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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: tonyyeb on February 16, 2008, 09:20:15 AM

Title: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: tonyyeb on February 16, 2008, 09:20:15 AM
... didn't someone come out with some kind of accelerator card for the A600 that fitted over the 68000?

Cheers
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: DoogUK on February 16, 2008, 09:36:33 AM
I know the apollo A630 and A620 accelerators did.


Edit: looking on the big book of amiga hardware all accelerators for the A600 did.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: Darrin on February 16, 2008, 12:30:02 PM
Why do I get the feeling that this is going to lead into a discussion for a "clip on" accelerator for the MiniMig v1.1.

 :-D
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: bloodline on February 16, 2008, 01:00:30 PM
A massive waste of time! I don't know why the MiniMig doesn't just have the 68K signals run to the edge of the board, for an edge connector.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: motorollin on February 16, 2008, 01:04:02 PM
What boards would that allow us to use? A2000 accelerator cards?

--
moto
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: bloodline on February 16, 2008, 01:25:27 PM
None of the Amiga boards would work as the MiniMig is 3.3Volt and the Amiga is 5Volt... and I was only suggesting providing the 68K signals, not all the other gumpf the Amiga connectors provided. I suppose one could build a proper Edge or CPU conector on the MiniMig, which would bump the Voltage as well as provide the proper signals.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: motorollin on February 16, 2008, 01:29:43 PM
Cool! Of course the Minimig is supposed to be an all-in-one solution, so removing the 68000 would be against the idea of the Minimig. But maybe a future version could have the 68000 on an Amiga edge connector-compatible card which could be removed and replaced with an accelerator if desired.

[EDIT]
Thinking about it, real Amigas can have a built-in CPU and a connector for an external one, so no need for the 68000 to be removable - just an EXT jumper I suppose?
[/EDIT]

--
moto
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: downix on February 16, 2008, 01:34:42 PM
I actually have a CPU connector for MiniMig designed, but finding the right socket/edge design is a pain in the butt.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: bloodline on February 16, 2008, 01:40:09 PM
Quote

downix wrote:
I actually have a CPU connector for MiniMig designed, but finding the right socket/edge design is a pain in the butt.


I know I'm being a pain... but couldn't you add a shifter and then serialise the 68K bus, I'm pretty sure it could be done if the Serial bus ran at a much higher rate than the 7Mhz 68k... that way you'd only need a few pins to connect with... more expensive logic, but simpler connector..
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: ChuckT on February 16, 2008, 01:45:40 PM
I suppose you could just add jumper wires or posts to add on another board:

http://www.expresspcb.com/

You can get connectors from here but I don't know if they have what you want:
http://www.digikey.com/

I was reading here that you could add posts or copper wires for connectivity:

http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/206504117

This site can make plastic housing for the Minimig:
http://www.envplastics.com/
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: bloodline on February 16, 2008, 02:02:53 PM
Quote

ChuckT wrote:
I suppose you could just add jumper wires or posts to add on another board:

http://www.expresspcb.com/

You can get connectors from here but I don't know if they have what you want:
http://www.digikey.com/

I was reading here that you could add posts or copper wires for connectivity:

http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/206504117

This site can make plastic housing for the Minimig:
http://www.envplastics.com/



Ok, that would give you a Clockport style header, but with a full 68k Bus... that would seem the most sensible idea... cheap and simple.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: freqmax on February 16, 2008, 03:19:23 PM
Just use this:
http://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon_solutions/fpgas/virtex/virtex4/capabilities/powerpc.htm
"Virtex™-4 FX platform FPGAs provides up to two PowerPC® 405, 32-bit RISC processor cores in a single device."

The softcore MC68020 etc.. + AGA chipset can then be fitted in the logic matrix with room to spare.

No need for connectors, serialisation etc..
Hm, Dual PowerPC.. now that would be a cool "accelerator" :crazy:
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: bloodline on February 16, 2008, 03:31:32 PM
Quote

freqmax wrote:
Just use this:
http://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon_solutions/fpgas/virtex/virtex4/capabilities/powerpc.htm
"Virtex™-4 FX platform FPGAs provides up to two PowerPC® 405, 32-bit RISC processor cores in a single device."

The softcore MC68020 etc.. + AGA chipset can then be fitted in the logic matrix with room to spare.

No need for connectors, serialisation etc..
Hm, Dual PowerPC.. now that would be a cool "accelerator" :crazy:


Even with only one PPC... there simpy wouldn't be enough room for even the current Minimig... otherwise it would make a good chip to use!
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: alexh on February 16, 2008, 07:39:20 PM
If anyone is gong to develop another MiniMig board, they could do worse than put a 68040/68060 socket down.

A 50 euro MC68060RC50 running at 100MHz will be better than anything you can get in an FPGA for many years to come.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: freqmax on February 17, 2008, 12:40:57 AM
Yep, but that MC68060RC50 also need some serious soldering. I think that it's possible to get away with a of-the-shelf developer board with softcore cpu.

Btw, who sold those 50 EUR CPUs?
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: tomazkid on February 17, 2008, 01:48:17 AM
@Darrin
Totally OT, but got to ask:
Is that Kate Bush in your avatar?
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: ZeBeeDee on February 17, 2008, 01:55:47 AM
/me runs in and declares ...

Yes it is her @ tomazkid

Avatar is from the song 'Army Dreamers'

Bigger picture (http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/6737/armydreamersay3.jpg)

/me runs back out again ...
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: A6000 on February 17, 2008, 02:05:27 AM
I recognised the picture of kate bush after seeing her video on youtube, it's a pity we cannot attach audio files to the avatar so we could hear her beautiful song "army dreamers" every time we read darrin's posts.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: Colin_Camper on February 17, 2008, 02:31:56 AM
@Thread

I would be very interested to see the 50Euro, 100MhZ  68060 - any link?

@A6000
I wish the Amiga could make a come back as good as Kate Bush did - Aerial was a great return to form - A sky of Honey was simply stunning......
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: alexh on February 17, 2008, 09:10:35 AM
Quote

freqmax wrote:
Yep, but that MC68060RC50 also need some serious soldering.

It's easier than the current Xilinx. Plus if they are getting mass produced.

Quote
I think that it's possible to get away with a of-the-shelf developer board with softcore cpu.

1)There is only a 68k softcore cpu atm. (and it is still being debugged.
2)FPGA will be too small/slow for top end 68k cpus + Amiga.
3)Developer boards have crappy 4-bit or 10-bit VGA out. Neither suitable for Amiga.

Quote
Btw, who sold those 50 EUR CPUs?

A guy in Germany, through Ebay. They were (I think) pull's from old telecoms equipment. Or maybe he worked for Freescale? They were MC68060RC50's rev6 E41J. Rodolphe of the CT60 (Atari ST accelerator) got his from this guy. They sold at various prices "buy it now" prices ranging from 30 euro to 75 euro. I bought two in a regular auction for €43 each (+ p&p)
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: alexh on February 17, 2008, 09:20:07 AM
Quote

Colin_Camper wrote:
I wish the Amiga could make a come back as good as Kate Bush did - Aerial was a great return to form - A sky of Honey was simply stunning......

Are you a woman?
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: A6000 on February 17, 2008, 03:36:44 PM
Kate's music is very much an acquired taste which does not appeal to everybody - like all music. but this is not the place for a discussion on music.
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: Darrin on February 17, 2008, 04:25:02 PM
Quote

tomazkid wrote:
@Darrin
Totally OT, but got to ask:
Is that Kate Bush in your avatar?


Yes.  I've always been a big Kate Bush fan since her first album "The Kick Inside".   :-D

As pointed out below, it's from the song "Army Dreamers".  OK, it's a bit anti-military, but I'll forgive her if she gives me a kiss.   :lol:
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: Darrin on February 17, 2008, 04:28:03 PM
Quote

A6000 wrote:
Kate's music is very much an acquired taste which does not appeal to everybody - like all music. but this is not the place for a discussion on music.


Not even if I mention that "Kate Bush's The Whole Story" was the first music VideoCD I ever bought and it was for my CD32+FMV?  That's kind of Amiga related.   :lol:
Title: Re: Was I dreaming when I remembered this....
Post by: AMC258 on February 17, 2008, 04:44:56 PM
This is Amiga related:  Just before reading this thread, I was copying my MP3: drive to another partition, and I happened to notice the "Copying Kate Bush" requester and thought it was kind of a weird concept.  What is this 'synchronicity' stuff anyway...

I wouldn't even know who Kate Bush was if it wasn't for Peter Gabriel.  (That's not Amiga related)