MiniMig with AGA

[freqmax]

Microcontroller with ~30 GPIO pins that interface to the A1200 keyboard matrix and PS/2-Minimig/FPGAarcade in the other. Done!

Btw, anyone seen a non-BGA S-ATA to LVTTL/LVDS bridgechip or similar that can interface to an Xilinx Spartan FPGA ..?
S-ATA = 1500 Mbit/s ; USB2 = 480 Mbit/s

[amigadave]

The SDRAM is shared as follows:

0.5 MB for ROM (will be expanded to 2 MB)
2 MB for Chip RAM
1.5 MB for Slow RAM
8 MB for Fast RAM (Zorro II area)
48 MB for EXTRA Chip RAM (may also be configured as Fast RAM)

The memory is configured by the OSD menu.

MikeJ stated that there is 64mb RAM on the base FPGAARCADE board.  Is there also additional RAM on the expansion board?  I am guessing the above breakdown of RAM is for the base board, not the expansion board.

Edit:  Not that more than 64mb of RAM is needed for this type of project.

[the_leander]

Good luck finding USB keyboards and mice that still support the PS/2 protocol.

With the exception of high end gaming boards or ones with built in trackpads, most of the keyboards and mice I've seen in the mid to low range price spectrum still come with the green ps/2-usb converters with them.

[alexh]

Btw, anyone seen a non-BGA S-ATA to LVTTL/LVDS bridgechip or similar that can interface to an Xilinx Spartan FPGA ..? S-ATA = 1500 Mbit/s ; USB2 = 480 Mbit/s

You mean one of these? This board has two Samsung SATA 3G PHY's (i.e. 3000 Mbit/s too)

They are just PHY so you need your own SATA controller to program into the FPGA.

Choose a newer FPGA and you can use the RocketIO to pretend to be a SATA PHY (i.e. no extra SATA chip)

Economically though, you'd be much better off looking for a microcontroller ASIC which has both of these functions and some sort of DMA capable I/O. There are 10's of them out there.

[tonyyeb]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but with the planned expansion board and the features of the main board, there wont be much the NatAmi will have over this, if and when it is released?

[wawrzon]

@tonyyeb
as if said expansion board for the fpgaarcade was already available. this project here has also been postponed many times. while natami dev board works with an 060 the same applies to them. so dont get too excited just now.

[mikej]

True, but we are on a roll now.
Besides, I have parts for 60 boards in a box under my desk which is too much inventory not to get the boards made in a hurry.

I am still waiting for production

(The Chinese firm could do it tomorrow and I have agreed a quote for the next batch, but the parts are already in Europe so it doesn't make sense to send them back to China.)

[freqmax]

@alexh, What is the chip code for those?

(like XC3S400S for a certain other chip )

I know about RocketIO, I think one of the Xilinx FPGA even has 12 of them. For that super-raid , But the catch is BGA..

[Darrin]

Whats wrong with a USB to PS2 convertor ?
Then just use Keyrah ?
I mean most USB keyboards you buy nowadays come with a little crappy USB to PS2
Why wouldn't that work ?

Bungle

IIRC Jens stated that the Keyrah will not work with a USB-PS2 adapter.

I just tested it with my Minimig V1.1 using the adapter and the keyboard did not function.  I then removed the adapter and plugged it into a PC PS2 port and (after loading the drivers) it worked.  I'll take a guess and suggest that perhaps whatever the Keyrah needs for power to work isn't supplied over the PS2 port (remember that the Keyrah is more than just a keyboard adapter - it also supplies two Amiga joystick ports).

Either way we need something else (and should something else come along we'll also need an alternative for the now non-existant PC "F12" key).

[Louis Dias]

IIRC Jens stated that the Keyrah will not work with a USB-PS2 adapter.

I just tested it with my Minimig V1.1 using the adapter and the keyboard did not function.  I then removed the adapter and plugged it into a PC PS2 port and (after loading the drivers) it worked.  I'll take a guess and suggest that perhaps whatever the Keyrah needs for power to work isn't supplied over the PS2 port (remember that the Keyrah is more than just a keyboard adapter - it also supplies two Amiga joystick ports).

Either way we need something else (and should something else come along we'll also need an alternative for the now non-existant PC "F12" key).

Well, supplying power shouldn't be much of an issue...

Did I miss a link to a keyrah?

[freqmax]

I suggest the discussion regarding A1200 keyboard, PS/2 etc.. continue here: "A1200 Keyboard to PS/2 or other interface..".

[spans]

Hi Mike, do you have any further updates or news on the production, if not I will have to uncrate one of my samsung P&P machines and offer to do the assembly for you...

True, but we are on a roll now.
Besides, I have parts for 60 boards in a box under my desk which is too much inventory not to get the boards made in a hurry.

I am still waiting for production

(The Chinese firm could do it tomorrow and I have agreed a quote for the next batch, but the parts are already in Europe so it doesn't make sense to send them back to China.)

[freqmax]

spans, Your physical location "may" be useful ..

[billt]

But the catch is BGA..

I'll never understand why BGA is such a stigma on the bigger chips. OK, you can't really do them yourself at home in your kitchen, so why not have a pro assemble them like Mike does?

[freqmax]

BGA connectivity can't be verified easily without X-ray machines. Pro-production involves setup-fees, transportation delays, risk of misscommunication etc..
Even if you can outsource the job, doesn't mean it's particular convenient.

[FrenchShark]

Nope it's not faster then a 030 50Mhz.

The softcore speeds are:

TG68K @ 7.09 MHz : 4.27 x A500 / 1.85 x A1200
TG68K.C @ 7.09 MHz : 5.81 x A500 / 2.52 x A1200

Hello,

where did you get those numbers ? From Tobias on A1k.org ?
The TG68 seems to be twice faster than the MC68000. I had to slow it down to 3.5 MHz to make Battle Squadron runs with no graphics bugs.
But, I still get Turrican II main screen animation running too fast. Maybe, I have to go down to 1.75 MHz :-).

Regards,

Frederic