FPGA Replay Board

[freqmax]

Is there any CD32 setup for the FPGA Arcade? I thought especially on that it uses a 1 MB ROM and well.. CD which isn't implemented?

(The CD has a special MKE interface to add to the mess)

[Kokos]

I'm on my way to the music festival

Hi Mike! How was the gig? :>

[freqmax]

Is Amiga CD32 "mode" available? I guess it would involve MKE-CD-ROM interface clone from the SD-card besides floppy and harddisk mode.

And can these things be tuned?
 * KS 1.2 vs 1.3
 * Chip mem 512kB - 1MB - 2MB
 * Floppy drive(s) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
 * PAL - NTSC

[ChaosLord]

 * Chip mem 512kB - 1MB - 2MB
 * Floppy drive(s) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
 * PAL - NTSC

Degrader should handle all of the Above.  If Degrader does not work for disabling floppy drives then FPGA Arcade is not 100% compatible.

As far as floppy drives goes tho.. you can control them with the OSD I think.  So you should be able to just have one floppy if you need.

@MikeJ
There are various weirdo-coded games that won't work with extra drives attached or extra chipmem or certain versions of kickstart.  Yes it is stupid.  But that's the way it is.

Thankfully there are not many games like that.  But on the Amiga "not many" means a couple of hundred.

Regarding PAL/NTSC there are thousands of games that require the gamer to use a util to boot into PAL (or NTSC) before loading the game.  Degrader can do that.

Degrader is free from Aminet and can happily sit on your hard drive until you need it.

[freqmax]

I was more interested in if the FPGA Replay could do this than some utility which can't really hide the hardware.

Oh and I read some games refuse to boot if you have modem connected to serial port.. doh

[ChaosLord]

Here is my msg from another thread that inspired Freqmax's latest posts

A game that works on OCS will work on ECS too. ECS is a big Win \o/.

Some badly coded games are incompatible with 1MB chipram tho. So u can use Degrader or other similar tool to disable the extra memory temporarily and get such a game working.

Some games are incompatible with extra floppy drives attached. So u can just use Degrader or other similar tool to disable the extra drives temporarily.

I used to hardcore test game compatiblity with a giant stack of different Amiga models and I kept a list of all the games and what their requirements were so when I had a game party I could quickly get any game in the universe working.

There are a few games which are tremendously badly coded and they just won't work on Kickstart 1.3, you MUST use Kickstart 1.2 on those few games. And there are a few others, mostly old EA games that require KS 1.1 (Arctic Fox, etc.)

There are probably at least 24 games that won't work on KS 2.0+ and MUST be started with KS1.3 but I did not really test for that. I was mainly testing 1.2 vs. 1.3,
512K chip vs 1MB or 2MB chip,
1 Floppy drive vs. 2 floppy drives,
PAL vs. NTSC. (huge numbers of games won't work in the wrong video mode)

Sometimes a game will work perfectly on your machine but then when u install a trainer suddenly the game has bizarre limitations (such as one of the things listed above). So u hafta watch out for "Virgin Game" vs. "Trained Game" differences.

There were also a couple of games that would not work if you had a modem plugged in. DOH!

[Darrin]

And can these things be tuned?
 * KS 1.2 vs 1.3
 * Chip mem 512kB - 1MB - 2MB
 * Floppy drive(s) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
 * PAL - NTSC

I don't have my FPGA Arcade with me, but you can set the Chip RAM from the OSD, assign the number of floppy drives and use whatever Kickstart file you want (I have 1.3 and 3.1 on my SD card).

To be honest, WHDLoad on a HDF file will take care of most games and then you can configure the machine to run the ADF of any "problem" games.

[NorthWay]

Would be funky to get an A1000 mode with WOM and all.
Dragon's Lair and some hacker kickstarts are probably the only things that can use it that you can't use anyway?

[freqmax]

Is CD-rom (amiga cd32 style) implemented?

[Darrin]

Is CD-rom (amiga cd32 style) implemented?

You mean the ability to mount an image of a CD as if it was in an actual CD ROM drive?  No.

Once we have USB we can connect an exteral CD/DVD drive.

[Kokos]

One additional question..

Do you think it's possible that iControlPad 2 will work with USB variant of FPGAA?

If yes, do you think I'll be able to map any controller button I want? Example - let say I'm using FPGAA, running some ADF file, I use iCP2 as joystick, and I want to skip the intro where mouse or keyboard is originally required - can I use also iCP2 for this?

Thanks & cheers!

[mikej]

I am back in the real world after Glastonbury festival, lot of stuff to catch up with...

MikeJ

[AJCopland]

I am back in the real world after Glastonbury festival, lot of stuff to catch up with...

MikeJ

Welcome back to the land of the most popular thread on AMIGA.org ever

[arnljot]

Glad to hear it. I sent an email to you Mike. I very badly want to buy one;)

[mikej]

Glad to hear it. I sent an email to you Mike. I very badly want to buy one;)

Thank you. I am working through emails.

I spent 7 days in the most amazing place on the planet, I am still completely spangled, covered in mud and glitter (and at the airport).
Normal service will be resumed asap
Cheers,
MikeJ

[arnljot]

Thank you. I am working through emails.

I spent 7 days in the most amazing place on the planet, I am still completely spangled, covered in mud and glitter (and at the airport).
Normal service will be resumed asap
Cheers,
MikeJ

Seems like it's well deserved!

I'm so enthusiastic that I've already bought a 060 off ebay in lieu of the daughter card :-D

EDIT:
So, here are a few FAQ items that I've compiled

Q: Does the basic FGAArcade Replay support RTG?
A: Yes, the main board supports RTG. The soft CPU has some compatibility issues so until these are resolved the 68060 on the daughterboard is required.
Hopefully this will be improved.
Source

Q: Is it possible or will it be possible to run Atari ST(E)/falcon core on FPGAA?
A: Yes, the Atari core is the reason mikej built this board in the first place.
Source

Q: Is it possible to add support for the PS3 controller?
A: The PS3 controller protocol is pretty well understood, so it could certainly be done without too much trouble. Hopefully somebody will pick it up when the code is pushed out.
Source

Q: What does the basic Replay board support currently of USB devices?
A: The current core is very close to the original hardware, so only 9PIN digital.
There are analog inputs on the ARM which can be used in future.
The USB adapter adds keyboard and mouse, and can be extended to all sorts of stuff in future. Although hubs are supported in the current code.
Source

Q: Will there be an aga core for this or ecs only?
A: AGA, although there are some compatibility issues with it yet to be resolved.
Source

Q: What can be configured in terms of features on the basic board?
A: IYou can set the Chip RAM from the OSD, assign the number of floppy drives and use whatever Kickstart file you want (I have 1.3 and 3.1 on my SD card).

To be honest, WHDLoad on a HDF file will take care of most games and then you can configure the machine to run the ADF of any "problem" games.
Source

Q: Is CD-rom (amiga cd32 style) implemented?
A: You mean the ability to mount an image of a CD as if it was in an actual CD ROM drive? No.

Once we have USB we can connect an exteral CD/DVD drive.
Source

Q: How high is it with the daughterboard?
A: The 68060 with heatsink does not exceed the height of the ps2 connectors - and certainly it is all within the atx panel height.
Source

Q: How big is the Replay board?
A: The board is half-size itx (17cm by 8cm), mechanical drawings are on the website, but mikej is going to put all the docs in a cleaner fashion on the new website. It fits in any itx/atx case with two screws.
Source

Q: Can I use a USB Keyb/Mouse instead of PS2?
A: mikej tried hard to get two USB connectors on the back, but it would not fit on the adapter.
You can cable off the internal header to an external connector, or use a hub. Note, in this batch nearly all the boards are PS/2 - the USB ones are really for Loriano's case. mikej doesn't have the modified ATX panel yet.

To do this, you need an optional VNC2 module. The VNC2 is an optional module which fits on the board instead of the PS2 connector and provides two USB host ports, and all the software muscle to drive them. It speaks mouse/keyboard SPI back to the FPGA which feeds it into the Amiga core.
Source  Source

Q: Can I use a real floppy drive with the Replay board?
A: Maybe in the future, user JimDrew is working on something called the SuperCard Pro
Source  Source

Q: How is firmware updated?
A: Firmware updates for the FPGA are as simple as copying the file on the SD card.
For the ARM code you push the menu button while powering on the board, and run an update program on your PC. The two will talk, the ARM flash is reprogrammed and you are good to go.

You can also update the bootloader this way too.
If you mess it up, there is a link on the board to reload a default boot loader.

The optional VNC2 module can be updated from a USB stick, and need to added before release.
Source Source

Q: Can I use any new modern LCD screen with the Replay board?
A: Just make sure you get a monitor that supports a 50Hz vertical refresh. Darrin of Amiga.org use a couple of ViewSonic models with his Minimig and FPGA Arcade.
Source

Q: Where I can buy/order one of these?
A: Send an e-mail to mikej at mikej@at@fpga_no*spam?arcade.com or order one from Amedia Computer France, their website is http://amiga.amedia-computer.com
Source Source

Q: What does it cost?
A: he price for the current boards is 199Euro + VAT for the non-composite/svhs version and 229Euro +VAT with. VAT in Sweden is 25%
Source

To be continued (I came as far as page 177)...