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Author Topic: First Natami MX boards produced  (Read 24785 times)

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Offline ForcieTopic starter

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First Natami MX boards produced
« on: February 13, 2011, 12:55:36 PM »
Thomas Hirsch of the Natami Team has just manufactured the first Natami MX boards. This is the board revision that will be sold to the public, provided that the board bringup and hardware tests goes well.

Natami is a clone of the classic Amiga computer and its architecture. It is a 68k-based computer containing the classic Amiga chipset with enhancements and quite a few modern hardware features.

The MX board features:
-Altera FPGA from the Cyclone IV-series, containing the enhanced  Amiga chipset "SuperAGA" as well as other system logic, and the brand new 68k CPU design  "N68050"
-512 MB DDR2 SDRAM (onboard)
-1x PCI slot, expandable to 3x PCI with a PCI riser
-"SyncZorro" expansion slot, for adding f.e. a CPU card (68060 card will be available as an option for this slot)
-DVI-I port for 31kHz video (one can connect both analog VGA and digital DVI), scandoubling function for legacy modes
-15kHz RGB-output/input expansion slot (for optional 15kHz card)
-Realtek RTL8110 Gigabit Ethernet
-NEC USB2 controller and USB ports
-3,5 inch IDE port
-Internal Compact Flash connector (IDE)
-Kickstart flash memory
-Floppy connector (Amiga and PC drives both usable)
-Amiga serial port (although reduced to 9-pin)
-Amiga parallel port
-2x Amiga joystick/mouse port
-4x Cinch/RCA connectors for stereo sound output and input
-PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports (old bigbox Amiga keyboards are connectable)
-Classic Amiga LED:s along with scandoubler LED

Natami MX pictures:
http://www.natami.net/hardware.htm
Natami MX bringup thread:
http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=1¬e=33366

Please note that not all components are soldered in the pictures above.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2011, 07:41:19 PM by Forcie »
 

Offline Magitius

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2011, 01:44:06 PM »
This is exciting news! :)
 

Offline Hattig

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2011, 01:55:21 PM »
Great news.

Here's a useful annotated picture of the motherboard.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7701/natamimx.jpg
 

Offline ChaosLord

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2011, 02:22:29 PM »
Thomas Hirsch FTW!
Natami Forever!
Wanna try a wonderfull strategy game with lots of handdrawn anims,
Magic Spells and Monsters, Incredible playability and lastability,
English speech, etc. Total Chaos AGA
 

Offline spihunter

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2011, 02:26:05 PM »
Wow, this is real?. never thought it would see the light of day.
 

Offline brownb2

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2011, 02:39:57 PM »
That's brilliant! When can I expect to see this in WinUAE? X^)

[EDIT]In all seriousness as a 68000 series machine it's be useful to see benchmarks or some way of judging performance comparatively to the A1200/A4000 and variants before deciding to buy one - a price point would be useful too. I somehow doubt this machine (with case) would be around a magic £200-£300 though (i.e. original Amiga price)... Might be cool to see it in a Walker case however, since it is really what the Walker should have been.[/EDIT]
« Last Edit: February 13, 2011, 02:49:10 PM by brownb2 »
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Offline klx300r

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2011, 02:41:55 PM »
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Offline Hattig

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2011, 03:09:54 PM »
Quote from: brownb2;615256
That's brilliant! When can I expect to see this in WinUAE? X^)

[EDIT]In all seriousness as a 68000 series machine it's be useful to see benchmarks or some way of judging performance comparatively to the A1200/A4000 and variants before deciding to buy one - a price point would be useful too. I somehow doubt this machine (with case) would be around a magic £200-£300 though (i.e. original Amiga price)... Might be cool to see it in a Walker case however, since it is really what the Walker should have been.[/EDIT]


From what I've read on the Natami forums, I believe that the N68050 will be running at over 100MHz in the FPGA, and that it will be quite fast per clock. However there aren't that many details out about this CPU, the Natami website still talks about the N68070 core that they will be doing in the future. There's very very little information on the N68050 core they have designed, apart from it being around 30,000 HCELLs in the FPGA.
 

Offline DCAmiga

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2011, 03:21:20 PM »
Quote from: brownb2;615256
I somehow doubt this machine (with case) would be around a magic £200-£300 though (i.e. original Amiga price)... [/EDIT]

The A1000 (original Amiga) retailed for 1,295 USD in September 1985 ;) this Natami MX board is a 6 layered FPGA so yeah will be probably more then 300 pounds. If its under $1000 US I wouldnt have a prob buying one; 68k @ 133mhz, SuperAGA (100 times faster), chunky and bob modes, native amiga 3D core - tami (drool), double scanner built in, 512 MB of DDR2, onboard LAN (Gbit) and USB 2, plus much more. :rtfm:
 
Great NEWS and keep up the good work Natami, I hope the beta testing dont take too long and we can finally see some benchmarks :D
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Offline Dragster

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2011, 03:35:00 PM »
Wow, pretty amazing. Now I would seriously consider buying one of these! Great work!
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Offline EDanaII

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2011, 03:43:42 PM »
Quote from: brownb2;615256
In all seriousness as a 68000 series machine it's be useful to see benchmarks or some way of judging performance comparatively to the A1200/A4000 and variants before deciding to buy one - a price point would be useful too.


I'd also love to see benchmarks against comparable PC hardware. Not today's hardware, mind you, just PC hardware of comparable capabilities. I'm interested in how the Amiga architecture would have stood up if it had kept up with the PC.
Ed.
 

Offline nicholas

Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2011, 03:58:32 PM »
Possibility that this board may find itself in an official Commodore Amiga machine from Iran is VERY high! :)
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Offline Ral-Clan

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2011, 04:07:49 PM »
If this has a very high level of compatibility with original Amiga hardware banging software then it will be hard for me to resist.  I expect we won't see this actually for sale for about a year (needs lots of testing to make sure no further revisions are needed)?

Will it be possible to use original Amiga mice on the joyports and original Amiga MIDI interfaces on the serial port (with 9 to 25 pin adapter)?
« Last Edit: February 13, 2011, 04:10:18 PM by ral-clan »
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Offline Darrin

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2011, 04:12:04 PM »
Very nice.  This could be an expensive year for me hardware-wise.  I've ordered the Chameleon, I'll buy the FPGA Arcade as soon as it is ready and I'll grab one of these too.  :)
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Offline brownb2

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Re: First Natami MX boards produced
« Reply #14 on: February 13, 2011, 04:25:44 PM »
Quote from: DCAmiga;615260
...68k @ 133mhz, SuperAGA (100 times faster), chunky and bob modes, native amiga 3D core - tami (drool), double scanner built in, 512 MB of DDR2, onboard LAN (Gbit) and USB 2, plus much more. :rtfm:
 

To be fair the RTFM means nothing (incidentally I had read the aims of the project) - a RISC cpu at the same clock would run rings around an 68K, likewise a native 3D core means S3 Virge or Geforce GTX 400 series performance. I see the niché in this product being a low power computing device with existing software that at a push can perform with the big boys but you wouldn't want to do heavy ray tracing/play the latest 3D shooter or emulate anything better than a PS2* on it when there are better machines available, i.e. its for casual usage and to satisfy an itch both in closure to an old architecture that needs perfecting and for fan base to get an update. :)

* and this is exactly why I think we'd need stats - to see where the bar can be set against comparable systems.

[EDIT]My ref. to the original Amiga price was of course referring to the A500 at its £200-£400 price, not the original original Amiga :)[/EDIT]
« Last Edit: February 13, 2011, 04:29:32 PM by brownb2 »
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Atari 520 STFM - 1MB, Multiface ST.
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