Accelerator Cards

[Zac67]

Blizzard 20x0 connects to the A2000 CPU socket (CPU Fast Slot). A500 doesn't have it, although some rare expansion units give it.

The A2000's CPU slot and the A500's expansion port are actually very much alike - something like a simplified Zorro II slot w/o AutoConfig.

[Piru]

@sim085

I know some will say why not use WinUAE and get it done with, but would something like the above be possible?

Sure it would, but the price would be so hideous you could get a couple of recent AMD or intel setups for the price.

[sim085]

Piru wrote:
Sure it would, but the price would be so hideous you could get a couple of recent AMD or intel setups for the price.

Yes I know what you mean ... and as I already said I do not have the knowledge nor the time to do something like that ... it was just a (quick) thought after all the posts :-)

However it was nice to learn so many things on accelerator cards and more importantly on how memory was managed in the Amiga.

[rkauer]

 Let me explain the problem on the real side of life: I'm developing an A600 020 accelerator.

 A major PITA, if you ask me. The RAM controller is small and fits on a little portion of a (nowadays small) PLD.

 The other parts of it are implement/interface signal buses not present on the 68000 side and required for the 68020 to work. And the leftover is dedicated to new IDE controller (for A500/2000 in a future version).

 Guess what? I had to stop development for lack of... funds! No, I am not asking for nobody's money. I will not accept pre-orders nor any other type of "donations".

 Prototyping a board is time-consuming and expensive. Just for your information, a single small prototype board will cost around 500 USD, without any component placed on it.

 Now imagine a powerful 060 or even modern CPU: the prototype board will cost securely more than 1000 USD for a single board.

 Get the picture? :horse:

[sim085]

@rkauer

So an empty PCB costs that much!!? How does it work? you send the PCB design to a company and they send you the empty PCB board? or?

I do get your point however. I started this thread just to get a better understanding about Accelerator Cards. I do fantasies some times of building one myself when I will have the time to learn how to do so; however such a time is very far away at the moment ... if it will ever come close I do not know!

[recidivist]

 I wonder who has the rights to the previously sold cards as I think some of the companies are out of business.

 If the patent and copyright was assigned to a company ,and said company is not acquired by another does the patent pass into public domain ?

 If someone produced clones of a product from a defunct company what would happen ?


  On the technical side I've not worked with SMD ,the old discrete and 0.1" pin spacing of DIP were challenging enough for my eyes!

Note: I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.

[Piru]

@recidivist

Even if you somehow would avoid the legal problems, you'd still be unable to produce the clones: The components are no longer available.

[rkauer]

Piru wrote:
@recidivist

Even if you somehow would avoid the legal problems, you'd still be unable to produce the clones: The components are no longer available.

 @Piru: a lot of ancients components are available at small quantities on those Ebay companies and on-line stores.

 But even if someone collect enough "material" to copy a card, where someone grab the code of PAL/GAL/PIC used at that time? Those chips have read-protection, so you can write to it, but not read the contents.

 And another not-so-minor problem: ROHS! This acronym means no new electronic product sold on Europe can have lead (solder and chips). So goodbye for the old chips, anyway... :headwall:

[sim085]

@rkauer

I am afraid this thread (like many others) will turn into a 'why not build a new accelerator card' type of thread.

However I cannot stop myself from asking this; Are you keeping some sort of diary on your progress? Do not get me wrong, I am not asking this to see when the card you are creating gets ready (I have an A500+ so it would not even be compatible I guess) but rather to know what needs to be done to actually go through a project like this one; what are the difficulties, how to solve them, the various tasks and so on. I think that would be an interesting read :-)

[recidivist]

Read protection on the chips ? I had thought only legal and parts issues prevented cloning and reading chips no different than reading out ROM. :-?

Lack of the glue code is a showstopper.

It is a shame abandoned IP doesn't automatically become public domain.

The copyright and patent laws of the U.U. of A. were originally much more limited in time and that was for an era commerce moved much slower!

Use it or lose it!

Everything is so complicated  these days,especially by enviromental and safety rules that attempt to remove all possible risks.We? now worry about substanc in parts per trillion as a hazard yet just a century ago were commonplace with little noticeable effects.Just look at the lead paint,DON'T eat it,and I bet you'll be fine!

Anyway,modern multilayer pc boards are hardly a home project and setup costs are a huge factor in small production.

Now here's a project to contemplate: an adapter or inbetween card that plugs into the cpu slot of classic Amigas and then has the slotfor an  Apple Mac cpu or upgrade cpu .
 :-o

[mongo]

rkauer wrote:
 
 Prototyping a board is time-consuming and expensive. Just for your information, a single small prototype board will cost around 500 USD, without any component placed on it.

A single small prototype board will cost you nowhere near that.

[rkauer]

 I've found a Chinese supplier for the board: 100x100mm, 4 layers, ROHS-compliant, less than 400 holes, SMD solder on both sides, silver plated (ROHS demmand), 0.1mm spacement high-density traces. ~280 USD, without shipping and custom fees!

 Brazilian industries take advantage of the custom fees (~107% !!!) to sell prototype boards for the price they want (a bit less than imported ones).

_________________________________________________


 For people whiling to learn about how to make your own accelerator, and starting with a good electronics acknowledge, read:

 Lucas/Francis project;
 then Freescale's 68000, 68881/2, 680EC020, 68020 and 030 datasheets. Also DRAM memory principles and controllers, CPLD, GAL/PAL & PIC datasheets and programs. That's for start...

 Oh, and also you need to learn a PLD language, like verilog.