Can we see some links showing which instructions this particular Colfire mpu supports and does not support?
I would much rather run tight 680X0 code than PPC code. Have any of you seen the PPC instuction set? I got an PPC Assembly language book and was mortified. Yech- it was enough to make me reconsider the x86. I wonder how much bigger the core exec/kernel OS of the PPC version of AmigaOS is. Between 3.9 and 4.0 there shouldn't be many changes that would account for a much larger size, other than the PPC not being as code-efficient a chip as we were lead to believe. Fair warning: first person to talk about RISC gets slapped.
If the ColdFire supports most of the common 680X0 instructions (and addressing modes) and the net effect is that it runs several times faster than a 68060, then i'm interested. I'd rather run my tiny and tight Amiga 68K code mostly-natively than run it interpretively on some PPC box with an emulator and Amiga sticker slapped on (or run some bloated PPC C code).
What's even more troubling is the off-the-shelf card approach we see for the video-graphics subsystems on the new "Amigas" or Amiga-like contenders. Why have none of them thought to include a module to add elegant Amiga videographic features to the gfx cards they plan to slap in? (They have, it just requires more resources than the splintered efforts have. Where is Richard Branson when you need him?) Sure the new cards can be 3D bit bangers, but we still need real hardware Sprites, multiple playfields, real collision-detection, an Amiga instruction-compatible copper (it's trivially simple), genlocking, etc. If the core AGA features (or an extension) could be overlaid with existing AGP gfx systems, that would be very good indeed. In effect mixing the current AGP cards with something that's still very Amiga-like (gee, and MMU for AGA register redirect would be nice for compatibility).
If only we had all pooled our money some 5 years ago to fund Mick Tinker and Jeri Ellsworth to work together on that one subsystem. Then these new Amiga-wannabe machines would be more than just PPC boxes with AmigaOS and Amiga hardware emulators.
In any event, depending on the price, I'd be very interested. And could you cram this and an A1200 moboard into an A500 case?
