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Cyclone Tech

Jean-Baptiste Bolcato

Posts 61
23 Sep 2018 09:18


Hi all.
New to the forum, still impatiently waiting for my brand new v2.1 to arrive, recapped 600 ready to roar!
Couple of interesting facts/questions:
- any of you knew Altera Cyclone chips were owned and produced by intel? (Made me cringe a little when I saw that...)
- Cyclone3 (used in v2) was launched in 2007 and Cyclone 5 (in upcoming v4) in 2011... all getting a bit old now :/ - the newest being Cyclone10 launched last year. Any reason the team didn’t look at it for v4? Arrived too late to rejigg the boards? Cyclone5 already plenty powerful enough?


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
23 Sep 2018 09:29


Yes, that is well established fact quite long ago.
  Like Skype and Nokia are now M$. Big fishes eat little ones, I wonder why sometimes people simply refuse to sell (out) or is everything just money driven and humanity is already lost?
 
  Yes,designs improve in HW but take in count long process of making, fixing and porting our Vamp core. There is Cyclone 10, but show me Amiga, Atari, x86 cores for it?
 
  Enjoy V2. Porting to V4 will take time, enjoy what it offers.
 
  If we support V4 too, one day, when affordable we might live to use Cyclone10. Its like demanding OS4 and MOS for TALOS now. HW is there, but who will do all the work and how does it fit to its SW/HW plans?

Possibility does not mean reality without much, much sweat.


Jean-Baptiste Bolcato

Posts 61
23 Sep 2018 10:49


Oh fair enough!
Note I wasn’t complaining - just didn’t know much about Altera and its various products and timings, until Vampire came on that is. Very excited to get mine, and looking forward to see what the team has been brewing and will unleash soon!


Ian Parsons

Posts 230
23 Sep 2018 18:10


30+ years ago Intel x86 CPUs were an inferior design to Motorola 680x0 CPUs and the Amiga architecture was much more interesting than the Intel based PCs. History shows that Intel and the PC won the war a long time ago and the 680x0 has changed hands and isn't developed or widely available anymore. Apollo Core is carrying on the development of the 680x0 and Amiga chipset from where Freescale and Commodore stopped using the available FPGAs. That a behemoth like Intel now owns Altera could be a good thing for FPGAs used in Vampires as they will have the resources and processes develop and supply better, cheaper FPGAs.

I'm sure the team has and continues to evaluate FPGAs from all the manufacturers to find suitable, cost effective, available solutions for Vampire boards. Maybe on day they will do an ASIC too but the costs involved there are scary.


Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
24 Sep 2018 20:10


Not interested in PowerPC.

060 boards cost a small fortune.

The Vampire made me dig out my 1200 from the loft and clean it up.

At this stage not defiantly going to buy a Vampire, but very, very interested.

And i can imagine quite a lot of Amiga fans would be interested in a a powerful and sensibly price upgrade.


Eric Gus

Posts 477
25 Sep 2018 07:26


Matthew Burroughs wrote:

  And i can imagine quite a lot of Amiga fans would be interested in a a powerful and sensibly price upgrade.

Oh and dont forget to mention based 100% on "new", modern 2018 hardware.. not some antique board that needs recaps and god only knows what condition its in.


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
25 Sep 2018 09:47


Jean-Baptiste Bolcato wrote:

  - Cyclone3 (used in v2) was launched in 2007 and Cyclone 5 (in upcoming v4) in 2011... all getting a bit old now :/ - the newest being Cyclone10 launched last year.
 

 
The Cyclone10LP is technically an Cyclone3 / Cyclone4.
The Cyclone3 and Cyclone4 are the same chip, and the Cyclone10LP is in reality a Cyclone4 with a new label put on.
The number "10" on the Chip is clever marketing.

The Cyclone10 is a very good chip, the same way as the Cyclone3 and 4 are good chips.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
25 Sep 2018 11:21


Yup, like Windows 10
   
    But:
    - Better production process
    - Power efficiency
    - Lower cost compared to power
    - Higher clock possible
    - More LE for Vamp toys
    - Even additional ARM to run x86 emu,Linux,Android ...
   
    Make it a great candidate! Cant wait for Windows 20, ukhmm,
    Cyclone 20 to make its price fall down in e.g.2020 to make it nice fat Vampire V (V.V. like my initials)
 
  P.S.
 
  Would that 300-600Mhz you once spoke of, be possible on "Windo ... Cyclone 10"?

While we wait, lets remember Pedros first encounter with V4
EXTERNAL LINK

posts 8