 Documentation about the Vampire hardware |
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Vojin Vidanovic
Posts 770
09 Sep 2017 21:07
| Hi compadres!
While I wait & save money until Standalone (expected Q1 18)
I am trying to build overall components and estimate likely costs.
It seems that biggest loopholes (beside unknown Vamp prices)
are:
a) IDE: Will Standalone support 2 devices - SSD and DVD
b) SSD: Even its small, 2.5 inch, quiet and with fast file access
is SSD an overkill, and how does it work on Vamp IDE? I suppose
I need to find one that has hardware autocorrection/TRIM
c) Case!
Team has presented V4 in some strange case, so I suppose depending on what others do, we might be down to 3 choices:
Strangest factors seems to be unknown PSU and no Amiga keyboard port, but have to use one USB (if its only one port here is A1-x1000 similarity!) and port placement, that basically disables all current ITX and Amiga designs. But we could hope for ...
1) A1200 Look-A-Like: While Amiga Reloaded doesnt do the magic,
there is one more hope on A1200 recasing kickstarter, something Vampiristic could be done. A1200 net page EXTERNAL LINK
2) Lorianos X500: I love the A500 close look but some mods needs to be done.
This is what Loriano says
August 13 at 11:23pm
... at the moment the case is designed for mini-itx boards only. But, with some modifications, other boards should fit. No slim DVD drives and no 3.5" drives. Those were present in the X500 Plus and X500 Evo. The X500 Pro has space for a full size, dual slot PCI-Express card or possibly two single slot cards. I'll see if I can show some photos/videos. I am re-working the way the mechanical keyboard fits inside the case.
3) Some small FPGA ARCADE System style box, this one is designed for Mist as showcase :
Mist Midi 1.3 board Black metal case
Black metal case included, LEDS with 'K2000' effect included (can be deactivated with the OSD menu)
EXTERNAL LINK High end Standalone would look like this (close to A1 prices):
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VAMPIRE 018!
BOARD 500e APOLLO V4 STANDALONE
IDE SSD 128GB TRANSCEDENT, MERCURY LEGACY PRO 100e
MICROSD 100e 128GB SANDISK EXTREME PRO/PLUS, SAMSUNG EVO SELECT
DVD RW 40e PLEXTOR; LITEON, MEMOREX (IDE ATA133 3,5 inch OR 2.5 SLIM)
DB9 COMPETITION PRO 40e
DB9 WIFI MOUSE 40e
POWER SUPPLY 40e
CASE MIST STYLE 240e ELBOX STYLE 360e
IDE CABLES 20e
DIGITAL-VIDEO CABLE 15e
LAN CABLE 5e
USB BLASTER 13e
950+case – 1200 up to 1500eur
SERVICES 200eur Keyboard repair 50e
OS and software installs 50e
Updates, Software and Hardware testing 50e
Packaging and sending 50e
SOFTWARE & BOOKS 300e AMI KIT X 30e
AMIGA OS 3.9 40e
AMIGA WRITTER CD ROM 12e
Turbo Print 7.60+ CD 70e
Roadshow 25e
Directory Opus 5 CD 12e
DigiBooster 3 CD 70e
AmigaOS 3.9 users manual 18e
Amos programming base 18e
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Stefano Briccolani
Posts 586
10 Sep 2017 08:47
| Casing for standalone board will be a crucial factor for v4 success. V4 have to be estetically different from minimig/fpga arcade/mist and have a distinct "amiga" feel to attract new and nostalgic users.
The best thing, in my opinion. would be for team apollo to make a partnership with a1200.net. those cases are wonderful, buying a v4 would be like buying a real classic amiga.
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Fernando Pereira
Posts 68
12 Sep 2017 20:49
| Stefano Briccolani wrote:
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(...)
The best thing, in my opinion. would be for team apollo to make a partnership with a1200.net. those cases are wonderful, buying a v4 would be like buying a real classic amiga.
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I second that so freaking very much! I would simply love, beyond words, to have a V4 standalone in a1200.net case. But what about the keyboard?
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Mallagan Bellator
Posts 393
14 Sep 2017 21:29
| Fernando Pereira wrote:
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Stefano Briccolani wrote:
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(...)
The best thing, in my opinion. would be for team apollo to make a partnership with a1200.net. those cases are wonderful, buying a v4 would be like buying a real classic amiga.
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I second that so freaking very much! I would simply love, beyond words, to have a V4 standalone in a1200.net case.
But what about the keyboard?
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Well, it could be an option for those who has an A1200 keyboard lying around that isn't being used (like me), and it could be connected to USB via that thing that makes use of Amiga keyboards and allows for them to be connected to USB (forgot the name of the product)
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Daniel Sevo
Posts 299
14 Sep 2017 23:23
| Mallagan Bellator wrote:
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Fernando Pereira wrote:
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Stefano Briccolani wrote:
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(...)
The best thing, in my opinion. would be for team apollo to make a partnership with a1200.net. those cases are wonderful, buying a v4 would be like buying a real classic amiga.
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I second that so freaking very much! I would simply love, beyond words, to have a V4 standalone in a1200.net case.
But what about the keyboard?
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Well, it could be an option for those who has an A1200 keyboard lying around that isn't being used (like me), and it could be connected to USB via that thing that makes use of Amiga keyboards and allows for them to be connected to USB (forgot the name of the product)
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Well, that's the reason why I started this thread:
CLICK HERE
The "things" is the Keyrah V2 and it allows you to attach a couple of different Amiga keyboards. I also have a nice special edition A1200.Net case an currently waiting for the key caps (and ye I have a spare A1200 Keyboard). I was actually waiting for the Amiga Reloaded mobo, but it seems that one is taking "forever" so now that I think abut it its probably better to simply put a standalone V4 in there..
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Fernando Pereira
Posts 68
15 Sep 2017 08:34
| Daniel Sevo wrote:
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Mallagan Bellator wrote:
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Fernando Pereira wrote:
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Stefano Briccolani wrote:
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(...)
The best thing, in my opinion. would be for team apollo to make a partnership with a1200.net. those cases are wonderful, buying a v4 would be like buying a real classic amiga.
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I second that so freaking very much! I would simply love, beyond words, to have a V4 standalone in a1200.net case.
But what about the keyboard?
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Well, it could be an option for those who has an A1200 keyboard lying around that isn't being used (like me), and it could be connected to USB via that thing that makes use of Amiga keyboards and allows for them to be connected to USB (forgot the name of the product)
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Well, that's the reason why I started this thread:
CLICK HERE
The "things" is the Keyrah V2 and it allows you to attach a couple of different Amiga keyboards.
I also have a nice special edition A1200.Net case an currently waiting for the key caps (and ye I have a spare A1200 Keyboard).
I was actually waiting for the Amiga Reloaded mobo, but it seems that one is taking "forever" so now that I think abut it its probably better to simply put a standalone V4 in there..
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Nice! But what about those who don't have an Amiga Keyboard? I wish so much someone could make those again.
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Lord Aga
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 119
15 Sep 2017 09:42
| Well the guys who made the cases have also made new keycaps. RWAP made new membranes. So you can put together a keyboard :)
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Fernando Pereira
Posts 68
15 Sep 2017 10:38
| Lord Aga wrote:
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Well the guys who made the cases have also made new keycaps. RWAP made new membranes. So you can put together a keyboard :)
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Unfortunately, you sill need the keyboard frame.
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Lord Aga
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 119
15 Sep 2017 12:31
| That you can salvage from a cheap non-working keyboard. It's not like the frames break or anything. My frames still look brand new.
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Mikester RX7
Posts 9
15 Sep 2017 18:06
| I wonder why a standard Mini-ITX form factor was not used?
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Vojin Vidanovic
Posts 770
15 Sep 2017 18:24
| Mikester RX7 wrote:
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I wonder why a standard Mini-ITX form factor was not used?
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Me too, since it would expand chhoices instead of creating new
question mark.
My lucky guess is that simply it is some Cyclone V reference board in size and that idea to simplify things by using almost same board for standalone and accelerators, lead to extremely small board from system builder perspective. Unusual placement of connectors migh tbe the similar trouble. Hope some standardized solution will be found e.g. standardized or adopted cases to this design
At same time, its also better for those skilled in modding.
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Fernando Pereira
Posts 68
17 Sep 2017 16:57
| Lord Aga wrote:
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That you can salvage from a cheap non-working keyboard. It's not like the frames break or anything. My frames still look brand new.
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Easier said then done. I would need to buy it online, which I hate, including buying the membrane and the key caps and assemble all together, ending up with an overpriced final product considering I have to pay also the shipment costs (3x). I'll just keep a regular PC USB keyboard then... Though I wish someone could manufacture a full Amiga keyboard.
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Roy Gillotti
Posts 517
17 Sep 2017 19:21
| Mikester RX7 wrote:
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I wonder why a standard Mini-ITX form factor was not used?
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Likely because, the same base PCB is used for all versions of the Vampire V4. So it needs to be in a shape that fits well in an A500/A2000 and A1200.
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Ian Parsons
Posts 230
18 Sep 2017 02:43
| I very much doubt the same PCB is used for the A500 and A1200. The physical size of the board and bus connection doesn't make sense. When the V4 is described as "one design to fit them all" it probably refers to the similarity of the schematic for the V500V4/Stand alone and the V1200V4 with minimal changes to allow for connectivity with the A1200 expansion bus. This is why the 500 and stand alone models will be available before the long awaited A1200 version. The A1200 will have the same "V4" specification i.e. same FPGA, RAM, video amp, Ethernet chip etc. The size of the V4 board that has been revealed is certainly influenced by the decision to make it A500 compatible. Whether the design started as a stand alone and the size was influenced by a decision to make the PCB A500 compatible or started as an A500 design that was decided to use as the stand alone option or was always intended for both from the early planning stage, I don't know. Once a combined stand alone/A500 PCB was decided on the final dimensions of the board may also have been influenced by the case that has been shown with the prototype V4.
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Sean Sk
Posts 488
18 Sep 2017 04:06
| Ian Parsons wrote:
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I very much doubt the same PCB is used for the A500 and A1200. The physical size of the board and bus connection doesn't make sense. When the V4 is described as "one design to fit them all" it probably refers to the similarity of the schematic for the V500V4/Stand alone and the V1200V4 with minimal changes to allow for connectivity with the A1200 expansion bus. This is why the 500 and stand alone models will be available before the long awaited A1200 version.
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Exactly!
It has been mentioned time and time again that the V1200 will use the expansion bus, like any other A1200 expansion card, since Majsta himself stated that they were able to source a supplier for the edge connectors. Going back to an earlier discussion in this thread, I too would love to see the Vampire V4 standalone be used in one of those new A1200.net cases. That would be awesome, but the Keyrah V2 is not the solution. It might be useful as a temporary stop-gap until a better device comes along, but it's design is too impractical for the A1200 case as it caters for other systems besides the Amiga. The introduction of the Vampire V4 standalone might provide an opportunity for an enterprising engineer to develop an I/O board that fits along the back of the A1200 case that provides 2 mouse/joystick ports, external floppy, parallel and serial ports as well as a keyboard header and floppy drive power and data connectors for those that want legacy support.
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Ian Parsons
Posts 230
18 Sep 2017 07:01
| It will be interesting to see the keyboard options A1200.net come up with when they get around to doing a keyboard Kickstarter. I'm not quite sure what the market is like for keyboards on the classics, I imagine there are enough dead A500s and A1200s to act as keyboard doners for people that have somehow broken their original keyboard. Replacement membranes are already available for repairs. So who needs/wants a new keyboard? Well if you are putting a Raspberry PI, MiST or even a Vampire 4 standalone in a new A1200 case a USB keyboard in Amiga form factor would probably be better than keyrah. If they are going to do an A500 version of the keyboard it's probably easy to make a controller board that can do both USB and Amiga protocol with the right firmware. For all we know there may be a setting that allows one of the V4 USB ports or IO ports to be treated as a legacy Amiga keyboard port with the right connector adaptor.
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