Portable Amiga anyone??

[skateblind]

Originally Posted by Photon

In fact, all handhelds should get som dev lovin'. PSP seems well provided already (for some reason, despite it having a toolchain which is murder to set up, so I hear), so it would be nice to hear about the status of emus for Pandora->Wiz->GP2x.

It is a pain in the arse. If you know someone like FOL though, who knows what he is doing, then it is a breeze.

Concerning the portable amiga, how much would it cost for the end user? How long will it take before we actually have it in our hands?

SD card would be better imho, since it is swappable and easily replaced if it breaks. I already have a few of those I could use too.

If you can house all the features you are considering in a PSP case, then sign me up.

Originally Posted by skateblind

It is a pain in the arse. If you know someone like FOL though, who knows what he is doing, then it is a breeze.

Concerning the portable amiga, how much would it cost for the end user? How long will it take before we actually have it in our hands?

SD card would be better imho, since it is swappable and easily replaced if it breaks. I already have a few of those I could use too.

If you can house all the features you are considering in a PSP case, then sign me up.

I would hope the cost would be below £100, it wouldnt take long to produce the hardware, a little time to port the software, but i would expect a working proto in 8/10 weeks from the start. Its not such a big project really.
The software has already been writen, it just needs porting over.
The firmware for the arm is simple and wouldnt take long (i have a lot of it done already from other projects) or we could just use the atmel sam, the code is already done.

So you can see its just a new board thats small enough to fit the psp, and use the lcd, and the dpads etc.

The psp has a sony memory stick socket already, would it make any sense to rip it out for an sd connector? Or just use the one already there?

[skateblind]

Originally Posted by picman

I would hope the cost would be below £100, it wouldnt take long to produce the hardware, a little time to port the software, but i would expect a working proto in 8/10 weeks from the start. Its not such a big project really.
The software has already been writen, it just needs porting over.
The firmware for the arm is simple and wouldnt take long (i have a lot of it done already from other projects) or we could just use the atmel sam, the code is already done.

So you can see its just a new board thats small enough to fit the psp, and use the lcd, and the dpads etc.

The psp has a sony memory stick socket already, would it make any sense to rip it out for an sd connector? Or just use the one already there?

I would have thought using the slot that comes with the PSP would be the best idea, since it has probably been designed to save space and it is already been setup for you.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Photon

Ah, but I offered to help on the GP2x. Now that you work on the "non-ARM" platform, I can't really write any ARM asm for you, can I?

The portable with the freak CPU gets an asm core, eh? And all the ARM-based media players, handhelds, mobiles get none o' that lovin. What a strange world we live in.

If you do decide to look at a portback, please don't port the asm (if you know what I mean). Ask an ARM coder to code the core again, like I assume you did for the PSP.

In fact, all handhelds should get som dev lovin'. PSP seems well provided already (for some reason, despite it having a toolchain which is murder to set up, so I hear), so it would be nice to hear about the status of emus for Pandora->Wiz->GP2x.

Theres already an asm core on PSP, just need to incorperate it to PSPUAE. Something Im struggling with.

[Zetr0]

(OT/ sorry picman)

@FOL

in terms speed, how much of a difference will this asm core be for the psp?

[Hungry Horace]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

in terms speed, how much of a difference will this asm core be for the psp?

i'm 90% sure we wont know the answer to that until it is implemented.


On-Topic: sign me up for one of these boards if it does go ahead. Although fastmem would be wanted for WHD emulation.

[john4p]

Originally Posted by FOL

Theres already an asm core on PSP[...]

Wut? Since when? What's its name? Who did it?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Hungry Horace

i'm 90% sure we wont know the answer to that until it is implemented.


On-Topic: sign me up for one of these boards if it does go ahead. Although fastmem would be wanted for WHD emulation.

Well if GP2x asm is anything to go by, alot of stuff should be full speed. As Horace said though it would need to be implemented first before we can say for definate.

Its also, like FAME C, its 68k only. Much more stable than FAME C though.

On topic: I to would consider a board like this if the price is right.

Some cool news, if i use an altera fpga instead of the xilinx, i can get the design onto a double sided board, its also cheaper to produce because its not BGA.

I know a lot of people don't like altera stuff, but if it does the job, the part is cheaper than the spartan 3e and it only uses 2 psu's insted of 3.
So it cheapens the whole design, i know the minimig will fit into the altera cyclone 2 because its been done (with the cpu included on the fpga as well)
Also i will put on a big lump of sdram so fast ram is not a problem.

Is there any reason not to use the cyclone 2?

Excellent idea, here's some data on the PSP LCD screen to help you along your way:



The Phat is a good choice as there's buckets of room to play with inside and the remote control connection lends itself well to be cannibalized for external serial input via an external mini keyboard.

Any more updates on this project as I have fond memories of a youth spent avoiding drizzle (and sunshine ) playing on the Amiga with chums of yore...

[Charlie]

Hi picman,
Sounds like an excellent plan - I could well be interested in one come the day.

Thoughts on...

Ports:
I would guess for a portable device one would want to keep this to a minimum.
Either just a stereo 3.5mm jack (not my preferred option)
or
VGA/DVI/HDMI port - whatever seems best
+
One or at most two (mini)USB port(s) - as long as the USB had enough bandwidth a hub could take care of Joysticks/Mouse/Keyboard
+
a stereo 3.5mm jack

Either it's for personal use only or it can be used with friends in which case it would likely need all that potential functionality.

Storage:
Personally I'd go for a MiniSD or MicroSD card as that's going to be more than enough for a portable Amiga and would be useful for transferring software. But if you're thinking of potential upgrades then a 1.8" HDD makes some sense.
(I guess that depends on how much you envisage the firmware developing)

Sound:
Personally (being a grumpy old sod) I despise all portable devices that come with internal speakers - it's bad enough having to sit next to someone on the train listening to "chi, chi, chi" because their earphones are up too high*...
...also less hardware to pack in the case.

Looking forward to developments...

*Revenge comes to all these people in the end - an old age when they can't hear anything at all.

[Amigaman]

Interesting thread. PICMAN, any progress? I think its a great idea