Poll, new accelerator for A500/A600.

[Tahoe]

hppacito wrote:

link to ec020 auction

Look! He is offering ANOTHER 330 CPU's!

[hppacito]

That's a sweet number !, let's see if he will offer some dram, Alice, Gayle o whatever the other ics are ;-).
I'll get mine next week... anyone else wants to get hold of them ? (If I buy more ics my gf will leave me :-(, there is plenty of nice electronic components... I just wonder _how_ they get them.... ) :-D

[HyAmi]

I was wondering, is the current bid made by an A.org member? If not, one of us should bid for this. If the price wouldn't be too crazy (like the previous auction :-)), I'd volunteer for that.

[Doppie1200]

I think it is someone who works or used to work at the distributer. Amiga Inc might have done a Life Time Buy when they where producing A1200 boards. This means they estimate how much they intend to produce and buy all obsolete components before the manufacturer runs out.

In 1995 the EC20 sure was obsolete. So they might have had to order a substantial lot so motorola could run another batch and make a profit. This might be the left overs.

But I'm not going to buy them. I won't finish an accelerator anyway because of earlier mentioned reasons.

[hppacito]

But I'm not going to buy them. I won't finish an accelerator anyway because of earlier mentioned reasons.

Anyway, trying to make two acc for the same machines, in this case, is not the best option. Maybe try to do some other useful periperial, would be better.

[Doppie1200]

hehe this implicitly tells me your after an A600 accelerator.
Otherwise I'd go for an A600 version and you can go for the A500 version. Then again I don't have the financial backbone to invest such a thing. The return is too uncertain.

[hppacito]

Actually, both use the same techniques.

The host processor in the A600 should be put to rest asserting BR. In the case of an A500... no processor to worry about.

Better to do a design for one, and the other one should be a modified PCB (I still think that with a bit more area, both can be done on the same PCB). That should not increase the price that much.

This is what I have in mind:

D0..D15 sould be buffered to isolate the high speed 020.
A1 to A23 should be isolated also through some '244.
Control lines should also be isolated
*UDS/*LDS should be generated. Remember that the 020 has dynamic bus sizing, so take care of SIZE0/SIZE1 and DSACK0/DSACK1.

The original Ax00 should only be accesed in the following mem areas:

0x000000..0x1fffff
0x600000..0x9fffff (A600)
0xbfd000..0xbfffff PIA (even addresses)
0xdf0000..0xffffff

*DTACK should be routed to *DSACK1 for 16 bit ports, but only in the mentioned regions.

In the Fast RAM region, should be internally generated (tyed to *AS for example, for a 3 cycle access to RAM).

I was also thinking in replacing the original Kickstart with a 32 bit version (read, with 4x8 bit epros or 2x16 bit eproms), for even faster access. That should need to get *ROMEN from the old ROM socket, or autogenerate it. But again *DSACK0/1 should be generated. If the new eproms are fast enough (could also be flash), that can be a 3 cycle access, or a 4 cycle access. A shift register can be used to generate the delayed signal.
Plenty of logic can be used to generate all this signals, may be a GAL can be cheaper, and cut on IC count, but I don't have a GAL programmer, though. I have to find a cheap GAL programmer, or make my own. I have an eprom programmer, though.

Regarding PCB costs, there is a shop in München, where they make small runs, 30 Euro (+16% VAT), each piece for 5 PCBs.
23 for 10. At 100x160 mm, 2 layers. That surface should be more than enough for this. This is the initial price, next runs are cheaper.

[MrZammler]

Hey hppacito, why dont you take the rest of the 020's and give us what we reeeeeally want:

A dual 020 accelerator! Woohoo! :-D

Jokes aside, I want a 020 + 4MB upgrade for my 600. Count me in.

[Doobrey]

hppacito wrote:

I was also thinking in replacing the original Kickstart with a 32 bit version (read, with 4x8 bit epros or 2x16 bit eproms), for even faster access. That should need to get *ROMEN from the old ROM socket, or autogenerate it.

I think taking *ROMEN from the socket is the only way,otherwise it won't boot. (No way of knowing if the rom overlay is enabled for mapping  0x00000000 to 0x00f80000 )

[Plaz]

Darn, I was all worked up at the begining of the thread with coldfire talk.
Now it's wound down to ec020. :-P I think the additional 040 or 060 socket
is a good idea though. Those with an extra CPU hanging around
(especially in some other dead accel) could easily update.
Good luck with your project.

Plaz

[Doppie1200]

Ok, here a heads up for production;

What about RoHS compliance. Will there be a board manufacturer that is still able to mount the old 020EC IC.

The IC is one from the past and is surely not tested for a lead free production process.

I recall manufacturers are required to have their production processes RoHS compliant by law somewhere 2006.

That would mean the 020EC is not surface mountable by default. The lead free soldering process uses higher temperatures the 020EC can cope with.

This could pose a problem. Can someone with more knowledge investigate.
I will ask collegues of mine that work at the hardware dept.

Just thought I should mention it.

[alenppc]

The original Ax00 should only be accesed in the following mem areas:

0x000000..0x1fffff
0x600000..0x9fffff (A600)
0xbfd000..0xbfffff PIA (even addresses)
0xdf0000..0xffffff

How about mapping some memory to the 0xC00000 on the A600 as I suggested? This would allow you to increase the total system RAM without interefering with the PCMCIA, not to mention that it would improve compatibility with some old games on the A600. :-)

[Dr_Righteous]

@Doppie1200

That's what solder paste and a heat gun are for. :-D

@hppacito

Again, I highly encourage adding a local bus connector of some sort for future expansion. That way the other devices we've discussed putting on it could still be added to a leanly designed board. ie:

Main Accel:
EC020
xxxMB RAM
IDE interface
(ROM??)
Local Bus interface

Add-on boards:
USB
Ethernet
RTG board
etc.

Since you've got a goodly number of processors, I suggest 2/3 of them for the A500 and 1/3 for the A600... Tho I do like the idea of a single PCB design, just in case one of the A500/A2000 buyers decides to move it to an A600 later by changing the connectors (hack, of course).

[hppacito]

@Doppie1200

The cost of running something _that_ professional would be prhibitve. I was planning in soldering myself ;-)
BTW, all components should be in reels, and so on and so on. Btw, the A500/600 are not lead free.

Somebody suggested some memory in 0xC00000, may be I forgot it in my memory map.
There are a couple of holes in he memory map that can be used for expansion. I'll see what can be done.

Somebody can/wants to burn some gals ?

[KThunder]

i can burn gals i dont have an a500 or a600 but i would get one if there was a COLDFIRE accelerator for one. (repeates for affect) i think a COLDFIRE accelerator would be good. and in some ways wouldnt be that much more difficult than an 020. supply of devices would be better and there would likely be active support from the manufacturer



coldfire :-D

[Homo-AGA]

Well, as far as the designing part is concerned, I would be quite skeptical about the casing/housing of an A600. Would it take it? It would require some extra cooling as well. How mcuh power would it consume?