Whatever happend to the Coldfire project?

[Oli_hd]

Hi,

remember some guy going on about it a while back...  

That would be me  :-D

Any news

Yep, On monday I put an order in to get the next prototype printed (4 layer, high density thing) but still havent had a reply, I will e-mail them next monday and see if they lost my e-mail or something.

info

The current prototype is much better than the first, its got USB, Firewire, AC97 sound, IRDA (Fixed speed) and an SDRam interface that should work this time  ;-)

designs

Link to pic and info of current prototype

This is a small mockup of the design I am getting printed right now as well as some info.

proto boards?

Arriving soon... hopefully.

No funding.. thats what happened..

Fuding is not a problem, I think this version was just a bit over complicated... fun to do mind.

Shame the Coldfire is even further behind than the PPC do be of any real use.  

It will wipe the floor with any current PPC upgrade available  :-)
As for the new era for Amiga, no its not, It could never be, its just an upgrade for current Amiga's to make them run faster, nothing more.

We need to interview this good fellow!

Hehe, sure, please feel free, my e-mail address is oliver@cdtv.org.uk

I'm sorry .. but IMO .. its a waste of time and money.

Well I waste time a lot, and money so why not waist them on the Amiga?  :-?

We need to take the Amiga platform forward

Great, but what about your A1200 and A4000? will you leave them to rot?

The coldfire accelerator isn't about "moving the platform forward", its about making a kick-ass Amiga classic.

totally with you, thats just what the project is about.

Anyway a new PCB is just around the corner, hopefully this one will work  :-)

Im happy to answer any questions, as it stands development continues.

Night all

[Framiga]

Quote

We need to interview this good fellow! I would LOVE to put one of those in one of my Amigas! Wouldn't that just rock?!!?

Too late!

We had already done 6 months ago :-D :-D (on Bitplane magazine)

Seriously, Oliver "Hannaford" Day is a genius!

Follow him with the right consideration and think that he works on AmigaColdfireProject, only for 6 months per year.

A great opportunity for all Amiga Classic.

Ciao

[magnetic]

Great to hear from you directly!
 Keep up the work! I have a few questions if you dont mind:

1. How do you intend to make the coldfire work with 68k programs/OS. What software?

2. The prototype you are having made.. will it show a Rom screen?

thanks
magnetic

[Oli_hd]

Hi,

1. How do you intend to make the coldfire work with 68k programs/OS. What software?

As you may know the Coldfire is semi 68K compatiable, the (few) missing instructions will be emulated using software developed under contract from Motorola, This emulates everything needed to get 68K programs and OS working.
The software is loaded from a flash chip before the Amiga's kickstart is loaded.

2. The prototype you are having made.. will it show a Rom screen?

Are you talking about the Kickstarts Rom screen or a Coldfire menu? (Your probably talking about the Kickstart menu)

The kickstart menu would be visable and should work just fine on the prototype but it would be something for me to check.

As for a Coldfire menu, the prototype will have no menu's at all, if a final version would, I dont know, it would be nice to switch between emulated CPU's but I will see.... (Im using a 512kb flash chip on the prototype so I can play with such things)

[Stew]

  Any idea as to when it will be finished?

[jeffimix]

Heh, would be nice for my 2000 (probably couldn't afford it but hey, maybe if I save up real long) noMAAM, in one light, I think you're right, everything that can help the platform move forward should be done. But, what exactly could I do for, say, OS4, or MOS. oh well.

[MarkTime]

WOW, neat project, that's for sure.
I would think I would prefer a new PPC motherboard...

but this is quite tempting, nevertheless....hope
to see it on the market!

[Oli_hd]

Hi,

Any idea as to when it will be finished?

Well it shouldnt have been to far off but the last prototype was totally useless which slowed the project up a lot, I am now aiming for the A4K version to be done by December, but thats assuming this prototype does something.  ;-)

(After that it would be the A1200 version and then the A2000 version with the others following in no particular order)

[kzin]

have you done any market research?

how will you sell them?

Are you doing the USB drivers yourself?

Who will assemble the cards? Id like to recommend where I work

http://www.dynamic-controls.co.nz/manufacturing-services/default.asp

Are you doing every thing yourself? do you need investors?

[Oli_hd]

Hi,

have you done any market research?

Well when the project started a news group was set up so anyone who was interested could join, We now have almost 250 people subscribed.
The group has polls to see what people want on the card, for what Amiga, what they would pay for it and such like.
So yes, Sorta.

how will you sell them?

Bit early to say, had a couple of people interested in selling them, I would also sell them myself, basically anyone who wanted to sell them would be welcome.
Bit early to talk about that sorta thing yet though.

Are you doing the USB drivers yourself?

Again, to early to say, I would like to use Poseidon but would create the chip driver myself.

Who will assemble the cards? Id like to recommend where I work

Hehe, well again its to early to say, I looked at the local (UK) PCB companies for this prototype so I could find someone to use for the final card. (Although the one I ended up with doesnt assemble the PCB's, they just print them so a 3rd party assembler may be used.)

Are you doing every thing yourself?

I'm doing the PCB design and software myself. (Although thankfully the software side is just piecing together the examples, filling in the blanks and porting 68K datatypes and stuff.)
I had someone convert some PAL source to VHDL (Xilinx) for me although I havent used it yet.  :-(

do you need investors?

Nope, I have everything needed to finish development and (hopefully) pre-ordered would cover most of the first batch. (start small)

[odin]

It's prolly waaaaaaaaaay to early to ask this, but I'm going to anyway :-).

Any idea of the price range these cards will fall in? I could imagine the price being higher than the current PPC cards. But then again, I'm under the impression that you're doing this not really for profit? (Not that I don't want you to have profit or anything :-D).

[Framiga]

Quote

by MarkTime on 2003/6/8 4:33:03

WOW, neat project, that's for sure.
I would think I would prefer a new PPC motherboard...

another one?

AOne and Pegasos aren't enough?

Ciao

[Framiga]

Quote

by odin on 2003/6/8 13:45:27

It's prolly waaaaaaaaaay to early to ask this, but I'm going to anyway.

Any idea of the price range these cards will fall in? I could imagine the price being higher than the current PPC cards.


Wrong ;-)

estimated final prices: from £160 to £240

Ciao!

[Oli_hd]

Hi,

Any idea of the price range these cards will fall in?

I am aiming at £170 for a basic A4000 version (USB, IDE, SDRam and 220Mhz Coldfire) however it depends on lots of things so it could go much higer, specially as a lot of people want Ethernet (10/100) as that isnt cheap.

I could imagine the price being higher than the current PPC cards.

Well its only got one CPU for starts which helps a lot in keeping the price down, plus the Coldfire chip is a cheap CPU, its just that the market has more competiton now which may effect the price (less units = higher cost)

I'm under the impression that you're doing this not really for profit?

I dont care if its profitable or not, I dont want to loose a lot either though, as long as I get enough money to develope the next card that fine by me...

It isnt my job so I am not dependant on it making anything.

[magnetic]

THanks for responding to my questions. That is good news. I went to your site.. looks great and is clean and professional. Your project is exciting. I think a big market for you is Video Toaster people because that is something you cant run on an A1 or Peg!
magnetic

[redrumloa]

@nOMAAM

I've got to disagree with you. This coldfire board if it ever materialises would be the bees knees:-) I've got a brand new Amiga 500 here I would drop one in:-D