thorsten herbert wrote:
Hi,
Interesting project, thanks for the link. I also think that there
are
already useable 68k projects out and posted the link to the
www.fpgaarcade.com a week ago. My knowledge about this hardware
developments is too limited but I would be happy if somebody of the
specialist could just post an opinion. Do we need to reinvent the
wheel or can a QL FPGA project be done on excisting solutions?
cheers,
Thorsten
Thanks Thorsten. That link has a lot of very useful facts about the
FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chips and the programming
languages involved etc. A good overview, and an interesting read in
their forum about developing ST and Amiga type boards from these FPGAs
too.
I thought that people on this list might like a basic summary of what
this is all about, so here goes. This comes from the FAQ on the site.
The site explains how well suited FPGA systems are for making retro
computers with. The computer system is "described" using a high level
language called VHDL allowing you to design and simulate hardware,
which the site says can be anything from a modern CPU to a digital
watch, and hopefully turn the design into a real set of physical logic
gates. In other words, I guess it would probably allow much of a "QL"
chipset to be turned into a single large logic gate chip if I have
understood this correctly.
VHDL stands for VHSIC Hardware Description Language, where VHSIC is an
acronym for Very High Speed Integrated Circuit.
The idea of "writing" an Amiga, ST or even possibly a QL into these
chips using the high level languages VHDL is something I hadn't come
across before.
That's the basics of it all - go to the link Thorsten supplied and
read about it all in greater detail. Now I know why Dave was so
enthusiastic about these FPGAs.
Dilwyn Jones
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