Poll, new accelerator for A500/A600.

[Dr_Righteous]

Aww man... Now that I've read the whole thread, and I see we're chickening out on the ColdFire... I'll restate...

EC020... Ok...
Unsoldered RAM, I like the idea of SODIMM connector for the tight space of A500s.
Dual channel IDE preferred, but even one channel would be fine.

** LOCAL BUS CONNECTOR for future expansion. **

[alenppc]

hppacito wrote:
So guys (and girls ;-)), i got the 330 ec020, i'll put them in a a500 and a600 accelerator with 4MB SRAM (for the price, and speed gain, I think is worth over dram).

I would be so happy if we could have another accelerator for the A600!!!!  :banana:

I would certanly buy one  :-D  :-D  :-D

IMHO a 14 mhz 68EC020 is great + add 4 mb ram. Also it is possible to add an additional 1 MBytes (or even 1.5 Mb) of ram by mapping it into the $C00000 space without disabling the PCMCIA. It is the old "Ranger" memory used by many A500 expansions. Obviously the RAM would be just as slow as chip RAM, but hey, it's better than nothing! This technique was also used by one A1200 accelerator, can't remember which one though - I could look it up if anyone's interested.

So in theory one could have an A600 with 2Mb chip, 4Mb fast, 1.5 mb Ranger = 7.5 Mb ram and still a functioning PCMCIA, not bad, eh? :-)

A 68020 is awsome because it does not require a heatsink/fan!!

[HyAmi]

If you're busy anyway, why not make a clockport connection too somewhere? It's just a pity that you need at least a '030 for USB.

I hope you can stick to the Ethernet idea. I mean, it would be ubercool to have a nice webserver (without serial cable) on an A500. And besides, it would be alot easier for transfering software/games for WHDload etc.

BTW, I too prefer expandable memory above soldered chips, allthough 32MB would be plenty...

[Doppie1200]

Great! Normally, when I see someone starting threads like this going about putting god knows what in an A500 or 600, I think 'yet another accelerator dream thread'.

But when someone actually acquires a substantial lot of EC020 and is not desposing the lean accelerator idea, I think this might even come to see the light of day.

Too give you insight on what people are willing to pay you could ask wayne to start a real poll.

Place your specs (for example):
A600 accelerator (or A500 whatever you decide)
??MB Ram
and so on.

Price:

A. < 40 euro
B. 40 - 60 euro
C. 60 - 80 euro
D. 80 - 100 euro
F. I'll pay whatever you ask.

How about that for an idea.

[hppacito]

Hallo Wayne !, are you listening ?

Could you please make a real poll with the options Doppe1200 wrote ?

The specifications will be:

A500/A600 Accelerator board:

Processor:    68EC020 @ 14.38 or 16.67 MHz
RAM:          4/6/8 MB Depending on A500/A600
PLCC socket:  empty, can be populated with a 68881/2
IDE Port:     1, buffered

I'm inclined to use SRAM, because requires far less logic, and can be faster (and can bring some overclock improvements). But DRAM would definetly lower the cost a bit .

So would be 2 Polls:

1st.

RAM Type:

Soldered SRAM (0 Wait state), populated
Socketed DRAM (1 Wait state), not provided

Price:

40 to 60 Euro
60 to 80 Euro
80 to 100 Euro
more than 100 Euro
All the money in the known universe
All the money in the unknown universe


Thanks !

[alexh]

@leirbag28

Hmmm Im not sure what everyone her is talking about saying the A600 is limited to 4Mb....thats NOT true.

Yes it is, if you only have a stock 68000.

I had an Apollo 630 with 32mb ram and PCMCIA Ram card.they both worked simultaneously

But you added a processor with 32-bit address lines instead of a 24-bit!

As long as you dont use anything below a 68020 (excluding EC020 cos they are still 24-bit) you can have more RAM.

if your just gonna make a board that adds 4MB, that is a waste as there are plenty of 4Mb PCMCIA cards availble..people here just dont know where to look for them

For people who have a PCMCIA hard drive / flash drive it's not a waste. If you are going to add a CPU above EC020 then 4mb isnt a limit.

Please dont settle for a measly 4mb. We need 128Mb in that thing minimum. and at least a 68030 @50mhz, and also dont put RAM on it.....make a slot for up to 1GB of ram, or at least 256........

You power hungry maniac! A spec like that would make it difficult and expensive.

Jens Shoenfeld, he is palnning on creating the Apollo 630 line again

Jens Schoenfeld is thinking of making a NEW 68030 accelerator for the A600, NOT the Apollo a630 cos their design is too unstable.

he also gave us the A600 clockport for USB upgrades.......I am a proud owner of one

He sure did, but without a CPU upgrade, it's useless

[alexh]

PLCC socket: empty, can be populated with a 68881/2

Why have an FPU? Nothing of any significance in the Retro Amiga world (aka Games / WHDload / OS) uses it. The PLCC socket is expensive, difficult to solder, easily broken.

You could have used an non EC 68020 and added more RAM (that doesnt interfere with PCMCIA) for the same price!

I think you should also choose to do one or the other A500 Accelerator OR A600 accelerator, rather than try to make a universal design. A500 offers probably greater return as there were/are more of them and the GVP A530 on ebay always brings big prices.

[hppacito]

An FPU was suggested.

PLCC sockets are not more difficult to solder than other sockets (unless you use the smd version, I was not going to).
Expensive... a bit more, easy to broke, definitively !

As you know I got some cheap EC020. 030s are a bit more scarce and expensive (the run at 50 Euro in Spörle, for the 20MHz version). But a working design for a 020 can be made to work with a 030 in case of need, and some magical logic.

The only difference between the two is the socket (and the fact that you should remove the processor from the A500). Both sockets probably will not fit the same board at the same time. I'll see how cumbersome that is.

A600 accelerators are even more expensive on ebay :-(

[doctorq]

I thought I would give my point of view to this thread.

First of all, I think it is a good idea that someone wouldn't mind taking the time and effort needed to create new hardware for the Amiga, and one of them being for the A600 is great, since the upgrade possibilities aren't that great for this particular machine.

Anyway, my thoughts about what is needed... Basicly, most people just need to be able to play their games from harddrive, and maybe surf the net, and upgrade to maybe OS3.9 to get a more modern OS.

If you look at the OS3.9 requirements, the minimum specs are 6 MB ram (2 MB chip and 4 MB fast IIRC) and a 020 CPU. Since you are planning on adding ram to the accelerator, then these needs are covered.

For playing games, in most cases 4 MB fast ram is enough, as fast ram is the only thing preventing people to play games on a stock A600 with harddrive.

Surfing the net with an Amiga without graphics card is IMHO not pleasant, and the browsers needs updating. For FTP and IRC no graphics card are needed, so an accelerator with ram would be enough.

Since the accelerator needs to be useable in an A500 as well, the suggested IDE header is a good idea.

Basicly, what I think most people need for either an A500 and A600 is a fast ram upgrade and a small acceleration. A500 users needs a cheap way to attach IDE drives, so a complete unit for me would be 020 accelerator, 8 MB fast ram and an IDE header.

No need to have an FPU, 128 or 256 MB ram, USB and build-in ethernet; as I see it it is only to be able to brag, and I hardly believe that more than 5% of possible users needs more than mentioned above (020, 8 MB fast and IDE).

Anyway, that is my thoughts, do with them what you like :-)

[HyAmi]

@doctorq

I agree with you for most of your story, except one point. The A500, which I guess outnumbers the A600, has no 'easy' and fast enough datacommunication. And there are no alternatives like a networkcard using a PCMCIA slot.

But maybe a pinheader could be made for an additional upgrade (besided the clockport I already suggested).

And those are my thoughts, do what them what you like  :-)

[doctorq]

I agree with you for most of your story, except one point. The A500, which I guess outnumbers the A600, has no 'easy' and fast enough datacommunication. And there are no alternatives like a networkcard using a PCMCIA slot.

Point taken, and what you say is right, but my thoughts in the post mainly goes to the A600, since there is only a few upgrade possibilities for this machine.

As for transfering data from PC to Amiga 500, which I take it most users would use a ethernet port for, there are options; slow, but they are there.

[toca180]

Hi

Just another thought, what about adding an rtc? Who doesn't like a clock on their Amiga? :-D

Robert

[Argus]

Also it is possible to add an additional 1 MBytes (or even 1.5 Mb) of ram by mapping it into the $C00000 space without disabling the PCMCIA. It is the old "Ranger" memory used by many A500 expansions. Obviously the RAM would be just as slow as chip RAM, but hey, it's better than nothing! This technique was also used by one A1200 accelerator, can't remember which one though - I could look it up if anyone's interested.
So in theory one could have an A600 with 2Mb chip, 4Mb fast, 1.5 mb Ranger = 7.5 Mb ram and still a functioning PCMCIA, not bad, eh? :-)

This was the DKB 1202 Board iirc that could remap the memory to ranger space.

Regarding the plcc fpu socket, what's the big deal with including it?  Put it on unpopulated, the expense is trivial and it's there if you need it.  There are lot's of optimised versions of software for the fpu.  Regarding ethernet and setting up 'webservers' for the A600, there's no need for it because the design won't interfere with the pcmcia slot so just plug a 3Com card in and away you go.

Regarding vaporware talk, I'll bet this project is finished faster that the Troika/Dragon, etc.

[Doppie1200]

RTC is mostly present on chipram expantions. This goes for the A500 as for the A600.

How would one create a version suitable for both machines?
You'd need an DIL socket as an PLCC clip over socket on the same board. This might make it too big to fit in the A600.

Would it be an idea to make a simple header that connects to either a PLCC for the A600 or a DIL for the A500 via a cable. That would make the PCB smaller. However you can expect trouble with when the bustiming using cables.

For the A500 you would not need the original CPU anymore. But on the A600 the CPU must be disabled somehow.

As for fast connectivity with an A500 the on board ethernet could make things too complex. How is a high speed UART as option?

[keropi]

out of curiosity, what is the link of the 68ec020 auction???  :-o

[hppacito]

link to ec020 auction