First Amiga 600 FPGA Accelerator - Vampire 600

[protek]

Majsta, any updates?

[ShK]

Some problems with customs?

http://www.majsta.com/modules.php?na...article&sid=66

[protek]

Originally Posted by ShK

Some problems with customs?

http://www.majsta.com/modules.php?na...article&sid=66

Hmm, not wanting bolster any stereotypes but having read Majsta's posting, it sounds like a classic case of an corrupted official wanting a bit of lubrication to make the wheels roll.

[dJOS]

Nasty stuff!!

Crooks, leave our man alone!!!!

[majsta]

Solved two hours ago
It is complicate to explain situation where you have two countries in one... For today detailed inspection of the boards and testings.

[Lord Aga]

Due to the perverted mentality of the people in power here, this may also be a case of "just because I can". They very much love to stop people from doing something. Majsta is not breaking any laws, and they might not even want any money for "lubrication" but they most certainly enjoy telling people that they cannot do something. I have also encountered such behavior, although in a different line of work.

EDIT:

Way to go Majsta ! You truly are a hero Amiga deserves

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by majsta

Solved two hours ago
It is complicate to explain situation where you have two countries in one... For today detailed inspection of the boards and testings.

Awesome news, well done!

Btw, I registered for a Vampire600 via your site but just noticed the a500 version is in dev too - can I switch to the Vampire500 please?
(i'll understand if that isnt possible)

Cheers Derek

[majsta]

@Lord Aga you can understand how strange situations can happen in our countries but it is pointless to explain it here since most of the people here never encounter any such problem in life

@dJOS Vampire 500 is put on hold due to IDE problems it simply refuses to work. All of this is testing stage. Core works but without IDE there is no point of anything To tell you the truth I didn't have much time to work on that project.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by majsta

@dJOS Vampire 500 is put on hold due to IDE problems it simply refuses to work. All of this is testing stage. Core works but without IDE there is no point of anything To tell you the truth I didn't have much time to work on that project.

No worries, just gives me an excuse to buy an a600!

[pandy71]

Originally Posted by majsta

@dJOS Vampire 500 is put on hold due to IDE problems it simply refuses to work. All of this is testing stage. Core works but without IDE there is no point of anything To tell you the truth I didn't have much time to work on that project.

Bad news! I assume that Vampire 500 will be more popular than Vampire 600.

--
If i can suggest something - Majsta - please consider releasing Vampire 500 with non working IDE (but implemented physically) - support for IDE can be introduced later - this is FPGA so if physical part is designed correctly, any change can be introduced later as a software - key to Vampire 500 is HW that can be used to develop remain code so even without or with working partially code for IDE still there is plenty of customers.
--
And i know at least one country similar to Bosnia in terms of Your custom problems - don't worry, thumbs up and be well.

[Promilus]

Originally Posted by majsta

@Lord Aga you can understand how strange situations can happen in our countries but it is pointless to explain it here since most of the people here never encounter any such problem in life

@dJOS Vampire 500 is put on hold due to IDE problems it simply refuses to work. All of this is testing stage. Core works but without IDE there is no point of anything To tell you the truth I didn't have much time to work on that project.

Can't it be just packed into XC9572XL (3v3 version with 5V tolerant I/O) and hooked up to TG68 in FPGA like the original project from Mika Leinonen was to MC68k? Thx to 3.3V signalling you might connect it directly to address/data/control lines without need to go through 3.3-5 bi-directional level translators. That chip itself costs perhaps 2$ (and is cheaper than 5V version) so couldn't possibly increase price much.

[majsta]

I really don't understand where is the problem regarding IDE. I wanted to rule out code problems by asking Mika to send me logic analyzer images of this ABEL code but he didn't reply. I think that we can build it without any additional buffers, but maybe in next revision I will put one to remove that as potential problem. But I was not so interested into A500 design since there are other people who are building that, Zeus, ACA and there is also mem upgrades and such thing.

[pandy71]

Originally Posted by majsta

I really don't understand where is the problem regarding IDE. I wanted to rule out code problems by asking Mika to send me logic analyzer images of this ABEL code but he didn't reply. I think that we can build it without any additional buffers, but maybe in next revision I will put one to remove that as potential problem. But I was not so interested into A500 design since there are other people who are building that, Zeus, ACA and there is also mem upgrades and such thing.

Literally you must reimplement Gayle - is there any chance to remap A600 behaviour in your code (i mean using logic analyzer to capture vital timing, hardcode in your code, later it can be improved?).
If you don't have logic analyzer perhaps you can build your own based on FPGA? Perhaps something like this? http://www.sump.org/projects/analyzer/

A500 is more popular, more units is used (i have personally at least 5 working A500 and only 1,5 A600 as A600 was never considered as full Amiga - it was seen as a toy target due cost reduction made by Commodore) .

[lukassid]

Bla bla bla A600 is the best Amiga ever. Small and sexy. Soon very powerfull too.

[mfilos]

Originally Posted by lukassid

Bla bla bla A600 is the best Amiga ever. Small and sexy. Soon very powerfull too.

+1
It's powerful enough after all these latest sexy accelerators

Btw A500 IDE implemenation is easy if you put Mika's logic as Majsta said, it's just that you need 3 more signals soldered to the motherboard.
Despite being rather easy to do, many users aren't familiar with soldering alas such solutions aren't so viable for the majority.

[pandy71]

Originally Posted by lukassid

Bla bla bla A600 is the best Amiga ever. Small and sexy. Soon very powerfull too.

lol good joke

[Loedown]

A600 build quality is awful in comparison to the other models, later research for sure but it's a hackneyed attempt, a last gasp if you will. My opinion only of course.

If the problems relate to simply not having a logic analyzer I did post a link to a reasonably priced logic analyzer here, if people are interested in getting more out of their A500 units it shouldn't be a hard task to ask for a small per person donation to get one of these units to Majsta.

http://www.pctestinstruments.com/index.htm

[lukassid]

First of all this is Vampire 600 thread, there is separate one for Vampire 500. Secondly I wasn't joking, a600 smokes A500 in every department. Build quality is same as other Commodores you say awfull mine c64 works for 30 years and my A600 for nearly 20 and I didn't had to recap anything yet.
I agree that at the time it was dissapoitment it should have Aga and 1200 should have something better than VGA. But today if you like classic gaming A600 is the best choice. It's small enough so my wife don't mind it. It has IDE and PCMCIA . It's cheap on EBay and with ACA620 is very capable machine.
Mine has pcmcia wireless card, I go online download whd game, unpack to hard drive and play it. All on a600 no need for PC.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by lukassid

First of all this is Vampire 600 thread, there is separate one for Vampire 500. Secondly I wasn't joking, a600 smokes A500 in every department. Build quality is same as other Commodores you say awfull mine c64 works for 30 years and my A600 for nearly 20 and I didn't had to recap anything yet.
I agree that at the time it was dissapoitment it should have Aga and 1200 should have something better than VGA. But today if you like classic gaming A600 is the best choice. It's small enough so my wife don't mind it. It has IDE and PCMCIA . It's cheap on EBay and with ACA620 is very capable machine.
Mine has pcmcia wireless card, I go online download whd game, unpack to hard drive and play it. All on a600 no need for PC.

I don't see a lot of C64 units for repair and even some older C16 units that were still fully functional, but I do see a lot of A600 units, even more than A1200. I won't derail the thread because Majsta is doing the community a huge favour but believe me the A600 is a shadow of the former Commodore machines, a cut down, lowly bastard child. SMD caps are the bane of the modern age and thankfully will be replaced by ceramics and OSSCONs in the near future. Lastly not everyone uses their Amiga for games and my A2000 was the second most reliable machine I owned behind my older C64 which never failed.

[Promilus]

But I was not so interested into A500 design since there are other people who are building that, Zeus, ACA and there is also mem upgrades and such thing

Well there's almost no difference except CPU socket between A500 and A600 versions since they used the very same logic. As for Zeus68k it's something different from what you offer. It uses real 68k but with 24 bit address space so no more fast ram than what you can obtain on stock A500/+. And of course it uses OVERCLOCKED 68SEC000 which isn't such a great idea imho (same applies to ACA). With TG68 and some tweaks to it I've seen somewhere around the web you can go as fast as some 30-40MHz with 2-3x performance per cycle of original one, 32bit adressing so more than 8MB fast... and really nice fastram based on cheap SDRAM chips (e.g. MT48LC32M16 I acquired some time ago) 3V3 so can connect directly to FPGA. And since there are already numerous turbo cards for A600 too (ACA, Furia) I guess you shouldn't abandon Vampire 500 just yet