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sy2002 edited this page Jul 7, 2026 · 42 revisions

Welcome to the MiSTer2MEGA65 Wiki. You will find everything to get started "from zero to hero" here. We encourage you to walk through the multiple tutorials in the "Getting Started" section first, before you actually start to port your first core.

Please note that the MiSTer2MEGA65 framework will often be abbreviated to M2M throughout this Wiki.

New to FPGAs?

The MEGA65 hardware together with the M2M framework is a wonderful way to get into FPGAs and Hardware Description Languages. Thanks to the demo core that is part of the M2M framework, you have an playground that is easy to get started with as you will see later in the 3. "Hello World" Tutorial.

Here are two books that bring you up to speed:

  • Helen DuBlumont's FPGAs with VHDL: first steps is a marvelous little textbook that does not assume any prior knowledge other than some generic software development experience. This is a superb starting point if you are new to the world of FPGAs.

  • Peter J. Ashenden's The Designer's Guide To VHDL is a great next step after Helen's book to dive deeper.

Getting started with MiSTer2MEGA65

1. What is MiSTer2MEGA65

2. First Steps

3. "Hello World" Tutorial

The Ultimate MiSTer2MEGA65 Porting Guide

After you've run through the three steps above, continue with The Ultimate MiSTer2MEGA65 Porting Guide. It's your main companion from here on and covers the whole porting process.

Because the guide is so broad, it can't dive deep into every mechanism. That's where the following articles come in: each one goes further on a specific topic, so we recommend reading them alongside the guide.

config.vhd

Reference Guide

Release packaging

Deprecated

These older articles are kept for reference, but the porting guide supersedes them.

5. Project set-up

6. Basic wiring

7. Get the core to synthesize

Deprecated Reference Guide

Architecture

Audio filters

Caution and loose ends

clk.vhd

Clock Domain Crossing (CDC)

config.vhd

Debugging

Devices

Fatal Errors

File- and Directory Browser

globals.vhd

Help System

keyboard.vhd

m2m-rom.asm

main.vhd

mega65.vhd

On-Screen-Menu

QNICE

RAMs and ROMs

Shell memory layout

Video filters

Video pipeline and output

Virtual Drives

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