Idle curiosity: (PPC question alert)

[Charlie]

Speaking for myself I'm never been convinced of the 'utility' of PPC processors for classic-Amigas, but then again most of what I do with old hardware is because I can, not because there's any real point.

So:
Apple made PPC upgrade cards for the later 68k Mac's that plugged directly into the '040 socket. The '040 then being transferred to said upgrade...
...rather in the manner of the old Phase5 PPC developer boards that I've occasionally seen plugged into Blizzard 2040's so allowing A2000's to run PPC software...

...as this seems to be a 'pure-hardware' solution based on the 'standard' 68040 socket is there any reason why such a Mac PPC board shouldn't work in an Amiga? (especially as P5 seem to have made some of these upgrades for Apple)

Hmmm, PPC A500 anyone..? Of course getting the cover back on might be a bit tricky...

[Zetr0]

It would be worth a shot m8.... it really would, I would even think of writing drivers for it..

[Charlie]

Hmmm, maybe I'll keep an eye on fleaBay...

Happy Christmas Zetr0!

[TheCorfiot]

Charlie
That is a really good idea, I agree with Zetr0, in theory It should work unless it relied on certain 68040 bus interfacing as designed in on the Apple Mobo's

Worth a go

Merry Christmas to you as well Charlie

TC

[prowler]

Hey Charlie,

What a great idea! I would love to see it succeed.

Those Amiga PPC accelerators are getting a bit scarce now, not to mention expensive.

Keep us all informed of any developments. I'll be watching this thread...

prowler

[cv643d]

Alexh, where are you to crush tiny hope of cheap PPC accelerators in this thread to pieces?

[keropi]

don't forget the glue logic those upgrades have... that is the main problem IMHO

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by cv643d

Alexh, where are you to crush tiny hope of cheap PPC accelerators in this thread to pieces?

...

...Tiz the season of good cheer - I guess he's waiting for 12th night before bringing us back to reality with a bump...

...unless, of course keropi turns out to have been his sock-puppet all along. ..?


Merry to one & all!


On a more thoughtful note:
-I'm hoping there's not going to be much one can do to bugger-about with a '040 socket & it's signals.
-I'm guessing that Phase5 won't have reinvented the wheel to when producing developer boards / 68k-Mac upgrades, both based on said '040 socket.

-I do wonder if it would be a bit slow...
...Amiga PPC cards don't have cache as this would slow things down a lot on the context switches between 68k & PPC, whereas I'm guessing these Mac cards do have cache as they emulate the 68k on the PPC CPU - if you see what I mean.

I don't own an '040 - based Amiga, but I will make an open offer to fellow EAB members:
If I find one of these cards I'll donate it to the first person who promises to try it in their '040-based system...
...escapes of magic smoke @ their own risk!

(A PPC A500 would be sooo cool!)

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Charlie

sock-puppet

Is there anything that's not in Wikipedia these days?

[cv643d]

lol @ Charlie

[OddbOd]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Apple made PPC upgrade cards for the later 68k Mac's that plugged directly into the '040 socket. The '040 then being transferred to said upgrade...

That's pretty sketchy... apart from some vague mention in old Apple developer docs I see little evidence that such a processor upgrade ever existed.

[cv643d]

Yeah I agree, I know there where such devices that converted the 040 to 100 MHz, but wasnt most PPC upgrades just a PCI cards such as the Sonet card that Alexh has broad insight of its capabilities of already. He has commented a thread about the Sonet/Elbox card quite heavily on amiga.org IIRC.

[Charlie]

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to 'classic' Macs & their upgrades...
(no cheap-shots regarding my expertise with the Amiga please )
...but my curiosity is now thoroughly peaked.

From what little I know most PPC cards for 68k Macs were for 'PDS' or 'NuBus' slots. Were the PCI ones for later models? Maybe, I don't know...
...but these mentions of PPC-via-040 socket upgrades are intriguing - especially with regard to any involvement Phase5 may have had.

I'm now seriously on the look-out for such a card and assuming:
a) they exist
b) they can be had for less-than silly money
I SHALL have one!

I hopefully have a candidate for the job of 'Dr Moreau' to produce the beastly cross-breed.

[Charlie]

macfaq.org/hardware/cards.shtml

The PowerCard was a PowerPC 601-based upgrade for certain 68040 Macs that plugged directly into CPU socket. The original CPU then plugged into a socket on the PowerCard. PowerCards run at twice the original 040 speed.

>Link<

[rkauer]

But no RAM on the card...

Useless using it on A3640 boards. Hope they act the same as P5 Amiga PPC cards (context switching, etc).

[adolescent]

The DayStar PowerCard is as rare and expensive as the existing Amiga PPC boards. I searched for one for my Mac Color Classic "Mystic" for a couple of years and eventually gave up.

[Charlie]

Ho, hum...
...back to Earth - curiosity answered I guess. Mind you getting to post #16 before a major obstacle appears for such a question isn't bad I suppose.

@adolescent:
You obviously know something about this (far more than me, anyway). Can you enlighten me with any further details?
-How rare?
-How expensive?
-Is the DayStar PowerCard the only such PPC for '040 socket Mac upgrade available?
-What do you think the chances are of getting anything other than 'magic smoke' out of such a hybrid?

Thanks.

[rkauer]

Does this item worth for us, poor Amiga people?

I think at least Adolescent can use it.

[rkauer]

BTW2: the guy have a nice Egay store.