Apollo Accelerators

Hello to all of you out there.
I am an Amiga fanatic since 1994. I make my first steps with a C=64 like the most of us i believe. Since then things happens in the world and changes to the computer industry. After Commodore days and the fall down of the Phase5 , i was most in time waiting for a new fresh air to change all this dirty situation for us.
For the first time i smell the freshness ... After years .. So i weak up and turn my ears and my look in something that was left open and empty in the past.... Someone steel our dreams. Someone steel our happiness . But now i feel like a very happy man who have find his way....
-But in the next , i must apologize to all of u like brothers . What is your opinion to the followings :
a) Has any make a running test against the Raspberry's family? I never had such but have it in mind..
b) Which will be the price difference between the Standalone and the A1200 ?
c) I have a empty A1200 case and want to use it. Which option is the best ?
d) Which option is the better between Standalone and A1200 motherboard ?
e) How much possible is in the near future to get this beauty from a local store or somehow in our hands ?
Thanks a lot for bring the new era in our souls and happy for that. Just simply silly questions ...

Vampire V4 is much Faster than any singleboard computer with UAE by a long shot.

If they select an even Faster FPGA, then it would require the might if the very latest intel processors in order to match the speed using uae.... The current one should be Faster than most highend systems today, running uae

cbmfreak wrote: *

Mon 21 Aug 2017 08:15

Vampire V4 is much Faster than any singleboard computer with UAE by a long shot.

If they select an even Faster FPGA, then it would require the might if the very latest intel processors in order to match the speed using uae.... The current one should be Faster than most highend systems today, running uae

Thank u cbmfreak. I have same opinion like u , but for the extra reason that this board is made only for our amiga classic and so it is without Linux or the help of an other Os.
But u have answered in a simple way. What is your opinion about the next questions ?
And come on Amigans lets make the answered questions test our minds.
Thanks a lot for all the answered opinions , i will get them all and make the decisions from 1 to 4 and hope that i will make the best from all of them and the best for the platform.
I am waiting for your next opinions about..

DreamWarior wrote: *

Tue 22 Aug 2017 10:22

cbmfreak wrote: *

Mon 21 Aug 2017 08:15

Vampire V4 is much Faster than any singleboard computer with UAE by a long shot.

If they select an even Faster FPGA, then it would require the might if the very latest intel processors in order to match the speed using uae.... The current one should be Faster than most highend systems today, running uae

Thank u cbmfreak. I have same opinion like u , but for the extra reason that this board is made only for our amiga classic and so it is without Linux or the help of an other Os.
But u have answered in a simple way. What is your opinion about the next questions ?
And come on Amigans lets make the answered questions test our minds.
Thanks a lot for all the answered opinions , i will get them all and make the decisions from 1 to 4 and hope that i will make the best from all of them and the best for the platform.
I am waiting for your next opinions about..

I think that a linux for 68k exists, it does not however use the advanced features of the 68080 cpu but my guess is that it should run fine on a vampire system.
As far as speed goes, I am not sure if a Pi3 with linux or a vampire with linux is faster... the pi3 is pretty fast when running native software.

I would go with this for an empty A1200 case:

option A

- A1200 keyboard (they still have some new ones at various amiga shops I think?)
- Keyrah V2
- Vampire V4 stand alone

Or as an alternative (providing vampire and amiga reloaded are compatible and providing that it gives an advantage, I am not sure):

option B

- A1200 keyboard (they still have some new ones at various amiga shops I think?)
- Keyrah V2
- Vampire V4 A1200 version
- AmigaReloaded motherboard (can use A1200 or A500 case and A1200 keyboard or A500 keyboard)

I do not think I am able to answer your other questions, sorry.. I am after all, just an old Amiga user

option A will be the cheapest option and would give you a complete system, there really is no need for option B I think.

----

I am considering putting a vampire V4 stand alone in a pi-top, to create a vampire laptop
I am looking forward to when the V4 becomes available

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

Hello to all of you out there.

GREETINGS DreamWarior!!!!!

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

I am an Amiga fanatic since 1994.

Me since 1989, but I first heard of it when it came out in 1985. I remember seeing "side by side" comparison advertisements with Atai ST's of "who's got the bigger, errr, better...." and pretty much drooling over the both of them... That is until I went in and saw a demo in 1987 or 1988.... Saw NewTek Demo Reel 3, and was UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY!!!!!!!!!
Also, around then, had a chance to play with an Atari 520 for 3 or 4 days.... Couldn't do ANYTHING with it. There wasn't a DOS shell!!!!
Got an A2000 in 1989, and THAT WAS IT..... AMIGA.... or NOTHING from there on!

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

I make my first steps with a C=64 like the most of us i believe.

The C=64 was a FUN computer, but it wasn't really for serious computing. I had limited exposure to it from when friends came over with one.

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

Since then things happens in the world and changes to the computer industry. After Commodore days and the fall down of the Phase5 , i was most in time waiting for a new fresh air to change all this dirty situation for us.
For the first time i smell the freshness ... After years .. So i weak up and turn my ears and my look in something that was left open and empty in the past.... Someone steel our dreams. Someone steel our happiness . But now i feel like a very happy man who have find his way....

It's JUST PAST DAWN of not a new day but of a NEW ERA for AMIGA!!!! (Which, for Vampires, would NORMALLY be VERY VERY VERY BAD!!!! )

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

-But in the next , i must apologize to all of u like brothers . What is your opinion to the followings :
a) Has any make a running test against the Raspberry's family? I never had such but have it in mind..

Well, not exactly a "side-by-side" comparison, but there are 2 videos that I can refer to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ADzEXTIlGI
So, in this video, if you go to 7:20, you'll see the numbers of

104.14 MIPS
74.88 MFLOPS

Now, this is March 29, 2017. I believe that he is using Apollo Core 2 back then. The MFLOPS number is not real because they did not make the FPU segment of the core available yet. However, someone made a software floating point unit that can be used until the FPGA version that the Apollo Team made, release theirs.

This video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq2fmhO7dOo dated July 23, 2017 is mjnurney announcing that he got the Apollo Core 2.5, beta.

Here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTCObwDa1-E (July 30, 2017) mjnurney shows the original numbers from Core 2 at 2:05. Then the software FPU's numbers at 4:20. Oddly, the Femu (FPU emulator) gives a number (74.90 MFLOPS) that is practically the same as the "fake" number, that was generated back in March?!?!!! So, is there or isn't a FPU active? Well, keep watching for another 5 minutes to... find out! And another at 13:12. After that, he doesn't try to get another Femu score. So, it stands at MAYBE 74.90 MFLOPS.

And here is a video that is, supposedly staking the heart of the Vampire, being a slayer, or is it??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HZXM6cLVUg
At 6:05, we see a rating of 136.38 MIPS for a Raspberry Pi 3. That is 30.96% faster than the Vampire 2. Meanwhile, there's a strange anomaly of ONLY 4.59 MFLOPS?!!!
Let's talk about the 30.96% deficit of the Vampire 2 (and ignore the FPU rating as it seems to be, distorted, to say the least and I'll add, on both systems as well).

So, we have the Raspberry 3 beating the Vampire 2 board and it's cheaper.

BUT!!!!!

Let's look at the technology at play.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/raspb ... enchmarks/

The Raspberry Pi 3 is running at 1.2 Gigahertz and using 1 gigabyte of RAM.
If you check the video, he's got it working with 8,224,296 bytes of Chip RAM and 110,154,126 Fast RAM = 118,378,422 bytes, meanwhile, the poor old Vampire 2 has 128 MEGS of RAM! AND SO, they've managed (in the old bull gatez style) to reduce a 1.2 GHz/1 GB system down to a ~122 MHz performance computer!!!!! The Vampire is using a ~93 MHz FPGA.

Now, the NEW Vampire 4, it is using a Cyclone 5 FPGA that is about 25% faster than the Vampire 2. That will move the bar to 130.18 MIPS (104.14 +25%) which is 4.8% slower than the Raspberry Pi 3. Vampire 4 has 512 Megabytes of RAM!

If one goes down the path of Raspberry Pi 3, though, they will help destroy REAL, GENUINE PROGRESS and ADVANCEMENT of the AMIGA LEGACY....

Amiga Forever will NEVER have super AGA modes, and the AMMX instructions of the FPGA Apollo Core. It will NEVER have the 64 bit instructions that are part of the Apollo Core. The SAGA (Super-AGA) custom chip portion of the Vampire will allow for 25/50/75% splits of ChipRAM/FastRAM, environments. And there's more.... when we get an ARRIA 10 FPGA standalone board, even a 3 GHz i7 would struggle to match the performance that those will deliver!!!!

(The Raspberry Pi, just like windbloats, has too much baggage!!!)

Buying a raspberry and using UAE will derail all of that TASTY GOODNESS into the ravine!!!!!

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

b) Which will be the price difference between the Standalone and the A1200 ?

Unknown. ALL the prices are unknown. Couldn't be more than ~$75 US.

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

c) I have a empty A1200 case and want to use it. Which option is the best ?

The formfactor of the Vampire 4 board is 120mmx100mm. There isn't any case that it matches up with. Some unique case, or a real jigsaw puzzle is what you're looking at.

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

d) Which option is the better between Standalone and A1200 motherboard ?

With the standalone, the best part is that you will be totally unhindered by possible errors communicating with old, possible faulty HW and maybe conflicting timing issues interfacing with the slow system you're connected to. Maybe SW and RAM address issues could arise as well. But, you will lose things like the floppy drive (that is a BIG DEAL) and the various ports on the back of the computer. None of the expansion cards that were made are possible to use, either. But those are VERY slow, compared to the newer technology we are getting our hands on.

The standalone, I feel, will have the least amount of "issues". Brand new hardware, through and through. It will be more expensive because of needing some case solution. And, I think it is more expensive, anyway.

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

e) How much possible is in the near future to get this beauty from a local store or somehow in our hands ?

About, well, the standalone I think is first out of the gate.
It will sell out quickly when released, unless they make 1,000 of them. Even then.....
So, probably by October or November 2017, if you're lucky. Otherwise, I'd say it'll be an easy purchase by January 2018. There are 4 or more online stores that will carry it.

DreamWarior wrote: *

Fri 18 Aug 2017 08:55

Thanks a lot for bring the new era in our souls and happy for that. Just simply silly questions ...

You couldn't begin to imagine how excited I am over this.... you really can't!!!!!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WwkhRAeJ_c <--- what UAE WON'T be doing, anytime soon!!!!!]

@Atheist, A good test would be to throw those AMMX demos compiled for straight up 68K at the RPi3 and watch it choke.

As I am typing this message from my RasPi 2 using Firefox, I can't see the Vampire displacing the RasPi series any time soon. The Neon vector unit is probably at least as powerful as AMMX and the RasPi 2 and 3 are quad-core systems which exposes the weaknesses of AmigaOS being a single-threaded OS. The only advantage that the 68080 has over the ARM is that ARM is a RISC architecture and is weak per-clock compared to the CISC architecture of the 68080. That's why my 900 MHz RasPi 2 is not as powerful single-threaded as the Vampire.

What will make the most difference for the Vampire will be when the documentation is published for the new opcodes which is set to coincide with the release of AMMX2. That's long overdue as far as I am concerned.

We're a community of bedroom coders and until the community gains access to the docs, it sinks into the slackness of the consumer mentality of the PC users. That's why we end up with most people posting on forums with other machines when our own browsers lack the basic capabilities to do that.

@DreamWarrior
Do you write software? If so, what languages do you write in?