I am eagerly awaiting my Spectrum Next as it’ll be the first CPC-capable all in one hardware I’ve had since 2001.
I do wonder if anyone would create an FPGA CPC would people be interested? (I have no desire to run a project or crowdfunding campaign for one, but I would almost certainly buy one)
EDIT: I don’t love emulation because it misses things like the copy key and because I’m primarily on a Mac the keyboard layout is off.
Well the Next does have a CPC core, as does the MiST and MiSTer.
Or do you mean a CPC -shaped thingy?
Edit: on second read, yes, that is precisely what you meant. D’oh.
I have the MiSTER but it suffers the same problem as emulation: the keyboard. But for playing a game it’s not too bad. I use it with an Xbox controller.
But the Next should make it easier to use it as a complete system. I’m curious how well it’ll work but as I understand it the core won’t support Plus features, or at least not yet.
Would it not be better to use a non functioning CPC and put a FPGA into an real case with the real keyboard and then hook up the keyboard? Mister would be great for it, as you can hook up the keyboard 1:1 to it, or you can create a raspberry PI keyboard interpreter that sends all keys as flat numbers (like the old one) to the MISTer?
I think that would be the cheapest/fastest option to do so.
Of cause what is missing is the “Mister Amstrad CPC Core with real 464 Keyboard”.
Well the number of non-functional CPCs out there isn’t huge and I think lots of people would like something more easy to use than a MiSTER, but your approach is not a bad idea.
In the US where I live nowadays there are virtually zero CPCs anyway, so I’d have to import something.
Spectrum Next is on the boat so I should have it in the next few weeks.
Something like MSX’s goa’uld would be super fantastic. Just plug it onto the Z80 socket and all of a sudden you have more memory, more juice , wifi, SD card etc…
I know, right?! BTW Goauld is a kinda like PiStorm32 on Amiga 1200. We may be crossing the line that makes CPC what it is, without even realizing it.
TIL.
That thing is awesome…
This gives me an idea: a “something with an FPGA inside” that you would plug on a CPC bus (in practice the Z80 socket or rear side expansion port) that would probe known hardware and test it, then implement the missing parts only.
On a fully functional CPC it would offer e.g. RAM expansion and cartridge like some boards that already exist. On a CPC where one or more chip is/are dead it would emulate that/those chip(s) / devices. Second (and/or first) drive etc.
In practice a defective chip could be half-functioning and produce conflicts on the bus, requiring its removal. And when a failing chip has external connections, some rerouting would be necessary. So not always as easy as plug and play. Or if plugged on the rear connector, the thing would have its own full set of connectors (audio jack, analog video DIN, adapter cable to the real CPC keyboard inside, DB9 for 1 or 2 joysticks).
We would call that the Matrix board because it would work and feel like a fully functional CPC even though some failing parts have been “virtualized” via FPGA, keeping as much as possible via the real hardware.
Regarding the way you write it… the “Matrix” board I imagined+described would be more complicated to conceive that a “plain” full FPGA-based CPC emulation, and more costly to produce than a “plain” limited board.
But on the positive side it could “easily” “resurrect” a dead CPC even in future times when functioning original chips are rare.
And keeping the authentic experience, actual hardware keyboard etc. 
That is not possible for the most part of the system. If the AY is faulty, you cannot replace it with anything external, as your keyboard will stop work. Same for the Gate Array. If that just stops, you cannot control the memory access anymore. It would need some soldering as well to actually reconnect the various chip enable lines.
If some of the buffers go wrong, nothing in an FPGA can repair it. There is just electronics and connections involved, that stops working if the chip in question does not work anymore or is not even there. The latter would be even the better case, because a chip that is broken most of the time still functions partially … that is the absolute worst case.
Yes we think of the same thing, but I mentioned solutions instead of saying “impossible”.
In such case of “cascading”, the simplest approach would be to work around the whole thing, hence my wording.
Workaround by emulating AY and all things down the line, and plugging the hardware keyboard on the new Matrix board. This is why I wrote: “adapter cable to the real CPC keyboard inside”.
Workaround by… well, emulating all the machine and plugging the hardware keyboard.
What I realize from your reply is that many issues will quickly escalate to “just do as if the whole CPC electronics was fried and plug the keyboard to the Matrix board”. Which is indeed a solution.
Yes, that is a solution - however it needs internal connection and obviously then you replace the whole CPC with an FPGA solution.
And yes, that is clearly possible.