Fx ANTIC. An ANTIC chip replacement on FPGA

[ClausB]

I see. 

 

Caching sounds nice. An option to cache the character set would save lots of cycles in text modes.

[_The Doctor__]

separate antic banking as implemented in the XE can allow for ANTIC data only memory BANKS as well, the extra RAM can be banked in at the same region as another layer. This can be beneficial. Dedicated RAM of that nature is natural.

Edited November 29, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[ClausB]

Is there an option to turn off refresh cycles, for those systems with SRAM only? That would add 0.14 MHz more CPU speed.

[ijor]

On 1/30/2024 at 5:17 PM, ClausB said:

Is there an option to turn off refresh cycles, for those systems with SRAM only? That would add 0.14 MHz more CPU speed.

Well, in theory lots of optimizations are possible. I didn't implement them because initially I was more interested in 100% compatibility with the original chip. But yes, that, and many more optimizations would be easy to implement. Given enough RAM in the FPGA, in theory it is possible to completely avoid any DMA, just snoop the bus and cache internally the whole system RAM.

[+scorpio_ny]

Hi @ijor,

 

Before I begin, I want to say the work you recreating the Antic is fantastic! I am asking if you are still working on the Antic chip replacement? The reason I ask is that I have just put together an Atari computer with the goal that it does not use any of the original Atari custom chips. I am

close. With the exception of Antic, it does work with all new components!

I would love complete my Atari “clone”.

[ijor]

17 hours ago, scorpio_ny said:

Before I begin, I want to say the work you recreating the Antic is fantastic! I am asking if you are still working on the Antic chip replacement?

 

Hi, thanks for your words. The main issue now, probably the only issue at this point, is to find somebody that would build and sell the hardware. A "simple" Antic chip replacement is not very lucrative, it might be difficult to find somebody interested in manufacturing and selling this as a product. We had the idea of developing a "Super" ANTIC with VBXE capabilities built-in, among other things. But again, I don't build hardware, and certainly I'm not a seller ...

 

[+scorpio_ny]

4 minutes ago, ijor said:

 

Hi, thanks for your words. The main issue now, probably the only issue at this point, is to find somebody that would build and sell the hardware. A "simple" Antic chip replacement is not very lucrative, it might be difficult to find somebody interested in manufacturing and selling this as a product. We had the idea of developing a "Super" ANTIC with VBXE capabilities built-in, among other things. But again, I don't build hardware, and certainly I'm not a seller ...

 

Maybe you should speak with @Duddie about this? He produces the Pokeymax and it seems that you are already leveraged some of @foft design the build Antic FPGA. So it may be just a matter of programming the existing Pokeymax FPGA’s hardware with Antic code? (Of course there may be licensing issues. For the hardware use. Just speaking from a technical level)

[foft]

@ijorDoes it fit into a 10M02 digimax? I have a couple more around and could program/send one to @scorpio_ny.

Edited March 26 by foft

[kenames99]

4 hours ago, scorpio_ny said:

Maybe you should speak with @Duddie about this? He produces the Pokeymax and it seems that you are already leveraged some of @foft design the build Antic FPGA. So it may be just a matter of programming the existing Pokeymax FPGA’s hardware with Antic code? (Of course there may be licensing issues. For the hardware use. Just speaking from a technical level)

I vote no on getting duddie to do this. he will want the pokey, antic, gtia core code to be private. that is against the author's intent as stated in the first post in this topic.