MAC emulators?

[Gaula92]

@JimDrew

Since your Mac emulator works in RTG mode, wouldn't it be possible to produce a version that boots directly on the Raspberry Pi 3/4 without need of an Amiga computer, using EMU68 standalone?

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Don_Adan

X-Calibur is not Amiga turbo board, this is Mac turbo board which can works with A3640.

Actually that's not the case. The RCS X-Calibur was expressly designed for the A3640. I can see no mention of Mac compatibility in the manual, either.

[zipper]

Probably thinking Quaddoubler...

[JimDrew]

Originally Posted by Don_Adan

This is Your program and Your choice. X-Calibur is not Amiga turbo board, this is Mac turbo board which can works with A3640.

Huh? That's not the case. The X-Calibur was designed strictly for the Amiga's A3640 board - it fits the exact form factor of the A3640.

https://bigbookofamigahardware.com/b...ct.aspx?id=269

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/xcalibur

I helped beta test this product for RCS using one of our A4000's, doing a LOT of testing with EMPLANT's Mac emulation.

Originally Posted by Don_Adan

Option is only option, dont must be recommended to use. I never tested copy speed for MOVE16 vs normal MOVE.L and MOVEM.L copy routines. But if fast ATA driver using MOVE16 for copy blocks then must be fastest for some Amiga boards. If I remember right RapidRoad driver or RoadShow used MOVE16 for fastest copy too.

It's not an "option" if there is a possibility of it not working. THAT type of option is a technical support nightmare.

[JimDrew]

Originally Posted by Gaula92

@JimDrew

Since your Mac emulator works in RTG mode, wouldn't it be possible to produce a version that boots directly on the Raspberry Pi 3/4 without need of an Amiga computer, using EMU68 standalone?

No. FUSION needs the Amiga to work. It would be possible to make a stand alone Mac emulation that recreated the Mac hardware in a different way, but I doubt there is a market for this.

I have been working on a 68040 drop-in CPU replacement for a few years. That puts 512MB of RAM on the 68040 replacement, and gives you 750+ MIPs of speed (all in the size the 040 foot print). I am considering moving this to the 68000 footprint. I am not interested in supporting RTG or anything else with it - just a drop-in CPU replacement with a lot of memory and super fast (NON-JIT) CPU core, written in assembly (RISC). Having an RTG module would make more sense to me, either plugged into this board or a separate Zorro II/III board or something. I am just not a fan of integrated solutions because you trap yourself into a box with who can use it at that point.

[Magic]

@Jim
Do you have any idea when/if Emplant boards will be available?

[JimDrew]

I have a few dozen sitting in storage that are new/old stock. They just need the latest custom logic chips (which I do sell), and tested. I am just super busy at the moment. I have so many different projects all going at the same time and my day job has been taking all of my free time. Hopefully in the near future I can put many of the items (all new/old stock) I have from Utilities Unlimited, like the EMPLANT, SYBIL, AMIA, BOOT DRIVE SELECTORS, etc. etc. on my website's online store. I have a lot of inventory still, including tens of thousands of various chips used for these products, so I could build more if needed.

[OSH]

@JimDrew
Jim, I want to buy last available version of Fusion Emulator. I know,you are very busy at this moment with creation other projects, but can you make an offer for FUSION 3.2? I wouldn't be forced to use pirated version, but I don't know, how long will FUSION 4 developing now last.

[JimDrew]

I can't sell FUSION 3.2. I own the copyrights to it, but I do not have the rights to sell that particular version.

I am hoping release FUSION 4 early next year. It's the first thing on my list of new releases.

[OSH]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

I can't sell FUSION 3.2. I own the copyrights to it, but I do not have the rights to sell that particular version.

I am hoping release FUSION 4 early next year. It's the first thing on my list of new releases.

Jim, me too. Tell me, can I use it with 060 without problems? I have TF360 for my CD-32 and I want buy WARP4060.

[JimDrew]

FUSION 4 requires a 68020, 68030, 68040, 68060, or an emulated 680x0 core (Apollo, Minimig, PiStorm, etc.) All of these setups work with no problems, but any CPU core that does not support 80 bit IEEE precision will need to have the FPU disabled.

[OSH]

Great Jim. Can you tell, how much will it cost?

[Pyromania]

Jim, when is it shipping please so we can buy?

[JimDrew]

The cost will be cheap (maybe $20?) - I don't have an exact release date, but it is at the top of my list for 2023.

[OSH]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

The cost will be cheap (maybe $20?) - I don't have an exact release date, but it is at the top of my list for 2023.

Jim wonderful! I have only one more question: do you have a license for newest available PCX and can you sell this software?

[JimDrew]

I can't sell the old version, but I still own all copyrights to it. There will also be a new version of PCx as well.

[OSH]

Great news Jim! So i'll wait.

[StompinSteve]

You have another customer Jim. I'll wait for v4 (I just did a "inform me when in stock" on your website).

[JimDrew]

Still working to try to get around the problem with EMU68. FUSION *requires* a MMU when you are using a 68030 or later, OR the CPU can fault out correctly and continue with an EC030. There is something about EMU68's implementation that simply crashes the CPU when a MMU register is poked at. Toni added a fix for this to WinUAE eons ago, but the author of EMU68 doesn't seem to want to add this... Vampire, Minimeg, Replay, etc. all have this built in and work fine - it's just EMU68 with the issue.

The reality is at the moment you can't use a 512KB or 1MB Mac ROM with EMU68 and FUSION. 256K MacII ROMs work fine, but you are severely limited in what you can run for MacOS versions (no MacOS 8.x).

The standard PiStorm 68K emulation works perfectly though with FUSION - it's just EMU68 that has this issue.

This is the only hold up for releasing FUSION 4 at this point. I spent a LOT of time making FUSION work better with EMU68's caching mechanism. The MacOS does cache flushing constantly and this causes EMU68 to stall constantly. I have resolved quite a bit of that by re-writing parts of the Mac's system resources to only flush when absolutely necessary.

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by JimDrew

Still working to try to get around the problem with EMU68. FUSION *requires* a MMU when you are using a 68030 or later, OR the CPU can fault out correctly and continue with an EC030.

So in other words: Fusion is testing, if there in an MMU and if there is not, it can work without.
So why don't you make this test optional in the new version?
Let the user tell Fusion to skip this test and go without MMU?