Review of the Minimig v1.1

Last week I ordered the Minimig v1.1 from ACube Systems in Italy. For those who don't know Minimig stands for Mini Amiga.

The Minimig measures an amazing 12x12 cm! This was the idea of electrical engineer Dennis van Weeren.

From Wikipedia:

"Minimig (short for Mini Amiga) is an open source re-implementation of an Amiga 500 using a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

Minimig started life in secrecy around January 2005 as a proof of concept...

In December 2007 ACube Systems announced they will sell finished Minimig v1.1 boards for 138 EUR (ex VAT/freight)."

Basically the Minimig is an A500 but with some interesting improvements.

Specifications:

Processor: 16Mhz MC68SEC000

RAM: 2Mbyte 45ns SRAM

FPGA: 400Kgate Spartan-3 (XC3S400)

Boot/system controller: PIC18LF252

Mass storage: MMC flash card

Power: +5VDC (approx 100mA without mouse)

Input/Output:

dual PS/2 port (mouse/keyboard)

dual 9-pin joystick port

VGA port

RS-232 port

audio-out

misc.:

jtag interface, power/drive leds

reset and OSD button

After paying using PayPal, I got a confirmation e-mail from the guys at ACube and a day later another e-mail from UPS saying that they would deliver it on monday 25th. So today is the 25th and I have to say it felt really special.

There it was, a UPS packet with ACube address in Italy. I quickly opened it and it immediately felt like all those years ago (1985) when I first saw an A1000 in action, running Defender of The Crown or when, a few years later, my dad decided, just before Christmas, to take me and my little brother to a Commodore Computer Shop where we purchased a brand new A500 Plus (so many years of pure fun and creativity!)

Next: Inside the box.