FPGA Replay Board

[psxphill]

It's far closer to custom chipset than software emulation, if that's what you are asking. The FPGA simulates the hardware of the classic chipset directly (no software running on a generic CPU, but rather the FPGA re-implements the Amiga chipset), however the simulation is not the original hardware exactly (due to no-one having these details, and the gate level deconstruction of the original hardware is not complete yet) so there are going to be a few incompatibilities.
 
There are arguments about the meaning of emulation, simulation, etc, let's not go there again.

It's massively parallel emulation, while in a software emulator like winuae everything is serial.
 
The original question is meaningless in the context of an FPGA because the FPGA is programmable & is designed to be more than just an Amiga. IIRC mikej is more into Atari ST and it's just that others with the prototypes (and have been posting progress) are more Amiga focused.
 
The people writing the Amiga emulation seem to be targeting AGA with extra chip ram so far, but there is no reason it can't be extended beyond that. However any extensions that are made could be added to WinUAE if anyone cared enough.

[cunnpole]

However any extensions that are made could be added to WinUAE if anyone cared enough.

I think the lack of demand for SAGA (or whatever advanced AGA people are thinking about) in WinUAE says a lot of the need to do it in the FPGA. By all means give us a mode that make the functionality we already have insanely fast but do we really need new functions?

[yssing]

I was under the impression, that SAGA was an RTG and OpenGL extension to the aga chipset.

Some form of warp3D support in the fpgaarcade would be really great. But for now I can settle with the Picasso96 support

[AmigaClassicRule]

I think the lack of demand for SAGA (or whatever advanced AGA people are thinking about) in WinUAE says a lot of the need to do it in the FPGA. By all means give us a mode that make the functionality we already have insanely fast but do we really need new functions?

Technically you are getting new functions.

1) Insanely fast (new function)
2) More CHIP RAM (new function)

Since you already have these two might as well just add the last bit

3) Allow support for more than 64 colors per sprite....say 32 bit colors per sprite....like you see in RTG
4) Add 3D support

and you have yourself a new spanking SAGA custom chipset.

[pampers]

There are nearly 200 boards manufactured now, which is somewhat more than Natami.
/MikeJ

Please Santa, let me be on that list Keep it up Mike. Any more news about daughterboards from Jakub?

[cunnpole]

3) Allow support for more than 64 colors per sprite....say 32 bit colors per sprite....like you see in RTG
4) Add 3D support

The difference for 1 & 2 is that the devs wouldn't have to make any changes for existing code (unless they hooked game timings to known AGA timings, but that's bad practice). It wouldn't be much different to catering for the different cpu speeds classics have.

As for 3 and 4, surely that would be better as an extension to the RTG mode (behaving like existing 2D/3D cards do).

The more compatible things can be the better. We don't need another AMIGA platform to code for.

[psxphill]

I think the lack of demand for SAGA (or whatever advanced AGA people are thinking about) in WinUAE says a lot of the need to do it in the FPGA. By all means give us a mode that make the functionality we already have insanely fast but do we really need new functions?

WinUAE is an emulator of classic amiga systems, so there would be no demand unless there was a system that supported something better than AGA.
 
There is more likely to be demand for PPC/WarpOS/PCI etc.
 

Technically you are getting new functions.
 
1) Insanely fast (new function)
2) More CHIP RAM (new function)

No these aren't new functions. Existing software will just work with these without any changes.
 

Since you already have these two might as well just add the last bit
 
3) Allow support for more than 64 colors per sprite....say 32 bit colors per sprite....like you see in RTG
4) Add 3D support
 
and you have yourself a new spanking SAGA custom chipset.

"might as well" is pushing it, there are many reasons why 3d support won't happen. Lack of space in the FPGA being one of them.
You'll be lucky to get graphics as good as a PS1.

[roc]

Any idea when we will see this product in AmigaKit.com or is this going to be a Natami clone?

I am eager receiving the FPGArcade too and I am sure Mike and all the crew are doing a great job in providing us with the ultimate FPGA emulation board.

In the meantime, I placed an order for the Myst that I received 3 weeks later, which is faster than light considering that I pre-ordered the FPGArcade back in 2011.

I read in the forums that Myst performance should be a bit lower than FPGArcade itself and considerably lower than 060 daughterboard, however in my view it is worth enjoying it until PFGArcade&06DB become available to Amigans.

[freqmax]

PFGArcade&06DB ..?

There's always the option to take the specifications and write code for an FPGA development board if you don't have the patience to wait for this board

[roc]

PFGArcade&06DB ..?

There's always the option to take the specifications and write code for an FPGA development board if you don't have the patience to wait for this board

I have patience and am sincerely grateful to Mike and Jakub (and maybe others) who are developing those great boards. After all, patience is one of the most valuable virtues of Amigans

The point was that there are alternative options until FPGArcade will be eventually released. Personally, I love to buy all the Amiga/FPGA devices and there might be other people interested too.

[Faranheit]

Hi Roc,

If you would have placed your order at our webshop, you would not have waited 3 weeks for getting your Mist board since we have in stock

The big difference between Mist and FPGA Arcade baord is that the second one has the AGA support, is easier for integration in any Mini ITX / Micro ATX and ATX case and also has more memory available.

Later (when the new firmware and core are ready), it will integrate RTG graphics support too

Thanks, Laurent aka Faranheit
Amedia Computer France
Site : http://amiga.amedia-computer.com
Thanks

[Linde]

WinUAE is an emulator of classic amiga systems, so there would be no demand unless there was a system that supported something better than AGA

You're quite obviously wrong, judging from the hype in this thread.

[JimDrew]

US customers that want to get on the waiting list, please click the link located in our NEWS page:

http://www.cbmstuff.com/news.htm

Thanks!

Jim

[Honkybear]

Excuse my Ignorance but if I own a fpga with the daughter board would it be capable of running OS4 or morphos for that matter. This would not be a deal breaker but would in fact ad value to me wanting one that much more.

[OlafS3]

Excuse my Ignorance but if I own a fpga with the daughter board would it be capable of running OS4 or morphos for that matter. This would not be a deal breaker but would in fact ad value to me wanting one that much more.

No PPC, no MorphOS or AmigaOS (besides that they would want money to port it)

[AmigaClassicRule]

No PPC, no MorphOS or AmigaOS (besides that they would want money to port it)

It goes more than that...FPGA Replay is 68k based if there is going to be a port of AmigaOS 4.1 to run on FPGA they might as well have had two versions long time...and I mean long time ago, one PPC and one 68k...and if they went in that road...you can kiss PPC hardware good bye..because already a very tiny market who will purchase PPC will be even more tinier as no one will afford the PPC...and...then why have a PPC version in the first place...and we will head to the road of x86 port discussion all over again...and the cycle continues.