So... dipping my toe in here. Seems like a 2ndary purpose for mister is to support the development of computer-like alternate cores (that don't have anything to do with retro-computing per se). With that blurted out, I have a question... starting in here is very daunting.
So... does mister use VHDL, Verilog, or both? Do they relate? Do they combine? Would be nice if the Wiki had a resources page... ie: good books, tutorials on fpga's, etc.
I realize it's not "your" (for values of "your" related to people reading this post ... and thus ... involved in mister) job to educate people and that the project is obviously not setup for people to jump into fpga's with it, but I as an instance of someone jumping into fpga's with this project have a goal to play with something more complex than many "starter" examples I see on the web. As such, this project seems the most useful jump point.
So... hopefully someone will drop me a few hints here.
Where I fear to tread...
Re: Where I fear to tread...
keep reading down the screen , there is a topic on "Books and Tutorials about verilog / HDL"
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Newsdee
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Re: Where I fear to tread...
MiSTer is a software and hardware framework designed to work with the Terasic DE-10 Nano Kit board.
That board, by itself, is an FPGA development board designed for engineers and students to learn FGPA development. Since it's cheap it has been adopted by MiSTer and other projects (OSSC for one, but not just retro stuff, it's widely used in universities).
It's just the tip of the iceberg of the FPGA world. There are other boards out there, many much more expensive. You can have a look at the Terasic website to get an idea (there are many other brands): https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page ... ist=Simple
Cyclone V FPGAs are programmed with a Quartus, distributed by Intel/Altera. That supports various languages (VHDL, Verilog, etc). It's enough to use a free version for hobby purposes.
I'd say the DE10 Nano is a good deal as far as "development / hacking around" boards go. MiSTer is just one application of it, and for sure more devs would be welcome, but strictly speaking you don't have to use that framework with the DE10. If you have a smaller application, a cheaper FPGA board may be better for you, e.g.: https://papilio.cc/index.php?n=Papilio.PapilioPro but there's a reason they are cheaper... that FPGA has no ARM core and only 9K Logic Elements (versus 110K LEs of the DE-10 Nano). The more LEs, the more "room" you have to code hardware logic into it.
That board, by itself, is an FPGA development board designed for engineers and students to learn FGPA development. Since it's cheap it has been adopted by MiSTer and other projects (OSSC for one, but not just retro stuff, it's widely used in universities).
It's just the tip of the iceberg of the FPGA world. There are other boards out there, many much more expensive. You can have a look at the Terasic website to get an idea (there are many other brands): https://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page ... ist=Simple
Cyclone V FPGAs are programmed with a Quartus, distributed by Intel/Altera. That supports various languages (VHDL, Verilog, etc). It's enough to use a free version for hobby purposes.
I'd say the DE10 Nano is a good deal as far as "development / hacking around" boards go. MiSTer is just one application of it, and for sure more devs would be welcome, but strictly speaking you don't have to use that framework with the DE10. If you have a smaller application, a cheaper FPGA board may be better for you, e.g.: https://papilio.cc/index.php?n=Papilio.PapilioPro but there's a reason they are cheaper... that FPGA has no ARM core and only 9K Logic Elements (versus 110K LEs of the DE-10 Nano). The more LEs, the more "room" you have to code hardware logic into it.
Re: Where I fear to tread...
I'm pretty happy with the "size" of the DE-10 for now. 110k elements or some such? Right now I want to play with two ideas (related) ... a multicore 680x0 and a multicore RISC-V.
Since I have a fondness for the Amiga, the amiga core here is a gateway drug.
Before I picked up on your stuff, I also picked up an ATRIX7 XC7A100T board --- very similar in size and scope.
Like the DE-10 ... it's $100-ish price point is right in the sweet spot for tinkering.
Since I have a fondness for the Amiga, the amiga core here is a gateway drug.
Before I picked up on your stuff, I also picked up an ATRIX7 XC7A100T board --- very similar in size and scope.
Like the DE-10 ... it's $100-ish price point is right in the sweet spot for tinkering.