Re-create A1200 accelerators

[hbarcellos]

It's this one?

http://www.dcecom.de/

[Donar]

It's this one?

Yes

Was the Phoenix actually re-issued? I mean did anyone actually get one?

Yes you can see Data about it at www.a1k.org or see some in the wild if you access the Forum and go to the Showroom.

The Accelerator card "Turbo-FE" for the Phoenix seems to be a design from a user and was produced by VMC as far as i know. By the way, how is it going with your design?

[rkauer]

 AFAIR, Jens have the owns & rights to all Apollo designs. Maybe we have to ask him to run a batch of those baaad Apollo 1240/60 accelerators...

 Hmmm... I think this is trolling...

[Caius]

I have no issues with audio in UAE and I use mine for professional music production. I urge you to use UAE on a modern machine before you make comment.

Ah, I just love assumptions.

As it happens I am running it on a fast, modern computer. The problems I have are related to lagging. I mentioned OSS. If you can do realtime editing (as in entering from the keyboard as the module runs), then please tell me what your UAE settings are. Perhaps there are some tricks there?

[rkauer]

 /Meh thinks if there is a FPGA fast enough to emulate a full 060 on its own full glory, and what price it will cost...

 And more: if Freescale will like it! :flame::destroy:

 Freescale->:whack:<-FPGA

[Donar]

Freescale should shut up, or get a 68080 out.  :-P

[rkauer]

Donar wrote:
Freescale should shut up, or get a 68080 out.  :-P

 @Donar: the "080" already exists. It is called Coldfire, and is not compatible with the Amiga code/kernel natively.

[MadMonkey]

68060s dont cost anywhere near £275 more like £75. I got one for 99p along with a network server

These may not be ROHS compliant ones, which would prevent manufacturers from using them but it doesn't stop users fitting them themselves.

If the user can fit the board then they can certainly put a processor in its socket so fitting really isn't an issue.

There isn't much point making 68k based accelerators as WinUAE running on an old laptop would outperform them.

PPC accelerators are needed and these would sell even if the cost is high. Just look at the prices on Ebay etc.

[Donar]

rkauer wrote:

the "080" already exists. It is called Coldfire.

No.

... and is not compatible with the Amiga code/kernel natively.

That is probably why i mentioned a 68080...

[McVenco]

Oli_hd wrote:

Then it's about bloody time that someone starts writing decent soundoptions for UAE

Ahh great a volunteer, get coding and let us know when its done. (Dont say its about bloody time, thats an open source program that the coders do for fun)

Hey, I put a smiley behind that comment for a reason!

Of course I know that the UAE coders do everything for fun and non profit. I love programs like WinUAE (or any other open source project) being available for free, rather than those Windows shareware writers who ask 60 dollars for a program which can create animated GIFs or something like that. That's also one of the things which makes the Amiga so great...

If I could code, I would certainly make some free stuff for the Amiga, but I'm afraid I couldn't code to save my own life.

bloodline wrote:

I have no issues with audio in UAE and I use mine for professional music production. I urge you to use UAE on a modern machine before you make comment.

I have used WinUAE on a pretty fast pc not too long ago and I still find the audio in WinUAE quirkier than on a real Amiga. It just doesn't feel and sound the same to me.

[Krusher]

McVenco wrote:
...I still find the audio in WinUAE quirkier than on a real Amiga. It just doesn't feel and sound the same to me.

Duh, it lacks Paula :-D
But WinUAE does a good job, and the floppy sound is a great addition  :lol: I just installed WinUAE yesterday and I do mis a real Amiga. Emulation on other hardware is just not the same.

[pyrre]

@ MadMonkey

68060s dont cost anywhere near £275 more like £75. I got one for 99p along with a network server

Are you sure?

At Frescale they suggest a budgetary price of $524.99 per unit, IF you purchase 1000+ units from them...
Do you want to ask them for single unit prices?
However these are RoHS compliant....

[Oli_hd]

Are you sure?    At Frescale they suggest a budgetary price of $524.99 per unit, IF you purchase 1000+ units from them...

He is talking about socket pulls, as seen on ebay.
You can pick up ones and twos like this no problem, more would be a problem though. But there are suppliers of surplus components who say they have tens and hundreds in stock so if rohs was put to one side for a moment then a low cost card could be an option.

[pyrre]

if rohs was put to one side for a moment then a low cost card could be an option.

However, making a board with CPUsocket and dips to change between 040/060 option. Leaving it up to the user to choose and buy CPUs for the boards...
Like ALL major motherboard manifacturers do today.
that would cut the production cost of the accelerator/MB, thus reducing the retail prices a bit.


From one thing to another:
Would this "thing" help in adding DDR ram and integrated ethernet to a future design... (accelerator or new MB)

[alexh]

Freescale do not want to sell anymore 68060 chips. They want to move all new designs over to the coldfire platform.

Why?

Pure speculation, but as a chip engineer, I think it is probably because they can no longer make 68060 chips in their own factories. The Freescale fabs (factories that makes chips) probably do not make chips of that geometry any more.

Why not just "End of life" the 68060 and stop selling them all together?

Again, pure speculation, but I think it is because they were sold directly from Freescale (then Motorola) to the military. Military ASIC contracts demand that any chip used must be continued to be sold for (I think) at least 25 years from the date of first purchase.

So, unable to make anymore than they have in Inventory what do they do? They up the price to something stupid, a price so high that only the military will buy them, that should see them through to EOL.

There is someone else, other than Freescale, still making and selling 680x0 CPU's.

http://www.e2v.com/products/ccd-and-cmos-imaging-and-semiconductors/high-reliability-microprocessors.cfm

It is possible that Freescale sold their old FAB to another company (originally Ateml?) who continued to make these chips. They DON'T offer 68060.

[Oli_hd]

A few years ago they moved the 68060 production to a new fab, thats why there are 50Mhz 060's that can be overclocked to near 100Mhz (the design is the same, the equipment used to make it is better) so I think they are still making them.
As for why are they so expensive, I would go more with cost of making a PGA compaired to a tiny BGA (the BGA 68060 EC's they do are like £100), combine that with 50Mhz not cutting it today so less sales so shorter production runs and you end up at £250.