FPGAs for Dummies - Starting Reference Info

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Compiling some of the existing content that has been shared here, as a quick reference one-stop source to get started. (Updated 12/2017)

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FPGA- Starting Guide for Novice Projects

Materials-
James1095-
- cheapest FPGA board I've found, the EP2C5T144C8 mini board that is available from many different Chinese sellers for under $15.
- Quartus II, it's 13.0.1 SP1, I believe this is the latest one that will work for the Cyclone II
- Altera Byte Blaster cable, the $5 Chinese clones work fine
- For hooking these up look at the top level VHDL file and then in Quartus refer to Assignments> Pin Planner

Knowledge-
fuko- Ben Heck tutorial for programming Quartus- https://youtu.be/0zrqYy369NQ
Alpha-tron- FPGAs for Dummies- https://www.amiq.com/consulting/misc/free_pdf_books/fpgas_for_dummies_ebook.pdf

Projects-
James1095- Open Source Bronze Age Games-
- https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=418981
- So far all of these games are small enough that they fit entirely in the FPGA so the only external components required are some resistors to mix the video, an audio amp and some controls

fpgaarcade-
Computer Space- https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=364662&highlight=computer+space
Monaco GP- https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=369069&highlight=computer+space

Scott451-
Vector project- https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=409162

CraftyMech- BitKit multi-game
JROK- JROK pcbs for Berzerk, Zoo Keeper, Williams games, Qbert
ajcrm125- Pole Position multi-game
NAMCO- Ms Pac, Pacman, Galaga pcbs- class of 81 and 20th Anniv
Team Play- Joust/Robo, Defender/Defender II
 
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Let's start with what FPGA's means? :D



field-programmable gate array - basically a chip that can be an entire curcuit, rather than have a bunch of individual components wired together to can "program" the fpga to be that circuit. Then if you make a mistake... no problem reprogram it!

If you know what a pal or gal is think of it as a pal on super steroids.
I myself never did an fpga implementation but one of the things I want to do soon myself.
 
So do these FPGA's run the exact original programming that was on the original PCB's?

Seems the ones I've watched have color issues when running and dont look the same as the original games.
 
The FPGA synthesizes the hardware which executes the original code from ROMs, how exact it is depends on how accurately the circuit is modeled. Generally speaking the color should be very accurate, it's one of the simpler aspects. Occasionally you might need to fiddle with resistor values on the analog side of things to get the colors just right. The original arcade hardware used 5V logic while the FPGA uses 3.3V IO so you need to take that into account.

It can be a bit difficult to really grasp the concept. The code written for the FPGA is not a program, it's a hardware description. The described hardware can include an entire computer including the CPU which can then execute code written for it.
 
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