MiSTer Pi

[kathleen]

While I was surfing on the web, I found a video showing a Mister PI.
I looked deeper and I found this ; https://retroremake.co/products/mister- ... -mega-pack
Does it tell something to anyone ? The price seems to be quite low compared to a full Mister kit.
They claim that MiSTER Pi is a fully compatible MiSTer FPGA development board. If this is really the case then this is not bad at all.

[Retro-Nerd]

Yes, it's all over the place in the retro-scene since a few month. Taki Udon (well known youtuber for e.g. handheld reviews) is doing it the proper way. Looking forward to it, especially the later hand held variants with OLED display.

[mcf81]

It’s real — Taki Udon has done some amazing work in collaboration with the core MiSTer team to bring this to market. You can find more information on his Twitter / X: https://x.com/TakiUdon_

Also Video Game Esoterica, Pixel Cherry Ninja, and Lu’s Retro Source have done recent reviews / recaps you can find on YouTube. I think samples have been delivered to them for testing and review videos that should be popping up soon if they’re not already out there.

Some big wins for new kits imho is swappable analog IO of dual SDRAM ever really becomes required and moving to 12V via USB-C power. I would def go with this kit if you’re building your first MiSTer setup.

[LamerDeluxe]

I'm really looking forward to the handheld as well. The Analogue Pocket is awesome, but about half as powerful as a MiSTer.

[Retro-Nerd]

It starts soon.

[MiSTER Pi batch 1 first half: September 5th 8AM Beijing (GMT+8) / September 4th 8PM EST

MiSTER Pi batch 1 second half:
September 6th 8PM Beijing (GMT +8) / September 6th 8AM EST

No shipping delays for any region.

[rickdangerous]

It’s real — Taki Udon has done some amazing work in collaboration with the core MiSTer team to bring this to market. You can find more information on his Twitter / X: https://x.com/TakiUdon_

Also Video Game Esoterica, Pixel Cherry Ninja, and Lu’s Retro Source have done recent reviews / recaps you can find on YouTube. I think samples have been delivered to them for testing and review videos that should be popping up soon if they’re not already out there.

Some big wins for new kits imho is swappable analog IO of dual SDRAM ever really becomes required and moving to 12V via USB-C power. I would def go with this kit if you’re building your first MiSTer setup.

The A/V Pro 9.2 with swappable analog AV nodule and dual ram is not new, we have it for some months.

[Missus]

A doozy of a name thats for sure.

[limi]

Terrible name, great product that will definitely bring a new cohort of users to MiSTer.

[akeley]

Great stuff, just hope it will be more of a steady affair than the QMtech boards, which are mostly sold out and only come in small batches. I've heard some people expressing doubts whether his deal with Altera is real. Also, Intel itself is in hot water right now and there's talk of selling this unit off...hopefully it won't affect things on MiSTer front much, clones or not.

I will try to snag the full one (though I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of people (ie resellers) ready with fingers on mouse buttons and 8am is a bit early for me). I think I can put a 3rd MiSTer to use, and since it has 9.2 AV board probably even as my main one.

[neogeo81]

I will try to snatch one but the name is stupid. I don't get why he asked and still took the worst name for this.

[rickdangerous]

Name is stupid but everyone talks

[niallquinn]

I don't think it's referencing Raspberry exactly, except maybe it's the fact that it's cheap. Or that it's version 3.14159264.

[rhester72]

I've heard some people expressing doubts whether his deal with Altera is real.

I don't think there ever was a "deal with Alterra". The FPGAs are clearly chip pulls. Intel doesn't/wouldn't do those themselves and they don't resell used chips. They have to be coming from a recycler.

[akeley]

I don't think there ever was a "deal with Alterra".

https://www.readonlymemo.com/cheap-mist ... ase-plans/

But the real money saving is in cloning the functionality of the DE10-Nano needed for the MiSTer and sourcing the FPGA processor directly from Altera.

While Taki didn't disclose the details of their deal with Altera, he said they had no prior relationship with Altera and gave me an overview of how reaching out to a manufacturer to inquire about a rate typically works, and how the prices they offer will likely be based on a few factors. The most relevant one here was volume — the smaller the number of units you're asking for, the higher a profit margin the manufacturer will bake into their price. Reading between the lines, I think he expects this board — and future FPGA products they're building with it — to be popular, which means a juicy order for Altera and a lower price per unit.

I don't know whether it's true or not, but that's what the man said, so it's something to consider. I also don't know whether you can get sufficient amounts of recycled chips to support a serious operation with a steady supply of both handheld and cloned MiSTers. I hope he can pull it off either way, otherwise it'll be just a novelty, quickly snatched by resellers and not really changing the market situation.

[limi]

The FPGAs are clearly chip pulls.

What’s the evidence for this?

[rhester72]

The FPGAs are clearly chip pulls.

What’s the evidence for this?

a) The manufacturer said so.

b) It's visually quite obvious they are used in every photo to date.

[rhester72]

I don't know whether it's true or not, but that's what the man said, so it's something to consider. I also don't know whether you can get sufficient amounts of recycled chips to support a serious operation with a steady supply of both handheld and cloned MiSTers. I hope he can pull it off either way, otherwise it'll be just a novelty, quickly snatched by resellers and not really changing the market situation.

That's exactly what I expect to happen. If I'm wrong, I'll very readily admit so.

[Chris23235]

The FPGAs are clearly chip pulls.

What’s the evidence for this?

a) The manufacturer said so.

b) It's visually quite obvious they are used in every photo to date.

Where did Altera say this? There is another clone board that uses pulled chips, sure you don't conflate both boards?

[rhester72]

Where did Altera say this? There is another clone board that uses pulled chips, sure you don't conflate both boards?

Sorry, by 'manufacturer', I meant the producer of the boards.

That being said, I didn't realize there are two different clones...yes, I was indeed thinking of the other in my earlier comments. My apologies.

[lroby74]

Be careful, 160$ + IVA + custom fee and shipping..
Without microSD card, without case, without VGA Scart cable and without someone that had already mounted and tested it for you like Manufehri for example.
Price will be still good but not so good anymore like it may seems to

While I was surfing on the web, I found a video showing a Mister PI.
I looked deeper and I found this ; https://retroremake.co/products/mister- ... -mega-pack
Does it tell something to anyone ? The price seems to be quite low compared to a full Mister kit.
They claim that MiSTER Pi is a fully compatible MiSTer FPGA development board. If this is really the case then this is not bad at all.

[Retro-Nerd]

A full set with every addon board, metal case, cables, noctua cooler etc. was already 600 Euro+ You can get it now for at least 200-250 Euro less.

[akeley]

Yeah, well, 400 Euro or whatever is still way over 200 USD.

So I got up late today and of course the main sets are all sold out. No big surprise there

[bazza_12]

i wonder how long they took to sell out. i'd be surprised if i dont see them on ebay with an added 1/3rd price increase.

[neogeo81]

i wonder how long they took to sell out. i'd be surprised if i dont see them on ebay with an added 1/3rd price increase.

the mega pack was sold out after 5 mins

[bazza_12]

5 minutes? blimey, you'd think they were oasis tickets..

[Armakuni]

Both this and the QMtech boards are great for the project

I really don't understand the issue about the chip source, we are talking over a decade old chip that is very cheap to produce and with the state of Intel every $ counts even when Altera has been spun off, we have seen even a rumours of a AMD buyout of Altera

I have been testing one of QMtechs with soldered on SDram boards now for over a month and it's great everything works as it.
I had the QMtech USB/IO board and case arrive today which cost about £25+ post and it's brilliant. Really nice analogue video, yes its based on the 6.1 design but it's cheap

What I have always struggled with is all Taki and QMtech are producing is a board for around the same price as Terasic was selling it for until early 2021. Takis Add-ons are very cheap though

The boards are not 1:1 copies of the Terasic board but are 100% compatible with the MiSTer frame work and cores, really that is all that matters

The project is viable again for a lot of people

[rhester72]

I can't speak about Taki, but my concern about QMtech (and chip reuse) is that demand will always outstrip supply, and the only sane response to that is to...wait for it...raise prices. I just fail to see how it's supposed to help the market.

[Armakuni]

I can't speak about Taki, but my concern about QMtech (and chip reuse) is that demand will always outstrip supply, and the only sane response to that is to...wait for it...raise prices. I just fail to see how it's supposed to help the market.

QMtech do their own thing but on a much smaller scale and that is fine.

They have already sold over 500 boards across two SKUs and he keeps restocking his lines which is great and demonstrates he has a good supply line for the chips

QMtech also open sourced their designs for their Cyclone V board and Add on board which keeps with the spirit of the project and that gives production possibilities from other vendors

It doesn't matter how many are made or when they have stock it still gives buyers a cheaper option and that is all that matters

The quality of the Qmtech board, IO/USB and PCB material case is great for the price point.

[vanfanel]

Are you guys implying that both Taki and QMTech use pulled (re-used) chips?
Are you sure about that?
(This is out of curiosity, as I already have many MiSTer setups around for different use cases)

[Armakuni]

Are you guys implying that both Taki and QMTech use pulled (re-used) chips?
Are you sure about that?
(This is out of curiosity, as I already have many MiSTer setups around for different use cases)

There is a odd belief that due to the boards being cheaper than the DE10, they have to be using salvaged chips. There is no evidence for this