Emulation of Commodore expansion cards

[Kitchen2010]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Bridgeboard Amiga special features are biggest problem and weird shared memory addressing. Unless you get it accidentally right, debugging will be painful.

There are some good information sources on the PC bridgeboards that I know:
• "Commodore Amiga A500/A2000 Technical Reference Manual" - Section 4 - PC Bridgeboard (p.109ff) contains a fairly complete technical overview of the A2088T/A2088XT/A2286 bridgeboard card:
- section 4.1: description of PC/XT emulator for Amiga 2000 (p. 109-120):
complete memory listing of the PC/Amiga memory interface:
p. 109: interface memory map
p. 110f: PC memory and I/O map, Amiga memory map
p. 111f: AT memory and I/O map, Amiga memory map
p. 112ff: PC/AT I/O register map
p. 115ff: Amiga i/O memory map, PC-side/Amiga-side interrupt status register
p. 119f: Block diagram of the bridgeboard card
- section 4.2: BIOS entry points (p. 121-130):
complete description of the BIOS entry points with input/output registers
- section 4.3: Janus-Library (p. 131-158):
complete description of the public functions of the Janus.Library and complete listing of the C include files

section 5 - Amiga Hard Disk/SCSI Controller is about the A2090(A) harddisk controller. Maybe are you interested in this section, too ?

(Link to "Commodore Amiga A500/A2000 Technical Reference Manual")

• There is the driver software "AT Utilities" written by Thomas Dreibholz as replacement for the original Commodore's Janus software. It was open-sourced under GPL 2 in 2000 and are downloadable from Aminet with its sourcecode. Maybe it is useful for the bridgeboard card's special features (memory map and registers) ?

I cite from the author's website (link):
"1992 – 1997: The ATUtilities Project
A replacement for the Commodore Amiga 2086/2286/2386 Bridgeboard driver software. It is the result of a reverse engineering of the original drivers in order to overcome their limitations. The system is written in C, with some hardware-near parts in Assembler. This software has been shareware and is now Open Source."

Links:
-ATUtilities 4.0os - A replacement for Commodore's Bridgebaord software
-ATUtilities 4.0 - Replacement for the CBM PC/AT Bridgeboard drivers - Now *Open Source*!

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Kitchen2010

There are some good information sources on the PC bridgeboards that I know:
• "Commodore Amiga A500/A2000 Technical Reference Manual"

Yeah, I know. It is the only existing documentation. Problem is that it only documents hardware, it does not document how and what drivers do. Usually with complex hardware there is no need to emulate everything but it is very difficult to guess (for example which bits of some control register can be ignored) without some example code.

section 5 - Amiga Hard Disk/SCSI Controller is about the A2090(A) harddisk controller. Maybe are you interested in this section, too ?

That chapter was main information source for already implemented emulation. (It does not help much with ST-506 side because it is controlled with Z80 code!)

• There is the driver software "AT Utilities" written by Thomas Dreibholz as replacement for the original Commodore's Janus software. It was open-sourced under GPL 2 in 2000 and are downloadable from Aminet with its sourcecode. Maybe it is useful for the bridgeboard card's special features (memory map and registers) ?

Interesting and probably helpful but too early to say anything else.. (Except that comments are in german)

[Toni Wilen]

That chapter was main information source for already implemented emulation. (It does not help much with ST-506 side because it is controlled with Z80 code!)

Actually Z80 code is not needed after all, Z80 is basically just a modified ST-506 controller, modified = uses custom protocol to send modified (extra data appended) command blocks to Z80 and read status from Z80.

It looks like it can be implemented quite easily after all.

EDIT: Very odd protocol... Driver tells the Amiga RAM address of command block to Z80 code by poking the address byte by byte to board's register. Driver writes command block to Amiga memory, then writes to another register that tells Z80 code to execute the command. The rest is done by Z80 code completely transparently, it even uses on-board DMA controller automatically to transfer data to/from Amiga memory. Amiga-side code only needs to wait for interrupt.

EDIT2: Done.

[Kitchen2010]

I have just found out that the Amiga driver of MESS does already emulate the Zorro interface with some expansion cards (Github link).

The emulated expansion cards are:
• A2052 (2MB Fast RAM expansion for the Zorro II slot)
Link to Amiga Hardware Database
• A2232 (Serial port expansion for the Zorro II slot)
Link to Amiga Hardware Database
• A590 (SCSI/XT-IDE/ST-506 HD controller expansion for the Zorro II slot)
Link to Amiga Hardware Database
• Action Replay (A500 version)
Link to Amiga Hardware Database
• Buddha (IDE controller)
Link to Amiga Hardware Database

Is the sourcecode of these expansion cards of some interest for you, Toni ?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Kitchen2010

Is the sourcecode of these expansion cards of some interest for you, Toni ?

No. Practically everything Amiga related in MESS is useless. (Only exception is some non-Amiga chip that may have been used in some rare Amiga board, like TMS34010)

Most of examples you listed are not even fully implemented. (DMAC more or less does nothing, WD33C93 emulation is very basic, none of Amiga drivers would work with it and so on)

[Kitchen2010]

Some emulators for Atari ST and Macintosh emulation just have the ROMs on their boards.
Once you have the ROMs dumped and you have found out the memory mapping, you should get them running easily.
Namely these emulation cards:

Atari ST emulators:
• Maxon Chamäleon:
Atari ST emulator that runs Amiga OS and TOS exclusively (= not parallel) and does NOT emulate the Atari hardware registers and the Atari MIDI interface.
This should be first implemented, as it is the simpliest Atari ST emulator.
Link to Amiga Hardware Database

• MacroSystem Medusa:
There are 2 hardware versions. v1 supports only emulation of Atari ST/STE and supplies a Atari STE ROM port. v2 supports 32-bit ROMs and adds Atari TT emulation and higher display frequencies with ECS chipset. Both have no emulation of the Atari MIDI interface.
Link to Amiga Hardware Database

• ML-Computer Amtari:
Atari ST/STE/TT emulator which requires MMU (68020 + 68851 or 68030) and Kickstart 2.04+. It maps serial and parallel ports to the Amiga side.
Link to Amiga Hardware Database


Apple Macintosh emulators:
• ReadySoft A-Max & A-Max II:
WinUAE already emulates them (at least partly?).
Link to Amiga Hardware Database

• ReadySoft A-Max II Plus & IV:
The expansion card has 2 supporting Macintosh IC chips for 2 serial ports: a printer port and a modem/MIDI port.
The 2 chips make it harder to emulate.
Link to Amiga Hardware Database

• Emplant:
The expansion board has several supporting Macintosh IC chips for the serial ports. There are several add-ons available for this board: an autobooting SCSI controller (NCR 53C80), Sybil - a hardware frequency synchronizer to handle 800 kB Mac floppy disks, e586 module for PC emulation.
All these chips make it hard to emulate. But once you got the A-Max IV hardware running, this should be easier to emulate (they share same supporting Macintosh IC chips).
Link to Amiga Hardware Database

[Kitchen2010]

I have assembled a list of all graphics expansion cards that are listed at the Amiga Hardware Database and The Big Book of Amiga Hardware, sorted for the used GPU processor. So it can be found out easily what emulation core is needed for every graphic board. Maybe Tony can implement easily the graphic boards if there are already the needed emulation cores for their GPUs.

• 3D Labs & Texas Instruments Permedia 2:
  Hardware BitBLT engine. ISA bus and VLB up to 2 MB of memory.
  • 3Dlabs - Wikipedia
  • 3Dlabs - Permedia 2 - Wikipedia
  • 3Dlabs Permedia 2 Review
  • Phase 5 Digital Products BlizzardVision PPC:
    Add-on card for the Phase 5 Blizzard PPC accelerator card, featuring a 25 Mhz local PCI bus. It is essentially a CyberVision PPC for the A1200.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision PPC:
    Add-on card for the Phase 5 Blizzard PPC accelerator card, featuring a 25 Mhz local PCI bus.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Cirrus Logic GD5426:
  Hardware BitBLT engine. ISA bus and VLB up to 2 MB of memory.
  • Cirrus Logic - Wikipedia
  • Company Great Valley Product EGS 28/24 Spectrum:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Ingenieurbüro Helfrich Piccolo:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Village Tronic Picasso II:
    Cards were shipped with the Cirrus Logic GD5426 and Cirrus Logic GD5428 as GPU.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Cirrus Logic GD5428:
  Enhanced version of the GD5426. Faster BITBLT engine.
  • Cirrus Logic - Wikipedia
  • Atéo Concepts Graffity:
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Village Tronic Picasso II:
    Cards were shipped with the Cirrus Logic GD5426 and Cirrus Logic GD5428 as GPU.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Village Tronic Picasso II+:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Cirrus Logic GD5434:
  Alpine family chip with 64-bit internal memory interface. Only supports 64-bit mode if equipped with 2 MB of video memory; commonly equipped with 1 MB, extendable to 2 MB.
  • Cirrus Logic - Wikipedia
  • Atéo Concepts Pixel 64:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Ingenieurbüro Helfrich Piccolo SD64:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Cirrus Logic GD5446:
  64-bit Alpine VisualMedia accelerator. 2D-only; adds motion-video acceleration to the CL-GD5436 (which was itself an optimized CL-5434).
  • Cirrus Logic - Wikipedia
  • DKB Inferno:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Village Tronic Picasso IV:
    Graphics card features a local PCI bus.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• INMOS G360 framebuffer:
  • Ingenieurbüro Helfrich Rainbow III:
    Most cards have an IMOS G360 as GPU, a few have an IMOS G364-10S or INMOS G365 CLT-RAMDAC.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • X-Pert Computer Services/Viona Development Visiona Paint/Visiona Paint+:
    The graphics card also features an INMOS G300G as GPU. Visiona Paint has 2 MB VRAM installed, Visiona Paint+ has 4 MB VRAM installed.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• INMOS G364 framebuffer:
  The G364 framebuffer was a line of graphics adapters using the SGS Thomson INMOS G364 chipset in the early 1990s. The G364 included a RAMDAC and a 64-bit interface to VRAM graphical memory to implement a framebuffer, but did not include any hardware-based graphical acceleration other than a hardware cursor function.
  • INMOS G364 framebuffer - Wikipedia
  • Company Great Valley Product EGS 110/24 Spectrum:
    Add-on card for the GVP G-Force 030/040 accelerator series, it connects to GVP G-Force Combo accelerators' 32 bit local bus.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Ingenieurbüro Helfrich Rainbow III:
    Most cards have an IMOS G360 as GPU, a few have an IMOS G364-10S or INMOS G365 CLT-RAMDAC.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• INMOS T800 Transputer:
  • IMS T800 Architecture - INMOS Technical Note 6
  • INMOS transputer - Wikipedia
  • INMOS T414/T400/T425/T800 transputer emulator for the PC
  • Team 4 Kasmin:
    Essentially a 32 bit (24 bit colour + 8 bit alpha channel) framebuffer for PAL resolution (768x576) with an INMOS T800 transputer chip for board pixel operations and image proccessing.
    The card is known to be supported by TVPaint and the own Kasmin Paint, supporting all features of the card.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
• NCR 77C22E+:
  • MacroSystem Retina Z2:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• NCR 77C32BLT:
  • MacroSystem Altais:
    Basically a Retina Z3 for the DraCo Amiga clone computer, it uses the propriatary DracoBus instead of the Zorro III interface.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • MacroSystem Retina BLT Z3:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• S3 86C764 Trio64:
  • S3 Trio - Wikipedia
  • MacroSystem Altais:
    uses a S3 Trio 64 V+ unlike the Altais.
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision 64:
    Graphics card features a local VESA Local bus (VL-bus).
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• S3 ViRGE:
  • S3 ViRGE - Wikipedia
  • Phase 5 Digital Products CyberVision 64/3D:
    Graphics card features a local 25 Mhz PCI bus). It uses a S3 ViRGE.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • DCE CyberVision 64/3D Mk-II:
    Refreshed version of the original CyberVision 64/3D. Graphics card features a local 25 Mhz PCI bus). It uses a S3 ViRGE DX.
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Texas Instruments TMS34010:
  • TMS34010 - Wikipedia
  • TMS34010 - Graphics System Processor - Texas Instruments
  • Commodore A2410:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
    • "Resolver TIGA graphics adapter" by "Digital Micronics, Inc."
  • Digital Micronics Resolver:
    It is a A2410 clone (Zorro II card) on steroids boasting 4+1 MB VRAM and 8 MB DRAM for the 60 Mhz TI TMS34010 Processor. It supports resolutions of 1280x1024 (non-interlaced) and 2048x2048 (interlace) with 8 bit colours out of a 24 bit colour palette. Press information hints that resolution is programmable. It may be supported by the A2410 driver (with its limitations).
    There was also a driver for AMIX and for Amiga OS for the propriatary SAGE (Standard Amiga Graphics Environment) RTG system supported by ASDG's "Art Department Professional", DMI's "DMI Paint", and Black Belt's "Image Master".
    More software is said to be ported to SAGE, including AdSpec "Draw 4D Professional", Ditek "DynaCADD", Gold Disk "Professional Page 3.0", Impulse "Imagine", Octree "Calagari", Oxxi/Aegis "AniMagic", "Video Titler" and "Presentation Master", Progressive Peripherals "Disk-Master" and "3D Professional".
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • Big Book of Amiga Hardware
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
    • Information about Resolver Workbench
    • original press information from 1992
    • Review of Memphis Amiga Group in July 1991 (scroll down)
• Texas Instruments TMS34020:
  • TMS34010 - Wikipedia
  • TMS34020 - Graphics System Processor - Texas Instruments
  • Progressive Peripherals & Software Rambrandt:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Digital Micronics Vivid 24:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • G2 Systems Image Engine:
    The graphics card has optionally a TMS 34082 coprocessor.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Texas Instruments TMS34061:
  • Roland Köhler/Merkens EDV VD-2001:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
• Tseng Labs ET4000AX:
  • Tseng Labs ET4000 - Wikipedia
  • ArMax oMniBus:
    It is essentially a ISA to Zorro II bridging card with a standard PC ISA card.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • X-Pert Computer Services/Village Tronic Domino:
    It is essentially a ISA to Zorro II bridging card with a standard PC ISA card.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Tseng Labs ET4000W32:
  • Tseng Labs ET4000 - Wikipedia
  • X-Pert Computer Services/Prodev Merlin:
    The graphics card also features a Brooktree Bt482 RAMDAC.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Weitek 91460:
  • Weitek 91460 Graphics Processor
  • Ameristar Technologies 1600GX:
    It is a Zorro III graphics card with programmable resolutions, ranging from 640x480 to 1600x1280, with 8 bit colours out of a 24 bit colour palette. Unlike the A2410, it has a Weitek 91460 as its GPU. It was intended for use in a Amiga 3000(UX). It had a driver for AMIX only.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • Big Book of Amiga Hardware
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Framebuffer:
  • Hertz Elektronik Rainbow II:
    Analog Devices ADV7120 RAMDAC
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • GfxBase GDA-1:
    Zorro II graphics board. It had a driver for AMIX only.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Great Valley Products Impact Vision 24:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Great Valley Products Impact Vision 24 A4000:
    Special version of the Great Valley Products Impact Vision 24 graphics card, it is twice as fast if used in a A4000.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
  • Keybonus Ltd. / Amiga Centre Scotland Harlequin:
    Brooktree Bt121 RAMDAC
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Keybonus Ltd. / Amiga Centre Scotland Harlequin Plus:
    Brooktree Bt473 RAMDAC
    • Amiga Hardware Database
  • Memory and Storage Technology ColorBurst:
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • Opal Technologies OpalVision:
    It uses the BT433KPJ35 chipset.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
    • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
  • TrueVision Targa and Vista:
    While strictly being PC boards for ISA, some Amiga applications directly support them as framebuffers through a BridgeBoard with Janus software. The various Targa, Targa+ and ATVista boards can do much more than displaying 24 bit images in their framebuffer, but those features (capture, live overlay, keying, etc.) are not utilized by Amiga applications.
    2 Amiga graphics programs are known to have native support: Caligari Broadcast and Sculpt.
    • Amiga Hardware Database
• Custom:
• BSC/Individual Computers Graffiti:
  • Amiga Hardware Database
  • The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Newtronic Technologies Video DAC 18:
  • Amiga Hardware Database

[Kitchen2010]

I have already found some emulation cores for the missing graphic cards:

• Cirrus Logic GD54xx:
  WinUAE already does use the QEMU emulation core for the Picasso II(+) and ISA VGA board emulation.
  QEMU documention says it emulates "Cirrus CLGD 5446 PCI VGA card".
  • QEMU Emulator User Documentation
  • QEMU Github - QEMU Cirrus CLGD 54xx VGA Emulator
  MAME/MESS emulates Cirrus Logic GD542x/GD543x for some ISA graphic cards:
  • MAME Github - Cirrus Logic GD542x/3x video chipsets[
  • MAME Github - ISA SVGA Cirrus Logic wrapper
  
• INMOS G364 framebuffer:
  Surprisingly, QEMU seems to emulate already the GPU:
  • QEMU Github - QEMU G364 framebuffer Emulator
  
• S3 86C764 Trio64:
  MAME/MESS emulates already for some ISA graphic cards:
  • MAME Github - ISA SVGA S3 wrapper"
  
• S3 ViRGE:
  MAME/MESS emulates already for some ISA graphic cards:
  • MAME Github -
  
• Tseng Labs ET4000xx:
  MAME/MESS emulates already for some ISA graphic cards:
  • MAME Github - ISA SVGA Tseng wrapper

[Pyromania]

@Kitchen2010

I think the Video Toaster is missing from your list.

[Kitchen2010]

I do not know if the Video Toaster really counts as a (framebuffer) graphic card. It has too many video grabber functions and Tony has already said that he has not interest in reverse engineering custom video hardware. That is why I tried to collect graphic expansions with off-the-shelf chipsets which might have some documentation somewhere helping to implement an emulation.

But if someone is willing to do all the work of reverse engineering, it would be sure be welcome !