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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Retail News / Sales => Topic started by: System on August 13, 2013, 03:50:24 PM
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(http://www.vesalia.de/pic/xsurf100.jpg) (http://www.vesalia.de/e_xsurf100.htm)
Please note this news item is from Vesalia Amiga Shop
X-Surf 100
100 Mbit Ethernet Zorro-II/III Card
The new X-Surf 100 is a networking card for all Amiga computers with Zorro slots. If used in an Amiga 2000 or in a Zorro daughter board for the Amiga 1200, it will run at Zorro-II speed. If installed in an Amiga 3000, Amiga 4000 or the respective tower versions (equipped with a Buster 11 chip (http://www.vesalia.de/e_buster11.htm), which is mandatory for Zorro-III operation), it will run at Zorro-III speed, which is up to five times faster than Zorro-II.
Please note that there is no guarantee that the X-Surf 100 works in third-party Zorro boards used in tower conversions, such as boards made by Eagle, Mikronik, RBM or Elbox. The X-Surf 100 may or may not work in these boards. (It will definitely not work in the OnBoard made by RBM.) Although the X-Surf 100's bus interface is designed to tolerate many quirks that those third-party boards have, proper operation is only guaranteed if used in original Commodore daughter boards.
Owners of the Merlin graphics card must have the latest hardware patches installed. Owners of the Mediator PCI/Zorro daughterboard must close the swap jumper.
Key Features:
- 100 Mbit physical link rate
- 32-bit Zorro-III interface for maximum performance
- Sana-II device for use with Amiga OS 2.0 up to Amiga OS 3.9 (http://www.vesalia.de/e_os39.htm)
- Linux drivers under development
- power saving 3.3V technology with 1.8V core voltage
- space saving design
- gold-plated Zorro contacts and stainless steel metal bracket
- local expansion port for forthcoming high-speed USB module
Delivery without floppy disk or CD. Drivers must be downloaded from wiki.icomp.de (http://wiki.icomp.de).
Item currently not available, ETA September 02, 2013.
EUR 129.90 incl. 19% German VAT (EUR 109.16 excl. VAT for non-EU customers)
More... (http://www.vesalia.de/e_xsurf100.htm)
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Very nice indeed.
Will be interesting to see how much faster this performs compared to USB Ethernet via a Deneb in a Zorro III slot.
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Does it use DMA ?
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You can also pre-order at AmigaKit http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=1156
Also, AmigaKit states that the card comes with Easy Net Software! :laugh1:
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Does anyone have any more details on this card? I tried looking on Jens' website the other day and wasn't finding the info I was interested in. Want so bad to pre-order but my wallet is screaming at me right now, LOL. ;)
Questions-
- Looks like it has one RJ-45 and two USB jacks... but are the USB jacks inactive until after purchase of (quote) "local expansion port for forthcoming high-speed USB module"?
- Is that an IDE connector on the board? Is this bootable? Or is this where you plug in the above-mentioned USB module?
- Looks like there's an unfinished 10-pin header on the board. Is this for internal USB devices, or something else?
Thanks, it's a beautiful design even if the USB functionality isn't enabled yet! ???
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maybe Jens will implement a ROM module as well ! I am missing this bit on my A1200 (and I already have the previous version of the x-surf).
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Does it use DMA ?
No. But it's faster without DMA.
- Looks like it has one RJ-45 and two USB jacks... but are the USB jacks inactive until after purchase of (quote) "local expansion port for forthcoming high-speed USB module"?
Something like that. The USB is currently non-functional and you will have to pay to enable it (2x external USB).
That's all I've read. There may be a few more details here:
http://eab.abime.net/news/68987-update-x-surf-networking-card-new-post.html
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Wow the price is pretty hefty too. Why does this thing cost so much? More than accelerator cards!
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The pre-order price through AmigaKit is pretty reasonable, for what it is. Cheaper than most accelerator cards I've seen for sale! ;)
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Very cool.. A new design, warranty, and half the price of most used X-Surf cards that have appeared on eBay and Amibay in recent times. :)
Now please do something to replace the Deneb.
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More details can be found here:
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/X-Surf-100
And here's the original German thread on card development on A1K.org:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38565
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Very cool.. A new design, warranty, and half the price of most used X-Surf cards that have appeared on eBay and Amibay in recent times. :)
Now please do something to replace the Deneb.
I'm dreaming of new 060 accelerators from Jens.
Either that or an FPGA that is faster than an 060. Majsta maybe?
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Hm, I wonder if you can connect a USB network ca...oh...wait.
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I'm dreaming of new 060 accelerators from Jens.
I think this has been discussed before. He didn't want to make new cards due to lack of available 060's, and didn't want to produce a bare card (i.e. for people to pull their own 060's and put them on) because it would be impossible to warranty. Or something like that. I think that was the same reason he was also no longer producing any of the 56MHz 030 cards for A1200's. *sigh*
But you're right - there's always FPGA! :D
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I think this has been discussed before. He didn't want to make new cards due to lack of available 060's, and didn't want to produce a bare card (i.e. for people to pull their own 060's and put them on) because it would be impossible to warranty. Or something like that. I think that was the same reason he was also no longer producing any of the 56MHz 030 cards for A1200's. *sigh*
But you're right - there's always FPGA! :D
FPGA ftw! :)
An x86 on a card running an emulated 68k that appears to the Amiga as a real 68k CPU is a fantasy I've often dreamed of too. Theoretically it would be faster than any current FPGA tech.
Ah we can but dream eh? :)
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FPGA ftw! :)
An x86 on a card running an emulated 68k that appears to the Amiga as a real 68k CPU is a fantasy I've often dreamed of too. Theoretically it would be faster than any current FPGA tech.
Ah we can but dream eh? :)
Why dream? It is dead easy to accomplish, in fact I have already done it :)
I bought and ebox for about $150 (It is a very tiny PC), and set up a Windows XP + Winuae enviroment, then hid all the Windows stuff, so the ebox would seem like an Amiga. I connected it thru ethernet to my DraCo (You can use your own Amiga instead) and then used VNC. The DraCo was the client and the Winuae PC was the server.
I am not at home right now, if not I could show you the setup. Anyway, it is dead easy. You can also use, instead of VNC, RDP, or even X (all of them have been ported to the Amiga).
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Why dream? It is dead easy to accomplish, in fact I have already done it :)
I bought and ebox for about $150 (It is a very tiny PC), and set up a Windows XP + Winuae enviroment, then hid all the Windows stuff, so the ebox would seem like an Amiga. I connected it thru ethernet to my DraCo (You can use your own Amiga instead) and then used VNC. The DraCo was the client and the Winuae PC was the server.
I am not at home right now, if not I could show you the setup. Anyway, it is dead easy. You can also use, instead of VNC, RDP, or even X (all of them have been ported to the Amiga).
That's cool but not as cool as a card that fits in the CPU slot of my A3000 would be. ;)
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That's cool but not as cool as a card that fits in the CPU slot of my A3000 would be. ;)
If you just want that, then just build a dummy CPU slot card, that could even provide the power to the ebox. The ebox can easily fit inside the dummy card as it is very small (aprox 10x10cm). The maximun size for a big box Amiga CPU slot card should be 11x33cm according to CBM specs (If I remember correctly).
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FPGA ftw! :)
An x86 on a card running an emulated 68k that appears to the Amiga as a real 68k CPU is a fantasy I've often dreamed of too. Theoretically it would be faster than any current FPGA tech.
Ah we can but dream eh? :)
But in order to get some good speedy one, you usually have to have a rather large cooler.
But it could be nice in any case.
Personally, what I hope he will create next, is a new Zorro based graphics card, its crazy what 20+ years cards sells for.
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If you just want that, then just build a dummy CPU slot card, that could even provide the power to the ebox. The ebox can easily fit inside the dummy card as it is very small (aprox 10x10cm). The maximun size for a big box Amiga CPU slot card should be 11x33cm according to CBM specs (If I remember correctly).
How would the A3000/A4000 see this dummy card as an 68k CPU without a whole lot of electrical engineering and firmware magic?
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But in order to get some good speedy one, you usually have to have a rather large cooler.
But it could be nice in any case.
Probably, but would be nice to have a real Amiga that could run stuff as fast as Amithlon did. :)
Personally, what I hope he will create next, is a new Zorro based graphics card, its crazy what 20+ years cards sells for.
What GPU tech is out there that is available for licencing in new products?
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Probably, but would be nice to have a real Amiga that could run stuff as fast as Amithlon did. :)
true, but may be an ARM acting as a 68k would be better.
What GPU tech is out there that is available for licencing in new products?
I have no idea, but there must be some.
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FPGA ftw! :)
An x86 on a card running an emulated 68k that appears to the Amiga as a real 68k CPU is a fantasy I've often dreamed of too. Theoretically it would be faster than any current FPGA tech.
Ah we can but dream eh? :)
I think someone at A1K.org did this quite some time ago with an A1000. They replaced the 68K with a whole bunch of wires and other logic hooked up to a PC. Cool proof of concept. Something more practical and self-contained could probably be done nowadays (probably with ARM, as another post mentions).
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true, but may be an ARM acting as a 68k would be better.
In what way?
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I think someone at A1K.org did this quite some time ago with an A1000. They replaced the 68K with a whole bunch of wires and other logic hooked up to a PC. Cool proof of concept. Something more practical and self-contained could probably be done nowadays (probably with ARM, as another post mentions).
Very cool, I wasn't aware of that before. I'll have to try and find the thread on A1K via google translate.
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If used in an Amiga 2000 or in a Zorro daughter board for the Amiga 1200, it will run at Zorro-II speed.
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And what does that mean with respect to the 'mBit'-rate?
Does the new X-surf just run at 10 mBit speed when it is in a Zorro II slot?
Or what does "Zorro II speed" mean?
But in this case this would mean it would just be able to run at max. 50 mBit, if Zorro III is up to 5 times faster as Zorro II.
???
So please - what does "Zorro II speed" or "Zorro III Speed" mean in mBit?
That's the unit I'm interested in when it comes to transfer rates...
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Also, AmigaKit states that the card comes with Easy Net Software! :laugh1:
Hmmm - and on the Vesalia page (http://www.vesalia.de/e_xsurf100.htm) says it comes without any software:
"Delivery without floppy disk or CD. Drivers must be downloaded."
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Now please do something to replace the Deneb.
What's wrong with the Deneb?
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What's wrong with the Deneb?
It's not available anymore...
About this new card, does it means we will be able to surf the web if I install it into an A3000?
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If you have a browser and an Internet connection that ends up in a Ethernet RJ45 plug. EasyNet is just a front end for AmiTCP 3.x which does not support the LPR.device.