AGA

An update on minimig, and a (late) Happy New Year!

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I know there wasn’t much updates on the minimig status, but with good (;)) reason: I’ve been pretty busy, so I had little time to work on minimig updates. I did spend quite some time on rewriting the CPU <-> minimig interface, which will hopefully reduce timing problems and enable me to finally add the ethernet Zorro interface. The CPU clock will also be reduced to 28MHz, hopefully that won’t affect the CPU speed much. This is quite a complex task, so don’t expect results immediately.

On the other hand, I’m trying to fix some smaller problems and bug reports, and the intermediate beta releases will be available as I work toward the v1.3 release. I already have the supporting scripts ready that will help me build the firmware & core, increase build numbers, git tag & commit, zip it up and upload it to the server. First of these releases is already available here:

http://meditation.somuch.guru/minimig/files/mist/dev/minimig-mist_1_2_1_beta.zip

Or, alternatively, there will be a .zip file that will always contain the last released version here:

http://meditation.somuch.guru/minimig/files/mist/latest/minimig-mist_latest.zip

Don’t expect too many changes though – each new release will probably only contain two or three small updates. In this release, just two changes are important: fixing the SDRAM refresh counter, which should help with RAM stability, and the OSD display fix for productivity video modes. More to follow soon, though! 😉

 

UPDATE:

The latest beta builds will be available here: https://somuch.guru/minimig/minimig-mist/#latest-beta

 

Cheers!

minimig AGA v1.2 for the MiST board released

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There is a new release of minimig-AGA for the MiST board available, grab it on the minimig-mist page!

While the CPU is still not as stable as I’d like, the latest bitfield fixes by Till Harbaum fixed a lot of games and demos that didn’t work properly before. The OSD Turbo option is not needed or recommended for games or demos anymore, but could still be used for a little speed up in Workbench or programs. F11 key was fixed – when HRTmon is enabled, the F11 key enters the monitor program, when it is disabled, the F11 key acts as a normal Amiga HELP key. There is a CD32Pad option in the OSD, but I didn’t have time to fix the CD32 joypad emulation, so the option doesn’t have any effect for now. Initial support for programmable display modes (productivity modes, like 640x480x60Hz) is available in this core, but there are still some problems with them – some pixels are missing on the right edge of screen, and lowres sprites (mouse pointer) seem to have some problems – You can switch to hires pointer to get around this problem.

The planned ethernet support will unfortunately have to wait till the next release.

Please report any bugs or problems here:
https://github.com/rkrajnc/minimig-mist/issues (if you have a Github account)
– or –
https://gitreports.com/issue/rkrajnc/minimig-mist (no account needed)

Here are all of the updates made in this release:

  • initial implementation of programmable display modes
  • OSD HRTmon enable / disable switch is working (ON – F11 acts as NMI and enters HRTmon, OFF – F11 is HELP key)
  • proper handling of CPU access to chipRAM & custom regs – CPU waits for free slot when turbo option is disabled
  • fixed playfield 2 color lut offset when playfield 2 has priority for OCS/ECS modes
  • some IRQ changes
  • added support for undocumented Agnus / Denise behaviour when BPL=7 in ECS/OCS mode (fixes demos like SushiBoyz by Ghostown, Sliced&Diced by Dekadence, etc)
  • blitter line mode fixed (fixes demos like SushiBoyz & Sunglasses by Ghostown, Vectorize by RSi, etc)
  • bitfield instructions fixed, barrel shifter implemented by Till Harbaum
  • fixed colortable for sprites (bplxor) – fixes Alien Breed 3D (and probably many others)
  • fixed keyboard rate
  • kickstart ROM is also uploaded to mirror position (E0)
  • fixed reset problems & fastRAM disappearing
  • added CPU CACR cache control, fixed reading CACR reg
  • added scanlines for non-doublescaned config
  • fixed video dithering – both spatial & random dithering weren’t working properly

Enjoy!

minimig AGA v1.1 for the MiST board released

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There is a new release of minimig-AGA for the MiST board available, grab your fresh copy on the minimig-mist page!

Here are the updates made in this release:

  • fixed mouse issues (fixes games Like Ishar 1, 2, 3, Robinson’s Requiem, and many cracktros)
  • fixed keyboard issues (fixes game Walker and probably many others)
  • changes to FPGA clock handling, hopefully this will make a more stable minimig core
  • entering the OSD menu using UP+DOWN buttons on a DB-9 connected joystick has been disabled
  • 1MB kickstart ROM support added (enables you to run AROS ROM or your custom kickstart ROM)
  • firmware now again supports using 256kB kickstart ROMs
  • firmware now again supports using Cloanto AmigaForever encrypted kickstart ROMs

Enjoy!

minimig AGA v1.0 for the MiST board released

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There is a new release of minimig-AGA for the MiST board available, grab your fresh copy on the minimig-mist page!

It certainly took a while, but I think I can safely say that the AGA chipset is implemented correctly and in full now, but of course with lots of corner cases not handled properly. There are still quite some problems on the CPU side though, those will hopefully be fixed in time.

There are some issues worth mentioning – one is that the turbo kickstart is not working properly in all cases, so for now this feature is experimental, and it is recommended to only enable it if you don’t have any problems with it. The other issue is that currently, the HRTmon monitor doesn’t work OK when the VBR is moved to fastRAM, so either don’t use utilities like VBRMove, or don’t use HRTmon.

In the zip file, there is a firmware.upg added. There is no need to update the firmware of the MiST board if your firmware is newer than 16th of June 2015. If it is older, it is recommended to update your firmware.

Here are the updates made in this release:

  • fixed AGA color table issues
  • fixed erroneous detection of HAM, HAM8 & EHB modes in AGA
  • fixed AGA BPLXOR implementation
  • implemented AGA bitplane scandoubling
  • implemented AGA sprite scandoubling & SSCAN2 SH10 coincidence detection
  • implemented proper AGA bitplane scroller with quarter pixel scrolling precision
  • fixed AGA BPLCON4 values delay
  • playfield CLUT offsets fixed
  • ECS sprite attach enabled for both odd and even attach bit
  • turbo options for chipRAM & kickstart
  • new 8kB two-way, write-through, look-through CPU cache with separate instruction & data caches
  • CPU PACK & UNPK instruction fixes by Till Harbaum
  • updated very fast CPU by Alastair M. Robinson (in the newcpu build)
  • CIA TOD bug fixed
  • HRTmon with custom registers mirror
  • chipset config applied only on reset
  • config display added on boot screen

Enjoy!

EDIT:

a video showing the speed of the new CPU on this release:

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