Amiga Clone Natami - Planned For Summer 2008 - Page 20

Paul_s · 04 January 2010, 12:49

I'm going to place a bet here.

If this ever gets released you can shoot me but I bet a million dollars and a mars bar that I'll be long dead and buried.

StingRay · 04 January 2010, 13:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul_s

I'm going to place a bet here.

If this ever gets released you can shoot me but I bet a million dollars and a mars bar that I'll be long dead and buried.

How can you say this?

They have top men working on it (read: BigGun).

*tries not to die laughing*

Merlin · 04 January 2010, 13:34

All I can say to this is a resounding "Meh".

Paul_s · 04 January 2010, 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boo Boo

Maybe im wrong but I get the feeling your not a fan.

You have the 'Twilight Zone' in your avatar. Maybe that is where Natami is!

HenryCase · 14 February 2011, 01:05

Pictures of assembled Natami MX board released:
http://www.natami.net/hardware.htm
http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=1&note=33366

kriz · 14 February 2011, 02:58

Nice to see it still alive, interesting to see what will come out and how it will work..

NathanTolbert · 14 February 2011, 05:17

It's much smaller than I anticipated. Just trying some rough measurements based off the size of comparable connectors I get roughly 7 inches by 5 inches or so. Can anyone else get a little better idea? Any way you look at it, the thing is very small. Here's to hoping we see this come to fruition. I am interested in this as I am in new accelerators for the classic machines. New products for or based on the classic Amiga design.

Samurai_Crow · 14 February 2011, 05:33

@NathanTolbert

The form factor is MiniITX but it doesn't use the maximum amount of board space for that form factor.

--edit--
17 cm x 14 cm is the actual size as found on the NatAmi forum.

BuZz · 14 February 2011, 07:36

I never though the project would get this far, so kudos to them for that. pata seems like a strange choice over sata. I wonder why that was.

alexh · 14 February 2011, 08:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuZz

pata seems like a strange choice over sata. I wonder why that was.

At a guess I'd say it was the FPGA/CPLD they chose. To emulate SATA you'd need one with built in high speed SERDES capable pins (RocketIO for Xilinx) whereas PATA could be done with regular pins.

Plus PATA is effectively CF, a medium widely used with Amiga's.

Have they actually released anything to go into the FPGA to developers?

cv643d · 14 February 2011, 09:38

Hey,,. . wait a minute, was not this project ridiculed here some time ago, and now it is ready for production?!

TCD · 14 February 2011, 09:48

Yeah, and only 3 years late

Good to see something happen nonetheless.

NovaCoder · 14 February 2011, 09:49

Being 'near production' is a funny old thing....it could still be many months away from something you could actually buy and use.

Anyway (as always), I wish them the best of luck with this interesting project.

frikilokooo · 14 February 2011, 10:11

Stupid project, makes no sense.It would be better to forget it,can someone close the thread please?

vidarh · 14 February 2011, 11:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by frikilokooo

Stupid project, makes no sense.It would be better to forget it,can someone close the thread please?

Noone forces you to read this thread.

Predseda · 14 February 2011, 13:10

The final price is the only criteria.

alexh · 14 February 2011, 13:39

The PCB maybe "ready for production" but what about the firmware? Without something to program the FPGA with it is useless.

vidarh · 14 February 2011, 15:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

The PCB maybe "ready for production" but what about the firmware? Without something to program the FPGA with it is useless.

According to Thomas Hirsch, the MX board bringup will continue pretty much where the LX board bringup left off (+ some rework of memory interfaces), which means a substantial part of the firmware is already there.

This is the last status list that was posted to the LX board thread on the Natami forums:

Code:

       Frame generation .......... ECS, fixed 28MHz pixel clock
       SyncZorro Interface ....... preliminary version
       Copper .................... fully implemented
       Video DMA ................. fully implemented
       256 color registers ....... fully implemented
       Sprites ................... 16bit linebuffer
       blitter ................... basic implementation.
                                    Block and fill mode done, line to come
       Video priority ............ half implemented
       Scandoubler ............... fully implemented
       Interrupts ................ fully implemented
       Paula DMA control ......... fully implemented
       Audio out ................. fully implemented
       VGA out ................... working
       DVI out ................... o
       PCI ....................... o
 (new) IDE ....................... fully implemented
       CIAs ...................... fully implemented
       Disk DMA .................. 880k and 1790k, read only
       Serial Port DMA ........... o
       Slow peripheral I/O ....... fully implemented
       (Joy/Mouse/Keyb/PRT/DSK/SER)
       PC mouse and kbd support .. o
       Fast RAM controller ....... o
       Kickstart flash logic ..... o
       Battery-backed up clock.... o
       15k Video out ............. o
       15k Video in .............. o
       Audio in .................. o

On top of that comes the SuperAGA modes and N68050 (though with the option of using the 68060 daughterboard instead of the N68050 core), which I believe they've stated they already have working on non-natami FPGA dev boards.

TCD · 14 February 2011, 15:44

I still don't get what is really left to be implemented before they can produce a fully working system. When I read stuff like 'Frame generation .......... ECS, fixed 28MHz pixel clock', I wonder why they don't just implement their SuperAGA logic (might of course miss something). Anyway, could someone have an educated guess as to when this will 'hit the stores'?

Samurai_Crow · 14 February 2011, 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

I still don't get what is really left to be implemented before they can produce a fully working system. When I read stuff like 'Frame generation .......... ECS, fixed 28MHz pixel clock', I wonder why they don't just implement their SuperAGA logic (might of course miss something). Anyway, could someone have an educated guess as to when this will 'hit the stores'?

The rest of the team has been developing their hardware logic on software simulators up until now. Now it is possible to test it on actual hardware. The testing will go on until the bugs are worked out and the SuperAGA features are actually complete.

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04 January 2010, 12:49	#381
Paul_s Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Amigaville Age: 46 Posts: 3,333	I'm going to place a bet here. If this ever gets released you can shoot me but I bet a million dollars and a mars bar that I'll be long dead and buried.

04 January 2010, 13:34	#383
Merlin AmiBay MegaMod Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Manchester, UK Age: 62 Posts: 1,163	All I can say to this is a resounding "Meh".

14 February 2011, 01:05	#385
HenryCase Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 125	Pictures of assembled Natami MX board released: http://www.natami.net/hardware.htm http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=1&note=33366

14 February 2011, 02:58	#386
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 41 Posts: 3,185	Nice to see it still alive, interesting to see what will come out and how it will work..

14 February 2011, 05:17	#387
NathanTolbert Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Olathe, Kansas Posts: 42	It's much smaller than I anticipated. Just trying some rough measurements based off the size of comparable connectors I get roughly 7 inches by 5 inches or so. Can anyone else get a little better idea? Any way you look at it, the thing is very small. Here's to hoping we see this come to fruition. I am interested in this as I am in new accelerators for the classic machines. New products for or based on the classic Amiga design.

14 February 2011, 05:33	#388
Samurai_Crow Total Chaos forever! Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Waterville, MN, USA Age: 49 Posts: 2,186	@NathanTolbert The form factor is MiniITX but it doesn't use the maximum amount of board space for that form factor. --edit-- 17 cm x 14 cm is the actual size as found on the NatAmi forum.

14 February 2011, 07:36	#389
BuZz Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Oxford / UK Age: 47 Posts: 583	I never though the project would get this far, so kudos to them for that. pata seems like a strange choice over sata. I wonder why that was.

14 February 2011, 09:38	#391
cv643d Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 762	Hey,,. . wait a minute, was not this project ridiculed here some time ago, and now it is ready for production?!

14 February 2011, 09:48	#392
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,518	Yeah, and only 3 years late Good to see something happen nonetheless.

14 February 2011, 09:49	#393
NovaCoder Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Melbourne/Australia Posts: 4,400	Being 'near production' is a funny old thing....it could still be many months away from something you could actually buy and use. Anyway (as always), I wish them the best of luck with this interesting project.

14 February 2011, 10:11	#394
frikilokooo Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Mallorca,Spain. Age: 44 Posts: 1,154	Stupid project, makes no sense.It would be better to forget it,can someone close the thread please?

14 February 2011, 13:10	#396
Predseda Puttymoon inhabitant Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Tromaville Age: 46 Posts: 7,536	The final price is the only criteria.

14 February 2011, 13:39	#397
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,330	The PCB maybe "ready for production" but what about the firmware? Without something to program the FPGA with it is useless.

14 February 2011, 15:44	#399
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,518	I still don't get what is really left to be implemented before they can produce a fully working system. When I read stuff like 'Frame generation .......... ECS, fixed 28MHz pixel clock', I wonder why they don't just implement their SuperAGA logic (might of course miss something). Anyway, could someone have an educated guess as to when this will 'hit the stores'?

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