New x86 "accelerator" for Classic Amiga?

[skurk]

Mmmnnnooo, that's not what I were thinking.  I'm thinking of an accel that replaces the existing CPU - not a software-activated/passive unit.  You are right, they both are mounted inside the computer, but that's about where the similarities end, IMO.

Anyway, nevermind my rambling. I'm not too good with words.

[swift240]

@ DrValkyer,
You have an idea, then why not go for it.
Just because others don`t see it as a good thing because you can use WinUAE or AROS or AMiKit instead.

Its this sort of thing that stops ideas from coming into action.
They do have a valid point of course and I do agree I use AmiKit for a FAST Amiga.
My Tower system (signature) is to slow for real applications if I am truly honest.

But all the same its an idea that may work.
There are lots of ideas out there. Some good some not so good, don`t be put off.

I think some times people want to go for the more easy option, I am one of them but having said that, as I say don`t be put off, just because some one else cant see the point of it, if we all done that then we would get nothing done.

Its ok I suppose to sit back and say why bother?

I say why not?
Its people with ideas that get things done, example AmiKit, AROS, WinUAE. If it was not for those people then we would have virtually nothing.


Mike.  

[amiga92570]

Well, you lost me. You want a X86 accelerator in a amiga with pci slots. You can buy them cheap at any computer store. Along with WinUae you can run your amiga apps. Putting an accelerator with x86 in amiga would allow the same thing but unless you rewrite all the amiga apps, games, etc for x86 you would be stuck with a expensive wintel box. I think you would be best off buying a PC and using WINUAE. You can still make claim to having the fastest amiga if you want to.

[skope]

What's the deal with amiga-people and custom hw anyway? What about just porting the os for x86 based machines? Apple did it...  :idea:

[cv643d]

I think someone on a1k.org already is going to experiment with a slave x86 system connected to his A1000 as a number cruncher.

[yssing]

@Skurk >> sounds great. go for it.

I would love to my part to such a card, but it has been far to long since I have done any HW design.

Also, I would not know how to do the logick, that is, how to interface with, any excisting CPU even regular RAM.

[DrValkyer]

Well, you lost me. You want a X86 accelerator in a amiga with pci slots.

Nope! My first post was about running x86 apps on x86 and then showing the results on Miggy's screen.

My later post was a reply to skurk. And what I meant was that if someone is going to build an turbocard using a x86 processor which software emulates mk68 processor it would be better to start with a PCI-FPGA card which is connected to the normal PC which itself is running mk68-emulator and using PCI-FPGA card as mk68-busboard. This way you virtually dont have to do anything than connect PCI-FPGA card in right way to Amiga's expansion port and program the FPGA.

Huh, getting complex... :-D

[dammy]

What's the deal with amiga-people and custom hw anyway? What about just porting the os for x86 based machines? Apple did it...  

That has already been done.

Dammy

[skurk]

dammy wrote:

What's the deal with amiga-people and custom hw anyway? What about just porting the os for x86 based machines? Apple did it...  

That has already been done.

Dammy

AROS would be my #1 choice if it could seamlessly (and flawlessly) run the good old 68k games and demos out-of-the-box.

[skurk]

DrValkyer wrote:
Huh, getting complex... :-D

He he, indeed ;-)

If no-one else does it, I will - one day.  I'm trying my best to wrap my head around the mysterious world of electronics these days.  I'm starting to get the hang of the basics, but I'm far, far, far, far, far away from accomplishing something like an x86 accelerator.

:-)

[dammy]

AROS would be my #1 choice if it could seamlessly (and flawlessly) run the good old 68k games and demos out-of-the-box.

EvilRich is working on that very project.  Donations toward his work is always welcomed. :-D

Dammy

[Ilwrath]

in regards to building an x86 Amiga accelerator...

You could also have all the fastmem you want on the accelerator board, as there are no 24-bit address limitations in that jungle. The RAM speed could also exceed the traditional by far.

Very true.... Of course, you'd exceed the speed of the whole old Amiga by far.  At that point, why not virtualize (a skeleton) of it.  Then you've ended up back at Amithlon.  Take away the copyright problems from that, and you're at AROS.  

I just don't see the classic hardware having a future beyond that of retro/collectible.

[bloodline]

Ilwrath wrote:
in regards to building an x86 Amiga accelerator...

You could also have all the fastmem you want on the accelerator board, as there are no 24-bit address limitations in that jungle. The RAM speed could also exceed the traditional by far.

Very true.... Of course, you'd exceed the speed of the whole old Amiga by far.  At that point, why not virtualize (a skeleton) of it.  Then you've ended up back at Amithlon.  Take away the copyright problems from that, and you're at AROS.  

I just don't see the classic hardware having a future beyond that of retro/collectible.

Very very true...

[Ratte]

< The idea .. Sorry its in german >
< First letters on Amiga.org >
< Schematics >
< read the second comment >
< actual overview .. now with 1Ghz Athlon instead P3 700 >
< reserved for the pci-bridge >

 :hammer:

[Trev]

How high can you clock a 68K FPGA implementation? That to me seems far more interesting than an x86 accelerator or remote execution / remote procedure call enviornment. The ColdFire is cool, but can you make a faster, more compatible processor in an FPGA? Sorry, I haven't been following the FPGA threads.

The idea of using an x86--or any other host system--for remote execution certainly isn't anything new. Rather than move GUI data back and forth, you're better off having a local GUI and just transporting data and procedure calls. Or something like that. High-speed interconnects would be prefferable--maybe GbE on an accelerator card with an appropriate buffer ("instructions" and data) and custom (or open) protocol? It would then at least be interoperable with most of what's out there today.

[Zac67]

AFAIK the framework needed for a modern x86 CPU is a major pain in the *ss. You'll need lots of stuff like a north bridge (RAM controller, interfaces) and high performance power regulation. To make the north bridge work, you'll have to license a complete PC BIOS, which in turn requires more peripherals, so you end up with 3/4 of a PC mainboard.

The easiest way would be to take a small (µATX, mini ITX) mainboard and build a PCI <-> Zorro III or CPU-fast-slot bridge and just connect the mobo to the Amiga, just like in Ratte's link - would even give you an upgrade path, so you might consider using PCIe instead in the first place.

Again, this is pretty much an Amiga on a PCI card. If you also use the x86 side's graphics hardware through RTG and the sound through AHI, there's actually not much left of the original hardware, so you could also use UAE with Keyrah and Catweazle.