Why no new accelerators?
- Thread starter mjnurney
- Start date
- Replies 188
- Views 2200
-
Huhu !!
The very first step is to find the ultimate name of this new darling : the name is VERY important...
The Black Wasp sound very good !!!
How about....?
"The COSMOS"
Cosmos Processing Unit (CPU)
You have to take some credit if you manage to do this and put your name on the product so that history and Wiki will remember you.
Huhu !!
The very first step is to find the ultimate name of this new darling : the name is VERY important...
The Black Wasp sound very good !!!
Last edited by a moderator:
I would love an ultmate A1200 solution. Just that it would take an unexpanded a1200 and put some cards over chips and add a fitting ppc 060 expansion card
Whyle at it should integrate flickerfixer and rtg all in one (autoswitch) and all in one solution including USB 2.0 with a slot so there can be an extra addon on the addon.
This all in one solution should come with 1GB of memory, 0S 3.9 BBQ 4 fixed, wireless support for usb, poseidon. Also in workbench 3.9 the ppc should emulate the 060. Integrated on the a1200 typical expansions like infrared, bluetooth, wireless printing should be there.
I would expect a ppc at least at 2GHZ and an emulated 060 at 10 times original speed.
The ide speed should be 40 megs per second.
It should be able to run in stand alone mode, leaving the amiga 68000 and old chips to rest in os 4, morphos, or linux or Aros.
Further it should deliver a ram rom switcher, wich can activate an onboard 68000 mode, kickstart 1.3 and downgrade further to allow it to boot any a500 area software.
So I hope this is realistic enough. I am sure it could be done, but doubt anyone is going to do that.
Sorry I forgot an ethernet port, and an extra cpu to support DVD playback. It should also include a software framework and a good package manager, so you can subscribe channels and configs and have the latest and best software. All GNU related emulators should be had at latest versions, and all gnu software should run at some point.
Maybe an extra cpu slot for pc emulation would be nice.
Also the audio should be upgraded to at least 64 bit, gold plated connectors. It should come with recording tools as well.
Of course all of this should integrate power management, when something is not used.
Of course this should need a new psu, wich integrates all modern futures, but also adds some USB power sockets, Power over ethernet, and an USB hub.
An optional lcd monitor should include speakers, usb hub, and the extra audio jacks.
Whyle at it should integrate flickerfixer and rtg all in one (autoswitch) and all in one solution including USB 2.0 with a slot so there can be an extra addon on the addon.
This all in one solution should come with 1GB of memory, 0S 3.9 BBQ 4 fixed, wireless support for usb, poseidon. Also in workbench 3.9 the ppc should emulate the 060. Integrated on the a1200 typical expansions like infrared, bluetooth, wireless printing should be there.
I would expect a ppc at least at 2GHZ and an emulated 060 at 10 times original speed.
The ide speed should be 40 megs per second.
It should be able to run in stand alone mode, leaving the amiga 68000 and old chips to rest in os 4, morphos, or linux or Aros.
Further it should deliver a ram rom switcher, wich can activate an onboard 68000 mode, kickstart 1.3 and downgrade further to allow it to boot any a500 area software.
So I hope this is realistic enough. I am sure it could be done, but doubt anyone is going to do that.
Sorry I forgot an ethernet port, and an extra cpu to support DVD playback. It should also include a software framework and a good package manager, so you can subscribe channels and configs and have the latest and best software. All GNU related emulators should be had at latest versions, and all gnu software should run at some point.
Maybe an extra cpu slot for pc emulation would be nice.
Also the audio should be upgraded to at least 64 bit, gold plated connectors. It should come with recording tools as well.
Of course all of this should integrate power management, when something is not used.
Of course this should need a new psu, wich integrates all modern futures, but also adds some USB power sockets, Power over ethernet, and an USB hub.
An optional lcd monitor should include speakers, usb hub, and the extra audio jacks.
I like the sounds of that system jvdbossc be very 
to have
to haveI like the sounds of that system jvdbossc be very
I have a good taste, but am afraid it stays a dream...
---------- Post added at 20:27 ---------- Previous post was at 20:25 ----------
I don't get that, at least you are doing some nice stuff, they are not making money like that...
I was thinking more in the long term as the A1200 is 20years old and commercial development is becoming less and less viable. In time there simply won't be any more commercial accelerators or other hardware expansions. The only alternative would be if the community takes up the reins, even that has a time limit.
Lots of valid points.
Expense would be an issue as low volume purchasing of components would drive prices up. This would mean only projects that a financial return for kit builders or assemblers would be built.
Lots of valid points.
Valid point. large software projects get donated to the community but this doesn't seem to apply to complex hardware projects. Community project's would no doubt have to start from scratch.
A lot of work would be required to find and resolve them.
Only the kit builders or assemblers would make money for their time, and that would probably only be pocket money. Basically a cottage industry model.
Well, there is always an option to learn. There is a thread over at amiga.org called FPGA for dummies. Which shows that people are willing to learn and those knowledgeable are willing to share that knowledge. Knowledge sharing happens on this board all the time, such nice people.
Again knowledge sharing. You wouldn't have to figure everything out for yourself, with advice, help and support from the community, thus reducing development time. Assuming your giving something back.
Expense would be an issue as low volume purchasing of components would drive prices up. This would mean only projects that a financial return for kit builders or assemblers would be built.
If we had around 400 firm orders from customers then we would seriously consider funding development and manufacture of a new a1200 060 accelerator.
Such a development is very expensive and potentially risky. The retail accelerator is likely to be 3 or 4 times the cost of the ACA 1230.
Such a development is very expensive and potentially risky. The retail accelerator is likely to be 3 or 4 times the cost of the ACA 1230.
The Ultimate sounds good! (all in fact)
What about: Evolution - the new AMIGA accelerator board!
I hope you can go ahead!
[]s!
Ritcho.
so what dose 400 firm orders in terms of 060 accelerator get us
ok obviously the cpu but wot about memory and how much, personally I would like 512Mb as a minimum, then if there's any room in the budget what HDD/Storage controller could you give us ???
ok obviously the cpu but wot about memory and how much, personally I would like 512Mb as a minimum, then if there's any room in the budget what HDD/Storage controller could you give us ???
@amigakit
Ah, the chicken and the egg.
Nobody really wants to preorder a board without knowing exactly what their getting and commercial funding isn't likely without preorders.
Expensive, oh yes, tooling costs for the 150pin connector alone would be several thousand pounds.
Ah, the chicken and the egg.
Nobody really wants to preorder a board without knowing exactly what their getting and commercial funding isn't likely without preorders.
Expensive, oh yes, tooling costs for the 150pin connector alone would be several thousand pounds.
said you`d need to pay your employees
With the addition of the docking station, the Turbo Chameleon 64 can use an A500 keyboard. Real amiga mice don't *quite* work yet, simply because the Minimig's Denise omits the quadrature counters. I plan to fix that once I've learned enough Verilog!
But yes, as far as an affordable solution goes I think FPGAs will be the way to go in the long term simply because a single board can serve multiple markets, so volumes go up and costs come down (a little!).
I like your "manifesto" - but I'd take issue with that one point. The reason is simply that there's quite a bit of VHDL and Verilog code for hardware components out there under the GNU General Public License, and adoping your rule 2a would make GPLed items out-of-bounds for a community project. (The GPL has an equivalent of your rule 2c, which basically says you may not further restrict the freedoms of people to whom you distribute a GPLed project; the GPL allows commercial use (provided source is made available to those who want it) - so you can't use GPLed material in a project that disallows commercial use.)
A new A1200 060 design would probably be an asyncronous design consisting of 256MB SDRAM surface mounted as found in our ZorRAM product. It would need an FPGA with proprietry SDRAM controller code which would need to be licensed at cost.
The CPU connector tooling cost would need to be contributed towards.
The CPU connector tooling cost would need to be contributed towards.
@robinsonb5
Very good point.
Let's say the community wanted to develop it and get AmigaKit to fund development (testing CE, CF, etc) and manufacture, rule 2a would restrict this. So that would have to change.
One problem with the GPL is that any developer using a license other than the GPL is thus restricted from using any code. Pros and cons, the advatage of access to a body of code under the GPL, and the disadvantage that this would mean isolating other non GPL developers.
Licensing is always a headache.
Very good point.
Let's say the community wanted to develop it and get AmigaKit to fund development (testing CE, CF, etc) and manufacture, rule 2a would restrict this. So that would have to change.
One problem with the GPL is that any developer using a license other than the GPL is thus restricted from using any code. Pros and cons, the advatage of access to a body of code under the GPL, and the disadvantage that this would mean isolating other non GPL developers.
Licensing is always a headache.
Kewl an 060 with some fast 256Mb of Ram is a good place to start
and I know there are other storage solutions but would personaly at the very least like to see a usb controller on there as well
and I know there are other storage solutions but would personaly at the very least like to see a usb controller on there as well
Similar threads
