Does anyone have a MiSTER FPGA?

[playstays_shun]

Been contemplating getting a Mister for a while.
I've got a Super NT, Mega SG and Retrousb AVS so i know how impressive FPGA is when it comes to replicating old machines.

The only problem I can see (for me personally) is that I'd probably spend more time messing about tweaking stuff than I would actually playing games.
I've been down that route before with a raspberry pi, infinite number of games and systems but spend all my time tinkering in the settings.

I think the fact it is DIY makes it wayyyyy less popular than it should be. Like, shockingly so.

There really isn't a super ton of tinkering though, and the initial update script downloads all cores automatically for you so you just have to add ROM's + BIOSes for some cores (megaCD and NeoGeo).

The physical modularity of it at first seems overwhelming too, but there's only a few boards outside of the de10 nano base you have to consider (do you plan on powering lots of USB devices and want a tidied package? Get the USB board otherwise opt for the cheap $6 Makerspot and dangle it off microUSB... also do you want to have dual outputs for streaming - go digital io, or want to hook it up to a CRT go standard io.. thats about it) and you can add them as you go down the road. Main thing is cooling, SDRAM, and de10 if you're interested in hooking it up to an HDTV.

the nice thing is its unlike RetroArch when you have to research competing cores for a platform and weigh the pros and cons, because there are downsides to software emulation and have to pick your battles- each system has one main core and most if not all are as good as perfect.

If you are to tinker with something, its what overlay of video processing you want or button mapping but. Its got just enough granularity without going off the deep end into obscure and irrelevant

--

its cool Analogue makes + sells FPGA clone systems, but I feel like once you get a MiSTer it might make you consider even selling your Analogues. Unless you're just into physical carts / flashcarts (which have benefits like save states for the premium models, only GBA core has save states since real time hardware emulation is tough to pull off with this), or a pretty package.

These are more accurate, and will always be better by being open source and multi platform. I could see enjoying a clone system of your favorite one, but I see no reason to invest in their full array of products it seems like a financial waste imo. Though I'm huge on handhelds and the Analogue Pocket or whatever it is with adapter cores seems pretty cool. Still, not a fan of how they purposefully limit the heck out of preorders every time to contribute to needless hype fests. Theyre of course in it for money, but theyre in a position to make retro more accessible while making money and they dont seem overly interested in that. They are probably marketing masters and have found that it results In better ROI, but I dunno I feel like more units shipped + sold would be even more ROI. But the MegaSG I think is always available, so thats cool.


Its also nuts to me that a company even makes good clones, but nothing can beat free support + devs pouring thousands of hours into this as a labor of love vs. commercial purposes. The developers of this are obsessively driven for preservationist and accuracy purposes.

Then there's always arcade cores, thats where things get really mind bogglingly insane conceptually for me.

 

[wiewiec]

Hi, I am also Mister FPGA user. I have IO board, 128mb sdram, wifi module, 512gb sandisk card etc. I am thinking about getting official USB board or Blisster V2, but if you wanna Blisster you could not use official pcb like case since Blisster is not open source.

 

[playstays_shun]

Hi, I am also Mister FPGA user. I have IO board, 32mb sdram, wifi module, 512gb sandisk card etc. I am thinking about getting official USB board or Blisster V2, but if you wanna Blisster you could not use official pcb like case since Blisster is not open source.

Gonna bump up that SDRAM? I understand 128's only came to market earlier this year though I believe?

edit- never mind looks like you had a typo with 32

do you have the digital or standard IO? If the latter, what's your CRT use case?

I almost certainly will get a standard IO + svideo Antonio Villena add-on down the road but 1080p w/ integer scaling is really rocking it on my OLED for now

 

[wezlyons]

I think the fact it is DIY makes it wayyyyy less popular than it should be. Like, shockingly so.

There really isn't a super ton of tinkering though, and the initial update script downloads all cores automatically for you so you just have to add ROM's + BIOSes for some cores (megaCD and NeoGeo).

The physical modularity of it at first seems overwhelming too, but there's only a few boards outside of the de10 nano base you have to consider (do you plan on powering lots of USB devices and want a tidied package? Get the USB board otherwise opt for the cheap $6 Makerspot and dangle it off microUSB... also do you want to have dual outputs for streaming - go digital io, or want to hook it up to a CRT go standard io.. thats about it) and you can add them as you go down the road. Main thing is cooling, SDRAM, and de10 if you're interested in hooking it up to an HDTV.

the nice thing is its unlike RetroArch when you have to research competing cores for a platform and weigh the pros and cons, because there are downsides to software emulation and have to pick your battles- each system has one main core and most if not all are as good as perfect.

If you are to tinker with something, its what overlay of video processing you want or button mapping but. Its got just enough granularity without going off the deep end into obscure and irrelevant

--

its cool Analogue makes + sells FPGA clone systems, but I feel like once you get a MiSTer it might make you consider even selling your Analogues. Unless you're just into physical carts / flashcarts (which have benefits like save states for the premium models, only GBA core has save states since real time hardware emulation is tough to pull off with this), or a pretty package.

These are more accurate, and will always be better by being open source and multi platform. I could see enjoying a clone system of your favorite one, but I see no reason to invest in their full array of products it seems like a financial waste imo. Though I'm huge on handhelds and the Analogue Pocket or whatever it is with adapter cores seems pretty cool. Still, not a fan of how they purposefully limit the heck out of preorders every time to contribute to needless hype fests. Theyre of course in it for money, but theyre in a position to make retro more accessible while making money and they dont seem overly interested in that. They are probably marketing masters and have found that it results In better ROI, but I dunno I feel like more units shipped + sold would be even more ROI. But the MegaSG I think is always available, so thats cool.


Its also nuts to me that a company even makes good clones, but nothing can beat free support + devs pouring thousands of hours into this as a labor of love vs. commercial purposes. The developers of this are obsessively driven for preservationist and accuracy purposes.

Then there's always arcade cores, thats where things get really mind bogglingly insane conceptually for me.

Yeah Analogue have dissapeared up their own backside in recent times.
When I got my Mega SG and Super NT you could just go on their site and purchase, these days they seem to operate on a false scarcity model which does nothing for the average consumer but keeps the ebay scalpers in business.

I'll definitley be looking into getting a Mister at some point, I've been following the developments for a while and have been extremely impressed with what I've seen, especially the arcade ports.

 

[smf]

Holy frigging crap. HDL emulation is an absolute game changer.

I haven't got a mister yet (see next reply) but I have an Ultimate 64 and having a C64 case with an FPGA based computer in it hooked up to the living room TV is way better than using vice on a PC. Even if I got a mister then the U64 would still get used for C64 stuff.

I think the fact it is DIY makes it wayyyyy less popular than it should be. Like, shockingly so.

It's not so much the DIY, but that there are just too many options to choose from. You want 128mb of ram, well you need to choose from different products from different sellers based on what cooling, case etc you're going to use. I am not a special snowflake, I don't need something different from everyone else to prove how cool I am. I would prefer there was just one list of parts you had to buy.

Mister will max out soon though, we calculated the other day that it doesn't have enough ram bandwidth for dreamcast. I think even CPS2 is proving tricky. The qsound dsp is a monster, a lot of pc's don't even have the bandwidth for it, most emulators end up hleing it and destroying the effects although now that the dsp was emulated someone has gone back and hle'd it properly (it also helps that the patents have expired).

 

[wezlyons]

I agree that the choice can be a bit daunting, the list of componants you can get for Mister is comprehensive and without really delving into what each core requires it's difficult to know exactly what you need.

The average consumer isn't going to know whether they need a SNAC adapter or a RTC add on e.t.c.
What heatsink do I need? Do I need a fan?

Then they think 'I'll just get a pre made unit off ebay... they want how much???'

It's difficult to explain to those who haven't tried FPGA based devices why they are better, especially when they see the difference in price compared to a rasperry pi or an emulator on your pc.

 

[playstays_shun]

I haven't got a mister yet (see next reply) but I have an Ultimate 64 and having a C64 case with an FPGA based computer in it hooked up to the living room TV is way better than using vice on a PC. Even if I got a mister then the U64 would still get used for C64 stuff.



It's not so much the DIY, but that there are just too many options to choose from. You want 128mb of ram, well you need to choose from different products from different sellers based on what cooling, case etc you're going to use. I am not a special snowflake, I don't need something different from everyone else to prove how cool I am. I would prefer there was just one list of parts you had to buy.

Mister will max out soon though, we calculated the other day that it doesn't have enough ram bandwidth for dreamcast. I think even CPS2 is proving tricky. The qsound dsp is a monster, a lot of pc's don't even have the bandwidth for it, most emulators end up hleing it and destroying the effects although now that the dsp was emulated someone has gone back and hle'd it properly (it also helps that the patents have expired).

It’s really not that difficult though

there are lists of recommended resellers regionally

as for cases there are only a few options

You’re confirming my point that at first it seems daunting , the options and lack of clear path , but if you do some research you’ll see it isn’t as limitless as it initially feels. I’d be glad to steer ya in the right direction if the project interests you and you just feel lost or overwhelmed upfront

and I don’t really care that 6th gen and up won’t be supported , and 5th gen is up in the air as well (but there is interest) , as I already have a Dreamcast with dchdmi and gdemu an an everdrived 64 and a fmcb’d ps2

and a Saturn with phoebe

Saturn and 64 may come but architecturally they’ve always been a wonder. Ps1 core is actively being worked on. And some teasers of n64 have been shown. But expect no eta and assume the project will never see the light in terms of completion for those

as for CPS2 I think it absolutely will happen. but that’s just my impression

—

I always say buy based on what’s already supported not with aspirations for what could be made available and it will be virtually impossible to be disappointed. Any future support is icing on the cake. And given what is available, for me, I absolutely feel it’s worth it. I also wouldn’t worry about the project getting deprecated and moving onto a new board or platform any time soon. MiSTer is still very prolific. Hell MegaCD support just came at the very end of last year, and NeoGeo I believe this year, and 128 boards available this year

a megaSG and megaSd Or now Mega everdrive pro will set ya back more than a fully loaded MiSTer. Wanna incorporate two retro systems physically? You’re already way over budget

you really don’t want to buy a premod since after you do the install you’ll realize “that was it?” This is plug and play / screw things on not install a modchip w a soldering gun or a spaghetti wiring nesrgb mod


But even then some resellers offer it , like misteraddons in US, and I think if you calculate raw parts he only charges another $30 or so for it vs. doing it yourself. Still I think it’s rewarding to do it yourself and a fun project

 

[smf]

the options and lack of clear path , but if you do some research you’ll see it isn’t as limitless as it initially feels. I’d be glad to steer ya in the right direction if the project interests you and you just feel lost or overwhelmed upfront

What do you recommend? I kinda gave up when I was told you don't need the mister i/o board but then you need some way to mount a fan.

 

[playstays_shun]

What do you recommend? I kinda gave up when I was told you don't need the mister i/o board but then you need some way to mount a fan.

you're in UK so I looked to this solution:

https://misterfpga.co.uk/product/mister-fpga-fan-and-heatsink/ngoo

Fan and heatsink you mount right on top of the CPU. If you dont care about keeping the thing open air.

This is what I went with:

https://misteraddons.com/products/mister-pcb-fan-plate-and-heatsink b


because I'm in US and wanted to have a top plate on top of this stacked and bottom plate beneath the DE-10 to keep dust out on top / protect the bottom with another layer and for added aesthetic

--

you could probably even get away with just using passive cooling (a heatsink) and re-applying the included see through acrylic plate that ships with the board like this because the Cyclone chip doesn't get crazy hot and has high tolerances anyways:

Or if you're good with a Dremel, you could mod the acrylic case and mount the fan right on top of that (of course its the most complex solution, but I've seen it done and the results look nice)
--
if you have no interest in dual or analog outputs, the io board is a needlessly expensive fan mount.

 

[wiewiec]

Gonna bump up that SDRAM? I understand 128's only came to market earlier this year though I believe?

edit- never mind looks like you had a typo with 32

do you have the digital or standard IO? If the latter, what's your CRT use case?

I almost certainly will get a standard IO + svideo Antonio Villena add-on down the road but 1080p w/ integer scaling is really rocking it on my OLED for now

I had previously 32mb, now i have 128, i have analog io board, you could use Mist cable to SCART output. I am looking also to buy additional boards like USB board, rtc board and analog in board. I think analog board also could be use with digital optical toslink cables since behind headphone jack there is red diode I have not tested it yet.

 

[Borgman2018]

If you're thinking of gaming in a possible future where CRTs become rare the future you would have more luck investing in an OLED TV and an OSSC/Retrotink.

Or just grab a couple now while you can (and they're dirt cheap).

 

[Daggot]

Or just grab a couple now while you can (and they're dirt cheap).

Yes this works out better than most people would think. I know a few old computer scientists who thought that the old 2 button IBM "Roller Ball" mouse was the peak of computer peripheral design. They bought them when they were phased out but not yet rare and now they all have 2-3 large boxes full of them each.