New A500 68030 accelerator from Elbox

[Olecranon]

This is probably a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways.

Why aren't any of these cards 040 or 060 based? It's odd we had faster accelerators 20+ years ago. Is it because nobody makes a new 040 chip any longer, but the 030 chips are still available?

[Bamiga2002]

Originally Posted by Olecranon

This is probably a dumb question, but I'll ask anyways.

Why aren't any of these cards 040 or 060 based? It's odd we had faster accelerators 20+ years ago. Is it because nobody makes a new 040 chip any longer, but the 030 chips are still available?

The 030-ones are a little cheaper. 040 is a waste of time (dunno the prices) and sourcing 060's is expensive (yes they ask big money for this old processor!).

[crasbe]

Also, Elbox doesn't have the knowledge to build such an accelerator.
68040 and 68060 are far more complex (and expensive) to adapt to the 68000 Bus.

[yssing]

Originally Posted by crasbe

Also, Elbox doesn't have the knowledge to build such an accelerator.
68040 and 68060 are far more complex (and expensive) to adapt to the 68000 Bus.

I very much doubt that is true. Besides, creating a 040/060 accelerator have been done quite a few times before.

[utri007]

Originally Posted by crasbe

Also, Elbox doesn't have the knowledge to build such an accelerator.
68040 and 68060 are far more complex (and expensive) to adapt to the 68000 Bus.

I love when people makes this kind of statements

Here is mine : All Elbox's employees have excellent skills to make sauerkraut.

PS. They adapted coldfire cpu to the 68000 bus

[crasbe]

Originally Posted by yssing

I very much doubt that is true. Besides, creating a 040/060 accelerator have been done quite a few times before.

Yes, of course, but it requires quite some effort to do this with modern parts.

Well... if you don't want to make an accelerator, that's pushing the boundaries, it's easy...ish.
Then you can use a super tiny CPLD for the accelerator like on the Apollo-cards.

Georg Braun and Jens Schoenfeld built a very powerful and stable 68060-accelerator and these guys are probably the guys with the most experience in the german community.

Edit:

Originally Posted by utri007

[...]
PS. They adapted coldfire cpu to the 68000 bus

AFAIK there is no proove, that it ever worked. They showed the PCB, but not the software side.
If it would work, why isn't it on sale then? Needless to say that they sinked a whole lot of money into this thing.

[TCD]

The accelerator is due in February and right now a bit of 'cut them some slack' instead of 'proving that it's a hoax' might work better. Elbox has a backlog of not keeping up with what they say they will, but I think it's clear enough for now. Please keep this thread about updates for this accelerator.

[utri007]

Originally Posted by crasbe

Edit:

AFAIK there is no proove, that it ever worked. They showed the PCB, but not the software side.
If it would work, why isn't it on sale then? Needless to say that they sinked a whole lot of money into this thing.

So these photos must be fakes

http://tdolphin.org/amikrak/amizaduszki2006.php

Update (11 November 2006): On 11 November 2006 we had presentation of DRAGON 1200 at Amizaduszki meeting in Krakow. Here are many pictures and movies from this meeting: pictures 1, pictures 2, movies: MOV and the same in MXVid.

[crasbe]

Originally Posted by utri007

So these photos must be fakes

http://tdolphin.org/amikrak/amizaduszki2006.php

No, they aren't. Well, there's one picture, that LOOKS, like it's working.
Maybe I was wrong, and the prototype was actually working... in some kind.

The main problem with the coldfire is, that it isn't binary compatible and Elbox noticed that at some point.
I don't know, if it's compatible enough to run AmigaOS, but with that CPLD on the board, you can't trap that.

So, MAYBE that can build a 68040/060 accelerator. I'm gonna believe it, when I can hold it in my hands.

[TroelsDK]

I'm gonna get a Kippper 8mb/cf card for one of my A500's, an ACA with my 1232 for one of my other 500s (if someone makes a nice case!) and an Elbox530 for a third one.. What's the problem??

Looking forward to this card! I have faith

[alexh]

Originally Posted by crasbe

Georg Braun and Jens Schoenfeld built a very powerful and stable 68060-accelerator and these guys are probably the guys with the most experience in the german community.

They did? Which one?

[crasbe]

Originally Posted by alexh

They did? Which one?

They did. This one: http://gb97816.homepage.t-online.de/gba_tk02.htm

[Photon]

This accelerator seems very powerful, A500 owners really are getting spoiled for choice Straaange that news post didn't have any photos 2 months before release. Which makes me think it will be delayed. But that's maybe only negative speculation.

To address some stuff said above, acceleration on A500 is useful for anyone who uses Workbench, just like on all other Amigas. The faster the CPU, the better the experience. Some may also have a few special uses that makes them want a 68040 or 68060.

The reason why nobody builds a 68040 or 68060 accelerator anymore is that they would have to source used CPUs and give warranty on the accelerator with them inserted. 68030 CPUs, at least certain models, can be ordered NOS in quantity from Hong Kong cheaply.

I wouldn't mind seeing an upgrade path for people who do have old 68040/68060 accelerators and want to swap out the board and keep the CPU. But that's a little bit less of a "consumer product", even if most of the accelerators require quite a bit from the consumer already, so I really think they could normal, successful products, even when delivered without a CPU.

These CPUs are quite a step up from 030 and below, in performance but basically in every aspect imaginable, really quality products. So I hope it happens.

[Sandro]

Originally Posted by Photon

The reason why nobody builds a 68040 or 68060 accelerator anymore is that they would have to source used CPUs and give warranty on the accelerator with them inserted. 68030 CPUs, at least certain models, can be ordered NOS in quantity from Hong Kong cheaply.

I think 68030 cpus are not being manufactured either
please note that Jens is using second hand 030s in ACA accelerators

[Photon]

The point was that he doesn't; that some electronics dealers around the world still have new CPUs manufactured in the 1990s in stock (NOS=New Old Stock).

Extensive burn-in and testing of used CPUs (as well as finding various boards that have the correct CPU model to remove, clean up, and inspect) is very time-consuming.

[AMike]

Originally Posted by crasbe

Georg Braun and Jens Schoenfeld built a very powerful and stable 68060-accelerator and these guys are probably the guys with the most experience in the german community.

To be more precise - Georg Braun was the mastermind and built this card. Jens gave him few tips - thats all.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by AMike

To be more precise - Georg Braun was the mastermind and built this card. Jens gave him few tips - thats all.

Really? I think that "teaching how to use SD-Ram" and "making CPLD source codes available" is a tiny bit more than "a few tips". Georg will surely confirm the myriads of eMails with all the details. They're not only on his, but also on my harddrive.

Jens

[Hewitson]

The 68060 CPU are still available new. Ridiculous cost though, nearly 300 EUR from memory. I'm sure there would still be a market for the accelerator even at this price though.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

The 68060 CPU are still available new. Ridiculous cost though, nearly 300 EUR from memory. I'm sure there would still be a market for the accelerator even at this price though.

I doubt there would be a market. However users can get a regular supply of them from former telecom equipment. But would a vendor make a "BYOC" accelerator?

[AMike]

Just in case if someone needs a little advice to build a 060 board for the Amiga.

http://www.gb97816.homepage.t-online.de/gba_tk02.htm
http://www.gb97816.homepage.t-online.de/projekte.htm