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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

What's the Purpose of All the Vampire/Apollo Sites

P-O Yliniemi

Posts 11
31 Dec 2022 12:55


What's the purpose of all the different Apollo-owned Vampire sites ?

apollo-core.com is the most obvious one, but also contains information (old/incorrect) that's duplicated on other places.
For instance, the "downloads" section that contains the cores and utilities, but not links to ApolloOS images, which is to be found on:

apollo-computer.com, under support/downloads the cores and utilities are there again, but in different versions. Some utilities are there and some (from the first site) are missing.
BTW, the "ApolloMonitor" (CPU monitor) application must be the most efficient application in the history.. The downloaded file is 0 (zero) bytes large, even withe the zip file header overhead.

Also, there was a Wiki until it was deleted/disabled.
https://wiki.apollo-accelerators.com/doku.php/vampire:accelerator_core_updates
At the time the wiki was destroyed, there were promises about a new wiki, so I guess that is what currently is on apollo-accelerators.com

For documentation, there is not much except from the how-to-plug-it-in guide. I can probably just figure it out anyway, but how about newcomers ?

When they get their V4-variant, they get the how-to-plug-it-in guide and a some (possibly old) version of the core and ApolloOS pre-installed. When it's time to update ApolloOS, it's done by just rewriting the content to the CF-card... at least until it requires a core update.

My V4SA has been resting for a while now, and it's time to update both the core and ApolloOS (or use the Bootloader to make it possible to switch). Which core is the correct one to use for R9.2, and should the core be updated (from some unknown version) to 8889-R9, 8949, or 9128B before or after the CF is loaded with the new image ?



David S

Posts 1
01 Jan 2023 01:14


I'm in the same boat. Returning Apollo V-4 SA owner. My machine has ApolloOS 7.3, with whatever core was current about a year ago. I'm rather confused that there are two sites, which offer different core and OS versions.

The apollo-core download page says to replace VampireMap with ApolloMap before installing a new FPGA Core, and I see the AolloMap file link, but but there's no info on how to do that.




Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6197
01 Jan 2023 10:11


David S wrote:

I'm in the same boat. Returning Apollo V-4 SA owner. My machine has ApolloOS 7.3, with whatever core was current about a year ago. I'm rather confused that there are two sites, which offer different core and OS versions.

 
Right now we are in process of "testing" our new XMAS update release.
 
This XMAS release is ApolloOS 9.2 combined with Cores numbering version above nine thousand.
 
This release sports a number of exciting improvements:
  - much improved FAT handler and support for SDcards
  - new Zoom features, making old games looks perfect full screen
  - 16 Amiga DMA audio channel with stereo 16bit each-
    Giving Amiga the best audio capabilities
  - Improved Game compatibility
  - AGA on all systems (including Amiga 500/ Amiga 600 / Amiga 1000/ Amiga 2000)
  - Expanded Chipmemory with 6 MB Chipmemory on every Amiga model!
  - Virtual Floppy support on V4SA, this means you can "mount" an ADF or other Diskimage and boot it / play games from floppy images
  - Real Floppy support on Accelerators - even with expanded Chipmemory
  - Support for using both IDE ports on A600 and A1200.
 
 
As you see the number of improvements are huge.
 
Right now this XMAS release is still in BETA status.
The testing of it discussed on our very good visited Discord live support channel and is available for download on the Apollo-Core website. When this testing its fully done it finished and the release is not Beta anymore then it will be put online on Apollo-Computer
 
 
The Apollo-Core website main focus is provide for developers and coders.
You get here information about OCS/ECS/AGA/SAGA Amiga registers.
You will find on Apollo-Core information to learn use Amiga OS command line tools.
You will find coding documentation, and coding examples helping you to become a good Amiga coder. You can learn how to program Amiga demos, how to play music, how to use old and existing new Amgia chipset features. You can learn how to code 3D demos, how to play 16 channel Amiga music, even how to develop an Amiga game.
And you can also get early access to beta cores on Apollo-Core
 
 
The focus of Apollo-Computer is provide more general information to main users, like information about the Apollo-Team, information about the different card models, the option for you to purchase the new cards, and it provides downloads of the stable releases. Main focus is here is basic users support like information on how to install other Kickstarts, how to format drives and so one.




P-O Yliniemi

Posts 11
01 Jan 2023 14:06


David S wrote:

I'm in the same boat. Returning Apollo V-4 SA owner. My machine has ApolloOS 7.3, with whatever core was current about a year ago. I'm rather confused that there are two sites, which offer different core and OS versions.
 
  The apollo-core download page says to replace VampireMap with ApolloMap before installing a new FPGA Core, and I see the AolloMap file link, but but there's no info on how to do that.

Lessons learned from yesterday:
Core 8889-R9 is "crap" (probably not, but I managed to crash the demos and games I tested within a minute at the best/worst) in combination with ApolloOS 9.2 (both on the same download page, so it seems like these should be compatible with each other).
I ended up reflashing with the 9128B firmware from the download section on the forum-site (this site). Note to the site designer: using violet-red text on a violet background makes it not-so-readable (the other V4-variants have better color combinations).

I was on ApolloOS 7.2 (together with whatever core was current at that time) before updating. To update the core, I downloaded the three mentioned ones and the latest version of ApolloFlash (which I read somewhere would be necessary for later cores). Transferred them to the V4SA using a SD-card.

I did not replace VampireMap with ApolloMap, and did not replace any drivers (as it says one should do before updating the core). I read (again) "somewhere" that the drivers were only needed for the real AmigaOS installations. ApolloOS (9.2) should be complete with current drivers and utilities.


Bartek Kuchta

Posts 46
05 Jan 2023 14:33


Thank you for your question. As a team, we have been striving for years to create a unified website for the convenience of our users. Unfortunately, I do not have direct control over the decisions made in this regard. My dream is to create a single site with a single download location, making it easy for our customers to use our services.

There are already many ideas for improving the website, but ultimately I need to ask for approval. I try to agree on many things and hope that my suggestions will be taken into account more often. I am convinced that if I had more influence on the decisions made, I could significantly contribute to the development and success of our project. People in the team have the necessary skills and desire to bring about positive change, so I hope that in the near future, as team members, we will be able to participate more in this process.

I would like to emphasise that the preparation of the Wiki is also in our plans. Unfortunately, our duties and time constraints sometimes prevent us from completing this project quickly. I have no doubt that with our joint work on the website and with the right tools, users will be more and more satisfied.

I am pleased that our users are involved in the development of our site. I am open to suggestions and what we could do to improve our site:)


Darren Eveland

Posts 96
05 Jan 2023 18:49


Bartek Kuchta wrote:

  Thank you for your question. As a team, we have been striving for years to create a unified website for the convenience of our users. Unfortunately, I do not have direct control over the decisions made in this regard. My dream is to create a single site with a single download location, making it easy for our customers to use our services.
 
  There are already many ideas for improving the website, but ultimately I need to ask for approval. I try to agree on many things and hope that my suggestions will be taken into account more often. I am convinced that if I had more influence on the decisions made, I could significantly contribute to the development and success of our project. People in the team have the necessary skills and desire to bring about positive change, so I hope that in the near future, as team members, we will be able to participate more in this process.
 
  I would like to emphasise that the preparation of the Wiki is also in our plans. Unfortunately, our duties and time constraints sometimes prevent us from completing this project quickly. I have no doubt that with our joint work on the website and with the right tools, users will be more and more satisfied.
 
  I am pleased that our users are involved in the development of our site. I am open to suggestions and what we could do to improve our site:)
 

 
  The old wiki would be nice to be kept online as an historic site.  I really hate when companies remove support information about discontinued products.  As Amiga users we are keeping our hardware for decades and I expect to keep my V2 Vampires for a long time, so it would be nice to have access to the old articles on the wiki.

For example on the compatibility page on the old wiki there is lots of information there which is interesting/useful.  I did not even know my V2 1200 would support AKIKO routines for example.  I am not sure where I would find that information now.  I do not even know if the later cores still have some of these features described.
 

posts 6