Apollo Team announces the Vampire V4

[nexus]

i have many why?
also never said it must be arm cpus you had to use today we have many options

[Samurai_Crow]

An ARM7 only has 16 general purpose registers but 64-bit versions have 32. That makes the more expensive ARM boards more competitive.

[DamienD]

Come on ladies, handbags away please and let's get back on topic.

Thread also moved out of the "abime.net" public News section for now...

[demolition]

Originally Posted by nexus

a slow fpga isnt gonna beat a fast arm emulating a 68k

An FPGA is completely different from a CPU. I think it would be impossible to build an Amiga accelerator around an ARM CPU.

[nexus]

well thats not true why would it be impossible? also they sell boards with fpga's that could easily do the bus work etc
anyway im just saying today there are many options to use to expand a old computer

[kolla]

Originally Posted by demolition

Both can boot an OS from flash memory, open a hi-res screen through HDMI

V4 will have HDMI? *shocked*

[kolla]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Crow

Apparently you don't know how miserable the performance of an ARM board is on one thread.

How about something that has roughly the same price as a Vampire card, such as an Intel NUC?

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by kolla

How about something that has roughly the same price as a Vampire card, such as an Intel NUC?

I don't have a NUC so I don't know.

[demolition]

A NUC also has horrible performance. I doubt it could even do A500 emulation at 100% speed (consistently).

[sean_sk]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Come on ladies, handbags away please and let's get back on topic.

LMAO! I think it's that time of the month.

Originally Posted by Hiddenevil

I have to admit when he said it couldn't do it, I was a little surprised and disappointed. The A600 has a vampire, now so does the A500, soon there will be a stand alone unit and if we are lucky one for the A1200. With all these cards coming out, you'd have thought they might have got functionality all sorted out by now. Especially with how much they cost. I dont know how I'd feel about buying a Vampire for my A1200 and it only half working :-/

Unfortunately your disappointment probably stems from uninformed expectations. The FAQ found here: http://wiki.apollo-accelerators.com/doku.php/faq clearly outlines what the Vampire can and cannot do at this present moment.

Q: Can I display WHDLoad games through the digital out port ?
A: Not yet but this is planned with GOLD3 core ! We advice you to get a 15kHz capable monitor or a ScanDoubler in the meanwhile.

It's been there for quite awhile and anyone that has done their research prior to buying a Vampire would have known this. Obviously as time goes by new features will be added. But as previously mentioned, they are a small team and have used the card sales to fund continual development.

[Mr.Flibble]

Originally Posted by nexus

apparently you dont understand the 68k simulation doesnt need to be done on a expensive fpga niche board

It's pretty clear that emulation isn't the aim of this hardware as you know full well.

That doesn't stop someone else developing any other system with different aims and goals, and likewise, those also don't invalidate the aims and goals of this project.

Now, if Amiga OS was ever fully open-sourced, it would be interesting to see what a port to other hardware could deliver, but that's a whole different conversation, and one for a different thread.

[nexus]

actually it is as they are emulating a 68k cpu on a fpga what does it matter whether its soft or hard code? end result is same

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Mr.Flibble

Now, if Amiga OS was ever fully open-sourced, it would be interesting to see what a port to other hardware could deliver, but that's a whole different conversation, and one for a different thread.

You mean, like AROS?

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

You mean, like AROS?

Yes, but more complete and with ATA.device debugged so it works like SCSI.device. Getting AROS working on the Vampire is a worthy goal.

[ShK]

Originally Posted by nexus

actually it is as they are emulating a 68k cpu on a fpga what does it matter whether its soft or hard code? end result is same

Not quite. You can not change the real Amiga's processor with emulator.

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by ShK

Not quite. You can not change the real Amiga's processor with emulator.

True! The 68080 implements 2 threads at 48 user registers each at 64 bits.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by nexus

actually it is as they are emulating a 68k cpu on a fpga what does it matter whether its soft or hard code? end result is same

No it is not the same, the FPGA does not run any emulation code.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by ShK

Not quite. You can not change the real Amiga's processor with emulator.

Yes you can, I have hardware that can do exactly that.

[nexus]

the fpga run software code that configures it to simulate a 68k but since this isnt a pure 68k from moto its emulating a 68k with hardware

either way it can be done other ways and better for less

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by nexus

the fpga run software code that configures it to simulate a 68k but since this isnt a pure 68k from moto its emulating a 68k with hardware

either way it can be done other ways and better for less

Are you eager to write an ARM JIT for the full 68080 instruction set including AMMX2?