My Vampire V2

[Sardine]

just asking any other members who have tried their Vampire cards if they have the same experience as me.

1st It wont stay on the cpu (no matter how much pressure i do) atm the 2 mounts are holding it on the cpu, without them it just springs off.

2nd,

can you try a couple of games for me, whdload
Secret of monkey Island runs too fast yours same ??
monkey island II runs perfectly.

the games Hybris and Virus run slower than a stock A600 whdload or off floppy yours same ??

Adoom runs faster than my 1st 486 very smooth etc.


While playing a game i have to power off and back on, as CTRL+A+A does not always reboot the Amiga,i get reboot cycle error either red screen and / or flashing power led with fdd led on and black screen, anyone else have this ? power cycle works every time.

thanks.

what I can say is the Vampire is an amazing device, from coldboot im looking at a classic workbench in under 5 seconds, games boot almost instantly

sysinfo says im getting 2.9mb/s and 85 mips, just wow and this is the silver core,, how much faster the gold core will be !!!! all i can say is wow.

im already waiting for the A500 and A1200 versions.

A VERY big congratulations to Majsta and the Apollo team.

 

[NoPyroNoParty]

I had problems with it staying on the cpu but after I loosened the other end a bit it seems to have staid in place.
I broke my CF-reader and my WIFI on the A600 is quite bad but I can see if I can get ahold of the games you mentioned. Some WHDload games seem to either run too slow (probably because of my lack of chip addon and big WHDload directories seem to hog it up) or a bit too fast but it might just be me since I haven't played a lot of these titles for 25 years.

Anyway, as you say it's a really really nice card, seems to run demos and stuff nicely and it's very budget friendly too. Will get even better with the later update.

 

[TjLaZer]

Why would it run some games really slow?

 

[NoPyroNoParty]

Why would it run some games really slow?

I think it's just WHDload, would likely be same or slower without Vampire on my A600 w/o chip extension.

 

[Sardine]

i tried the 2 games Hybris and Virus both whdload and booted from floppy and they ran slower than stock A600, not an issue just a bug i guess the game just cant handle the speed ?

 

[Pghulme]

id like to speculate a little here, and i guess also explain why i didn't go for a vampire 2.

From what i can see (and sorta backed up that indivision ECS doesn't work with it)
But the vampire 2 is more than just a CPU accelerator, its almost a full emulation of much of the amiga hardware. so things like chipset is all implemented in the core. its almost like strapping a super charged minimig to the amiga. I maybe wrong, but i suspect this thing could run (with little modification) without the a600 even attached?

SO for me the reason i didn't buy one was i didn't believe it to be a true accelerator but a hardware emulator.

This is only my opinion and am sure Majesty and team could elaborate, but i suspect that games not running correctly (wrong speeds) comes down to buggy implementation/timing of these chips.

All this being said, this is a very impressive board, and a great bit of engineering for a small team.

 

[khimru]

Actually the facts don't match the idea that it's full implementation of Amiga in FPGA. Why? Exactly because games are slow!

The fact that games are slow strongly hints that real chipram is used from Amiga and not an emulated "superchipram" on a Vampire V2 board. Which means that currently Vampire V2 is, indeed, an accelerator and not a “minimig attached to Amiga”.

As for compatibility with Inidivision ECS… Read the fine print! Does the "can't be used together with an Apollo accelerator card" line in the description of Inidivision ECS mean that Apollo accelerator cards are “hardware emulators”, too? No, it just means that Inidivision ECS does not know how to talk to Apollo accelerator and/or Vampire, nothing more, nothing less.

When you attach Inidivision ECS or accelerator to A600 you basically replace a bit of Amiga-supplied hardware with a new one: CPU or [parts of] chipset. Inidivision ECS emulates certain bits and pieces of original Amiga chipset good enough to fool the convince other Commodore-supplied components that they are still talking "to the real thing". Apollo and Vampire are doing the same with CPU.

But when Apollo accelerator or Vampire met the Inidivision ECS in the same system… now two impersonators talk to each other! And they both are speaking with a small accent… the deception is disclosed and the whole thing does not work!

Now for the next question: is it possible to make Vampire Inidivision ECS-compatible or not? The answer is kinda strange, but logical if you think about it: yes, it's absolutely possible but I'm 99% sure it'll not be done. Why? Because it's pointless.

Inidivision ECS emulates some bits and pieces of Amiga in FPGA, Vampire V2 emulates some [different] pieces in FPGA… sure, you could teach them to play well with each other, but effort will be similar to what you'll need to just emulate all the functions of Indivision ECS in a Vampire V2! And if Vampire V2 will be able to do what Indivision ECS is doing then the whole thing will be cheaper, less resource-hungry and faster. That's what Vampire V2 developers would most likely do.

Note that since Vampire V2 includes [emulated] CPU it could [in theory] emulate everything else except for pieces which lead to outside world: PCMCIA slot, keyboard interface, floppy interface… in the end 90% of Amiga will be emulated. Including the only piece of Amiga which is purposefully-made for Amiga: it's chipset.

Now, of course, Theseus' paradox raises it's ugly head: if we'll stuff more and more bits and pieces of Amiga in the Vampire V2… wouldn't we end up with a full Amiga implemented in the Vampire V2 with the full Amiga 600 used as PSU and a keyboard interface? That's certainly a possibility. Would that thing still deserve the right to be named “Amiga”? I'm not sure we'll ever have an answer to that question, LOL… there would always be two opinions on that question… think about it: if you attach Cyberstorm and Cybervision to your Amiga A4000 (or, alternatively, 603+ with BlizzardVision to Amiga 1200) and run AmigaOS then how much of Amiga hardware is used? CPU is on the expansion card, it talks for video chipset via local bus on that same expansion card and even SCSI adapater and storage is connected to that same local bus. What are you using from the main Amiga system? Keyboard interface, audio, mouse… you would still be using these even with the fullest implementation of all the capabilities of Vampire V2!

 

[TjLaZer]

I don't get why people are asking/complaining about the Indivision ECS, why would you want to use it with the Vampire 2? The Vampire 2 will have HDMI and Super AGA!

 

[Sardine]

I don't get why people are asking/complaining about the Indivision ECS, why would you want to use it with the Vampire 2? The Vampire 2 will have HDMI and Super AGA!

+1 to that.

Majsta has replied to my Vampire not sitting on the cpu socket (im not the only one) its in the 1st post of the pre-order thread what to adjust and sand will try this at weekend.

 

[Pghulme]

I don't get why people are asking/complaining about the Indivision ECS, why would you want to use it with the Vampire 2? The Vampire 2 will have HDMI and Super AGA!

Am not complaining about the ECS compatibility, am just raising a question, this is a forum non the less!
i was just saying, it's a possibility, that the vampire 2 is or will end up being a hardware reimplementation of the Amiga. It may not, I may be way off but it's an interesting topic of question, I'd love to see the new source code for the Apollo core that's on the vampire 2.

As as I said before, the vampire 2 is a very clever bit of kit. As is the indivision ECS

 

[demolition]

It is a pity that it won't work with Indivision ECS yes, but once we (users) get a working HDMI output, then most people will probably not be missing it. And surely not if we get a working and compatible SAGA solution through HDMI.

 

[TjLaZer]

My Vampire V2

No it's not! It's not a pity at all! For those not happy about it, it would be like me complaining that I cannot use my commodore Amiga A590 external side car hard disk with my ACA 500! Makes no sense whatsoever

 

[khimru]

So the fact that Indivision ESC couldn't be used with Apollo accelerators makes sense while the fact that it does not work with Vampire V2 does not make sense? How the hell that even works?

Situation with A590 is quite different: AFAIK A590 uses extension port which was specifically designed to connect additional devices. Both Indivision ESC and Vampire V2 are using connections which were never supposed to be there at all! They are not installed in the place where something is supposed to be installed, instead they are injected in the electric scheme in the middle and are "suppressing" old electronics components to fulfill their role...

It's a wonder that Indivision ESC and Vampire V2 work in isolation, it's not a big surprise to find out that they clash when used together...

 

[Sardine]

update from the apollo team about what looks like "Chipmem" Games running slower than stock A600

kevin sardine wrote:


Hybris runs slower than stock A600
Virus runs slower than stock A600
Stunt Car Racer runs slower than stock A600
ZeeWolf runs slower than stock A600

reply

Looks like the chipmem bus needs a little love but the issue has already been spotted and there will be a core update soon.

 

[NovaCoder]

id like to speculate a little here, and i guess also explain why i didn't go for a vampire 2.

From what i can see (and sorta backed up that indivision ECS doesn't work with it)
But the vampire 2 is more than just a CPU accelerator, its almost a full emulation of much of the amiga hardware. so things like chipset is all implemented in the core. its almost like strapping a super charged minimig to the amiga. I maybe wrong, but i suspect this thing could run (with little modification) without the a600 even attached?

SO for me the reason i didn't buy one was i didn't believe it to be a true accelerator but a hardware emulator.

This is only my opinion and am sure Majesty and team could elaborate, but i suspect that games not running correctly (wrong speeds) comes down to buggy implementation/timing of these chips.

All this being said, this is a very impressive board, and a great bit of engineering for a small team.

Yes that's correct, it's basically a new FPGA computer sitting inside your old A600 case.

I'd have personally preferred to see (just) an FPGA accelerator (like the Vampire Mrk 1 approach) and still use the original Amiga chipset for everything else....very old school


Obviously the team behind the Vampire/Apollo core have done an amazing job and they should be congratulated for their efforts

 

[Sardine]

RTG SAGA driver for HDMI.
http://www.apollo-core.com/knowledge.php?b=6&note=499&z=Ya9wr4

Vampire silver core update.
http://www.apollo-core.com/knowledge.php?b=6&note=499&z=Ya9wr4

quite a few fixes

the main ones for me are

* improved Game compatibility
(some games running to fast)
IRQ on slow AMIGAs can bounce with very fast CPU cores. E.g 68060 and Apollo
Apollo is now enhanced to reliable prevent IRQ from bouncing

and

* improved Game compatibility
(some games running to slow)
Instruction execution in chip mem is speed up now

complete update log.

************************************************************

SILVER-2 CORE Change Log

The SILVER2 Core update will bring you the following changes

* Improved Icache Prefetchers
Faster Code execution

* Improved Dcache Prefetchers
Faster Data handling

* New memory controller
Much faster Fastmem.

* improved Game compatibility
(some games running to fast)
IRQ on slow AMIGAs can bounce with very fast CPU cores. E.g 68060 and Apollo
Apollo is now enhanced to reliable prevent IRQ from bouncing

* improved Game compatibility
(some games running to slow)
Instruction execution in chip mem is speed up now

* Bitfield Instructions fixed.
This fixes FBLIT and some applications

* improved SAGA Chunky Video out

* improved CPU
Some more instruction Fusings Supported

and RTG update log

We are happy to announce that Jason McMullan
was so kind to develop a free RTG graphic driver
for the RTG/SAGA screenmodes of the Vampire2.

To use this RTG Driver you need the Vampire2 with SILVER-2 Core Update.


This RTG Driver supports the following screemodes
320x240 8bit
320x240 15bit
320x240 16bit

640x480 8bit
640x480 15bit
640x480 16bit


More modes and higher screenmodes will be supported with the next update.

 

[UberFreak]

As far as I know, you are both wrong.
Currently, all the core contains is a CPU and simple RTG chunky buffer implementation.
Where did you get the impression that it contains a complete Amiga on the FPGA?

id like to speculate a little here, and i guess also explain why i didn't go for a vampire 2.

From what i can see (and sorta backed up that indivision ECS doesn't work with it)
But the vampire 2 is more than just a CPU accelerator, its almost a full emulation of much of the amiga hardware. so things like chipset is all implemented in the core. its almost like strapping a super charged minimig to the amiga. I maybe wrong, but i suspect this thing could run (with little modification) without the a600 even attached?

SO for me the reason i didn't buy one was i didn't believe it to be a true accelerator but a hardware emulator.

This is only my opinion and am sure Majesty and team could elaborate, but i suspect that games not running correctly (wrong speeds) comes down to buggy implementation/timing of these chips.

All this being said, this is a very impressive board, and a great bit of engineering for a small team.

Yes that's correct, it's basically a new FPGA computer sitting inside your old A600 case.

I'd have personally preferred to see (just) an FPGA accelerator (like the Vampire Mrk 1 approach) and still use the original Amiga chipset for everything else....very old school


Obviously the team behind the Vampire/Apollo core have done an amazing job and they should be congratulated for their efforts

 

[demolition]

As far as I know, you are both wrong.
Currently, all the core contains is a CPU and simple RTG chunky buffer implementation.
Where did you get the impression that it contains a complete Amiga on the FPGA?

It doesn't yet but it is headed that way. Getting SAGA is a big step along the way to get some of the custom chips into the FPGA. And I think they plan on doing Paula emulation as well so they can send it through the HDMI output?

 

[mfilos]

Having owned every accelerator that ever existed on the A600 I can say with certainty "I don't care".
If this hardware gives me ultra CPU speed (plus FPU in a feature core), the ability to have RTG and ~AGA and HDMI output in my humble A600 without loosing custom chipsets like Paula is a Godsend gift (i won't mention the price).
I already have a couple of Indy ECS's hanging around but I don't care much if Vampire2 becomes stable and good over HDMI.
Indivision ECS will always be a great product that as MOST Jens's products it could have been A LOT more beefier and awesome if he (or his team) gave some more love to them (just bringing the RTG over MMU ability that we only beta tested without further development).
I guess many people with Indy get excited over the crappy scrolling of 60Hz as a SD or have Monitors that go low to 50Hz to be able to run them smoothly.

Great respect to Majsta for his awesome work, that combined with Kipper2k, Gunnar and the rest Apollo team... made and will continue making wonders!

Viva la A600 revolution

 

[kirow2000]

Vampire card popping of CPU!

Vampire card popping of CPU!

I had the same problem with the vampire popping of the CPU during my first try to install it. After sand the CPU connector down it sits like its glued to the motherboard and no mount solution with screws are needed! Have to say this is the best piece of hardware accelerator i ever owned and brought life back to the amiga

- - - Updated - - -

What version of Classic WB are you using? Im about to uppgrade but have not decided what is the best option to match the vampire 2 setup!