Apollo Team announces the Vampire V4

[Iggy]

Apollo Core already includes a special MMU, as far as I know there are no plans for a Motorola compatible MMU. As for hardware FPU I don't know, it may or may not eventually have one so if that's a deal breaker either wait and see or stick with Motorola hardware.

'Special' MMU, sound SO useful.
And yes, the lack of floating point functions is a deal breaker (for that matter, no matter how 'special' the MMU is, if it isn't Motorola standard there is software I want to run that isn't compatible).

So, as before, unless all you want to do with your Amiga is play games, you're out of luck.

[Niding]

Before people jump off a bridge due to the FPU/MMU issue, there is always the chance there will be library support for missing compability.

But in true Amiga tradition, we go nuts instead.

[jdryyz]

Before people jump off a bridge due to the FPU/MMU issue, there is always the chance there will be library support for missing compability.

But in true Amiga tradition, we go nuts instead.

:rofl:

[Matt_H]

That's a good idea but, how to drive the floppy?

Er, good question. Can those I/O ports do the trick? Hang a Catweasel off the IDE port? Hang a Kyroflux off a USB port? (are there Amiga drivers for it?)

It's 2017, people need to let the floppy go.  :laughing:

Some might say the same about the Amiga
While it's true there is no use for floppies in day-to-day use, it would be good to have the option for onboard imaging of disks.

[LoadWB]

It's 2017, people need to let the floppy go.  :laughing:

Pry it from my cold dead hands, Muchacho.

[QuikSanz]

Pry it from my cold dead hands, Muchacho.

In true Charlton Heston fashion, love it!

[Iggy]

Before people jump off a bridge due to the FPU/MMU issue, there is always the chance there will be library support for missing compability.

But in true Amiga tradition, we go nuts instead.

No, the Amiga tradition is making excuses for persistent flaws in hardware and software and fawning over said flawed products like infantile schoolboys with a crush. :hammer:

But, if all you're doing is playing games, hey you're all set (except for the few games that need an fpu).  :laugh1:

[midway]

Sounds cool. I will keep my tekmagic though:roflmao:

[QuikSanz]

Sounds cool. I will keep my tekmagic though:roflmao:

Wish I still had my 2060 but with all this I may just keep my A2000 an 030/40 for games and use the A4000T CS MKIII w/CV64 3D for heavy stuff. Have heavy expansion for both anyway, just need Indys.

[Crom00]

The new FPGA in V4 has more space for things like AGA RTG and FPU and is one of the best in it's Cyclone version 5 class. It's able to run the ram at very fast speeds.

[QuikSanz]

The new FPGA in V4 has more space for things like AGA RTG and FPU and is one of the best in it's Cyclone version 5 class. It's able to run the ram at very fast speeds.

Put a real MMU & FPU in it and I'll get one. Otherwise I pretty much have it all already covered.

[nyteschayde]

YES!!! I can't wait **fangirl scream**

[gregthecanuck]

Put a real MMU & FPU in it and I'll get one. Otherwise I pretty much have it all already covered.

It has an MMU, but it is an evolved design from previous chips. This has good/bad points. Bad point is it is not backwards compatible. Good point is it is a forward-looking design supporting MMU features (such as non-executable memory) that are not in previous MMU designs. Also has other bonuses that contribute to overall system performance.

Gunnar has taken a long-term view on where the design should be going forward and I agree completely with the decisions being made. I am no fanboy but this guy does know what he is doing. Some short-term pain for sure as the tools/utilities catch up with the new MMU.

The FPU side - short-term the team has recently delivered the "femu" software that allows *any* FPU-less Amiga to run programs requiring an FPU. Pretty cool. Is it as fast as a real FPU - heck no! Does it let a lot of new programs run - yes. How much of a hit the software FPU makes on performance depends a lot on the program. Also this software is very new (version 0.10 recently released) so in theory the speed could be improved going forward.

Long-term the plan is for an FPU to be there in the core. It is just a resource/priority issue (and maybe an available LE issue). At least for now there is a short-term solution.

For some people a hardware FPU is very important. I can understand that completely. For example I think Quake ran at like 2 or 3 FPS (instead of not running at all). In that case you just need to keep waiting for the feature to be implemented... only 2 more weeks...

Cheers!

[Motormouth]

This is great news.  Also it is an indication of actual financial success of  an actual amiga product!!!!!

A couple thoughts/comments

1)
I just got my Vampire 500 V2+  just over a month ago.   Very fast!
My A2000 has become my primary amiga machine, (over an 040 A4000 and A3000s)

2)
mmmmm an A500/A2000 etc version or standalone.  very hard decision?

3)
What about a3000 and/or a4000 version?

4)
I know the FPU thing keeps coming up, but it is some fast that the vampire is still 50%-100% of the speed of a 25 mhz 68882 or 25 mhz 040 fpu unit in floating point calculating using brute force integer.
My biggest problem on not having FPU to more of an issue with installing software.  installers detect an 040 or 060 and assume an FPU.  Sometimes you need to install the 020 version.  This in not horrible (but I majorly crashed my A2000 twice where I had fall back to older backups)

[nyteschayde]

Are there any old software FPUs that the Vampire could run? Something to simply emulate one or tell the OS and other software there is one even if the ops are slower than potential hardware?

[Methanoid]

I wonder if the standalone will also run other FPGA cores like MIST does... Atari ST might be fun to do as well as Amiga