In the latest video from AmiCube, significant progress has been made on an early FPGA port and test. After reviewing the schematics, routing, and the original Minimig core, all the necessary components were in place for initial testing. Surprisingly, everything worked right from the start. However, a few minor tweaks are still needed, which will be addressed in the upcoming AmiCube v1.1 revision.
Board Specifications:
- Form Factor: MiniITX
- FPGA: Spartan-6 SLX100 (BGA Package with over 100,000 LEs)
- Performance Modes: Normal Mode (default 35MHz), Turbo Mode, and PiStorm/68000 CPU—all running smoothly
Major Challenges:
- Implementing new Digital Clock Managers (DCMs) for the Spartan-6, as they differ significantly from the Spartan-3
- Switching the system crystal from 4.4MHz to 20MHz, which required adjustments to timing and clocking
With the transition from Spartan-3 to Spartan-6, there is still substantial Verilog development ahead. The next board revision will incorporate dedicated clock pins and minor schematic corrections to enhance stability and performance.
