Re: Coldfire Accelerator card

[DataZap <az%datazap.net@localhost>]

Hi,

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007, Frank Wille wrote:
> > I think that Oliver has given up on it and I just can't find the support
> > for it with other OSes.
>
> That's sad, after all the time and effort he put into it. But in the end,
> as expected. :|

Yes, it is, but from what I understand the Coldfire instructions are not
all that close to the 68k and where there is a problem is that it may use
the same instruction, but applies it in a different way.

> > So, I don't think that it will go much further. I
> > guess that if I had my choice of what to build, it would be a PowerPC card
> > for the classic Amiga that could run OS4.
>
> Yes, faster boards >300MHz could really make a difference.

Well, the Coldfire would be 410 MIPS. I am not sure how that would compare
to the PowerPC.

> But I fear it will take too long. Building a completely new PPC system with
> standard components would be easier than doing another turbo-board for the
> Amiga. You have to put a 68k CPU on it as well, even if it runs OS4,
> otherwise the system will not boot. And then you need at least two versions,
> one for A3000/4000 and another one for A1200...

Well, really all the 32 bit Amigas could use the same card. Although, we
may need an adaptor for some models.

I guess that the question in my mind is that if we built a stand alone PPC
card, and if we changed the firmware, would it then be able to boot?

> > I have been contacting other projects and I have found some people who
> > would be interested in building a new PowerPC system (to run linux). So, I
> > am kind of waiting to see where that would go. Maybe I could talk someone
> > into porting NetBSD to it.
>
> I would be interested of course, if it exists. I did some work on the
> amigappc port in the last months and I'm trying to bring NetBSD to Pegasos
> and Efika.

Yes, I would really like to see NetBSD ported to the Pegasos and Efika.
Unfortunately, I was not able to buy a Pegasos, I was moving and I thought
that I would wait on it. There is a rumor that this is going to be a new
PowerPC Amiga that is much like the Efika. But of course, we will wait and
see what happens.

One other question, I have found at least one of the evaluation PPC
boards. I would like to put it into my 2000, but would this be something
that is supported by amigappc, and would it be stable enough to work in a
production machine?

Thanks,
Al