Comment by jumploops
6 hours ago
In case it's helpful to anyone, MiSTer is a project[0] that recreates classic computers and video game consoles on hardware.
What do I mean by hardware?
Rather than emulating the device in software, which can cause various issues (especially related to timing), by mapping the actual device logic to a field programmable gate array (FPGA), you can achieve an "exact" replica of the hardware.
It's a super cool project, and I highly recommend checking it out if you have an interest in old machines (Apple II, Commodore 64, etc.).
"exact" is still in quotation marks because things like open bus behavior still have to be explicitly simulated. It's still a very accurate simulator, not an exact replica - much more accurate than most fast software simulators can be, though.
Do note that this very cool project does not run on the "default" MiSTer hardware. This board is $250 from AMD.
It's been awhile, but I believe the "default" MiSTer board is the DE10-Nano[0], which was released ~10-15 years ago?
Looks like Intel (prev Terasic) is still selling them but they're now around $300, they used to be under $150 if memory serves.
If I were jumping into this today, I'd prefer the much more powerful KV260[1] from the blog post over the DE10-Nano, that board was limited!
[0]https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/topic-tech...
[1]https://www.amd.com/en/products/system-on-modules/kria/k26/k...
Sidenote: somewhat sad to see the consolidation into Intel and AMD, but FPGAs have always been second class citizens in the silicon space :(
> they used to be under $150 if memory serves
True in more ways than one!
Does mister work with kv260 boards "out of the box" or is the official mister target a de10 nano? (I love my mister, assembled oneba few years ago). I don't follow the project closely due to zero free time these days
Damn there is a whole ecosystem around that, e.g. https://ultimatemister.com to buy it all built, very neat.
Both require having an understanding of what you are trying to emulate. There are systems which don't have an accurate specification so they are not implemented bug free.