Amiga OS4 on classic amiga PPC questions

[DaNi]

hi
any know if with this new os on the ppcs amiga classic systems, is possible use the classic customs chips (AGA & PAULA for example) on the fly without using uae?

thanks

[odin]

AFAIK the 68k will be completely out of a job, but I guess drivers will (need to?) be written for audio, diskdrive access, HD interfacing etc. Would be a bit useless for me otherwise, having no SCSI on my lowbudget BlizzardPPC :-).

But how do you mean using custom chips 'on the fly'. Do you mean running hardware banging 68k programs? That will be out of the question with OS4 (someone correct me if I'm wrong). OS 3.x-'friendly' 68k progs should have not much problems though, with the built in 68k emulator.

[Lando]

Hardware banging stuff like demos and games should still work, regardless of whether it's OS4 or OS3.x that's running on the Amiga.  If it doesn't then there's something wrong.

[odin]

D'oh!. Quite right indeed. Programs which don't need an OS don't care wether it's 3.x or 4.0 ofcourse :-D.

[Effy]

And even if there WOULD be a problem, just keep your OS3.9 and create a new partition with OS4.0 at a higher boot priority so you can still boot in OS3.9 using early startup sequence when you need to  :-)

[Reynolds]

HW banging stuff doesn't works at all... OS4 can't run any AGA stuff for example, and it's not depends on OS, but more on the kickstart. the new kickstart modules doesn't ccontains anything for wiring the old features to get...
The OS4 changes the KS on classic Amigas too, so...
I can understand this, cause on the classic machines you can use OS3.x, but the new hardwares  will not contain any AGA-type thing.
You're able to use all system-friendly wares by the way.

 

[EntilZha]

Reynolds wrote:
HW banging stuff doesn't works at all... OS4 can't run any AGA stuff for example, and it's not depends on OS, but more on the kickstart. the new kickstart modules doesn't ccontains anything for wiring the old features to get...

Nonsense. Of course, you can't run AGA stuff on the AmigaOne, but on the classics, you can access the custom chips exactly like you can access them with OS3.

This applies to direct hardware access as well as access through the system. graphics.library is still there, and even though parts of it are rewritten, the core parts that deal with planar displays are still there, so you can also access AGA via the system.

Just like old times...

[Framiga]

Hi EntilZha

thanks for the clarification :-)

i.e AOS4 on a CSPPC can access to CIAs for timings, making a lot of programs working again, even under AOS4 . . .is it right?

[Rogue]

i.e AOS4 on a CSPPC can access to CIAs for timings, making a lot of programs working again, even under AOS4 . . .is it right?

Yes. All custom hardware is available. The oldest program I was able to test under OS 4 was the "RoboCity" demo ;-)

[Karlos]

EntilZha wrote:

Reynolds wrote:
HW banging stuff doesn't works at all... OS4 can't run any AGA stuff for example, and it's not depends on OS, but more on the kickstart. the new kickstart modules doesn't ccontains anything for wiring the old features to get...

Nonsense. Of course, you can't run AGA stuff on the AmigaOne, but on the classics, you can access the custom chips exactly like you can access them with OS3.

This applies to direct hardware access as well as access through the system. graphics.library is still there, and even though parts of it are rewritten, the core parts that deal with planar displays are still there, so you can also access AGA via the system.

Just like old times...

I can confirm that DPaint IV AGA, Octamed, Protracker etc., all of which are hardware banging run just fine under OS4 on the blizzardppc.

I didn't get syndicate working yet, but to be fair it had problems on the 040 on my blizzard in any case.

[itix]

Just like old times...

I doubt old demos and games work. Killing the OS is no longer option.

Another problem is lack of horse power... playing 12-speed SID tunes from interrupts is not very nice.

[FrankBrana]

@EntilZha or Rogue

How accurate and integrated id the petunia emulator for the Classic PPC?

IE :I mean, I have 040@33 and 280 Mhz 603, with Os4 installed on my setup, I would be able to run aga demos at 060 speed ( using 68k emu over PPC, i think it would get more speed than my real 040@33 )?

Since petunia emulates almost all the instruction of the 68060, and AFAIK the 68040 the BPPC cannt be directly touched by software anymore since Os4 is loaded..... (physical 680x0 is disabled by soft AFAIK)

I hope you can anwser my question.

Best Regards

Mr Brana

[Rogue]

I doubt old demos and games work. Killing the OS is no longer option.

Stuff like RoboCity still works; most demos that try to do nasty things will probably fail, although I haven't tested them yet...

[Rogue]

IE :I mean, I have 040@33 and 280 Mhz 603, with Os4 installed on my setup, I would be able to run aga demos at 060 speed ( using 68k emu over PPC, i think it would get more speed than my real 040@33 )?

The question isn't so much one of speed (that is unpredictable and depends on how clever the demo is programmed, what instructions it uses etc) but rather of compatibility, i.e. does the demo mess around in system structures etc. Also, certain features of the CPU are no longer available in emulation. You can no longer rely on exception handling (although interrupts do work if you are using AddIntServer()) for example.

Since petunia emulates almost all the instruction of the 68060, and AFAIK the 68040 the BPPC cannt be directly touched by software anymore since Os4 is loaded..... (physical 680x0 is disabled by soft AFAIK)

The physical 680x0 in the Amiga is stopped once AmigaOS4 takes over.

[FrankBrana]

@Rogue

Thank you for clarify me this question

FrankB