Retro computing/gaming FPGA Arcade Replay Review - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: paulcav
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2017, 07:04:36 am
content: https://www.mups.co.uk/post/2017/05/fpga-arcade-replay-review/http://www.fpgaarcade.com/What is it?The replay board makes use of different cores which run on an. A “core” is theFPGArecreation of an arcade machine’s hardware such as Pac-Man or a home computer system such as the C64 or Amiga. Depending on how a core is implemented, it can provide a more authentic representation of the original hardware than emulation alone. It’s about as close as you can get to running the original hardware (custom chips not withstanding).

author: gary_01
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 17, 2017, 10:42:18 am
content: I got mine in May this year and having a blast playing games on it and developingNever done anything with an FPGA/VHDL before this and as a software programmer it has been quite the eye opener, very different mindset and lots of subtle "traps"Lots of fun too though.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2017, 11:01:25 am
content: Very interesting till I saw the price of the board.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2017, 03:13:16 pm
content: In terms of a single game, say PacMan, the T80 core over at OpenCores does a great job for Z80 based games.There is some memory decoding to do and you have to dig up the ROM contents but the entire project should be doable on something as old as a Spartan III Starter Board. I would look for the 1200k version of the board.I have it running on a NEXYS 2 board. I built an add-on card to break out the video, audio and switch connections.I'll take a flying leap of faith and say the project could fit into an Artix 7 "Arty" board.http://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-development-board-for-makers-and-hobbyists/The only issue is the fact that Arty doesn't have a VGA connector nor the appropriate resistors to create the VGA DAC. This PMOD gadget will take care of the video but it eats up two PMOD connectors:http://store.digilentinc.com/pmod-vga-video-graphics-array/All of the code comes from fpgaarcade.com several years ago and has now morphed into the Replay board.One of these days I'm going to build the cocktail table version. I already have a full sized cabinet with Mame and this includes PacMan.

author: daybyter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2017, 04:03:08 am
content: A z80 core should work on those 13$ cyclone 2 Boards from eBay?Maybe even on one of those 8$ lattice ice40 boards?

author: JanJansen
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2017, 03:00:04 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on September 17, 2017, 11:01:25 amWhat is the price then ?

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2017, 03:20:00 pm
content: €300

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2017, 03:50:14 pm
content: it'a a good platform, for sure better than the last cheap board offered on FleaBay.The price is explained by a simple statement: it's not produced for the mass.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2017, 03:50:31 pm
content: It looks like a more recent shot at what theMiSTdid, but sold for arcades instead of home consoles.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2017, 04:21:35 pm
content: Quote from: daybyter on September 18, 2017, 04:03:08 amMaybe but I doubt it. Here is the Design Summary Report for my Nexys2 build. These is always some difficulty in equating resources among the various vendors.Code:Design Summary Report:Number of External IOBs 63 out of 250 25%Number of External Input IOBs 27Number of External Input IBUFs 27Number of LOCed External Input IBUFs 27 out of 27 100%Number of External Output IOBs 36Number of External Output IOBs 36Number of LOCed External Output IOBs 36 out of 36 100%Number of External Bidir IOBs 0Number of BUFGMUXs 3 out of 24 12%Number of DCMs 1 out of 8 12%Number of RAMB16s 19 out of 28 67%Number of Slices 1482 out of 8672 17%Number of SLICEMs 66 out of 4336 1%For the boards with the EP2C5T144, it appears there is nowhere near enough BlockRAM.