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GOLD3 Alpha Experiences

Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
15 Sep 2022 12:46


Long, long time ago GOLD3 alpha r5400 was public
EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK 
Meanwhile, team has abandoned is impossible to fully implement.
I suppose gold3@apollo-accelerators.com mail made for the purpose,
is not read, and supported.

Its very restricted, one loses floppy, FPU (Have to use FEMU),
RTG to be able to have limited  AGA.

I wonder has anyone tested, not games, but WB AGA apps.

I plan to get V600 next year, and to me, and V600 and V500 users, any compatibility list - mainly what fully works, would be much appreciated.

My plan is to softkick/apolloflash gold3 core if possible on stratup of limited OS 3.2 where I would use only these AGA apps using nofpu versions and avoiding femu as much as possible (while yet running it)

I dont know is this possible - its just pipedream.

I am interested to know has anyone tried it :)
Plus has anyone made "compatibility list"

On other side, I have sold my V4 and will be V2 user only.

This is all NON team, NON supported, users partisan project.


Antony Coello

Posts 153
15 Sep 2022 14:32


Hey Vojin! I remember you from a long while back. :)
 
  Anyway, I was looking into a similar thing, as my v2 500+ cost me enough money and Im probably not going to be able to get a V4 based card.
 
  From what Ive seen (without actually having flashed the alpha GOLD3 core), it looks like it is very close...enough for me to probably test my game AGA version code anyway. Apparently, there are videos on YT of TBL demos running fine (well, a bit of choppyness due to having to use Femu).
 
  It would be good to have a support website like that for the 'obsolete' v2 vampires! :)
 


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
15 Sep 2022 15:32



Greetings Anthony,

I had eyesurgery probs and was banned from here for Linuxing, but now I am back, and eager :)

No, there aren`t. We might build some fan based website or blog?
  Closest from V2 times is community FAQ *see FAQ thread
 
  If anyone needs cores mail me at vojinvidanovic gmail.com
 
  We could report here :)
 


Eric Gus

Posts 477
15 Sep 2022 16:46


My A500 has this old gold3 alpha core on it, but right now due to space reasons I have packed it away .. I was mostly using it because of the extra chip ram and PAL display modes it provided, (my a500 is a rev5 and I wont "hack or cut" it to mod it, and being an NTSC A500 its Agnus chip lacked the PAL display modes as it was an early rev Agnus that was region specific -- in my case NTSC and did not support PAL modes) .. of course now the V4 A500 board is available and if there comes a time when I can set it back up, id likely just go with that and replace the V2 in it .. I didnt test it extensively but it did work to a point.
 
  Id argue that if the v4 never came to be, it would have been worth having a feature reduced v2 core for those who wanted things like AGA, PAL/NTSC display modes and more chipram. But didnt care about FPU, floppy or RTG.  Thankfully the V4 A500 board is out now and this is a non-issue.


Antony Coello

Posts 153
15 Sep 2022 17:08


Hi Eric. I think it was you who set my opinion of the GOLD3 core. I remember you explaining the pros and cons to me on the Vampire discord channel, oh, about a year ago now.

Maybe I should go back there (I miss the chats with Flype and Jebus), or maybe I shouldnt, if I ever want to get anything done! lol

As for the V4 A500 card making it a non issue...Technically, you are correct, but those cards are unfortunately a lot of money to stump up for me at this point in time. So I have to pretty much use what I have for now :(

I expect others are in this situation too.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
15 Sep 2022 17:54


While V4 transition is ongoing, most users have V2 now.

So I believe its still worth. How much chip RAM you get with GOLD3 Alpha?

Please give all hints from Discord :)


Eric Gus

Posts 477
16 Sep 2022 02:28


The AGA implementation was very rough, incomplete and imperfect .. I dont think it was anywhere near a usable level where it wouldn't be problematic for day to day use.  I dont think you would have a really good experience using it as your daily driver core to be honest. as the V4 500 firebird is out I would personally just work my way to obtaining one .. and even the V4's implementation with eons more polish and work is still not 1:1 with an A1200 or A4000's AGA .. its much closer yes, but it still has the odd wart here and there.. but its far far far better than the state the gold3 alpha core was in when it was abandoned ..

I think it gave me 2MB chipram (my machine is capped at 512KB) .. it was some time ago /


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
16 Sep 2022 06:44


eric gus wrote:

      The AGA implementation was very rough, incomplete and imperfect .. I dont think it was anywhere near a usable level where it wouldn't be problematic for day to day use. 
     

     
      Some people told me similar of very few first "SAGA cores", so I have lower expectations of that.
     
      Just a bit more concrete measure of what can be luanched is a goal
     
      Its not daily driver (XE, OS 3.2 RTG) but AGA restricted mode for few good WB apps that dont exist under ECS or RTG. Any game or demo is pure bonus and joy.
   
    2MB chip is great for A500, A1000 and even A2000 users? and surely Amiga 600 with no 604
 
  IS 1024x768 256 still highest mode (or 640x is only sypported on Alpha), and what can I reach with IndiECS? How to max abuse HAM8 and does it work?


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
16 Sep 2022 20:56


Bit of update from Apollo Discord
   
    Crom — Today at 21:27
    The gold release from back then was good but some games and other apps absolutely will not run. Brilliance paint app worked. You could only boot into 256 or less color 600X200 WB, no RTG. and some games that have issues now in V4 core (a tiny amount) worked fine in GOLD back then
   
  Useful info and videos on Discord EXTERNAL LINK     
    ----------
    So 640x200 256 col WB how good can that look with IndiECS :)
   
    Thats biggest limit, lowest old hi-res. No VGA, No Super-Hi-Res
   
    How big obstacle it is to WB use?
 
  There is some earlier discussion on stop of its development, but nothing useful there
  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK


Eric Gus

Posts 477
17 Sep 2022 06:22


If you are thinking bout using it as your default core, id probably not do that.. it was just too hit n mis and frankly incomplete.. it was really a gamble what would work, what might work and what really didnt work at all .. no one ever made any sort of "list" as it was a moving in progress target .. and as I said, having used it, it was ok but not stable.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
17 Sep 2022 09:31


eric gus wrote:

. it was really a gamble what would work, what might work and what really didnt work at all .. no one ever made any sort of "list" as it was a moving in progress target .. and as I said, having used it, it was ok but not stable.

Thanks everyone for sincere advices. Since its one alpha release, it should not be that much of "moving target". This time next year I ll try to have list of just what is working. Until then, I will leave this subject alone.


Eric Gus

Posts 477
18 Sep 2022 03:54


Ok but don't expect the Apollo team to decide to do any work on this .. as I understand it, this is long dead and buried, even for a "vampire" it stands no chance to come back from the departed.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
18 Sep 2022 05:03


eric gus wrote:

  this is long dead and buried, even for a "vampire" it stands no chance to come back from the departed.

Well, I seem to be only one interested in using and revamping it!
Next summer will have extensive test.

Until then, "All A Dem A Vampire" (Ska Vengers, India)
EXTERNAL LINK 


Jeremy Buza

Posts 32
21 Oct 2022 23:45


I ended up not loading the Gold 3 alpha for that same reason, it was too hit-or-miss, and you lost out on functionality for almost everything else.

I don't know if you saw, but they just released the new "Manticore" card that looks to fully support ECS/OCS/AGA/RTG graphics out of the gate, so if you hadn't already purchased the Vampire 600 V2 card, (they're no longer available from Apollo, so you would have to get it via 3rd party anyway), I'd say go for the Manticore V4 card for the A600.

posts 14