Mini Amiga nostalgia

Great nostalgia thread :) I bought the mini A500 in '22 (thought I bought it last year!) where does the time go? I need to get back on it, as I get all misty eyed about the ZX Spectrum, but the Amiga was truly the first decent computer I owned. i still have my original V1.3 A500, although it hasn't had power going throught it for a good 25 years.

My games I played to death were Paradroid 90, stunt car racer, Geoff Crammonds's F1, Elite, Kick off 2, Cannon Fodder, Alien Breed, Wings and Pinball Dreams.

I've collected most of the Retro Games computers now, they've all been decent machines. Tempted to pre-order the A1200, especially as it has a full working keyboard etc.
 
nands said:
I also rigged up a separate sound system and it always freaked me out when a game had a bit of stereo, just wasn’t expecting it!

I’m working my way through Lemmings now, loving that, it’s amazing how much emotion they put into so few pixels!

Megalomania next when I find a working copy.
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I hooked mine up to my HIFI when I first got it, some Akai thing I loved at the time (it had equalizers and everything!!!!), I also had my Ghetto Blaster hooked up to the HIFI for a bit more power....I was that guy.

When I first started up Star ray which came with the Amiga I got I almost filled my boxers when a guy shouted out clear as day "Star Ray GO!", I actually called friends around to hear it. Coming from a 48k speccy it was a proper leap, maybe the largest leap I actually have felt in computing although back then things did really leap unlike now where they kind of evolve, that's to be expected though as I came from 1 pixel TV games lol.

I'm going to have to investigate this now, I think I want one. Megalomania was brilliant too.
 
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Was considering getting one of these, either the A500 mini or the A1200. The question is, can it run every game? I think I read reports that some games won't run on these because they aren't powerful enough? I admit that I only had a very quick look around.

It's really tempting me. If I only wanted to play games, is there any advantage of going with the A1200 over the A500 mini or even an FPGA like the Mister Pi?
 
melmac said:
Was considering getting one of these, either the A500 mini or the A1200. The question is, can it run every game? I think I read reports that some games won't run on these because they aren't powerful enough? I admit that I only had a very quick look around.

It's really tempting me. If I only wanted to play games, is there any advantage of going with the A1200 over the A500 mini or even an FPGA like the Mister Pi?
Click to expand...

In theory it will run every game. Unless there is some specific Amiga Motorola 68060/080 software, or something. There may be games, or demos that glitch, or aren't quite as accurate as running on real hardware.

  1. The A500 Mini/A1200 (& all RGL products) are software emulation which use small ARM-based processors. Fine for what they are. Cheaper, games included, very easy to use, no setup. Can mod if you want, i.e. use the C64 Maxi with a RPi 3B+ and BMC64.
  2. The advantage of the A1200 will be having a working keyboard included and not having to plug one in via USB. Otherwise essentially the same similar experience (minus any updates RGL have done to the A1200 included games/dashboard).
  3. FPGA is more accurate and in the right scenarios can give you a 1:1 recreation of the original system/code with lower latency. But FPGA is usually more expensive.
 
Inst there all in one FPGA Amiga solutions also?

MiniMig, AmiCube, Apollo and others

e.g - https://shoq.apollo-computer.com/product_info.php?products_id=45

Hardware : FPGA Amigas – AmigaNG

amigang.com amigang.com

FPGA - AMIGAstore.eu

FPGA Systems uses modern hardware to implement the original hardware. It’s not an emulation, it’s a recreation of the genuine machine
amigastore.eu amigastore.eu
www.8bits4ever.net

MiSS-1200 FPGA Complete | 8bits4ever

This product takes about 6 weeks to get build, tested and ready to ship. Do not mistake this board with our "MiSTress" IO boards (for DE-10 Nano/MiSTer). This is a STAND-ALONE kit, it doesnt require any 3rd party FPGA board to run. Stand-alone FPGA board designed to fit inside a Commodore A1200...
www.8bits4ever.net www.8bits4ever.net

I still dont know how FPGA is better than emulating on a powerful PC. Is it just that FPGA hardware is similar / the same as old Amiga hardware? (so is more accurate)

edit, i've just watched this. From what I can tell FPGA is only emulation/simulation of the cores instead of direct software emulation. So similar to PCem and me selecting specific hardware.

 
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Timber said:
In theory it will run every game. Unless there is some specific Amiga Motorola 68060/080 software, or something. There may be games, or demos that glitch, or aren't quite as accurate as running on real hardware.

  1. The A500 Mini/A1200 (& all RGL products) are software emulation which use small ARM-based processors. Fine for what they are. Cheaper, games included, very easy to use, no setup. Can mod if you want, i.e. use the C64 Maxi with a RPi 3B+ and BMC64.
  2. The advantage of the A1200 will be having a working keyboard included and not having to plug one in via USB. Otherwise essentially the same similar experience (minus any updates RGL have done to the A1200 included games/dashboard).
  3. FPGA is more accurate and in the right scenarios can give you a 1:1 recreation of the original system/code with lower latency. But FPGA is usually more expensive.
Click to expand...

Thank you. It seems the simplest option is the A500 mini but the better option might be the FPGA?
 
melmac said:
Thank you. It seems the simplest option is the A500 mini but the better option might be the FPGA?
Click to expand...
Yep - A500 mini can be had for around £90. FPGA e.g. MiSTer with a few small addons is a £200-£400 - but then you'll need controllers too.
 
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Guest2 said:
Inst there all in one FPGA Amiga solutions also?

MiniMig, AmiCube, Apollo and others
Click to expand...

MiST (aMIgaST), which MiSTer was a port of, was originally an FPGA project to emulate the two 16-bit home computers. I think the most well known FPGA Amigas are the Apollo Vampires with their own OS and other benefits.

Guest2 said:
I still dont know how FPGA is better than emulating on a powerful PC. Is it just that FPGA hardware is similar / the same as old Amiga hardware? (so is more accurate)

edit, i've just watched this. From what I can tell FPGA is only emulation/simulation of the cores instead of direct software emulation. So similar to PCem and me selecting specific hardware.
Click to expand...

It's not the same as emulation, although there is a need for software to program the logic gates on an FPGA chip (as I understand it). Emulation will never be able to 1:1 recreate the experience that FPGA (or ASIC chips) can and there's always going to be latency, or software issues even in best case scenarios like the BMC64 which is bare-metal emulation for Raspberry Pi 3's. Plus FPGA (or ASIC in the forthcoming AES+) can run real software, or use real accessories, i.e. the analogue machines running PC-Engine Hu Cards, or Ultimate C64 running original cartridges etc. And the other benefit is that FPGA can be used to 100% recreate just single chips in original hardware that are no longer in production, i.e. C64 SID chips.

FPGA projects like MiSTer, Analogue Pocket, Ultimate C64 are well worth it if you're into the most accurate experience, but perhaps want some modern hardware benefits (i.e. HDMI). As MiSTer was open-source it meant the community experience, expertise and knowledge all went flooding into other projects which was awesome. And was one of the reasons I bought into MiSTer and funded some people via Patreon like Jotego etc.

melmac said:
Thank you. It seems the simplest option is the A500 mini but the better option might be the FPGA?
Click to expand...

No worries, hope it helped.

The A500/A1200 will be simpler and cheaper. And tbh emulation can sometimes be enough (I'd argue it is for 99% of people). I think you certainly need to need some research on FPGA stuff like the MiSTer and decide. That said even though I Iove my MiSTer which I've owned for over five years now I still use emulation sometimes and own things like the NES/SNES Mini. I'm very tempted by the A1200 as another way to play Amiga games. Even if you just start with an A500 Mini (or A1200) that might be a gateway to other retro projects.
 
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