P96 RTG driver development for new hardware

[mikej]

It's all working fine now - some errors in the soft core T68K bitfield instructions were causing problems.

I've a little work to do now to enable the high frequency clocks and then we'll have 1024, 1280 and maybe 1920 modes over DVI/HDMI/Analogue also.

I've had some conversations with Thomas, but my attempts to reach the original authors have not been successful so far regarding potential licensing.

My P96 driver is based completely on publicly available information, and like UAE the driver (as well as the core shortly) will be open sourced.

The hardware is generic, and the core has a build option for the RTG subsystem at the moment, but as the core implements a generic video display system and blitter it does not have any dependency on P96 - it could be used with alternative software for example.

I was a little surprised to hear that that licensing discussions were on-going for the Apollo/Vampire project,when I was told just a week or two ago that no contact had been made - and I was discouraged from any attempts to release a product.

In my view, it would be a very sad day for what remains of this community if an attempt was made to exclusively license the P96 system.

Anyhow, play nice and have fun.
/Mike

[mikej]

Given the much higher volumes of the generic platforms, it wouldn't make sense financially either.

[mikej]

Thomas,

Thanks for the response.

"There is no attempt to make an "exclusive" deal with Apollo. There is an attempt to create a situation where you can again license P96, no matter whether you are "Apollo" or "not"."

Sounds great, I'm very relieved to hear.  I'm all for a pragmatic way forward, and certainly believe in working out a solution which works for everybody regarding licensing and onwards development.

/Mike

[mikej]

Cybergraphx v3 and its driver development kit are both freely available, as is the CGXAGA driver for ECS/AGA screenmodes with source.  

http://aminet.net/package/driver/video/CyberGraphX3
http://aminet.net/package/dev/misc/CGraphX-DevKit
http://aminet.net/package/driver/video/CGX-AGA

Thanks Nicholas.
The p96 driver is fully working, no need for the DDK.
Could Cybergraphx do a similar job on this new hardware, sans licensing issues?
/MikeJ

[mikej]

Might be worth contacting Frank Mariak from the MorphOS Team for further clarification.

Will do, thanks.

[mikej]

I'm keeping my head down here, but :

Or do I send the bill to Norway and will you pay for it?

Maybe we in the Nordic countries can have a whip-round and buy it. Actually, not going to the pub here once would probably pay for it.

On a serious note however, I would question the "If you want P96 to be maintained" statement. Actually, for me it works great as is - admittedly using the legacy OS it was designed for.

/Mike