P96 RTG driver development for new hardware

[JimDrew]

I am guessing that .elf = is the PPC version, since that is what the PPC code hunks are called.

Where do the AROS rom.bin and ext.bin get mapped into the Amiga's address space?


NOTE!! Apparently AROS already works fine with the Replay board... from the AROS website:

AROS at AmiWest 2012

     Author:Jason McMullan  Date:2012-11-02    At AmiWest 2012, Samuel Crow and Jason McMullan demonstrated AROS v1 running on the Sam460ex from ACube, the FPGA Arcade Replay from FPGA Arcade, and the Raspberry PI from the Raspberry PI Foundation.

[wawrzon]

I am guessing that .elf = is the PPC version, since that is what the PPC code hunks are called.?

no, it was used for ppc, but elf is simply binary code format as opposed to amiga hunk format. gcc generates currently binaries in this format. aros68k can load both (in my experience elf loading is faster) but to be run under amiga binaries need to be converted to hunk. aros provides a tool elf2hunk and converts also the aros binaries contained in the iso to hunk. practically when softkicking aros only needs arosbootstrap to be in hunk.

i dont know about the floppy, but the iso/boot/amiga contains either aros.elf (not converted, as i compile it) or aros.hunk.gz images.

Where is the AROS rom.bin and ext.bin get mapped into the Amiga's address space?

i guess kickstart needs to be mapped to an address where it is expected to boot from, but i dont know. best ask toni on eab.

[wawrzon]

NOTE!! Apparently AROS already works fine with the Replay board... from the AROS website:

AROS at AmiWest 2012

     Author:Jason McMullan  Date:2012-11-02    At AmiWest 2012, Samuel Crow and Jason McMullan demonstrated AROS v1 running on the Sam460ex from ACube, the FPGA Arcade Replay from FPGA Arcade, and the Raspberry PI from the Raspberry PI Foundation.

sure it should, as fpgaarcade provides amiga compatible hardware. jason even presented it on amiwest, but then there was only 68000 implementation without aga i guess, so it might not have been that impressive. jason have been amiga68k developer together with toni.

[JimDrew]

Looks like the ext-bin.rom is PC relative and can be placed either in the 0xE0 area, or the 0xF0 area, with the main rom in the normal 0xF8 area.  I will setup a HD partition and .ini for Replay and try it.  I don't expect any issues.

I have only worked with .elf hunks on PPC machines (Amiga with PPC and PowerMacs).  I didn't realize it was a new hunk type in general.

[wawrzon]

I don't expect any issues.

if there is any, aros nightly has enabled debug output on serial, baudrate 115200

[JimDrew]

I changed the mode ID from 0x3FF2 to 0x3FFE and saw no difference in features or performance.  I guess I need to really need to thoroughly disassemble the PicassoIV monitor file to figure out the system hooks.

[kolla]

I have only worked with .elf hunks on PPC machines (Amiga with PPC and PowerMacs).  I didn't realize it was a new hunk type in general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_and_Linkable_Format

[kolla]

if there is any, aros nightly has enabled debug output on serial, baudrate 115200

Hm, isn't that a wee bit too high baudrate for an Amiga?

[wawrzon]

Hm, isn't that a wee bit too high baudrate for an Amiga?

too high? why? i have been using serial logging with this setting on aros from the beginning with no problem, i guess i tested even with an 68020.

[kolla]

Yes, I suppose for logging it works well enough. For data transfers, be it zmodem or IP over PPP, 115200 is not at all reliable, even 57600 is stretching it. 38400 works most of the time.

[Cosmos Amiga]

Gunnar BigGun said to me he have the Picasso96 SDK...

I asked to give it to me, but no answer some years ago...

Ask him, maybe you will be lucky...

[kamelito]

Gunnar BigGun said to me he have the Picasso96 SDK...

I asked to give it to me, but no answer some years ago...

Ask him, maybe you will be lucky...

They're looking for the DDK, the SDK is freely available. Maybe just a typo...
Kamelito

[psxphill]

Yes, I suppose for logging it works well enough. For data transfers, be it zmodem or IP over PPP, 115200 is not at all reliable, even 57600 is stretching it. 38400 works most of the time.

It depends on what else is going on. There were replacement serial.device where 115200 would work ok, especially on an a1200.

If you're using 16 colour highres screens on ECS or run a "blitter nasty" patch then you'll have more issues.

I don't think aros 68k is currently aimed at the unexpanded a500.

[zipper]

Running on RTG 115200 works fine.

[mikej]

It's all working fine now - some errors in the soft core T68K bitfield instructions were causing problems.

I've a little work to do now to enable the high frequency clocks and then we'll have 1024, 1280 and maybe 1920 modes over DVI/HDMI/Analogue also.

I've had some conversations with Thomas, but my attempts to reach the original authors have not been successful so far regarding potential licensing.

My P96 driver is based completely on publicly available information, and like UAE the driver (as well as the core shortly) will be open sourced.

The hardware is generic, and the core has a build option for the RTG subsystem at the moment, but as the core implements a generic video display system and blitter it does not have any dependency on P96 - it could be used with alternative software for example.

I was a little surprised to hear that that licensing discussions were on-going for the Apollo/Vampire project,when I was told just a week or two ago that no contact had been made - and I was discouraged from any attempts to release a product.

In my view, it would be a very sad day for what remains of this community if an attempt was made to exclusively license the P96 system.

Anyhow, play nice and have fun.
/Mike

[Cosmos Amiga]

I was a little surprised to hear that that licensing discussions were on-going for the Apollo/Vampire project,when I was told just a week or two ago that no contact had been made - and I was discouraged from any attempts to release a product.

In my view, it would be a very sad day for what remains of this community if an attempt was made to exclusively license the P96 system.

You are not the only one...

It's like that on Amiga...

"No mercy" is the rule...