FPGA Replay Board

[HenryCase]

Jason already started on "wanderer lite" he called it workbook iirc. =]

Ah cool! I noticed lou_dias used that name in this thread, but I didn't realise Jason was working on it, good times. :-) Just found a screenshot of Workbook (clearly WIP):
http://download.aros3d.org/pictures/workbook.jpg

[Iggy]

Jason already started on "wanderer lite" he called it workbook iirc. =]

Yes, I know the original ROMS are flashable, but these last two posts help make things clearer still.

So, except for the workbench replacement, everything will fit?

And as far as size limitations, I wasn't suggesting this:
"it'd be pretty sucky to put in a replacement ROM/flash on an A500 and  have to boot a second stage image from floppy before you can boot a disk"

I was thinking more toward a larger banked EPROM that could appear as a 512KB or 1MB ROM but hold more when booting.

[HenryCase]

So, except for the workbench replacement, everything will fit?

Here's a useful post, made by one of the two main developers of the AROS 68k branch, Jason McMullan:
http://www.minimig.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=372

Couple of quotes from the post:

By the way, the current status of AROS m68k is that it can run most shell and GUI commands of Workbench 1.3 and 3.x, and several applications. We're currently missing a lightweight 'Workbench', so you have to use the very bulky 'Wanderer' or some other workbench replacement.

Sorry for the large size of the ROMs, but they are jam-packed with debugging code. We plan to shrink them quite a bit once we have full functionality.

In other words, yes, in time.

[Iggy]

Here's a useful post, made by one of the two main developers of the AROS 68k branch, Jason McMullan:
http://www.minimig.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=372

Couple of quotes from the post:
In other words, yes, in time.

Interesting. Anyone here try the builds referenced?

[Iggy]

Yet another stupid question in reference to this post on another thread.

Hey, I still use the disks to start my A1000.  Main reason is I have so many old games that will not boot under  anything higher than 1.3 (1.2 in several cases!). I need to figure out  how to add the ROM, AND still be able to boot from floppy.

 So some people are booting from floppy anyway to load old revisions for game compatibility.
Willing AROS offer better compatibility, or the ability to boot to a floppy?

[vidarh]

And as far as size limitations, I wasn't suggesting this:
"it'd be pretty sucky to put in a replacement ROM/flash on an A500 and  have to boot a second stage image from floppy before you can boot a disk"

I was thinking more toward a larger banked EPROM that could appear as a 512KB or 1MB ROM but hold more when booting.

If you were to place such a hypothetical board in the ROM socket, it'd need to implement logic for bank switching. Not impossible, but it'd be messy. E.g. you could have some tiny bootstrap logic copy the initial 512K or 1MB to RAM, and have some logic set up so that attempts to read/write a specific address in the ROM address space trigger a change in additional address lines on your card. But if you want to do that, then you *need* to copy the contents to RAM, as there's no way to make the whole image available at the same time via the ROM socket if it exceeds the size limit.

A device on the Zorro bus, like a Deneb for example, is probably a better option then.

[Iggy]

If you were to place such a hypothetical board in the ROM socket, it'd need to implement logic for bank switching. Not impossible, but it'd be messy. E.g. you could have some tiny bootstrap logic copy the initial 512K or 1MB to RAM, and have some logic set up so that attempts to read/write a specific address in the ROM address space trigger a change in additional address lines on your card. But if you want to do that, then you *need* to copy the contents to RAM, as there's no way to make the whole image available at the same time via the ROM socket if it exceeds the size limit.

A device on the Zorro bus, like a Deneb for example, is probably a better option then.

Your last comment is valid, but I like the idea you mentioned in the first paragraph. The delay would be minimal and it would solve the size issue.

[mfilos]

To make your own:
http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/DC-KF500

There were tries in the past from some guys like ROMflash that sadly never made it in the open.
I found that making your own custom kickstart is cool. If you map it via MapROM (like ACA cards) or in FPGA Arcade is better and full of win

[Louis Dias]

Ah cool! I noticed lou_dias used that name in this thread, but I didn't realise Jason was working on it, good times. :-) Just found a screenshot of Workbook (clearly WIP):
http://download.aros3d.org/pictures/workbook.jpg

Yeah, I forgot Zune = MUI and Wanderer = Workbench in AROS land.  I meant Wanderer.  And Wanderer-lite = Workbook

[Hattig]

Can you point me to one of these projects?

Sorry, I don't have a direct link. I think there was something recently on EAB - someone is enhancing some core Kickstart libraries and making ROM images.

[Hattig]

If you put something in the ROM socket, there is no direct way around the space limitation if you want everything in ROM/flash, as the limit is because of the number of address lines available on the various models.

Mumbles something about wires and soldering to CPU address pins... It must be possible, especially with something like that German EPROM board where you can solder the other end to the wire to the spare EPROM pins.

[billt]

And as far as size limitations, I wasn't suggesting this:
"it'd be pretty sucky to put in a replacement ROM/flash on an A500 and  have to boot a second stage image from floppy before you can boot a disk"

I was thinking more toward a larger banked EPROM that could appear as a 512KB or 1MB ROM but hold more when booting.

Well, what abotu a dual-stage ROM boot? Have the actual aros-start image highly compressed in there. Initial boot uncompresses that into RAM and then does a softkick-alike thing to then boot that RAM image of the firmware?

I suppose that requires a known available amount of RAM at a known location, which may or may not be true for all Amiga motherboards/acceleartors. Has this been discussed anywhere for me to read up on?

[vidarh]

Mumbles something about wires and soldering to CPU address pins... It must be possible, especially with something like that German EPROM board where you can solder the other end to the wire to the spare EPROM pins.

Heh. Actually that might be possible. Back when I had my A500 I had a couple of things soldered straight onto the pins of my 68000 Alternatively moving the CPU to a socket on a board slotting into the CPU socket with a flash tied to it should be doable for a cleaner solution, at least on machines with a 68000 (no idea how sensitive the faster 680x0's are to noise/poor connection from something like that, but with the 68000 at least you can get away with murder).

[HenryCase]

Sorry, I don't have a direct link. I think there was something recently on EAB - someone is enhancing some core Kickstart libraries and making ROM images.

Hattig, do you mean the work Cosmos is doing (see links below)?
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=57950
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=57419

[Iggy]

To make your own:
http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/DC-KF500

There were tries in the past from some guys like ROMflash that sadly never made it in the open.
I found that making your own custom kickstart is cool. If you map it via MapROM (like ACA cards) or in FPGA Arcade is better and full of win

Wow, so there are some hackers here (and in the Amiga community).

I'm really impressed with where you guys are going with this and the question becomes - why not?

[Hattig]

Yeah, I think that's the person I was thinking of. Thanks for finding it!