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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Sep 06, 2022 8:19 am

Over the weekend some really interesting and surprising news began to circulate out of Canada about a drop-in replacement OCS Agnus FPGA solution. As of now, the code name is "Willoe" (a creative respelling of the '88 fantasy classic Willow?).


willoe_800.jpg
Photo by kipper2k


kipper2k on English Amiga Board (EAB):
  • Plug and play, will dropright into the PLCC socket
  • Near instant-on (CPLD-like) functionality
  • 16MB of 133MHz, 8-bit pSRAM for AGA+ bandwidth
  • 1MB, 2MB Agnus and 2MB Alice compatibility
  • Jumpered NTSC/PAL default modes (will also obey pin and software changes)
  • Automatic 8372 and 8375 pin detection (universal socket compatibility)
There is a little more about this intriguing product on the Buffee blogs run by Renee Cousins and Tim Wacker.

And, there is the umbrella Github.

It's still early days so it's way too soon to ask about availability, pre-orders, costs - or any of that. But it's pretty cool to see Agnus (and Gary) start to get recreated at the chip level. Amazing!

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nonarkitten

Posted Tue Sep 13, 2022 6:27 am

We're doing ALL the chips. LOL.

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m0c
Utrecht, Netherlands

Posted Thu Dec 29, 2022 4:12 pm

nonarkitten wrote:
Tue Sep 13, 2022 6:27 am
We're doing ALL the chips. LOL.
As an owner of several GBA1000 boards, I would really appreciate a drop-in replacement for the unobtainable Amber! I know that the knowledge to create one is out there, since Matze has already designed an Amber-less flicker fixer which appears to be based on the A2320.

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Appee

Posted Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:11 am

If you look at her blog, it seems like Renee is aiming at the ocs/ecs chips. Her goal is to make drop ins that give AGA access when used in concert.

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nonarkitten

Posted Fri Dec 30, 2022 11:26 am

Appee wrote:
Fri Dec 30, 2022 7:11 am
If you look at her blog, it seems like Renee is aiming at the ocs/ecs chips. Her goal is to make drop ins that give AGA access when used in concert.
Yes. The "golden" information we have is OCS - Amiga 1000 - so that's the best starting place.





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