[Coco] The Coco3FPGA - Bringing the Color Computer 3 into the new Millenium!

[Stephen Pereira]

In a word, no.  The DE-1 needs no modification whatsoever.

There is an initial programming process made up of two parts.  One part, the programming of the CoCo ROMs into the DE-1, needs to be done only once.  The second part is loading the FPGA bit stream onto the DE-1.  Loading the bitstream needs to be done every once in a while when Gary issues a version update.

smp
--
Stephen M. Pereira
Bedford, NH  03110
KB1SXE


> On Feb 8, 2017, at 7:19 PM, Frank Pittel <fpittel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Is it true that modifications need to be made to current DE1 boards  for
> the coco3fpga to work on it?
> 
> On Wed, Feb 8, 2017 at 5:56 PM, Francis Swygert <farna at att.net> wrote:
> 
>> Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2017 07:11:15 -0600
>> From: Ron Klein <ron at kdomain.org>
>> 
>> I used to think the same thing (real Coco 3 vs CoCo3FPGA) as far as the
>> real hardware being a bit less expensive.  I can tell you, at least for me,
>> it's not the case.
>> 
>> I'm just using some price examples here:
>> 
>> Coco 3 (128K)  $100
>> Triad 512K RAM  $50
>> Ed's 2 slot MPI  $80
>> Orchestra 90 cartridge  $35
>> RGB to VGA solution (various available)    $100
>> 
>> If you don't want to add for a CoCoSDC (as comparible to the SD card slot
>> on the CoCo3FPGA), Drivewire will save you a bunch so I'm not including a
>> storage device cost.
>> If you are a NitrOS9/OS-9 person, the extra RAM on the Analog board can't
>> easily be matched for a real Coco 3, though I think there's discussions
>> about Ed or possibly Jayeson offering something in the future.
>> 
>> When going the CoCo3FPGA route, everything is new.  Thanks to Cloud-9, Ed
>> and others you can get most hardware new when using a real Coco 3 ((other
>> than the Coco 3 itself) so that's a plus.  In the end, going either route
>> is expensive and I don't see any significant savings from one over the
>> other.  There are always exceptions with great deals, but those are not
>> always easy to come by.
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------
>> Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2017 07:58:06 -0600From: Dave Philipsen <dave at davebiz.com
>>> 
>> 
>> Few advantages?  Try 25 MHz and a new 640 x 450 256-color graphics mode
>> for starters (there are more).  You won't get either of those with a
>> 'real' CoCo 3.  I suppose it comes down to personal preference and
>> whether you just want to stay stuck with the status quo of 1986.  At
>> least the CoCo3FPGA gives a high degree of backward compatibility with a
>> real CoCo 3 while giving the opportunity to explore and use some new
>> features.
>> 
>> And, by the way, the DE2 is not a 'currently produced' development
>> board.  It has been discontinued by Terasic although both the DE1 and
>> the DE2 are readily available on the used market.  I just sold a DE2 to
>> a gentleman for $120 and I have sold DE1s for $90. Currently, the
>> implementation on the DE2 is no different than on the DE1 so there would
>> be no immediate benefit unless you plan on doing some additional
>> development that would make use of a certain feature that the DE2 has
>> but the DE1 does not.
>> 
>> ===================================================
>> 
>> Good point Ron. If getting everything from scratch there is actually a
>> price
>> advantage for the FPGA, and you get more for the money, really.
>> 
>> Dave, I was talking about the advantage of an emulator over the FPGA.
>> Both emulators and the FPGA unit have speed advantages over a "real" CoCo3.
>> There are a couple things the FPGA does that aren't in the emulators, like
>> the extra hi-res mode, at least as far as I know. Hope that gets corrected.
>> 
>> I wasn't aware that the DE-2 had been discontinued. The Terasic website
>> still
>> lists a DE-1 as available for $150 ($127 academic) though. No DE-2 listed.
>> Frank Swygert
>> Fix-It-Frank Handyman Service
>> 803-604-6548
>> 
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> 
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