So, where was "X" at AmiWest?

[eliyahu]

Talking about Xena, Xorro, and SMP demonstrations on the X1000. Any video footage, pictures or write-ups on demonstrations of "The Power of X"? Did any scientific users take note?

there wasn't any discussion of xena/xorro in the presentations, no. however a few of us talked with trevor and steve at the hyperion table about it. i also was able to review the documentation supplied the beta testers which gave me the mechanical spec i needed for xorro and the pin mappings of the connections between pins on the XMOS chip and the GPIO pins on the PA6T. we also discussed application ideas as well.

multi-core support in OS4 was mentioned, although there was no OS4.2 build to try. steve and trevor confirmed the 'first contact' edition shipping later this year will only support core0. OS4.2 should follow soon thereafter supporting the second core.

once RobertB and others are able to post video, you can review them for more ammo, er, info.

-- eliyahu

[eliyahu]

Thanks for the info!

By the way, you mentioned at one time that a couple of your comrades were interested in buying the X1000 because of the PA6T. Are they getting the Special Editions or waiting?

i haven't talked to them since i got back from amiwest -- been a little busy with work; but at least one of them will purchase it regardless of price. none of them are interested in it as an 'amiga' but rather for the novelty factor and/or having something at home they can use for compile jobs without borrowing time on the office big-box POWER6 systems.

-- eliyahu

[eliyahu]

This isn't looking so good. Something wrong with the onboard XMOS?

http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=34475&forum=33&start=20&viewmode=flat&order=0#634850

there's nothing wrong with the XMOS controller on the board. there are XMOS-related add-ons for the X1000 and other OS4 systems planned -- that's what trevor is referring to.

-- eliyahu

[eliyahu]

I think the unbelievably daft idea there is that the current Sam4x0 users would want to have XMOS as well...

i think it's unbelievably daft that you pop up in nearly every OS4 thread on this board with your arrogant, transparent trolling. don't you have anything else better to do? i would wager you have more OS4-related posts on this board than ones related to MOS. it comes off as obsessive and pathetic.

oh, and as usual, you're full of it. i would be interested in a PCI-hosted XMOS controller with as much of the PCB planar used as a breadboard as is possible.

-- eliyahu

[eliyahu]

I think AOS 4 users interested Xcore processors should follow Steven Solie's advice and purchase one of the many inexpensive kits for sale on the Xmos website.

i would agree with that, actually. the developer kits are inexpensive and people can start prototyping right away. it's also quite a bit less expensive than the X1000.

i honestly don't imagine many folks in the extant amiga community would be interested in 'xena' as a selling point for the X1000 -- not without one or two shipping application examples in any case. that said the dedicated I/O to a standard PCIe mechanical connector as well as access to the PA6T GPIO lines are a nice addition. i actually am planning on using this with my X1000 to build an HF receiver (RF stage, A/D conversion, etc. on PCB attached via the 'xorro' connector, SDR via the 'xena') although i'd only both writing control software for linux.

but, hey, let's see if anyone actually uses it for something interesting when it ships out. you never know what some people might have planned.

"The xmos chip, Hahah, what's that about? What  can I do with it, when is going to eb avaiable as an add on, and so on.  You can buy an Xmos chip direct from Xmos if you want to. It comes on a  PCI card and you can plug it into anything you want to." -- Steven Solie

(though I think he meant to say "usb", hard to tell though, it seems he has no idea what's going on in Xmos land)

yeah, i remember that comment, too. i figure it was a slip of the tongue.

-- eliyahu

[eliyahu]

I'd be too scared to plug my own PCB to a $3000+ system to be honest. Especially when any damage resulting from the custom HW would most certainly be outside of warranty repairs.

that's a good point to other potential punters out there. i have access to a fairly extensive testfloor setup, so there plenty of electrical analysis and test will have been done prior to first 'plug.' but, yeah, i wouldn't think many end-users will design their own 'xorro' boards; if there ever are any, i imagine they'd come from vendors.

all the more reason for folks interested in 'dipping their toes' into the XMOS waters to start with one of the USB-hosted development kits along with XMOS' IDE running on their PC. if it's still something they'd want to pursue on their X1000 thereafter, so much the better.

but a few of us -- especially those of us in hardware engineering -- have an interest in this. i think even @koft had a passing interest in XMOS. i'd love for folks to discuss kit they've actually produced. i'm restricted by confidentiality agreements on talking about the two projects where i've actually used xcores, so the HF receiver setup would be my first private project. it's just one of those 'because you can' things.

the whole 'power of X' thing always seemed more marketing than anything else to me when A-EON unveiled the X1000 last year: i don't know if many people will find it a genuine value-add beyond the geek cred its presence lends to the system generally. but there's real potential there, and a cool-factor. and at $3000USD, you'd want to be something 'different' anyway.

as an off-topic item, i do have to congratulate you and the MOS development team on the build of MOS v3.0 i saw running at amiwest this year. very, very impressive.

-- eliyahu