Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist Sipeed has announce the newest entry in its in style Tang line of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) improvement boards, this time concentrating on these seeking to experiment with gaming tasks: the Tang Console.
“The Tang Console is a revolutionary FPGA platform designed for versatility, efficiency, and affordability,” the corporate claims of its newest creation. “With two capability choices — 60k and 128k LUTs [Look-Up Tables] — this compact powerhouse gives unimaginable capabilities whereas becoming comfortably within the palm of your hand. Measuring simply 65×56mm [around 2.56×2.2″], it is half the scale of the MiSTer making it the proper selection for builders and players alike.”
Sipeed has launched a brand new FPGA improvement board, designed to supply competitors to the MiSTer: the Tang Console. (📷: Sipeed)
Specs range, as you’ll think about, in keeping with the mannequin of Tang Console chosen and their corresponding GOWIN Semiconductor GW5AT-series FPGA fitted: the 60k variant consists of 468kb of synchronous static RAM (SSRAM) and a couple of,124kb of block SRAM (BSRAM), 4Gb of DDR3 on a 16-bit interface, and no hard-core microprocessor; the 138k variant has 1,080kb of SSRAM and 6,120kb of BSRAM, 8Gb of DDR3 on a 32-bit interface, and an AE350 RISC-V laborious processor core.
In both case, you get the identical system-on-module (SOM) on a compact service board, which incorporates two 40-pin general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) headers, two PMOD ports, a battery connector, and speaker connector, one USB 2.0 Kind-C and two USB 3.0 Kind-A ports, a further USB 2.0 Kind-C port for JTAG debugging and UART serial connectivity, an RGB LCD connector plus an HDMI output for an exterior show, and a 16-pin connector offering entry to a single PCI Categorical Gen. 3 lane for high-speed peripherals permitting the board for use as a Raspberry Pi 5 HAT add-on.
The board consists of each HDMI and RGB LCD show outputs, plus USB connectivity and microSD card storage. (📷: Sipeed)
Whereas the Tang Console can be utilized as a general-purpose FPGA improvement platform, its identify offers a touch as to Sipeed’s focus with its design: the corporate gives an acrylic case styled to appear to be a compact Nintendo Leisure System (NES) console and guarantees FPGA cores for emulating the NES, SNES, Sport Boy, Sport Boy Coloration, Sport Boy Advance, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, and Commodore Amiga, with improvement underway for Sony PlayStation, NeoGeo, NeoGeo Pocket Coloration, and MSX cores. The corporate has additionally promised a conveyable all-in-one video games console variant, the Tang Retro Pocket, although with out providing pricing and availability.
Extra info on the Tang Console household is offered on the Sipeed web site; pre-orders have opened at a reduced $69 for the Tang Console 60k and $99 for the Tang 138k, rising to $89 and $119 respectively with bundled SDRAM growth, fundamental acrylic case, and SNES-inspired recreation pad, or $109/$139 with SDRAM, console-like case, two recreation pads, and a microSD card. The corporate can also be providing free “early prototypes” for anybody creating retro-gaming FPGA cores, with particulars on the product web page.
