Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: Amy05 update part 2  (Read 2501 times)

Description:

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline TroikaTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Sep 2005
  • Posts: 44
    • Show only replies by Troika
    • http://www.troikang.com/
Amy05 update part 2
« on: September 13, 2006, 06:31:34 PM »
This is the final update on the Amy05 design prior to BB4 this weekend. Please attend the show and meet with us.



One of the biggest changes to the Amy05 design from our first released specification is the addition of the .AMD  Geode™CS5536 companion device.  For Project Prometheus/Amy'05 this becomes Amy’s Southbridge. This is the low cost Southbridge device from AMD that been in many of the newspapers. It’s used in the $100 'One Laptop per child' system, and in many AMD Geode™ embedded designs.  It’s a well proven design and AMD continues to refine all the little details to get the most out of the design. Its extremely well supported, and its great to have a working relationship with the AMD people, we take much pride in this.

What’s the Geode™ Southbridge mean to the Amiga community? Software wise the opening of many new doors, and features.  For example, one feature built in is the “USB keyboard”, making USB keyboards easy to install and use.

 
Hardware wise this device provides the following features to Amy05:
AC97 Codec interface,
A single channel IDE port,
An additional 16C550 UART,
Real time Clock and CMOS RAM
Additional USB 2.0 ports,
PC 82XX legacy timers.
 
There are additional features to this device but we have only highlighted the features utilized by Amy05.  

This is the other component of the Kryptos sound system. It is a low cost high performance solution that will in the future, allow for a lower cost design by fully utilizing the USB and ATA interfaces of this device.  Also in future Troika designs, will be able to incorporate, many more hardware features not as yet implemented, into future Amy designs.


The CS5536 interfaces to the TSI107 via the 66 MHz PCI bus interface for maximum performance. The 66 MHz PCI bus connects to the 33 MHz PCI bus using a PLX technology PCI 6150 bridge device. The PCI 6150 makes it easier to connect riser cards to the system without violating PCI bus loading rules, an improvement over previous designs.

A side effect of increasing the system bus to 66 MHz was the need for some glue logic, normally quite boring but it did provide potential for a 'Geekport interface' to be easily added. Now referred to as the Amy Geekport.

The aim of this interface was to put some of the fun back into home computing. For too long now if you wanted to add a custom device to your computer, it was too complicated. By providing a simple 8 bit wide interface that connects directly to the PPC local bus it is once again possible to create homebrew devices and connect them to your computer, just like in the good old 8-bit days.

The interface is memory mapped, provides a basic I/O port, can generate interrupts and provides user defined I/O. Application notes and sample designs will be available at product launch.


As a final note, the planned board for display at the show will be a 'developer' prototype. She’s rough around the edges, and we have had “issues” with making our logos look great like we wished. This is the first release which will be made in a limited quantity for hardware testing/OS4 development. There will be bugs to iron out and some improvements will be made, when this process is complete, the necessary changes will be added into the consumer version, which will then be released.

This is the reason we ask for some feedback on the design, there are limited opportunities for changes to the final design. Rest-assured, we will not be making any drastic changes to the system.


*AMD Geode™ CS5536 is a registered trademark of AMD
 

Offline jarrody2k

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 126
    • Show only replies by jarrody2k
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2006, 10:11:25 PM »
This is already integrated?  If not, how soon will this be implemented physically onto a board for demonstration? (Or at least some of those oh-so-sexy pics of PCB ;)

Cheers for the big effort.  May not change the world but it will give some people a long-awaited toy to tinker with... and perhaps that 8-bit port could be utilised for some custom devices not yet imagined for commercial purposes? Dunno.

Its looking close now, though still a long way to go.  Good luck for finishing the last 10 percent ;)

Jarrod
 

Offline TroikaTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Sep 2005
  • Posts: 44
    • Show only replies by Troika
    • http://www.troikang.com/
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2006, 01:37:08 AM »
>>>This is already integrated? If not, how soon will this be implemented physically onto a board for demonstration? (Or at least some of those oh-so-sexy pics of PCB ;)<<<<

Yes, already integradted and makes Version 1.4 design special.
 

Offline Crumb

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2002
  • Posts: 1786
  • Country: 00
    • Show only replies by Crumb
    • http://cuaz.sourceforge.net
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2006, 10:59:56 AM »
Bill McEwen has revealed that TROIKA DOES NOT HAVE A LICENSE FOR AmigaOS4. What are your plans?
The only spanish amiga news web page/club: Club de Usuarios de Amiga de Zaragoza (CUAZ)
 

Offline TroikaTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Sep 2005
  • Posts: 44
    • Show only replies by Troika
    • http://www.troikang.com/
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2006, 02:22:11 PM »
@Crumb
>>>Bill McEwen has revealed that TROIKA DOES NOT HAVE A LICENSE FOR AmigaOS4. What are your plans?<<<<


I could tell our story, but that would not be professional. Our plans continue forward, and we await Hyperions irc at BB4.  ;-)
 

Offline Tomas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 2828
    • Show only replies by Tomas
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2006, 06:48:11 PM »
Quote
I could tell our story, but that would not be professional. Our plans continue forward, and we await Hyperions irc at BB4.

Well, not many amigans will buy this product if it does infact not run AmigaOS. We have enough boards that are capable of running Linux. Though i personally dont care if it has a license or not if it still runs OS4 properly.
 

Offline wonea

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2002
  • Posts: 110
    • Show only replies by wonea
    • http://wonea.blogspot.com/
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2006, 10:53:20 PM »
Troika;

Good luck to you.  Sense of stagnation is unbelievable from Amiga Inc.
 

Offline Legerdemain

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: Apr 2002
  • Posts: 443
    • Show only replies by Legerdemain
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2006, 08:21:04 AM »
Quote
Well, not many amigans will buy this product if it does infact not run AmigaOS. We have enough boards that are capable of running Linux. Though i personally dont care if it has a license or not if it still runs OS4 properly.


What exactly are you trying to say here? That you will, if the motherboard 'technically' will support OS4, 'illegaly' obtain the OS an run it on  the machine even if Troika wont get a license in the end?

If so, I really don't see how that in any way could be supportive of the future of the OS. If not, then I am sorry... I must have misunderstood what you have written.
Amiga 1200, Mirage Tower, PC-Key 1200, Blizzard 1260/50, SCSI Kit, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD, Mediator SX, Soundblaster 128, Voodoo 3 and Realtek 8139.
 

Offline redfox

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 880
  • Country: ca
    • Show only replies by redfox
Re: Amy05 update part 2
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2006, 10:17:01 PM »
@Troika

Thankyou for the update.  I have been away for 10 days, and am catching up on the news.

---
redfox