Click Here
home features news forums classifieds faqs links search
6071 members 
Amiga Q&A /  Free for All /  Emulation /  Gaming / (Latest Posts)
Login

Nickname

Password

Lost Password?

Don't have an account yet?
Register now!

Support Amigaworld.net
Your support is needed and is appreciated as Amigaworld.net is primarily dependent upon the support of its users.
Donate

Menu
Main sections
» Home
» Features
» News
» Forums
» Classifieds
» Links
» Downloads
Extras
» OS4 Zone
» IRC Network
» AmigaWorld Radio
» Newsfeed
» Top Members
» Amiga Dealers
Information
» About Us
» FAQs
» Advertise
» Polls
» Terms of Service
» Search

IRC Channel
Server: irc.amigaworld.net
Ports: 1024,5555, 6665-6669
SSL port: 6697
Channel: #Amigaworld
Channel Policy and Guidelines

Who's Online
24 crawler(s) on-line.
 66 guest(s) on-line.
 0 member(s) on-line.



You are an anonymous user.
Register Now!
 K-L:  5 mins ago
 amigakit:  9 mins ago
 yoodoo2:  11 mins ago
 sananaman:  20 mins ago
 Karlos:  32 mins ago
 towo2099:  37 mins ago
 matthey:  38 mins ago
 Mobileconnect:  51 mins ago
 Joe_RSA:  1 hr 6 mins ago
 zipper:  1 hr 15 mins ago

Hardware News   Hardware News : ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
   posted by AmigaBlitter on 25-May-2006 10:11:52 (12546 reads)
This is an IRC log of the 'ack on the fly' interview (round two). I did my best to put the questions and the answers in the correct sequence. So, please, forgive any mistakes. In the evening, there was a chat session regarding the new powervixxen name, but that is another story. Enjoy.

Breaking News: The highend board will be named "PowerVixxen TL" - Thunder & Lightning


uh? Still you here?
yes
So the PCI-e is only a question of driver?
Graphics card support.
No sense in putting PCI Express on if we can't support any gfx cards.

You have all the technicals info and knowlege to put the PCI-e in the board?
That's the easy part.

If the ati range are supported by Hyperion, why not use the PCI-e?
If there are PCI Express cards from ATI that Hyperion can support, then PCI
Express is going on the board.
wow

can i add to the old Q&A?
sure
good
Thank you and good work
your welcom
your welcome I mean

15:23:58 hello
15:32:36 jahc: BTW, what price point do you have in your head
anyway?
15:32:48 ackcontrols: $750 nzd would be nice :/
15:32:58 ackcontrols: I know you cant make it lower because the 7448 is so costly
15:33:05 And what's that in USD as a reference?
15:33:07 ackcontrols: we dont need to go down this road
15:33:25 about $500 usd
15:33:31 jahc: I'm curious as if you thing it's expensive, others do as well.
15:33:45 ackcontrols: every amiga owners dream is to have amiga hardware at pc prices
15:33:58 but thats not going to happen.
15:34:03 PC prices isn't posible.....
15:35:16 ackcontrols: I know its not possible, I just said its every amiga owners dream.

15:34:22 now that is over with, ackcontrols, can one disable PV by pressing 2 during startup?
15:35:25 foody: I didn't put that in the firmware and simplified the h/w so it just takes over the A1200's bus...so it's not going to be doable.
15:35:42 Ah ok :S
15:36:05 I suppose when one buys PV he is doing it because he no longer wants to use the classic stuff anyways and wants to run OS 4.0 in his A1200 case..
15:36:22 foody: yeah, that's the point.

15:36:25 ackcontrols: is $600 usd doable?
15:36:38 jahc why are making it more expensive
15:36:44 ackcontrols: $700 usd? hehe
15:36:52 the guy was selling it for 499 now you want it to be 600!?
15:37:03 foody: I'm talking about the highend board not the PowervixenLT
15:37:09 oooh
15:37:14 ok...* whistles innocently then *
15:37:26 It all comes down to what's on the board.
15:38:06 ackcontrols: dont take my comments personally about the price.... I'm only complaining because I want one so bad!
15:38:23 jahc: I understand, and I'm always working to bring cost down.

15:38:40 ackcontrols: have you made a decision on how many PCI slots? seems people want more
15:38:46 For all intents and purposes the only way to make a low-end board cost effective is to make it a stripper board.
15:39:19 see....can't please everyone
15:39:44 ackcontrols just do what you are doing, you know best over us all
15:39:52 and we will be like children screaming to get our hands on them
15:40:02 And beyond all considerations, it's better to get somethign out (to those who want to pay for it) than to fiddle around with onboard details.
15:40:04 The best way to realize a lesser expensive board is to put the CPU right on the board, leave it PCI only and put lots of slots with nothing else onboard.

15:40:16 Ack you produce the board yourself or there is a company that you use for series production?
15:40:51 AmigaBlitter: I have a company I deal with when volumes are over 100 boards.

15:41:59 For the PCI-e problems, you tried to contact Matrox for the tech info?
15:42:43 Matrox has headed into a different direction....considered them, but not confident their boards will meet our PCI Express requirements.
15:42:56 My preference is to deal with ATI.
15:44:13 If the OS4 team can produce Warp3D and Picasso drivers for an ATI PCI Express board....PCI Express is going to be on the high end board.

15:45:46 Rogue and Entzilha are aware of this?
15:46:20 AmigaBlitter: Rogue for sure....TF....if he's reading OS4-Developer...yes.

15:43:07 ackcontrols and when a company does deal with you..would
15:43:34 foody: I don't quite understand the question?
15:44:11 I mean...hmm..better phrase it this way: If say you start selling at your expected quota and more..would that mean you can make a deal with a company where you can mass produce your products?
15:44:49 foody: When the market is over 100,000 potential customers in a short time....that would be when it's time to mass produce.

16:21:58 ackcontrols: have you made a decision on how many PCI slots to have?
16:22:39 I think I could live with 3.
16:22:52 but then I wouldnt be able to play with anything in the future.. like tv card, catweasel, etc..
16:26:49 jahc: At present, one PCI Express 16x slot, 1 PCI 66 and 4 PCI 33/66
16:27:01 ackcontrols: really?

16:27:20 (pcie). Is it a real pcie or adapted to standard pci bus?
16:27:26 That's the present direction.
16:27:47 ackcontrols: as in real pcie?
16:27:53 that would be...very nice.

16:27:57 PCI 1x from PCI connected to PCI-E 16x slot
16:28:11 Feedback is we can't take advantage of all the bandwidth
16:28:23 ackcontrols: oh, so it isn't a real pcie slot, pci limited bandwidth then. Still good ideaf or cards tho
16:28:28 The only option ATM is 1x or 4x
16:28:49 PCI-E 1x gets you 250MB/s bandwidth from a PCI 66 bus
16:28:51 ackcontrols: currently, likely true. (bw). 1x or 4x what, agp or pcie lanes?
16:29:07 ackcontrols: yes, vs what, 2GB/sec for pcie-16?
16:29:42 PCI-E 8x is roughly AGP 8x
16:30:08 nod, 256MB/sec is only agp 1x equiv
16:30:29 yes, which is what we would get in an AGP 1x (pci mode) slot anyway.
16:30:44 It's more a question of form factor and gfx card availability than anything else.
16:31:19 ackcontrols: sure, understand that. ppl will gripe, but even pcie routed as normal pci is better than normal pci, etc..so an ok compromise I guess.
16:31:33 engineering is always a compromise.
16:31:58 heh lifes a compromise most of the time :)
16:32:10 too bad no easy way to do real pcie x16. Heh, aware of that one very much lately (nearing product release, last minute feature drops and changes out the ass )
16:32:11 Once the Tsi110 is available...it's a bit of a different story.
16:32:52 ackcontrols: how many pcie lanes does tsi110 handle?
16:33:03 2 ports of PCI-E 4x
16:34:34 ackcontrols: that wouldn't be bad. Damn, no pcie 16 though...
16:35:04 hrm, pcie x4 ~ agp8x tho, so not bad at all on 4x

16:36:02 Would PCIe be all that much of a fuss on a classic system?
16:36:43 Wed: It would be like retrofitting warp drive to a lawn mower.
16:37:06 It's doable, but what's the point.
16:37:22 Yeah, I understand, but the rest of the system ought to be able keep up to make use of it, or am I totally off?
16:38:26 The Zorro III bus is the bottleneck on the A3/4K systems.....even with PCI boards, we don't get the full bandwidth available with the Mediator or the Prometheus.

16:39:38 ackcontrols i guess you will leave case to dealers and buyers, right ?
16:40:00 cases are a personal decision.
16:40:19 I'll make the board fit in standard cases and the customer can do the rest.

16:41:23 ackcontrols you have time for all this questions ? :)
16:41:30 not really
16:41:58 but I value the feedback
16:42:20 We value the ability to have info direct from the source
16:42:56 yep i fully agree on that

16:43:33 Your company, ack, is also capable of producing or assemble the troika mobo or hardware from others?
16:49:40 AmigaBlitter: I'm presently expanding operations to include design/prototype/manufacturing for 3rd parties.
16:49:48 cool
16:50:28 The intent is to be self-sufficient enough to make this worthwhile.
16:50:47 good i mean

16:51:15 Is it possible to have only one company (your for example) that coordinate all the Amiga Hardware production?
16:52:02 I'm under the impression there are others doing h/w. There is room for various products as people have different needs and budgets.

16:52:14 ackcontrols: are you financing all of this on your own?
16:52:46 Not at the moment, but can if necessary.

16:57:43 You are fast and smart, ack
17:00:10 Would be great if you coordinate all the effort to produce hardware, ack

17:00:44 AmigaBlitter: why would you (as a user) want to have only one hardware manufacturer?
17:01:00 not to mention that Troika's PR is even worse than adam's
17:01:51 Better one strong hardware producer than many weaks
17:02:20 think Troika needs to make a plan for their web site
17:02:40 or dont have one at all
17:02:43 SLayeRDK: I think troika needs to shut up until they demonstrated something
17:02:46 And i said "coordinate"
17:03:21 SLayeRDK: hehe

17:06:40 Ack, could you explain what kind of company do you have?
17:07:30 My company does design and engineering work, primarily controls engineering.
17:08:46 Technically, my company does a bit of everything.
17:09:20 How many employee works for you?
17:09:22 ackcontrols privately owned ? and how many are you ?
17:09:40 Privately owned and there are four of us.
17:10:24 All employee are engineer?

17:10:44 ackcontrols; sorry if I missed your answer to my question before, but is the number of PCI slots definately going to be 3?
17:11:38 1 pci express 16x (using pci-e 1x) 1 pci 66 and 4 pci 33/66
17:12:35 6 in total
17:13:01 ackcontrols: wow.. back on again? you addicted to IRC now as well?
17:13:15 lol
17:13:23 getting feedback / bouncing off ideas
17:13:31 ackcontrols: wow! 5 pci slots would be GREAT
17:13:54 ackcontrols: hopefully the little news item helped a bit as well.. seems they really want pci-e
17:13:56 jahc: But also, going to drop onboard USB.
17:14:05 I could get a catweasel mk4 and a tv tuner!

17:14:31 ackcontrols: with all these changes planned now, wouldn't that delay the board until q2 2007 at least? with betatesting, porting of os4, licenses and all?
17:14:57 No, zerohero
17:14:59 zerohero: No
17:15:03 lol
17:15:10 ackcontrols: how come?
17:15:34 ack took only 2 weeks to make the board? is this true ack?
17:15:36 zerohero porting is hyperions job, and they have said a port to another PPC cpu would take a month
17:15:48 ackcontrols: please dont drop USB..
17:16:19 PCI 66 slot if for combo USB/SATA board.
17:16:32 ackcontrols: please, how come it won't take longer?
17:17:06 Ack, adding 2 more usb ports will cost more or less than 30$
17:17:24 The difficult parts of the design are complete. Reworking a PCB design and getting a prototype made doesn't take long at all.
17:17:50 zerohero: that is a really weird question dude.. if he wants to give us products sooner; don't argue! :)
17:18:00 There are companies that make their living turning prototype around in 24 to 48 hours.
17:18:18 ssolie: not about what he wants, how come he is able to do that?
17:18:59 zerohero: just simple board mfg'ing... I used to make boards in university, took about a week to get a prototype back
17:19:03 ackcontrols: but betatesting it completely might take quite long, ask my xe about it ;)

17:19:38 beta-testing for the XE took as long as it did because os4 wasn't ready.
17:19:48 When you have something ready...it's a whole lot quicker.
17:20:06 i hope so...

17:20:12 I would think the XE design is much more complex as well no?
17:20:16 Too many issues with Articia and VIA added to complexities along with the fact that most stuff wasn't even finished.
17:20:25 The XE is more complex.
17:20:39 It has more parts
17:20:49 I'm stripping out complexity

17:19:27 Ack, maybe you miss the question:
17:19:30 Ack, adding 2 more usb ports will cost more or less than 30$?
17:21:03 AmigaBlitter: Why the urge for USB?
17:21:19 $69.00 USD gets a 5 port USB + 2 port SATA combo board.
17:21:56 For me, no problems. I saw the other need more. Is it possible to use an USB hub or something similar?


17:22:01 ackcontrols: and why the pcie slot? (just wondering about the motivation)
17:22:33 It comes down to part availability.
17:22:40 AGP cards are getting less available.
17:23:22 ackcontrols: are you dropping AGP altogether?
17:23:25 Whether I put an AGP or a PCI-E slot on the board requires the same amount of work
17:23:36 It's going to be one or the other and not both.
17:23:55 If the OS4 team can support PCI-Express, it is my preference.
17:24:04 As that is the way the next design is heading anyway.
17:24:10 Meaning the Tsi110 board.
17:24:18 ackcontrols: okay, I see. thx.

17:25:24 ackcontrols: are the existing supported Radeon chipsets available on PCI-Express? or would PCI-Express drivers have to be written from the ground up?
17:25:47 jahc: I'm awaiting feedback from the OS4 team.
17:26:08 It looks like supporting some Radeon PCI Express cards is doable.
17:26:19 If that's the case...PCI Express is going on the board.
17:26:29 And AGP goes away.

17:28:39 ackcontrols: can you be more specific re "I don't expect any problems regarding licensing"?
17:29:25 cgutjahr: I've spent too much time on the licensing and not enough time on the h/w.....

17:32:15 There are other question for Ack?
17:37:56 Ack, you are a hero for the Amiga Users
17:42:05 ackcontrols: I challenged HJF to deliver OS 4.1 with your next board.. let's see if he takes it :)
17:51:49 OK
17:51:58 Tahnk you, ack (adam)
17:52:06 thank you...
17:52:22 AmigaBlitter star reporter
17:52:45 hehe
    

STORYID: 3112
Related Links
· More about Hardware News
· News by AmigaBlitter


Most read story about Hardware News
Commodore USA's Final Challenge to the Community

Last news about Hardware News
New full-sized C64 in production.
Printer Friendly Page  Send this Story to a Friend

Goto page ( 1 | 2 | 3 )

PosterThread
Hans 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 19:05:21
#21 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 27-Dec-2003
Posts: 5098
From: New Zealand

@Angus

I don't remember ackcontrls mentioning anything about not being able to access the Amiga's custom chips. If that were the case then why make it as an accelerator at all? Then the A1200 would be just an oversized power supply.

My understanding is that some people want the ability to switch off the PV to be able to temporarily downgrade to a standard A1200/4000 at will. It would be a nice feature to have, even if it turns out to be unnecessary.

Hans


_________________
Join the Kea Campus - upgrade your skills; support my work; enjoy the Amiga corner.
https://keasigmadelta.com/ - see more of my work

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
BobC. 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 19:17:12
#22 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 9-Mar-2003
Posts: 556
From: Mid Atlantic State USA

Thanks AmigaBlitter, really!

Well this is good news indeed and so delicious to read...Real hardware.

Thanks for the effort here Adam and your time spent to share it with us as well. I really want a "big box" Amiga again too!


_________________

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Amiboy 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 19:19:03
#23 ]
Super Member
Joined: 21-Dec-2003
Posts: 1059
From: At home (probably)

That was too much of a read my brain hurts and I lost track half way through can anyone give a run down of what all this means.

Thanks,
Amiboy


_________________
Live Long and keep Amigaing!

A1200, Power Tower, TF1260 128MB RAM, 68060 Rev 6, OS3.9 BB2, HD-Floppy, Mediator TX+ PCI, Voodoo 3 3000, Soundblaster 4.1, TV Card, Spider USB, 100MBit Ethernet, 16GB CF HD, 52xCDRom.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
ssolie 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 19:40:37
#24 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 2755
From: Alberta, Canada

@Amiboy
Quote:
That was too much of a read my brain hurts and I lost track half way through can anyone give a run down of what all this means.

Sounds like a job for... Total Amiga Magazine!

Even better, a nice review of OS4 running on the new hardware if the timing works out.


_________________
ExecSG Team Lead

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
x56h34 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 22:36:49
#25 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 3-Sep-2003
Posts: 439
From: ON, Canada

What Adam should do is make sure that the firmware of PV can be user upgradeable / re-flashed (just like on Phase 5 PPC cards), so that future changes could be added (e.g. such as the disable card at boot option, or similar stuff like that).

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
gregthecanuck 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 23:27:49
#26 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 30-Dec-2003
Posts: 846
From: Vancouver, Canada

@ack

I am going over what options there are for a stand-alone board. Here is my thought process:


1. A soldered-in CPU and a very bare motherboard

As mentioned earlier 1 PCI-e slot, one PCI-66, 3 PCI-33.

In this case the board is so bare that if a user wants to update the CPU they basically pull all the cards out and swap out the motherboard.

Depending on the chipset may get some peripheral support for 'free' - ethernet, USB.

Benefit: Much lower design/production cost, more reliable (no !@# socket).
Downside: Larger board/more slots required. Not suitable for "mini" cases.


2. A soldered-in CPU with integrated peripheral support

In this case peripherals included are audio, USB, SATA/PATA, ethernet.
A couple of PCI slots, perhaps one PCI and one PCI-e slot?

Benefits: Can support smaller form factor, suitable for "embedded" use, including headless
Downside: Higher design/production cost


3. A socketed CPU with no integrated peripheral support

There is no point in this option that I can see. Easier to use option 1.


4. A socketed CPU with integrated peripheral support

In this case the user won't be upgrading the motherboard, just the CPU.

This is basically the XE style. Lots of spare slots.

Integrated audio, USB, SATA/PATA, ethernet.

Benefits: Easier to upgrade the CPU, more integrated peripherals
Downside: Higher design/production cost


I agree with ACK's choice of a bare-bones board. Start as simple as possible to expedite release.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
elatour 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 25-May-2006 23:31:01
#27 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 18-Jan-2005
Posts: 936
From: Toronto, Canada

Quote:
I don't remember ackcontrls mentioning anything about not being able to access the Amiga's custom chips.

You're right, he didn't. However, he did mention that he didn't bother adding the ability to switch the board off and basically stating that he would only see people wanting to run OS4 on their machines. However, I'm just not sure how software that needed access to the underlying hardware, be it OCS, ECS, AGA or any Zorro II/III boards, would be able to through OS4 on the PPC board without some additional software to perform some form of bridge for these 68k apps to the underlying classic hardware.

Like SSOLIE said, I guess that this is something that should be clarified with ACK Software Controls before making any assumptions.

Last edited by elatour on 25-May-2006 at 11:33 PM.


_________________
When swimming with sharks, make sure to bring lots of band-aids...

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
yak 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 0:44:12
#28 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 15-Mar-2006
Posts: 322
From: Bochum, Germany

@gregthecanuck

As far as I understanded, he's making the high-end (standalone) board with socketed CPU (MegaArray socket, same as on A1). That would be your third option. But I may be wrong...

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
herewegoagain 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 2:10:29
#29 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 8-Jan-2003
Posts: 3270
From: Charlotte, NC

@balis

Quote:
Poster: balis Date: 25-May-2006 13:14:46

Interesting stuff, especially the PCI-e part.

I'd like to know Hyperion's thoughts about PCI-e support, if it's doable easily or not in OS4.
Rogue, if you listen...



Rogue has already answered this in the previous ACK news item. This is what he said:

Quote:
The real issue here is the lack of documentation, but then, there are numerous R3x0-based Radeon cards with PCI Express (all X300-X600) we could support with 2D and 3D drivers.


Link to thread here

Last edited by Herewegoagain on 26-May-2006 at 02:11 AM.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
balis 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 10:07:44
#30 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 22-Apr-2005
Posts: 139
From: Lille

@ Herewegoagain

OK, Thx for the link

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
hatschi 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 12:46:18
#31 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 1-Dec-2005
Posts: 2328
From: Good old Europe.

Quote:
I don't remember ackcontrls mentioning anything about not being able to access the Amiga's custom chips.


There should be a possibility to access the custom chips. Anyway, I don't see much use for the custom-chips within OS4. I'd rather use them when playing games with a deactivated PV in pure 68k-mode, either from floppy or using Whdload (current Whdload won't run on OS4).
That's why an option to deactivate the PV would be very handy.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Angus 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 18:01:16
#32 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 8-Feb-2005
Posts: 165
From: S.W. England

>That's why an option to deactivate the PV would be very handy.

Not ideal for me. I don't want to just be able to run WHDLoad games etc on a bare 1200, I want at least 030 performance ideally 060 plus. I'm thinking of 3D games, flight sims etc.

So, if we assume the machine can access the custom chips, will it be able to do so while deriving its performace from the PPC cpu, or only the 68020?

I hope that question makes sense. :)

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Jose 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 19:06:22
#33 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 997
From: Unknown

I hope they take the time to implement small features that will largely condition the boards use it classic systems.
Essential would be to be able to boot from the 68 emulator so that one could downgrade and also use WHDLoad.

Also a killer one, will the A4000 version have an upgradable CPU slot like the XE and upcoming motherboard ? That would be awesome.


_________________

José

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
hatschi 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 19:12:58
#34 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 1-Dec-2005
Posts: 2328
From: Good old Europe.

Quote:
Essential would be to be able to boot from the 68 emulator so that one could downgrade and also use WHDLoad.


Boot from the 68 emulator? Do you mean Petunia of OS4? There is only one way to run Whdload: Deactivate the Powervixxen and run it using 68k/Custom chips natively. No need to "emulate" anything.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
x56h34 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 20:31:23
#35 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 3-Sep-2003
Posts: 439
From: ON, Canada

Perhaps PV should be a BPPC like design, with a slight difference of it being literary 2 cards in 1?

Put an 060 cpu on board for 68k OSes and the PPC cpu for OS4.0.
The card can boot as an either 68k (classic) or PPC (next gen) accelerator, but unlike BPPC it cannot be dual-cpu aware/active at the same time.

So a simple reboot with holding a key for example would boot as a 68k card and default boot would of course be PPC. If there's an IDE DMA controller on the card, and ram, perhaps it could be the only parts of the accelerator that 68k mode and PPC mode would use both, depending on which mode the Amiga is booted in.

I'm dreaming, I know. I bet that the price of such a beast would make the entire unit go up by at least double.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Hans 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 21:06:45
#36 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 27-Dec-2003
Posts: 5098
From: New Zealand

@x56h34

I think that creating an emulator that uses the custom chips would be easier/cheaper than adding another CPU to the board. The emulator could use OS4's 68k emulator to run the code. It would have to enable booting from the classic ROM within the emulator, provide direct access to the A1200/4000 custom-chips, a method to use adf/hdf images and possibly some method to use the PowerVixxen's IDE port. Some method of protecting the rest of the system would be a good idea too.

However, I have no idea how fast a 68k CPU a 400MHz PowerPC can emulate. The big advantage is that it wouldn't have to emulate the entire custom-chipset as well.

Hans

Last edited by Hans on 26-May-2006 at 09:07 PM.


_________________
Join the Kea Campus - upgrade your skills; support my work; enjoy the Amiga corner.
https://keasigmadelta.com/ - see more of my work

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
d0c 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 21:50:37
#37 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 8-Sep-2004
Posts: 896
From: UK

i give up.... to much crap talk and vapor.....


_________________
I was a ZX Spectrum owner....

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Hans 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 26-May-2006 22:09:00
#38 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 27-Dec-2003
Posts: 5098
From: New Zealand

Ooooh, did my last post push you over the edge?

Maybe you'd inhale less vapour if you put down that soldering iron you're holding.

Hans


_________________
Join the Kea Campus - upgrade your skills; support my work; enjoy the Amiga corner.
https://keasigmadelta.com/ - see more of my work

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Anonymous 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 27-May-2006 0:48:10
# ]



@Hans

Quote:
I think that creating an emulator that uses the custom chips would be easier/cheaper than adding another CPU to the board. The emulator could use OS4's 68k emulator to run the code. It would have to enable booting from the classic ROM within the emulator, provide direct access to the A1200/4000 custom-chips, a method to use adf/hdf images and possibly some method to use the PowerVixxen's IDE port. Some method of protecting the rest of the system would be a good idea too.
Simply run AmigaOS4

What should be the difference using such an emulator? Of course AmigaOS4 doesn't block any custom chip access.

 
     Report this post  
Hans 
Re: ACK Software Controls IRC Log (Part two)
Posted on 27-May-2006 0:58:09
#40 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 27-Dec-2003
Posts: 5098
From: New Zealand

@joerg

Sure, that's a great idea.

However, non-OS friendly programs (particularly games) won't like running on OS4 (or OS4 doesn't like them). For those, some sort of virtual-machine that allows them to run complete with OS3.X or less ROM will be necessary.

Hans


_________________
Join the Kea Campus - upgrade your skills; support my work; enjoy the Amiga corner.
https://keasigmadelta.com/ - see more of my work

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  

Goto page ( 1 | 2 | 3 )

[ home ][ about us ][ privacy ] [ forums ][ classifieds ] [ links ][ news archive ] [ link to us ][ user account ]
Copyright (C) 2000 - 2019 Amigaworld.net.
Amigaworld.net was originally founded by David Doyle