New 68060 accelerator idea
 

OK an ambitious but sincerely serious project. Something we've all seen as the 'Unicorn' of Amiga upgrades that never seem to make it past vapour-ware. I have yet to see anything from the UltimatePPC project and mine is similar but initially for the A1200.

Anyways.

Here is my pipe dream so far.

A1200 Accelerator Card:

- full MC68060 (mmu+fpu)
- PowerPC processor (yet to be decided - possibly PWRficient, possibly something beefy like POWER7+)
- 4 x DDR/2/3 SO-DIMM slots
- XMOS DSP for hi-fi onboard audio plus programmable DSP.
- Gigabit Ethernet
- PowerVR or AMD GPU with HDMI output
- 802.11.ac Wifi
- Bluetooth
- MicroSD
- SATA III

Due to the similarities in Specifications and design it may be somewhat compatible with the Amiga X-1000 systems.

With current embedded design techniques this card could easily be made to fit and run nice and cool in a space much smaller than the A1200 expansion bay - That's not where we will run into problems. It's more about compatibility with existing extensions such as Picasso96, AHI and PowerUP/WarpUP.

My goal is to have this thing as compatible as possible with Classic Amiga software. Especially access to the CPUs, RAM, GPU through Picasso96 and OpenGL, DSP and Audio through AHI, ethernet etc.

What are your thoughts guys?

Go for it, but do it in quiet, only emerging into the limelight once your product is ready.

My opinion: take out the PPC, and the XMOS DSP and make the world's best 060 turbo.

So, do you have any electronics engineering knowledge? Or is this just wishful thinking? :nuts

The very next UltimatePPC desaster.
Best of all:
working 68060 are no longer available.
XMOS chip is outrun by the PPC and i doubt any coder will do the job.
Too many extension ports.
Standard psu underpowered.

Dear moderators, move this "pipe dream" from gullivers thread, please. Thank you.

Yeah, it wasn't in the right place. Now moved.

oooh, and i forgot mocking PowerVR , AMD driver development for any amiga-like machine or OS. :D

@BigFan - good.. let the hate flow through you...

What would you know about the standard power supply? I have a 68060 card and that requires a beefier modified PC psu already.

Fun Fact: A current model smartphone has about 100 times the raw power of an '060 chip, and they run off a 3.7v 2800mAh battery for days, including high end gpu and other 'extension ports' the largest power usage on a smartphone is the display. I don't think you understand quite how far embedded electronics have come in the past 20 years.

@strim - I do have a degree in electronics engineering and I was thinking of doing this as a project for my Masters next semester... but i might just work on it in secret if this is the kind of feedback i am bound to get..

First up...

- The AMD gpu isn't really too far from the Radeon chipsets that some Mediator PCI setups have used in the past.. certainly a starting point to work form in any case.

- XMOS is actually already implemented in Amiga OS 4.1 as it is used in the X1000 - it can be done...

Like i said it is ambitious but nothing is impossible.

I dont understand where the UltimatePPC project went?? That looked like it was making good progress.

A lot of the drivers I have no problem developing myself with the help of other positive minded people.

I don't have a problem with the engineering side of things. I can make it physically work, I would need help from the community though to get behind the project.

As far as 68060 availability - well yes they are no longer manufactured. Something that I will need to look into. Possibly using an overclocked 040 or even FPGA emulation??

I understand it's very ambitious - yet if it did exist and was implemented properly I can't see why people wouldn't love it.

I didn't expect such negative feedback though. No wonder these projects never get off the ground if so much of the community is so opposed to them :( A little disappointing really.

No the community is hopeless at supporting things from the early stage, but there's a long history of vaporware so everyone is ... well, extremely jaded.

They perk up once you've got a track record of released projects though, look at support for Trevor or Kipper2k :)

So my advice is to crack on and do the work. Hire people to do the bits you can't do, like the electrical engineering if you must, then factor that into costs later. It won't make financial sense in the end though.

Still, if you want it and no-one else is going to make it...

It's very, very ambitious, and you're not that far off from trying to build an X-1000 as an add-on card from looking at that list...

Go for it - Worst case even if it doesn't work out, you'll learn an awful lot which may lead to better things later :)

@rarefaction_

I'm not quoting your entire postings, but this list before you start re-editing again.
embedded devices ?:laughing
with a 68060? :laughing
Power7+? :laughing
DDR2/3 SO-DIMM? :laughing
SATA3 ? :laughing
Ever tried to use SATA-III (internal or external) hard disk on your smartphone ?
Or SO-DIMM? GBit Ethernet?
This stuff sucks all the juice it get from a 40W brick and more.
An un-used port may be considered "power efficient", but what's the point when
no hardware is attached?
You're an electonic engineer then? Wow, chapeau.

You guy sound like Peeve, Steep or what the name is from RPC-Games.
Well, Centron3D has been revived. Now in hardware.

me hates? No :laughing
this pipe dream is purest cynicism. it's sort of entertaining. :great

I am not saying it will run on a 50W a500 brick.

I am saying that modern devices do not pull serious power any more since the low-level design of these kinds of devices is very different these days - most of the components will be highly efficient. If it is to use a real 68060 and not a software emulated core - that chip will pull more power than the rest of the card combined.

Look at MIST or Minimig, these devices use hardly any current.

I think you don't have the knowledge to understand what I am trying to achieve. You just seem like a jaded 40 year old troll.

I don't care about pessimistic views like yours - you may as well save your time and keep your jaded keyboard warrior trolling efforts to yourself.

In my case, it only fuels me to want to achieve these great things just to prove neckbeard loser trolls like you wrong.

I do, however, value input from people who are wiling to share unique ideas and promote the positivity of the Amiga scene.

That's the spirit :)

Start with a wish-list, then refine it based on what you discover along the way :)

Well said mate, +1. Ignore the trolls, although there does seem to be a few about lately! :great

Thanks for the positive vibes man.

I feel like I might be on the wrong forum at times lol

:cool

You asked for this, remember?
Am i trolling or hating when i doubt this project ever comes real?http://eab.abime.net/attachment.php?...1&d=1436709795
With this highly unrealistic feature list?
Don't expect different answers in other forums. If something sounds to good
to be true, it isn't.

Well, suprise me. I'll be waiting patiently for any schematics.

http://www.apollo-core.com/knowledge.php?b=1&note=2742

Maybe i am not so crazy.

What MiST or MiniMig is running a Power7 (5000 $ CPU)
or a 68080?

Now i know, you're not an electronic engineer. Thanks for clearing this up.

@BigFan

Dude shut up. Your input is not required.
kthanksbye.

Maybe you don't know the difference between that and your wishlist http://eab.abime.net/attachment.php?...1&d=1436710385

oh, c'mon, Pete.
It's getting more fun with every line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug4_yh3Q288

Minimig running a real 68060.

I think you should leave before you embarrass yourself further.

Oh, I am well aware of the difference :)