A project I'd like to see from Jens...

[TeamBlackFox]

Is the Amiga chipset so complex that it can't be replicated directly rather than via an FPGA? I have limited knowledge of hardware engineering - but I imagine with modern manufacturing methods it would easily be possible to build the AGA chipset into a single chip. However, this would likely require extensive knowledge of transistors and to have it manufactured it'd probably need to be ordered in bulk to be cost-effective. I imagine this is why FPGAs are used rather than actually doing it like this.

The 68k CPUs however should not be difficult to get at all - cannibalizing old 68k macs would be quite cost-effective as there are probably millions in old US educational warehouses - I was able at one point to get over 500 computers used in a school system in Petersburg, Virginia for the cost of hauling it away - sold it to a computer recycler for scrap metal and made a decent killing on it. Lots of 68k and PowerPC macs I had in that stock.

[TeamBlackFox]

And you cannot use used processors (still in old computers) for new devices. And even if they would still be 68060 at 60 MHz.

Why can't you cannibalize old processors for new devices - They did it for the Treamcast ( Cloned version of the Dreamcast, but portable ) they cannibalized the hardware and reengineered it. Not saying its cost effective, but I doubt 68040s and 68060s are still produced, unless I'm wrong...

[TeamBlackFox]

> fast x86 cpu emulating

It'd be faster per Hz to emulate a PowerPC CPU via ARM, SPARC or MIPS CPU since with x86 you're having to cross endianness, and architecture so you're not only going to incur a performance hit, but power consumption and voltage requirements would likely be too high for an Amiga if it was x86. Heat is a consideration too. I'd personally vote MIPS since thats my favourite RISC architecture, but thats me.

Since there are some PowerPC chips being made ( Mostly SoCs ) it may be best to just get a cheap PowerPC with extended logic and libraries and plop that into an Amiga CPU slot. Using old Macs as donors, you could easily sell 68040/PowerPC cards for around the same price as the CSPPC goes, and I bet you they'd sell. I looked at 68060s, but according to Freescale's product page they ceased production and the last CPUs are EOL. Maybe someone has a Chinese supplier that can make them though. Making the boards in China may actually make it affordable.

[TeamBlackFox]

Can anyone tell me what are the fastest MIPS CPU's that can be had in quantity for reasonable prices?

I have an R14k powered SGI Fuel that is fully 64-bit, 600MHz that outclasses an Intel Core Solo in general purpose computing, and thats a 10 year old CPU vs a slightly younger one. I don't know what the current MIPS specs run, but the last I used was a brand new 1GHz quad configured MIPS processor (R16k?) and that was screaming fast.


New ones I'm not quite sure on specs though.