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Author Topic: FPGA Replay Board  (Read 820466 times)

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Offline Everblue

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1199 on: December 13, 2011, 09:44:49 AM »
Quote from: mikej;671266
Oh, the backplates have been manufactured and are on the way to me now.
They do not include the holes for the 68060 daughter board, we will make another one then - or you can punch your own holes....
/MikeJ


MikeJ am I on your list for the first batch? Thanks in advance :)
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1200 on: December 13, 2011, 02:44:19 PM »
Quote from: minimiger;671215
will this board ever be forsale to the masses seems to be taking ages ,it would have been better if people kept it in the background like natami thingy ,then we wouldnt have to pull our hair out waiting , or is this board just for the elite as usual???????


Just what is this "Elite" you talk of?  The phrase you're looking for is "Betatesters".  We're the ones that fork out money (usually more than eventual retail price) to test boards, look for bugs and send it reports to aid development of the final boards.  We're the ones that pay for items in advance that don't actually work as intended and have no guarantee that they ever will (Don't believe me?  I have a CommodoreOne with Amiga card you can buy off me if you like).

We buy these items to help keep the developer's interest going so that everyone will eventually get a chance to buy one.  In the case of the CommodoreOne I mentioned above, that board cost me a nice large 3 figure sum and while it is now dead and buried, it spawned the initial NATAMI development and the Chameleon64, so as far as I'm concerned it was money well spent.

So, who are these "Elite" people you speak of?  What is this "as usual"?

Mike has stated that there are more boards to come and he has constantly delivered on his promises.
A2000, A3000, 2 x A1200T, A1200, A4000Tower & Mediator, CD32, VIC-20, C64, C128, C128D, PET 8032, Minimig & ARM, C-One, FPGA Arcade... and AmigaOne X1000.
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1201 on: December 13, 2011, 04:00:03 PM »
Thanks for the update mike.

If I'm not on the list for the first batch, then please put me on the list for the second batch :-)

Can't wait to see the finished product with a working Amiga @ '030/50 speeds!
 

Offline freqmax

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1202 on: December 13, 2011, 05:09:56 PM »
I think this project is one of the most useful ever for the Amiga community. The core should guarantee that we won't run out of hardware ever..
 

Offline Firedawg

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1203 on: December 13, 2011, 06:23:39 PM »
This is a very exciting project and I know I have been waiting with great anticipation.  I have been hounding poor Mikej for months about securing a board that he probably has me on an email block by now.  I do want to thank folks like Yaqube, Darrin, wizard66, amigadave and the many others who have made the financial commitment to get a beta-board and help with fine tuning of the cores and the board in general.  Everyone who is wanting the opportunity to get this board just be patient as many have said to Mike's hard work that he is just one guy doing the job of many.

Firedawg
Amiga 4000T/60 - A2000/60 - 1200T/60, Soldered Up 3 x Minimig 1.1, Mac Mini 1.5 Running MacOSX/MOS 2.7-Registered
 

Offline Everblue

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1204 on: December 13, 2011, 06:41:38 PM »
Anyone else thinks that the Arcade FPGA has killed the Minimig completely?
 

Offline HenryCase

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1205 on: December 13, 2011, 06:59:59 PM »
Quote from: Nostromo;671304
Anyone else thinks that the Arcade FPGA has killed the Minimig completely?


The FPGA Arcade is the next stage in the Minimig's evolution, it didn't kill the Minimig, it ensures it lives on (the Minimig core that is).
"OS5 is so fast that only Chuck Norris can use it." AeroMan
 

Offline minimiger

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1206 on: December 13, 2011, 10:41:59 PM »
well i see some minimiger bashing going on i had a good point , but all of your points are invalid , as recently i paid 40 pounds for battlefield 3 it has more bugs than you can imagine , and modern warefare 3 guess what more bugs , my point is MW3 has made 1 bilion dollars BF3 alot, so there you go before you all start licking butts and really inside your heads thinking same as me hurrrrryy uppp before we all die, start pushing to get it released before i grow to old to even switch it on:)
 

Offline ShapeShifter

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1207 on: December 14, 2011, 12:00:43 AM »
The FPGA Replay will no more 'kill' the original MiniMig board than the release of the Amiga 4000 'killed' the Amiga 1200.  It's simply a new option for us to choose from. The Replay complements the MiniMig, it doesn't make it redundant.  The Replay will appeal to those of us for whom the original Minimig board was 'not enough', in the same way the Minimig will appeal to those who don't need the extra functionality/abilities of the Replay and are more concerned about getting their 'retro Amiga kick' on a budget than they are about expandability or high-end features.

It market terms, the Minimig is like what the A500+ used to be: a low-cost budget machine above the original Amiga 500, whereas the Replay is the Amiga 1200: the powerful and expandable mid-ranger, whilst the NatAmi is like the Amiga 4000: it's high-end in features but it has a price tag to match.   NatAmi will be the most full-featured option and will offer the users most out-of-the-box, but it will also be the most expensive option of the three, because it will offer many features which most people may not even want or have a need for (do we really *need* a full 512MB of RAM, plus IDE support and a floppy disk drive, when we've large SD card capacities now, and can simply ADF up any disks we wish to transfer over and use?)

The Replay is ideally placed in between these two.  It leapfrogs the original MiniMig in specifications, offers AGA and 030/040+ speeds, and is much closer to what the NatAmi will offer, whilst keeping costs down by removing unnecessary features which aren't required by the average user.   Thanks to it's daughterboard expansion slot and FPGA design, it can also be expanded in both software and hardware capabilities in much the same way an A1200 was expandable into something which could not only match, but even exceed, the out-of-the-box capabilities of the top-of-the-line A4000.

From my point of view, the Replay offers the perfect balance of power, performance, features and expandability and most of all, it does all of this at a very reasonable price.  For those who only want A500 capabilities to replay old Amiga games at the cheapest possible price, the original MiniMig design still remains the best option.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2011, 12:14:56 AM by ShapeShifter »
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1208 on: December 14, 2011, 12:21:26 AM »
Quote from: Firedawg;671300
This is a very exciting project and I know I have been waiting with great anticipation.  I have been hounding poor Mikej for months about securing a board that he probably has me on an email block by now.  I do want to thank folks like Yaqube, Darrin, wizard66, amigadave and the many others who have made the financial commitment to get a beta-board and help with fine tuning of the cores and the board in general.  Everyone who is wanting the opportunity to get this board just be patient as many have said to Mike's hard work that he is just one guy doing the job of many.

Firedawg


I'm always happy to support a great project and the FPGA Arcade had me drooling as soon as I heard about it.  As a long time Minimig user, I love the FPGA based machines and they get more use than my real Amigas... however I do treasure my A2000 and A4000.  :)
A2000, A3000, 2 x A1200T, A1200, A4000Tower & Mediator, CD32, VIC-20, C64, C128, C128D, PET 8032, Minimig & ARM, C-One, FPGA Arcade... and AmigaOne X1000.
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1209 on: December 14, 2011, 12:25:23 AM »
Quote from: Nostromo;671304
Anyone else thinks that the Arcade FPGA has killed the Minimig completely?


If I had to choose between the two then there is no competition.

What I hope to see is a lot of second hand Minimig v1.1 boards hit the used market so those on a budget who can't justify paying for the FPGA Arcade, Chameleon64 or NATAMI will get a chance to buy one cheap.

Also, if you only want OCS/ECS and to play A500+ games then the Minimig v1.1 is perfect.

Edit:  What Shapeshifter said.  :D
A2000, A3000, 2 x A1200T, A1200, A4000Tower & Mediator, CD32, VIC-20, C64, C128, C128D, PET 8032, Minimig & ARM, C-One, FPGA Arcade... and AmigaOne X1000.
 

Offline haywirepc

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1210 on: December 14, 2011, 12:58:19 AM »
I've been waiting forever to get this but may just buy a minimig. I don't think I'll miss aga stuff too much, but thats hard to tell without trying it, and I'm also afraid the minute I buy one something much better will also be available.
 

Offline Darrin

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1211 on: December 14, 2011, 01:20:30 AM »
Quote from: haywirepc;671330
I've been waiting forever to get this but may just buy a minimig. I don't think I'll miss aga stuff too much, but thats hard to tell without trying it, and I'm also afraid the minute I buy one something much better will also be available.


The average Amiga enthusiast is always looking to add extra RAM, a faster CPU, a bigger hard drive, etc regardless of what he buys.  :D

If you can get a Minimig on the cheap then I'd say buy one, but if you can hang on then I'd seriously recommend the FPGA Arcade.  Especially once additional cores are released.
A2000, A3000, 2 x A1200T, A1200, A4000Tower & Mediator, CD32, VIC-20, C64, C128, C128D, PET 8032, Minimig & ARM, C-One, FPGA Arcade... and AmigaOne X1000.
 

Offline bbond007

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1212 on: December 14, 2011, 01:27:13 AM »
Quote from: Nostromo;671304
Anyone else thinks that the Arcade FPGA has killed the Minimig completely?


Nope, I just turned mine on today after installing it in my new fancy minimig case.

It fired right up...
 

Offline ShapeShifter

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1213 on: December 14, 2011, 01:41:26 AM »
Quote from: Darrin;671334
The average Amiga enthusiast is always looking to add extra RAM, a faster CPU, a bigger hard drive, etc regardless of what he buys.  :D
[..]
I'm always happy to support a great project and the FPGA Arcade had me drooling as soon as I heard about it.  As a long time Minimig user, I love the FPGA based machines and they get more use than my real Amigas... however I do treasure my A2000 and A4000.  :)
We're totally on the same page here Darrin :) It's strange, but the "Next Gen" PowerPC Amigas and OS4.x for some reason just never excited me in the same way the FPGA Replay has.  I think it's because I have always been a "Classic Amiga" fan, and I have never really had much interest or saw much benefit in buying a big, bulky, expensive AmigaNG system just to be able to run a small number of extra apps.  I'd rather see evolution and improvement of the classic, and at a low price.  Replay is much more in the spirit of what I've been looked and waiting for.

It will replace my expired A4000 very nicely, it's modern, it's compact, it's powerful, it's expandable, and it's NOT emulation but "the real thing."

haywirepc, if expandability is important to you, there's no contest between the two; you have to get a Replay.  The MiniMig just isn't designed for expansion. But if the ability to expand isn't important to you, and A500/ECS is enough, then Minimig is perfect, as Darrin said :)

Quote from: bbond007;671337
Nope, I just turned mine on today after installing it in my new fancy minimig case.

It fired right up...
:roflmao:
« Last Edit: December 14, 2011, 01:53:00 AM by ShapeShifter »
 

Offline bon

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Re: FPGA Replay Board
« Reply #1214 from previous page: December 14, 2011, 01:47:11 AM »
Can I make an order or pre-order right now? How?

Thnks
Jesus Saves! - The rest of you take full damage...