New PCI board for A1200: Mediator 1200 TX

[DJS]

Elbox Computer, the company that introduced the PCI standard to Amiga, is pleased to announce the latest Mediator model -- MEDIATOR PCI 1200 TX -- the successor of the MEDIATOR PCI 1200 SX.

New firmware embedded in CPLDs of MEDIATOR 1200 TX allows significant speed-up of graphic card operations when hardware 2D and 3D acceleration is used in single-processor systems (68k or PPC). The new firmware operation modes are supported by the new Mediator OS3.x System Files provided on the enclosed MM CD. Native PowerPC support will be provided in the upcoming update of AmigaOS 4.0.

MEDIATOR PCI 1200 TX, like its predecessor, has 6 PCI slots, busmastering in all PCI slots, Power Management Interface, ATX and AT power connectors, and provides 3.3V auxiliary supply to all PCI slots.

MEDIATOR PCI 1200 TX is dedicated for A1200 in D-BOX 1200, Mirage 1200, E/BOX 1200 (Power, Winner), EZ-Z4 and Infinitiv tower cases.

Included with the MEDIATOR PCI 1200 TX is the Mediator Multimedia CD with new versions of drivers for Sound, TV tuner, Ethernet 10Mbps, Fast Ethernet 100Mbps and Graphic PCI cards.

For the list of currently supported PCI cards see Mediator Driver Guide.
For more info, see Mediator PCI 1200 TX website.



Pricing and availability

The Mediator PCI TX will be on sale from 27th February 2008 with suggested retail price EUR 195.95 (plus local taxes and shipping costs).

To locate an authorized distributor or purchase product in Elbox Online Store visit website.


Upgrading Mediator 1200 SX to the new Mediator 1200 TX will be possible. The TX Upgrade program for Mediator 1200 SX users will be announced at a later time.

[spihunter]

I wonder how the SX upgrade is going to work?

[Dragster]

New products huh? Where's the SharkPPC?

 :lol:

[xeron]

The SX -> TX upgrade is probably just a case of swapping out the CPLD.

[derringer3]

Advantages :

 -3.3V  support (so some cards maybe usable under amiga
 -You can use atx power suplly not just at
 -You can wake up your amiga by LAN signal
 -Maybe gfx card accelerated, but somebody proof it, until then it is only the same marketing bla bla from elbox.
           
Disadvantages:

- It is not using real dma, just the gfx card hack. (same as the earlier models)  
-max 8MB memory window. It reveals everithing, so i doubt it is faster than earlier models.

[Methuselas]

What's the deal with the whole "graphics card hack" anyways and why doesn't this thing (or any of the Mediators, for that matter) have DMA?? :inquisitive:


*waits patiently for the All-Knowing and Wise Piru*  :lol:

[AMC258]

Maybe I'm wrong, but my guess is that they didn't bother to engineer DMA because the Meditator was intended to host a PPC processor board, and it would only use the system's existing processor/memory to bridge the gap until the PPC board was available.

[AndrewBell]

Maybe I'm wrong, but my guess is that they didn't bother to engineer DMA because the Meditator was intended to host a PPC processor board, and it would only use the system's existing processor/memory to bridge the gap until the PPC board was available.

According to a post on another site, the lack of DMA is due to a 8MB data transfer "window". This "window" is a limitation of the A1200 expansion bus, so no busboard will ever have DMA.

As for the Shark, you'll never see it. They are out of production.
________
FLINT TRUCK ASSEMBLY

[AMC258]

A1200 expansion bus, so no busboard will ever have DMA.

That doesn't entirely explain why the other Meditators don't DMA.  And, maybe they will never have DMA to the host system, but they obviously have DMA to the video card, and could theoretically have DMA to a memory board, or, a processor board with memory.

They are out of production.

Maybe we won't see the Shark as it was promised for that reason (keep in mind just because production stopped doesn't mean it can't be started again if it is profitable).  But, what's to say someone isn't working on a different design?

[AndrewBell]

That doesn't entirely explain why the other Meditators don't DMA

Are you referring to the A3000 and A4000 models? I don't know what the problem with them is.

maybe they will never have DMA to the host system, but they obviously have DMA to the video card, and could theoretically have DMA to a memory board, or, a processor board with memory.

Without a processor in a PCI slot, DMA from the host system is the only DMA that matters. And there are no processor cards for PCI.

just because production stopped doesn't mean it can't be started again if it is profitable

No, but ROHS compliance does. That and the components no longer being manufactured. That's why CyberstormPPCs are not being made.

But, what's to say someone isn't working on a different design?

Who would be the customers? A few hundred Amiga users. The Mac market for these products is also dead. With Apples move to Intel, anyone wanting to upgrade a PPC Mac can buy an old machine pretty cheaply.

I'd love to be proved wrong, but the opportunity to create new Amiga PPC processor upgrades was missed. The rest of the world moved on.
________
Buy silver surfer vaporizer

[AMC258]

No, but ROHS compliance does.

That is why RoHS, along with all other socialist obligations are bad.  Plain and simple.  Bad.

Who would be the customers?

Anyone that wants to run OS4 and doesn't have an AmigaOne.  I'd buy two of them today if they came available.

A few hundred Amiga users.

Profit is profit.  If you can prove you will profit, you can get the resources to do anything.  Less buyers simply means the price goes up.  We have plenty of evidence that the people that would buy such a thing have no problem spending a few extra dollars.  Now, finding the sweet spot between making a profit and not turning away buyers....

I'd love to be proved wrong

I have been looking forward to the release of a new PPC board since the announcement of OS4 Classic.  I am not banking on it, because, well, I haven't been under a boing-ball shaped rock for the past 15 years.  So, I have nothing to lose by looking forward to it.  I have my hope.  It's all I have, but I have it.  I lost all hope of running OS4 some time in 2002.  Well, now I run OS4.

Here, I'll bet you $1USD that we get a new PPC board for 'Classic' Amigas before the end of the year.  Now I have something to lose

[xeron]

OK, the Mediator 1200 models can do DMA between cards (which is why TV cards work, for example), but they can't DMA to fastmem.

This is because the Mediator doesn't include an accelerator but is designed to wedge between the A1200 and an existing accelerator.

Fast memory on most A1200 accelerators is simply RAM that is attached to the processor. Nothing on the A1200 side of the bus can see it. The only devices that can read or write that memory have to be ON the accelerator.

Being wedged between the A1200 and the accelerator, the mediator simply doesn't have access to the memory on the accelerator. There is absolutely nothing it could do to read or write the accelerator fastmem. The CPU is the only thing that can see both the mediator and its fastmem, so to get data off of a PCI card and into memory, the CPU has to read it from the card and write it into memory.

Technically, the mediator could read and write chip memory, but that would be useless; its just too slow to be worth while, and also, most accelerators aren't design to expect any other devices on the a1200 expansion port to be reading or writing chipmem through it, so you could have problems there.

[platon42]

No, but ROHS compliance does. That and the components no longer being manufactured.

Speaking of which, has the Mediator TX been updated/redesigned to be RoHS compliant (lead-free components, but also regarding the plastic connectors)? At least on the upper side of the PCB, there is no "trashcan" symbol visible. Comparing the pictures of the SX and TX, the board is exactly the same, with the same components, and especially old chips with DIP/DIL packages are hard to find RoHS compliant nowadays.

So maybe Elbox could confirm the RoHS compliance?

It would be sad if this expensive piece of hardware couldn't be sold within Europe legally.

[Akiko]

It would be sad if this expensive piece of hardware couldn't be sold within Europe legally.

I don't know if this is the case, however I would find it even sadder if anyone actually cared!

[cv643d]

If it is indeed faster than previous Mediator bus boards I am definitely interested in one.

I would love to see some support for newer graphics boards to. DVI support is needed since higher resolutions are so fuzzy (at least for me).