Wow, Minimig on Altera cyclone II Dev Board

[Dimlow]

I just picked up a one of these boards on Ebay, So that i could teach myself all about FPGA's. And WOW! i discovered people are running the Mimimig on it. There's a Yahoo group with source and everything i need.

Its a Great Bonus to me, i purchased this board before i found out about them running the minimig on it.

Anyone else here doing this? its looks quite good, and will be a great start to my FPGA journey!

[Zetr0]

I want to do this sooo much.... but time has become a more serious factor than money

[Dimlow]

Its Easier to make time than money!

Oh Zetro, i guess your not interested in that processor ? I sent you a PM About it, got no reply

[Zetr0]

@Dmilow

sorry buddy, i am using a forever getting dated version Netscape here, there are times it doesn't let me know I have a PM... brb

[RedskullDC]

Hi Dimlow,

Originally Posted by Dimlow

Anyone else here doing this? its looks quite good, and will be a great start to my FPGA journey!

Yes, been playing with this for a while, though time is a bit limited at the moment.

Working on ECS compatibility, CF interface a' la GAYLE.

Have also modified the PS/2Keyboard.v module to use an A4000 keyboard, but having a few problems with it. Not ready to release yet

Pics of my setup from the group:
http://gamesource.ph.groups.yahoo.co...os/browse/62fc

Cheers,
Red

[rkauer]

Does glass goes yellow?

[Dimlow]

Ah, yes Red, i have already read most of the messages on that group and looked at all the pics. I did look at yours too.
As i know little to nothing about FPGA's i have a long way to go. But i learn fast, my hobby / interests are not computing or programming, or electronics, its learning, i love to learn new things, so i guess it wont take to long as I'm well practiced in the art. Look out for a new scan double from me soon

Does glass goes yellow?

Should that be,does grass go yellow ? If not then what the hell do you mean

[coze]

shit I have to get my ass working on my scandoubler soon cause competition is coming

dimlow & red, what modifications are necessary to a DE-1 board to run minimig core ? I guess a mod for keyboard and mouse ports are necessary, is there anything else ?

is it possible to use onboard RAM of DE-1 as fast RAM ?

[Dimlow]

Well i expect it will be a while before i will be in a position to build a scandoubler, but its a target for my learning.

As for mods to the DE1, i have no idea, only won the auction yesterday, but there is plenty of info in the yahoo group

[Dimlow]

@RedScull, I do like the way you have done the IDE Board in your pic, yea i just had another peek. Putting the CF Card Adaptor in the 40 pin socket must have been the logical way to do it, Does it actually work like that ? What about the SD card slot, Is that used ?

[RedskullDC]

Hi Coze,

Originally Posted by coze

..what modifications are necessary to a DE-1 board to run minimig core ? I guess a mod for keyboard and mouse ports are necessary, is there anything else ?

is it possible to use onboard RAM of DE-1 as fast RAM ?

DE1 only has one PS/2 port, so you will need to mod the board so it will work with a PS/2 Y Adapter to have both Keyboard and mouse running at the same time.
Alternatively, if you don't fancy hacking your DE1 board you can make up and expansion board with an extra PS/2 port, and also 9-pin D sockets if you wish to use josticks.
I use the second option myself.

The minimigtg68 code currently underutilises the sdram on the DE1 board.
Only 2MB of the 8MB available is used:
1MB chip ($000000-$0FFFFF)
512k "fast" ($C00000-$C7FFFF) (runs at chip ram speed)
512K kickstart ($F80000-$FFFFFF) (also runs at chip speed).

Worth noting that the 68k CPU can get more available cycles with the minimig that it does on a real A500 however, though this currently appears blocked by the "fastchip" input (Angus.v for details).
No flames thanks, haven't looked at this too closely to check.

The "gary" and "sram_bridge" modules in Minimig1.v are easily modified for a different memory configuration.
Example:

(in sram_bridge)

input chipenable; //Disable chip ram
// generate enable signal if we are adressed
assign enable=aen1|(aen2&chipenable)|aen3|aen4;

I have the chipenable signal wired to one of the user switches when I just want to use 512k chipram to test old programs for compatibility

----

The other RAM on the DE1 is a 512k (256x16) SRAM with 12ns access time.

Could be added to the design to work as "true" FAST ram, I guess.
Worth it for just 512k?

Red

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Dimlow

Ah, yes Red, i have already read most of the messages on that group and looked at all the pics. I did look at yours too.
As i know little to nothing about FPGA's i have a long way to go. But i learn fast, my hobby / interests are not computing or programming, or electronics, its learning, i love to learn new things, so i guess it wont take to long as I'm well practiced in the art. Look out for a new scan double from me soon




Should that be,does grass go yellow ? If not then what the hell do you mean

Red's Altera board has glass over it. If you run an Amiga on the fpga, will the glass yellow over time, like Amiga cases?

His was a perfectly valid, if terse, English sentence. :P

[rkauer]

And a nice joke...

[Dimlow]

Indeed, Can't believe i didn't get it. Maybe because my Amiga is not Yellow its more of a brown colour, well the keys are anyway.

[skan]

Originally Posted by RedskullDC

Have also modified the PS/2Keyboard.v module to use an A4000 keyboard, but having a few problems with it. Not ready to release yet

Will this work with a real Minimig too or just on the altera board?

[RedskullDC]

Hi Skan,

Originally Posted by skan

Will this work with a real Minimig too or just on the altera board?

Will work in a real Minimig aswell.
Just a drop-in replacement PS2keyboard.v file.

Must get around to getting it working properly...

Red

[skan]

Originally Posted by RedskullDC

Will work in a real Minimig aswell.
Just a drop-in replacement PS2keyboard.v file.

Must get around to getting it working properly...

Good news! Thx!

[FrenchShark]

Hello,

what about a Minimig with a Cyclone III ?
Here is the board I made at work, it is a test equipment for a production line but it is Minimig capable (I want to show to my co-workers the multimedia capabilities of the board by running Minimig, just to see their jaws drop... priceless)

Some little explanations :
FPGA : Cyclone III EP3C16 (16000 LEs, the minimig from Tobias fits into 12000 LEs)
RAM (not visible, back of the board) 8MB ZBT SSRAM at 200 MHz.
Audio output on RCA connectors (top left)
30-bit VGA output (bottom left) with an ADV7123 at 240 MHz (not visible, back of the board).
PS2 mouse/keyboard (J5, top)
Joystick/mouse trough J15
IDE connector through J10(2"5)/J11(3"5)
27 MHz crystal with a PAL/NSTC clock generator.
Configuration/floppy simulation done through USB with a DLP-2232 (daughter board, top left).
Run with 9-28V DC (green connector, bottom left)
Transparent blue case and blue LEDs.
For the moment, the board does not run autonomously, it needs to receive the configuration through USB.
I do have a layout for a daughter board with a propeller, a serial port and SD/MMC connector as a replacement of the DLP-2232 so the board can run stand-alone.

I guess Zetr0 will drool over the picture

Regards,

Frederic

[Dimlow]

Very nice looking board that French!

I have received my DE1 and am looking forward to playing with it later when i get more time.

Any tips ?

[FrenchShark]

Hello Dimlow,

Quartus II is very user friendly.
It is good to know VHDL and/or Verilog.
You can enter your design using schematics but it takes some time.
The megafunction wizar is very useful for creating pre-defined blocks.
I am also a big fan of the SOPC builder that allows you to create a system on a chip with few mouse clicks.
The signaltap II tool allows you to have a logic analyzer and to pick up any internal/external signal of your design.
FPGA design is really time consuming but so exciting.

Have fun with your board !
PS : I plan to buy the latest DE2-70 board and to upgrade it with 8MB of SSRAM and 128MB of SDRAM so it will really kick ass !

Regards,

Frederic