Akiko32

[ransom1122]

Group discussion..

Thoughts?

https://www.generationamiga.com/2020...lopment-phase/

[Deaths_Head]

Is this real?, I wonder whether it'll be expandable like the original?

[pipper]

Stephen Leary had one of them on his bench, so it does exist.

[Predseda]

There is author's thread about it on Amibay. Looks really good.

[vintageBytes]

The board is real, because... I'm the developer

Although, I still have some problems with USB thumb drives and I have to write some software for the I2C feature it's pretty stable
I did not yet find a software, that did not work (except for programs expecting a FPU).

[Predseda]

Does it run Microcosm correctly? Because my A1200+Squirell doesnt.

[vintageBytes]

I've tested lots of WHDLoad games and they all work. The board does not use a CD32-style CD drive, so you have to install the games on a harddisk or CF card (I'm testing only with CF cards as I can feed them easily with software on my MacBook in UAE)

I'll give Microcosm a try this evening. Everything else, I should test?

[Predseda]

Oh, okay, so it does not have a physical CD-ROM support? I though your board would resolve my problem that I have a lot of original CD32 games but I can not play them as my Commodore CD32 is unreliable crap.

My idea is playing for example Alien Breed 3D from original CD (= audio tracks) with a good speed (=68030).

[Amigajay]

Great project, but it does seem a little misleading, as in its based on the CD32, but can’t play any CD32 game that doesn’t have a whdload version or any CD audio. And since the Akiko chip is the CD-ROM controller its probably best to rename the board imo.

[vintageBytes]

The Akiko chip is not only the CD controller, it does pretty much more. It's a combination of CD controller, C2P engine, a little bit of A1200's Budgie IC, some parts of Gayle and CIAs.

I won't support that odd CD drive from the original CD32, but I can test a physical CD drive on the IDE port. I haven't tested that as my goal was to create a small portable Amiga with less ICs than an A1200 has. This is the reason why I've chosen the Akiko IC. It saves space on the board

You can install CD32 games with WHDLoad, but I think, there is no chance to get the audio tracks then...

[Predseda]

If it works with an IDE CD-ROMdrive, its fine. I can imagine small portable Amiga in miniATX case and slim cd drive.

[Cobe]

Now, that sounds more like a Walker to me
Kickstart the walker like case for it
However great project

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by vintageBytes

The Akiko chip is not only the CD controller, it does pretty much more. It's a combination of CD controller, C2P engine, a little bit of A1200's Budgie IC, some parts of Gayle and CIAs.

I won't support that odd CD drive from the original CD32, but I can test a physical CD drive on the IDE port. I haven't tested that as my goal was to create a small portable Amiga with less ICs than an A1200 has. This is the reason why I've chosen the Akiko IC. It saves space on the board

You can install CD32 games with WHDLoad, but I think, there is no chance to get the audio tracks then...

Yep i know the Akiko does more than just that, but without it you can’t play CD games was my main point in that comment.

If you can connect an IDE CD Drive to play CD32 games than great, but no you can’t use CD audio with whdload.

As i first said its a great project, but i think will confuse some with the name as CD32 support is secondary in your ambition.

[vintageBytes]

CD32 was not even on secondary
The goal was to create a small AA Amiga, so it's not really a CD32 clone, it's Amy's more colorful sister

There is also no real need for the C2P routine in the Akiko IC. The 68030 does this faster than the Akiko can do it.

The Walker had a completely different approach. It has all IOs that a normal Amiga has and a non-standardized board size. No chance to fit it anywhere except in that vacuum cleaner case.

There are only a few expansion possiblities on the Akiko board:


RGB, Network, Clockport, I2C and a frontpanel connector.

[kamelito]

I guess it is an empty board and you’ve to find the AGA chipset yourself.

[S0ulA55a551n]

So if it gets IDE cd rom support, will it be able to play cd32 games off disk with audio ?

[eXeler0]

Wow, another interesting Amiga project in 2020. Nice work.

For some future revision, I also point in the direction of CD ROM support as it would be a nice cd32 replacement board. It would be cool if the 030 was running as fast as it can (50Mhz) but with software throttle (like Leary's newer boards) so it could run in "compatibility mode" if the CD support happens. (Or it could even have a hardware switch to boot into cd32 mode? ;-)

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by vintageBytes

There is also no real need for the C2P routine in the Akiko IC. The 68030 does this faster than the Akiko can do it.

'Akiko' C2P could be faster if it was on the 68030 bus running at the same speed.

Or enlarge it from 32 bytes to the size of an entire screen. Then the CPU can render directly to it and just has to copy the output to chipram for display, or even DMA the output directly to chipram for virtually no overhead!

[Predseda]

How about non-volatile RAM for storing saved games?

[OmegaMax]

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

'Akiko' C2P could be faster if it was on the 68030 bus running at the same speed.

Or enlarge it from 32 bytes to the size of an entire screen. Then the CPU can render directly to it and just has to copy the output to chipram for display, or even DMA the output directly to chipram for virtually no overhead!

lol