Minimig - getting started?

[Amiga1992]

So I just got my FleaFPGA Ohm board and installed Minimig on it. It runs great, I am really happy about it!

However, I could not find any *user* documentation for it. Things like:

- How do I save the current configuration? (HD options keep getting reset)
- What are the HD options exactly? (What do the different hardfile and partition options mean?)
- Is there a way to select another ROM during runtime? (as is, I have to take the car out and rename KICK.ROM)

Anyway, hopefully someone can give a hand. I went to minimig.net but it's just a forum! And they don't even cover the FleaFPGA Ohm yet. Also I tried to register an account, and it didn't work

[mattsoft]

Sorry to not answer your question, but where did u get the flea? Didn’t know they were for sale yet. Thanks!

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by mattsoft

Sorry to not answer your question, but where did u get the flea? Didn’t know they were for sale yet. Thanks!

There was a Indiegogo campaign so they are all gone, not for sale.
If you didn't back the campaign, you don't get one, unless Valentin decides to make another run.

Damn shame because it's a great, great little thing!

[basman74]

Originally Posted by Akira

However, I could not find any *user* documentation for it.

I am no expert by any means on driving Minimig (I could not find any documentation myself) and this is going purely from my own experiences with it:

Originally Posted by Akira

- How do I save the current configuration? (HD options keep getting reset)

* Once Minimig has booted, press F12 to bring up the Minimig OSD main menu.
* Press the Right arrow Key to navigate to the next screen, there you will find the 'SETTINGS' menu for loading or saving OSD menu configuration (memorize where you found this option, you will need it later on..).
* Configure your Minimig as intended, using the keyboard arrow keys and space bar. ESC key brings you back up to a higher menu level (or exits the OSD menu, as does pressing F12 again).
* Once your system configuration is setup, go back to the 'SETTINGS' menu where you found the 'save configuration' option and press the space bar. There you will see five profiles that you can save to or load from. Save your 'DEFAULT' configuration profile by pressing the space bar. Next time you power up your Minimig, your configuration settings from the previously saved 'DEFAULT' profile should be restored.

Originally Posted by Akira

- What are the HD options exactly? (What do the different hardfile and partition options mean?)

Good question! I'm not across all of the options here either. I have only been using the primary .HDF (disk img) settings and nothing else, personally.

Originally Posted by Akira

- Is there a way to select another ROM during runtime?

Yes.

* Press F12 to bring up the menu.
* Press the left arrow key to go to the 'SETTINGS' menu.
* Select the 'Memory settings' option.
* Scroll to the bottom and select the 'ROM :' option. You should then see whatever rom files you've included on your SDHC card.
* Select a ROM file. You will then be asked to restart Minimig.
* Minimig will then restart with the selected kickstart ROM.
* That's all.

[kolla]

Minimig may be set up to use a partition on the SD card as hard drive instead of using a disk image on the FAT32 file system. Some claim it is faster, but I cannot say I have noticed much speed difference, certainly not enough to overtake the convenience of just using disk images.

[Amiga1992]

Oh RIGHT ARROW! That was easy. Feel kinda stupid now :P BUt there was no indication of what I should press there.
Thanks Valentin!

I tried to use the "whole SD card as HD" thing and that didn't work.

I can't believe there isn't an online manual for Minimig usage, the Minimig has been around for ages and there's plenty of users! Did the original motherboard come with a manual? Can anyone share a manual, if it exists? Kolla?

[kolla]

I never felt any need for manual, the menus always felt very intuitive to me.
No, I don't recall any manual coming with my original Minimig either.


Oh, heh, first hit on "minimig manual" search on duckduckgo:

http://www.acube-systems.biz/downloa...1.1_manual.pdf


Using the whole SD card as Amiga hard drive is rather inconvenient, where would you store ADFs and ISOs?

[malko]

1 page manual here

[Amiga1992]

Man try as I might I didn't find that manual before :/
It's useless anyway, that's the same info Valentin has put in hisQuickstart guy. I Meant an USER manual, for the menues and things. I didn't find them intuitive at all. I guess I'll have to deal with them.


As for "where to store stuff", in the same SD! I don't see an issue with that. I would have them in folders.
Is there an issue there I am not seeing?

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by Akira

As for "where to store stuff", in the same SD! I don't see an issue with that. I would have them in folders.
Is there an issue there I am not seeing?

If you're using the entire SD card as a hard drive, you'd expect to have an Amiga-style partition table and Amiga formatted partitions. The menu system won't understand those - there needs to be a Master Boot Record and a FAT32 partition for the ADFs to live in, and probably the menu firmware too, depending on which variant of Minimig the Flea's version is based on.

In theory it's possible to put both an Amiga-style RDB and an MBR on a card, in theory it's even possible to put the fat95 filesystem in the RDB and boot the Amiga from a FAT32 partition - but I've not attempted any of this.

Personally I have a card partitioned with one FAT32 partition for firmware / ADFs, then 4GB partition which I mount as a hard-drive within the Minimig. I partitioned and installed it just like a real hard drive, using HDToolbox.
I set the same card as a slave device, in "Entire SD Card" mode, because then I can mount the FAT32 partition from within the Minimig, using fat95.

[kolla]

I suppose so many of us have been using all the variants of Minimig over the years, that we have grown used to how the menus work.
The menus on my original Minimig currently aren't exactly the same as they were back when I bought it, there has been some progress over the years. Also, the different variants of Minimig on different hardware have slightly different menus.

What's fun to see, is that the Minimig menu system made the foundation for how the menus work with many other FPGA systems and softcores (on MiST etc).