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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Vampire Compatible Hardwarepage  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Wawa T

Posts 695
19 Feb 2017 02:15


imho, for starters it is pointless to have special purpose hardware, requiring dedicated programming instead of your genuine 68k binary sitting behind a tight bottleneck on your system. but think whatever you will, its yours.


Thierry Atheist

Posts 644
19 Feb 2017 05:44


wawa t wrote:
imho, for starters it is pointless to have special purpose hardware,

errrrr,
==NOT "Paula, Agnus, Denise, Gary/Gayle, Akiko" + "FPU, SIMD, DSP, etc."???


Kolbjřrn Barmen
(Needs Verification)
Posts 219/ 2
19 Feb 2017 19:20


Thierry Atheist wrote:

All the old hardware is a bottleneck.
 
Looking VERY MUCH forward to getting that standalone.

For once I agree :)


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
21 Feb 2017 14:01


I can confirm this works fine with the Vampire: 
 
  Kingston PCMCIA EtheRx Ethernet Adapter KNE-PC2T


Marcus Gerards

Posts 58
22 Feb 2017 15:57


wawa t wrote:

  usable as in, you can move a window around (which is done by amiga chipset dma)?

Usable as "you can write texts in an editor while playing". And this is no "my thingie is better than yours"-discussion; I don't profit from Prisma sales. We just want to know things, ok?

 
  prisma has only very tiny buffer on the card which needs to be constantly fed to gaurantee continous playback. the transfer is pio.
 
  developers actually communicated that this was a problem to overcome.
 

Yes, we did. :)


  taking this into acount, do you really want to say, feeding data to prisma costs no cpu time, even though a 68020 may be enough for it in most cases, which in comparison to what apollo provides is a fraction not to be bothered with?
 

Too much interpretation on your part. I also really don't understand your argument - a 68020 only has to push data over the port while a 68080 without a Prisma has to do the decoding part as well. So the question for me was: Can the Vampire decode compressed audio faster than pushing data over the CP. Gunnar calculated, that the core could be put to better use by decoding the audio itself instead of pushing bytes over the clockport. That's plausible, especially if we picture the Vampire getting faster with each FPGA generation. So the question has been answered. A real life verification would be interesting, though.

On the other hand: There's currently no (easier) way to play FLAC/MPEG-4AAC/etc. than just adding a Prisma to the system and starting AmigaAMP. Even if you have got a Vampire.




Jebus Krist

Posts 3
24 Feb 2017 08:52


I've run into an issue with the A501 on my A500 the game Mortal Kombat seems to be unable to detect the additional ram on the A501 and refuses to boot due to the machine not having 1MB with the Vampire installed.


Martin Soerensen

Posts 232
24 Feb 2017 09:43


Does it work without the Vampire installed (and with KS3.1)?

If you have the A501 mapped to chip mem it may not be supported if the game looks for 512k memory @ $c00000.


Jebus Krist

Posts 3
28 Feb 2017 05:20


The A501 worked immediately before the Vampire installation, I've not modified the A501 or the A500 in any way other than removal of the battery in the A501. I'm not sure where Mortal Kombat looks for the memory but I don't think it looks for chip mem I could however be wrong. I'm using whatever KS my Vampire shipped with earlier this month and I currently have no way to upgrade the core.


Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
28 Feb 2017 06:59


Jebus Krist wrote:

The A501 worked immediately before the Vampire installation, I've not modified the A501 or the A500 in any way other than removal of the battery in the A501. I'm not sure where Mortal Kombat looks for the memory but I don't think it looks for chip mem I could however be wrong. I'm using whatever KS my Vampire shipped with earlier this month and I currently have no way to upgrade the core.

The V500 doesn't support the SlowMem cards (A500 trapdoor) right now. It's being worked on.


Jebus Krist

Posts 3
28 Feb 2017 07:06


Good to know, I've seen that the A501 can be modified to map to FastMem would that make any difference in this case or not so much?


Carlos Milán

Posts 95
27 Mar 2017 21:46


You can add to the list the SUM internal USB keyboard adapter: EXTERNAL LINK 
It works perfectly with the Vampire II.


Michael R

Posts 281
30 Mar 2017 20:05


As far as hardware, maybe this has been asked before, are both IDE connections Fast IDE, the one on the V500 V2+ and the native Amiga IDE, or just the one on the card?

Secondly, since the V2+ has a 6-pin connection for the Arduino WiFi module, is it possible to connect other Arduino modules in the future such as Micro USB? I understand that there is currently no Amiga drivers for this, but is it possible to add USB to our V500 V2+ cards?


Michael R

Posts 281
30 Mar 2017 20:22


As far as Arduino Micro USB I meant something like this:

    EXTERNAL LINK     

  The reason that I'm asking about the Fast IDE is for a laptop CDRom drive that I'm planning to install in my A500 to work with my new Vampire accelerator that I've paid for about a week ago but that hasn't arrived yet. But since the A500 doesn't have a native IDE this will only apply to the A1200 if it has Fast IDE. I plan to use either a Slim ATAPI to 44 Pin IDE adapter, or Slim SATA to 44 Pin IDE adapter with my laptop CDRom. I'll do a test soon with my A1200 to see if this approach will work for the A500. I certainly hope so! 
   
  Another question is if adding a CDrom along with the power requirements of the Vampire card and original Amiga board if it will be too much strain on the wimpy A1200 power brick I'm using? If so I have an old A500 power brick casing with no insides that I was thinking of using with a Pico 90w or 160w and an ATX to Amiga power cord adapter from some place like Amigakit. The "Power Switch" to turn power on will be the switch on my powerstrip. That might work. Has anyone else made an external Amiga power supply like this?


Wawa T

Posts 695
30 Mar 2017 20:58



wawa t wrote:
imho, for starters it is pointless to have special purpose hardware,

errrrr,
==NOT "Paula, Agnus, Denise, Gary/Gayle, Akiko" + "FPU, SIMD, DSP, etc."???


to call amiga chipset to be set in stone special purpose is not that correct i guess. also simd or sdp are not chips with hard coded codecs to playback, and an fpu behind a slow bus is relatively useless, while integrated on cpu may mayke some difference. so i am right?


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
30 Mar 2017 21:08


Michael R wrote:

As far as hardware, maybe this has been asked before, are both IDE connections Fast IDE, the one on the V500 V2+ and the native Amiga IDE, or just the one on the card?

Our local IDE is very fast > over 10 MB/sec
So this is for the V500.

The local IDE on the A600 can normally reach 3.5 MB/Sec.
You can enable FastIDE but the result depends on your Mainbaord and luck. You can reach 4 MB, 5MB, 7MB or with luck even more.




Wawa T

Posts 695
30 Mar 2017 21:08


@Marcus Gerards

sorry have not seen this.

So the question has been answered.

so you are one of the devs, im not trying to make your software or hardware by michael look bad, i simply do not like the concept of having dedicated expansions for every simple task out there, just in ordr to cash on it separately. there is better and cheaper ways to play flac or mp3 than to throw it at a dedicated decoder via some (by todays standards) slow amiga bus, just to prove a point, instead sticking a thumb in an usb port or playing it by some other device like handheld or pc.

to be honest, i dont even care so much, how fast vampire can play videos, doom or quake ;)


Michael R

Posts 281
31 Mar 2017 08:03


Wawa T, I'm not sure which side of the Amiga fence you're on, whether you are for Classic Amiga or not, but that isn't the issue. We are here on this forum because we love Amiga! Trying to compare Classic Amiga OS 3.x or Old or new Amiga hardware to any modern OS or modern hardware is simply insane! On a daily basis I use a Core i7 3.5Ghz with huge amounts of RAM and an HD PCIex video card to run sophisticated software for civil engineering to design roadways, dams and bridges. But at lunch time I might enjoy using WinUAE to play a game of Sid Meier's Pirates or Centurion Defender of Rome! The pixelated graphics aren't great but it sure is fun! I am constantly ridiculed by coworkers, family and friends for using a 30 year old Amiga OS in the modern age when there are so many faster high tech computer systems available! But I don't care; I just laugh. I'm an Amigan; I'm insane for liking Amigas, but Amigas are fun! For comparison let's say a Classic Amiga is like a Go-kart that is used for hobby and for fun! On a good day the rusty old engine we got from dad's old lawnmower might propel our little Amiga go-kart at 5 or 10MPH down a dirt road. It's fun! But we can't compare this to a super heavy duty diesel truck, or a Jaguar, Mercedes, or a Lamboughini. And we wouldn't take our Amiga go-karts on the local freeway or the Auto-Bahn! I bought a Vampire accelerator card for my Amiga because, sorry Apollo Team, it's like putting a shiny new high power lawnmower engine in my old Amiga go-kart. So that soon I'll be able to go 40 of 50 MPH and risk burning the rubber off the tires of my Amiga! Sure, there are easier ways to play mp3's or view pdf's but using an Amiga is much more fun! See you at the finish line! :-)


Michael R

Posts 281
31 Mar 2017 08:34


Thanks Gunnar. The V500 IDE will be quite fast for running card readers, optical drives and whatever else as long as I keep in mind power consumption. Depending on what I add as far as hardware, I may need a better power supply.

I sure would like to add WiFi, USB, or even Blue Tooth to my V500 V2+ but one step at a time!


Wawa T

Posts 695
31 Mar 2017 10:37


whether you are for Classic Amiga or not

there is no any "classic amiga" (as opposed to some other assumably "real&contemporary" one). it is simply amiga.

Trying to compare Classic Amiga OS 3.x or Old or new Amiga hardware to any modern OS or modern hardware is simply insane!

where am i comparing it? i simply say dedicated hardware is better or even necessary for dedicated (contemporary) tasks. playing back video or audio codecs may be fun with the assistance of an amiga but doesnt require it, especially if done with externally attached off the shelf device. its good for showing off, and in this case assumably trying to establish comparison with some more modern computers, but the actual atut of an amiga is general computing and its native software pool.


Michael R

Posts 281
31 Mar 2017 20:57


As far as software is classified there is Classic Amiga (68k), Amiga NG (PPC), and Amiga-Like OS'es such as AROS, etc. These OS'es, except AROS, are all bound to dedicated hardware. The Amiga has always been tied to dedicated hardware since the days of custom chips. The Classic Amiga hardware (hereafter knows as just Amiga) and the 68k software that runs on it is basically a hobby or niche computing system. These days there are many other options. But I wouldn't consider doing any production work on an Amiga. But I use it to play Amiga games.

As far as whether newer dedicated hardware is overpriced that depends on your level of interest, how much you are willing to pay, and where you buy it. Personally, I don't think Vampire accelerator cards are overpriced. Compared to buying a 68060 card on ebay for $1000 the Vampire series is very reasonably priced for the performance that the cards deliver. The Apollo Team are also making cheap add-on modules available for these cards. That's unheard of in the Amiga world where we are used to paying large sums of money for hardware and waiting for months or even years for new developments. This has been true for far too long!

Many years ago when I bought my Amiga 1200  I chose not to upgrade or add anything to it because most components were too expensive. Instead I chose to keep it as a slave drive for reading 880kb Amiga disks and converting to ADF images for use with WinUAE. But Vampire accelerators have changed all that. Now I'm willing to upgrade my Amigas. ;-)

In short, the Vampire accelerators are the best thing that has happened to our Classic Amiga hardware since the introduction of the Amiga computer itself. They have made computing fun again! Thank you Apollo Team.

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