Mist for Amiga/Atari

[kipper2k]

Hi All,

for those that may not have noticed, Lotharek is drumming up interest for the Mist HW board for Amiga/Atari

here is info.

http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=96

ignore the price, you won't get it for the price shown

[Lord Aga]

This looks cool. But I can not really grasp all the specs and intentions. Seems to be more Atari oriented.

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

This looks cool. But I can not really grasp all the specs and intentions. Seems to be more Atari oriented.

It's a very cool piece of hardware. Think of it as an updated Minimig, with a larger FPGA, 32 meg of RAM and USB keyboard and Mouse support.
The Minimig core is already ported and working quite nicely, but there's also an Atari ST core under development.

I've also ported a couple of the PACE arcade machines to MIST.

[alexh]

The FPGA is a 60% full with ECS MiniMig and 68000 CPU. My experience is that you can usually get FPGA's to about 80% full and still route and meet timing. (At least Xilinx ones)

Probably means there is a 20% capacity for AGA + 68020. It's touch and go if it will fit a MiniMig AGA.

There are open source cores for Amstrad, Spectrum, C64, MSX, Megadrive, NES, Colecovision, PCEngine and many more should anyone want to "port them" to the I/O and memory system of the MiST board.

[chaos]

Don't know what's the problem with Xilinx FPGAs, my guess would be it's a software issue. Altera FPGAs can generally be pushed to 90% utilization (for example the minimig core on Cyclone II on the DE1 board has 93% utilization). OF course, it depends on the core. The problem is usually local routing congestion.

I don't think fitting AGA will be a problem, as current tests show. Plus, the FPGA on the ReplayBoard is more or less the same size, and mikej & yaqube have AGA running on it.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by chaos

Don't know what's the problem with Xilinx FPGAs, my guess would be it's a software issue.

It's not a software issue. It's just the way Xilinx FPGA's are. Especially Virtex 6. Yes, usually routing congestion.

[chaos]

Looks like Lotharek opened up preordering for the Mist board, that's great!

This is a really nice board, I recommend it to anyone wanting a minimig to play with. Do remember that minimig with the almost complete 68020 is already running on it, and it will most certainly see further development in the future. There is also a C64 core in the works.

[chaos]

Originally Posted by alexh

It's not a software issue. It's just the way Xilinx FPGA's are. Especially Virtex 6. Yes, usually routing congestion.

Possible. I just know that I had many problems with their software in the past. I also don't either like or understand their software choices for the future - ISE just for the old FPGAs, but if you want to work with the Virtex7, you can use *just* the new Vivado tools (which is again full of bugs).

[kipper2k]

The board schematic and layout is available for those people that want to build their own too. . I do have the board layout for it

[christianlucio]

Great News. I already dream of putting this into a real Amiga case (that has a non working board)! Hopefully it can use SD cards as harddrive.

[Lord Aga]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

The board schematic and layout is available for those people that want to build their own too. . I do have the board layout for it

Is there a way to add an A500 keyboard connector to this board ?
It could be a killer replacement mobo.

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by christianlucio

Hopefully it can use SD cards as harddrive.

Yes, it can

[christianlucio]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

Is there a way to add an A500 keyboard connector to this board ?
It could be a killer replacement mobo.

Totally agree as even the keyrah V2 does not Support A500 keyboards

[elpiloto]

The chameleon 64 docking can...

[GadgetUK]

It looks cool but I am having a hard time working out why I would want one, especially at 189 euros when there are much more affordable solutions. Doesn't the Raspberry Pi run Amiga emulators OK? I know it's using an FPGA but its still emulated isn't it?

[chaos]

Originally Posted by GadgetUK

It looks cool but I am having a hard time working out why I would want one, especially at 189 euros when there are much more affordable solutions.

There are? It's cheaper than the original minimig and cheaper than the Replayboard.

Doesn't the Raspberry Pi run Amiga emulators OK?

Last time I checked, all the UAE variants I tried ran very poorly on the Pi. Maybe they are faster now.

I know it's using an FPGA but its still emulated isn't it?

It's not really emulation, the FPGA is more of a hardware re-implementation.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by chaos

It's not really emulation, the FPGA is more of a hardware re-implementation.

It is a re-creation and so subject to inaccuracies as emulation.

Doubtful you'd be able to tell the difference between FPGA re-creation vs emulation on a capable embedded device. Bar the price.

[obiwanken]

Minimig AGA core for MiSt is OUT !

Now I think to place MiSt into A1200 case and connect A1200 keyboard to the MiSt.
Is it possible with Keyrah V2 ?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by obiwanken

Minimig AGA core for MiSt is OUT !

For those interested here it is

https://code.google.com/p/mist-board...%2Fminimig-aga

I'm pretty sure that a binary only release is in violation of the Minimig GNU License agreement but better something than nothing.

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by alexh

For those interested here it is

https://code.google.com/p/mist-board...%2Fminimig-aga

I'm pretty sure that a binary only release is in violation of the Minimig GNU License agreement but better something than nothing.

I'd say Chaos can be relied upon to release the source - I think we can be confident this won't be a repeat of the controversy over a certain other AGA core!