Amiga 500 Vampire is alive

[kipper2k]

Hi All,

Just a quick post to show you that the V500 has taken its first breath.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wzxvp5vxql..._boot.avi?dl=0/

(this is not a pre-order thread)

[Retrofan]

Nice. Now you've got a month to finish it and start with the V1200 that is what we want

[checksum]

Great work! Looking forward to ordering

[1time]

Well... its "okey" news... it would be awesome new if it was for the A1200

[demolition]

This is not good news - for my wallet. I already preordered the 600 version which I haven't even received yet, but I will obviously also need to have the 500 version once it gets to that stage. And the possibility of a 1200 version doesn't help at all..

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by demolition

This is not good news - for my wallet. I already preordered the 600 version which I haven't even received yet, but I will obviously also need to have the 500 version once it gets to that stage. And the possibility of a 1200 version doesn't help at all..

Well.. do you need a vampire in every Amiga? :-)
Poor Amigans, what worldly problems we have to deal with:-) I kind of have a similar dilemma. ;-)
I already have the 600 version and I want a 1200 version.. But my A1200 has a 060 card that I want to keep so I'm waiting for a Amiga Reloaded announcement to get a new mobo to put into my new special edition case. Then one A500 which is pimped up with a 14MHz 68000, +2MB Fasten + Gotek. That one is fine as it is. Then one A500 that I actually meant to keep unexpanded (except for extra mem).
Then we have one of the 2 CD32s that could also use an expansion and frankly I'd buy a Vampire1200 for it too if there was an Adapter available for the proprietary cd32 connector.
So, still missing 2 vampires then :-)

[amiman99]

Kipper? Will the Vampire500 work on A2000?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Well.. do you need a vampire in every Amiga? :-)

Well, if I like the way it runs in my A600, it would be hard to justify not also having one in my 500+ and after that in my 1200. I would probably want to have one of each desktop Amiga in pimped old-tech (680x0) and one in new-tech.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by amiman99

Kipper? Will the Vampire500 work on A2000?

very probably

[Romanujan]

Is it likely to be compatible with ACA 500? I mainly mean the clockport...

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Romanujan

Is it likely to be compatible with ACA 500? I mainly mean the clockport...

Very probably not!

[Cylon]

For the A2000 and any other bigbox amiga we certainly need a bus (like PCI) to make the raw power usable. Otherwise one has to fall back onto Zorro2/3 which is meaningless at the expected CPU speed range.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Cylon

For the A2000 and any other bigbox amiga we certainly need a bus (like PCI) to make the raw power usable. Otherwise one has to fall back onto Zorro2/3 which is meaningless at the expected CPU speed range.

For me, the A2000 vampire would give me all except for a ps/2 keyboard and a usb mouse adapter for which i already have an adapter made. I am not fussy about ethernet. I intend on adding a bridgeboard to attach the vampire to the coprocessor slot with a gotek also on it.

[amiman99]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

very probably

Thanks, looking forward to see it working.

[demolition]

Would the V2 work together with any USB controllers such as RapidRoad in the 600?

[dirkies]

Yessssssss. The most powerful a500 expansion since years is coming!
I hope this will be something ready around September or at least before the Xmas period! My money is ready to take a splash!

[Adrian Browne]

Could go either way- my a500 needs to be repaired, i'm sure it would like a vampire but my a1200 is my main amiga- it's got an aca 030 from Jens- pricey that was. I guess it will be useless when i get an a1200 vampire.

[alexh]

If the vampire 500 doesn't have a clock port and the PCB isn't final they could consider adding one... I imagine it's about 40 level shifters

[majsta]

Hi, all let me try to clarify few things. Porting Apollo to Vampire500 V2 goes nicely but no matter how everyone things that regarding that part A500 and A600 are the same this is not true. There is a lot more to do. Also IDE or any other port there can be used for anything, so again IDE is nothing, simple header with few other parts connected to FPGA. Clockport or whatever can be created from it. Why I won't do it. Simply because creating PCMCIA on A500 or clockport or even Zorro expansions does not give us anything. It is simple so no challenge to even start. We can accomplish much more with simple SPI connection those days. Who will ever use IDE when we get microSD working probably 10X faster than IDE? Situation now is that only me working on V500 but that will change in next few days. As for ethernet, for now I have no desire to do it

[demolition]

It is true that a clockport is slow, but it will add a lot of compatibility with old expansions, e.g. existing USB controllers. Having a slow connection is better than having no connection at all.

What I see as one of the major positive things of the V2 is that it is not a NG Amiga which banishes HW compatibility with all the old stuff like the X1000 does, but boosts the old platform with more modern tech in places where it makes a difference.

It could make sense to create a new type of expansion connector instead which could be much faster than a clock port to utilize the Vampire's potential with future peripherals in mind, like USB and Ethernet. But then a converter should be made from this new interface to a regular clock port. Then you can have the best of both worlds and still use whatever old expansions you have.