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Teaser : SAGA PLANAR AMIGA Modespage  1 2 3 4 5 

Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
17 Mar 2017 07:54


crow mohikan wrote:

Soo I see Vampire 1200 in action . Right? :)
  Now the road to Vampire4000 plz :)

This is not the V1200.

What you saw is the V600 - with some AGA features enabled inside of the SAGA core.
The AGA features in SAGA allow you to see AMIGA PLANAR PAL screens over DIGITAL-VIDEO. Also in 8 PLANES.
And they make as side effect that the A600 is identified as A1200.


Crow Mohikan

Posts 78
17 Mar 2017 12:41


eric gus wrote:

 
crow mohikan wrote:

  Soo I see Vampire 1200 in action . Right? :)
    Now the road to Vampire4000 plz :)
 

 
  Lets hope its Vampire 3000/4000 .. the 3000's get very little love and they could so desperately use what the vampire brings to the party.
 

 
  Yes you are right. vampire3000/4000...
 


Carlos Milán

Posts 95
17 Mar 2017 23:01


Such an amazing work. Maybe we can avoid any monitor switch. Question: is the AGA implemented at kickstart or does it need to load WB?


John William

Posts 563
18 Mar 2017 01:07


Samuel Crow wrote:

eric gus wrote:

  Will this work on NON AGA machines, like the A500, A600 ? or will this AGA mode not be available, and how does that fit in with the PARASITE if the host machine is only OCS/ECS..?
 

  SAGA will work on Vampires for the 600/500/1000/2000 with full capabilities including AGA when complete.  Parasaite still uses the internal chipset and therefore only scandoubles ECS/OCS.

I am serious on this..my understanding is that parasite uses the internal chipset for scandoubling ecs/oc and direct the signal through hdmi while using internal chipset, right? Is it possible there is a core that only sends aga/rtg in hdmi and leave parasite to do it's work :D so it doesn't become useless? I love using real ocs/ecs and chip ram for ocs/ecs games while extra features that is not integrated into the original chipset of Amiga 500/600 that uses vampire itself?

THAT WOULD BE SOOOOO COOL...SOOO HOT and truly fit the name of the hardware that way! Please please please consider it! Please! Aaaaaah! The thought of it gives me a huge grin on my face!



Michael R

Posts 281
18 Mar 2017 04:25


I'm new to this forum, though I have been reading posts constantly. Also, I'm very impressed by the incredible hard work that the Apollo Team has invested in the Vampire boards! I am especially impressed by these latest developments. Yes I have ordered a Vampire a500 V2+ and I'll order a Vampire a1200 as well.
 
John William, you have a very interesting point here! Perhaps it would be possible once the Apollo Core finally includes AGA support to include a software menu item to switch between Super-AGA + RTG or Parasite/Native + RTG for Workbench to enable OCS/ECS games through DIGITAL-VIDEO. That way we would be more inclined to purchase a Parasite device when available if we knew that we could continue to use it after AGA through DIGITAL-VIDEO is available. I like that idea. But it's up to the Apollo Team if feasible.


John William

Posts 563
19 Mar 2017 03:23


Michael R wrote:

I'm new to this forum, though I have been reading posts constantly. Also, I'm very impressed by the incredible hard work that the Apollo Team has invested in the Vampire boards! I am especially impressed by these latest developments. Yes I have ordered a Vampire a500 V2+ and I'll order a Vampire a1200 as well.
   
  John William, you have a very interesting point here! Perhaps it would be possible once the Apollo Core finally includes AGA support to include a software menu item to switch between Super-AGA + RTG or Parasite/Native + RTG for Workbench to enable OCS/ECS games through DIGITAL-VIDEO. That way we would be more inclined to purchase a Parasite device when available if we knew that we could continue to use it after AGA through DIGITAL-VIDEO is available. I like that idea. But it's up to the Apollo Team if feasible.

I love the idea too! Me too! Apollo team please consider it :)


Szyk Cech

Posts 191
19 Mar 2017 09:55


@John or William and @Michael R:
Apparently you don't realize that switching between Saga and OCS/ECS can be done fully automatically?!? You don't have any additional software switching...


Philippe Flype
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 299
19 Mar 2017 17:57


The work on the chipset re-integration continues,

Playing with planars :

- left is the native PAL output with workbench
- right is the vampire video output with the bat
- the mouse controls the planes slides.

EXTERNAL LINK 


John William

Posts 563
19 Mar 2017 18:24


Szyk Cech wrote:

@John or William and @Michael R:
  Apparently you don't realize that switching between Saga and OCS/ECS can be done fully automatically?!? You don't have any additional software switching...

As long as it is never changed and it stays like this giving parasite purpose forever...then I am happy! :D


Eric Gus

Posts 477
19 Mar 2017 19:51


Now I'd be happy to give up using the on-board original video/audio chips to gain things like AGA, 2MB chip ram, 16bit audio, PAL display etc on my NTSC only 512k chip ram US A500.. I can be comfortable with giving up the original chips on the motherboard if it brings me other benefits by using the FPGA instead .. the parasite is an interesting short term solution but I think the roadmap should be to offload those obsolete chips tasks to the FPGA.


Michal Warzecha

Posts 209
19 Mar 2017 21:01


Of course you're almost right. But, do You want standalone board inside Amiga? It's cool that real Amiga hardware still produce screen and audio for You. In my opinion FPGA core should give you missing AGA and more advanced video features. Amiga should still use internal hw, otherwise it will become a Vampire port connector.


Philippe Flype
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 299
19 Mar 2017 21:35


Actually, in video i posted we see well how both chipsets can live together. Vampire still use the hardware while offering new layers. FPGA can easily offers to add on top of, or to take over, a matter of good choices then.


John William

Posts 563
19 Mar 2017 22:42


Philippe Flype wrote:

Actually, in video i posted we see well how both chipsets can live together. Vampire still use the hardware while offering new layers. FPGA can easily offers to add on top of, or to take over, a matter of good choices then.

I want add on top instead of take over.


M Rickan

Posts 177
19 Mar 2017 23:09


John William wrote:

  I want add on top instead of take over.

Which is great if you have legacy hardware, but a standalone board will need to cover all of the functionality.


Eric Gus

Posts 477
20 Mar 2017 00:04


Michal Warzecha wrote:

  Of course you're almost right. But, do You want standalone board inside Amiga? It's cool that real Amiga hardware still produce screen and audio for You. In my opinion FPGA core should give you missing AGA and more advanced video features. Amiga should still use internal hw, otherwise it will become a Vampire port connector.
 

 
  I could easily give up the custom chips doing the work if it gives my NTSC ONLY (no PAL display ability)  512kb chip ram {max} A500 , PAL display modes and 2mb chip ram.. its something I could easily live with to have the FPGA completely replace the functions of the original chips if the FPGA can provide more options things the original chips are unable to perform.  I would accept this as a fair tradeoff.


Eric Gus

Posts 477
20 Mar 2017 00:11


Philippe Flype wrote:

Actually, in video i posted we see well how both chipsets can live together. Vampire still use the hardware while offering new layers. FPGA can easily offers to add on top of, or to take over, a matter of good choices then.

Ah but in that arrangement, can the Vampire enhance my 512kb chip ram limits? say provide 2mb chip.. I suspect that to accomplish that, the original custom video (and audio chips) would have to be 100% supplanted by the FPGA on th vampire (I am just guessing here) .. but I would think it would be far more beneficial to gain 2mb chip ram then hang on to having the original legacy custom chips do the actual video/audio work (presumably with the hardware limits the original machine is restricted to.. I could be wrong but I am just guessing that it would be rather difficult to say have 2mb of chip ram on the FPGA but still utilize the original graphics and audio chips on the host systems motherboard)  Many A500's, mine included, are limited to 512kb chip, and I would rather have the ability to have 2mb chip then linger to the nostalgia of having the original chips doing work if they are imposed by their original design memory limits.  (hopefully I am wrong and there is some magic trick up the vampire's sleeve that can enable 2mb chip on machines that are restricted to 512kb).


Eric Gus

Posts 477
20 Mar 2017 00:12


-- dupe post
   


John William

Posts 563
20 Mar 2017 01:44


eric gus wrote:

Philippe Flype wrote:

  Actually, in video i posted we see well how both chipsets can live together. Vampire still use the hardware while offering new layers. FPGA can easily offers to add on top of, or to take over, a matter of good choices then.
 

 
  Ah but in that arrangement, can the Vampire enhance my 512kb chip ram limits? say provide 2mb chip.. I suspect that to accomplish that, the original custom video (and audio chips) would have to be 100% supplanted by the FPGA on th vampire (I am just guessing here) .. but I would think it would be far more beneficial to gain 2mb chip ram then hang on to having the original legacy custom chips do the actual video/audio work (presumably with the hardware limits the original machine is restricted to.. I could be wrong but I am just guessing that it would be rather difficult to say have 2mb of chip ram on the FPGA but still utilize the original graphics and audio chips on the host systems motherboard)  Many A500's, mine included, are limited to 512kb chip, and I would rather have the ability to have 2mb chip then linger to the nostalgia of having the original chips doing work if they are imposed by their original design memory limits.  (hopefully I am wrong and there is some magic trick up the vampire's sleeve that can enable 2mb chip on machines that are restricted to 512kb).

I know of a very trusting guy who can make your A500 have 2 MB chip RAM easy without having to hack and slice your motherboard, wires all over the place and use megachip which conflicts with vampire and even not need to fill up the RAM chips on the motherboard for chip RAM at all. Just saying. But concerning what you are saying, yes indeed in the future that is the intention.


Eric Gus

Posts 477
20 Mar 2017 04:51


John William wrote:

  I know of a very trusting guy who can make your A500 have 2 MB chip RAM easy without having to hack and slice your motherboard, wires all over the place and use megachip which conflicts with vampire and even not need to fill up the RAM chips on the motherboard for chip RAM at all. Just saying. But concerning what you are saying, yes indeed in the future that is the intention.

Not that I would ever hack up my A500 ..but that still does not solve the PAL/NTSC issue.. for my North american A500 unit, i'd have to get the appropriate Agnus then do some kind of hackery with the ntsc/pal pin to be able to switch as desired between NTSC and PAL .. any way you put it, its ugly and not simple (ergo can be done in 5 mins by non technical people without additional add ons and other wonky and unstable plugin/socket insert boards or other woky wedge in devices ) .. whereas offloading the custom chip tasks to the vampires FPGA makes all that unnecessary.  I "get" that people have a strong nostalgia to using the custom chips (audio/video) to do their tasks and have strong feelings about that, I do think there is a considerable benefit to moving their functions .. once onboard the FPGA they can be modified and improved and expanded and altered beyond what Commodore originally equipped the machine with, and there is far more to gain than to lose. If you are going thru the effort to purchase and install something like the Vampire, then why stop at the replacing the functions custom chips and hamstring the Vampire's full potential? Like buying a Ferrari and putting go cart wheels on it..


Thierry Atheist

Posts 644
20 Mar 2017 05:36


I think....

That the VAMPIRE (Apollo Core) FPGA 68080 is going to (eventually) output audio through the DIGITAL-VIDEO.

- Full 16 bit. (I'm not sure if either Vampire (A600/A500) board has an audio out jack/socket?)
- 64 Megs ChipRAM and 64 Megs FastRAM on the Vampire itself

supporting
- OCS, ECS, AGA (using turtle mode, near original speed)
- S-AGA
- RTG
- One (or two? Is it possible?) 32 (64?) bit blitters
- same for copper

mostly, but not completely, correct

Can the video generated by the Vampire be sent into the video out on the Amiga motherboard? I don't know.

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