commodore.gen.tr

I have put three new pictures online, all related to the FPGA
extender card that will be available later this month. One shows the
extender in detail, another shows the extender mounted on the C-One
board, and the third picture shows the C-One running the Minimig core
(yes, Tobias ported it to the extender board already!).

The "technical" page is also updated with the schematics of the FPGA
extender and the Quartus pin file - just in case someone on this list
wants to start making his own core. As you can see from the
schematics, I initially planned to use a smaller FPGA with 16k logic
cells, but decided to use a 25k logic cell type over the course of
testing during this summer, as we found numerous reasons to use the
larger FPGA (CPU improvements, more internal memory, more multipliers).

I also made a last-minute decision for a larger memory chip. The
schematics symbol is a 64MBit ram (8 MByte), but I have acutally
assembled a 128MBit type, giving a total of 16MByte memory to the
Amiga. Some of it is used for Kickstart, some more for
Chipmem/Bogomem, and the memory is also available to a second 68K CPU
core that replaces the PIC microcontroller of the original Minimig
board. Tobias already talked about sharing spare memory cycles for
better fastram speed, so a real 8M Zorro memory expansion can be put
into Minimig. This is "just a plan", not actually done yet.

The extender card has the capability of generating it's own video and
it's own sync signals. With the separate high-speed memory, we could
use it as an async flickerfixer, just like Indivision AGA, which
always displays 60Hz or more. Existing cores could run with no change
at all, just with much better monitor compatibility.

One more feature that the extender offers is exact crystal
frequencies. One crystal has 28,37516 MHz (the Amiga-PAL frequency),
and another crystal has 14,31818 MHz, which is exactly half of the
Amiga-NTSC frequency. The Cyclone3 FPGAs have very sophisticated
PLLs, and the EP3C25 has four of them. If anyone wants to go fancy,
you now have the possibility to generate a true FBAS or S-Video
signal with the C-One (well, within limits).

Last not least, the extender card can output audio with a stereo
sigma-delta converter. The current (internal) version of Minimig
allows two audio routings: Either through the Sanyo DA-converter, or
directly through the Cyclone's sigma-delta converter. We'll need to
figure out what sounds better and make a decision, as "both" really
does not make sense.

ciao,
Jens

now i am willing vice versa, c-one on minimig :)

C-One ordering page
Welcome to the C-One developer board ordering page. Please make sure you've read the updated disclaimer before you order. Also, be assured that the price of the mainboard does not buy you a whole system, but only a mainboard with CPU and all required ram. You will have to provide additional hardware in order to run the board. Please understand that our main business is research and development, not building PCs. Please make sure you have a source for an ATX power supply, PS/2 keyboard and mouse, a VGA monitor (50Hz compatible!), a CF card and an internet-connected computer that can read and write that CF card. A PS/2 SIMM module (4meg or bigger, 60ns or faster, FPM or EDO) is included with every board. We cannot guarantee the size of the memory module, but we do guarantee that it works with the C-One and the latest startup system.

The assembly of a computer from this mainboard requires some skills and tools - you should have experience with building a PC in order to make this board a working computer. If you have not done it before, we strongly recommend to accept help from an experienced friend.

The price of the C-One board with the FPGA extender is 333,- EUR. The C-One is not sold without the extender any more. If you're here to order just an extender for your C-One, please have a proof of purchase available, because the price of the extender is subsidised; it would not be possible to pay for all the development and production for just 99,- EUR each. It might take a day or two until you hear back from us, as we're trying to find the best shipping method to your place. Please don't make payment arrangements until you have our confirmation of the exact price.