This is a great article about the MiSTer FPGA and its advantages over emulation for classic Retrogaming. 

https://felixleger.com/posts/2020/10/dream-machine-mister-fpga/

http://donovancolbert.blogspot.com/2021/01/emulation-vs-fpga.html

TL;DR: MiSTer wins.

Does an FPGA have a finite number of write cycles like flash memory?

It seems likely - this is discussed - but no one has given me a sufficiently credible answer on it. 

By the way - there is a new setup script for MiSTer - and for the casual user - it makes MiSTer by far and away the world's best Retro Gaming platform. It already was - but now it is dead-easy to set the thing up. I can't believe how low they've made the barrier to entry to get these things up and running. It is fantastic. 

The Vampire - is a little more complex - but I think as an *Amiga* - it is pretty damn cool. Because it is operating DIRECTLY as an Amiga - it isn't accessing things like .hdf hard drive image files. So... it is a little trickier to set up. You've got to know your way around AmigaOS pretty well. 

I got a telnet client installed on it tonight and connected to the BBS - but I've still got some work to do on that - and it took me two days to figure out how to approach that right - and I'm pretty competent in AmigaOS. 

Mon Jan 25 2021 21:21:36 MST from IGnatius T Foobar

Does an FPGA have a finite number of write cycles like flash memory?

The Vampire V4 Standalone Amiga FPGA clone. My review: 

http://donovancolbert.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-apollo-v4-future-of-amiga.html

I wish the Retro-gaming community could get on the same page about the word, "emulation". 

I got into a heated discussion with someone who is a developer for the MiSTer FPGA community about this today. Despite the fact that they develop for FPGA platforms, and that they're using the term emulation as it is frequently used in the FPGA programming industry - they're still wrong. 

The problem is that the word emulation is a vague word. 

emulation

Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

The problem is the term is too vague. A modern intel Core CPU is a PC emulator in this sense. It doesn't actually contain any actual X86 code, and in fact, translates x86 code to X64 code in order to execute it. You would be hard pressed to find a modern computer that isn't an "emulator" at some level, by this definition. EVERYTHING is emulation at this point, and in fact, running x86 code is absolutely MORE accurately *emulation* than running 68k code on an FPGA device that is recreating a circuit level hardware clone of the 68xxx series processors. 


This is the problem. The term is vague and ambiguous and really means nothing - especially as it is thrown around in the retro-gaming community - especially in discussions about the merits and liabilities of FPGA vs. emulation. 

I believe it is far more accurate to describe emulation as any system that recreates, in software - a VIRTUAL machine that emulates the operation of an actual physical machine where an abstraction layer translates the native code on the emulated virtual machine and translates and passes it to the bare metal host processer to execute the code, which is then translated back to the VMs native code and passed back into the VM. 

When people say an "emulator," this is most commonly what they are conceptualizing. 

And FPGA does not do this. 

FPGA generally tries to reverse engineer or decompile the original native architecture, and recreates it at the bare metal on the FPGA device. In fact, if you have access to the actual design of the original hardware, you can theoretically create a 100% accurate FPGA model of that gate architecture in FPGA. It isn't an emulation - it is what, in the early days of the computer industry - would more accurately be called a "clone". 

Nobody would claim that a Franklin or a Laser 128 was an "Apple II emulator". Compaq and Kaypro did not start off as IBM PC emulators - they started off as clones. They did not try to translate the native instruction set of their target machines to their own host processor language - they attempted to recreate that architecture at the hardware level with varying degrees of success and accuracy. 

In a broad, vague sense you could argue that most of these systems were "hardware emulators" of the target machines they attempted to clone the operation of. That is an unnecessary abstraction, much the same way the software emulation has an unnecessary abstraction when FPGA clones exist. 

This isn't religion. It is creating clear language that draws a meaningful difference and helps people understand complex technologies and how they execute. There is generally no emulation going on with FPGA recreation of classic platforms. There is hardware synthesis achieved by trying to reverse engineer the architecture of the original platform. There isn't translation occurring from the native instruction to a host instruction set. The native instruction set is read and understood by the host hardware that reconfigures itself to mimic, as closely and accurately as possible, the original hardware platform. 

You may be an engineer who actually designs and understands the FPGA architecture at the hardware level - and you may call the result "emulation," but - you're wrong. It isn't that you don't understand the technology. 

It is that you don't understand English very well - as near as I can figure out. I don't think anyone would be surprised to find out that hardware developers and architects aren't always the sharpest tacks as wordsmiths, nor the best at describing to normal people what their magic boxes do or how they do it.  

You don't really need to understand much about the technology to understand why calling it emulation is unclear and imprecise and a bad choice of words.   

But you know, we're still arguing over how to pronounce the three letter acronym for Graphics Interchange Format just because the guy who coined the term evidently thinks that you pronounce "graphics" as "japhics", and insists he is right because "I invented the format!"

Congratulations on inventing the format. Here is your dunce cap for giving it a stupid name that makes doesn't make sense. Even the Peanut Butter company disagrees with you. 

"GIF... it is pronounced Skippy... cuz I invented it!" 

FPGA is a reprogrammable or transient hardware clone recreating a platform at the hardware layer. Not emulation. You may run an emulator on top of your FPGA clone. But the clone is a hardware recreation of a physical architecture. The industry and experts and FPGA developers and architects - they can all agree with me. If all the astronomers in the world were insisting the world were flat and I was the lone voice claiming it was round - I wouldn't be the wrong one.  

The quicker we all come to agree I'm right, the quicker this argument can be retired in Retrogaming communities. 

Thu Feb 11 2021 17:33:26 MST from ParanoidDelusions

But you know, we're still arguing over how to pronounce the three letter acronym for Graphics Interchange Format just because the guy who coined the term evidently thinks that you pronounce "graphics" as "japhics", and insists he is right because "I invented the format!"

Congratulations on inventing the format. Here is your dunce cap for giving it a stupid name that makes doesn't make sense. Even the Peanut Butter company disagrees with you. 

You know what would be funny as hell?  If the peanut butter company sued him for trademark violations and settled in court that it's pronounced with a hard G.

Sat Feb 13 2021 08:03:27 MST from TheDave

 

Thu Feb 11 2021 17:33:26 MST from ParanoidDelusions

But you know, we're still arguing over how to pronounce the three letter acronym for Graphics Interchange Format just because the guy who coined the term evidently thinks that you pronounce "graphics" as "japhics", and insists he is right because "I invented the format!"

Congratulations on inventing the format. Here is your dunce cap for giving it a stupid name that makes doesn't make sense. Even the Peanut Butter company disagrees with you. 

You know what would be funny as hell?  If the peanut butter company sued him for trademark violations and settled in court that it's pronounced with a hard G.

@TheDave... 

I think I tried to show you Xevious on MiSTer FPGA and it didn't work when you were over. 

Turns out that when I upgraded to a larger SD card recently, when I rebuilt my MiSTER - I neglected to copy the MAME roms back to the SD card once it was rebuilt. 

Now that I've figured that out, and tested it on my MiSTer in my room - I'm ready to go ahead and update the one out in my arcade cabinet - and it now supports both joysticks on the RecRoomMaster X-Arcade Tankstick... 

So, that is going to be a bitchin game cabinet in the very near future. I'm fairly stoked. 

Can't wait to see it, that sounds great.  We should do another game day.  I had a great time at the last one.

Well, my wife is going out of town for the next two weeks - so it is about time for another evening of nerding out. 

Heh. Normal men... "Wife's out of town, poker night and strip clubs!" 

Me... 

"Come over and we'll play some classic retro computing games and talk about AD&D!" 

If there were any ladies on this board - I'd explain to them that this is why you marry the nerd. 

Fri May 07 2021 05:55:38 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Well, my wife is going out of town for the next two weeks - so it is about time for another evening of nerding out. 

 

Heh. Normal men... "Wife's out of town, poker night and strip clubs!" 

Me... 

"Come over and we'll play some classic retro computing games and talk about AD&D!" 

 

If there were any ladies on this board - I'd explain to them that this is why you marry the nerd. 

 

My only plans for the weekend are my sunday game at noon which I can run online.  I'm free pretty much always the rest of the week.

Something happened. She is back. 

:|

Sat May 15 2021 10:10:23 MST from TheDave

 

Fri May 07 2021 05:55:38 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Well, my wife is going out of town for the next two weeks - so it is about time for another evening of nerding out. 

 

Heh. Normal men... "Wife's out of town, poker night and strip clubs!" 

Me... 

"Come over and we'll play some classic retro computing games and talk about AD&D!" 

 

If there were any ladies on this board - I'd explain to them that this is why you marry the nerd. 

 

My only plans for the weekend are my sunday game at noon which I can run online.  I'm free pretty much always the rest of the week.

Is she okay?  I assume nothing really bad happened since you made a face that indicates you like having your wife around but you were looking forward to some time to yourself.

Sat May 15 2021 18:36:13 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Something happened. She is back. 

 

:|

 

Sat May 15 2021 10:10:23 MST from TheDave

 

Fri May 07 2021 05:55:38 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Well, my wife is going out of town for the next two weeks - so it is about time for another evening of nerding out. 

 

Heh. Normal men... "Wife's out of town, poker night and strip clubs!" 

Me... 

"Come over and we'll play some classic retro computing games and talk about AD&D!" 

 

If there were any ladies on this board - I'd explain to them that this is why you marry the nerd. 

 

My only plans for the weekend are my sunday game at noon which I can run online.  I'm free pretty much always the rest of the week.

 

Heh. Exactly what that face meant. 

Just a business trip that got cancelled because someone, somewhere, didn't dot all their I's and cross all their T's. 

But yeah, post-Covid - when before she was travelling to LA every other week and my daughter was in school in Chicago... 

It has been a *long* time since I had the house to myself on a regular basis. 

Sun May 16 2021 08:48:14 MST from TheDave

Is she okay?  I assume nothing really bad happened since you made a face that indicates you like having your wife around but you were looking forward to some time to yourself.

Sat May 15 2021 18:36:13 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Something happened. She is back. 

 

:|

 

Sat May 15 2021 10:10:23 MST from TheDave

 

Fri May 07 2021 05:55:38 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

Well, my wife is going out of town for the next two weeks - so it is about time for another evening of nerding out. 

 

Heh. Normal men... "Wife's out of town, poker night and strip clubs!" 

Me... 

"Come over and we'll play some classic retro computing games and talk about AD&D!" 

 

If there were any ladies on this board - I'd explain to them that this is why you marry the nerd. 

 

My only plans for the weekend are my sunday game at noon which I can run online.  I'm free pretty much always the rest of the week.

 

 

I'm going to have to expand on this, but this is a start: 

http://www.wallofhate.com/retrodocs/retrogamingdocs.html

This is mostly a bookmark for myself so I can find it later when I clean it up.