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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Parasite Video Device?

Daniele Bucelli

Posts 20
12 Oct 2018 14:47


Hi all,
i've read around about a device that take the original video signal from the motherboard, and send it to the vampire, to make it pass trought the DIGITAL-VIDEO. It should work like a scandoubler. I can't find more informations, and i'm wondering if the project is been cancelled, or it will be available at some point in the future. Someone has some more infos about?


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
12 Oct 2018 14:50


I believe it was experimental device that yes, would act as cheap scandoubler. But,I believe gold3 core kills a need for it. You could find a YT video or two on Vamps team members channels and some info by extensive Parasite Vampire search HERE and via well defined keywords on Google on few other forums. I am not sure about scheme or that it ever went on sale. More proof of concept thing.
 
  I hope real team members will have in depth explanation, this is merely outsiders observation.


Daniele Bucelli

Posts 20
12 Oct 2018 15:38


Thank you Vojin for your kind reply.
I hope it will be available aniway, because i prefer to keep RTG and FPU, and not having room in the FPGA for them if AGA is present, it appear to be the only way to have everything output from the DIGITAL-VIDEO port.


Adam Whittaker
(Needs Verification)
Posts 270/ 1
12 Oct 2018 15:41


i have been told on here a few times now that AGA and RTG will be possible... its just the FPU that cant squeeze in - but to be fair softFPU is more than enough for most things!


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
12 Oct 2018 15:47


Daniele Bucelli wrote:

  Thank you Vojin for your kind reply.
  I hope it will be available aniway, because i prefer to keep RTG and FPU, and not having room in the FPGA for them if AGA is present, it appear to be the only way to have everything output from the DIGITAL-VIDEO port.
 

 
  V2 users will have to warm up Blasters and flash between 2.11 and GOLD3, but that isnt such a big fuzz. Try it once gold3 is final, there wont be a need for so much drama.
 
  Sadly,even FPGA has its limits and they have been pushed quite few times - more then 11, in v2 times. I wish my x1000 has progressed "3 steps from v1.2".

If parasite and v2.11 do all the magic needed, I am happy for you, but keep on researching.


Daniele Bucelli

Posts 20
12 Oct 2018 15:58


Who did a drama? :)
I belive that it's just a matter of point of view. In my case i prefer FPU in hardware, and i think that the parasite device would be really usefull. It was a really good idea i think, even because i like to use as much of the original hardware, and with Gold 2.xx the original chipset is still used. I think that even having the Gold 3.xx around, it still is very usefull, under many points of view.


Martin Soerensen

Posts 232
12 Oct 2018 17:19


The Parasite looked nice and seemed to be working great but it was killed a long time ago. I guess the development of the firmware went well enough that they deemed that the need for Parasite was not so big any longer as they were anticipating it could be added to the firmware instead as we see with G3. Adding another piece of hardware would also not be free and perhaps they did not want to add work by having to manufacture another board but instead spend their limited resources on speeding up the production of Vampire boards. I think this was around the time when Kipper stopped doing the hardware and they moved to doing the production with less manual work.
 
  I don't know if they had an estimated price point for the Parasite, but I know I wouldn't have minded paying something for such an addition if it could reduce the FPGA firmware size and coexist with SAGA+FPU.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
12 Oct 2018 19:56


Daniele Bucelli wrote:

Who did a drama? :)

Not exactly you, but a lot of owners and non-owners over "not having it all in one v2 core" while forget v4 gets it all + some magic tricks.


Daniele Bucelli

Posts 20
13 Oct 2018 06:31


Hi Martin : i think you get the point. Your last sentence, perfectly express my point of view. Probably parasite would be useless for V4 users, and for many people using V2. But this depend of personal preferences. Under my point of view, it's the perfect addon to complete the V2 experience, because as you say, it allow to make the firmware size lower. This way, even with the V2, you can have a full FPU in hardware. It allow to use the original chipset too, having all the video signals from the DIGITAL-VIDEO. I agree with you : i wouldn't mind to pay some extra to have it as accessory. So, i hope it will appear on the market some day. :)


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
13 Oct 2018 15:20


Create a demand and find the man. He might not be in the Vamp team, but is hopefully alive and well and knowledgeable.
  kipper2k@shaw.ca 
  Upcoming Hardware Announcement 24th Sept 2018

It's been a while since this has been updated...

  There is some VERY!! nice hardware being developed that will be available in time for Xmas 2018. I think people will be very happy (and so will their Amigas). I dont want to reveal anything else at the moment, It is worth the wait :)

  Expect news of these HW announcements Sat 13th October 2018. at the 2018 amiwest show ( Yes, more than one !


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
13 Oct 2018 18:21


Amiga On Lake is now official Kipper2k distributor :-)
EXTERNAL LINK


Leigh Russ

Posts 151
15 Oct 2018 09:34


I am another one who was looking forward to the parasite.

I'm not all that bothered by AGA so would just like to be able to output all video via the DIGITAL-VIDEO.

Though I'm still waiting for booting from SD, which doesn't ever seen to get mentioned anymore


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
15 Oct 2018 10:09


Leigh Russ wrote:

  Though I'm still waiting for booting from SD, which doesn't ever seen to get mentioned anymore

Put a pressure on keeper, he is going to the Classic on the lake side of the force :-)

On SD Boot, highly experimental so far.

EXTERNAL LINK 
Vampire boot

Vampire boot is a ready made HDF image, which can be installed in Amiga internal IDE port and configured to boot a partition on SD card installed in Apollo Vampire accelerator card. Currently Apollo Vampire accelerator card doesn't support autoboot partitions on SD card and that's there where Vampire boot comes to aid.

Note: It's only been tested with Vampire 600 V2 and a SD card with only PFS3 filesystems.
Description

Vampire boot consists of tools and scripts for Amiga to configure, mount and boot partitions on SD-card installed in Apollo Vampire accelerator card. It's based on SDMount from SAGA drivers with additional scripts and menu to simplify and automate configuration. This is done using GiggleDisk to build mountlist and patch mountlist to add filesystem handlers by examining DosType.

Startup for Vampire boot is done from CF/SD card installed in Amiga internal IDE port. It mounts devices listed in DEVS:mountlist and boots selected partition on Vampire SD-card.

vampire_boot_1.png
Requirements

Vampire boot requires an Amiga with Vampire card installed to work properly. It does work without Vampire card, but should only be used that way for testing purposes.
Installation

Download latest release from EXTERNAL LINK and write Vampire boot HDF file to CF/SD card. Install CF/SD card in A600 internal IDE port and power on Amiga.
Setup

Vampire boot requires system files from Workbench 3.1 disk, which will be installed first time Vampire boot starts with a self install. It automatically detects and use DF0:, DF1:, DF2: or DF3: containing required Workbench 3.1 disk.

When Workbench 3.1 system files are installed, Vampire boot will present a Configure Vampire Boot menu to build mountlist and select which partition to boot from SD card.
Startup sequence

Vampire boot startup sequence does following during boot:

    Show Configure Vampire Boot menu if:
        V key is pressed.
        Boot device file "SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/BootDevice" doesn't exist.
        Boot device is empty or set to VB0:.
        Mount startup file "S:Mount-Startup" doesn't exist.
        Mount startup file "S:Mount-Startup" contains VB0: device.
    Execute S:Mount-Startup
    Add assigns for boot device and executes it's startup-sequence.

Configure Vampire Boot menu

Configure Vampire Boot menu has following options:

    Build mountlist: Build mountlist and mount startup.
    Boot device: Enters boot device menu.
    CLI: Starts CLI for tweaking purposes.
    Exit: Exit Configure Vampire Boot and reboots.

Screenshot of Configure Vampire Boot menu.

vampire_boot_1.png
Build mountlist

Build mountlist uses GiggleDisk to build mountlist using sagasd.device. It uses VampireTool to detect Vampire card. If Vampire card is installed it uses sagasd.device, otherwise it uses scsi.device as a fallback.

If partitions change or another SD card is installed, then redo build mountlist and select boot device again.

Mountlist build by GiggleDisk doesn't have filesystem handlers defined and these are required to mount devices. Patch mountlist updates mountlist with filesystem handlers by examining DosType. It currently supports following DosTypes:
DosType  Filesystem  Handler
0x444f5303 (DOS\3)  Amiga FFS file system (intl., no dir cache)  L:FastFileSystem
0x50445303 (PDS\3)  Amiga PFS file system 3, SCSIdirect  L:pfs3_aio-handler
0x50465303 (PFS\3)  Amiga PFS file system 3  L:pfs3_aio-handler
0x46415401 (FAT\1)  FAT32 file system  L:fat95

Note: If build mountlist is used in an emulator, it requires chipset extra is set to A600/A1200 and HD controller is set to A600/A1200/A4000 for GiggleDisk to properly detect partitions.

vampire_boot_3.png
Boot device menu

Boot Device menu lists devices from mountlist for selecting device to boot during startup of Vampire boot.

vampire_boot_4.png
Tutorial 1: Running Vampire boot self install in an emulator or a real Amiga

This tutorial describes step by step how to run Vampire boot self install in an emulator or a real Amiga.

Vampire boot self install can be run in following ways:

    WinUAE: Start WinUAE using an A600/A1200 configuration with Vampire boot HDF added in CD & Hard drives.
    Real Amiga: Write Vampire boot HDF to CF/SD card using Win32DiskImager and insert CF/SD card in Amiga internal IDE port.

1. Start Vampire boot self install.

Start Vampire boot self install in either an emulator or a real Amiga.

run_self_install_1.png

2. Insert Workbench 3.1 disk

Installation process will automatically detect and use DF0:, DF1:, DF2: or DF3: containing required Workbench 3.1 disk.

Insert required Workbench 3.1 disk in any floppy device and press enter to continue installation process.

run_self_install_2.png

run_self_install_3.png

3. Workbench 3.1 installation

Workbench 3.1 installation running and copying system files.

run_self_install_4.png

Workbench 3.1 installation is complete.

Press enter to continue installation process.

run_self_install_5.png

4. Eject disk

Eject Workbench 3.1 disk and press enter to continue installation process.

run_self_install_6.png

5. Vampire boot installation complete and reboot

Vampire boot installation is complete.

Press enter to continue and reboot.

run_self_install_7.png

6. Vampire boot ready for use

Vampire boot is now ready for use and can be configured.

vampire_boot_1.png
Tutorial 2: Configuring Vampire boot

This tutorial describes step by step how to configure Vampire boot in either an emulator or a real Amiga.

1. Start Vampire boot.

Start Vampire boot either in an emulator or a real Amiga.

vampire_boot_1.png

2. Build mountlist.

Click "Build mountlist" to build mountlist and mount startup.

vampire_boot_1.png

Build mountlist is running.

vampire_boot_2.png

Build mountlist and mount startup is done.

Press enter to continue and it will return to main menu.

vampire_boot_3.png

3. Boot device.

Click "Boot device" to select boot device.

vampire_boot_1.png

For this example click "DH0:" to select it as boot device.

Note: Devices listed depend on partitions detected on SD card in Vampire accelerator card.

vampire_boot_4.png

vampire_boot_5.png

4. Exit and reboot.

Configuration of Vampire boot is complete.

Click "Exit" to exit Configure Vampire Boot and reboot.

Vampire boot will now mount partitions from SD card in Vampire accelerator card and boot selected boot device.


Leigh Russ

Posts 151
15 Oct 2018 11:59


Yeah I am aware of VampireBoot but I don't want to need to have an SD or CF connected and to natively boot from the Vampire SD


Adam Whittaker
(Needs Verification)
Posts 270/ 1
15 Oct 2018 15:08


parasite maybe the way to go for me too - if anybody finds them for sale please let me know.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
15 Oct 2018 17:41


Adam Whittaker wrote:

  parasite maybe the way to go for me too - if anybody finds them for sale please let me know.
 

 
  Again,they dont exist UNLESS you list a demand and ask Kipper, negotiating costs for small volume. No one will ever inform you.
 
 
Leigh Russ wrote:

  Yeah I am aware of VampireBoot but I don't want to need to have an SD or CF connected and to natively boot from the Vampire SD
 

 
  Its announced feature after SAGA gets tuned. So not so far away in galaxy nearby ...

Me? I would prefer to see IDE boot from DVD and as fast as possible SSD.

posts 16