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Offline little

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #959 from previous page: November 27, 2010, 05:49:05 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;594750
This VHDL stuff is looking very tempting though, anyone suggest a first-timers FPGA kit to buy or perhaps shuld I just get one of MikeJ's boards?

IMO it would be better to get the fpgaarcade board, not only it is cheaper, but anything meaningful you achieve could be tested by others people.
 

Offline nicholas

Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #960 on: November 27, 2010, 08:24:41 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;594756
Well, that's the point of AROS! Shame others don't get get stuck in and have some fun!

I think MikeJ's board is probably the best option... that way, if you find yourself totally stumped and bored with VHDL... at least you will have a new Amiga... :)


There's some real hardcore Amiga coders (68k and C) on this site and I personally a couple of them.  As you say it's a crying shame they haven't helped out so far. :(

Being under NDA/no-compete from certain PPC dedicated software houses might be the problem though.

MikeJ's board does look rather tempting, moe tempting than a MorphOS licence key for my Christmas pressie (If you are reading this love!)

Quote from: little;594757
IMO it would be better to get the fpgaarcade board, not only it is cheaper, but anything meaningful you achieve could be tested by others people.


I'm sold. :)
“Een rezhim-i eshghalgar-i Quds bayad az sahneh-i ruzgar mahv shaved.” - Imam Ayatollah Sayyed  Ruhollah Khomeini
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #961 on: November 27, 2010, 08:28:29 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;594773

MikeJ's board does look rather tempting, moe tempting than a MorphOS licence key for my Christmas pressie (If you are reading this love!)


I'm not getting you a Replay... ;)

Offline nicholas

Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #962 on: November 27, 2010, 08:31:08 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;594776
I'm not getting you a Replay... ;)

loooooooooooooool

Go on, I'll show you round Maida Vale Islamic Centre if you do. ;)
“Een rezhim-i eshghalgar-i Quds bayad az sahneh-i ruzgar mahv shaved.” - Imam Ayatollah Sayyed  Ruhollah Khomeini
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #963 on: November 27, 2010, 09:11:44 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;594779
loooooooooooooool

Go on, I'll show you round Maida Vale Islamic Centre if you do. ;)



Kind offer, though I expect I'd get about as much out of the visit as you would from one of Dawkins more boring lectures... :lol:

Offline nicholas

Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #964 on: November 27, 2010, 09:20:22 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;594798
Kind offer, though I expect I'd get about as much out of the visit as you would from one of Dawkins more boring lectures... :lol:


Oh it's a beautiful building Matt, Grade A listed.

Much nicer than Finsbury or Regents Park I might add too and no one will try to kill you for being a "filthy infidel" either! :lol:

I love Dawkins lectures, or should I say I like rebutting his points. :)
“Een rezhim-i eshghalgar-i Quds bayad az sahneh-i ruzgar mahv shaved.” - Imam Ayatollah Sayyed  Ruhollah Khomeini
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #965 on: November 27, 2010, 09:26:14 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;594802
Oh it's a beautiful building Matt, Grade A listed.

Much nicer than Finsbury or Regents Park I might add too and no one will try to kill you for being a "filthy infidel" either! :lol:


Only Finsbury park mosque is horrible, mind... But the whole area is a horrible place.

Quote

I love Dawkins lectures, or should I say I like rebutting his points. :)


:) I think he'd actually like that!

Offline nicholas

Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #966 on: November 27, 2010, 09:32:24 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;594805
Only Finsbury park mosque is horrible, mind... But the whole area is a horrible place.



North London is mostly a horrible place mate! ;)

The most "horrible" thing you'd probably find at our place is the sight of 3,000 or more grown men sobbing like babies! :lol:

Quote
:) I think he'd actually like that!


I should hope so too, he wouldn't be much of an academic if he didn't. :)
“Een rezhim-i eshghalgar-i Quds bayad az sahneh-i ruzgar mahv shaved.” - Imam Ayatollah Sayyed  Ruhollah Khomeini
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #967 on: November 27, 2010, 09:34:42 PM »
Quote from: nicholas;594809
North London is mostly a horrible place mate! ;)

The most "horrible" thing you'd probably find at our place is the sight of 3,000 or more grown men sobbing like babies! :lol:


That's why I live in West london :)

Quote

I should hope so too, he wouldn't be much of an academic if he didn't. :)


Indeed, and I would lose all respect for him.

Anyway... back on topic, I am also thinking about the Replay board now... I'm really not keen on VHDL, but FPGAs are starting to make my development gland itch!

Offline nicholas

Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #968 on: November 27, 2010, 09:39:58 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;594811
Anyway... back on topic, I am also thinking about the Replay board now... I'm really not keen on VHDL, but FPGAs are starting to make my development gland itch!


Ditto, not been this excited about anything development related in many many years!

VHDL I can cope with after over a decade of PL-SQL. :)
“Een rezhim-i eshghalgar-i Quds bayad az sahneh-i ruzgar mahv shaved.” - Imam Ayatollah Sayyed  Ruhollah Khomeini
 

Offline freqmax

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #969 on: November 28, 2010, 02:02:59 AM »
I'm not suprised that a 1-2 persons in their home can beat a commercial development department. Usualy those institutions are hampered with red-tape, clueless managers that doesn't get the task at hand etc.. Ofcourse the original creators had to do things in hardware without any good simulation tools. But the former still applies, even now.

lou_dias, Cache helps, but the 16-byte cache is way smaller than the original 68030 256-byte cache. Increasing from 16 to 256 bytes gives cirka 7% more performance. But cost lots of matrix estate. So not worth it. So any performance from cache on the TG68 comes really from another section. The only noteworthy is that the data cache gave TG68 a 2x boost. I suspect there are other parts that can be optimized. But one has to stay compatible too. As soon as some software uses tight I/O loops with external hardware or multimedia chips there might be a problem otherwise.

I see a common problem with both VHDL and Verilog. They both want to be imperative language look-alike. Personally I don't like ADA, but like the ability to do serious flank setups in VHDL. The problem with imperative and even functional language is that they are designed with a sequential processing in mind.
A language which is centered around a logic array configuration would be far superior.

(wonder when those new linear regulators show up at mikej ;) )
 

Offline Popstar

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #970 on: November 28, 2010, 10:54:54 AM »
Loving this project! I am definitely going to get one of these.
Is there any chance for an x86 IBM compatible like the Zet?
Would love to play King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry in CGA mode again.

P.S. I would of course get it for the AGA Amiga part, but any part of my fond computer memories that can be fitted into this beauty is a Win.
 

Offline benJamin

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #971 on: December 01, 2010, 10:50:37 AM »
Quote from: bloodline;594559



Ah, it's all flooding back to me, now!
Amiga.org - The site for MiniMig support and news.
blakemilesmusic.com
 

Offline vidarh

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #972 on: December 01, 2010, 11:19:15 AM »
Quote from: freqmax;594890

The only noteworthy is that the data cache gave TG68 a 2x boost. I suspect there are other parts that can be optimized. But one has to stay compatible too. As soon as some software uses tight I/O loops with external hardware or multimedia chips there might be a problem otherwise.


It'd be nice to have a cycle exact version to fall back on, but I wouldn't worry too much otherwise - anything using loops for timing would fail on any number of Amiga models and with most accelerators too, and presumably wouldn't take advantage of the extra performance anyway. If it's easy enough to fall back on a plain 68000 version for particularly badly coded stuff but use a nicely optimized one for workbench etc. that'd be ideal.
 

Offline bloodline

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Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #973 on: December 01, 2010, 11:32:49 AM »
Quote from: vidarh;595862
It'd be nice to have a cycle exact version to fall back on, but I wouldn't worry too much otherwise - anything using loops for timing would fail on any number of Amiga models and with most accelerators too, and presumably wouldn't take advantage of the extra performance anyway. If it's easy enough to fall back on a plain 68000 version for particularly badly coded stuff but use a nicely optimized one for workbench etc. that'd be ideal.


A good question is if one of the unused SR flags could be used to toggle cycle exact mode at runtime... I'm not sure if that would require separate logic paths though? Anyway the flag could be clear for cycle exact mode and set for single/reduced cycle mode.

Offline Gulliver

Re: MiniMig with AGA
« Reply #974 on: December 04, 2010, 02:08:16 AM »
I am sorry if it has been asked before (if that is the case please point me to the apropiate post). I want to know about the fpgaarcade´s power consumption, how much is it?.

Thanks