MiSTer: FPGA gaming

[Spoonman]

I'll be getting a MiSTer rather than an AES, for multiple reasons. Then there's arcade. Then there's the fact my MD is at my dad's and there's no chance I am getting that for a while. Then there's loads of retro systems that I dabbled in but no longer have.

 

My Saturn/DC/PS2 however... I am not sure MiSTer will be doing this. Who knows... it might? Perhaps with some more add-ons, let's see.

[owen2471]

i got a MISTer to relive the amiga demo scene days (and c64 to a lesser extent). i haven't been disappointed with my purchase one bit. its the best emulation experience i have had so far.

[dr_manhattan^]

On 17/02/2021 at 09:47, Spoonman said:

I'll be getting a MiSTer rather than an AES, for multiple reasons. Then there's arcade. Then there's the fact my MD is at my dad's and there's no chance I am getting that for a while. Then there's loads of retro systems that I dabbled in but no longer have.

 

My Saturn/DC/PS2 however... I am not sure MiSTer will be doing this. Who knows... it might? Perhaps with some more add-ons, let's see.

 

I do fancy a MiSTer for AES too, but I don't really know where to start.

[Spoonman]

It's not helping my depression right now one bit, that being here in Germany means I cannot order MiSTer. I cannot get Digikey to send a DE10-nano to Germany, presumably as it doesn't have a German power supply nor instructions, which I believe are required. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, dr_manhattan^ said:

 

I do fancy a MiSTer for AES too, but I don't really know where to start.

 

You can either "buy a kit" or do it yourself, basically. Costs a little more to buy a kit, but basically zero hassle. Though you still have to know your USB from your RS232 in order to set it up on the software side of things.

[Count Buffalos]

It’s super straightforward to do it yourself. I have no idea what a RS232 is

[shiffy]

@Spoonman That's strange that Digikey won't send the DE10 to Germany, I wonder why that is? The power supply is universal so I can't imagine that being a reason to block sales of it Germany. I can't remember now but I don't recall there being any instructions in the box other than a sheet labelling all the various components of the DE10. I think the bulk of any instructions would be on the included SD card, which I've never looked at admittedly!

 

You could try Mouser, a very similar setup to Digikey in that they ship directly from the USA. They don't have any units in stock at the moment but are expecting them at the end of March. See you if have any more success with this link to the German Mouser site.

https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/Terasic-Technologies/P0496/?qs=%2FacZuiyY%2B4ZdDLJqTxdJ5w%3D%3D

 

 

[Spoonman]

Thanks @shiffy, but yes, end of March. I know that you cannot import electronics from Japan without a CE mark, German manual, and German power supply. I know the DE10 has a universal one, but with a US fitting, it might be outlawed. All speculation; Digikey simply told me they won't sell me one. Meanwhile, I have friends all over the EU, and the UK, enjoying theirs.

 

1 hour ago, Count Buffalos said:

It’s super straightforward to do it yourself. I have to idea what a RS232 is

 

Even easier, then!

[mmmonkey]

Can anyone you trust buy it on your behalf and send it privately to you?  Or do those restrictions apply to items coming in to all packages (instead of just ones sent from businesses?)

 

I thought it had gotten bad in the UK recently importing things, but we luckily don’t have this trouble.

[Spoonman]

@mmmonkey only if they’re in the EU

[mmmonkey]

Is it new restrictions?  The recent DF Retro video was by a chap living in Germany, I wonder how he got his?  Could maybe ask him on Twitter?

[shiffy]

I've just spotted the creator of the GBA core has released a preview video of his up & coming Atari Lynx core, looking pretty good so far. I have no experience whatsoever of the Lynx so I'm not really sure what to expect. Are there any titles that are recommended?

 

[jonnyalpha]

I only had a few carts and used to have a lot of love for Xybots and in my head it was a great conversion. I remember enjoying Toki, Todd in Slime World but can't remember much as it's been many years since I owned one, there's a Lynx thread here that is pretty active so might be worth looking in there.

[Count Buffalos]

Isn't it one of those machines that was actually terrible but some people hold a weird nostalgia for, like the Jaguar? Regardless, it's welcome addition I guess.

[Spoonman]

9 hours ago, mmmonkey said:

Is it new restrictions?  The recent DF Retro video was by a chap living in Germany, I wonder how he got his?  Could maybe ask him on Twitter?

 

He smuggled his in from a visit to the US, indeed.

[bwi]

4 hours ago, Count Buffalos said:

Isn't it one of those machines that was actually terrible but some people hold a weird nostalgia for, like the Jaguar? Regardless, it's welcome addition I guess.

I still play my original from time to time, sure its aged, but warbirds and surfing in california games take me back to my post rave gaming sessions

 

I do have a mcwill screen in it now to make it more bearable though.

 

This and the neo pocket core are my most wanted on the mister.......yes even before the CPS2

[Count Buffalos]

Yeah, NGP would be excellent.

[Spoonman]

Order finally placed for a MiSTer! 

[shiffy]

@Spoonman Where did you order it from in the end?

 

I've been debating whether or not to post this as it's not realy showing much of anything yet, I saw that srg320 has posted an updated video  showing his Saturn progress on MiSTer.

 

 

[Spoonman]

14 hours ago, shiffy said:

@Spoonman Where did you order it from in the end?

 

UltimateMister.com. He has a backlog but answered my email and said I could reserve a unit through him, so have done so. 

 

Won’t be here within 24 hours or anything, but I’m pleased to join the club and am looking forward to getting started. I have some real plans for this thing!

[Tomdominer]

On 17/02/2021 at 09:47, Spoonman said:

I'll be getting a MiSTer rather than an AES, for multiple reasons. Then there's arcade. Then there's the fact my MD is at my dad's and there's no chance I am getting that for a while. Then there's loads of retro systems that I dabbled in but no longer have.

 

My Saturn/DC/PS2 however... I am not sure MiSTer will be doing this. Who knows... it might? Perhaps with some more add-ons, let's see.

 

I was this -><- close to buying an AES system. But the sale fell through, as the seller refunding me. And, on reflection, I think that perhaps spending the money on a MiSTer might be preferable, because I get perfect accuracy Geo plus accurate arcade cores as well!

 

Sorry if this had been asked a million times, but where should I order a MiSTer from? And what components do I need? Is there a recommended guide?

[watusi]

Some progress on PS1, nowhere near full speed but good see it running Ridge Racer!

 

 

[shiffy]

4 hours ago, Tomdominer said:

 

I was this -><- close to buying an AES system. But the sale fell through, as the seller refunding me. And, on reflection, I think that perhaps spending the money on a MiSTer might be preferable, because I get perfect accuracy Geo plus accurate arcade cores as well!

 

Sorry if this had been asked a million times, but where should I order a MiSTer from? And what components do I need? Is there a recommended guide?

Ultimate MiSTer is the main source in Europe for selling a complete pre-built package (based out of Portugal, many of us know the seller as retroshop.pt or Ricardo). Most of us have gone the DIY route though. You'll need the DE10-Nano from either Mouser or Digikey. The rest of the individual components are available from MiSTer FPGA in the UK.

 

The parts which you'll need to order will depend on what display you intend to use. The "must buy" components are the DE10 itself, 128MB SDRam board, heatsink & fan. The heatsink & fan are either built into the i/o board (primarily for crt usage) or you can get a fan mounting plate if you only intend to use the MiSTer with a modern hdmi display. This basic setup will enable you to play everything. A cheap USB hub from Amazon will be needed if you don't want the dedicated USB board. This will be a basic setup, see my previous post here.

 

If you wanted to push the boat out a bit, you can also get yourself the i/o board (heatsink & fan included) to hook up to a crt display, and the  USB daughter-board is better than using the Amazon USB hub. Then you can get yourself a case to install everything into. There are lots of variations (PCB "Stormtrooper" case, laser cut acrylic cases, 3d printed cases (not recommended).

 

There are a couple of other components as well that would make up the "complete package", but I doubt very few people use them and are definitely not essential. First is the audio-in board to allow you to plug in a cassette player to load real Speccy/C64/Amstrad/etc tapes. The second is the Real Time Clock board. One Snes game uses it, and the computer cores use it if your MiSTer isn't plugged in to your network.

 

There are enough of us here who can help should you get stuck at any point, but definitely have a look at the MiSTer Wiki

[mmmonkey]

That is an awesome post, covered everything there :-)

 

Has anyone that played around with the MT32-pi project alongside the MiSTer?  It’s to get nice MIDI sound out of the computer cores (tbh, never looked into midi before I heard about this project!)

 

Just about ready to build one and hopefully get the 3D printed parts shortly soon.

[shiffy]

@mmmonkey Thank you!

 

The MT32 pi is something I am very much interested in and I will be getting one at some point. As you can probably tell from my profile pic I am a pianist, I have never linked my interests of music & computers together though. My assumption would be that most people, like yourself, will use this add-on as a soundcard on the ao486 core (and the X68k / pc88+98 cores should they progress to a more usable state), but I would be aiming to use it with the ST core and turn my piano into a controller keyboard for use with Cubase. Whether this can be done is another matter entirely.

I'm a competent keyboard player, I know old computers fairly well. I have never used computers in relation to music creation so it will be a steep learning curve for me. If nothing else I'll have some great sounding PC games as I suspect my piano won't like the MiSTer ..... or vice verse!

 

[mmmonkey]

That would be cool to use one linked up like that.  Yeah, I’m playing it safe and sticking with the top 300 games pack on the ao486 core - everyone seems to use Monkey Island to demo it once they’ve built the Pi hat.

 

I’ll post an update how I get on building one, I might end up with a spare :-)

[Tomdominer]

13 hours ago, shiffy said:

Ultimate MiSTer is the main source in Europe for selling a complete pre-built package (based out of Portugal, many of us know the seller as retroshop.pt or Ricardo). Most of us have gone the DIY route though. You'll need the DE10-Nano from either Mouser or Digikey. The rest of the individual components are available from MiSTer FPGA in the UK.

 

The parts which you'll need to order will depend on what display you intend to use. The "must buy" components are the DE10 itself, 128MB SDRam board, heatsink & fan. The heatsink & fan are either built into the i/o board (primarily for crt usage) or you can get a fan mounting plate if you only intend to use the MiSTer with a modern hdmi display. This basic setup will enable you to play everything. A cheap USB hub from Amazon will be needed if you don't want the dedicated USB board. This will be a basic setup, see my previous post here.

 

If you wanted to push the boat out a bit, you can also get yourself the i/o board (heatsink & fan included) to hook up to a crt display, and the  USB daughter-board is better than using the Amazon USB hub. Then you can get yourself a case to install everything into. There are lots of variations (PCB "Stormtrooper" case, laser cut acrylic cases, 3d printed cases (not recommended).

 

There are a couple of other components as well that would make up the "complete package", but I doubt very few people use them and are definitely not essential. First is the audio-in board to allow you to plug in a cassette player to load real Speccy/C64/Amstrad/etc tapes. The second is the Real Time Clock board. One Snes game uses it, and the computer cores use it if your MiSTer isn't plugged in to your network.

 

There are enough of us here who can help should you get stuck at any point, but definitely have a look at the MiSTer Wiki

 

Thanks for this, very kind!

 

I actually watched a few videos and ordered everything on this list, including a proper MiSTer USB hub. I did also order the IO board, as I thought it was more to do with sound? I already have a OSSC, so was going to pipe it through that, I am not entirely sure what the MiSTer outputs, video wise?

[Ninja Doctor]

Question: if I was only looking to use the hdmi output, is the io board then just for adding a fan? Also, do you have to have a keyboard attached or can you drive it all with a joypad/stick?

[Count Buffalos]

The IO boards have some useful additional functionality. For example, physical buttons to access the menu, reset the core or reset the MiSTer. However, this can be done through the menu too. The digital IO board also has a physical on / off switch.

 

I think that a keyboard is required for some aspects of setting up, mapping buttons etc. Once you’ve done that, and depending on the core you’re using, it can be driven using a joypad only.

[Tomdominer]

How about the BlisSTer Kit? Is that better than the USB hub? Can you buy both? I am currently thinking that I use the USB controllers from my mini machines, and not bother with real joystick hardware...

[Colonel Panic]

11 minutes ago, Ninja Doctor said:

Question: if I was only looking to use the hdmi output, is the io board then just for adding a fan? Also, do you have to have a keyboard attached or can you drive it all with a joypad/stick?

Yeah, there’s not much point if you’re using HDMI. Get a heat sink for the DE10 Nano chip and a fan attachment. 
 

You can control most menu things with a controller. I rarely use a keyboard.