MiniMig: The Amiga 500 cloned on a single chip

Paul · 06 February 2006, 19:10

"Dennis van Weeren, from Hobby Commodore Club HCC GG (GebruikersGroep) of Holland cloned an entire A500 on a single FPGA chip (Field Programmable Gate Array). This new computer has been named MiniMig and will debut next 18 of february at club meeting. MiniMig is capable to emulate all Amiga chipset (Paula, Agnus e Denise) and it uses ".ADF" files loading them thru MCC memory card via standard PC Card Reader. Actually the entire project is based on three little boards. In the end it will be based on a single mini-motherboard. Here is a photo of this little jewel. Very, very impressive."

Source: ann.lu

ant512 · 06 February 2006, 19:20

A500 handheld? A500-in-a-joystick? Put one of these in a GP2x-style case with a touchscreen and a decent D-pad, and I'd buy two.

EDIT: Ooo, ooo! Amiga on a PCI card. The lack of a decent version of UAE for Linux wouldn't be a problem any more.

spiff · 06 February 2006, 19:23

Dennis Post on amiga.org forum. Not much more info, but in English.
http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/v...=27988&forum=8

keropi · 06 February 2006, 19:35

yep, it's been on .org for ages...

ant512 · 06 February 2006, 19:59

Yeah, it's been there since December last year. The things you miss out on when you avoid amiga.org, eh? Still, the more of that thread I read, the more excited I am about the prospect of a handheld A500. Now that'd be a reason to learn m68k asm if ever there was one. And I could dig out Storm C! No more of this SDL malarky for the GP2x.

Unknown_K · 06 February 2006, 20:06

Is somebody going to make an Amiga 500 on a PCI card for the PC then?

dlfrsilver · 06 February 2006, 22:11

I hope so, i buy one without any hesitation

DopPie · 06 February 2006, 22:33

Yeah it is a nice project. Aorg is home to another nice project. Not heard much about it the last two months but someone obtained a batch of EC020's and is making a nice and lean accelerator for the A500/600. No coldfire dream-on project but something realistic. Search the forum it is a nice idea.

I'm sure the minimig will be released under GPL someday and then all you need is someone willing to put it on a PCI card. I guess when using some GLUE all the chipset functionalities will become available for the processor on the other end of the bus. I'm just guessing what the use would be....Is there a need to help a modern CPU emulate an amiga?
I see more fun projects in the form of replacement motherboards like the phoenix used to be. Once AGA gets into fpga's one might even add some things we have always missed in our beloved amiga. Chunky graphics, an mp3 decoding custom chip....could be a nice and expensive board ;-) ----slap--- lets not get carried away now.

whiteb · 07 February 2006, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by DopPie

I'm sure the minimig will be released under GPL someday and then all you need is someone willing to put it on a PCI card. I guess when using some GLUE all the chipset functionalities will become available for the processor on the other end of the bus. I'm just guessing what the use would be....Is there a need to help a modern CPU emulate an amiga?
.

Amiga on a chip, on a PCI card, with runtime library that can be used/abused by Winuae <Drools>...................

Then with a Floppy port on the card you can use standard PC 1.44 drives, Catweisel (SP?) MK4 can go get stuffed

[edit] just read all 20 pages, and WOWOWOWOWOWOW !
ME WANTS ONE.

gizmomelb · 07 February 2006, 12:30

Why stick with floppy drives (apart from copying the last few remaining originals for CAPS/TOSEC maye)? They're finally on their way out on the IBM, just use a SD/MMC card of some sort running as a floppy emulator (and there's a project for that as well on amiga.org) so that the 'Amiga' sees the memory card as a normal floppy.

whiteb · 07 February 2006, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by gizmomelb

Why stick with floppy drives (apart from copying the last few remaining originals for CAPS/TOSEC maye)? They're finally on their way out on the IBM, just use a SD/MMC card of some sort running as a floppy emulator (and there's a project for that as well on amiga.org) so that the 'Amiga' sees the memory card as a normal floppy.

Well I just signed up and posted on Amiga.com

Yes you can useSD/MMC, I think using them as a Harddrive too.

There is no arguments that the project has *ALOT* of potential.
And your post about LCD's not going down to the low frequency that the unit scandoubles to...

My LCD according to the Manufacturer, syncs between 31-63 horizontal, and 56-75 vertical, reckon they its gonna work on my LCD ?

DamienD · 07 February 2006, 14:04

Wow, very cool stuff

alexh · 07 February 2006, 16:22

Quote:

Aorg is home to another nice project. Not heard much about it the last two months but someone obtained a batch of EC020's and is making a nice and lean accelerator for the A500/600

Dunno about lean, bloated lard maybe

Could have been a nice little earner for it's author, instead it's going to be either a one off prototype or worse, nothing.

spiff · 07 February 2006, 18:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiteb

My LCD according to the Manufacturer, syncs between 31-63 horizontal, and 56-75 vertical, reckon they its gonna work on my LCD ?

Well I'm guessning since it's not a final product or scandoubler, but no, not unless it does 100hz interlace or 50hz progressive or you run the amiga at 60hz.

alexh · 07 February 2006, 18:47

The current version does have a scandoubler and does work with 31KHz monitors, however it wouldnt work with the aforementioned LCD as the current version requires a 50Hz vertical screen mode.

Works with good VGA CRT's though.

whiteb · 07 February 2006, 21:29

Right, so I am a few hz outta luck then on the vertical

spiff · 09 February 2006, 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiteb

Right, so I am a few hz outta luck then on the vertical

Well, you could be lucky. Usually a screen can be run somewhat below/above the specs. There’s also the possibility that NTSC support is added, and that should scandouble to 60hz (p) just fine.

alexh · 09 February 2006, 15:15

Quote:

Well, you could be lucky. Usually a screen can be run somewhat below/above the specs.

I do not think that is true for LCDs. If an LCD doesnt say 50 or below it wont work. I've tried dozens of LCD's with the Cheese Wedge scandoubler when trying to demo digital set-top-boxes.

Quote:

There’s also the possibility that NTSC support is added, and that should scandouble to 60hz (p) just fine.

Unfortunately Amiga's were too popular in european countries. When Amiga's are in NTSC mode compatibility with some demo's and games is reduced. By how much I do not know.

06 February 2006, 19:10	#1
Paul RIP Friends Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: UK Posts: 2,157	MiniMig: The Amiga 500 cloned on a single chip "Dennis van Weeren, from Hobby Commodore Club HCC GG (GebruikersGroep) of Holland cloned an entire A500 on a single FPGA chip (Field Programmable Gate Array). This new computer has been named MiniMig and will debut next 18 of february at club meeting. MiniMig is capable to emulate all Amiga chipset (Paula, Agnus e Denise) and it uses ".ADF" files loading them thru MCC memory card via standard PC Card Reader. Actually the entire project is based on three little boards. In the end it will be based on a single mini-motherboard. Here is a photo of this little jewel. Very, very impressive." Source: ann.lu

06 February 2006, 19:20	#2
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 964	A500 handheld? A500-in-a-joystick? Put one of these in a GP2x-style case with a touchscreen and a decent D-pad, and I'd buy two. EDIT: Ooo, ooo! Amiga on a PCI card. The lack of a decent version of UAE for Linux wouldn't be a problem any more. Last edited by ant512; 06 February 2006 at 19:29.

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06 February 2006, 19:23	#3
spiff Oh noes! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Neverland Posts: 766	Dennis Post on amiga.org forum. Not much more info, but in English. http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/v...=27988&forum=8

06 February 2006, 19:35	#4
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	yep, it's been on .org for ages...

06 February 2006, 19:59	#5
ant512 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: California Posts: 964	Yeah, it's been there since December last year. The things you miss out on when you avoid amiga.org, eh? Still, the more of that thread I read, the more excited I am about the prospect of a handheld A500. Now that'd be a reason to learn m68k asm if ever there was one. And I could dig out Storm C! No more of this SDL malarky for the GP2x.

06 February 2006, 20:06	#6
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	Is somebody going to make an Amiga 500 on a PCI card for the PC then?

06 February 2006, 22:11	#7
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,412	I hope so, i buy one without any hesitation

06 February 2006, 22:33	#8
DopPie Zone Friend Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Den Hoorn, NL Age: 44 Posts: 259	Yeah it is a nice project. Aorg is home to another nice project. Not heard much about it the last two months but someone obtained a batch of EC020's and is making a nice and lean accelerator for the A500/600. No coldfire dream-on project but something realistic. Search the forum it is a nice idea. I'm sure the minimig will be released under GPL someday and then all you need is someone willing to put it on a PCI card. I guess when using some GLUE all the chipset functionalities will become available for the processor on the other end of the bus. I'm just guessing what the use would be....Is there a need to help a modern CPU emulate an amiga? I see more fun projects in the form of replacement motherboards like the phoenix used to be. Once AGA gets into fpga's one might even add some things we have always missed in our beloved amiga. Chunky graphics, an mp3 decoding custom chip....could be a nice and expensive board ;-) ----slap--- lets not get carried away now.

07 February 2006, 12:30	#10
gizmomelb Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: melbourne Age: 55 Posts: 541	Why stick with floppy drives (apart from copying the last few remaining originals for CAPS/TOSEC maye)? They're finally on their way out on the IBM, just use a SD/MMC card of some sort running as a floppy emulator (and there's a project for that as well on amiga.org) so that the 'Amiga' sees the memory card as a normal floppy.

07 February 2006, 14:04	#12
DamienD Banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London / Sydney Age: 47 Posts: 20,420	Wow, very cool stuff

07 February 2006, 18:47	#15
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	The current version does have a scandoubler and does work with 31KHz monitors, however it wouldnt work with the aforementioned LCD as the current version requires a 50Hz vertical screen mode. Works with good VGA CRT's though.

07 February 2006, 21:29	#16
whiteb Fanatically Amiga. Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Age: 54 Posts: 1,557	Right, so I am a few hz outta luck then on the vertical

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