Zeus68k – Accelerator/IDE/RAM for the A500/2000/CDTV and others

[utri007]

MC68SZ328
http://cache.freescale.com/files/32b...MC68SZ328P.pdf

It has a 68000 core, clock rate is 66mhz, but it also has a GPU (640x512), usb controller, serial, sd/mmc controller, etc

[mr.vince]

No, it does not have a website... yet.

Jens, thanks for your input.

Currently the Zeus supports THREE different chip ram modes to speed things up:

1. 1:1 as in a real Amiga
2. It shortens write access timing, something along as you described it (which means it will break on some machines)
3. Zeus68k Cache; all IO goes through the Zeus' registers which will free the CPU once it has sent off the data.

The last mode is the most impressive one and makes have use of the Spartan's (FPGA) power. The user can select between these modes via the bootmenu. If some mode don't work in a particular Amiga, just use a different one.


EDIT: Update 2012-12-18:

Ok, some fantastic news right in time for Christmas... Here's some little info retrieved rom latest WHDLoad (1.72) beta package history text:

- new: support for Zeus68k pseudo vbr added, allows quit by key similar like a moved vector base, but only for interrupts not for exceptions

This means that WHDLoad will support the quit key function with a Zeus68k installed, even though the card utilises a 68000 processor only. Usually WHDLoad will require a 68010+ processor to support the quit key feature. This feature is implemented in the FPGA logic. This will make a standard A500 with Zeus68k the ideal WHDLoad machine.

Many thanks to Bert Jahn for making it happen. And the Season's Greetings to everyone around!

[mr.vince]

*bump* to make the latest addition visible; please remove once there are other replies.

[robinsonb5]

Awesome work - I can see one of these cards in my A500+'s future!

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

This means that WHDLoad will support the quit key function with a Zeus68k installed, even though the card utilises a 68000 processor only. Usually WHDLoad will require a 68010+ processor to support the quit key feature. This feature is implemented in the FPGA logic. This will make a standard A500 with Zeus68k the ideal WHDLoad machine.

Well, you *had* to find at some point that the 68000 does not do autovectors in an Amiga. So congrats on patching the last few words of the Kickstart ROM :-) Too bad that it's not exclusive to the ACA500 any more.

Jens

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

This means that WHDLoad will support the quit key function with a Zeus68k installed, even though the card utilises a 68000 processor only. Usually WHDLoad will require a 68010+ processor to support the quit key feature.

Nice feature indeed! However, I have to add some corrections (not meant to be nitpicking!), WHDLoad only needs 68010+ for the QUITKEY feature if the slave doesn't explicitly support it. If the slave is coded well (i.e. keyboard routine patched/added), quit key will work on 68000 machines without any problems.

[mr.vince]

Now it does it for all, even slaves that don't originate from you.


...and no, we don't patch the Kickstart ROM...

This is getting better and better!

Cannot wait to get these installed in my CDTV's, -they are going to give my A4000 and accelerated 1200s a run for their money, as they are the only girlfriend friendly Amiga I can sneak into the living room ;-)

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

...and no, we don't patch the Kickstart ROM...

You should - it's the simpler solution. Anything else is a waste of resources. I've thought about replacing the first few bytes of memory, thought about ROM overlay with alternative vectors, then thought about RAM overlay, and *click*, there was the idea to just alter these last magic few bytes of Kickstart ROM. So hey, all the resources to implement this feature on a non-VBR-processor are already there if you have implemented Maprom.

Oh, and it's common knowledge since a few years.

Jens

[mr.vince]

At least the Spartan has some resources one could waste. But hey, if you are happy with patching the ROM, that's fine with us. The Zeus68k has a wealth of features the user can chose from. Maybe we, or someone else, will also add ROM patching as another option. But we currently have something that works without patching the ROM, which is sweet, too.

Question.....

I have an amiga 1000 that I would love to revive, but it is missing the daughterboard, would I need the daughterboard with a Zeus68k? or would it boot from that?

[desiv]

Originally Posted by caratacas

I have an amiga 1000 that I would love to revive, but it is missing the daughterboard,

You have an NTSC Amiga 1000?
The PAL 1000 didn't have a daughterboard...

desiv

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by caratacas

Question.....

I have an amiga 1000 that I would love to revive, but it is missing the daughterboard, would I need the daughterboard with a Zeus68k? or would it boot from that?

The computer will not work without a daughterboard. It is possible to replace the ROMs and replace the pin headers with chip sockets, but you will require a few of the components from the daughterboard in order to get your A1000 back to work.

Even if you don't have the daughterboard, these components can be purchased/made. The contents of the PAL chips are open, so with some help from the community, you'll be able to get that thing back to work. I'd suggest opening a new thread in this forum under "support.hardware" or so.

Jens

[Jope]

Originally Posted by desiv

You have an NTSC Amiga 1000?
The PAL 1000 didn't have a daughterboard...

There are also PAL A1000s with a daughterboard.

Thanks for answers guys, much appreciated!

happy new year to all, any news in the world of Zeus?

[mr.vince]

Yes, progress progress progress. FPGA core and platform specific boot menu (Amiga) are under heavy development. Everything is already working, but we strive for something simple... and perfect.

[DonAmiga]

Great Stuff looking forward to it

[Sim085]

Just to show that I am still intrested in this project and looking to buy a board as soon as this is made available.

OMG thats awesome! its precisely what I'v been looking for so long, great job count me in for one board also!