Sonnet 7200 PCI programming

[strim]

@Hedeon

U2 is a most likely a place for Flash ROM. Maybe Elbox was trying to boot the card from that instead of PCI memory.

[olav]

Hi,

I want to say that what you guys are doing is outstanding.
I bought a brand new Amiga 1200 system in 2000/2001, back then it was still possible. Then I towered it in a brand new E/BOX 1200 cabinet from ELBOX, it was quite good. Added a nice IDE controller. I got the Mediator, and suiting PCI cards: Spider USB, Voodoo3 3000, Ethernet card etc. Mostly because ELBOX were promising the Shark boards, that never ever came ! Indeed they left me in the dark.

It was a nice system. However, the lack of PPC accelerator made me take a choice I bitterly regret today, I sold the very nice system I had assembled, a year later. Man, I regret that now - not just due to these news.. it was a nice towered classic system that looked good!

The big question, will this accelerator and setup be able to run Amiga OS 4.1 FE Classic eventually, i.e. is that "the plan"? I am almost considering assembling a new similar system now. These news are fantastic!

Needless to say, I am following this with great interest!

Olav

[strim]

The big question, will this accelerator and setup be able to run Amiga OS 4.1 FE Classic eventually, i.e. is that "the plan"?

There is no work done in this direction currently.

I think you should listen to the podcast where Hedeon was interviewed... OS4 was one of the topics discussed there .

http://www.amigapodcast.com/2015/12/...rpc-turbo.html

[Hedeon]

Dunno, could first try to run it on top of 3.9 :-P

[olav]

Nice podcast. I just got an Amiga 1200 again now during the Christmas holidays. Plan to get the Mediator 1200TX (getting a Mediator again... and of course need some tower solution..). If I can find the Sonnet Crescendo 7200 I would love to help out. I do have coding experience. Should get this working for Amiga 1200 too!

[strim]

Originally Posted by olav

Plan to get the Mediator 1200TX (getting a Mediator again... and of course need some tower solution..). If I can find the Sonnet Crescendo 7200 I would love to help out. I do have coding experience. Should get this working for Amiga 1200 too!

Okay . You should know that the code to support Mediator 1200TX is there, but it is buggy and doesn't work too well compared to 3000/4000. Fixing it might be nontrivial without reimplementing Elbox's pci.library.

[olav]

So I suppose it's better to get a good 4000... I currently live in Tokyo, and they are hard to come by here (!).
Also, the Sonnet Crescendo 7200 seems to be nowhere to be found.
An alternative would be making a interface card for the other Crescendos, those non-pci cards plugging straight into the Apple CPU socket. In that case the A1200 would be able to stay in its original enclosure.., not depending on any PCI bridge Also, there exist FPGA chips with PPC cores embedded on the same chip..(!).
The tricky part would be getting the memory controller and interface right. It would need that too of course - memory.

[strim]

Originally Posted by olav

So I suppose it's better to get a good 4000...

If you're more into using the card than developing then certainly .

I currently live in Tokyo

That's awesome.

and they are hard to come by here (!).

That's probably expected...

Also, the Sonnet Crescendo 7200 seems to be nowhere to be found.

Maybe ask there:
http://www.mac-paradise.com/list/cpu.html#old

Otherwise your best bet, would probably be searching on eBay...

An alternative would be making a interface card for the other crescendos, those non-pci cards plugging straight into the Apple CPU socket. In that case the A1200 would be able to stay in its original enclosure..

I'll be honest: you're getting into dream zone here. Crescendo 7200 is currently the only one that is going to work. Making any kind of adapter for other Crescendos would be extremely difficult (it would need complex programmable logic device, not a simple change of connector).

[olav]

Originally Posted by strim

If you're more into using the card than developing then certainly .



That's awesome.



That's probably expected...



Maybe ask there:
http://www.mac-paradise.com/list/cpu.html#old

Otherwise your best bet, would probably be searching on eBay...



I'll be honest: you're getting into dream zone here. Crescendo 7200 is currently the only one that is going to work. Making any kind of adapter for other Crescendos would be extremely difficult (it would need complex programmable logic device, not a simple change of connector).

Sure, FPGA(s) to glue it all together would be needed. I would say difficult, not extremely difficult or impossible. I have witnessed more challenging things being solved before. Everything starts with a thought. In many ways it could even be easier than dealing with a buggy closed-source PCI-implementation. I'm impressed to see you overcome that. The Mediator can also provide graphics, that is a big plus. So an accelerator would have to implement a solution for that too. That is more tricky.

I have to admit, a towered A1200 is not a particularly pretty sight.. in some (most?) cases. It deserves its original enclosure. When I had it, it felt like an un-elegant patched-up "mess", but then again it had its charms.
If I had a nice tower solution to put it into, and access to the Mediator.. it would be a whole lot easier..I have neither these days. Not overly excited about hacking together a cabinet for it, and getting it out of the original skins.. So maybe I should get a second motherboard for this experiment.

Thanks for the link. And it's in Japan, too. It basically shows the reflection of another Japanese mac site I found, they keep the same inventory, different front-ends.
http://www.pasocomclub.co.jp/list/mac_cpu.html
I read in the blog that a "huge" quantum of the Crescendo 7200 was bought, is this for sale at some point?
Are anyone developing Warp3D support for the Radeon 9200 on the mediator?

EDIT: Realised the Mediator 1200TX "Black edition" can be ordered directly from Elbox.

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by olav

I currently live in Tokyo ....
Also, the Sonnet Crescendo 7200 seems to be nowhere to be found.

How about http://www.mac-paradise.com/list/cpu.html#old

[S0ulA55a551n]

Purely out of idle curiosity. What is the sort of speed increase over the blizzard 603e 233 ?

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by S0ulA55a551n

Purely out of idle curiosity. What is the sort of speed increase over the blizzard 603e 233 ?

With what benchmark?

gears from warp3d (grabbed the numbers from ppa.pl):

A1200 BPPC 603/200 040, BVision gears_ppc - 25-28 fps gears_ppc-small - 27-29 fps (WB 1024x768 16 bit) gears_ppc-window - 21-24 fps (WB 1024x768 16 bit)

A4000 CPPC 604/210 060, Voodoo3 3000 gears_ppc - 36-37 fps gears_ppc-small - 37-38 fps (WB 1024x768 16 bit) gears_ppc-window - 38-39 fps (WB 1024x768 16 bit)

So the sonnet:

A3000 Sonnet 750/500 060, Voodoo3 3000 gears_ppc - 75-76 fps gears_ppc-small 75-76 fps (WB 1200x900 16 bit) gears_ppc-window - 75-76 fps (WB 1200x900 16 bit)

[S0ulA55a551n]

Ok thanks. Interesting

[strim]

I would say difficult, not extremely difficult or impossible.

We have neither the time nor the resources to implement anything like that. Unless you are skilled in FPGA design and want to dive into that .

Of course it is possible. Just very time (and money...) consuming. I already worked on a few hardware expansions for Amiga, so I know what I am talking about here.

I read in the blog that a "huge" quantum of the Crescendo 7200 was bought, is this for sale at some point?

Unfortunately, can't say anything about that yet...

Are anyone developing Warp3D support for the Radeon 9200 on the mediator?

Nope. And it's a completely separate matter from WarpOS.

[olav]

Originally Posted by strim

We have neither the time nor the resources to implement anything like that. Unless you are skilled in FPGA design and want to dive into that .

Of course it is possible. Just very time (and money...) consuming. I already worked on a few hardware expansions for Amiga, so I know what I am talking about here.



Unfortunately, can't say anything about that yet...



Nope. And it's a completely separate matter from WarpOS.

So you guys are preparing a new "accelerator" package, the "shark" that newer got out ? Hope you just do not introduce Elbox "spider USB" "taxes" hehe. That is why there is somewhat of a vacuum for the cards.. lol
Then again, I do think your efforts should have some "payback"

In the sense of longevity of the setup, I think it relates. The Radeon 9200 is faster, abundant, and cheaper..

[strim]

That is why there is somewhat of a vacuum for the cards

I think the real problem is that there are just not many these cards in the wild. You have to hunt for one. Ask at that Japanese shop if they have any left...

[grelbfarlk]

Here's the pinout of the U8 spot.
<-PCI Slot
1 2 3 4 5 Tab
3.3 5V 3.3V Unknown 3.3V 3.3V

I've had some power supply problems so I haven't been able to test until parts show up Monday. I may just order an LM1084-3.3V for testing.

[grelbfarlk]

I remembered I had a leftover 3.3V regulator from another project. Sorry if this looks gross I haven't cleaned up yet.



Works. In that it seems to provide relatively stable voltage, at the same place I put the connector before I measured 3.29V where I was only getting ~3.1V before (due to my power supply on the way out).

[Hedeon]

Great job! :-) Hope your system is back up and running soon.

[olav]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

How about http://www.mac-paradise.com/list/cpu.html#old

I got hold of it, on another site that reflects the same inventory. I have some Japanese friends that know about all the relevant shops. There is also a shop in Akihabara having old mac stuff.. I will check there regularly. Now, I just need to get the mediator. Currently only the Mediator 1200TX Black Edition seems available, directly from Elbox. Have no cabinet, so plan some kind of frame made of extruded aluminium bars..

Can anyone with a 500MHz unit take hi-res photos? I suspect the 400 MHz units can relatively easily be overclocked to same level, or at least 450MHz... G4 editions were also produced, anyone tried those? They add "Altivec".

It has become obvious that these are now scarce items.. (!):

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php...Crescendo-7200