FPGA that upgrades Amiga 500 custom chipset or allow internet browsing...

[AmigaClassicRule]

What do you guys think of this idea as an FPGA project? You recall how in AmigaKit there is an MP3 Player hardware that hooks in the mouse of the Amiga port for Amiga systems that cannot play MP3? All you need is like some sort of extra RAM to buffer the MP3 and it does all the work for you?

 Why not invent a hardware that goes to the joystick port or parallel port or serial port or even the expansion port of the Amiga 500 where it does all the work for Javascript/flash/HTML 5/Silverlight etc and there is a firmware for updates...that simply you have a browser in the workbench that opens the page then all the other things that cannot allow a classical Amiga to browse the website correctly (with RTG or without) due to lack of flash, javascript,etc that hardware takes effect. It does all the grinding work..then it uses the Amiga machine to display the content of the website in the screen. When the person clicks on a youtube film...the hardware does all the grinding work and then sends the information and uses Paula and video to display it into your monitor and audio...if you are using OCS/ECS it uses HAM6 and if you are using AGA it uses HAM8 and if you are using RTG it optimizes for that...and in itself it have some sort of RAM and CPU that does the grinding work and firmware with the third party flash and so on?

Minimum requirement to use this hardware and browser is KS 2.x+ and minimum hardware would be 020 for example. This way all Amiga classic users starting from A500 up to A4000 would enjoy browsing the internet without any trouble.....any food for thought in this idea?

Also I have another idea of an FPGA project. Have an emulator FPGA card that hooks into your Amiga 500 that allows you to emulate Commodore 64/128 and other system emulation such as MSX, etc using your A500 and it fits in the trapdoor of your system. It also add additional RAM like 8 MB of RAM or something like that...when you place the card in your A500 it automatically display the icons on the desktop (minimum Kickstart 1.3) of these emulation and will require real life hardware media devices or real 1541 disk drive or tape drive etc. When you double click the icon it asks (in system request) if you wish to go into C64 mode or whatever...and poof like Commodore 128 switching to C64 mode...the Amiga classic switches to that system.

Finally I have another FPGA project, upgrading your A500/A600/A3000/A1200/A4000 with a newer custom chipset...not necessarly like Natami new system all together..but simply increases the CHIP RAM from 2 MB to 16 MB and increases from OCS/ECS/AGA to new custom chipset even SAGA. Thus allowing all Amiga platforms to be 100% compatible with each other as they all have the same custom chipset and the custom chipset is backward compatible to OCS/ECS and AGA in the startup screen. It allows to switching between NTSC/PAL and have build in scandoubler and support for HDMI as well.

[freqmax]

0) MP3-player via mouseport
Can you really transfer fast enough (15 kByte/s) without excessive CPU load through that port? Other than that any DSP + D/A should suffice to accomplish the task. I would recommend parallellport.

1) Webb accelerator
Once you require so much functionality you might as well run the browser on a PC and use a live video switch that will embedd a window from said computer into the Amiga output video stream.

2) Emulator FPGA card
That already exist, it's called FPGA Replay.

3) Custom chipset upgrade
What you suggest would in essence replace the Amiga. So much you might as well use the FPGA Replay.

Reconsider what really is useful.

[JimS]

I've been thinking about things along these lines for a while... not that I have the resources to do it... but it's fun to speculate about. ;-) I don't think you're going to squeeze an updated graphics chipset onto the joystick or printer port. I was thinking of something that ran in parallel with the Amiga's chipset but at higher color depth. The extended graphics would be supered over the stock chipset, genlock style. Maybe the thing could work at a VGA scan rate and delace the stock chipset.

The other thing I had in mind was a "Super I/O board". There are lots of little breakout boards made for microcontrollers that do some cool stuff. TCP/IP, MP3 players, WIFI etc. Many of these seem to use the SPI bus. I figured a Zorro card that could host a bunch of these would be fun.

Anyway, it seems to me a lot of these could be implemented on the Replay.


In other words, I'm with freqmax. ;-)

[freqmax]

At some point the Amiga becomes just a fancy keyboard attachment to something else

[fishy_fiz]

Id rather the amiga do the work than to make the amiga a keyboard for another machine.

Not only that, but some of what was suggested is impossible, both on a hardware level, and software level.

If you want improved hardware in a classic amiga then there's plenty of existing optons already.

[NovaCoder]

At some point the Amiga becomes just a fancy keyboard attachment to something else

This is very true and also very interesting to consider.

This is why I'm not interested in Towered A1200's with Mediators and PC cards to do all the work, where's the Amiga gone, are you actually using the original hardware?

If you think about, the expanded 'big box' Classic Amiga's also fit into this bucket, when you've got an RTG card, an AHI sound card and USB controller it's not really using the original chipset for much either.   Adding a PPC card is another step away from the original architecture.

There's a fine line between 'enhancing' a Classic and just making it redundant and this line is obviously a personal decision.

For me personally, I'm happy to plug an 68k FPGA accelerator into my A1200 desktop and an FPGA flicker fixer with enhanced chunky modes but much beyond that and it becomes a bit silly.  

Let's face it, a bog standard 2MB A1200 isn't much fun, they only become usable with a memory expansion card.

If I didn't have a Classic A1200 then I'd probably just use WinUAE to get my retro gaming fix (the cheapest option!).

The FPGA Arcade and other stand-alone computers are interesting but they are really only WinUAE in hardware form and I wouldn't get the same 'feeling' I get from using my (enhanced classic).

NG Amiga's are also part of this mix, they are 'expanded' Amiga's taken to the extreme.

I think when my Classic finally dies I'll just give up on hardware rather than switch to one of the alternatives listed above.

[Methuselas]

I would much rather see a FPGA accelerator with at least 2 simm/dimm sockets for up to a gig or two of memory, an internal IDE controller and at least 040 speeds. I have always loved the wedge cases and all I have left is an A500 gathering dust. Throw in an indivision and you're set.

[freqmax]

Let's face it, a bog standard 2MB A1200 isn't much fun, they only become usable with a memory expansion card.

I must have been a Houdini with my A500 1MB v1.3 then ..

There's some things that makes the amiga feeling:
 * The physical design - it looks like an Commodore Amiga (design theme)
 * Keyboard layout
 * Motorola 68k compatible instruction set CPU (especially big endian, MOVE etc)
 * Blitter and other raw hardware acceleration
 * OCS, ECS, AGA graphics compatibility
 * Amiga operating system with a matching API

I think as a minimum big endian, and a instruction set that allows direct movement of data like the MOVE instructions without any intermediate steps, hardware acceleration, and an OS that allow direct access with low CPU and memory footprint is needed for the "Amiga feeling". The technology has moved on and one has to take that into account to be relevant. But the concept of making the most for a budget price can still make a difference.

[Hattig]

The other thing I had in mind was a "Super I/O board". There are lots of little breakout boards made for microcontrollers that do some cool stuff. TCP/IP, MP3 players, WIFI etc. Many of these seem to use the SPI bus.

I believe SPI is planned (tentatively?) for the Vampire 500 or Vampire 1200.

And yes, you can get microcontrollers that run the entire TCP/IP stack internally as well as providing ethernet/wifi - which would take a huge load off the CPU in an Amiga.

[Hattig]

The FPGA Arcade and other stand-alone computers are interesting but they are really only WinUAE in hardware form and I wouldn't get the same 'feeling' I get from using my (enhanced classic).

I disagree, they're not software emulations running on a different OS dealing with non-50Hz/60Hz monitors, they're hardware simulations (or hardware re-implementations), and as such they should feel the same* as the original, especially if you use an original keyboard.

* depending on the quality of the FPGA core of course, but these are very mature for the Amiga these days.

[NovaCoder]

I disagree, they're not software emulations running on a different OS dealing with non-50Hz/60Hz monitors, they're hardware simulations (or hardware re-implementations), and as such they should feel the same* as the original, especially if you use an original keyboard.

That's why I said it comes down to the individual, it's a very hard thing to define

For me personally, an FPGA computer could never give me quite the same feeling as using my real A1200 because part of the appeal (for me) is the fact that it's so old but can still doing these really cool things

[rdolores]

Perhaps the FPGA Replay board could be mounted into a Side-Car like case and interfaced to the left-side expansion port of the A500.  It could function as an accelerator/RAM expansion/HD (on SD Card)/De-interlacer and USB ports expansion.  If it takes up no more space than a GVP530, it would maintain its retro look, but with much more modern internal specs.

[JimS]

Perhaps the FPGA Replay board could be mounted into a Side-Car like case and interfaced to the left-side expansion port of the A500.  It could function as an accelerator/RAM expansion/HD (on SD Card)/De-interlacer and USB ports expansion.  If it takes up no more space than a GVP530, it would maintain its retro look, but with much more modern internal specs.

If you were going to do that, it makes more sense to use a generic FPGA dev board like the Xula2. It's has the advantage of being smaller, and cheaper because it lacks all the stuff that would be redundant when attached to a 500.

[desiv]

That's why I said it comes down to the individual, it's a very hard thing to define

I've always agreed, and while I love FPGAs, I personally do consider them a slight variation of a software emulator...

That being said, I've always thought it just comes down to an emulation Turing test, so to speak.

You put the FPGA based system in an Amiga case with an Amiga keyboard and an Amiga floppy and let me use it (without telling me what it is)..

If I can't tell the difference, then it's just as good, even if it is emulated.  ;-)

desiv

[JimS]

I believe SPI is planned (tentatively?) for the Vampire 500 or Vampire 1200.

And yes, you can get microcontrollers that run the entire TCP/IP stack internally as well as providing ethernet/wifi - which would take a huge load off the CPU in an Amiga.

That offloading is the primary thing that made the Amiga great in the first place.