AMIGA Coldfire FAQ Version 1 - Non Technical

[System]

I agree with you that the classic line of Amigas should not die out, but it should not be the platform for new software products. A coldfire Accel-card should do, don't start producing a new Amiga, based on outdated hardware. We need powerful hardware for state-of-the-art-apps. No "68k@66 MHz" processor.
I already hate actual hardware for the classic Amiga like the Z4 board or some silly clockport extensions. There are only few products of high quality. Look @ the PC-market. Every board and card is of high quality (at least those of a certain price range) and you can't blow off your system only by putting a cable on wrong pins.

As conclusion:
We need a mainboard that is tested, debugged and quality approved with a state-of-the-art-processor (G3/G4 PPC) on to which you can switch every good hardware such as graphics-, sound-cards, etc. (remeber: it's not PC-hardware, it's only GOOD HARDWARE)

That's my opinion. I won't spend any money on the Classic Amiga-line.

GREETZ!

[System]

Very good point and I'm glad you can see the purpose of our card and eventually motherboard. People are interested in this equipment for many reasons and alot of them will be AMIGA One users so don't think this going to pinch away AMIGA One users. This isn't true. This is a classic AMIGA, the very same we grew up with, its just a few hundred mhz faster thats all.

PJ

[System]

Very good point and I'm glad you can see the purpose of our card and eventually motherboard. People are interested in this equipment for many reasons and alot of them will be AMIGA One users so don't think this going to pinch away AMIGA One users. This isn't true. This is a classic AMIGA, the very same we grew up with, its just a few hundred mhz faster thats all.

PJ

[Chathurawind]

This will just split the communicity even further..... We will end up with no Amiga at all. Now we have 3 new platforms coming up, the AmigaONE, pegasos and now the coldfire amiga... The communicity aint big enough to support all of them. :-(

[csirac_]

Hi walibe,

I don't agree on you talking down AmigaOS 4.0, yes it's true it won't be a lot more functional than a heavily hacked OS3.x, but:

1. PPC all the way
2. Fast 68k emulation
3. A clean code base that not only relies on 3rd party hacks, but should pave the way to a) be more portable to other machines, such as (perhaps) yours and b) new wonderful functionality.
4. Some attempt at standardising/updating the official Amiga APIs

BUT I wanted to again offer my services as an MEE engineering student (see my email I sent you).

I've done lots of PCB layouts and microcontroller project designs but only two layers and even then only up to 1200 interconnections (all hand routed

I've never bothered with such nicities as high frequency transmission lines (signal length equalisation, noise margins, cross talk) etc. so I'm probably not much use - just a student - but if you need any ideas, some AROS work, let me know

Cheers,

- Paul Harvey

[Bobsonsirjonny]

Hmmm, you seem to be back tracking a lot here. I like your idea for a souped up classic - but your comments on OS 4 are just plain wrong. Perhaps your attack on it is to gain popularity with some of the MOS Ann users - but I see it as Flame bait.


A souped up classic interests me very much - as a fun machine. A toy - perhaps something for the kids to regenerate the bedroom coding scene. But that is all - it will never compete with PPC machines - be it A1 or Pegasos. I am going to buy an A1, as this hardware has a future - its a migration forward. However, please go ahead and develop your coldfire machine. I would be really interested in buying a laptop! I like the sound of it! But dont spout Ann drivel here.


On a side note - I don't underestimate the importance of AROS.

[System]

I didn't say OS 4.0 was rubbish just that it was a bit slow coming along and at the end of the day for OS 4.0 it won't make much difference you own an AMIGA One or a classic AMIGA. Its got alot of parts that were previously available for the classic AMIGA added to it, I can't wait to see OS 5.0. Its great to see AMIGA finally go PowerPC and so I don't have to say it again - THIS IS NOT MEAN TO COMPETE WITH THE AMIGA ONE. This is to keep the classic AMIGA alive, and I know most users will own both.

Alot of people have asked is the AMIGA One really an AMIGA? It does't even have a kickstart and yet can use the AMIGA name. Well in my opinion the AMIGA One is an AMIGA just as much as that emulated AMIGA running on your PC or your faithful A1200.

Keep the comments coming.

[Chathurawind]

How fast is 68K emulator running on top of ColdFire?
Usually emulator efficiency is only 10% / less.

Perhaps Transmeta CPU will have a better price/performance in running 68K programs.
Do you plan to create Multi processor accelerator boards for future MorphOS or AROS?

Do you plan to do reverse engineering / re-engineering of AGA chipset?

Do you see a succesful commercial prospect if someone invest in your product?

[System]

Commerically successful yes. It has the possibility to be more than an AMIGA. Because of the newer processor and hopefully anl all new motherboard theres no reason why such a device can't be used for many different things. Set top boxes, mission critical devices and more. Its ability to operate without a large operating system (you can stick AROS on a ROM for example) also lends itself to such use.

Within the AMIGA market itself, providing the price is right it could sell very well indeed to those wishing to keep their classic route alive. On the high street it meets a niche market. It has a relatively fast processor plus a collection of older software which is largely free of charge. It could be the new AMIGA 500 in the 21st century. There is no replacement out there for the A500/A1200. Tell me another machine that you can buy new that can do what they did at that time?

Retro computing is fashinable and if high street marketed or in the right magazines you'll get alot of interest and the more powerful processor means a very good Internet capable computer thats just as at home as a PC when writing documents. If you change the GPU then you end up with a system rivaling recent games consoles but thats another story.

Thankyou for your interest

[Chathurawind]

Too little. Too late.  In the late-90's this would have made an ideal transition platform from 68k to PPC.
:-?
The last thing the Amiga needs now is another split in the market.  We need as many ppl as possible behind AmigaOne, and other OS4 licenced solutions, to garentee future development of the hardware platform and OS. :-(  :-(  

[Kronos]

AFAIK there won't be a full 68k-emu as in AOS4/Amithlon/
/UAE/MorphOS (which reach between 30 and 60% btw) but just
something like the old 68040.library.

The 040.lib is called everytime when 68882-instruction is used
that doesn't exist in the 040/060 (like sin() cos()..).

[amigamad]

Sounds like a joke to me why bother with another new amiga anyway where are they going to get the money and amiga roms from isnt it to late and just causing more confusion for amiga owners.
The amigaone is nearly finished just waiting for os 4 after all we need to move forward rather than backwards .
Anyone out there remember the boxer if they could not get there machine out what hope is there for this project.info for the amigaone
I will sell my ppc a1200 tower once the amigaone is here eyetech are a good company to buy from.

[Chathurawind]

No offense but you do realise that OS 5.0 will be to some extent Elate based and that TAO doesn't even have a 68K/Coldfire VP translator and that there are no plans to make one?

This is actually one of the reasons Amiga didn't want any further updates of the Classic OS on 68K.

You're plain wrong about OS 4 BTW. If you think 3.9 had a lot of new stuff, then you'll be awed by OS 4 which has rewrites of key OS components like DOS, layers, Exec, Intuition, FFS etc.

It'll come with the fastest and most functional TCP/IP stack on the platform.

Nothing you can get off the Aminet.

[Chathurawind]

We already have a very large AMIGA company offering us help - nuff said. If you wanted big leaps forward you would have left the AMIGA years ago as we havn't really gone anywhere. Eyetechs AMIGA One isn't a step forward (after all many AMIGA users wil already have PPC equipped machines with PCI slots etc) but OS 4.0 most likely is a move forward. Making the classic AMIGA zip around at over 150 Mhz isn't a step backwards. Running a 68000 at 2mhz probably is.

PJ Matthews

[Coder]

Call me crazy (I know some of you want too! :-D ) but I admire them for doing this. I really do.

Coder

[Chathurawind]

Well when OS 4.0 comes out I'll be running it but I will also still be working on this machine (A1200 with soon to be Coldfire replacing its 040). How about we show you what it can do first. As for OS 5.0, that doesn't bother me - when AMIGA Inc get round to making it I'll buy it. When OS 3.9 becomes too tired I suspect we'll introduce AROS. The beauty of it is that we can slowly move it piece by pieve because of the 68k emulation layer.

Thankyou for your support coder, its appreciated and makes all the difference.

People don't think this is something that won't happen - as I have already said we have a very large AMIGA company (you will all have heard of them but I won't name them here just yet) offering us help and its great to see, they have everything we need to complete this project.

PJ Matthews