MiST - MIRKOSOFT
All what your computer needs...
Main menu:
Main Components
Altera Cyclone EP3C25 FPGA
32 Megabytes 16 bit wide SDR SDRAM
AT91SAM7S56 ARM IO controller
MAX3421E USB host controller
TUSB2046 USB HUB
External Connectors, buttons and LEDs
4 USB host ports
Analog VGA output with 3×6 bits colour depth
Stereo analog audio output
Micro USB for Power Supply and IO Controller flash update
2 classic DB9 Atari style joystick connectors
SD Card slot
3 LEDs (Power, FPGA and IO Controller)
3 Pushbuttons (Board Reset, Menu, Core defined)
Power Switch
Internal Connectors, switches and jumpers
1 Flash Jumper for IO Controller flash update via Micro USB
2 DIP switches (FPGA bypass, core defined)
ARM JTAG connector for ARM IO Controller development and debugging
FPGA JTAG connector for FPGA development and debugging
ARM Debug connector for development
FPGA Expansion connector for MIDI/RS232/Debugging/...
Is this an emulator?
No. An emulator is a software that recreates the behaviour of one machine on another one. The MIST (like all other FPGA based approaches) re-implements the hardware or at least implements a hardware that behaves like the original machine.
So this behaves 100% identical to the real thing?
No. One reason is that the hardware of the original machines and the chips used inside them is not fully documented. Another reason is that the support for modern peripherals (VGA screen, USB keyboards, ...) requires changes to the behaviour of the original machine that's slightly incompatible. E.g. a VGA screen is unable to display the video signal of a genuine Atari ST. Thus any re-implementation meant to drive a VGA screen cannot behave 100% like the original device.
