Vampire or PiStorm?

[Turrican_3]

Quite happy about the PiStorm32 right now.

System basically just works as long as you nail the configuration (software is still in beta stage and basically continuously evolving as we speak), and you can even put the expansion in stealth mode so an extremely high degree of compatibility shouldn't be that hard to reach.

I've already cloned my OS3.1 installation to the RPi-handled SDcard and setup Workbench in RTG mode with Picasso96 thanks to the tutorials on Emu68 Github plus some help from the official Discord.

I don't think it will be easy to do better than this spending less. Lovely stuff.

[UberFreak]

How is the chip-ram access speed?

From what I've seen in some youtube videos it is slower than the TF1260 (at 50Mhz) and less than half the speed Vampire V1200 reaches (which is the max chip-ram bandwidth possible).

I assume this might explain issues lots of users are having with running stuff through WHDLoad, a thing common to most YT videos I watched.
I'm still on the fence, waiting to see how things progress.

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

How is the chip-ram access speed?

From what I've seen in some youtube videos it is slower than the TF1260 (at 50Mhz) and less than half the speed Vampire V1200 reaches (which is the max chip-ram bandwidth possible).

I assume this might explain issues lots of users are having with running stuff through WHDLoad, a thing common to most YT videos I watched.
I'm still on the fence, waiting to see how things progress.

See: https://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p...&postcount=191

[BigD]

Some news regarding the Prototype CM4 adapter board for the PiStorm32 Lite booting with a CM4 for the first time! With some minor design tweaks it looks like it will turn the PiStorm32 Lite (possible to manufacture during current electronic parts shortage) basically into the PiStorm32 Full Version (impossible to manufacture due to parts shortage) for use with the CM4 RPis!



https://www.patreon.com/posts/its-alive-77973932

[Pyromania]

I’m glad PiStorm32 exists for the budget customer that maybe can’t afford a Vampire V4. For me it was V4 all the way. I cost about the same as my A500 cost me in 1988 so didn’t seem to expensive compared to my X5000. I remember when Amigas were way cheaper than Mac or PC solutions.

[tomcat666]

Originally Posted by Pyromania

I’m glad PiStorm32 exists for the budget customer that maybe can’t afford a Vampire V4. For me it was V4 all the way. I cost about the same as my A500 cost me in 1988 so didn’t seem to expensive compared to my X5000. I remember when Amigas were way cheaper than Mac or PC solutions.

Now you are just insulting... Pistorm32 reaches upto 2300 MIPS on sysinfo 4.4 while the v4 gets upto 200 MIPS. Budget my a**, when it comes to performance vamp is the budget one. Compatibility will improve over time, since it has only been out a few weeks, even now all RTG stuff works, problematic are only some old games and demos, with pistorm32 you can fall back to the original 020 with a l long hold of c-a-a reset and you get full compatibility when desired.

[Pyromania]

Was not trying to insult. Varied choices and features for customers at different prices encourages choice for customers and healthy competition. The V4 was right for me but I’m sure PiStorm32 is right for others. Let’s see how these different solutions grow over time. It’s nice to have a wide selection of solutions in our small market. I have an X5000 as well and am not against trying out a PiStorm32 at some point in the future. What stood out on the Vampire for me was they are upgrading AROS and releasing lots of new games and software unique to the system.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Pyromania

…releasing lots of new games and software unique to the system.

Did something new come out? Last time I checked they had a few very simple games and nothing more. I know there is some “enhanced” PC port using the proprietary Vampire extensions out there but I haven’t heard about much else.

[alexh]

One question I keep asking is where is Buffee? I thought we would have seen it by now.

[Promilus]

Well you can't expect single source old tech SoC to be particularly available worldwide. My guess is nonarkitten tries to get more chips for both Buffee (Octavo AM355x based SoM) and agnus replacement (afaik Lattice older FPGAs) and/or find other, more available chips which fits the general idea behind those projects. I'm afraid it won't be that easy.

Also - while interesting design and idea behind Buffee 68k emulation it does only offer 68k + some fast ram. And while it is great drop-in replacement which might work well in a number of things beside Amiga it cannot be competitive to compact turbo solutions which add not only cpu and fast ram but also usb connectivity to controllers (mouse, kb, pad, joy), RTG, fast storage, network...

My guess is - it is designed as great solution to ppl sticking with what chipset offers (and improved chipset using fpga replacements).

[tomcat666]

[ Show youtube player ]

100 AGA demos on pistorm32 and rpi3

[tomcat666]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

How is the chip-ram access speed?

From what I've seen in some youtube videos it is slower than the TF1260 (at 50Mhz) and less than half the speed Vampire V1200 reaches (which is the max chip-ram bandwidth possible).

I assume this might explain issues lots of users are having with running stuff through WHDLoad, a thing common to most YT videos I watched.
I'm still on the fence, waiting to see how things progress.

Actually the whdload games/demos problem is related to something else than chip speed since we just found out that if we use JST loader instead of whdload then they work perfectly smooth. So there is something that whdload does that makes Pistorm and pistorm32lite problematic. Might be interrupts related. If anyone has an idea we would appreciate it.

[alexh]

Do all the demos have WHDload pre-load enabled? The PiStorm INT2 (CIAA + Gayle) is a mix of HW and Virtual HW

[tomcat666]

Yes, in my case preload is on by default.otherwise there is horrible flickering, music cutoffs and other problems.

Edit: Even without preload the same problem is there with whdload.

Here is an example of whdload problem with pistorm/pistorm32 ... Glow demo. Dreadfull fps when running with whdload (whdload glowaga.slave preload), but really smooth when running with jst (jst glowaga.slave preload)

[ Show youtube player ]

[UberFreak]

Randomly watching some demos from that video, I noticed audio issues on some.
Music playing speed seems to vary. A very clear example is 'Bomb - Motion'.
I also see some slight frame stutter throughout, but that could be a capture/encoding/youtube issue.

[UberFreak]

Examples of bad audio and frame-skip:
[ Show youtube player ]
[ Show youtube player ]

I see this type of frame skipping in many demos, sometimes accompanied by audio issues.

[UberFreak]

And here's a real strange issue:
[ Show youtube player ]

This is how it should look:
[ Show youtube player ]

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by alexh

One question I keep asking is where is Buffee? I thought we would have seen it by now.

The Vampire slayer is taking it's time

[tomcat666]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

Randomly watching some demos from that video, I noticed audio issues on some.
Music playing speed seems to vary. A very clear example is 'Bomb - Motion'.
I also see some slight frame stutter throughout, but that could be a capture/encoding/youtube issue.

Yep, there are some issues either caused by JIT or by some unknown bugs in the cpu/fpu core. It is very hard to pinpoint them since all the cpu and fpu tests currently pass, but it will be worked on when other priority tasks are finished - unfortunetly only one developer on the Emu68, so he must choose priorities wisely - lots of other things to do.

[skan]

This is pretty wild indeed
https://twitter.com/Claude1079/statu...38213887647750