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 :(
    MegaDeKay · 1789567423 · focus · HN ↗
    If you want something more powerful than MiSTer and have a bit of patience, there is the Replay R2 being developmed around the Agilex 5.
    - Agilex 5 E-Series 043 (Replay2 phat) has 434,240 logic elements (LEs).
    - Agilex 5 E-Series 013 (Replay2 lite) has 138,060 Logic Elements (LEs).
    The website (<a href="https://www.fpgaarcade.com/news-2/" rel="nofollow">https://www.fpgaarcade.com/news-2/) hasn't been updated in some time but the dev now has prototype boards that he's in the middle of bringing up. It is purpose built for arcade emulation and has tons of I/O, lots of memory (both SRAM and HyperRAM), and (on the phat) a PCI connector. One or both (can't remember which) accepts an ARM daughterboard for hybrid emulation. There's a Discord for it you can track down to follow its progress basically in real time as mikej progresses.

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