What The Buggery Bollocks Is FPGA?
So many of you won't know what FPGA is. I could give a long and technical explanation but I'm not sure anyone would want to read it so I'll keep it simple. If you've seen the Analog Mega Sg and Super Nt or their Pocket you'll already have encountered FPGA even if you don't realise it. FPGA is the most accurate way of doing emulation, the ultimate. FPGA allows you to design chips using HDL which is also how real hardware is designed - these designs allow the FPGA chip to change on-the-fly to match your design, allowing you to run sets of processors in parallel on a single chip. For instance, on a MiSTer box, if you load the Minimig (Amiga) core, it'll set part of the FPGA to be a 68000 CPU running at 7MHz and other parts to be the Paula, Agnes and Denise chips. You can swap over to an Amiga 1200 by swapping out the 68000 for a 68020 and upgrading the chipset around it, and so on. Having that 68000 design allows us to use it later in the design of the Atari ST, early macs, the Sega Genesis, NEO GEO, Sega's System 16 and Capcom's CPS-2. The modularity allows endless creativity.
Why Not Just Emulate?
A software emulator has to run everything on your CPU which means it has to translate everything as it goes and in the end do everything in sequence. It works, and it's amazing, but it introduces lag because you can't have the kind of parallelism and perfection of timing that you get with a genuine FPGA setup. You get that little touch of lag which isn't such a problem when playing Civilization, but is a huge problem when playing Kick Off 2.
Why Not Just Get Real Hardware?
Real hardware is expensive, and rots. Much of the great hardware of the 80s and 90s is now in short supply due to cheap capacitors leaking where the machines were stored in lofts, and to be fair these machines were never meant to last 30-40 years - often they were built on the cheap. Other machines have issues with clock batteries leaking, screens dying, etc. Then there are issues with disks, tapes and cartridges which will only get more fragile and harder to replace over time. If you get something like an Amiga you'll need to get the capacitors replaced and put a Gotek drive in it due to the issues with floppies. FPGA has given some of these systems a new lease of life by allowing creation of replacement parts for these older systems which can match up perfectly with the older hardware.
How Do I Get An FPGA Gadget - The Easy Way?
You could just get an Analog Mega SG, Super NT or Pocket. They'll cost you a few quid and availability is limited, but they offer a slicker experience than the more DIY approach of MiSTer.
How Do I Get An FPGA Gadget - The DIY Way?
So MiSTer is a descendent of the MiST project which sought to use FPGA to recreate the ST and Amiga lines of computer. MiSTer has expanded prolifically and now contains 'cores' (more on that shortly) for a wide variety of machines.
You'll need the following:
Terasic DE-10 Nano Development Kit
https://www.mouser.co.uk/new/terasic-technologies/terasic-de10-nano-kit/ - £129.62
MiSTer SDRam XS-D v2.5 128MB Module
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister-sdram-128mb-module/ - £52.99
Most cores require some SDRam - 128MB will get the Neo Geo cores working
Optional: USB Hub
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/usb-hub-for-mister-fpga/ - £32.99
This comes with spacers and link to allow it to sit beneath the DE-10. The alternative is plugging in a powered USB hub to the DE-10's OTG. It's messy doing it that way so I don't wholly recommend it.
Optional: IO Board With Fan
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister-fpga-io-board-xl-v6-1-with-fan/ - £41.99
This one isn't essential but I like to keep my MiSTer cool and have the option of using a VGA cable (choose the analog option from the link), I added a heatsink to the main chip too.
Optional: Case
https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister-case-acrylic/ - £24.99
Makes it all a bit nicer and tidier.
People to follow on Twitter:
- https://twitter.com/AzumFpg - Currently developing save states - this guy is a machine, specialism seems to be handheld
- https://twitter.com/Woozle64 - General FPGA guru
- https://twitter.com/MickGyver - Making Nes/Snes controller to USB adapters
- https://twitter.com/sentientsixp - News
- https://twitter.com/srg320_ - Making the Sega Saturn core
- https://twitter.com/topapate - Master of Arcade cores
- https://twitter.com/MisterAddons - US supplier for the non-de10 bits of MiSTer
- https://twitter.com/MrX_8B - another legendary core developer
- https://twitter.com/MiSTerFPGA - MiSTer news
- https://twitter.com/SmokeMonsterTWI - not active anymore but he made a lot of useful videos
- https://twitter.com/Laxer3A - Building the PS core
- https://twitter.com/AshEvans81 - Working on Atari Jaguar
- https://twitter.com/analogue - Commercial FPGA
Current MiSTer core list:
- A shedload of arcade stuff
- 486 PC
- Acorn Atom
- Matra-Hachette Alice MC-10
- Altair 8800
- Amiga (500/600/1200)
- Amstrad CPC 464/6128/etc
- Apogee BK-01
- Apple 1/2
- Mattel Aquarius
- Acorn Archimedes
- Bally Astrocade
- Atari 800/2600/5200
- Atari Lynx
- Atari ST/E and Mega STE
- AY-3-8500 (Pong On A Chip)
- BBC Micro
- Electronkia BK
- Commodore 16
- Commodore 64
- Tandy Color Computer 2
- Dragon 32
- Colecovision
- Sega SG-1000
- Gameboy
- Gameboy Colour
- Gameboy Advance
- Genesis/Mega Drive
- Jupiter Ace
- VTech Laser 310
- Mac Plus
- Mega CD
- MSX
- Neo Geo
- NES
- Magnavox Odyssey 2 / Videopac
- Orao
- Oric 1 and Oric Atmos
- Commodore Pet
- Sinclair QL
- SAM Coupe
- Sharp MZ
- Sega Master System
- Snes
- ZX Spectrum 48k, 128k, Next
- TurboGrafx 16 / PC Engine / CD
- Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
- Tandy TRS-80
- Vectrex
- Commodore Vic 20
- Sharp X68000
- Sinclair ZX80/81
I'll aim to keep this thread updated with news of new cores, new features, etc.
