FPGAARCADE minimig compatible board, comments?

[mikej]

Hi,

The board can be fitted with 128MB of ram. I really thought that would be enough for anybody!

256MByte is possible with a flip mounted chip underneath the top DRAM. This would not normally be mounted so it would not increase cost. I have some spare wires for chip selects. I'll consider this if I have to do a full board respin.

The other possibility as we discussed is memory on the daughter card. The problem here is the IO is 3.3V. You would need a slave memory controller FPGA on the daughter board. I could imagine a 68060, small FPGA and DIMM slot.

Then the main board would be used as the "chipset" and the lower memory as video display buffer.

It's going to be an interesting ride

Best,
Mike.

[ChaosLord]

If I can get one with 128 MB then I suppose I might be forced to buy one.

But if your AmigaChipset core allows higher resolutions or 24-bit pixels then that memory will evaporate quickly.

Best of luck to you.

[xyzzy]

I'd like to see something interesting from an AGA core such as extended resolutions as mentioned, but also things like a speeded-up blitter and near-zero memory contention so that high-resolutions are snappy in high-colours.

128MB chipmem would certainly be interesting to see!

Does the board have USB connectivity, btw? I get the feeling that would be beyond the scope of the project :-(

BTW, I have some pulled 060s if you ever need any for testing, Mike ;-)

[mikej]

xyzzy,

USB and Ethernet are planned for the "real" daughter board. At the moment I'm busy making debug/test cards for production testing the main card and for the 68030.

I would love to borrow a 060 if you have a known good working one, that would really help.

Best,
Mike.

[xyzzy]

I would love to borrow a 060 if you have a known good working one, that would really help.

Ah, therein lies the problem, they were all pulled from various random scrap routers and stuff, and I don't have anything to test them on, like a blizzard 1260 for example.

But if you still want any for testing, then let me know.

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/6648/p5050031.jpg

There's some 040s there too, just to fill the frame :-D

[mikej]

I've sent you a pm.
Cheers,
Mike

[mikej]

I've sent you a pm.
Cheers,
Mike

[yaqube]

I have recently completed the assembly of my Replay board. It took me over 12 hours but luckily the board seems to work.

I can boot the FPGA (mine is a bigger one than the target device - XC3S1600E) from the SD card. It takes 4 seconds but I'm looking into speeding it up.

And there is a  lot of new peripherals to harness: Audio DAC, Video DAC with DVI transmitter, Analog RGB filters, clock generator and very nice DDR-SDRAM.

[AJCopland]

Wow really neat job you've done one that board! It's looks like very close work with the density of those parts.

I know people get better at that with practise but it's still impressive.

Andy

[wizard66]

This board is looking so cool ;-)
I have showed this to my wife.
My birthday is tomorrow and my wife is giving me the board for my birthday when we can order it ( I'm so happy)...
This is a realy nice board with a lot of goodies and expansion possibilities.
So Mikej keep on the good work and put me in for one right now ;-)

willem

[wolfchild]

My birthday is tomorrow and my wife is giving me the board for my birthday when we can order it ( I'm so happy)...

Mine is end July, and I'm already giving hints to my wife
I found out she was planning to buy me a watch, but an FPGAArcade would be so much better!
 
Edwin

[wizard66]

So today I have done the 2MB mod.
My minimig have 2 mb chip and 2MB (minus 512kb kickstart) normal memory.
So I'm ready for the Arm Controller ;-)

[Darrin]

So today I have done the 2MB mod.
My minimig have 2 mb chip and 2MB (minus 512kb kickstart) normal memory.
So I'm ready for the Arm Controller ;-)

any tips?  I still have the chips ready, but I've been working my backside off and haven't got around to trying to solder them on yet.

[wizard66]

any tips?  I still have the chips ready, but I've been working my backside off and haven't got around to trying to solder them on yet.

Not Realy, it's easy all you have to do is follow Yaqube instructions.

http://www.minimig.net/yaqube/ramexp/ramexp.html

[wizard66]

@mikej

I have a question, what kind of signal is comming from the dvi poort ?
I ask because the minimig in pal mode gives a 31.khz 50Hz and gives a lot off problems with modern lcd monitors.
So If I use the DVI poort on the replay board, can I use lcd screens in pal, and what is the refresh rate (also 50 HZ) ?
If so it it not possible to make a pal@60hz so we can use all lcd monitors.

I'm just a noob with refresh rates..

[mikej]

The video out is sort of complex.

There is a link which selects 15K/30K scan like the Minimig board - basically "TV" or "VGA" mode. This lets you at least see the boot menu on whatever you are connected to.

If the composite/SVHS out module is plugged in, then it only works in 15K (TV) mode.

Whatever mode it's in, the analogue output come out on the DVI analogue pins, so you can use a DVI to VGA / SCART adapter for TV or VGA monitors - same as the Minimig.

The digital signals also always come out the DVI pins. If the refresh rate is 50Hz then some computer LCDs won't display it - but if you use a DVI to HDMI cable then LCD TV's will work nicely.

Most LCD TV's will only accept 60Hz on the DVI/VGA input, but are happy with 50Hz on the HDMI / composite / SVHS inputs.

Best,
Mike.