PPC PCI Card working in PC,possible?

[Blinx123]

Hi guys,
I found some PPC cards using the PCI interface (SharkPPC for example), so my question is: would it be possible to use such a card in my standard x86 PC?

[Lemmink]

Of course. You only have to find someone that writes the drivers.

[Piru]

@Blinx123

You mean Sonnet Crescendo/7200 G3?

It's a mac accelerator, I doubt it does much when connected to a PC. You'd need some sort of driver software to use it.

There are PowerPC-on-PCI-card solutions for PC though (G4 even).

[Blinx123]

Cool. So could I play AMIGA PPC Games with it? I mean under WinUAE.

PS: I can´t find a PPC PCI card specialy for PC. Which company does make one?

[Piru]

@Blinx123

So could I play AMIGA PPC Games with it?

No. What makes you think you could?

I mean under WinUAE.

WinUAE is an amiga emulation. It emulates M68K CPU and Amiga custom chips. How could it use the PPC PCI card to emulate PowerUP hardware?

I can´t find a PPC PCI card specialy for PC. Which company does make one?

Use google?

Seriously now, these cards will not let you run Amiga PPC games.

[Blinx123]

Not? I thought so because it´s PPC and if I install the drivers it should be located in AMIGA OS as PPC.

[Piru]

@Blinx123

WinUAE amiga emulation is running 100% inside the closed environment, "a box". It doesn't see any PC hardware directly. Everything it sees is virtualized by WinUAE.

1) Just plugging some PCI card to system does not make it available for the emulated system.

2) "AMIGA OS" has no PPC support at all. Even if it would see the PPC PCI card, it would not know what to do with it. It would not work, even if you installed PowerUP or WarpUP software.

3) The PPC-on-PCI-cards are computers of their own. They run independent of the host system. Just plugging in such card doesn't magically make the CPU on the card available for the host system for some emulation purposes.


Computers don't work automagically. You need software to run the HW.

[Blinx123]

I know. But if a driver for WinUAE is written it should work. And as I know, AMIGA OS 3.9 supports POWERUP (PPC) hardware.

[Piru]

@Blinx123

But if a driver for WinUAE is written it should work.

No it won't.

It's much more likely that WinUAE gets PPC emulation at some point, but even that is remote possibility.

And as I know, AMIGA OS 3.9 supports POWERUP (PPC) hardware.

No, it really doesn't. The PowerUP "support" is just WarpUP archive in some contrib directory (maybe in 3.9 there's even installer for it, but anyway the OS 3.9 included version is buggy and should be avoided). The OS itself is fully 68K.

[Blinx123]

But when WinUAE would get PPC emulation a PPC card would speed things up, am I right?

[Piru]

@Blinx123

But when WinUAE would get PPC emulation a PPC card would speed things up, am I right?

No.

[Blinx123]

Oh man, so why buy one, then? If it doesn´t make a change in speed and doesn´t make things more compatible it´s worthless.

[Piru]

@Blinx123

Now you got it.

There cards are used for embedded development and such special purposes. Some uses (quoting some manufacturers):
- Storage over IP
- Packet Analysis
- Content Switching
- Security
- Wi-Fi Gateway /switches
- High performance embedded computer systems

Typically these systems cost arm & leg. Many companies can customize the designs for specific needs.

[rzookol]

http://msaros.blogspot.com/2006/02/cheap-ppc-alternative.html

[Blinx123]

Thats the same blogg I read before posting this thread here. The blogg writer says the exact opposite of what Piru says.