Editing Minimig

[[Image:Minimig 2890.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Minimig 120x120[[Millimetre|mm]] PCB board]]
[[#See also|QUICKLINK]]<br>

'''Minimig''' (short for "Mini [[Amiga]]") is an [[open source]] exact [[FPGA]] re-[[implementation]] of an [[Amiga 500]].

Minimig started life in secrecy around January [[2005]] as a [[proof of concept]] type of deal by the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[Electrical engineering|electrical engineer]] Dennis van Weeren. He intended Minimig as the answer to the ongoing discussions within the Amiga community on implementing the [[Amiga#Custom chipset|Amiga Custom Chipset]] in [[Field-programmable gate array|FPGA]] and this was released under the [[open source]] [[license]] [[GPL#Version 3|GPLv3]] on the 25 July [[2007]].

== Original prototype ==

The original Minimig [[prototype]] is based on the [[Xilinx]] Spartan-3 Starter Kit, the [[Original Amiga chipset|OCS]] chipset is synthesized in the FPGA. Two [[Printed circuit board|pcb]] boards are attached via the fpga kit expansion ports. The first one holds a 3.3V [[Motorola 68000|M68000]] type [[Central processing unit|CPU]]. The second has [[MultiMediaCard|MMC memory card]] slot with the use of a small [[PIC microcontroller|PIC]] [[microcontroller]] as acting disc controller that supports the [[File Allocation Table|FAT16]] filesystem and does on-the-fly .[[Amiga Disk File|ADF]] decoding.

      VGA-+-PS2  (joystick etc.)
          |
 CPU <-> FPGA <-> Microcontroller <-> Flashmemory
          |
         RAM

The prototype was shown <ref>{{cite web|title=HCC Commodore GG meet|url=http://amigaroxx.zuurkool.com/}} 060218 amigaroxx.zuurkool.com</ref> at an Amiga meet and loads most Amiga programs although bugs do exist. Coding is done in [[Verilog]] because Dennis found [[VHDL]] not to be his cup of tea. All done on a [[PC compatible|PC]] using [[Xilinx]] Webpack software.

Some users have suggested plans to make a joystick style [[C64 Direct-to-TV|direct-to-tv]] device for people wanting to play old Amiga games or run software. However a new single board version [[printed circuit board|pcb]] has been designed, moving away from the Xilinx Starter kit.

== Why ==

* Run Amiga specific [[application software]] to convert files to newer platforms.
* Run software only available on Amiga.
* [[Video game|Games]].
* FPGA development experience using [[Verilog]].
* Creating something for the community.
* Proof of Concept.
* Can create new games to take advantages of the new features in Minimig (faster memory, more memory, sprites, colours, etc), while maintaining full compatibility with the classic Amiga.
* Make the Amiga custom chip technology concept available under GPL.

== Hardware ==
=== Platform === <!-- As of Minimig rev1.0 board -->

*  [[Xilinx#Spartan series|Xilinx Spartan-3]] 400k gate (XC3S400-4PQ208C) FPGA using 60% capacity.
*  [[Freescale Semiconductor|Freescale]] MC68SEC000 (MC68SEC000FU20; MC68SEC000AA20 proposed as replacement part by Freescale), 3,3[[Volt|V]], running programable at 7.09379 and 14.18758 [[Hertz|MHz]]. (However there's no 'E' clock, MOVE sr,<EA> is privileged and there is no real replacement instruction. This does not seem to affect any programs as of yet however.)
*  Amiga ChipRAM bus and FastRAM merged into a single synchronous bus running at 7.09379 MHz.
*  2 [[Mebibyte|MB]] 70 [[1 E-9 s|ns]] [[Static random access memory|SRAM]] organised as 2 524288*16 banks.
*  [[Microcontroller|MCU]] [[PIC microcontroller#PIC18 High End Core Devices|PIC 18LF252-I/SP]] <ref>{{cite web|title=PIC18F252|url=http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1335&dDocName=en010276}} 070715 microchip.com</ref> (an alternative would be [[Atmel AVR]]) implements a [[File Allocation Table|FAT16]] disclayout and handles loading of fpga configuration and kickstart. Simulates a floppy to the Amiga by encoding on the fly from [[Amiga Disk File|.ADF]] files. <!-- This is NOT the TNT23 project. -->
*  [[Multi Media Card|MMC]] [[Flash memory|Flash memory card]] to load fpga configuration, kickstart and software for the simulated computer.
*  3 [[Light-emitting diode|LED]]s to display the system status - Main power (blue) - Amiga Power (red) - Drive activity (green).
*  Video [[Digital-to-analog converter|D/A]] consists of 4 [[resistor|resistors]] for each color red, green, blue (4 bits/color) and output via [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] connector. [http://minimig.googlecode.com/files/minimig11_schematics.pdf Minimig schematics v1] Page3
*  Audio from an 8 bit [[dither|dithering]] [[Delta-sigma modulation|sigma-delta]] converter with 2nd order analogue [[Electronic filter|filter]].
* +5V [[Direct Current|DC]] main power.

=== Ports ===
*  Spare 4x generic [[Input/output|I/O]] from the fpga
*  [[Joint Test Action Group|JTAG]] for programming chips
*  [[RS-232|RS232]] serial port
*  2x [[Joystick#History|Joystick]]
*  [[HD15|HD15F]] [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] video
*  [[Multi Media Card|MMC]] [[Flash memory|Flash memory card]] slot.
*  [[IBM Personal System#Keyboard/mouse interface|PS/2]] [[PS/2 connector|connector]] Keyboard + Mouse
*  3,5 mm [[Audio jack#Computer sound|audio jack]]
* +5V [[Direct Current|DC]] 2,1 mm [[DC plug#Cylindrical types|cylindrical dc plug]] power supply inlet.

=== Implementation ===

*  [[Original Amiga chipset|OCS]] [[PAL]] video.
*  512 [[Kibibyte|kB]] [[Static random access memory|SRAM]] RAM for Kickstart used as [[Read-only memory|ROM]].
*  1 [[Mebibyte|MB]] [[Static random access memory|SRAM]] [[Amiga Chip RAM|ChipRAM]] and 512 [[Kibibyte|kB]] [[Static random access memory|SRAM]] [[Amiga Chip RAM|Ranger/SlowRAM]].

== Roadmap ==

{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! Date !! Event
|-
|[[2005]]-03-06||Verilog [[Sourcecode|sources]] [[Computer programming|coding]] started.
|-
|[[2005]]-12-05||Announcement of the project.
|-
|[[2006]] Spring||Verilog sources completed. <!-- Mostly? -->
|-
|[[2006]]-06-11||Screenshoot of schematic for board v1.0 published.
|-
|[[2006]]-10-15||Schematic for board v1.0 completed.
|-
|[[2007]]-06-xx||Sources predicted to be released, but weren't.
|-
|2007-07-04||Last source edit (core).
|-
|2007-07-13||Busy making website for the project.
|-
|2007-07-24||Minimig sources released on the official website.
|-
|}

== Similar projects ==

On [[2006-10-11]] Jens Schönfeld at [[Individual Computers]] revealed that they have been working on a commercial Amiga in [[FPGA]] for the past year called "[[Amiga Clone-A|Clone-A]]" which is in fact similar to Minimig. In contrary to Minimig, [[Individual Computers]]'s [[Amiga Clone-A|Clone-A]] is being developed by a three man strong development team that employ a full blown [[logic analyzer]].

Will be using clone chips for CIAs, Paula, Gary, Agnus, Denise. CPU original motorola. Final chip will include [[Amiga Advanced Graphics Architecture|AGA]]. Prize money incentive to find bugs. Might ship in late summer-2007. Working parallel port to allow 4-player games.<ref>{{cite web|title = Individual Computers at CeBit, Clone-A presentation on 070331|url=http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3641}} 070309 amigaworld.net</ref>

== Issues ==
* Needs a [[Binary file|binary copy]] of [[AmigaOS#Kickstart|kickstart]] from a real Amiga 500 due that it's [[copyright|copyrighted]].

== Tools ==

Computer to compile the project:

Shuttle barebone, Prescott [[Pentium 4#Prescott|Pentium 4]] 3 [[Hertz|GHz]], 1 GiB [[Random access memory|Ram]], Software [[Xilinx]] Webpack version 6.3.03i (2007-07-22 9.1). Time from source .bit configuration file = 2 minutes. [[Cache]] and memory speed is vital for fpga software.

== See also ==
* [[Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements]]
* [[C64 Direct-to-TV]]
* [[Minimig Project]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== related projects ==

* [[Amiga floppy project]]

== External links ==

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimig Wikipedia:Minimig]
* [http://obligement.free.fr/articles/minimig.php Review of the Minimig on Obligement]
* [http://home.hetnet.nl/~weeren001/ Official Website including released code] [http://home.hetnet.nl/~weeren001/downloads.html 'download-link']
* [http://www.amiga.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7386 Official announcement]
* [http://www.amiga.org/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=2890&cid=13 Picture of completed Minimig rev 1.0 board ([[2006]]-11-15)]
* [http://www.minimig.de/ Site with Minimig related pictures (Dennis + board at Commodore/Amiga shows) (under construction)]
* [http://www.xilinx.com/ise/logic_design_prod/webpack.htm Xilinx ISE Webpack]
* [http://thenostromo.com/teamaros2/?number=24 AROS Kickstart ROM Replacement bounty (Phase II)]
* [http://aros.sourceforge.net/download.php [[AROS Research Operating System|AROS]] [[AmigaOS]] implementation download]
* [http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=27988&forum=8 Announcement of the Minimig project] (Amiga.org forum)
* [http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/boxer.html The BoXeR project] a [[Motorola 68040]] 75 MHz based motherboard.

[[Category:Commodore Amiga]]