FPGA based A500 accelerator

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Time for a quick update, Mike has ordered a testing board to test out some new theories so progress hasn't completely stopped, in the meanwhile i am keeping myself amused in the lockdown by trying to make something much bigger than previous projects

Nice - thanks for the update!


(I was wondering only yesterday whether there was any progress on this project - mostly because I've started re-watching 'Firefly', which led me to wonder whether you've chosen a name yet!)

[Lemaru]

How did the A600 dip adaptor work out Kipper?

[NorthWay]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

i am keeping myself amused in the lockdown by trying to make something much bigger than previous projects

Hm... Zorro-III DSP3210 card? No? (AFAIR Lew Eggebrecht promised us one. And the AA3000+ has become real already!)

(Sprinkle some smileys - they are good for you y'know :-) )

[smartroad]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

in the meanwhile i am keeping myself amused in the lockdown by trying to make something much bigger than previous projects

Oooo is it a new Amiga main board?! Hehe

[AmigaHope]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Have you guys considering adding 040 & 060 Opcode support one day?

I've no idea how feasible it would be but I believe this is what the Vampire crew did (take the old MiniMig core and update it)

The FPGA would not need to emulate the more sophisticated architecture of the 040/060, it would just need to run the software.

Apparently lots of 060 software contains unsupported 040 opCodes so a core that supports the full feature set of both the 68040 and 68060 would run everything faster

There is no point in implementing the 060 as it has zero new userland features vs the 040. Most of the changes in it are related to the superscalar enhancements, and a new superscalar FPGA core will be different internally (e.g. Apollo core is superscalar in a completely different way than 060).

The only meaningful new userland instruction on the 68040/68060 is MOVE16, which is good for schlepping data around quickly. It does speed things up nicely.

The 68040 is a good target for implementing since it has a better MMU, and a cut down FPU (FPUs take a lot of logic elements to implement transcendental functions, etc., which is why stuff like 68040 and Apollo core don't do it).

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by smartroad

Oooo is it a new Amiga main board?! Hehe

hmm, ok, who told on me

i think everyone will love this project, even the apollo team will prob buy a couple lol.

K, we are on the lookout for a CDTV and an Amiga 4000, We can make a deal for a swap if necessary and an early beta testing of our new gismos. So anyone who is in the UK or Europe let Mike know and we can try to arrange something

Stay safe all


@lemaru the a600 adapter works fine (with 1 jumper wire, which i messed up) I was about 0.040" out with my measurements and had to push it down a bit, i designed a nice 3d printed support so that the aapter sits nicely. The Dip 68000 cpu fits nicely and case will close (objective completed ). The A500 vampire a500 also works in the a600 but the case wont close which i think everyone knew it wouldnt. (our accel will be able to fit with the case closed and that was the primary objective. I will release files once its 100%

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by mkstr

Anyone got any suggestions for other "hard" demos they'd like to see?

I'd like to see Citadel.
It's full 3D textured game for A500, really nice looking, but really, really slow. Even on my Aca500 plus (clocked to 42Mhz), it's more playable, but far from smooth.
Here[s few more (OCS) 3D games that wasn't mentioned, and that would definitely need a speed enchantment;
- Stunt car racer
- Legends of Valour
- Hunter
- Nemac IV (this one requires 020)
--------------

Keep up the great work!

[Samurai_Crow]

I await with baited breath, as will my A500!

[Lemaru]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

@lemaru the a600 adapter works fine (with 1 jumper wire, which i messed up) I was about 0.040" out with my measurements and had to push it down a bit, i designed a nice 3d printed support so that the aapter sits nicely. The Dip 68000 cpu fits nicely and case will close (objective completed ). The A500 vampire a500 also works in the a600 but the case wont close which i think everyone knew it wouldnt. (our accel will be able to fit with the case closed and that was the primary objective. I will release files once its 100%

Sweet, I guess I won't have to do my version now then. As for the case closing, mines in a Checkmate case so all good on that front. Look forward to it cheers

[spudje]

Interesting project, especially when the footprint is small

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

I think someone was once talking about building an accelerator based on a raspberry pi zero with an FPGA to act as a bridge between the Amiga and the ARM but I could have been dreaming, it does sound like a reasonable idea though.

Maybe a bit late to answer. There are (at least) two:

- A314 (talking about an original name ) http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=97171
- ZZ9000 RTG, LAN, + 2 ARM CPUs (not a Pi): http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=93335

Especially developments on the ZZ9000 are really kicking off now: https://twitter.com/mntmn/status/1249367645016797184

[Lemaru]

So what would the likelyhood of adding RTG graphics to this be?

I know this is a different beast to a Vampire, but the RTG graphics, and HDMI video is one of the main feature that draw people toward that. I would ditch my Vamp in a heartbeat if there were another way to add RTG gfx/hdmi to my A600.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Lemaru

So what would the likelyhood of adding RTG graphics to this be?

I know this is a different beast to a Vampire, but the RTG graphics, and HDMI video is one of the main feature that draw people toward that. I would ditch my Vamp in a heartbeat if there were another way to add RTG gfx/hdmi to my A600.

I cant reveal too much other than than to say it is Mikes ball and he is running with it and we are very excited with the potential and talked about features. I have something that can complement the accelerator about 70% complete but i cant reveal anything on this just yet either.

[kipper2k]

K, here is an update, Mike is tweaking away at his project and has actually made a few milestones. During this time i have been busy making an A500+++ motherboard, it will be all SMD with the exception of required custom chips etc.

The board itself is a fork of Red Keg Technologies A500 SMD boardand i have redone from scratch to add a few extras to it. I still havent finished it, hoping to get it out in the next couple of weeks. No description available yet, I will let everyone look at at the picture to see if they can see anything they recognise.

The board itself will be preassembled as i know most people do not want to waste time and effort on something that may/not work... I want the board to be an A500 that does not have stuff that takes away from the a500 itself so with that said, take a peek and see if there is anything you would like to see etc...

here is picture

there are still errors on the board so dont curse me yet

[AJCopland]

Is that area on the right a built in Gotek/FlashFloppy usb drive?

If you're designing a new board then is it possible to relocate the CPU connector so that accelerator boards, such as the one Mike is designing or the TF boards, don't require a relocator board to avoid the keyboard?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by AJCopland

Is that area on the right a built in Gotek/FlashFloppy usb drive?

If you're designing a new board then is it possible to relocate the CPU connector so that accelerator boards, such as the one Mike is designing or the TF boards, don't require a relocator board to avoid the keyboard?

Hi, that is a built in Gotek on the right side, good eye

THe CPU cannot be located too far due to the traces that feed the expansion port and the 2 Agnus slots. Mikes Accelerator will fit no problem, the TF's can use an adapter same as my A508IDE board. There are still a few addons on the board to find

Also, i did move the 8 x 256k ram up a bit so that people can socket them and still close their case.

[katarakt]

The pic is so small, but there might be the possibility of different power plugs? Is there a kickstart switcher onboard?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by katarakt

The pic is so small, but there might be the possibility of different power plugs? Is there a kickstart switcher onboard?

Yup, you found another change, the power supply will be a 5A desktop meanwell 12v psu ($24 CAD on Amazon)... https://www.amazon.ca/Desktop-Indust...8267642&sr=8-1

there will be upgrades to audio and serial chips. I deliberately made the picture fuzzy, there are still a few more addons/changes to discover .

The kickstart switcher option is still up in the air

[wiz12]

A built-in DF0/DF1 switch would be a nice feature to have too.

[th4t1guy]

Is there still monochrome output? tbh, I never understood the point of it on the original a500, but I guess getting it in color would take some extra stuff.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by th4t1guy

Is there still monochrome output? tbh, I never understood the point of it on the original a500, but I guess getting it in color would take some extra stuff.

you found another, look at top left and you will see crystals, pal and ntsc, it will support composite and Svideo . Switchable to Pal/ntsc and default mono

@wiz12, i will see what options are for the floppy select switch. there is a 3 pin header for the svideo, the composite will "share" the RCA jack