Any new accelerators this year?

[fatboy]

Just wondering if we are going to see any new low-cost accelerators for A1200's this year. I know there are several planned, but haven't heard of any release dates.

I see Amigakit still have the high end ACA cards, but with new cards on the horizon I was advised to wait by learned members on here?......just getting impatient to get my machine up to spec

[crazyc]

I think that evidence over the last however many years would suggest that it is safer to work on the premise that (a) however much it is promised, if it doesn't exist for sale now, then it will either never exist or will come to market much later than hoped for and (b) buy it for what it is capable of at the point of purchase, not what it might be capable of after further software development in future.
Obviously some products don't follow this, but if you want to upgrade your kit, then you might be waiting for a while if you are holding out for newer stuff.

[kipper2k]

i think there is a good possibility for a new a1200 variant to come out later this year

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

i think there is a good possibility for a new a1200 variant to come out later this year

Probably one of the few people whose words I would take at face value
But then I would expect demand to be high so I guess I am not sure I would wait on them as I might still miss out, having waited for quite a while (unless you are going to release them in the very very near future? )

Anyway, just my thoughts...

[fatboy]

Still no news about new A1200 accelerators??? Got 8 GB CF full of stuff itching to punch up on my 42" TV.....really no new hardware for us memory starved A1200 owners???

[eXeler0]

Fatboy, its usually easy to find something on Amibay.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Probably one of the few people whose words I would take at face value
But then I would expect demand to be high so I guess I am not sure I would wait on them as I might still miss out, having waited for quite a while (unless you are going to release them in the very very near future? )

Anyway, just my thoughts...

If, If a new a1200 accelerator was to come out, it won't be a limited edition thing, it would be a continuous supply, it probably wouldn't have to rely on an old MC68K chip and it probably would be something that would fill all the checkmarks in your list, IF it was to come out

[eXeler0]

Well Kipper2k, you're probably hinting at the 1200 version of the Vampire v2. :-)
If I was to guess, that's probably a 2016 release but if and when that one comes out it will transform the Amiga retro scene forever :-)
Should be a good seller though.. ;-)

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Well Kipper2k, you're probably hinting at the 1200 version of the Vampire v2. :-)
If I was to guess, that's probably a 2016 release but if and when that one comes out it will transform the Amiga retro scene forever :-)
Should be a good seller though.. ;-)

Once the first one is unleashed, the rest wll follow pretty quck, so the timings depend on the first one

[fatboy]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Fatboy, its usually easy to find something on Amibay.

Really wanted something new with warranty. Have you seen the mental prices people are asking on Ebay

I have a top budget of around £130.00....is this too unrealistic?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by fatboy

Really wanted something new with warranty. Have you seen the mental prices people are asking on Ebay

I have a top budget of around £130.00....is this too unrealistic?

Thats a pretty healthy budget for something that should come with some sort of warranty, forget old accelerators though as no one could justify giving a warranty on an antique/vintage card

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Once the first one is unleashed, the rest wll follow pretty quck, so the timings depend on the first one

I preordered the new 600 version, but so far Majsta hasnt promised any specific dates (and thats probably for the best).
But while the manufacturing of the Vampire 600 seems relatively "easy", I always assumed that the 1200 version would use a completely different design, utilizing the (inverted Z2) expansion port and not the "socket over chip" style solution of the "vampire".
For some reason I assumed this is a more complex design and would require perhaps some involvement from someone like Jens Schönfeldt (Individual Computer) to see the light of day any time soon.
I might be dead wrong though ;-)

[Adrian Browne]

Vampire 1200. Let's hope so. I may need to buy it though I'm more chuffed about an apollo board or vampy 500 for my Amiga 500.

Still, the best laid plans...

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Adrian Browne

Vampire 1200. Let's hope so. I may need to buy it though I'm more chuffed about an apollo board or vampy 500 for my Amiga 500.

Still, the best laid plans...

If and when it comes for the A1200 it will likely be an improvement over the 600 v2 version. It probably wont have the same size constraints, so quite possibly more RAM, maybe an even bigger FPGA, and who knows if they could fit some more surprises on to it. (USB controller? :-))
Anyhoo... I'll be getting one of those too but I ordered the 600 for 3 reasons.
1. Support the developers
2. Its pretty damn cool to turn the old A600 into something useful.
3. I get to play with the FPGA and its features without having to hold my breath for a 1200 version (we all know that waiting is frustrating).

[fitzsteve]

Not really been keeping up to date on the new stuff, but vampire 1200 sounds interesting, are we looking at fast 060 speeds?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Not really been keeping up to date on the new stuff, but vampire 1200 sounds interesting, are we looking at fast 060 speeds?

i think a picture paints a thousand words

[DonAmiga]

That looks awesome kipper2k

[zerohour1974]

As I said before to Kipper2k, if this is going to be available for the A1200 consider me interested. but if its performance is as shown... worth the wait.

[fitzsteve]

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

i think a picture paints a thousand words

Its a nice pic but real world results will vary for sure. There will be cases where the Pheonix is actually much faster still and other cases where its not that much faster than the 060.
For *optimal* performance, Im guessing Phoenix will require custom code.
There are some instructions added to its instruction set that can be useful but wont have any impact on old code.
Still, as early benchmarks suggest, it will have the 060 well beaten in most cases which is quite an achievement and really something a lot of us have been dreaming about since the early Natami days. ;-)