1 September 2021

A retro-computing channel on YouTube that is a favourite of mine is RMC – The Cave. In 2019 a video series featured on that channel in which a new Amiga A500+ board was built using a new, replica PCB. This was sufficiently inspiring to encourage me to order my own board to attempt the same project, which is still on my todo list for some point in the future. It’s a big undertaking! Anyway, in the video series the completed board was placed in a case designed by one Steve Jones. The case, the Checkmate A1500 Plus, has a look inspired by the Amiga A3000 (the best looking Amiga) and had been recently Kickstartered. At the time of writing, the case is available to order from Steve’s website.

I very nearly pulled the trigger on one of those cases, but then common sense prevailed. It’s a big case and I can’t really devote that amount of my limited desk space purely to a 1980s Amiga in the 2020s. So when I do get around to making this new Amiga, I’ll be putting it in an old A500 case (assuming it works!).

Subsequently I got interested in the MiSTer project, thanks in part to more videos on the RMC channel. Then what do you know, Steve Jones pops up again at the end of 2020 with a new Kickstarter:

As well as a lovely, mini-sized version of the Checkmate A1500 plus case, sized for ITX systems, he also offered as part of the Kickstarter a custom ITX board and fitting kit for mounting the MiSTer within the case. Wonderful stuff – just what I need to build my dream system. Not only is this a smaller footprint, but the versatility of MiSTer makes it a much more reasonable proposition from a desk space point of view.

At the time of writing, Steve is just about to start shipping, so I expect to receive my case soon and then I will build my dream retro-computing system. First though, let’s start at the beginning. What is the MiSTer?