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

[e5frog]

Would be nice to have one, don't think I'll be able to afford it.

I guess this is one of those projects that will pop up for one or two runs and then not be available anymore when I manage to scrape up the money for it? Possibly a new and more expensive version has emerged...

What other's have there been these last five years?

[kipper2k]

Been quiet for a week, any updates ?

[CUF]

No updates at all???

[mr.vince]

You wish... As it says in Pirates... "St. Kitts is bustling with activity". We're so busy with doing stuff, it seems quiet. In fact we have some very neat surprises in the pipeline I can't reveal at the moment because there is some other competitive product being released soon and I'd like to keep the really exciting stuff for Zeus68k. It won't make much of a difference once the hardware is produced.

But here's some picture to keep you entertained. This is the preliminary boot menu that's being used by the devs to configure the card to avoid re-synthesizing the core all the time.



EDIT: What we are working on is software. Since the Zeus is a reconfigurable FPGA-design, there's not much to change in regard to hardware and it seems our test run was fine except for some very few things that can be changed for the final production run.

[DonAmiga]

Surprises is exciting indeed look forward to it, great stuff

[mr.vince]

We already have tools for flashing the card on the Amiga, which means the toolchain is already there. It's now making it stable and cuddly, and after that it's time for some funding.

[grobda]

exciting!

There are so many products for the amiga now, its' a pity the Atari ST has none other than the lotharek floppy adaptor. the ST community is crying out for an accelerator and probably more importantly a hard disk interface.

My Amiga is sorted out now so I dont really need one for it, but id definitely buy one for the ST.

[mr.vince]

Zeus is also for the Atari... you better read the specs again. This is a 68k accelerator.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by grobda

the ST community is crying out for an accelerator and probably more importantly a hard disk interface.

Hard disk interface yes. Accelerator... not so much.

[grobda]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

Zeus is also for the Atari... you better read the specs again. This is a 68k accelerator.

yes i read the specs first time round.

specifically;

Originally Posted by mr.vince

reprogramming the FPGA should make it compatible with other devices as well

So, my question, more specifically - does should mean will, and if so will it be released with the necessary code for it to run with an Atari ST or will this be for somebody else to implement?

[mr.vince]

Originally Posted by alexh

Hard disk interface yes. Accelerator... not so much.

It's all on one, and the FPGA decides what is visible / usable by the machine. I must admit that I don't know about how an HDD is implemented in the OS on the Atari Side, but whatever logic it needs, I don't see why it should not fit into the core.

As for the development: We're developing for the Amiga at the moment. We will be looking into this after it's released, and hopefully there will be some chaps from the Atari community that will chime in with their in-depth knowledge as well.

[Adrian Browne]

So, pardon my ignorance but how fast will this make my a500 go in comparison to an aga machine or such? Is it easy to fit the zeus or does it require some knowledge. Does it plug in somewhere? Im interested in getting a zeus. I need to get my old a500 fixed up too.disk drive etc.
Any eta for the zeus?

[moijk]

Originally Posted by Adrian Browne

So, pardon my ignorance but how fast will this make my a500 go in comparison to an aga machine or such? Is it easy to fit the zeus or does it require some knowledge. Does it plug in somewhere? Im interested in getting a zeus. I need to get my old a500 fixed up too.disk drive etc.
Any eta for the zeus?

if you'd read the thread it says in one of the first posts:

"All you do is to remove your CPU and plug in this card."

[mr.vince]

Exactly. The Zeus replaces your CPU and is way faster than any stock AGA machine.

[kronuz]

I MUST have one of these when available !

How will this work with megachip?...use an adapter to move placement of the megachip, or simply raise the 68ksocket ?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by kronuz

How will this work with megachip?...use an adapter to move placement of the megachip, or simply raise the 68ksocket ?

??? Megachip plugs onto the Agnus. Is that chip so close to 68000 to be interfering.

[janikosk]

Interested, i would definitely buy one

[kronuz]

Originally Posted by alexh

??? Megachip plugs onto the Agnus. Is that chip so close to 68000 to be interfering.

Not close, no....but the megachip raises the agnus about 16mm ? and the Zeus will cover all of it.
The pictures looks like there is not gonna be enough clearance.

Anyway...is there something i missed regarding the Zeus and chipRAM ?

[mr.vince]

In that case it might be necessary to lift the board with an extender. But might be it fits as well. I uploaded a PDF to cut out the shape which you could use to check.

The Zeus can't deliver chip ram, as the Zeus plugs into the processor slot. There's no way to mess with the chip mem, which is at the other end of the bus. Zeus can do all kinds of trickery, even reroute chip men access for the CPU but it can't fool the other chips that can access chip ram via DMA.

[kronuz]

Great, Thanks