68060 board stuck in an A500 or A600 - impossible goal?

[Photon]

This is just an(other) attempt at giving the best to my living and breathing Amigas...

So the field is free. What do I need to do to make this happen? Impossible?

Some difficulties to address:

- space (I don't mind losing the internal floppy or internal expansion port or removing anything that has to do with composite or TV modulator)
- heat (I don't mind underclocking or using those Northbridge passive coolers, or any acooler that will fit, for that matter!)

[cv643d]

It would need quite some hardware hacking but it is possible to run a Blizzard2060 Amiga 2000 060 turbor board capable of 128MB fast ram and with a SCSI2 port in a MicroniK Amiga 500 Tower with Zorro daughter-board that also has a compatible A2000 CPU slot.

So in theory it should be possible to hack the Zorro-1 slot on the side of the A500 to take a Blizzard 2060. On www.a1k.org there have been som guys who have mounted Apollo A2000 030 boards inside their Amiga 500, the Blizzard 2060 is quite a bit larger, but it could fit inside the A500 if you remove the floppy drive.

If it works I do not think you would need to worry about heat, a simple northbridge heatsink would be enough to cool the 060 and the A500 case offer nice ventilation. Cooling wont be the major problem, getting it to work will

[alexh]

Do you have a 68060 board? If not this is academic. The cost of one would probably be running close to the price of a next gen FPGA?

MikeJ's FPGA system is designed to take a 68060 hard CPU.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by alexh

Do you have a 68060 board? If not this is academic. The cost of one would probably be running close to the price of a next gen FPGA?

MikeJ's FPGA system is designed to take a 68060 hard CPU.

Alexh: Right now, I'm making a deal for a 68060 board (for my A1200).

That will probably not be for my A500 or A600, unless I hear otherwise.

I recognize that 68060 boards made for an A1200 internal expansion port might be hard to adapt, unless I hear otherwise.

I will put an FPGA with an 060 core in my Amiga when it is proven that the core is 100% 060 compatible. Right now, I think they are not. Unless I missed something, and someone is selling plug-in boards with 060 cores with support for misc original Amigas off the shelf. I just googled, but can't find MikeJ's FPGA system... I do find FPGA arcade. Is that it?


I think the word you're looking for is "hypothetical". Yes, this is hypothetical until proven otherwise by a pro showing off his cool hack


I have a nice 68040 board in my A500, which I am hoping to overclock to 40 MHz. (Components on the way.) It can be upgraded to 33 MHz, the question is if the programmable logic will cope with 40MHz, or if they have their own clock.

But a 68060 is faster still, even at lower clock speeds it is the best that can be put in an original Amiga.


You think I should buy a 68060 board before I know it can be adapted, or why do you think I ask first?

[Photon]

Originally Posted by cv643d

It would need quite some hardware hacking but it is possible to run a Blizzard2060 Amiga 2000 060 turbor board capable of 128MB fast ram and with a SCSI2 port in a MicroniK Amiga 500 Tower with Zorro daughter-board that also has a compatible A2000 CPU slot.

So in theory it should be possible to hack the Zorro-1 slot on the side of the A500 to take a Blizzard 2060. On www.a1k.org there have been som guys who have mounted Apollo A2000 030 boards inside their Amiga 500, the Blizzard 2060 is quite a bit larger, but it could fit inside the A500 if you remove the floppy drive.

If it works I do not think you would need to worry about heat, a simple northbridge heatsink would be enough to cool the 060 and the A500 case offer nice ventilation. Cooling wont be the major problem, getting it to work will

I will take your advice. But do you know the specifics of "getting it to work" or "hardware hacking" (as in links), as opposed to "make room, plug into 68000 socket or sidecar expansion port, and install drivers?"

Since any 68060 board was made a bit after kick 2.0 (which my 040 board is compatible with), I could upgrade to kick 3.1 if necessary in my A500. Thanks to a friend I got kick 3.1 roms for A500 yesterday

The A600 already has kick 3.1, but even after then floppy has been removed, space is tighter there than on my A500.

[rkauer]

On the A500, providing you have a Zorro Fast slot (professionally made or a hack) you can use pretty much any accelerator intended for the A2000.

On the A600, in the other hand, no. There is no space nor expansions like that for the "baby Amiga".

[Jope]

Originally Posted by cv643d

So in theory it should be possible to hack the Zorro-1 slot on the side of the A500 to take a Blizzard 2060.

It is not Zorro-1.. The difference between Zorro I and II are that Zorro I cards are square, not rectangular.. Zorro I was a design example from Commodore, I think there was one commercial implementation of it as an expander bracket for the A1000.

The A1000/500 side connector is actually very similar to the A2000 CPU slot, but it is a different gender. It is possible to adapt any A2000 CPU slot accelerator/scsi controller for A500 use, just wire up the adapter.

I can't remember now if there were any missing signals, but probably not. The Zorro II adapters required some logic, but this is not Zorro.. :-)

[cv643d]

Check out these links:

http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6597
http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6592

The second link have pinouts.

I think you will need a beefier PSU for reliable operation.

A600 is in a different league, compare A500 and A600 and you will see A500 is much more hardware hacking friendly.

[Zetr0]

Arguably though, all the signals you need you could source from the cpu and companion chips,

If i get time, (finally get a night off from re-desinging the LVDA608) going out tonight to celebrate wifes birthday ... mmm Thia resurant ... yummy =D

[Paul_s]

there was a special piggy back AGA board made for the 500. Shame it was only a prototype, but it worked and I have an image somewhere So if they can do that then anything is possible.

[Photon]

OK, A500 it is. Gonna try the 68040 at 40MHz first when CPU arrives, I hope the programmable logic chips can cope.

For the A600, could any of the existing 68020 and 68030 boards be hacked to take a 68040 or 68060?

[mr_a500]

What are you trying to do - have the best A500 in the history of the universe? You bastard.

I have to warn you that if you succeed, I will hunt you down and kill you. Even if I can just steal the 060 A500 without killing you, I'd probably still kill you - just to teach you a lesson. (...a lesson you probably wouldn't learn... because.. you'd be dead)

[DoogUK]

Originally Posted by Photon

OK, A500 it is. Gonna try the 68040 at 40MHz first when CPU arrives, I hope the programmable logic chips can cope.

For the A600, could any of the existing 68020 and 68030 boards be hacked to take a 68040 or 68060?

I doubt it...they have programmed mach chips onboard and Jens will not release the code...there's no way they are 040 ready.

[asm1]

Originally Posted by Paul_s

there was a special piggy back AGA board made for the 500. Shame it was only a prototype, but it worked and I have an image somewhere So if they can do that then anything is possible.

Originally Posted by mr_a500

What are you trying to do - have the best A500 in the history of the universe? You bastard.

I have to warn you that if you succeed, I will hunt you down and kill you. Even if I can just steal the 060 A500 without killing you, I'd probably still kill you - just to teach you a lesson. (...a lesson you probably wouldn't learn... because.. you'd be dead)

An AGA A500 with an 060 board.... THAT I'd like to see ....

Killing is not necessary mutilation will suffice

[Photon]

I'd like to see the same asm1, just out of curiosity - but I should add that the goal for the A500 is to span the entire range of Amiga speed - a machine that can go from OCS 68000, 512k RAM and nothing else to the fastest speed and maximum memory I can have in an OCS A500.

I.e. any solution must support removal of accelerator and its ram. Kickstart switching I see as less of a problem, I have 1.2/1.3 + 2.0 on the accelerator already, and I could probably wonk in a kickswitch on my accelerator, maybe not on an adapted 060 board.

For the A600 it's mostly about having a fast as possible A600 portable, and there space and possibly heat problems could be limiting. Can any CPU be downclocked simply by replacing the oscillator - or might some boards act up?

[asm1]

http://amibay.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=675

Pimped A600 - this chap put an A1200 Mobo in his A600, it has an 030 DVD rom and.... well you get the point.

so really if you want a "fast A600", thats the only way to go ... you could put an 060 in one lol.

[AmigaDweeb]

Nice crazy mod that - good stuff

[cv643d]

Originally Posted by Photon

I'd like to see the same asm1, just out of curiosity - but I should add that the goal for the A500 is to span the entire range of Amiga speed - a machine that can go from OCS 68000, 512k RAM and nothing else to the fastest speed and maximum memory I can have in an OCS A500.

I.e. any solution must support removal of accelerator and its ram. Kickstart switching I see as less of a problem, I have 1.2/1.3 + 2.0 on the accelerator already, and I could probably wonk in a kickswitch on my accelerator, maybe not on an adapted 060 board.

Wow,.. you have the EXACT idea I had back when I was messing around with my Amiga 500 :-)

Had a vision of a pimped A500 with 10 cool metallic switches you could configure the hardware how you wanted without opening A500.

Was not worth it though IMHO, A500 is nice to mess around with but an A1200 with 060 is just the best classic non RTG Amiga around IMHO.

IMHO 1200/060/Indivision and an A4000/PPC/CVPPC system and you have the best of both worlds in 68k land.