More details here.

EXTERNAL LINK

EDIT: they do mention an FPGA. Is this the part that provides custom chip functionality?

The other features which are hanging off it are probably because they're cheap and easy to add nowadays. So in the past you'd have had a separate card for the network, graphics card, usb etc. Now they're easier to add to the single card.

Andy

Yes. For me the downside is that the whole thing will still depend on an aging Amiga motherboard where any part may blow in the near future. The only reasons for this are some legacy connectors (mouse, keyboard), the kickrom and the custom chips. All of those could be replaced by some clever FPGA solution which wouldn't even require doing what Natami set out to do. AFAIK there are FPGA implementations of plain old AGA in the public domain. A replacement board wouldn't need much more work and yet would make much more sense than yet another CPU accelerator board.

Now, what I like about this rig is the fact that everything running off the fast slot, so I am thinking performance of each should be excellent compared to equivelent expansions sitting out on the Zorro bus. Right now I run a FastATA, X-Surf, and Subway USB attached to the X-Surf clockport ; all on Zorro III in my A3000. Thus performance ultimately limited by bandwidth of Zorro right?

I always wanted someone to build an expansion like this one. I wish it had a PLX-9054 PCI controller on it like Ralph Czuba designed for the 68K atari but that is ok, the card is of very nice specification. And using an 040 is quite alright too for the reasons they state.

Will be buying this for sure when released.

I wish we could have a a whole computer like that and not just an expansion board :).

There are FPGA AGA implementations? I know MikeJ is working on one but it's not available to many/any people yet and it's the only one I've heard of.

Maybe it's simply a matter of wanting to satisfy a market, or their own desires. Remember that most of these projects aren't about building a card for 'you' they're about a card for 'them'. The fact that it has some overlap with your desires is incidental ;)

Of course one option would be for 'you' or someone else to make a replacement FPGA based motherboard with a CPU card slot that could take this accelerator. Then you're effectively each doing half of the job.

Something like the "Georg Braun A1000" EXTERNAL LINK but using an FPGA

Andy

You probably know better than I do. I think I got the idea because I read that minimig was going AGA and since the differences between OCS and AGA aren't that big I assumed that the work had already been done by now.

The only thing I find annoying about Georg's stuff is that he uploads the schematics etc and then after a few months he just took them all down again! Now I don't know if they're online anywhere :(

I chose a 030 over a 040 on my last design because it was simpler to interface on the existing bus.

Yes there was some kind of snafu at some point and Georg changed his policy somewhat regarding what gets posted. I was able to find alternative websites that contained some of these things. As far as I know, they didn't look like the latest revisions though. I do not know if the rev5 detailed information will get published or not. I hope it does. I have a 2nd A3000 with hammered motherboard. Would make a good donor part machine assuming the main PCB board could be obtained or made.