Nueron / NuOS (ColdFire based project)

[nueron]

Hello all,

I have been working on an alternative computer project for a few years now and would like to find people who may be interested in helping further the project.

The project involves hardware based on Motorola ColdFire processors (Nueron) and a new (free) operating system inspired by AmigaOS (NuOS).

I have developed a prototype (Nueron1200) which is what I wanted an Amiga-like tablet computer device to be (basically a large PDA). Details and pictures can be found at the Austex Software website:- nueron1200 prototype

I am currently finishing off a ColdFire accelerator module for the Nueron1200 (dual processors) and an updated graphics module (unlike most laptops, the graphics hardware can be upgraded).

The project is also known as the gecko computer project with a (currently very small) yahoo group here: geckocomputerproject

I had chosen gecko because they are "small,  efficient and crap all over windows..."  :-)

Work has been slow since this was originally a part-time project, however I am now doing board design, firmware and operating system full time (no matter what anybody says). I am looking at producing  developer boards in either microATX or miniITX  format (I need a vote on this) to be available in Q2 2004. Board cost is a sensitive issue which also needs to be dealt with (I'd need expressions of interest for build quantity etc...).

I have been developing free software tools, such as assembler,  linker, maker and a beta C compiler for both AmigaOS and PC (yeeeww). I am still using my Amiga4000/CSPPC for development purposes (I also have an Amiga500, 2xAmiga1200, Amiga3000, another Amiga4000 with non-working CSPPC). I am a long time Amiga user/programmer and also co-wrote an Amiga game (Uropa2, published by Vulcan) which comes under the Austex Software banner.

Recently, I have been trying to finish documentation for such things as NuOS overview, API documents in html (devbook) and various technical manuals etc... however these things take time (especially if your the only person doing them).

If you are interested or have any questions, then please let me know.


Regards,
Stephen Smith
Austex Software

[nueron]

@xeron

Do you think NuOS could be easily patched to boot on Oliver Hannaford-Day's Amiga Coldfire accelerators, when they're available?

I don't see why not. NuOS is quite scalable and currently runs on a ColdFire 5206e microcontroller board that I made (I should show pics of that too...).

[nueron]

@bloodline

Why not port AROS to it?

I've emailed Ola regarding this.

Actually,  on a dual processor configuration, you could run AROS on one processor and NuOS on the other...  :-D

[nueron]

@melott

Are you planing a Desktop or Tower version??

The microATX or miniITX motherboard (depending on which is chosen) would allow a tower version.

@odin

Ofcourse! Nebula! Austex already sounded so familiar. Cheers for that great game.

Thanks! I found the C source code for that the other day. Maybe I'll port it as the first game to run on it :-D  Nebula was actually a 3rd year computer graphics assignment. We had two weeks to learn C, and then a few weeks to write the thing. Ahh, takes me back...  :-P

@Bobsonsirjonny

I love the PC tablet form factor - I love the concept. Keep it up buddy - this is nice. Very nice. Do you need a case designed?

Yes, I do need case designed...  The LCD CCFL transformer is not far from the reset button, got me a few times... :-D

Regards,
Stephen.

[nueron]

@lempkee

exellent to see AUSTEX is still going!! , uropa2 was a damn cool game when it came , shame about the delay though :-( .

Yes, a word of advice:- NEVER write a game part-time... :-) . Oh, and make sure your graphics artist gives you the graphics you asked for... :-D . We didn't make very much out of it, however it was better than nothing.

@voxel

and for your problem "another Amiga4000 with non-working CSPPC" why not get in touch with www.amiga.fr, I'm quite sure JJ would can repair it

Thanks, I'll look into that. The 060 works fine, but the 604e@180Mhz doesn't respond (anymore).

@bloodline

Probably not a question you can or want to answer at this stage in the design... but... what is the projected cost per unit is this, for the end user?

I will endeavour to keep the price as low as possible, however a potential investor needs to know how much money I need. My first response is "how long is a piece of string?", but I need to work out costs based on the number of units that may be shipped (of course).

I don't want to ask for pre-payment since problems have arisen with certain companies which have been mentioned here numerous times :-) I also don't want to be caught out with potential order quantity and then have people reneg when it comes to pay (e.g. iFusion). Hopefully, I'll find a solution soon.

I'd like to thank you guys for the response so far. I wasn't sure what sort of reaction I would receive and it has been very positive (so far) :-D .


Regards,
Stephen.

[nueron]

@karlos

I agree with you regarding JIT. I have thought about doing something along those lines.

ColdFire does support address register indirect with scaled index and 8-bit displacement.
The limits are that the index register only supports longword and that the scale can be
1, 2 or 4 (8 only supported if you have an FPU).

move.l   (a0,d0.w*4),d1 ....... illegal
add.w   #4,a1 ................. illegal

move.l   (a0,d0.l*4),d1 ....... ok


It took a little while for me to modify my assembler habits, but I'm used to it now. With
V4 they added byte and word extensions back to the cmp instruction and added a few more
such as:-
           
mov3q.l   #5,(100,a0,d0.l*4) .. move 5 longword extended to destination
............................. length of operand + extension = 32bits
               
mvs.b   (a0),d0 ............... move byte , sign extended to long
mvz.b   (a0),d0 ............... move byte , zero extended to
............................. mvs.w and mvz.w also supported

sats   d0 ..................... signed saturate, sets max/min(overflow)
intouch   (a0) ................ prefetch instructions  into cache


Motorola have even added some interesting ones to the V2 core (MCF5282):-


bitrev   d0 ................... bit reverse (31..0)<->(0..31)
byterev   d0 .................. byte reverse (endian modify)
ff1   d0 ...................... find first one in register
strldsr   #val ................ push sr to stack, then load new sr


Regards,
Stephen.