Minimig user feedback required

[yaqube]

Hello!

As some of you may know I have been working on the Minimig's firmware. I would like you to express your opinions and suggestions what you like and what you don't in the current firmware (including user interface). I have already made some changes, e.g. the OSD menu is less transparent since with some background images it wasn't readable.

Please also feel free to tell me about the features you are missing and would like to have. Although there is almost no free space in the current FPGA and PIC to integrate any big features but some small modifications and extensions should be possible.

If you had found any games causing problems or not working at all please tell me their names.

[Darrin]

Hi Jakub,

First of all, thanks again for all the work you've done so far on the core.

As for what improvements I'd like to see, there are only a few:

1.  "Hard Drive" support via the SD card.
2.  Sub directory access in order to group certain ADF files together (eg,  Tower Assualt files plus save game disk)
3.  2nd Floppy support (if no hard drive support) in order to make playing games like Dune or Colonization possible without contracting the Minimig equivalent of "disk swapper's wrist".
4.  Core file selection on bootup (to allow access to several cores such as PAL, NTSC or a Arcade core).
5.  Solve the bug that breaks Menace (well, it is my favourite shoot-em-up).  :-D

Cheers.

[straycat]

Hi Yaqube,
First just want to say your last update was brilliant and made my Minimig so much more fun! Darrin already mentioned these, but the biggies for me are a better way to order the ADF files and 2nd floppy drive support (so you don't need to 'swap the disks').

[Darrin]

straycat wrote:
Hi Yaqube,
First just want to say your last update was brilliant and made my Minimig so much more fun! Darrin already mentioned these, but the biggies for me are a better way to order the ADF files and 2nd floppy drive support (so you don't need to 'swap the disks').

Do you have his little PC program that renames and sorts the files on the SD card?  If not, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.

[Crom00]

If I had just one request:

Hardfile support. This alone would quintiple Mini-Mig sales.

[yaqube]

Hi Darrin!

1. "Hard Drive" support via the SD card.

I have implemented basic hard drive support but it requires a new ARM controller. The performance is not very high but it's sufficient to play some games, the play of Dune II is very convenient. The hard file format is compatible with the UAE's HDFs. This solution is not complete yet and I still work on it.

2. Sub directory access in order to group certain ADF files together (eg, Tower Assualt files plus save game disk)

I haven't toyed with subdirs yet, but it should be possible even with limited PIC's resources. I am also thinking about alphabetical ordering of displayed files but this will be possible only with the ARM micro.

3. 2nd Floppy support (if no hard drive support) in order to make playing games like Dune or Colonization possible without contracting the Minimig equivalent of "disk swapper's wrist".

The current (in development) PIC firmware supports up to two floppy drives and the ARM's one supports up to four.

4. Core file selection on bootup (to allow access to several cores such as PAL, NTSC or a Arcade core).

It's a little bit complicated since some functionality to the FPGA core is provided by the PIC/ARM firmware (floppy and hard disk support, configuration). The best solution would be an application code loaded from the SD-Card to the micro controller memory during boot-up but it's limited by its RAM resources.

5. Solve the bug that breaks Menace (well, it is my favourite shoot-em-up).

I will take a look at Menace.

[yaqube]

@Straycat

Have you tried my FatCleaner to reorder alphabetically files on an SD-Card?

[Darrin]

yaqube wrote:
Hi Darrin!

1. I have implemented basic hard drive support but it requires a new ARM controller. The performance is not very high but it's sufficient to play some games, the play of Dune II is very convenient. The hard file format is compatible with the UAE's HDFs. This solution is not complete yet and I still work on it.

Please keep us posted.  :-)

2. I haven't toyed with subdirs yet, but it should be possible even with limited PIC's resources. I am also thinking about alphabetical ordering of displayed files but this will be possible only with the ARM micro.

The sub folders would be handy because I'm starting to get lost as to which "save disk" goes with what game.

3. The current (in development) PIC firmware supports up to two floppy drives and the ARM's one supports up to four.

Great news.

4. It's a little bit complicated since some functionality to the FPGA core is provided by the PIC/ARM firmware (floppy and hard disk support, configuration). The best solution would be an application code loaded from the SD-Card to the micro controller memory during boot-up but it's limited by its RAM resources.

So which of your arms do I need to twist to get hold of an ARM controller?  :-D

5. I will take a look at Menace.

Cheers.  :-)

[Anding]

Hi Yaqube,

This may be a little unrealistic, but my request list would be:

- SATA (or even IDE) hard drive support (so I can plug in a cheap, modern HDD and treat it like a normal AMIGA drive)

- dual RS232 (so one of them can be permenantly connected to my main PC via AMIGA EXPLORER and the other left available)

- a bit more RAM (would it really be more expensive to have 4MB?)

Good luck with your developments!

[Dwyloc]

@Yaqube

Thanks for all the hard work.

For me the only real requirement is hard disk emulation.

Sub directory support for loading adf files from directories would also be very useful.

On the topic of sorting the files on the SD card I seem to remember reading some were about a utility to sort the files on the card into alphabetic order but I cant find it now, but that would be a workable solution and would be nice for anyone how dose not opt to buy the arm add on board when you finish it, even a command line utility would help.

Edit: I just spotted the link to FatCleaner above anything else I have missed? Is there a website with a link to the utility or any other minimig information or files?

[FrenchShark]

@Yaqube

What I really want to see is multiple floppy drives support and FPGA core selection at boot-up.

Concerning the bugs, I have noticed that the sprites in Katakis are blinking (NTSC Minimig core).

Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Frederic

[mahen]

Yaqube : first, thanks for your amazing work It made a huuuuuge difference

Here are the features I look forward to (but I see they were already mentioned :

1) subdirectories support (not necessarily alphabetically sorted)
2) second floppy disk
3) a better compatibility (I spotted some issues, for instance : in the shoot them up level of Jim Power, parallax scrollings are not displayed properly, or in demos like Arté/Hardwired/Desert Dreams)
4) would it be possible  to add an option to map the joystick to arrow keybs / numeric pad (as in UAE) : this would be useful with defective pads, or to use the Minimig with the X-Arcade joystick (PS2 joystick on which the keyboard is plugged)
5) some other GFX filters maybe ? (like scanlines)
6) an option (without the need for jumpers) to set the CPU to 14 Mhz
7) an option to speed up the floppy accesses
[ about what I wrote in another thread : would it be possible for the minimig to output a more standard screen resolution, like 800x600 instead of 720x576, not to get some distortion with some screens, like mine ]

I'm conscious my wishes list in not extremely relevant, though

Overall only the 1 to 3 are really important to make it a perfect A500 clone

[TheDaddy]

Yaqube,

You have done a huge, great amount of work, thank you.

For the next firmware release I would like all of the above, already listed by other people please.

I don't know if this can be done but is it possible to have long filenames? I had to reduce Alien Breed Tower Assault to ABTA :-)

Automatic alphabetical order would be nice, HD support and two floppy support.

ON/OFF facility, I don't know how.

Minimig logo popping up wiht tiny tune/sound :-) when switched on maybe if you have some bytes left :-)

Keep me posted, for testing and other, especially any hardware additions.

By the way the slightly improved Minimig enclosure is on order. Another 50 glossy white enclosures with little additions arriving soon! :-)

I will post here and on amigaworld.net and also on www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk as soon as I get the new prototype back. :-)

[BooBoo1200]

Would there be room for HDF support if ADF was taken out?

[tonyyeb]

If hardfile support was added (with maybe better file sorting / folder support) I would buy a Minimig.