Potential add-on board?

[nyteschayde]

I cannot help but think that the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 would make a great platform for an accelerator for the Amiga.

With the raw CPU power (as compared to the 68k platform), and the RAM, an accelerator card that takes a CM1 or CM3 card and uses the ARM CPU as either a CPU accelerator via 68K emulation and/or as a secondary processor in the same way that a PPC is used on the Amiga platform.

If not as a CPU, perhaps as a video card. With HDMI out and the GPU on the CM3, it could/would be a great peripheral in that aspect as well. It also can serve as a USB stack provider given it can run in either HOST or OTG mode.

Finally, barring everything else, it could serve as a computer in the computer for when you need to browse the internet. I am sure a parallel port data transfer could be setup.

Seems like someone like TerribleFire could work wonders with the flexibility this $30 card offers.

[nyteschayde]

What will comnect to what? Cpu slot to usb2? maybe enough gpio to make a "software bus" but that wound not likely perform well. I made apb and ahb bus before on gpio, was very slow but suitable for the unusual situation at hand. Ibwouldnt do this for something in the real world.

It would need a card with a normal trap door edge connector. The CM3 has a slot based edge connector of its own. Hence it would need a card developed to interface and I am not presuming it would be easy.

[nyteschayde]

@nyteschayde: You're not the only one thinking about that idea: http://www.fpgaarcade.com/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=1221

Great minds think alike?

[nyteschayde]

I think just having a second CPU to delegate and run tasks on would be very nice indeed. Something we can compile to and connect with and run software on. If there was a native way, including the use of the edge connector of the CM3, to add the ARM CPU to the system, it could provide a very nice speed bump.

Or, if you're super crazy, an A1200 trapdoor connector that had slots for two CM3 cards. One to use as a second CPU (i.e. PPC in current classic Amigas) and another to use as a virtual 68K ala FPGA or as a separate set of peripherals to harness from for the Amiga (i.e. RAM, USB, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPU, etc...).

The cards are so small that they should easily fit at an angle like most SIMMs on todays  accelerators. They are also damn cheap.

[nyteschayde]

Also for throughput, the HDMI, networking and other medium I/O seem like they'd have to be high speed (relative to the Amiga) and could carry data back and forth if not used for their originally intended purposes.

[nyteschayde]

I don't know if it is feasible, but it seems like video imagery could be used to transfer tons of data at high speeds. The imagery doesn't have to be sensibly viewable with the human eye, just be read and deconstructed for data. The covers data out from the CM3. The camera input could be a way to transmit data back to the CM3 from the Amiga. Again, I don't know if something like this is feasible, but it could be a potential hack.

Ultimately, I would imagine there might be a FPGA or other arbitrator on the physical board connecting the CM3 and the Amiga's edge connector. The FPGA/whatever could use more sane data transfer methods and bridge the physical pin disparity between the GPIO provided by the CM3 and the pins on the A1000/A500/A600/A1200 edge connectors.