Some people converted an old router with NXP/Freescale QorIQ P1014 800MHz into a Linux running computer with AMD PCIe GFX card :

https://kittenlabs.de/real-gaming-router/

Demonstrating the possibilities of a free Open source OS and some open minded hardware nerds.

@OneTimer1
As noted in your web link, PowerPC e500v2's FPU is not standard PowerPC FPU.

TP-Link WDR4900 v1's QorIQ P1014 runs at 800MHz and DDR 333.333 MHz (666.667 MT/s data rate) memory. https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr4900

TP-Link has the purchasing power to reach economies of scale for QorIQ P1014-based products. TP-LINK TL-WDR4900 v1 was released in 2013.

TP-Link WDR4900 has U-boot as its firmware...

Before the Thunderbolt port, using the mini-PCIe slot as an external GPU connectivity is a known hack with laptop PCs.

My Sony branded Intel Core 2 laptop's ExpressCard slot was used for external GPU e.g. Radeon HD 5770.

Last edited by Hammer on 06-Mar-2024 at 02:39 AM.

_________________
Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB
Amiga 1200 (Rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32lite/RPi 4B 4GB/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (Rev 6A, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 3a/Emu68)

@OneTimer1

That's pretty cool. I personally couldn't be bothered to try such a thing, but enjoy watching people push older tech. far beyond what it was designed for.

One thing I picked out of the article, is that CLang/LLVM still has SPE support. Good news for the A1222. I've been using an older version of GCC for compiling SPE code.

Hans

_________________
http://hdrlab.org.nz/ - Amiga OS 4 projects, programming articles and more. Home of the RadeonHD driver for Amiga OS 4.x project.
https://keasigmadelta.com/ - More of my work.

@OneTimer1

I like this
this is really cool
cheap ppc hardware with radeon 7450

@OneTimer1

That's pretty neat. You can imagine it going into landfill otherwise but it's a perfectly reasonable little machine.

_________________
Doing stupid things for fun...

@OneTimer1

i love it, can be perfect for AmigaOS4.x, just put it in a different box.

_________________
http://lifeofliveforit.blogspot.no/
Facebook::LiveForIt Software for AmigaOS

@Hans

Quote:

Hans wrote: @OneTimer1 That's pretty cool. I personally couldn't be bothered to try such a thing, but enjoy watching people push older tech. far beyond what it was designed for. One thing I picked out of the article, is that CLang/LLVM still has SPE support. Good news for the A1222. I've been using an older version of GCC for compiling SPE code. Hans

It's the quest for low-cost and repurposed hardware. When a customer purchases a computing device, the user should have real ownership over the device.

_________________
Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB
Amiga 1200 (Rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32lite/RPi 4B 4GB/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (Rev 6A, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 3a/Emu68)

@OneTimer1

OMG it's an A1222 Tabor Mini!

Now this should have been chosen as the design for the Tabor! Seriously there was a PPC reference design and no one used it? The last remaining example of cheap PPC hardware and AEON missed it!?

It's so small it's perfect for a laptop. It's practically portable. Just add a mini screen.

I'm not sure about using it for games though. What games are there for PPC? Once you start using Linux the CPU becomes somewhat meaningless.

@NutsAboutAmiga

Quote:

NutsAboutAmiga wrote: @OneTimer1 i love it, can be perfect for AmigaOS4.x, just put it in a different box.

_This_ is perfect for OS4, while old G4 powermacs are not? Sure!

I agree this is very cool work, Linux on PowerPC is something I have dabbled quite a lot with since way back (I'm sure my collection of PowerPC systems vastly outnumber those of amigapps1). But again this is Linux, not at all possible with OS4.

_________________
B5D6A1D019D5D45BCC56F4782AC220D8B3E2A6CC

@kolla

That probably a lot of PowerPC hardware that's produced in high quantities at a low price, that could be obtain cheaply from the used market, a lot of the work has been done on the A1222, so this one using the same CPU, this does make it a viable target, however I'm sure it's not realistic, considering they are going to sell the A1222.

So I say “can be� not “this is�, because is lot work, and is direct conflict with A1222.
Perhaps if someone figured out how to emulate A1222 on top of hypervisor / QEMU, it can be low cost alternative.

_________________
http://lifeofliveforit.blogspot.no/
Facebook::LiveForIt Software for AmigaOS

@NutsAboutAmiga

finn.no constantly gives me hits about G4 hardware, currently 6 sellers.
This WDR4900? 1 on sale on ebay.

I doubt it was sold in "high quantities".

_________________
B5D6A1D019D5D45BCC56F4782AC220D8B3E2A6CC

@OneTimer1

Wii-U has better CPU, especially regarding FPU

@NutsAboutAmiga

Quote:

Perhaps if someone figured out how to emulate A1222 on top of hypervisor / QEMU, it can be low cost alternative.

Why not use garbage PC then? QEMU PPC emulation will be faster than e500 800 MHz.

@pavlor

It requires quite beefy PC to emulate PowerPC, because of endianness,
A good PC’s do compensate for endianness issue by having faster memory controllers.

Worst part is 3D and FPU emulation. Some one tried to run
WipeOut in WinUAE on Amiga.org, let say it did not go well.

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 10-Mar-2024 at 08:07 PM.

_________________
http://lifeofliveforit.blogspot.no/
Facebook::LiveForIt Software for AmigaOS

@NutsAboutAmiga

Quote:

It requires quite beefy PC to emulate PowerPC, because of endianness

Integer performance on today sub 500 EUR hardware is above G3 800 MHz.

Quote:

Worst part is 3D and FPU emulation. Some one tried to run

We are talking in this thread about e500 based SoC. Just look at A1222 compatibility page how good it does (not) these things.

@rzookol

Yes, there is a Linux for the Wii-U:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/caibny/here_is_debian_running_on_the_wii_u_not_vwii/

And with AROS (hosted ?) there should be the possibility for an AmigaLike OS on this Platform.

@NutsAboutAmiga

TP-Link TL-WDR4900 V2 model wasn't PowerPC i.e. Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558 which is based on MIPS CPU family.

TP-Link TL-WDR4900 V1 is the PowerPC variant.

_________________
Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB
Amiga 1200 (Rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32lite/RPi 4B 4GB/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (Rev 6A, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 3a/Emu68)

@NutsAboutAmiga

Quote:

NutsAboutAmiga wrote: @pavlor It requires quite beefy PC to emulate PowerPC, because of endianness, A good PC’s do compensate for endianness issue by having faster memory controllers. Worst part is 3D and FPU emulation. Some one tried to run WipeOut in WinUAE on Amiga.org, let say it did not go well.

FYI, Ryzen 5 7600X (with DDR5-6000, B650 chipset) running WinUAE 5.0's AmigaOS 4.1 FE/Voodoo 3/PowerPC config Wipeout 2097 runs triple buffered 640x480x16 very smooth.

_________________
Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB
Amiga 1200 (Rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32lite/RPi 4B 4GB/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (Rev 6A, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 3a/Emu68)

@Hammer

That’s no dumpster dive CPU, its currently being sold, its also the CPU alone is quite costly..

This old PowerPC in the old routers do not have DDR5, they have DDR2 and maybe DDR3.
so what I say is true.

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 11-Mar-2024 at 05:11 PM.
Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 11-Mar-2024 at 05:10 PM.

_________________
http://lifeofliveforit.blogspot.no/
Facebook::LiveForIt Software for AmigaOS

@NutsAboutAmiga

This router has nearly the same CPU as Tabor, just one core and lower mhz. Maybe even can be overclocked and we would have Tabor clone for ~100eur.