[hotdog97]

The MiSTer FPGA project is fun and easy to get started with.

You need:

1. The FPGA board from Terasic (Linux ARM host, has USB, HDMI) for $130

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/terasic-inc/P0496/...

2. To run the cores for the vast majority of supported systems you need a custom 32 MB SDRAM board. For timing reasons the DDR3 memory on the FPGA board can't be used.

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki/SDRAM-Board

I bought mine for about $30 from someone in the MiSTer forum - there are a bunch of hobbyists that sell them there.

3. Some of the more complex cores (Amiga etc) need a custom IO board (VGA, SD card slot, etc):

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki/IO-Board

This one also seems to go for around $30 in the forum.

[snarfy]

As far as emulation goes, how is this better/different than running an emulator on my pc or raspberry pi? I really want one for the cool factor but am unsure of how practical it is. FPGA dev sounds fun.

[raphlinus]

Emulators add a lot of extra latency, both on input and on display. Actually it isn't so much the emulator as the host os, with its compositor etc. An FPGA has the possibility of running with dramatically better latency. Similar issues go for startup time.

[jacobush]

Well, you can't beat the booting times of the FPGA. Also, if you want a monster Amiga hard to emulate, check this out:

http://orders.apollo-accelerators.com

[adrianmonk]

I haven't ever actually used any of these FPGA emulators, but just wanted to point out that their wiki has an article on just that question:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki/Why-FPGA