Thread

Recreating Voodoo Graphics and a Late-1990s Gaming PC on an FPGA

190 points · 59 comments · zdw

jumploops · 1789532201 · focus · HN ↗
In case it's helpful to anyone, MiSTer is a project[0] that recreates classic computers and video game consoles on hardware.
What do I mean by hardware?
Rather than emulating the device in software, which can cause various issues (especially related to timing), by mapping the actual device logic to a field programmable gate array (FPGA), you can achieve an "exact" replica of the hardware.
It's a super cool project, and I highly recommend checking it out if you have an interest in old machines (Apple II, Commodore 64, etc.).
[0]<a href="https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/" rel="nofollow">https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/
1. unwind · 1789539980 · focus · HN ↗
  Do note that this very cool project does not run on the "default" MiSTer hardware. This board is $250 from AMD.
  1. jumploops · 1789545933 · focus · HN ↗
    It's been awhile, but I believe the "default" MiSTer board is the DE10-Nano[0], which was released ~10-15 years ago?
    Looks like Intel (prev Terasic) is still selling them but they're now around $300, they used to be under $150 if memory serves.
    If I were jumping into this today, I'd prefer the much more powerful KV260[1] from the blog post over the DE10-Nano, that board was limited!
    [0]<a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/topic-technology/edge-5g/hardware/fpga-de10-nano.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/topic-tech...
    [1]<a href="https://www.amd.com/en/products/system-on-modules/kria/k26/kv260-vision-starter-kit.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.amd.com/en/products/system-on-modules/kria/k26/k...
    Sidenote: somewhat sad to see the consolidation into Intel and AMD, but FPGAs have always been second class citizens in the silicon space :(
    chocochunks · 1789556212 · focus · HN ↗
    There are much cheaper clones of the DE10 available these days. For a little while fully assembled MiSTer's were available on AliExpress for around $150-$200 although it looks like maybe they dried up. There's also the SuperStation based on the MiSTer project for around $250 if you're patient.

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