If you’ve ever squinted at a DE10-Nano wondering where the fun part begins, you’re not alone. This review of the Mr. MultiSystem 2 by [Lee] lifts the veil on a surprisingly noob-friendly FPGA console that finally gets the MiSTer experience out of the tinker cave and into the living room. Developed by Heber, the same UK wizards behind the original MultiSystem, this follow-up console dares to blend flexibility with simplicity. No stack required.
It comes in two varieties, to be precise: with, or without analog ports. The analog edition features a 10-layer PCB with both HDMI and native RGB out, Meanwell PSU support, internal USB headers, and even space for an OLED or NFC reader. The latter can be used to “load” physical cards cartridge-style, which is just ridiculously charming. Even the 3D-printed enclosure is open-source and customisable – drill it, print it, or just colour it neon green. And for once, you don’t need to be a soldering wizard to use the thing. The FPGA is integrated in the mainboard. No RAM modules, no USB hub spaghetti. Just add some ROMs (legally, of course), and you’re off.
Despite its plug-and-play aspirations, there are some quirks – for example, the usual display inconsistencies and that eternal jungle of controller mappings. But hey, if that’s the price for versatility, it’s one you’d gladly pay. And if you ever get stuck, the MiSTer crowd will eat your question and spit out 12 solutions. It remains 100% compatible with the MiSTer software, but allows some additional future features, should developers wish to support them.
Want to learn more? This could be your entrance to the MiSTer scene without having to first earn a master’s in embedded systems. Will this become an alternative to the Taki Udon announced Playstation inspired all-in-one FPGA console? Check the video here and let us know in the comments.
I didn’t think the Playstation inspired one still required a DE-10. The first bullet point under technical specifications is:
– Cyclone V FPGA
It sounds like it is included. Where does to say bring your own DE-10 (or clone)?
Of course it’s going to be a configuration hell. It emulates 100+ different machine. But imagine having 100+ different machines in your man cave and having to configure and maintain all of them. That would be at least 10 times the configuration hell of a Mr. :+)
Would be more fun though :D
Why not both?
This is the true way, because these systems will always have a cutoff point for their capabilities and if you are into consoles you’re going to have new-er models around.
It’s also far less of a headache. It’s a lot of fun to set up systems the first few times, but really it’s better to do something else with the original hardware, maybe a showcase for people who are into that.
Seen it, is really cool at first, but ugh the maintenance of anything goes wrong or dies. This is far better in most ways that matter.
I always wanted to build one of these, but the cost steered me away.
Fpga is still emulation, just a new flavor of buzzwords to sell hardware
Hardware emulation vs. software emulation is more than just the next buzzword in my honest opinion. Performance and accuracy are a different beast if you don’t have to emulate architecture X on top of architecture Y, you can tailor your entire environment way more effectively, especially if the hardware you’re targeting is old enough to not require competitive current-gen performance.
Customized hardware acceleration via FPGA is still a form of emulation, yes, but “just”? That’s like saying dynarec is “just emulation”, these are tools that dramatically improve not only performance, but compatibility, by being able to have hardware offload for extremely inefficient code paths and to replicate hardware bugs and quirks many studios leveraged to get extra performance at the time.
Your response is just a salty “I don’t want to buy hardware from this guy”, which is up to you, but don’t bash a project that is clearly what it says it is.
“and to replicate hardware bugs and quirks many studios leveraged to get extra performance ”
I mean, I’ve seen this argument before, but it’s easier to deal with certain quirks in emulation than in hardware. The FPGA’s a digital emulation of an analog system – if you know “well OK in this case the bus becomes active earlier than the clock would allow it to” it actually could be harder to do that in an FPGA than it would be in emulation.
FPGA is not really emulation. The FPGA load can be just as accurate as real hardware, with absolutely no added latency (well, assuming analog out. Going through HDMI might add some latency). For all intents and purposes, it is real hardware.
However, the limits of the emulation accuracy are determined exclusively by how much we know about how the hardware was built. Something like an Apple 2 that uses 100% off-the-shelf parts, 100% the same. Where things get slightly more dicey are when you have to reverse-engineer the custom chips.
If I design a chip, create a mask, and manufacture a hardwired chip that mimics an Atari 4800, is that emulation? If not, then neither is using an FPGA. An FPGA implements logic using real gates except that the wiring is defined from data loaded at start up and once loaded, the wiring doesn’t change. It’s operating just like a hardwired chip.
I like the controller port idea but I would be afraid of breaking it if someone tripped on the cord or w/e.
So… Just like always? Imo replicas with wireless receivers are the way to go though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a follow-up to a project of this scope.
Maybe you should make one, or use an existing replica, I’m not sure what kind of compatibility we are looking at here, but it may be trivial. If not? it’s not difficult to build from scratch with older control schemes, the hard part is really a good physical controller, which you will have (in theory).
Some more modern controllers have a ‘break-away’, so if you pull on the cable it will disconnect at a special connector. (From a bit of searching, it looks like only the XBox had this).
I’m not sure if there’s any off-the-shelf connectors that work the same way, or possibly something liek a MagSafe connector. If anyone does know of one, I’m sure HaD readers will.
Of course, then you’d then have to attach these breakaway connectors to your controllers yourself.
what’s up with this ad? you can already get pre built mister FPGA systems.
For mere mortals? What a terrible time to have become immortal!
I could use some tips, cultivation has been slow lately.