MiniMig with AGA

[mikej]

Should happen this week. The missing connector I have been waiting ages for arrived today.

I am packing the kit of components now.
/Mike

[Darrin]

Should happen this week. The missing connector I have been waiting ages for arrived today.

I am packing the kit of components now.
/Mike

Good news.  This is going to be a long week.  

[freqmax]

Soldering-iron-hell?

Cookies in the oven..
http://circuitbox.net/electronics/reflow/

[wizard66]

Should happen this week. The missing connector I have been waiting ages for arrived today.

I am packing the kit of components now.
/Mike

The Stress is killing me ;-) Nice going MikeJ.
We all look out to your product.

[yssing]

One word should be enough..WOW!!

This is going to be great.. Really great.. This is the next thing for me to buy. gotta stop spending money on ebay..

[spans]

OMG, better start being really really good to the wife, and checkout interflora ...lol

Great work Mike, just sorting a desk out now, not that I am keen or anything!

Should happen this week. The missing connector I have been waiting ages for arrived today.

I am packing the kit of components now.
/Mike

[fishy_fiz]

Im sure this has been covered many times already, but Ive only casually been following minimig. Hypothetically if I bought one today, what would I have in amiga terms ? Are the currently available systems ocs/ecs still, or is aga available to the end user already ? Also, I see on Amigakits site there's mention of a 50mhz mode ? I was actually under the impression the cpu was a "real" 68000 cpu?
Long story short, Im interested in a minimig, but impatient What would I lose if I bought one today vs. waiting for (going by this thread what appears to be) a new version? Also, what upgrade options are availalbe, both now, and planned in the future ?
Thanks.

[billt]

What would I lose if I bought one today vs. waiting for (going by this thread what appears to be) a new version? Also, what upgrade options are availalbe, both now, and planned in the future ?
Thanks.

The FPGA Arcade board has a lot of benefits compared to the traditional Minimig PCB. Larger capacity FPGA, so it can hold more stuff. I think it has a larger video DAC for true AGA to the monitor, I think Minimig only has outputs for ECS color to the monitor. (more digital RGB to the DAC than Minimig) For that matter, Minimig looks to have a VGA port, FPGA Arcade looks like DVI. Hopefully the digital DVI stuff is connected to something too. Sounds like FPGA Arcade will have cores for other platforms as well, I'm nto sure if Minimig has anything other than Amiga core. It sounds like Yacube is waiting for FPGA Arcade release before he releases his AGA extension to Minimig.

If it was me, I'd wait for an FPGA Arcade board.

[amigadave]

@MikeJ,

Any chance that you can attend AmiWest 2010 Show in Sacramento this Oct. to show the FPGA Arcade board running (assuming that you will have a few boards running by then)?  It is going to be a great show and would be even better if you could be there showing everyone your work.

I hope you can attend.  I would love to see an FPGA Arcade board in person, running the Minimig AGA core & some games and other apps.

[vidarh]

Im sure this has been covered many times already, but Ive only casually been following minimig. Hypothetically if I bought one today, what would I have in amiga terms ? Are the currently available systems ocs/ecs still, or is aga available to the end user already ?

You need to wait for the FPGA Arcade (or Natami) for AGA.

 Also, I see on Amigakits site there's mention of a 50mhz mode ? I was actually under the impression the cpu was a "real" 68000 cpu?

It's a Freescale (formely Motorola Semiconductor) 68000 model (don't remember which exact version), so yes, it's a real one. But it can be clocked much higher than the measly 7.16MHz of the early Amigas. The speedup in real terms isn't as dramatic as the MHz speedup sounds, as AFAIK it's still hamstrung by the memory architecture and the fact it's still a 68000 (e.g. lots more cycles for a lot of stuff than an equivalently clocked of the other chips in the family).

You effectively get a somewhat souped up A500 with no expandability to speak off. It's a great little thing to have, but it depends what you want it for. If you want to run A500 games in the living room, it's perfect (I have mine hooked up to a 42" LED TV  - perfect for Lotus Turbo Challenge ). If you want a replacement for an AGA machine or any big box Amiga with typical expansions it's not really suitable.

I'd hold off at least a little bit, though, to see what reactions are to the FPGA Arcade. Or be prepared to buy both...

[fishy_fiz]

Thanks for the response, but the thing is I have no interest in other cores. My only interest in minimig (or similar) is in having new "amiga" hardware. I have no classic system at the moment and am right now in the process of trying to buy one, but as Im sure a lot of you are aware classic amiga gear isnt really available in large supplies, which is why minimig is currently on my radar. Additionally all I really need is something akin to a moderately upgraded system ('020 + fast type speeds or thereabouts, more would be nice, but not essential). AGA would be preferable, but not absolutely necessary.
I guess another big factor for me is it's pretty much now, or never. I wont have the money in a few weeks, so I want something now, or in the very near future.
Also, being that almost without fail when I consider pointing out things, but decide against it, the thing Im thinking gets suggested, I should point out that I want a dedicated "amiga" system, so UAE or it's variants wont fill the gap for me (already have amithlon + aros machines, so I can run amiga software, it's just not what Im chasing).

edit: between the time I first started typing the post and finishing it another response came along that clarified things, so unless anyone wanted to elaborate and/or fill any gaps in info they think are missing, the info I was looking for has been given to me. Thank you to those that helped me here

[vidarh]

Additionally all I really need is something akin to a moderately upgraded system ('020 + fast type speeds or thereabouts, more would be nice, but not essential). AGA would be preferable, but not absolutely necessary.

I guess another big factor for me is it's pretty much now, or never. I wont have the money in a few weeks, so I want something now, or in the very near future.

From the sounds of it, Minimig really isn't suitable for you, I think - chances are you'll find it too slow and limited. FPGA Arcade sounds like a better fit if you can hang in there a bit longer...

[freqmax]

The current gate setup will provide a 32-bit 68000 and AGA. So souped up A500. But if you look into the details, you get ~50 MB ramdisc. And most importantly it's possible to take the programmer software (Xilinx ISE) and make it 68020 + 32-bit AGA without any hardware changes.

[TheGoose]

Have we discussed what the sound will be like on this thing? How the Paula is reinterpreted? Seems all the excitement is focused on AGA.

[jj]

There isnt any sound
 
I would imagine if its running the minimig core it will be very similair to that

[mikej]

Not quite. The board has a high quality Wolson DAC (WM8729) with a decent analogue supply. This supports 192KHz at 24 bit audio.

The core is modified to drive the DAC, and will be expanded later for more bit-depth hopefully.
Mike