Side by side

Side by side

One of the best features of the ATLANTIS for MiSTer is the ability to mount side by side DE10-Nano sized boards - allowing you to fit your MiSTer FPGA and Analog I/O Board together in a Thin Mini-ITX case with a tiny 25mm height IO zone.

This can be achieved in a number of ways but the simplest we've tested is to use either a 200mm or 100mm 40 Ways GPIO receptacle to plug ribbon cable (ie male to female connections).  And YES these will be added to our product inventory shortly!

You'll find that with a typical GPIO ribbon cable connector, the Analog I/O Board becomes the tallest part of the setup.  For a Thin Mini-ITX case such as the TX06 (just 45mm overall height), this will dictate the Analog board being mounted inverted.  Remember our aim is just to have all video ports facing through the PC case IO zone so this is really only a small compromise.

You will need to source some hex spacers or nylon spacers to raise the Analog board at least 12mm so the VGA connector fits above the ATLANTIS and below the Analog board.  We used a 10mm hex spacer and single 2mm thick M3 hex nut to achieve this (supplied by our local electronics store).  These sit over an M3 25mm bolt which we've capped with the small gold hex spacers that come with a DE10-Nano.  For the DE10-Nano side we're using the same bolts and M3 nut - mounting the DE10-Nano on top of a nut means it can be easily removed from the ATLANTIS while keeping the ATLANTIS in situ!

We recommended building your setup outside the PC case and then inserting it once complete.  You will still be able to access all Mini-ITX mount points.

If you prefer to keep your Mini-ITX as freed up internally as possible (particularly important if you have many accessory cables) you can utilise the short 100mm GPIO cable.  This requires the DE10-Nano also be mounted inverted BUT has the added advantage of exposing the primary microSD slot for easy access.

 

You will still have plenty of space at the rear of the ATLANTIS for cable management of additional accessory boards - YES you can even fit a Raspberry Pi back there!

Lastly, the GPIO cable will support all of the basic functionality of the Analog IO - analog video and sound.  You will notice there are still additional pins on the underside of the board, necessary for the SNAC accessory and the extra microSD slot.  If these are required, you can connect them with short jumper wires.

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.