MiSTer FPGA Forum

I know MiSTer's name came from the MIST project. I also learned that MIST was originally started to create FPGA versions of the Atari ST and the Amiga 500 computers. Officially, ST stands for Sixteen/Thirty-two. It refers to the Motorola 68000 CPU series' 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internal architecture. Both computers had this CPU. The ST came from Atari. But, I can't figure out what the Mi stands for.

Update:
Thanks for all the replies. I now understand that Mi can stands for Mini or Minimig. But, I'm annoyed at myself for forgetting to ask about what the er stands for. If anyone can tell me, I would greatly appreciate it.

It depends how you look at it i guess at first the mist was designed for an fpga atari st so i presume the mi originally stood for mini.
Then minimig was ported to the mist so i believe the mi part of the name changed its meaning to minimig which stands for mini amiga

So the mi stands for either mini or minimig

The thread is buried deep in Atari Forums, but from memory the "Mi" stood for Amiga, so it's a shorthand version of "Amiga ST". The logo showed this by using the font of the Amiga logo for "mi" and the Atari font for the rest.

There is also a little language joke. The PCB and original ST core developer (TIll Harbaum) is German, and "mist" means something like "crap" in that language. So basically, the MiST name is intended to have a self-deprecating connotation of "crappy little FPGA board for ST and Amiga"

Edit: the board was developed at first to house an ST core, at the time Till had approached MikeJ for a Replay FPGA board but he did not have any available to give him, so he ended up developing much cheap board for his own use. That little board ended up being very popular. See this thread: https://www.fpgaarcade.com/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=107

It may seem odd today that the MiST was so successful, but you have to take into account that the DE-10 did not exist and basic development boards (with an FPGA similar or better to MiST) were at least $300 or more.

Some people worry about what will happen if the DE-10 stops being produced and supplies dries up, but the truth is, the code can be ported to other boards in the future if needed. Open source is strong like that, and that benefit is not hypothetical... it's exactly what allowed the MiSTer to start.

We are basically using today a 3rd gen of some cores (e.g. Minimig -> MiST -> MiSTer, or 1chipMSX) and more keep being developed.

For many, the MiST is still a better (and easier) choice than the MiSTer and they are still manufactured and sold (along with clones and spinoffs, like MiSTica and UnAmiga etc the MiST itself is open source after all). The DE-10 nano comes with quite a load of "mental overhead", it is more complicated, it has more features, more active development which requires attention etc that requires more skill and attention from the user.

It depends on usage. The way MiSTer used is much larger than MiST. MiST simply has no additional functions MiSTer provides. And of course with more different usages you have to learn more.
You want to upload files remotely - you need to learn how to use FTP. You want Wallpapers - you need to organize them. You want different HDMI resolutions or even switch them on the fly, you want different scaling, you want different gamma, you want network connection,you want additional USB storage or even network shares, midi, etc, etc...
But if you will use MiSTer as MiST, then it's not more complicated than MiST.

MiSTer - originally stands for "MiST on Terasic board". It's no longer such, so just take it as a simple name MiSTer without anything underneath.

I usually make the analogy that both MiST and MiSTer are as simple to setup (and maintain) as Everdrives.
(I think it's easier given the FTP features - but some people may consider that added complexity)

I always thought that "MiSTer" was the comparative form of "MiST", i.e. "more than MiST" because it ran on better hardware and had more features. It's interesting to know that the actual origin of the suffix was Terasic.