE1 Board use 13708/18752 = 73% of the Logic elements. It include Dennis Minimig Core, my TG68 Core and my Spihost with Z80 Core.

Out of curiousity, what's the "Spihost with Z80 Core" used for?

[TobiFlex]

MskoDestny wrote:
Out of curiousity, what's the "Spihost with Z80 Core" used for?

All what the PIC18 do on the Minmig do the DE1 with my spihost except the FPGA Config. I have take Dennis C-Code for the PIC and have it adapted for SDCC and the Z80.
So you don't need a PIC anymore.

[ChaosLord]

Why Z80 instead of 6502?

[bloodline]

ChaosLord wrote:
Why Z80 instead of 6502?

The Z80 was a better CPU than the 6502

[AJCopland]

ChaosLord wrote:
Why Z80 instead of 6502?

Why not an open source one from opencores.org or some other? Probably familiarity and competance at using it :-D It hardly matters as long as the chip is capable of whatever its being asked to do which doesn't sound like a lot.

On the plus side, the MegaDrive (Genesis for the US) used a Z80 so it's nice to know that already a 68k + Z80 + OCS can fit into the single FPGA!

Andy

[TobiFlex]

bloodline wrote:

ChaosLord wrote:
Why Z80 instead of 6502?

The Z80 was a better CPU than the 6502

Oh no! Please don't discuss that here!

[MiniMorph]

Great work putting the PIC stuff into the FPGA Fabric.

This is great if all you want is a Minimig.

The Idea of the Minimorph Boot Loader is that I can load many different cores into the FPGA.

The ones I am planning for sure is :-
ZX81 (ZXGATE),
VIC20 (FPGA Arcade),
C64 (FPGA64) ,
Spectrum (ZXGATE),
Amstrad CPC by TobiFlex I belive
Atari ST by Wolfgang Förster,
Amiga (Minimig)

This would make the project like the www.mess.org of the FPGA world

I think using a micro controller Boot loader is the easiest and best way of doing this.

I want to add one platform myself. I will not mention that until I make some progress !

It will be possible to "hand" the MicroSD card over to the FPGA after loading by pin sharing between the micro and FPGA. The Micro controller can offer "Services" to the FPGA, like Tape Emulation, Floppy Emulation, Hard Disk Emulation, Telnet, Serial to Ethernet Conversion, TFTP, FTP, TCP/IP and so on.

I know I can make all this work. In my professional life my work is 90% firmware.

The main thing my work will add to the Minimig is Ethernet.

I would like to order an Altera DE1, is this board OK for the Minimig ??

If you need help with the Z80 firmware I can help there let me know with a PM.

I will port my version of the Boot Loader to your embedded Z80 chip given the chance !

[JimS]

AJCopland wrote:
Why not an open source one from opencores.org or some other? Probably familiarity and competance at using it :-D It hardly matters as long as the chip is capable of whatever its being asked to do which doesn't sound like a lot.
Andy

There is an open source Z80 compatible core on opencores.org.
http://www.opencores.org/projects.cgi/web/t80/overview

I kinda like the idea of the Z80, I had some experience with it myself, back in the Elder Days. ;-)

[ChaosLord]

@MiniMorph

The Altera DE-2 has a built-in Ethernet port and an AGA-compatible VGA port.

TobiFlex wrote:

You can't compare Gates with logic elements. On the xilinx webside i found this:
XC3S1000 = 17280 LC's
XC3S1200E= 19512 LC's
On Alteras Webside I found this:
EP2C20 = 18752 LC's (the DE1 Board chip)
EP2C35 = 33216 LC's (the DE2 Board chip)
The Minimig Core on the the DE1 Board use 13708/18752 = 73% of the Logic elements. It include Dennis Minimig Core, my TG68 Core and my Spihost with Z80 Core.
The complet Core will fit into all this chips.

Thank you for this explanation.

I suppose then, the Virtex 5 family with up to 330'000 LCs must be a monster comparatively then.

However, I failed to find a development and/or educational board that uses such a large capacity chip.

Also, the DE1 will unlikely support an AGA core if it already takes 73% of available LCs to put in the OCS one. The DE1 also does not support the number of colors displayable by AGA.

Given the choice, I would prefer to use the DE2 to allow for future developments.

[freqmax]

@MiniMorph:
We'r missing Macintosh 68k, and Sun-3 :-D

[MiniMorph]

I think Tobiflex will release cores for both the DE1 and the DE2, so you can choose the have the 150 USD DE1 or the 499 USD DE2. I am pretty sure any core that will run on the DE1 can be easily ported to the DE2.

My Boot Loader would be the same for both anyway. In fact I expect my Boot Loader could be used on pretty much any FPGA board suitable for running the cores. I accept there would be less need for the the Ethernet of the MiniMorph boot loader on the DE2, but heh better 2 than none.

I already have the Mac Classic in mind for later. Do you know of an open FPGA version of the Mac Classic ?

I do not know hardly anything about the Sun. I did use a 68000 workstation in the 80's at college. It was for designing logic for Programmable chips . I am not sure if it was a Sun however. Do you know of any FPGA projects for Sun Workstations ?

[freqmax]

I think both Mac68k and Sun3 is quite simplistic in their design compared to Amiga. After all there's a reason for the fame of Amiga.

I think the linux sources for Mac/68k might be of interest.
68000 based macs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Macintosh

Same for Sun-3.

[AJCopland]

I have a Sun-3/60 if anyone wanted actual hardware to compare an emulation against. It needs some love as it was pulled from a skip :lol: but there's nothing thats seems irreperably damaged.

Andy