FPGA Replay Board

[freqmax]

Alternative A
I think that it would be cool if ADF format also had a small section inside itself (e.g. 64kb) to hold: Info on the adf-contents, a screenshot, +++
This info could then be shown in the selector.

OR

Like the IFF chunks?

Alternative B:
Put a .adx file in parallell with the .adf file where x stands for "eXtra" so that if the adf file has such a daughterfile, the amiga selector uses this for displaying extra info on the adf file -- and he .adx file can hold e.g. a jpeg + text etc...

Those infofiles tends to get lost..

[Belial6]

The best way to handle the configuration is to implement a standard serial port on the floppy controller processor module that is already implemented in the FPGA.  Connect these lines to a serial port on the Amiga side, and you now have a simple communication system between the low level floppy controller and Workbench.  From there it should be trivial to write a bit of code that lets you copy files from the Amiga side over the serial line to write it to the SD card.  The Amiga should see the floppy controller as a floppy drive from one direction, but should also see the floppy controller as a remote computer connected over the serial port not even realizing that they are the same processor.

While writing the floppy controller code would likely be limited to a small subset of programmers, the Amiga side of things could be handled by a much wider range of developers.  As a bonus, the floppy controller could have a second serial port exposed to header pins so that an adapter could be made that allowed external control via simple DIY projects.

As for bundling extra information, the best way to handle that is to adopt the RP9 file format from Amiga Forever.  This would not only give you your image files, help files, manuals and whatnot, it would also allow you to store you Amiga configuration file in with the rest, all in one file.

As a seperate task, if the disk controller serial connection described above were implemented, the disk's startup file could be set to auto initiate a download of the various files from the serial port to a ramdisk.  This means that all of your supporting files would be available to you on Workbench from the same RP9 file.

[psxphill]

3. That menuloader can be quite nice and show all games and demos on the sdcard and
maybe also show with thumbnails and have lots of nice info on the game like
screenshot. PLus maybe some nice screenshots of the game + gameinfo. And the
trick is then to be able to select the game you want, and have the minimig boot it

The fpga replay board isn't just about amiga though. It would be better to browse through all games and then switch to the correct emulation based on what you selected.
 
So it should probably boot into some custom os or linux (it's got to be good for something other than routers, right?).

[mikej]

The Replay board currently works a little differently to the minimig boot.
The board boots up an FPGA image which displays a boot menu, which lets you scroll through directories to chose a platform. (Actually, the boot platform is just the one it files in the \replay directory - it could be any core)

Each directory can contain a .ini file which sets up video standards, clocks and other core specific options (these also appear as on screen selections)
The ini file also gives a list of files to load into DRAM at specific addresses (think ROMs here).
Finally, the ini file also can select default image files to mount as floppy/hard disk images. The ini file can of course be easily edited by sticking the SD card in a PC.

This is all driven by the ARM controller. I am still developing this code, I'm not quite there at the moment, but close.

sorry a bit brief, on holiday at the moment so using the 'phone.
/MikeJ

[freqmax]

Before using the RP9 format, check that it's copyright free.

Serial link to the floppy seems overkill. All those serial commands has to be implemented in the MCU or RTL.. messy. Better to just add another block interface.

[espskog]

Thanks for taking time during your vacation, Mike.

Just wondering -- Would it be able to have one SD card that we can have directories on, e.g. one for Amiga, one for each Arcade, one for C64 and one for VIC20 ..etc, and then when you power up the Replay, it boots a custom "root" menu where you can first choose which Core to use, and from there you can get a sub menu where you have predefined core-setups (i.e. A500, A1200 etc etc) for the Amiga, and if you e.g. wants to boot a Arcade Core, you can choose from any core-bin on the "Arcade" folder of the SD card to boot up PacMan or the Arcade core you prefer.

Is this doable or are there limitations ? I think that the presentation of the Replay from the time you power on to the time you can interact as a user, is important so that you can either have a "interface for dummies" or a more complex and manual OSD interface for more experienced users. That would have been awesome!!!


Espen

[freqmax]

If you can tell the microcontroller (ARM) what image to "boot" it's doable.

The open question is what machine/OS will be used as a platform for the menues, an Amiga might be overkill for the task. It will also require an interface from the computer side to interface with the microcontroller in a consistent manner without bootlenecks.

Block access might be convinient but may also make it possible to corrupt the entire fashmemory. An alternative is to limit access only to a single data block of configuration files.

[freqmax]

@mikej, Still waiting for those pesky FPGA chips?

[vidarh]

Before using the RP9 format, check that it's copyright free.

You can't copyright facts, such as a fileformat. You can copyright the *description* of one, but that doesn't prevent re-implementing code to handle it.

[mikej]

@mikej, Still waiting for those pesky FPGA chips?

Sadly yes

[psxphill]

You can't copyright facts, such as a fileformat. You can copyright the *description* of one, but that doesn't prevent re-implementing code to handle it.

unless it's patented, not that I think it is (but it's possible).

[freqmax]

Where did you order the FPGA chips? (Digikey, Horizon, Avnet, Cedar)

Maybe it could pay to save upp enough money to buy 1000+ chips directly from the manufacurer. To get less lead times. And avoid further "shortages".

[billt]

Where did you order the FPGA chips? (Digikey, Horizon, Avnet, Cedar)

Maybe it could pay to save upp enough money to buy 1000+ chips directly from the manufacurer. To get less lead times. And avoid further "shortages".

Lead times are part of life with these things. If Mikej is independently wealthy, perhaps he can afford to stock his own distribution warehouse, but very few people can do that kind of thing. I'm also not sure how big of a deal 1000 units is, that may still be a low-priority order from the vendor.

[billt]

unless it's patented, not that I think it is (but it's possible).

Didn't Microsoft give people hassle over their patents on FAT or FAT32 filesystems in flash cards and USB sticks?

[freqmax]

Microsoft has the right to sue people for using the long filename feature (LFN). The FAT filesystem as such is free asfaik however (they lost the case). Except for ExFAT.

The rationale is to avoid any "standards" created by corporations.

[psxphill]

Microsoft has the right to sue people for using the long filename feature (LFN).

The problem is supporting short and long file names at the same time. If you only support one or the other (possibly including making it switchable) then you don't appear to have a problem.