New project for the benefit of all classic computing!

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by dJOS

But if an affordable 060 board was released for the 1000/500/2000 etc then folk would take advantage of it IMO.

YEs, but what happened with the boundaries to be pushed on stock hardware?
I just feel it'd be better to have people pushing sock hardware, like Britelite does on A500.
It all just feels of gearlust which doesn't necessarily bring up new stuff.

Novacoder: i'd be interested in hearing more of that even if I will never be able to use it


And an FM soundcard would be absolutely MARVELOUS.

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by Akira

Novacoder: i'd be interested in hearing more of that even if I will never be able to use it

Sure.

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Currently working on Descent AGA 060..

[Thorham]

68060 cards aren't so bad, it's the graphics cards and sound cards that are just wrong. Stick those into your Amiga and you have a peecee with a 680x0 CPU. Not cool

[TheRogue]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

OK, this is the point where I have to give a word of warning: If someone who hasn't come forward with *any* kind of hardware design before is telling you that an 060 design is "definitely planned", you should not set your hopes too high. It's more than just PCB routing involved in such a development.

TheRogue:
You're losing credibility in less than "one second" if you don't come forward with something that has at least a tenth of the complexity of an accelerator. So far, there's three people left in the Amiga market who are capable of grasping the complexity of such a project. Name one, only one project and show a prototype, otherwise step back from promises like "I'll make an accelerator". As it stands right now, you're creating false hope.

Everyone else: Watch this closely! Promises have been made, hardly a single thing was refused as "too complex", although maximum-complexity things have been requested. This is fishy at best, as long as the person behind it has never come forward with *any* kind of hardware design. As it stands right now, this is yet another Oliver Hannaford-Day or Adam Kowalczyk.

Jens

I completely understand your reaction, 100%. You are absolutely right. I have no credibility, I have no prior experience developing Amiga-specific hardware and I have made lots of lofty promises. I have no intention of developing or even attempting to an accelerator until I am at a point where I feel I have a real chance of success. I never said I will release an 060 accelerator, I only said its planned. I have no intention of blowing smoke or decieving anyone with false promises. An accelerator might never happen. I had said it was a direction to work towards. I know its something people would be happy to have, and I know how happy I would be to give it to them. I am starting small, as I have said, and I plan to release many things before a project like that is even begun. This is a learning experience for me too. I'm sure I'll need your expertise before I'm done, if you're willing to share it that is. Right now I'm trying to determine just what direction I should go for my first original project, which is why I started these threads. People have sort of become fixated on the accelerator which I had said from the beginning is a long term goal and a thing to work towards. I love everyones suggestions and comments, but for just one second let's try something. Completely putting aside any sort of accelerator, please finish this sentence: The piece of Amiga hardware I want developed the mosst, besides an accelerator is _________.

Originally Posted by dJOS

But if an affordable 060 board was released for the 1000/500/2000 etc then folk would take advantage of it IMO.

This chip really is the pinnacle of the 68k world and I personally would luv to be able to put one in one of my 500's just for PovRay and I know PovRay is a millions times faster on my quad core pc but that's not the point, my Amiga is a fun computer to use, my pc is just a boring appliance!

@Jens, I doubt that Rogue is going to start off with an 060 board but he did call for ideas and so folk are giving them to him. You could learn from that! Take your aca500 for example, that thing is a joke, if you want to make an adapter so folk can put your aca12xx products into 500's then just do that! but dont insult 500 owners by building a half a$$ed board with a redundant CPU and a pathetic amount of ram! Make a genuine adapter that only has truIDE and maybe USB and Ethernet, it'll be far cheaper and use less power making your exp500 (name intentional, feel free to use it if you come to your senses) wildly popular and leading to more sales of your aca12xx boards.

I really appreciate the support, but the last thing I want is for this thread to degenerate into mudslinging or ever worse, into an attack on Jens and his products. Jens has done so much for this community, and I can say with pride that I own many of his products and have never been disappointed by them. His scepticism is completely natural. Being one of the foremost authorities on Amiga hardware, when a newcomer comes out of nowhere with big ideas and big plans the natural response is scepticism and hostility, simply because how many people have done exactly this and then dropped the ball, whether because they want to stroke their ego or because they don't know what they're getting into or whatever. The point is I don't hold that reaction against him and neither should anyone else, at least if you're trying to defend me. Let's just focus on what we love and why we're here: Amigas.

Now then, having said that... I have finished the first redesign of the Thylacine. This version has not moved much around, just two caps, but I have already cut almost half of the card off so far. I wanted to just get something out there for you guys, so as soon as I get back to my computer I will post the revised layout. The next version will be more condensed, hopefully to about the size of a Deneb or slightly larger. Stay tuned!

[TheRogue]

Ok everyone, here as promised is the first redux of the Thylacine. Only two caps moved, but almost half the card cut away as wasted space. First off, here is the layout of the Thylacine as it was released:



Now, here is my first redraft:



I plan on doing more to it, I just wanted to show you guys that I'm not just sitting here with my thumb in.

[Kitch]

Nice, keep up the good work.

[corpsicle]

There are so manu great things in this thread. First the possibility of new hardware. Second the constructive criticism from Jens. Third the absolutely inspiring attitude in The Rouges answers. And now a first step towards a redesigned Thylacine. Bravo everyone involved!

[vitux]

Originally Posted by corpsicle

There are so manu great things in this thread. First the possibility of new hardware. Second the constructive criticism from Jens. Third the absolutely inspiring attitude in The Rouges answers. And now a first step towards a redesigned Thylacine. Bravo everyone involved!

[TheRogue]

Sorry I haven't dropped by in a short while. I have been working on a project on the Apple II front. I decided to 'put up or shut up' as some might say, and produce something of high complexity so that everyone will know I'm serious. I determined that this project is what I can get out fast enough (looking at shipping in late January-early February), so I decided to focus on this and get it done so people can see I'm serious. So for all the Apple IIGS users out there, I am proud to bring you a reverse engineered clone of the TransWarp IIGS Accelerator! The card will ship around the time I quoted or possibly sooner. It will come stock clocked at 12MHz with 32k of cache. Price is targeted roughly at CAD$150-CAD$175 although there may be a small shift in either direction depending on certain factors. Yes I know its not Amiga, but I have had so many people tell me to produce something of high complexity that does not have schematics or Gerber files available for it to prove that I'm not a troll and do actually know what I'm doing. This is what I determined that I can make available in the shortest time, so this is the first project.

On the Amiga front the Thylacine redesign continues incorporating a 4 port hub and ethernet (the hub chip contains built in ethernet). So stay tuned! Any AIIGS fans out there feel free to PM me with preorders!

[Schoenfeld]

The IIGS Transwarp card doesn't have to be reverse-engineered. Gal Jedec files and Eprom binaries are available here:

http://www.downloads.reactivemicro.c...ransWarp_IIgs/

Since the source code is also available, I'd replace t he GAL chips with a CPLD. Older versions of the Xilinx ISE tool still support the ABEL language, so it should be a very quick port. It'll save you the hassle of finding high-speed GAL chips, and it'll bring your design into this century by having JTAG programmability (note all the boards out there that suffered damage in a failed attempt of upgrading).

Make sure you keep that "mystery 40-pin connector" in your design, because that will be the place where you can add a 65816-replacement board (hint: Bill Mensch is not easy to deal with, so I totally understand and support the decision of keeping a backdoor open).

I was approached multiple times because people wanted me to build such a thing, but I never got around to doing any reasonable kind of research. However, Apple-retro is currently hot: There has been an auction in Bochum, Germany just a few days ago where an Apple 1 has been sold for 400.000,- EUR.

Jens

[TheRogue]

Thanks for replying Jens! Enhancing the TWGS is in the future with plans for replacing the GALs with a CPLD at the top of the list of enhancments. The first release will however be a straight clone with no improvements because I can get this done cheaply and easily, and many people are happy to just have a clone. I know how easy it is to get stuck in development hell adding new features and the A2 community needs a new source of accelerators badly. People have asked me for a straight-up clone before I make any enhancements and that is what I will give them first. I really appreciate your input and ideas, and I have some ideas I would like to get your opinion on if you don't mind discussing things in private with me. Some of them involve the 'mystery connector' .

[kamelito]

Interesting stuff as I've a IIGS, might buy one next year, there's also a kind of Action Replay for the A2 sources here.
http://www.prodev.biz/DDT/ddt.htm
Discussion there http://compgroups.net/comp.sys.apple...ev-ddt/1128165

[TheRogue]

Originally Posted by corpsicle

There are so manu great things in this thread. First the possibility of new hardware. Second the constructive criticism from Jens. Third the absolutely inspiring attitude in The Rouges answers. And now a first step towards a redesigned Thylacine. Bravo everyone involved!

Sorry I missed replying to your post, I didn't notice it until now. My apologies. Thank you so much for your support and your positive attitude. Anyone who thinks about it will realise that there's absolutely no reason to get offended by a challenge to a newcomer from a vetran, its only natural. Thank you again for looking on the bright side of things!

@kamelito: I will absolutely check that out! Thanks for posting it! Thanks as well for your support and possible interest. If you want to PM me with your details I will keep you informed as to my progress. I am going to put up a site some time soon, I just have been so busy with the behind the scenes stuff I haven't had time yet. I will announce the site here as soon as its ready! Stay tuned!

[TheRogue]

Just an update, I have launched the blog for this project! You can check it out here: http://retrologycomputing.blogspot.ca/

Stay tuned!