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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: mrmoonlight on August 01, 2014, 09:17:16 PM
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What happened to the Vampire 600 is it still being produced ? only I put my name down for one and that was a long time ago and I have heard nothing, any info please best wishes Brian.
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What happened to the Vampire 600 is it still being produced ? only I put my name down for one and that was a long time ago and I have heard nothing, any info please best wishes Brian.
Hello friend, have you payed for it or just signed up for interest? I have not heard anything for a while but got mine like a year ago :S
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I'd done the same, I was told that someone in canda would be ahold of me soon after the UK users got their shipment, but alas, no one ever got in touch with me either.
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Guys
Majsta no longer manufactures the boards. His old list is pointless ( I was on it and never heard back as well) Kipper2k has made some (I have one see my sig) but not sure how many he has left or will continue to produce. This board is recommended for advanced users only.
* I will be creating a semi in-depth review of the board on aorg soon*
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Hello friend, have you payed for it or just signed up for interest? I have not heard anything for a while but got mine like a year ago :S
Hi hope you are well my friend and the family are ok,and no I never
heard nothing and did not even get as far as being asked too pay, it also seems any interest I showed on his web site has been deleted which is a bit disappointing but not to worry as I do have one of Kipper2k ACA620EC Accelerator fitted and that works a treat so thanks my friend, best:) wishes Brian.
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Guys
Majsta no longer manufactures the boards. His old list is pointless ( I was on it and never heard back as well) Kipper2k has made some (I have one see my sig) but not sure how many he has left or will continue to produce. This board is recommended for advanced users only.
* I will be creating a semi in-depth review of the board on aorg soon*
Hi that's a shame but I suppose with the Amiga we have to accept a little disappointment as the best people we have strive to push her forward and keep the dream alive, thanks for the info best wishes Brian.:)
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Guys
Majsta no longer manufactures the boards. His old list is pointless ( I was on it and never heard back as well) Kipper2k has made some (I have one see my sig) but not sure how many he has left or will continue to produce. This board is recommended for advanced users only.
There is an agreement for kipper2k to finish and support the boards for American customers (time consuming process with hundreds of boards). I don't know why majsta has not been better at keeping track of customer interest but kipper2k is reliable and honest if anyone wants to contact him about getting an accelerator. There are a couple of caveats with the accelerator.
1) The clip on part of the accelerator has a better connection on some Amiga 600s than others. Indivisions had a similar style attachment and some problems also.
2) Only the 68000 TG68 fpga core without caches works reliably. I expect this is what most owners are using and it's a big upgrade over the 68000. The TG68 68020 core with caches has problems. It's possible this core could be updated when the fpgaArcade releases it's sources. The Phoenix core for majsta's accelerator could be the fastest core but is still being worked on and doesn't fit well in the small fgpa. The 68020 TG68 core with caches or Phoenix core would need to be flashed, maybe several times to fix bugs. It's not too difficult but probably not for beginners either.
The TG68 68000 core and plenty of fast memory are enough to make the accelerator a good value. If that is the only expectation and there are no problems with the clip on part, then there is a good chance of a satisfied customer.
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There is an agreement for kipper2k to finish and support the boards for American customers (time consuming process with hundreds of boards). I don't know why majsta has not been better at keeping track of customer interest but kipper2k is reliable and honest if anyone wants to contact him about getting an accelerator. There are a couple of caveats with the accelerator.
1) The clip on part of the accelerator has a better connection on some Amiga 600s than others. Indivisions had a similar style attachment and some problems also.
2) Only the 68000 TG68 fpga core without caches works reliably. I expect this is what most owners are using and it's a big upgrade over the 68000. The TG68 68020 core with caches has problems. It's possible this core could be updated when the fpgaArcade releases it's sources. The Phoenix core for majsta's accelerator could be the fastest core but is still being worked on and doesn't fit well in the small fgpa. The 68020 TG68 core with caches or Phoenix core would need to be flashed, maybe several times to fix bugs. It's not too difficult but probably not for beginners either.
The TG68 68000 core and plenty of fast memory are enough to make the accelerator a good value. If that is the only expectation and there are no problems with the clip on part, then there is a good chance of a satisfied customer.
Hi thanks for the info and I am afraid probably not for beginners either knocks me out of the running and it would have been nice if majsta had sent me a quick email speaking of the problems as I did email him and receive some feedback on his web page, best wishes Brian.
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Hi thanks for the info and I am afraid probably not for beginners either knocks me out of the running and it would have been nice if majsta had sent me a quick email speaking of the problems as I did email him and receive some feedback on his web page, best wishes Brian.
I believe the Vampire still comes with the 68000 TG68 core which works out of the box, even for beginners. Your ACA620EC is pretty nice and the Vampire with this core would not offer much if any performance gains (the 68020 is much stronger than the 68000 TG68 without caches per clock). Your ACA620EC supports 68020 compatible code which is a large advantage for applications and games. The Vampire has significantly more memory which may be worthwhile if you are trying to use larger applications but offers little for games. I wouldn't bother upgrading (or should we say side-grading for now) if I was you unless a better core is released.
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I believe the Vampire still comes with the 68000 TG68 core which works out of the box, even for beginners. Your ACA620EC is pretty nice and the Vampire with this core would not offer much if any performance gains (the 68020 is much stronger than the 68000 TG68 without caches per clock). Your ACA620EC supports 68020 compatible code which is a large advantage for applications and games. The Vampire has significantly more memory which may be worthwhile if you are trying to use larger applications but offers little for games. I wouldn't bother upgrading (or should we say side-grading for now) if I was you unless a better core is released.
Hi matthey and thank you truly grateful for your info and I have to agree my ACA620EC is a really nice board and works exceptionally well I cant fault it and it was hell of a good upgrade for my humble 600 and is unbelievably quick to respond so I will stay with what I have and thanks again, very:) best wishes Brian. :) here's my Amiga 600 stats with the ACA620EC fitted
html](http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/scarrabri/98a5ed8f-409f-4c7f-91e5-ba6a98e3b775_zpsb4d45895.jpg)[/URL]
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Hi ppl,
I m sorry about complete situation, let's say that I don't have working Vampire 600, not a single one so I can used it.
I explained on various places what happened. First of all no one believed that demand for this card will be so high. I expected to sell about 40 of them. Now when we look all the facts production of 400 of them will not be enough, trust me.
My last order was captured by the customs and I had lot of problems to get it, at last chance I provided papers that this project was supported by the Government of my country and on customs finally said that I can have the shipment. Those papers was valid only one time so I can't use them more because Government supported me financially 3 years and according to law they can't support one project more than that.
So situation where I was is to open a company so I can import things like FPGA or to give up. Opening a company is huge task for me so I will need a find another way.
I open sourced complete project to give everyone a chance to build board for personal use. It is not huge task and I will help. In fact when someone builds it I can try to debug it using teamviewer or something.
Kipper2k is the honest man, but since he had some personal problems he didn't build much boards.
Regarding the cores, all of them will be fine just wait for apollo-team to finish, just be patient. From my side I hope that I will find a way to order more parts, after all I don't own any single board I produced.
Regarding money, orders etc... I entered Amiga scene to stay, not to be remembered as a person who made a fraud taking ppls money and not delivering the product. That's the reason why I didn't ask anyone to send money before I know I have working board for him.
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@Majsta
Why don't you just order the parts in smaller quantities in 3 or 4 batches. Hard to believe customs didn't want to give you the parts, what country are you from ?
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Oh believe me Majsta is right about the customs' customs around here :)
I had to pay a 90 EUR ransom (yup) for a 60 EUR package a few months ago.
So, if you want to do something legally you will be hammered in many ways.
We have to be sneaky :)
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I think @majsta's contribution is indispensable in proving that FPGA accelerators will work.
Others like here: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=67716
are continuing the project using of the shelf FPGA CPU boards with adapters for 68000 (and I hope more adapters will come for other Amiga models.)
Which make things easier to upgrade the "CPU Module" in the future.
As far as cutoms, in some countries it's unbelievable how much the extort from individuals. At least here in USA it's pretty generous $400 duty free per person in your household and So far I did not pay any customs ever.
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I like Majsta's Vampire 600.
In my opinion Igor / Majsta did prove a couple of things:
a) A single dedicated person can archieve a lot
b) that an FPGA based AMIGA accelerated with the right fpga-image
can reach both a better perfomance than many existing accelerators
and that to a better price.
This is great!
Well done Igor!
Maybe the marketing side of the whole project is missing so far.
The value for the money of the Vampire600 is great.
One would expect that the card would be advertised all over the place and that all AMIGA shops would sell them like crazy.
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The TG68 68000 core and plenty of fast memory are enough to make the accelerator a good value. If that is the only expectation and there are no problems with the clip on part, then there is a good chance of a satisfied customer.
I had zero problems with installing the board and it fitting well to my 600. right from the box it clicked right on and has been very reliable with the V .1 (68k core). There is a reset bug though if you warm reboot alot of times the RAM dissapears.
@ Majsta
Thanks for chiming in on the thread. Many of us support you and your work and will continue to in the future. i have a couple of questions if you dont mind
1. Will the Phoenix core eventually work on vampire 600? If so what kind of performance can we expect?
2. is there anyone debugging and improving the v1.0 core (020) ? I really really need the extra ram and the 020 for certain things im doing with this machine. Having said this the .1 core (68k@80mhz) will be more than enough with the 5mb for most casual amiga hobby guys but for me i'm doing digitizing/animation/music with it and really want the 020 (even better 030+)
Thanks for your work.
As far as Kipper2k goes hes a great amigan and a real asset to the North American amiga community. He is overwhelmed and busy but reliable and friendly.
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majsta is da man!
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I just wrote 200 lines of text and firefox crashed and I need to start again. OMG what a nightmare, hate PC.
Yes, problem is with customs nothing else.
All the time I was saying that I hope that someone smarter will continue and now I see that there are few Amiga FPGA related projects on the way from the ppl who just joined Amiga scene. When someone asked me why do I think that new ppl will join Amiga scene I answered just because that is the scene where they can prove themselves easier than proving their skills in X86 scene. In that scene no one will notice that you have build faster memory controller or better USB memory device. Yes you can sell that and earn lot of money but in that scene no one cares who build that. In amiga scene coders, hardware designers, programmers will join for that reason because building small things here can give you a chance to be remembered in computers history, not in papers, patents, books you will be remembered by the end users. The same thing happened with other small scenes who are huge now(Ubuntu, Android). Yes I m a dreamer but just wait.
Somehow I feel that after few new projects Amiga scene is changing, now everyone is helping me sending lot of parts I need. After they realized that all of this could work after the long period of time they are excited.
About BigGun, he is the man who will change Amiga world. When he contacted me to buy Vampire from me I just know that everything is going as I imagined. I wanted to send the boards to him for free but he refused and I feel some kind of shame charging him for the boards because I know that he will make another step. After that he invited me to join apollo-team and I realized that I just can't keep up with rest of the team. Learning process was too slow and only solution for me is to fly to Germany to fill gaps in my knowledge. That is something I need to do, but "real" life is on the way. Let me say this that BigGun is so persistent to finish this project that he refused my proposal to enter Bitcoin scene and earn enough money for ten lives.
Let's answer few questions now:
Phoenix core will be sent to all Vampire 600 users. Problem was in the FPGA I used because it is too small, only 8K LE and that was the only reason why apollo-team had to slowdown to shrink each part of the code. Performance, I have the values but let's keep that as a surprise, let's say that A600 will be your primary Amiga :)
Core based on TG68(without cache) with lot more memory is easy to build, maybe half an hour but I stopped development of that core waiting for Phoenix. Also because thunderstorms in my city I have lost most of my equipment and need lot of time to recover to start work on the project again. Let's say that my USB blaster cable died and that I repaired it using parts from broken A600 motherboard, amazing :)
Reset bug is the real problem, and as much I tried to solved it with the code I didn't resolve the problem. It can't be solved on that version of Vampire just because I made a mistake in designing it. At the time I didn't know the fact that Amiga can perform reset by using keyboard keys(soft reset), imagine :) If I had that info i could fix that problem easily. So now I was thinking to redesign the board but then that will not be fair for the ppl who have first version.
About marketing and board promotion, let me start again conspiracy theory in Amiga world, there are certain ppl who earn a lot of money from Amiga name, they don't like new players joining and they will do everything to block you and to prove everyone that only their approach is the right one. There is nothing special in building Amiga accelerator with "real cpu". I can build it in a week. Manipulating the market as an only Amiga developer is easy, but that is about to change :)
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Hi Majsta' you stay with it my friend I for one would love to see the Amiga 600,the under dog make it to the top of the tree because that really would be some thing, here's hoping my friend very best wishes Brian and thanks for letting everyone know.
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Let's answer few questions now:
Phoenix core will be sent to all Vampire 600 users. Problem was in the FPGA I used because it is too small, only 8K LE and that was the only reason why apollo-team had to slowdown to shrink each part of the code. Performance, I have the values but let's keep that as a surprise, let's say that A600 will be your primary Amiga :)
Core based on TG68(without cache) with lot more memory is easy to build, maybe half an hour but I stopped development of that core waiting for Phoenix. Also because thunderstorms in my city I have lost most of my equipment and need lot of time to recover to start work on the project again. Let's say that my USB blaster cable died and that I repaired it using parts from broken A600 motherboard, amazing :)
Reset bug is the real problem, and as much I tried to solved it with the code I didn't resolve the problem. It can't be solved on that version of Vampire just because I made a mistake in designing it. At the time I didn't know the fact that Amiga can perform reset by using keyboard keys(soft reset), imagine :) If I had that info i could fix that problem easily. So now I was thinking to redesign the board but then that will not be fair for the ppl who have first version.
Majsta
It would be very valuable for current users to use the .1 core with more ram. After I flashed to 1.0 core for testing (im getting a review of the board together) I tried to install os 3.1 onto a drive installer crashes. So i'm probably going to flash back to .1 core. I really really need the 020 and ram how long is it before Phoenix is ready? Why is it that the 1.0 core has troubles because the .1 core worked fine for me with almost everything I tried. *(allthough exiting Octamed 5 for some reason froze the amiga like 2 in 10 times) Sucks about the reset bug, but no big deal as amigas boot in seconds :) But kind of weird not to be able to do the 3 finger salute! btw I really enjoy reading your posts. i sent a link to some admin friends about your site getting hacked and they got the biggest kick out of it!
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interesting to know that there was such high a demand. even though its rather expectable.
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Hi Igor,
thanks for the kind words.
Phoenix core will be sent to all Vampire 600 users. Problem was in the FPGA I used because it is too small, only 8K LE and that was the only reason why apollo-team had to slowdown to shrink each part of the code. Performance, I have the values but let's keep that as a surprise, let's say that A600 will be your primary Amiga :)
You are right - getting the core to 100% work in the small FPGA - was a real challange.
We did spend quite some time on this. :-/
The planned release of the Core is August.
And we so far all looks good that we will be able to launch as planned.
The performance looks very promising - our sniff tests indicate roughly a
performance of 10 times of a 68030 @ 50 MHz system.
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Well, that is quite something. That'll probably run Quake!
And at the end of this work, you have a space-reduced 68k core with high performance as well.
I'm sure that when an A500/A1000 replacement 68k is made using this, that it will be very popular.
Take your time to get it right! And I think you are doing the right thing in not shouting too much about it up front.
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Using an FPGA version with big space, would be great for power user market and betatesting, I hope those will exist.
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Using an FPGA version with big space, would be great for power user market and betatesting, I hope those will exist.
The "power" version is here.
The card is currently in testing.
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@biggun
Awesome. I'd be interested in something futureproof, that could also include the SAGA chipset and more stuff..
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FPGA Arcade ..? :P
Sorry, it's just that expanding existing hardware at some point comes point of diminishing returns. And in essence will be a super computer with a I/O bus called Amiga motherboard. ;)
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And in essence will be a super computer with a I/O bus called Amiga motherboard. ;)
Yes.
Its a crazy as having a Ferrari in the USA, right?
A fast car in a country with a speed limit around 80 miles.
But you know what, there are many people enjoying a Ferrari still.
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Yes.
Its a crazy as having a Ferrari in the USA, right?
A fast car in a country with a speed limit around 80 miles.
But you know what, there are many people enjoying a Ferrari still.
HAHAH in LA alot of ferraris and super cars with nowhere to drive them. Especially when LA is traffic 80% of the time. And the avg speed limit in usa is no where near 80 more like 60 (a mean of alot of 55limit states and 65 limit)
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Hi Igor,
The performance looks very promising - our sniff tests indicate roughly a
performance of 10 times of a 68030 @ 50 MHz system.
Wow! that is just amazing. I cant wait. How will the stability be? Also will it emulate an MMU and FPU as certain software that im trying to use requires one or both of these?
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The "power" version is here.
The card is currently in testing.
Is the power version a 68k plug in for a500/1000/2000? Is there an onboard fast ide controller? Im thinking of building a Vlab Motion setup with an a2000 but it really needs FPU and MMU to run right..
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Is the power version a 68k plug in for a500/1000/2000? Is there an onboard fast ide controller? Im thinking of building a Vlab Motion setup with an a2000 but it really needs FPU and MMU to run right..
The card plugs into the 68000 socket.
This means in theory it could be used in
A500
A1000
A2000
CDTV (not sure if the space for it is enough - need to verify this)
The card comes with
* Fast CPU
* 128 MB DDR3 - 1 GB/sec transfer speed
* MiniSDCard over IDE emulation as HD
* more features optionally ...
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Good specs biggun. It prolly wont fit in cdtv the tolerance is very low for the top case but the board does look pretty flat... can you answer about FPU/mmu please?
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Its a crazy as having a Ferrari in the USA, right?
A fast car in a country with a speed limit around 80 miles.
But you know what, there are many people enjoying a Ferrari still.
Not all Ferraris are that crazy. My uncle has a low mileage Testarossa in California. Yea, no place to drive it or his quicker turbo Porsche 997 (still wasn't impressively quick or nimble, IMO). My RX-7 (high 12s in the 1/4 mile) is actually quicker than a stock Testarossa (mid 13s in 1/4 mile). The Testarossa may be a little faster with 180mph top speed because of more favorable gearing at the cost of gas mileage. The Testarossa looks fast and sounds cool though.
Putting a fast accelerator in an old Amiga might be more comparable to putting a BMW M3 engine in an old Volkswagen beetle (ready for the autobahn?).
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umm unless you have a heavily modified rx7 there is no way on God's green earth that its faster than the Ferrari. Sorry
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umm unless you have a heavily modified rx7 there is no way on God's green earth that its faster than the Ferrari. Sorry
LOL. It's a stock motor, stock turbos, stock tranny 1993 twin turbo base model with bolt-ons (exhaust with cat though, intake, intercooler, pulleys, fuel injectors and pump, PFC computer) with about 14 PSI (1 atmosphere) of boost. It's about 350HP weighing ~2700lbs and did 12.9@110mph at the drag strip on street tires. A little 1.3 liter 2 rotor Wankel engine could never outperform a 4.9 liter V12 in a "Ferrari". Stock vs stock, the 3rd gen RX-7 would probably be quicker 0-60mph, the Testarossa would be a few tenths better in the 1/4 mile and the Testarossa is about 20mph better top speed. Then the RX-7 can be uncorked and the boost can be turned up while the Testarossa is already high compression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testarossa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RX-7
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thats what i thought even then not sure if your claim is accurate ;) Anyway lets not hijack the thread bro
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Good specs biggun. It prolly wont fit in cdtv the tolerance is very low for the top case but the board does look pretty flat... can you answer about FPU/mmu please?
As of today the plan is to release the card with the current Phoenix CPU core.
But the card is FPGA this means later versions with more bells, with FPU, etc SAGA .. could be loaded in the card.
The card comes with build in programmer to upgrade it.
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Is there enough logic to squeeze SATA inside?
And a box that looks like an Amiga and works like an Amiga but really just consist of a FPGA board should do? The only catch is hardware expansions but those might otoh be loaded into the FPGA in many cases.
Anyway, what causes the instabilities that is mentioned?
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From the little I know the instabilities spoken about are in the V 1.0 core (020 with dual cache) and something with the way the cache works. The later V 0.1 core (68000@87mhz 5mb ram) was pretty stable and compatible for me.
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Is there enough logic to squeeze SATA inside?
SATA and PCIe require high speed transceivers which some fpgas have but they up the cost. The main focus of an accelerator for the 500/1000/2000/CDTV is to keep the price down. SD cards are small, low power and offer enough storage for (the new) low end Amigas.
Anyway, what causes the instabilities that is mentioned?
You mean the non-68000 CPU cores of majsta's accelerator? The TG68 was not originally designed to use a cache and the problems have to do with adapting one to it. It's obviously possible to get it working if investing time into this compatible core (the fpgaArcade has 68020+cache TG68 working reliably) but the Apollo Team (including Gunnar/BigGun) would rather work on the faster Phoenix core. The Phoenix core has bugs to work out because it's completely new. There is a good chance that the TG68 68020+caches or Phoenix core will be available this year.
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Putting a fast accelerator in an old Amiga might be more comparable to putting a BMW M3 engine in an old Volkswagen beetle (ready for the autobahn?).
It certainly makes more sense to put it in an A1200 or A4000 than it does in an A1000/A500/A600/CDTV.
I'd like to see how a hardware framebuffer c2p/15bit->ham8 conversion would pan out (equivalent of http://aminet.net/package/misc/emu/AmigaAGA-EVD12). Also texture mapping in hardware might be interesting, OpenGL rendering to AGA FTW.
But just a 500mhz 030 equivalent would sell a lot if it could be made cheap enough.
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It certainly makes more sense to put it in an A1200 or A4000 than it does in an A1000/A500/A600/CDTV.
These models are planned too.
But frankly I think an A500 equipped with this card could at some point be 100% quivalent to an A4000.
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The Amiga 500 might need the extra speed more than any other Amiga model..
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But frankly I think an A500 equipped with this card could at some point be 100% quivalent to an A4000.
I'm interested in what you mean by that. If you replace paula agnus and denise then lots of things become possible, although at this point the mother board is just being used for it's connectors.
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These models are planned too.
But frankly I think an A500 equipped with this card could at some point be 100% quivalent to an A4000.
I'd like to see a version for the CD32 since nobody has made an accelerator/Ram board for these since DCE's SX32, which cost a huge amount of money when they do turn up.
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The planned release of the Core is August.
And we so far all looks good that we will be able to launch as planned.
.
Should I bother to re-flash to V 0.1 core or wait for Phoenix? In other words will you release it sooner or later? Also, i'm willing to beta test phoenix core for you I run software alot of amigans dont run like music and graphics apps.
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Should I bother to re-flash to V 0.1 core or wait for Phoenix? In other words will you release it sooner or later? Also, i'm willing to beta test phoenix core for you I run software alot of amigans dont run like music and graphics apps.
Sounds good.
Maybe you like to visit our IRC channel?
We can chat about beta-tester options there.
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=apollo-team
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These models are planned too.
But frankly I think an A500 equipped with this card could at some point be 100% quivalent to an A4000.
I agree, A500 with an ACA500 and ACA1200 card. Makes the A500 like an A1200 without the AGA ofcourse.
So an A500 with AGA would be cool.
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So an A500 with AGA would be cool.
Lets dream for a second and give the A500
* a good amount of memory 128 MB ?
* a fast CPU = 200 Mips?
* a big storage = 16 GB ?
* network interface
* AGA
* hi/truecolor
Then you have a dream machine :-D
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Actually I would prefer some small box with a separate keyboard attached and some serious specifications inside that box.
A3000 comes close though.
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Actually I would prefer some small box with a separate keyboard attached and some serious specifications inside that box.
A3000 comes close though.
The CD32 is small and has an external keyboard port.
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Sounds good.
Maybe you like to visit our IRC channel?
We can chat about beta-tester options there.
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=apollo-team
Hey big gun. I'll try to catch up on the irc when are you guys there? I have a couple of things to discuss from my testing with .1 and 1.0 cores as well.
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The CD32 is small and has an external keyboard port.
And it has AGA, a cheap connector for the accelerator and goes for a reasonable price. I already made the argument to Gunnar that the CD32 would make a good cheap AGA test platform. The connectors are cheap for the 500/1000/2000/CDTV also and there are way more of these Amigas sitting around that could be given new life.
There is a low end CD32 expansion in the works over on EAB by the way:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=72361
Hey big gun. I'll try to catch up on the irc when are you guys there? I have a couple of things to discuss from my testing with .1 and 1.0 cores as well.
Think German time for IRC. It's not exactly convenient for people in the states.
There is some information on the Vampire CPU cores in the "Amiga FPGA Accelerator Owners Club" social group over on EAB.
http://eab.abime.net/group.php?groupid=82
You may have to sign up for the social group in community -> social groups.
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I assume the CD32 has the same dimensions as the predecessor, the "CD". Makes one think about perhaps a 19" rack mounted Amiga ;) Probably completely inconvenient for the typical usage.. but there's something about it :D
(Amiga CD32 dimensions seems hard to come by..??)
Think German time for IRC. It's not exactly convenient for people in the states.
Which is why discussion forums are so much better. Aside from that people tend to think more before hitting enter in such type of communication.
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There is a low end CD32 expansion in the works over on EAB by the way:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=72361
Thanks. I'd missed that.
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I assume the CD32 has the same dimensions as the predecessor, the "CD". Makes one think about perhaps a 19" rack mounted Amiga ;) Probably completely inconvenient for the typical usage.. but there's something about it :D
(Amiga CD32 dimensions seems hard to come by..??)
The CD32 motherboard is very small. Roughly 14.5 x 27 cm and the case dimensions aren't much bigger.
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Rob
There are very few ppl running CD32 setups. In north america they are very rare. ideal target to me is 500/2000 as there are so many worldwide. It would be awesome to have an a3000 with AGA! (or better my a600 w/ aga lol)
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Let's have a 200 MHz 68060 Amiga in 19" rack with separate keyboard. And of course AGA, Paula etc.. ;)
The only really gotcha is that new Amiga style keyboards are hard to find new..
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Hi someone requested new core with TG68.C MC68000 based, but with more memory, it is on my site so please test it.
It is build in just 2 hours, all from my head because I lost most of my codes. Core is not so fast but according to my test stable.
I m sorry for waiting but this this year was not so nice for me and that's why I was away. But I ll explain everything on my site when I found the time.
Also in this version (0.2) memory allocation is strange but I don't want to start talking about that because I afraid that this will bring new discussion between me and BigGun hahahhahaa
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Majsta
Sweet! I'll try the .2 core tonight or tomorrow and report back.
@ Big Gun i'll try to meet up on irc but with time diff its pretty crazy :)
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Hi someone requested new core with TG68.C MC68000 based, but with more memory, it is on my site so please test it.
It is build in just 2 hours, all from my head because I lost most of my codes. Core is not so fast but according to my test stable.
I m sorry for waiting but this this year was not so nice for me and that's why I was away. But I ll explain everything on my site when I found the time.
Also in this version (0.2) memory allocation is strange but I don't want to start talking about that because I afraid that this will bring new discussion between me and BigGun hahahhahaa
Majsta
Ok so I uploaded the v 0.2 core and it seems pretty good! Thanks for posting it up. Interesting how the Ram is configured. ShowConfig shows 16mb fast expansion and 4mb fast expansion and 1mb fast expansion for a total of 21mb! Yay! And good news, the fast ram is now reset proof! I dont know if its because you changed the memory addresses but the whole 21mb survives a reboot now. Tested multiple times. Here is a report of some software
Demos tried (non whdload all original exe)
State of the Art (works)
BoogieTown (works)
9 Fingers (works)
Knoppix by DCS (Works)
Software all working
Octamed 5 (from floppy)
Mind Eye (crashes on exit though)
Delitracker 2
Music X 1.1
Disk Salv 4
DJ PT1210 Software (Akira vs Hoffman)
Software Not working
Octamed 5 (from hard drive) for some reason works from floppy and not from HD?
My cf reader broke, i'm waiting for a new one to come in then ill install more software and report more results.
Looks like V 0.2 Core is pretty good. However, I'm really dying to see the Phoenix core as I'd like to use AmigaAmp to playback some mp3s on this a600 and also to use certain 020+ software.
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Me too as Magnetic said, I'm really dying to see the Phoenix core as I'd like to use AmigaAmp to playback some mp3s on my a600 which would be awesome, the little old Amiga 600 blasting out Beatle mp3,s, wicked best wishes Brian. :laughing::laughing:
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Brian
You can achieve that now if you wish to purchase the hardware..
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1078
Looks out of stock atm but they make them so i'm sure they have a batch coming soon.
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Brian
You can achieve that now if you wish to purchase the hardware..
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1078
Looks out of stock atm but they make them so i'm sure they have a batch coming soon.
Hi Magnetic I was looking at these and they seem pretty good and then I read bits about the Phoenix core and think should I just wait until some brilliant Amigan comes along and creates a working core that can cope, at the moment I use wave music files and turn the colour down to 128 and the A600 will play them all day as it has been doing all morning but good to see there are options, thanks again very best wishes Brian.:):)
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@magnetic (http://www.amiga.org/forums/member.php?u=147)
Strange memory allocation was just a test to cover most of the spaces Amiga software needs. There is possibility to build another versions but there is no point for now. TG68 can't do much more regarding performance so we will have to wait for the Pheonix.
However those days I will build one more TG68 based version of the core, without cache,020 with 64MB of FastRam allocated only in ZIII space. That should be last one TG68 based version I hope.
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Majsta
Cool it would be nice to see the last core with 020 support. Cant wait for Phoenix too i'm gonna try to catch Biggun on irc. Meanwhile i'll be rockin the V0.2 core!
btw did you see in my post that the Fast ram is surviving warm reboot with the .2 core?
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Yes I did see that part of the msg.
I was playing with the code a little :)
Also I will try today to build another core with 020 support and 64MB of FastRam.
All the time I was thinking that someone will build new better versions after I opensourced the code, but for half a year nothing.
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I suspect FPGA Arcade is using up some developer resources..
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Yes I did see that part of the msg.
I was playing with the code a little :)
Also I will try today to build another core with 020 support and 64MB of FastRam.
All the time I was thinking that someone will build new better versions after I opensourced the code, but for half a year nothing.
Majsta
Cool man Ill try the new core for you! One thing I noticed with the 1.0 and .2 core is sometimes simple commands from c: like installer and lha guru? Can you test for me? thanks
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For some reason some versions of lha don't works, there is a list of the bugs on eab Vampire owners club group so look there for possible solutions. IMHO all of those errors are not related to anything else than TG68 itself since I noticed that most of the FPGA Amiga based devices that uses it have similar problems.
However I think that I will find some time today to build another versions of the core. I can't do proper testings because none of my A600 motherboards are in 100% working order. So you or someone else should do tests. Thanks.
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Majsta
Ok Ill check out the thread but i'm banned from EAB so wont be able to contribute. I really need LHA working as I'm doing a lot of file transfering and building up my system. Do you know an lha that works? I've done more testing of .2 core and outside LHA not working properly it seems pretty good. Well another major bug sometimes copying to ram freezes the machine and man we cant have that! Here are some more apps tested as fully working
1. Whdload
2. TSGUI
3. Deluxe Paint IV
4. Dopus 4
5. ClassicWB 68k
6. MagicWorkbench 2.0
If you post up another build i'll try it out and report back.
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Time to write some burn-in or systems check software?
Perhaps TG68 needs a rewrite?
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I really need LHA working
Old Lha archiver / self extracting archives does not work with the Vampire600 TG68.C-core version 1.0. Download latest version of LhA:
http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/lha_68k
Known issues in the TG68.C-core version 1.0 (2Way cache -MC68020) (http://eab.abime.net/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=73)
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Old Lha archiver / self extracting archives does not work with the Vampire600 TG68.C-core version 1.0. Download latest version of LhA:
http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/lha_68k
Known issues in the TG68.C-core version 1.0 (2Way cache -MC68020) (http://eab.abime.net/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=73)
SHK
Thank you very much I couldnt find that info. The EAB link doesnt work for me because i'm not a member and banned :(
Majsta's site is down?? :(
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SHK
Thank you very much I couldnt find that info. The EAB link doesnt work for me because i'm not a member and banned :(
Majsta's site is down?? :(
Majista had some issue with the customs in his country as regards the vampire boards; he does not have a company; apparently, and other mishaps also occured. It seems that someone else may continue to produce vampire boards. Majista got 400+ orders and could not fulfill such numbers. He's working on a core of some sort atm.
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wrath
Thank you but i'm already aware of all of that. (not only that its said earlier in the thread) looks like his site is working now
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Majista had some issue with the customs in his country as regards the vampire boards; he does not have a company; apparently, and other mishaps also occured. It seems that someone else may continue to produce vampire boards. Majista got 400+ orders and could not fulfill such numbers. He's working on a core of some sort atm.
I thought Kipper2K was working to assemble the boards? Or did that plan fall through? Shame, he's a great guy also!
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Kipper2k did manufacture a bunch of boards. He did a hi quality job my board is from him
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Kipper2k did manufacture a bunch of boards. He did a hi quality job my board is from him
Hi magnetic does that mean we can still order one from kipper ? best wishes Brian.
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Hi magnetic does that mean we can still order one from kipper ? best wishes Brian.
They're still listed on his website, why not drop him a line?
http://www.kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/
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They're still listed on his website, why not drop him a line?
http://www.kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/
Hi thanks very much I will have another go only I had no reply last time but will try again, very best wishes Brian.:)
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He is extremely busy he will get back to you
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I believe the Vampire still comes with the 68000 TG68 core which works out of the box, even for beginners. Your ACA620EC is pretty nice and the Vampire with this core would not offer much if any performance gains (the 68020 is much stronger than the 68000 TG68 without caches per clock). Your ACA620EC supports 68020 compatible code which is a large advantage for applications and games. The Vampire has significantly more memory which may be worthwhile if you are trying to use larger applications but offers little for games. I wouldn't bother upgrading (or should we say side-grading for now) if I was you unless a better core is released.
Yes I'm dying for a new core without cache full 020 w/ ram many apps I need to run on this a600 need 020+
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Old Lha archiver / self extracting archives does not work with the Vampire600 TG68.C-core version 1.0. Download latest version of LhA:
http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/lha_68k
Known issues in the TG68.C-core version 1.0 (2Way cache -MC68020) (http://eab.abime.net/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=73)
Yes! that version of LHA works. However its slow as hell (like a regular 7mhz 68000) Whats weird is Dopus 4 on both versions will extract the lha archive but then it crashes the machine. So i've been using shell for unarcing.
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Yes! that version of LHA works. However its slow as hell (like a regular 7mhz 68000) Whats weird is Dopus 4 on both versions will extract the lha archive but then it crashes the machine. So i've been using shell for unarcing.
Apollo-team is working hard with the Phoenix-Core. It has already succeeded boot with KS1.3 to CLI window. However, I'm not sure will there be the full 020-support. In the meantime I recommend to use TG68.C-core version 0.2 (no cache - MC68000) and make sure that you have the latest public release of the Directory Opus 4.12: http://dopus.free.fr/files/CU_DirectoryOpus.zip
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Hi all. just had a email from kipper and after a long time holding my breath it looks like my wait is over as I pay for the vampire Monday and he said he will get it in the post shortly so boy am I excited :laughing::laughing: best wishes Brian.:)
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A fantastic piece of kit, I'm a bit disappointed though as I was one of those that registered interest months ago on the Amibay thread and received no reply.
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A fantastic piece of kit, I'm a bit disappointed though as I was one of those that registered interest months ago on the Amibay thread and received no reply.
Hi I too was registered for quite a while but thought some thing this good was worth waiting for in fact it was Oldsmobile_Mike who suggested I send kipper an email which was what I did and I came up lucky so if you are still not fixed up,below is kippers link if you want to email him,very best wishes Brian.
http://www.kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/
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Akiko
Most people on the list didnt get a follow up as majsta decided not to produce the boards and work on other projects. however, as you can see kipper is making boards.
having said this i want to tell you guys its pretty beta (the cores that is) we really need a stable 020 + core. Right now only 68k is stable , granted its 84mhz with 21mb fast!
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Akiko
Most people on the list didnt get a follow up as majsta decided not to produce the boards and work on other projects. however, as you can see kipper is making boards.
having said this i want to tell you guys its pretty beta (the cores that is) we really need a stable 020 + core. Right now only 68k is stable , granted its 84mhz with 21mb fast!
Hi does this mean my ACA620EC will be as good as the vampire core as things stand?
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Apollo-team is working hard with the Phoenix-Core. It has already succeeded boot with KS1.3 to CLI window. However, I'm not sure will there be the full 020-support. In the meantime I recommend to use TG68.C-core version 0.2 (no cache - MC68000) and make sure that you have the latest public release of the Directory Opus 4.12: http://dopus.free.fr/files/CU_DirectoryOpus.zip
Its cool that the Apollo team is working with Phoenix now. I've been running 0.2 core for over a week now pretty stable but some memory operations crash or freeze the amiga and I get things like 435,567,078 Chip ram!
I will try that version of Dopus. Ill have to check my version.
One of my main reasons for going vampire was I thought it would be better than the 620 aca board as i need 020+ for my applications.
Majsta where r u?
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Its cool that the Apollo team is working with Phoenix now. I've been running 0.2 core for over a week now pretty stable but some memory operations crash or freeze the amiga and I get things like 435,567,078 Chip ram!
I will try that version of Dopus. Ill have to check my version.
One of my main reasons for going vampire was I thought it would be better than the 620 aca board as i need 020+ for my applications.
I would have worked on the TG68 68020 nocache with full memory core first. The clock speed will probably be somewhat slower but it becomes more powerful per clock to make up for some of it. I suppose some people would miss the compatibility with the original 600 68000 but then it gains more software compatibility with 68020 support. The Vampire doesn't have any kind of fallback to the 68000 does it?
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I would have worked on the TG68 68020 nocache with full memory core first. The clock speed will probably be somewhat slower but it becomes more powerful per clock to make up for some of it. I suppose some people would miss the compatibility with the original 600 68000 but then it gains more software compatibility with 68020 support. The Vampire doesn't have any kind of fallback to the 68000 does it?
AFAIK vampire doesnt have fallback or diasable to revert to 68000. I had the a600 on for over 12hrs unzipping archives and ran like a champ. We need one last core for TG68 just like you said with no cache and proper memory map. For instance I was using Hoffman and Akira's PT1210 dj software and after like 20mins locked up on me like 3 times! This must be do to memory configuration ( I may go back to 0.1 core to test) It would be nice to at least implement the quit command for whdload in current core its annoying to have to reboot to play another game. Not that I game that much but from time to time.
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AFAIK vampire doesnt have fallback or disable to revert to 68000.
I didn't think it did but I wasn't sure. A CPU fallback with or without extra memory would have been nice as Majsta could have focused on the 68020 core rather than a compatible 68000 core.
I had the a600 on for over 12hrs unzipping archives and ran like a champ. We need one last core for TG68 just like you said with no cache and proper memory map. For instance I was using Hoffman and Akira's PT1210 dj software and after like 20mins locked up on me like 3 times! This must be do to memory configuration ( I may go back to 0.1 core to test)
Majsta has the memory mapped in pretty much the most compatible way. Some older software, especially games, may expect memory to be at a particular address. All these different memory locations fragment memory more making large memory allocations less likely to succeed (mostly affects newer productivity software). They should not cause a crash or lock up with properly written software though. Maybe mapping the memory all together in the 68020 core will reduce complexity. This is how more modern accelerators work and incompatibility isn't really noticeable with productivity and newer software.
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@magnetic (http://www.amiga.org/forums/member.php?u=147)
Hey, I m focused on getting Phoenix to work those days, but I started to work on some TG68 based cores, with 020 supprot and maybe reset fix. Pls just be patient since I don't have much time.
@matthey (http://www.amiga.org/forums/member.php?u=5111) yes that was the goal to cover most used mem locations but then again you can't address all memory in normal way, you need to have lot of autoconfig mechanisms to use all 64MB if you want to avoid add it in just one chunk.
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@magnetic (http://www.amiga.org/forums/member.php?u=147)
Hey, I m focused on getting Phoenix to work those days, but I started to work on some TG68 based cores, with 020 supprot and maybe reset fix. Pls just be patient since I don't have much time.
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Hey Majsta
Thats cool because Phoenix looks like the way to go! However, a stable 020 with stable mem access is the ticket for now i think. The reset thing is not that big of a deal and it appears like you found a workaround but I think those new memory addresses crash the box when the mem gets allocated funny. Stability is the biggest thing for me since i'm using this for music production and sampling and live playback. Should I revert to 0.1 core? I think i'm just going to leave my usb blaster plugged into the vampire and run a cable out of the amiga so if you need any core testing let me know. I went on Apollo team irc the other night but nobody was around I was up late and gave it a shot.
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Ok so since my rf modulator is removed I'm running my usb blaster cable through the hole into the 600 its great. Ready to programme!
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Apollo-team is working hard with the Phoenix-Core. It has already succeeded boot with KS1.3 to CLI window. However, I'm not sure will there be the full 020-support. In the meantime I recommend to use TG68.C-core version 0.2 (no cache - MC68000) and make sure that you have the latest public release of the Directory Opus 4.12: http://dopus.free.fr/files/CU_DirectoryOpus.zip
Ok I reverted back to 0.1 core and now Dopus works fine. (Yes I was using vers 4.12 so it was the .2 core) A few reports of not working:
Xbench (game/mod launcher) not working
SampleManager - not working hard crash
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Ok I reverted back to 0.1 core and now Dopus works fine. (Yes I was using vers 4.12 so it was the .2 core) A few reports of not working:
Xbench (game/mod launcher) not working
SampleManager - not working hard crash
Thank you for your report. All the same must be tested with in the Phoenix Core. We really do need you here:
http://eab.abime.net/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=95
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Shk
Nice meeting you on IRC the other night, unfortunately I got life banned from EAB for exposing the jerks that run Amibay. So that shows you how much Amibay guys are gangsters they got me banned from EAB for 2 comments on a thread first offence! So i wont be posting either places ever, unless someone @ EAB contacts me to release the idiotic ban.
Its really funny because the amiga user base is eroding and you have moron egoists banning real amigans from the few remaining sites!
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I don't get that. It seems that lately so much ppl got ban there. Why is wrong to express your opinion about someone or something regarding Amiga scene. All should be fine if we act polite and don't offend someone. By pointing to the facts and writing our opinion about this scene we showing our dedication to Amiga. But it seems that me, you or few other people are not allowed to write about someone who is exploiting this scene and making significant amount of money from it. I was attacked number of times on various forums and that's why I decided to open my site where I can express my feelings about Amiga. Even site was hacked two times, but I don't want to start conspiracy theory here.
At least, last year when I was talking to the apollo-team members about the fact that it is not important how your product is great you will need to find another way to distribute it, just because there is marketing plan where are few people involved and only them are allowed to sell amiga products or develop new. Hey, they didn't develop anything new in last 10 years, and everything should stay that way because it brings money constantly.
Back to topic, again I m off topic, had to after reading about your ban. It just got me thinking.
Anyway, I know that I said that I will build another TG68K based core with 020 support, but those days with Gunnar guidance I m focused to find last bugs inside Phoenix.
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Majsta
Yes, unfortunately the UK based amiga sites seem to be run by people that are ego based power tripping fanboys. They want a fantasy amiga land where everyone is a fanboy and nobody questions anything. Like being on Paxil. Oh your product is delayed a 1 year no problem its going to be great! Havent heard anything from os4 team in a year thats ok i'm sure its great news coming! Dont agree with fanboys on a topic, life ban you negative person, you arent a real amigan. Kind of reminds of usa policy of unqeustioned patriotism if you question the govt you must be some sort of terr0r1st. Like when I almost got life banned from aw.net for saying that Hyperion had no "laptop running os4" which I was right.
There is a reason the founders of usa threw those Brits out on their arse. My fam is from Portugal but I can understand what most of the world had to endure under british rule its a mentality that these mods on these sites seem to have.
About tg68 yeah Gunnar told me you are all focused on phoenix. Its VERY important that you have full 020 working or its NOT better than the ACA board for my purposes :( And I really love this project and want a vampire in my amiga but if i cant get 020 i have to put the other board.
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@magnetic (http://www.amiga.org/forums/member.php?u=147) please contact me on my mail so I can send you latest beta.
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Majsta
Yes, unfortunately the UK based amiga sites seem to be run by people that are ego based power tripping fanboys. They want a fantasy amiga land where everyone is a fanboy and nobody questions anything. Like being on Paxil. Oh your product is delayed a 1 year no problem its going to be great! Havent heard anything from os4 team in a year thats ok i'm sure its great news coming! Dont agree with fanboys on a topic, life ban you negative person, you arent a real amigan. Kind of reminds of usa policy of unqeustioned patriotism if you question the govt you must be some sort of terr0r1st. Like when I almost got life banned from aw.net for saying that Hyperion had no "laptop running os4" which I was right.
You probably got banned as soon as they found out you use MorphOS.
I just read their terms, pretty much anything can get you an instant ban.