GOLD2.10 core released for Vampire V2

[Crom]

Nice I've since tesed on V600, V500, V2000 (v500 with Kipper 2k slot adapter) and the new Vampire 4. Fusion is working on all of them. Will new Fusion be available for all Amiga users? Any new features you could share?

[grond]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

With Replay's daughter board 060 running up to 135MHz it will be the fastest Mac in the world. Can't wait to post some benchmarks, especially FPU!

Better be quick, the V4 is in testing and will leave the most overclocked 060 trailing behind...

[JimDrew]

I just hope whoever is producing the hardware licenses the HDMI connector/usage. I am getting tired of the Sr. Brand Protection Manager for HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. (HDMI LA) asking information about everyone involved in this project. They are coming after the producers of the hardware for licensing infringement. Don't believe it? Contact them yourself...please!

Until there is a 96 bit precision FPU (ala the real chip), there will be problems running the Mac OS. There is nothing I can do about that except make the Mac think it is an LC version (no FPU).

There are new features for the new FUSION, like the ability to mount standard .iso images as a CD-ROM drive or hard drive. These seem to be the most common archive format for Mac software these days. For the Vampire, a specific video driver for it that uses a flat model (much like the Cybergraphics 64 board). Some other little changes here and there. I tried to keep new features non-CPU/system specific, except for the Vampire video driver.

[Estrayk]

Hi Jim, Approximate release date for the new version?

thx

[JimDrew]

Soon-ish. I am waiting for the latest changes to the Replay core so I can test the speed and compatibility of the new version. I expect to demo this at CRX 2018 in a couple of weeks.

[grond]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

HDMI-license blabla, FPU-precision blabla, imaginary MacOS compatibility problems nobody else can reproduce-blabla

So this has only been a FUD-attack on a strong competitor to the FPGArcade?

[kolla]

Competitor? The FPGA Arcade and the V4 just barely share a small segment of a certain market.
Anyways, Shapeshifter sources are there for anyone who want to optimise for Apollo Core, too bad MacOS is not there to be optimised.

[grond]

@kolla: I'm not sure. The V4 will be available as a stand-alone putting it into a pretty similar market segment. Even more so since the 080 is fast enough for running emulators of several other legacy systems. In any case the V4 seems to be perceived as a strong competitor to the fpgaarcade by the makers of the fpgaarcade. If it were not, there wouldn't be so many comments from them about how the fpgaarcade will soon be so much faster and more compatible than the Vampire. Let's count the superior alternatives to the 080 they are soon to offer: a gate-level reconstruction of 68k chips, more powerful FPGAs to run the currently used slow t68k at very high clockspeeds, 060 addon boards, an ARM processor running the UAE softcore emulating the 68k CPU. AFAIK nothing of this has turned into reality. If the FPGAArcade is in a different market than the V4, they haven't realised it yet.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by grond

@kolla: I'm not sure. The V4 will be available as a stand-alone putting it into a pretty similar market segment.

But V4 is Apollo Core and Amiga only.
The FPGA Arcade - as implied in its name - is a lot more. The real competitors here are FPGA Arcade and MiSTer and various MiST clones.

Even more so since the 080 is fast enough for running emulators of several other legacy systems. In any case the V4 seems to be perceived as a strong competitor to the fpgaarcade by the makers of the fpgaarcade.

Let's see, why were we using FPGA instead of emulation in the first place again?

Yeah, that's right - to not rely on sequential software execution.

So no - emulation on Vampire does not at all put V4 in competition with FPGA Arcade or other FPGA systems - to run emulation on the V4 is merely a peculiarity, I can run emulation on much more capable, not to mention a heck lot cheaper, systems.

[TuKo]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

I just hope whoever is producing the hardware licenses the HDMI connector/usage. I am getting tired of the Sr. Brand Protection Manager for HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. (HDMI LA) asking information about everyone involved in this project. They are coming after the producers of the hardware for licensing infringement. Don't believe it? Contact them yourself...please!

Very subtile. So it was you who reported some team members to them. You did it all wrong. Nevertheless, nice try to arm the project.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by grond

there wouldn't be so many comments from them about how the fpgaarcade will soon be so much faster and more compatible than the Vampire.

Faster? No. More compatible? Probably.

AFAIK nothing of this has turned into reality.

I am actually rooting for V4 coming out to end-users first.

[clebin]

I don't see huge competition between the projects, simply becuase I expect FPGA Arcade to remain rare as hen's teeth for the forseeable future. I'm sure Mike will make good on his promises for the daughterboard and I wouldn't bet against the ARM emulation, even if it takes 10 years. He's very dogged, but his estimates on timescales are always way off (understatement).

I can't speak for Jim, but IMO with Mike his enthusiasm leads him to believe he can do more and quicker than he can. So far he's been unwilling to partner with anyone else to ramp up production and get it to more resellers, so the Vampire/Apollo will remain the more accessible product.

For that reason I think most Arcades will end up with collectors who own at least one Vampire as well. So competition is not an issue there, if it ever was.

[Crom]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

(HDMI LA) asking information about everyone involved in this project. T

Hi I am confused, Does this include you? As in this video you say you are working with the Apollo team and are the North American distributor for Apollo stuff.

[ Show youtube player ]

Forward to 18:00 if the embed code doesn't work.

[Crom]

Originally Posted by clebin

So competition is not an issue there, if it ever was.

They are both great collector's items for sure!

[JimDrew]

Originally Posted by TuKo

Very subtile. So it was you who reported some team members to them. You did it all wrong. Nevertheless, nice try to arm the project.

Nope - they found a bunch of public posts from a couple of years ago about me talking about possibly making the Vampire boards and basically threatened me. I told them I have not produced any hardware, so take your concerns elsewhere!

[JimDrew]

Originally Posted by Crom

Hi I am confused, Does this include you? As in this video you say you are working with the Apollo team and are the North American distributor for Apollo stuff.

Exactly why they contacted me to find out why I hadn't licensed their technology, stating the fines and imprisonment scenario. I have absolutely no doubt that they are attempting legal action against *someone* for the existing Vampire boards (and future boards if their patented technology is not licensed).

[grond]

Imprisonment. Yeah, sure...

[JimDrew]

Originally Posted by kolla

Faster? No. More compatible? Probably.

Faster, I believe so. Mike has dropped the FPGA based CPU core idea for Replay 2. It is a hybrid now - using a readily available (upgradeable), high speed, multi-core CPU module to handle CPU core emulations, and a larger FPGA to do just the chipset emulations. We have learned that FPGA based cores just can't beat CPU emulated cores. For example, my 4930K based desktop PC runs my PC version of FUSION more than 10 times faster (in a protected VM DOS box) than the Vampire (or even the 100+MHz 68060), using just a single x86 CPU core (out of the 6 available). A real CPU opens the door to MAME, and everything else that is software based, and you can use the FPGA to do precision chipset emulation (like the Replay's AGA emulation). It's a win-win really.. and no HDMI licensing required because the CPU plug-in module already has paid for this!

Yes, Mike is a little slow at releasing things, but Mike actually has a real team of people now that are working on the Replay 2 and they are actively pushing things along. Daughter boards have been released and the Replay 2 FPGA carrier board is headed to production. Exciting times are ahead. Come to CRX 2018 for previews! www.crxevent.com

[JimDrew]

Originally Posted by grond

Imprisonment. Yeah, sure...

Spoken like someone who doesn't live in the U.S.A.

[grond]

How about you open your own thread to advertise the fpgaarcade stuff?