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Author Topic: FPGA options for the A1200  (Read 3103 times)

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Re: FPGA options for the A1200
« on: March 01, 2018, 12:50:57 PM »
Waiting for the Vampire as well, although the standalone model interests me more since you don't have to rely on 25 years old electronics to power it.

An "accelerator" that basically sucks the life out of the computer and takes over everything (ie. a vampire) is basically a standalone system that uses the A1200 as a needlessly fragile and complicated power supply and I/O board... IMO of course.
 

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Re: FPGA options for the A1200
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2018, 08:53:40 AM »
Quote from: psxphill;836777
Or someone else improves the other 68k softcores. It's not like vampire is magically the only fast FPGA 68k emulator.

Apollo likely has a headstart, but you don't know what people are doing in private.

E.g. the MiST is about the level of a 30 - 35 MHz 68030 and it's running on a Cyclone III, same FPGA chip as e.g. the Vampire V2 A600. Of course the MiST recreates more than the 68k core itself, but so does the Vampire V2.

The Minimig-AGA core has been developed since 2014 at least, so it's strange that performance hasn't improved. Maybe all the focus has been on improved compatibility.

Quote from: Marlon_;836783
If you're not using Vampire AGA or Vampire PAULA, the difference between a V1200 and a BPPC + BVision is none regarding this (except for the PPC part). :P

It's still not a "real" 68k processor though. I get your point, but for me personally, an FPGA emulator strapped to an Amiga does defeat the purpose of using legacy hardware in the first place. If there's a compatibility issue in the 68k softcore, AGA or Paula, it would affect both the standalone system and the "accelerator" equally so I see no real advantage to not going with the standalone board. I guess you could mount it in your A1200 case if you wanted...
« Last Edit: March 02, 2018, 08:55:51 AM by AdvancedFollower »
 

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Re: FPGA options for the A1200
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2018, 04:44:19 PM »
Quote from: kolla;836804
What kind of performance improvements can you expect from something that is intended to be as equal to original as it can? I honestly cannot tell the AGA on MiST apart from "real" AGA, except from the one well known horizontal shift bug on low screen modes. I understand from Chaos, that going from ECS to AGA was not really that much work (which echoes what I recall CBM engineers also have written before about AGA... a quick and cheap upgrade of the ECS chipset)

Improving on AGA is what SAGA is about.

Yeah, I guess improved performance and perfect compatibility are kind of mutually exclusive, due to the need to maintain exact timings and so on. I wouldn't mind a "Turbo" Amiga core for the MiST, with all stops removed, for those few demanding 3D games etc., but that's why I'm interested in the Vampire V4 as a complement to my MiST.