MiSTer: FPGA Amiga + loads more

[EAUniW]

..

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by EAUniW

Anything more than a breadbin prototype 1000 with 256k ram and 0.7b Kickstart is just showing off.

For those that missed it, this video shows how well MiSTer works on a CRT these days (now includes RTG support too).

[ Show youtube player ]

[hitm4n]

The more i read about the MiSTer and the more videos i watch (just had a little youtube binge) the more i'm sold on the idea. I've just watched one of a guy playing Supercars 2 on his large (i'd guess around 52") TV and it looked great. He had nothing more than the setup i'm suggesting for myself. Smooth video, no lag that i could tell and the game loaded and just worked, and he was using an 8bitdo controller.

I can wire this baby to my network via a 4 port netgear hub i already have under my tv so won't need the wifi dongle and i have a large class10 microsd card ready to use, plus some other smaller ones at 4gb each.

I assume you can install the main core OS onto multiple memory cards and have different cores, roms and setups on each card and just hot swap them out if space is an issue? Amiga is one of my favourite systems, so i would have a pretty big romset for this one. I think the collection i have is around 10gb.

Oh, and i know i said this would be Amiga only. That was for cost reasons (so i thought) and considering i've gone over £200 with this, it's going to have to do a bit more than just Amiga for me to justify the cost.

A bit more research i think, then properly decide on what i need to buy and then i'm going for it. I don't think i'm far off with the above parts list now. Exciting.

[hitm4n]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

For those that missed it, this video shows how well MiSTer works on a CRT these days (now includes RTG support too).

[ Show youtube player ]

Cool vid. This one may seem pretty basic to you guys if you're already into the MiSTer, but i found this one informative too... Nice little pro's and con's list, shows a build process, shows some games and explains about cores.


[ Show youtube player ]

[MickGyver]

Originally Posted by hitm4n

The more i read about the MiSTer and the more videos i watch (just had a little youtube binge) the more i'm sold on the idea.

Get yourself a setup, you will NOT regret it, the MiSTer can do sooo much, it's fantastic!

[hitm4n]

I'm going to do it, just want to be sure i buy all the right parts and don't waste any money or kick myself later for not forward thinking with it. I'm curious about the new memory modules coming soon now, see if i can find some info on that.

I have got my old Amiga1200 up and running again, just finished stripping and cleaning the keyboard so i'll be selling it soon and that will pay for the MiSTer, more than pay for it i should think...

[hitm4n]

Ended up buying from enrgtech, committed myself yesterday and bought a P0496 DE10-Nano for £122.58. I'm excited, like 30 years of computer christmas presents all coming at once.

Also bought a 44pin IDE to SD Harddrive adapter for £21.50 (with OS on 4gb card) for the real A1200 upgrade.

Today is going to be my "misterfpga" purchase day. I'm going in big, a little more reading to do to make my mind up, but i'm likely going to get the IO board as well, so it'll be a full on MiSTer stack.

[Valken]

I was watching the first video on page one and the specs of the DE10-Nano and isn't this really close to the same HW for the Vampire 4 but with 2x ARM CPU as well?!

Also, it can emulate both the Neo Geo AND CPS1 with different cores, then "technically" someone can create a Hybrid Amiga with those Sound and GPU specs as well?!

That would be a like a dream gamer toy to play with!

[NovaCoder]

Yes the Amiga core running on the MiSTer is not really optimised, I'm sure it could be developed much further if only someone and the time and skills.

Recently someone optimised the 486 core and brought about a big improvement.

This video shows the power of the MiSTer

[ Show youtube player ]

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

This video shows the power of the MiSTer

I wouldn't say that. You can play Dodonpachi on Pi4.

The real power of the MiSTer is not something you can really show in the video, since it's mostly about being lagless, and the "feel" factor. It will never be a raw power champion because it's not how its hardware works.

I think Amiga cores are fairly well optimised, A1200 already can run faster than the real one. They could use some more bug squashing to get them as close to 1:1 as possible, but are great already. But if you want pure speed then something like RPi or old laptop with an emulator will always be faster.

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I wouldn't say that. You can play Dodonpachi on Pi4.

True, but the Pi4 is very powerful compared to a classic Amiga

Dodonpachi is just to show that more speed could be unlocked from the Amiga core.

I'm very happy with speed already but another 20% would be awesome to see as would FPU support, especially for the 486 core

[hitm4n]

Ordered all this today. Getting excited to build it now DE10 was ordered yesterday.
8bitdo SN30 Pro+ ontroller already sat next to me waiting.

I simply CANNOT wait to play Mean Arenas at 65", you guys are in for a treat (well, i think it'll be cool) as i also have RGB addressable, sound activated lights all round my living room. I'm gonna crank up an Amiga game or demo, put the lights on and have them popping away to demo music etc. Will do some videos when i can

MiSTer Parts - £113.92 - PAID
MiSTer IO Board v6.1 with Fan - Stock Fan - £41.99
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mis...v6-1-with-fan/
MiSTer USB Hub v2.1 - £32.99
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/usb...r-mister-fpga/
MiSTer SDRAM XS v2.2 32MB Memory Addon Board - £19.99
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mis...y-addon-board/
MiSTer Protective Cover Plates - £11.99 (Lava Orange)
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mis...r-plates-case/
MiSTer FPGA Bluetooth Adapter - £6.95
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mis...dapter-dongle/

COME ON MR POSTMAN !!!

[NovaCoder]

Enjoy

I was just playing around with DOS, then 80's arcade games before switching to Genesis

[hitm4n]

New question popped into my brain.

The DE10-Nano comes with a PSU. Buying from a UK seller, so i assume a UK plug will be on it... But thats not the real question.

The PSU is going to be rated to run the DE10 comfortably i would assume.
But i wonder, with the IO board, the USB bus board, a bluetooth dongle, probably a wireless mouse and keyboard, maybe a wifi dongle and a bluetooth joypad all in use, will i need more juice ? I've not seen it written by anyone so far that an upgraded PSU is required to build a MiSTer, so hopefully i'm good with the stock one from the DE10?

The site i bought it from says 5v, but doesn't state how many amps. MisterFPGA offers a 5v 4amp one. Is that a replacement or an upgrade?

Thanks agian.

[NovaCoder]

Standard power supply should be enough (2A) but if you do upgrade then this one is better.

https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mis...-power-supply/

I'm actually using an ATX for massive overkill factor

[Valken]

I wanted to ask if the Mister can be slotted into a CPU adapter and then used as a hardware accelerator while adding the "faster CPU", FASTRAM, RTG, HDMI output, USB, FlickerFlixer, IDE and Ethernet functions?

Then later reboot into standalone mode for other "simulation"?

That would be a near ideal situation until Amiga or targeted host cores becomes mature.

Imagine it bringing new life to old systems and extending it this way or go standalone if need be.

[hitm4n]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Standard power supply should be enough (2A) but if you do upgrade then this one is better.

https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mis...-power-supply/

I'm actually using an ATX for massive overkill factor

What do you mean by "if you do upgrade"? Do you mean just for the sake of getting a diffent PSU. There wouldn't be much more i would add to the MiSTer in future would there? With the IO board, USB board and a few usb devices connected, i've got it all haven't i and i need to know the 2amp PSU is plenty and not going to be hard pushed. I'm in favour of never stretching a PSU to its limit, so if 2amps is pushing it i would prefer a power supply to run a bit cooler and would upgrade. But not if i don't need to Is there a list of power draw for the various boards?


ta.

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by Valken

I wanted to ask if the Mister can be slotted into a CPU adapter and then used as a hardware accelerator while adding the "faster CPU", FASTRAM, RTG, HDMI output, USB, FlickerFlixer, IDE and Ethernet functions?

Then later reboot into stanhttp://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=100729dalone mode for other "simulation"?

That would be a near ideal situation until Amiga or targeted host cores becomes mature.

Imagine it bringing new life to old systems and extending it this way or go standalone if need be.

Already being worked on, see here

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=100729

[Valken]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Already being worked on, see here

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=100729

That is awesome as it can work as accelerator and standalone!

Maybe it can be the ultimate combo with the Amiga 1200 Reloaded and the Mister! Original Amiga Custom Chips plus FPGA+ARM CPU for future capabilities.

This should be a near no brainer buy for anyone who wants to "upgrade" real classics, buy new ReAmigas (use as CPU accelerator) or get Amiga "Next"!

Probably more realistic than finding high speed 060'!

This is getting way more interesting for me.

[hitm4n]

Have you joined our ranks?? Are you as impressed as the rest of us??

Its half built. I assumed, like everywhere else that sells an IO board, that i would get a heatsink along with the fan thats already on it. Nope, from https://misterfpga.co.uk/ you don't get one, so i've had to order seperately and am waiting for it.

Also, although i ordered the DE10Nano from a UK stockist, i thought it would arrive with a UK plug. Nope, its US. Plus its a very small 2A rating and i was in two minds about getting the larger one anyway (i've gone for a full MiSTer setup and will have wifi, bt, joystick, mouse keyboard etc all in USB and don't want to push it.) I like a power supply to easily cope with its demand and not get warm, and hence live longer. So at the same as ordering the heatsink, i've ordered the 4A UK one and awaiting that too (might arrive today, both are from MiSterFPGA.co.uk).

Then theres the SD Card. Little did i know, the extra SD card slot on the IO board is NOT usable for extra romz0rs storage so i will need to buy and prep a new SD card for the main socket. I intended to set it up on the 8gb, put a few roms there and get going, then purchase a 256gb and fill that up in the second slot. So finding that out has brought the purchase of the SD card forward and a 256gb one is also on its way.

Ordered this one. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Enjoyed building it so far, been downloading romsets in the evenings in readiness and i now have a complete TOSEC collection of Amiga roms (close to 86,000 files), along with many others (ZXSpec, ZX81, Atari, Amstrad, Coleco, Dragon, MSX, SNK and more). Honestly i own all the carts, disks, floppies etc I am also building an emulation PC at the same time for the higher end systems like N64, Dreamcast and Gamecube and got all the roms for those too. Not sure yet whether to do MAME on PC or limit myself to the few on MiSTer (think probably PC and keep MiSTer for the other older systems).

Next step, while waiting for all these EXTRA parts to arrive, is to start filtering down the roms to sort of a 1g1r type set, while keeping demos, some apps and stuff i might find interesting like docs disks, grapevine, more obscure stuff etc. I had around 4000 disks back in the day, now i have 85000 to play with Can't wait.

So here you are. The parts unpacked, and now half built. I'm getting there...