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

[ptyerman]

Really looking forward to plonking a Zeus in my A500+ and by the sound of it well worth the wait. In fact it's hard to believe that something like this is been developed now, 20 years after the A500's demise! You guys Rock!

[mr.vince]

Little difference here in contrast to "standard" suppliers. We're willing to push this stuff to the max, but people should be aware that they might have to reduce speed if it does not work in their particular machine. It's a little like a chip mod in a car. Some will get 10% more vmax, others will get 12%. Some can run at 7000rpm, others only at 6800rpm. We don't feel like restricting anything to 10% and 6800rpm. Just give it a try! If anyone is unhappy with a core or the config tool (no pun intended here!), go ahead, make it better... or enhance it.

The Zeus68k will offer many options, you can try them all, then decide what works best for you.

It was made by people that like to tinker with their stuff. Building and producing this will be fun. Due to the design some parts will need hand assembly, as well as flashing the boards. So we'll make a little pick & shipping party once we have boards. I currently estimate that it will take a week to ship the first production run (once we have them back from the production company), maybe two.

But hey, why go the easy route when you can have fun?

[mfilos]

+1 /applause
I love that way of thinkin'

[1time]

Mr.Vince.. you make me happy

[mr.vince]

Originally Posted by luncheon

Can the CPU speed be chosen as a whole number multiplier of the base 7.09MHz frequency? e.g.: 14.18MHz (2x) / 28.36MHz (4x) / 42.54MHz (6x) / 56.72MHz (8x)? Shouldn't this be a little bit more compatible than an asynchronous frequency?

Quoting Herzi (the designer) here: The design is asynchronous anyway. The Amiga's clock is too sloppy and noisy anyway, so it can't be used for multiplication. You'd multiply the timing errors, too.

Hence the Zeus68k has its own clock, 7.09MHz was implemented for best compatibility, anything above runs based on our own clock.

[portarinos]

Where can we possible declare our interest in buying a board. Something like a pre-order list?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by portarinos

Where can we possible declare our interest in buying a board. Something like a pre-order list?

Maybe on a piece of paper that you put in your neighbor's mailbox. With a little luck, it'll get passed on to the next door neighbor and so forth until it reaches one of the developers.

[portarinos]

or a message in a bottle would also be an idea!

[luncheon]

Originally Posted by mr.vince

Quoting Herzi (the designer) here: The design is asynchronous anyway. The Amiga's clock is too sloppy and noisy anyway, so it can't be used for multiplication. You'd multiply the timing errors, too.

Hence the Zeus68k has its own clock, 7.09MHz was implemented for best compatibility, anything above runs based on our own clock.

Sounds good, can't wait for it to be released!

[mr.vince]

Rest assured, we'll let you know once we move to production and you will have the chance to pre-order your board. We'll need to do some kind of pre-sale anyway, as the production will be so costly that we can't pay everything upfront ourselves.

Don't think we'll be using Kickstarter...

[JonB]

Another interested party here!

[1time]

More pictures =)

[DyLucke]

Definitelly INTERESTED

[kovacm]

and when Atari version will be coming?... O

[mr.vince]

It's the same hardware, but will need other software for in-system flashing... Really no rocket science. I think we will finalise the Amiga part as needed and then hand it over to be ported.

To all Atari STE users reading along, I'm currently designing a daughterboard which adapts the PLCC socket to a DIL socket (which would actually involve unsoldering the original socket, since those plug-in solutions ... simply put ... suck and cause nothing but trouble for a number of reasons) so you can use the Zeus68k on your beloved STE machines once the softcore on the Zeus68k is done/ported. Check the hardware section at Atari-forum, I've already "announced" the project there. It's currently aimed at the PAK68/3 board, but from the looks of it, it would be able to take the Zeus68k as well (1040STE boards would need to be towered most likely, MegaSTE users will be able to fit it in the original case).

Anyways (what I originally wanted to say), to all devs of the Zeus68k, major props to you guys on this project. This seems like the speeder everyone was longing for in the 80's becoming a reality - while not as powerful as a PAK68/3 this certainly looks like the perfect trade-off between speed and compatibility which is absolutely critical with a very predefined software library. Really the best of luck and success for the project.

I am also interested please

[Neil79]

Does that mean, with this device I'll be able to play AGA WHDLOAD games on my Amiga 500?

[mfilos]

Where have you got that impression from? lol

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Neil79

Does that mean, with this device I'll be able to play AGA WHDLOAD games on my Amiga 500?

Originally Posted by mfilos

Where have you got that impression from? lol

What mfilos is trying to say, is, No, this thing does not add a AGA capacity to your toy. With a fast enough FPGA it could probably be emulated, but then again, where is the advantage of emulating in a FPGA over emulating on, say a SFF PC. The PC would be cheaper, and more versatile on top of everything else...