New product: MNT ZZ9000

[trixster]

Any insider information on how this project is progressing?

[ffffr0zen]

Moi Jope,

Where is the AGA video slot on those models?

[Jope]

The AGA video slot is available on the A4000D and A4000T.

[ffffr0zen]

Ai niinkö, so it doesn’t support any kind of AGA graphics on earlier models?

[grelbfarlk]

It doesn't support AGA but it supports X-AGA or EXXXTREME AGA. You'll be able to run screenmodes far better than AGA supports.

[Jope]

AGA-support is twofold: the SD/FF should support the wide range of refresh frequencies, passing through the VGA compatible end and doubling the TV compatible end, and it should also support the entire AGA colour space.

[Marlon_]

Originally Posted by ffffr0zen

Ai niinkö, so it doesn’t support any kind of AGA graphics on earlier models?

No, this won't give you AGA on an older model. The only project currently aiming for something like that is the Vampire.

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by ffffr0zen

Ai niinkö, so it doesn’t support any kind of AGA graphics on earlier models?

It depends on what you mean by this. You know how on older models you can only set the Workbench at 640x480 to 16 colors? And you know AGA can set 640x480 at 256 colors? Well this card like all RTG (ReTargetable Graphics) cards going back to the Picasso II and older, will let you set a screenmode at 256 colors usually up to 16.7 million(24-bit) colors, depending on how much Video RAM the RTG card has.



So no you won't be able to boot an AGA game on floppy with it. But for something system friendly like ADoom or Quake you'll be able to use graphics modes better than AGA. The higher resolution or more colors you use the slower it will be.



This card also has a general purpose CPU on it as well which remains to be seen what can be done with it, which makes it unique among RTG graphics cards which usually just have a Video chip and some RAM.



The AGA talk is in reference to the flicker fixer which in Amiga land some flicker fixers are only good for promoting OCS and ECS video to 31khz, or else the extra colors are not displayed correctly. This card will be good for flicker fixing AGA screenmodes too.

[ffffr0zen]

Thanks guys for the explanations. Would be nice to be able to play AGA games on an A3000.

[spudje]

Well I guess you'll have to be very patient for that to happen, AGA on an A3000. Pray to the Amiga gods to give us either (or both) a Vampire that snaps into the A3000/A4000 CPU slot or the A1k team that recreates an AA3000/A3000+ PCB from the few prototypes they currently have.

[Hedeon]

On A1k, for google translate, from the developer:

Super, vielen Dank für die SANA-Links, und über Erfahrungswerte freue ich mich natürlich auch immer.

Diese Woche habe ich das AXI-Stream-Remapping hinbekommen. Bei der ZZ9000 verwende ich ein paar Standard-Xilinx-Komponenten im FPGA im Gegensatz zur VA2000, wo alles custom ist. Der Grund: Kompatibilität mit den ARM-Kernen und deren AXI-Bus-Anbindung. AXI kann sowohl adressbasierte Speicherzugriffe (nicht unähnlich Zorro III) wie auch Streaming. Der aktuelle Framebuffer-Inhalt wird dauerhaft als AXI-Video-Stream vom DDR zum Video-Ausgang geschickt. Dazwischen gibt es nun eine Komponente von uns, die den Videostream umformatiert, um sowas wie die 8-Bit-Palette des 256-Farben-Modus dynamisch zu 32 Bit pro Pixel umzuwandeln. Der Palettenmodus und die Farbtiefen 8/16/32 und deren Umschaltung funktionieren nun.

Die "hohen" Auflösungen ab 640x480 funktionieren auch. Für 320x240 (und x200) muss in den Stream-Remapper noch die Verdopplung von Zeilen und Spalten rein. Das sollte aber recht trivial sein, da die horizontale Skalierung ein ganz ähnliches Problem ist wie die Farbauflösung. Der Remapper nutzt auch bereits einen Zeilenpuffer, den ich auch für das vertikale Scaling nutzen kann.

Nächste Woche steht für mich dieses Thema an, sowie die Fertigstellung des Zorro-zu-AXI-DMA-Codes. Momentan werden die Pixel noch durch den ARM geschleust, was zwar auch schon schnell ist, aber diesen Prozessor unnötig belastet. Dann reaktiviere ich meinen Zorro-III-Code und ziehe die Entwicklungskarte um in den A3000, um dort Tests und Benchmarks zu machen. Ich rechne damit, dass in der kommenden Woche Feature-Parity mit der VA2000 erreicht wird, mit dem Unterschied, dass der ARM schon als Grafik-Beschleuniger genutzt werden kann, dass die RAM-Performance natürlich besser ist und dass das Amiga Native Video Capturing mit 24 AGA-Bits läuft.

Parallel haben wir mit den endgültigen Schematics der ZZ9000 angefangen, die finalen Zynq-Module sind nämlich eingetroffen. Diese haben auch noch eine kleine Überraschung an Bord. Dazu später mehr.

[Hedeon]

I am guessing gfx drivers that support the ARM processor, but not yet a full blown API to use the ARM for anything else yet. The card (ZZ9000) is now feature equal to the VA2000. And an on-board surprise is planned.

[Jope]

PPC discussion merged into the Sonnet thread.

[Hedeon]

He's waiting now for the first test cards according to the latest design to be send from the PCB maker to commence testing. If no problems are found the move to the first production run can be not too far in the future.

[gdonner]

Just a few thoughts on the ZZ9000 (I already have one on order):

* Hopefully a ZZ9000 device for AHI would be included for ARM-assisted MP3 playback?

* Am curious if (or what kinds of) mainstream video support might be provided for ARM-assisted video playback?

* Will be interesting to see what USB stack is eventually supported ("Note: USB port will not be active at shipping time. Support for it is part of a later update.")

...though I don't want to be making too many hopeful assumptions on how extensive included driver support may/may not be. The hardware capabilities of the ZZ9000 certainly create a lot of potential for all kinds of driver/software support!

[Signman]

I submitted an inquiry to Lukas' email and as of yet no response.
Pre-order on something that is basically still beta is quite risky. The price does not fall into hobby territory either.

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by gdonner

Just a few thoughts on the ZZ9000 (I already have one on order):

* Hopefully a ZZ9000 device for AHI would be included for ARM-assisted MP3 playback?

* Am curious if (or what kinds of) mainstream video support might be provided for ARM-assisted video playback?

If I look to how PPC handled this in the past: AHI is completely 68k, the players are PPC and send PPC decoded info to 68k AHI.

Regarding video (and also MP3 players) I am guessing third party developers need to do this. The package does contain ARM based datatypes if I read it correctly.

But I'm just guessing.

[gdonner]

If your guess is correct, ARM-based datatypes sounds like a very nice way of handling it..!

[seb132]

Just pre-ordered one...
Very happy.

[starship]

Hi.
How can I use aga pass through native modes on mediator?
Or only Can I only use zz9000 without aga pass through on mediator?
It seems to me I cant use va2000cx with mediator
But if there will be a mini pci cart to zz9000 link for native screen modes? I dont think so.