A standalone system is very much planned but this will use the Apollo core in an FPGA just as the current accelerators do.
I don't know to what degree microcode on Intel CPUs can be modified, it's an interesting idea but could end up being a distraction if the Apollo team themselves were to start looking at it when there's still so much to do with the FPGA (and maybe in the future moving to creating their own ASIC). If an expert in the field was to look at it and if doable take it on then great
The problem with graphics cards like the GTX1080 Vulcan is that the GPUs are usually closed so it's very difficult if not impossible to write good drivers for them on another architecture. Drivers are one of the biggest issues with the new hardware even when it's fully documented due to the small number of developers able and willing to devote the time required for little or no financial reward.
I guess you are Right...
But wouldnt the biggest problems be to find someone with expert knowledge of intel microcode and
To find someone with the time to write a generic linux driver wrapper for various other operating systems like amigaOS etc ?
Linux has drivers for almost anything incl gtx1080
the vulkan api would still need to be added to the target os aswell though...
I just cant help but dream of how nice an 68k intel CPU could be
I am looking very much forward to the FPGA based stand alone solutions though .. Since dispensing with the ancient amiga motherboards All together most likely Will translate to increased performance compared to the current vampires