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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Vampire Story (Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian Only!)

Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
02 Aug 2017 20:41


Article name: Amiga Has Revamped (BSC - Amiga se Povampirila!)
Subtitle: Vampire 500/600 & HC508 Amiga Accellerators
Author: Zarko Zivanov with aid of Danilo Lisinac

Published in oldest computer mag inna Serbia/Yugoslavia
  "World of computers" (Svet kompjutera) 08/17
  -------
  3 pages
 
  As PDF
  https://mega.nz/#!Ed4iVbpI!BiqmRU7TIiEdMp5FNBa8anugmcq_QFeOnNwdyQXNQcg
 
  Bad Google Translate
  https://mega.nz/#!VVZURQbA!kiweHbkEPTt4dd7S2NqPi8AnZRD1sHkyOEPUzAj-omM
 
  Pon FB Danilo Lisinac
 
  EXTERNAL LINK 
  EXTERNAL LINK 
  EXTERNAL LINK


David Wright

Posts 373
02 Aug 2017 21:10


Thanks for that, interesting read.
I do wish success and prosperity for those, especially Igor and Gunnar, who have invested so much blood, sweat and tears into this.



Andy Hearn

Posts 374
04 Aug 2017 14:53


Agreed. everyone that has been involved, and has had to put up with the nay say'ers, the abuse, the unwarrented threats and the tears, needs putting into the amiga hall of fame for just sticking it out and getting a product out there.


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
04 Aug 2017 23:27


Andy Hearn wrote:

  Agreed. everyone that has been involved, and has had to put up with the nay say'ers, the abuse, the unwarrented threats and the tears, needs putting into the amiga hall of fame for just sticking it out and getting a product out there.
 

 
  Yup. Would love to see story published in proper English to the world also. Or the knowledge will remain "Serbocentric" or "Balkanocentric"/"Yugoslavocentric"/"locked inna SouthEast Europe" :-)

Current "Google Translated" from Serbian version is a mess. Improve, enhance ... :-)
--------------------
In early 2011, a man named Igor Majstorovic (masters) began one of the most popular retro
theme on local forums, "My accelerators for the Amiga 600 computer". In his initial post
describing his plans for the new Amiga accelerator based on FPGA (Field-programmable gate
array), which is supposed to be better than anything previously made, with evidence-based
simulations and without real hardware.
The initial motivation was to make inexpensive accelerator, the use of new technologies and
with the price of 5-10 times smaller than competing. It is this last the masters resulted in an
unfavorable light, because it is difficult there interlocutors from the Amiga community who were
willing to share knowledge of the hardware details, as most still have people been involved in
the production of expensive accelerators based on the ideas of pre 20 and more years. Since
he was a relative novice in the world of electronics, many of the Amiga community are openly
skeptical of it that from this to be anything more than unfeasible ideas, with the exception of a
few individuals and society from the domestic forum who have encouraged and helped when he
knew how.
As a true descendant of people from ex-Yugoslavia area, the Masters has pushed the good old
defiance and after several months of digging through old forums and collecting bits of
information here and there, at the end of 2011, appeared a post with a goon at a time 600 (that
is called accelerator) panel in which winning published that glows one control diode board.
Again, this success is passed with ridicule by experienced foreign Amiga hardveraša ( "watch
out, he turned on the diode!"), But what they did not realize was that it was practically test the
basic hardware functionality and confirmation of correct generating basic signals. Shortly after
this started with customizing an existing open source code to emulation MC68000 processor
(TG68) for FPGA, which began work on the main part of the accelerator. It should be noted that
the FPGA implementation is not a software emulation of 68000 processor, but it is practically his
new compatible hardware implementation. Technically the bunch FPGA logic circuits whose
connections can be defined from the outside, which is used to realize the functionality of some
parts of the processor such as registers, arithmetic logic unit, control logic, and so on.
After several ups and downs, end of 2012 brought the first images of the accelerator operation.
The initial rate was twice slower than the original processor, but as soon as the obtained full
functionality, we started with optimizations and two months later the accelerator was 3 times
faster. That's about was the moment when those who were initially ridiculed started in open
contempt and sabotage the project because it did not even think that the plain defiance
jeopardize sell their overvalued hardware.
In mid-2013, and initiated the vampire and 500 project, variant accelerator for Amiga 500 and
600 Vampire overtaking the 25MHz 68030 and approaches the speed of 68040 processor. That
same year begins and cooperation with Apollo team and that's what made a turning point in the
whole story because the work on the accelerator with one person switched to these people.
Apollo team continued the development of more or less collapsed further project, trying to
Motorola processors implemented in FPGA variants. What they need is the hardware on which
they could try out their ideas and there are Vampire 600 proved to be the ideal platform.
Masters they sent several copies of the accelerator and thus began cooperation which proved to
be more than successful.
A team working on Vampire accelerators today has about 15 members. As far as the hardware
side, or design themselves cards, the Masters is still one of the key people, and at one time was
involved and Brian Robotham, Amiga users known as kipper2k, author of many affordable
Amiga supplements. The main story about the development of the processor water Gunnar von
Boehn (BigGun) and Christoph Hoehne (ceiach), who are on the team more or less from
scratch. Under their leadership, the processor has gone a long way from barely parry
performance from 68040 to today's version, which is called 68080, and that goes far beyond any
Motorola 68k processor to the speed, and the instruction set and internal organization. Namely,
when the goal is achieved to make the fastest version compatible Motorola 68K processors, the
question why just keep at it. In the last 30 years the x86 world is the expansion of its video
instruction set many concepts that were initially developed for the former supercomputers and
one of the most important was the introduction of the first vector commands for acceleration of
work with multimedia data, the former MMX, SSE and today's set of commands. Following the
example of this, 68,080 got AMMX set of commands, to the Amiga could qualify for easier
release of video and audio materials. I 68080 processor belongs to the group Super Scalar
processors (allows execution of multiple commands in parallel in one cycle) and contains new
much faster memory controller. With all the new things that are being developed, a significant
part of the work performed by the people who tested the new version of the processor, and here
again we have one of our - Danilo Lisinac, who is in charge of testing and as he says, "that
breaks something." Danilo is a person who is most responsible as the Vampire cards odrađena
Electromagnetic Conformity testing required for CE certification.
Hardware
First Vampire card was made for Amiga 600, while today there are two versions, Vampire 600
V2 for the Amiga 600 and Vampire 500 V2 + for the Amiga 500. Internally, both cards are very
similar and the main difference is in physical appearance and how to connect with the Amiga.
Current publicly available version of the firmware (or processors) for both cards is GOLD2
(V.3686 of 23.01.2017.). Both variants on it with Altera Cyclone 3 FPGA chip within which the I
68 080 processor, and selection control logic, digital video output, microSD card slot, a JTAG
port and 128MB of RAM. Vampire 500 variant has on himself and 44-pin IDE port, to the Amiga
500 had access to the data memory, while Vampire 600 variant relies on the built-in IDE
controller in the Amiga 600. Otherwise, as far as the mass memory is concerned, today the
Amigas generally do not use traditional hard drives, their roles are assumed CF cards, SD cards
in recent times m-SATA SSD drives, all three variants in combination with the appropriate IDE
adapter.
Digital video output is something that today's customers Amiga computers allow easy
connection to existing monitors or TVs. This video output is now reserved for games and
software that they know to take advantage of graphics driven by a ray compatible drivers (such
driver, SAGA, must be installed on Amugo before the digital video output at all can use). For
games that use direct access to the original Amiga hardware for now must use the Amiga RGB
output, but are already working on resolving this problem.
As part of the installation SAGA driver is installed and the driver of the microSD connector
allowing Amiga gets the possibility of using another "hard disk". This disc has not bootable, and
the Amiga system can not boot from it, but the elimination of the lack of plans for one of the next
revision of the firmware card. For those who do not need an SD card, this connector can be
connected Arduino SPI Ethernet adapter, which is supported by SDnet SAGA driver. Speed is
not a champion, but is faster than currently available solutions that rely on the parallel or serial
port.
Speaking of the latest versions available firmware, an update can be for some time do off the
Amiga, removing the file from the Apollo site and its launching on the Amiga. Another way is by
using a special device (USB BLASTER) that the card connects via JTAG connector and it
mostly benefits the development team.
software
For the Amiga is still long running WHDLoad project with the aim of Amiga games and demos
that are designed to work only with floppy adjust starting from the hard drive and now a huge
number of games and demos has its own version of WHDLoad. What is significant for this
project is that the games and demos further adapted to be executed and later Motorola
processors (040,060), which are automatically become compatible with the execution on
Vampire cards. Since not all games have this treatment, some continue to be run from a floppy
disk, but no there is no problem because Vampire works in that mode. As there is still a number
of games that is problematic to run if the processor is faster than the standard Amiga, Vampire
own and Turtle mode in which the speed of the accelerator stew and where he practically acts
as a standard 68000 processor on the 7MHz. By the way, how are correct 3.5 DD floppy
something that is increasingly difficult to find, and there are solutions, from HxC emulator to
Chinese GOTEK's, but about maybe some other time.
The emergence of vampires is encourage more developers to try to adapt some Amiga games
that were previously unimaginable on 68k platform. No particular order, among the new titles
are classified Mini Metal Slug, Cannonball (Enhanced Outrun), Rick Dangerous Enhanced,
Zelda - Return of the Hylian Enhanced Vampire Edition, OpenTyrian, OpenBor (Beats of Rage).
In addition to new games, accelerated Amiga is now a lot more ready for some old that run
through the emulator. ScummVM and MAME now quite nice work, while the launch of Fusion or
ShapeShifter-and gets the fastest Macintosh with a 68k processor. Macintosh emulator is
significant and because of this computer issued to some of the games that unfortunately never
appeared on the Amiga, and have now become fully playable: SimCity, Warcraft, Warcraft 2,
Duke Nukem 3D, Heart Of China, Abuse, Indiana Jones, Monkey Island 1 and 2, Heroes of
Might and Magic 2, King's Quest subsequent sequels, Marathon and many others. Also, in the
same way are now available and Photoshop 4, 6 Illustrator, Painter 4, Word 6, WordPerfect and
other quality programs issue for Macintosh. The emergence of vampires is encouraged and
accelerated development EmuTOS program, which is practically an emulator Atari ST
computers for the Amiga. On EmuTOS can be installed FreeMiNT operating system, which is
one of the standard that are used to stronger Atari computers of that time (TT and Falcon),
which gives access to many applications written for the then angry competitor.
3D games that appeared on the Amiga 90's, when the platform was beginning to set, can now
hurry in all its glory and in high resolutions in which hardly anyone could to try them at that time:
Alien Breed 3D 1:02, breathless, Trapped 2, Gloom Deluxe, Fears, Genetic Species and others,
but also have become a lot igrivije and PC games that are open sopurce Engine releases that
are portivane on the Amiga: Duke Nukem 3D, Doom 1 and 2, Descent, Hexen, Heretic Quake 1
and 2.
Although most people Amiga remembers the games that are played, one part of the user is
extensively used by many programs designed to work with graphics or sound. Most of those
who use the standard Amiga library can be run at a higher resolution via a digital video output. It
was developed and a new version of Riva player that uses AMMX set of commands for smooth
presentation of video and audio files. For those who would deal with programming, expanded
the villages Amiga assembler to support the new features 68,080 processors, while the
DEVPAC added a set of macros for the same purpose. For those who assembler is not the
strongest side, a man under the pseudonym ALB42 is included in the restart 68k ports
FreePascal compiler for the Amiga, with all libraries that can be used to create a GUI program.
AROS project (Amiga Research Operating System), which deals with the reimplementation of
the Amiga OS for x86 platform has recently revived its 68k version, and this is another option
that owners Vampire card can to try. In addition to the driver to be installed, the vampire is made
and MiniMoni, a program that allows monitoring of basic parameters of work (CPU load, current
clock), but also allows the inclusion or exclusion of Turtle mode, BlitSync mode and Super
Scalar processors possibilities.
Plans for the future
So far described represents the opportunities offered by Vampire with the current publicly
available version of the firmware. This however is not the end, because the work on it does not
stop, what more is expected out GOLD3 versions that should bring some very interesting
novelty. The most important is the implementation of the AGA graphics, thus the poor Amiga
500 and 600 get the ability to run games written for the Amiga 1200, while the incidental benefit
to be and that will be the standard Amiga resolutions can display via a digital video output.
Furthermore, the expected integration of sound into digital output which will connect with today's
TVs and monitors to be rounded up. The plan is also the possibility of extending chip RAM to up
to 4MB, while still continuing development 68,080 (recently supports hyper-threading), SD
driver, RTG drivers and other system components. On the hardware side, is currently working
on the development of the Vampire 1200 accelerators, as well as the vampire who would be a
standalone Amiga compatible computer. The forums being discussed about the implementation
of the FPU and MMU coprocessors, scanline emulation of the original Amiga resolution via a
digital video output, a significant acceleration of work with internal IDE controller in the Amiga
600 (FAST-IDE A600), the ability to add network / wifi card and many other topics .
competition
On waiting lists to buy Vampire Karic is currently over 2,000 people, although it is expected that
production on many relatively quickly processed all waiting. For those who are eager to again
play with the Amiga, there are several other products that target a similar market segment.
AmigaKit, for example, offers new ACA 1230 sentences for the Amiga 1200, ACA 630 for the
Amiga 600 and ACA500Plus for Amiga 500. Another interesting possibility for the Amiga 500,
especially for people from Serbia, the HC508 accelerator that is similar to the first Vampire
cards, originated in this region, and the author of which is Viktor Kečkeš. The card contains the
68000 processor to 50MHz, 8MB FastRAM, IDE 40-pin connector, and CF cards. Viktor is a
card written by the couple konfigracionih programs to individual possibilities cards can turn on or
off and the card itself achieves a nice acceleration problem Amiga 500 titles, type Elite Frontier
and the like, while the CF card and 8MB of memory provide a good basis for the use of ECS
WHDLoad title .
All in all, the Amiga was the last year or two completely povampirila (pun intended), to the
delight of those who continue to use, including the author of the text, which would like to thank
Master and Danilo on the Transfer of Vampire 500 and 600 cards and Victor on Transfer of
HC508 cards.
Useful links
EXTERNAL LINK  CLICK HERE  EXTERNAL LINK  EXTERNAL LINK


David Wright

Posts 373
05 Aug 2017 02:00


Does his name translate to The Masters? Otherwise, or even still, his name should be the same.


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
05 Aug 2017 02:02


David Wright wrote:

  Does his name translate to The Masters? Otherwise, or even still, his name should be the same.
 

 
  Google translate is dumb. At that place is MAJSTA! Its nice nickname.
 
  However Igors last name MAJSTOROVIC indicates in older Serbian folk tradition that he comes from craftsmens guild family (that they are good at handcrafted works). (Serb shout IGORE MAJSTORE!)


David Wright

Posts 373
05 Aug 2017 02:41


We should be happy what we get from google. Before that, not much at our disposal.

It helps more than it hinders with my learning of german.


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
05 Aug 2017 04:23


David Wright wrote:

We should be happy what we get from google. Before that, not much at our disposal.

BSH speakers with knowledge of proper English can wastly improve it, and there are new layers of story to add, since this one is "until v4".

I ll do my best to do some major corrections (untranslated words, words wronly translated too literally etc.) in next 10 days.


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
24 Aug 2017 22:21


David Wright wrote:

  We should be happy what we get from google. Before that, not much at our disposal.
   
    It helps more than it hinders with my learning of german.
 

 
  Here is improved English translation, needs additional work
 
  EXTERNAL LINK   
By Žarko Živanov & Danilo Lisinac, engl. correction Vojin Vidanović
Source: „Svet kompjutera“ No. 7/2017 p. 29-31 ISBN 0352-5031=Svet Kompjutera
Musical dedication: Earl 16 - Free The World, Hornsman Coyote & St.Shevqet & Shazalakazoo - Ava Kari Shazalakazoo - Zajon za preporod Srbije

Vampire 500/600 and HC508 Amiga Accelerators
REVAMPED „FRIEND“ (AMIGA)

In early 2011, a man named Igor Majstorović (Majsta) opened one of the most popular themes on local retro forums, "My accelerators for the Amiga 600 computer". In his initial post, he described his plans for the new Amiga accelerator based on FPGA (Field-programmable gate array) chip. Based on initial software simulations, without any real hardware to test on, accelerator was supposed to be better than anything previously made.
The initial motivation was to make inexpensive accelerator, using new technologies but that also ends 5-10 times cheaper than competition. Final goal has brought Majsta to a ackward position, because is was difficult to find associates at the Amiga community who were willing to share knowledge of the hardware details, as most knowledgable people are still involved in the production of expensive accelerators based on the ideas 20 and more years old. Since he was a relative novice in the world of electronics, many of the Amiga community members were openly skeptical of that being anything more than unfeasible idea. Couple of exception(al)s and few individuals from the local forums have encouraged and helped to the best of their ablities.
As a true descendant of people from ex-Yugoslavia, the Majsta was pushed by the good old defiance (Serb. Inat) and after several months of digging through old forums and gathering bits and peieces of knowledge, at the end of 2011 there was a success - post with a picture of a board titled „Vampire 600“ (the name of the accellerator board, a pun on idea it revampes the Amiga) in which it was only control diode glowing on board. Again, this success was greeted with ridicule by experienced foreign Amiga hardware boys ("watch out, he turned on the diode!"), but what they did not realize was that it was practical test of the basic hardware functionality and confirmation of correct generation of basic signals.
Shortly after a customization of an existing open source emulation of MC68000 processor (TG68) for FPGA started, which marked beginning of work on the main parts of the accelerator. It should be noted that the FPGA is not a software emulation of 68000 processor, but it is practically new compatible hardware implementation. Technically the FPGA is bunch of logic circuits whose connections can be defined externally, which is used to implement the functionality of some parts of the processor such as registers, arithmetic logic unit, control logic etc.
After several „ups and downs“, end of 2012 brought the first videos of the accelerator in operation. The initial speed was twice slower than the original processor, but as soon as the full functionality was reached, optimizations started, and two months later the accelerator was 3 times faster. That's about the moment when those who were initially ridiculing the idea started to openly contempt and sabotage the project, because they did not even think that the plain defiance could jeopardize sales of their „prices blown out of proportion“ hardware.
In mid-2013, Vampire 500 project was initiated, a variant of same accelerator, but for Amiga 500 while 600 Vampire is optimized to be faster then the 68030 25MHz and approached the speed of 68040 processor. That very same year cooperation with Apollo team begins and that's what was a turning point in the whole story because the work on the accelerator from „one person army“ has been turned to a team effort.
Apollo team continued the development of more or less collapsed Natami project, a nice try to make a FPGA based implementation of Motorola processors. What they needed was the hardware to try out their ideas and there Vampire 600 has proved to be the ideal platform. Majsta has sent several accelerators and it has started cooperation that has proven to be very sucessful up to this very day.
A team working on Vampire accelerators today has about 15 members. On the hardware front of designing the cards, Majsta is still one of the key people, and a long time involved „honorary citizen“ was Brian Robotham, (as Amiga user, known as kipper2k), author of many affordable Amiga expansions.
The main development of the processor is lead by Gunnar von Boehn (BigGun) and Christoph Hoehne (ceiach), who are on the Apollo team, more or less, from its humble beginnings. Under their leadership, the processor has gone a long way from performance barely on par with 68040, up to today's version, which is called 68080, and that goes far beyond any Motorola 68k processor, in terms of speed, the instruction set and internal organization. Namely, when the goal of making the fastest version compatible Motorola 68K family was archieved, question was „why just keep at it (when one can go further)?“. In the last 30 years the x86 world saw the expansion of its instruction set with many concepts that were initially developed for the former supercomputers,  and one of the most important was the introduction of the first vector commands for acceleration of  multimedia data, known as MMX/SSE. Following the example, 68080 got AMMX set of instructions, so the Amiga could qualify for smoother playback of video and audio materials. 68080 processor belongs to the group Super Scalar processors (allowing execution of multiple commands in parallel during single CPU cycle) and contains newer and much faster memory controller (DDR3 in new Vampire V4 allowing 1GB/s). With all the new standards that are being developed, a significant part of the work is performed by the people who test the new versions of the Apollo core (processor and chipset), and here again we have one of „ours“ - Danilo Lisinac, a testing expert and as he says, "he is charge of that something gets broken". Danilo is a most responsible for Vampire cards Electromagnetic Conformity testing required for CE certification.
 
Hardware

As we know by now, first Vampire card was made for Amiga 600, while today there are two versions, Vampire 600 V2 for the Amiga 600 and Vampire 500 V2 + for the Amiga 500. Internally, both cards are very similar, with only difference in physical appearance and connector to the Amiga. Current publicly available version of the firmware (actually FPGA core update) for both cards is GOLD2 (V.3686 of 23.01.2017.). Versions since GOLD 2.7 require registration. Both designs share same Altera Cyclone 3 FPGA chip (68 080 processor), DIGITAL-VIDEO digital video output, microSD card slot, a JTAG port and 128MB of FastRAM. Vampire 500 V2 variant has an 44-pin IDE port, so every Amiga 500 had access to hard drives and CD/DVD-ROMs, while Vampire 600 variant relies on the existing IDE IDE controller in the Amiga 600, while speeding its data transfers. When mass memory is concerned, today Amigas (and Vampires) generally do not use traditional hard drives, but CF cards, SD cards and even m-SATA SSD drives, all three variants in combination with the appropriate IDE adapter.
Digital video output is something that enables contemporary Amiga users easy connection to existing monitors or TVs. Currently DIGITAL-VIDEO video output is reserved for games and software that use Retangerable Graphics (a SAGA driver must be installed on Amiga before the digital video output can be used). For games that use direct access to the original Amiga hardware chipset an Amiga RGB must be used (second monitor or older TV), but the Apollo team is already working on resolving this problem (by integrating all audio and video outpout to DIGITAL-VIDEO since comig core v3).
As part of the installation of SAGA drivers microSD comes alive allowing Amiga to use of new "hard disk". This disc is not auto bootable, but the elimination of this problem will also come in one of next revisions of the firmware card (meanwhile there is VampireBoot tool). For those who do not need SD card as storage, it can be used for Ethernet (Its called SDNet, its strange but it works). Speed is not a ideal, but is in fact is faster than currently available solutions that rely on the parallel or serial ports of Amigas.
Speaking of the latest versions of Apollo firmware („Vampire core“, example core 6 update 2016), it can be updated from AmigaOS after being downloaded (no complicated flash procedures), but newer ones require registration. Another way to flash Vampire is by using a special device (USB BLASTER) connected via JTAG connector, an option mostly used by software developers.

BENCHMARK

Tests of the current version of Vampire core, puts it far from the nearest competitor, about 2-3 times faster then 060 cards (Amiga vendors advertise Vampire v2 as 68040@200MHz or 68060@140MHz). HC508 is also keeping up well with performance corresponding to 68030 processor at 25Mhz.

COMPETITION

  Currently, on a waiting list for Vampire cards are more then 2 000 Amigans, and it is expected that new automatized production runs will make everyone waiting happy. For those impatient to play with their Amigas now, there are several similar products aiming at similar segment of market. AmigaKit offers new ACA1200 cards for Amiga1200, ACA630 for Amiga600 and ACA500+ for Amiga 500. Another interesting option for Amiga 500, especially for people from Serbia, is HC508 accellerator, made by Viktor Kečkeš. Card has 68 0000 CPU at 50Mhz, 8MB FastRAM, 40-pin IDE connector and CF card connector. Viktor has coded several configuration utilities to turn on and off certain abilities and card itself gives a great boost to problematic titles on Amiga 500, such as Frontier, while CF card and 8MB add a good basis for playing WHD Load Titles.

SOFTWARE

For a Quite long time a project designed to bring floppy games to hard drives of Amiga existed, named WHDLoad. Today signficant number of games has their „WHDLoad slaves“. What is significant for Vampire is that WHDLoad games and demos are for newer Motorola processors (040,060), automatically becoming compatible with Vampire cards. Since not really all games have their WHDLoad installs, some must be run from a floppy disk, but Vampires handles that too. As there is still a number of games that simply fail to run if the processor is faster than the standard Amiga 500/1000/2000 or 1200, Vampire introduced „Turtle mode“ in which the accelerator practically acts as a standard 68000 processor on the 7MHz. Since it has become increasingly hard to get 3.5 DD“ floppy media, there are solutions like  HxC SDCard floppy emulator and Amiga GOTEK's,.
The emergence of „Vampires“ encouraged developers to try to port some games that were previously unimaginable on 68k platform. In no particular order, among the new titles are: Mini Metal Slug, Cannonball (Enhanced Outrun), Rick Dangerous Enhanced,
Zelda - Return of the Hylian Enhanced Vampire Edition, OpenTyrian, OpenBor (Beats of Rage) ...
In addition to new games, accelerated Amiga is now a lot more ready for emulating other old machines, and accessing their software. ScummVM and MAME now work quite nice, while the via Fusion or ShapeShifter - Vampire becomes fastest Macintosh with a 68k processor (faster then famous PowerBook 190). Macintosh emulator is significant and because of this computer had some of the games that unfortunately never appeared on the Amiga, and now are fully playable: SimCity, Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Heart Of China, Abuse, Indiana Jones, Monkey Island 1 and 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 2, King's Quest subsequent sequels, Marathon and many others. Same way are now available and Photoshop 4, 6 Illustrator, Painter 4, Word 6, WordPerfect and other high quality programs published for Macintosh Classics.
The emergence of vampires has encouraged development of EmuTOS program, which practically emulates OS of Atari ST computer. EmuTOS enables installation of FreeMiNT operating system, used on high end Atari computers of that time (TT and Falcon) which gives access to many applications written for the „past angry competitor“.
3D games that appeared on the Amiga 90's, when the platform was beginning to fade, can now be played in „full glory“ and in high resolutions, impossible back in the days (we do start sound like Memberies?) Alien Breed 3D I and II, Breathless, Trapped 2, Gloom Deluxe, Fears, Genetic Species and others, but also have become a lot more playable. Open sourced PC games have also been ported to Vampized Amigas: Duke Nukem 3D, Doom 1 and 2, Descent, Hexen, Heretic Quake 1. Although most people remembers Amiga for the games they have played, part of the Amiga users have extensively used by many programs to work with graphics or sound design. Most of these can be run at a higher resolution via a digital video output. And a new version of Riva player appeared, using mentioned AMMX set of commands, allowing Amiga 600 to play videos. For those who are eager to code, Amiga assembler is expanded to support the new features of 68080 processors, while the DEVPAC added a set of macros for the same purpose. For those not familiar with assembler, ALB42 started the 68k ports FreePascal compiler for the Amiga, with all libraries needed to create a GUI program.
AROS project (Amiga Research Operating System), which is the reimplementation of the Amiga OS for x86 platform has recently revived its 68k branch, and this is another option that owners Vampire card can try. In addition to the drivers, a new monitor utility has been made, named MiniMon, a program that allows monitoring of basic parameters of work (CPU load, current clock), but also allows the inclusion or exclusion of Turtle mode, BlitSync mode and Super Scalar processors possibilities.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

So far described represents only what offered by Vampire with the current publicly available version of the firmware. This however is not the end, because the work on the Apollo core continues. GOLD3 version is expected by end of year, that should bring some very interesting abilities. The most important is the implementation of the AGA graphics, thus the poor Amigas 500 and 600 will get the ability to run games written for the Amiga 1200/4000, while the incidental benefit is will be the standard chipset Amiga resolutions displayed via a DIGITAL-VIDEO digital video output, eliminating a need for second monitor.
Furthermore, the GOLD3 should bring integration of sound into digital output which will ease the connection of Vampire systems to modern TVs, eliminating a need for separate speakers. Most interesting feature will be ability to increase Chip RAM up to 4MB (AGA max was 2MB), while there will be a continuing development of CPU 68 080 (supports hyper-threading now), SD Boot driver, RTG drivers and other system components. On the hardware side, is currently working on the development of the Vampire 1200 accelerators, as well as the Vampire standalone Amiga compatible computer.
The Vampire forums discussed about the implementation of the FPU and MMU coprocessors, scanline emulation of the original Amiga resolution via a digital video output, a significant acceleration of work with internal IDE controller in the Amiga
600 (FAST-IDE A600), the ability to add network / wifi card and many other topics

CONCLUSION

All in all, during last two years the Amiga has completely revamped, raised from grave (pun intended), to the delight of those who continue to use them, including the author of the text, which would like to thank Majsta and Danilo for Vampire 500 and 600 cards and Victor on HC508 cards.

Useful links

Accellerators website apollo-accelerators.com 

Apollo Core CLICK HERE 
Amiga Projects EXTERNAL LINK

Authors website EXTERNAL LINK

V500 premiere
EXTERNAL LINK

2 minutes Video
EXTERNAL LINK 
Dans review of V600 2016
EXTERNAL LINK 
Epsilons review
EXTERNAL LINK


Kresimir Lukin

Posts 65
25 Aug 2017 07:56


Vojin is true Amiga soldier :)
BTW, I grow up with this magazine,but Moj mikro was my favourite


Uros Vidovic

Posts 31
25 Aug 2017 08:37


Zdravo Vojin!

Great article! But there is one thing it bothers me. How can 68060@140 MHz be 2-3 times faster as 68060@100 MHz?

That should be corresced one or the other way ... ;)


Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
25 Aug 2017 08:44



Kresimir Lukin wrote:

Vojin is true Amiga soldier :)
  BTW, I grow up with this magazine,but Moj mikro was my favourite

Thanks, Jah I serve and computers get by!

Yup, me too, but after Amiga days it has become an average joe,
no more BASIC listings and special gamers editions. So nowadays I buy it just when there is something to read.

Uros Vidovic wrote:

  Zdravo Vojin!
 
  Great article! But there is one thing it bothers me. How can 68060@140 MHz be 2-3 times faster as 68060@100 MHz?
 
  That should be corresced one or the other way ... ;)
 

 
  Vozdra!

  Its ment toward 060 that used to be clocked 50-75Mhz.
 
  As well as fastest A4000/040 going on only 25Mhz.
 
  I wasnt scanning a real picture from SK, I have just put
  upfront what is advertised.
 
  Also note while 080 isnt at this time 3x 060 75Mhz it goes
  better every day, not just on pure CPU muscles - HT will bring
  snappines to drivers, V4 further cache instruction fetch speed up,
  faster DDR3 RAM increase on that front etc. So it might be better to say that feel is like x3 faster sys.
 
  However, as people decide, it will be corrected.


Kresimir Lukin

Posts 65
25 Aug 2017 09:07


Vojin Vidanovic wrote:

 
 
Kresimir Lukin wrote:

  Vojin is true Amiga soldier :)
  BTW, I grow up with this magazine,but Moj mikro was my favourite
 

 
  Thanks, Jah I serve and computers get by!
 
  Yup, me too, but after Amiga days it has become an average joe,
  no more BASIC listings and special gamers editions. So nowadays I buy it just when there is something to read.

probably you are already aware of this, but if you are not,take a look
 
EXTERNAL LINK 



Kresimir Lukin

Posts 65
25 Aug 2017 09:09


Vojin Vidanovic wrote:

 
 
Kresimir Lukin wrote:

  Vojin is true Amiga soldier :)
  BTW, I grow up with this magazine,but Moj mikro was my favourite
 

 
  Thanks, Jah I serve and computers get by!
 
  Yup, me too, but after Amiga days it has become an average joe,
  no more BASIC listings and special gamers editions. So nowadays I buy it just when there is something to read.

probably you are already aware of this, but if you are not,take a look
 
EXTERNAL LINK 



Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
25 Aug 2017 09:11


Kresimir Lukin wrote:

  probably you are already aware of this, but if you are not,take a look
 
  EXTERNAL LINK 

Thanks Kresho!

Yup, I have all AmigaStyles in paper and love the Warp.

Would love some regional e-mag to reappear! :-)


Uros Vidovic

Posts 31
25 Aug 2017 12:44


Vojin Vidanovic wrote:
  Vozdra!
 
  Its ment toward 060 that used to be clocked 50-75Mhz.
 
  As well as fastest A4000/040 going on only 25Mhz.
 
  I wasnt scanning a real picture from SK, I have just put
  upfront what is advertised.
 
  Also note while 080 isnt at this time 3x 060 75Mhz it goes
  better every day, not just on pure CPU muscles - HT will bring
  snappines to drivers, V4 further cache instruction fetch speed up,
  faster DDR3 RAM increase on that front etc. So it might be better to say that feel is like x3 faster sys.
 
  However, as people decide, it will be corrected.

Eactly. I just wanted to be more precise. Is it a faster system and not just CPU. There is also mentioned Atari system (EmuTOS/MiNT) where most common accelerator has 060@100MHz and FireBee with CFv4@264MHz.

This is great and exciting project! But standalone without applications using MMU and FPU is of no interest for me even with ASIC@1GHz+

Hatts off to Majsta and Gunnar anyway!!!


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
25 Aug 2017 13:41


Uros Vidovic wrote:
.
 
  This is great and exciting project! But standalone without applications using MMU and FPU is of no interest for me even with ASIC@1GHz+
 

From what I understand there is a fully compatible FPU in the Apollo-Core design, just concerns about it fitting in the current Cyclone III in the Vampire V2s



Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
25 Aug 2017 14:45


Uros Vidovic wrote:

    Eactly. I just wanted to be more precise. Is it a faster system and not just CPU. There is also mentioned Atari system (EmuTOS/MiNT) where most common accelerator has 060@100MHz and FireBee with CFv4@264MHz.
 

 
  Changed to (in a note, here I cannot correct anymore)
EXTERNAL LINK   
  Tests of the current version of Vampire core, puts it far from the nearest competitor, thanks to improved CPU, IDE, memory ... system feels 2-3 times faster then 060 cards (Amiga vendors advertise Vampire v2 as 68040@200MHz or 68060@140MHz). HC508 is also keeping up well with performance corresponding to 68030 processor at 25Mhz.
 
   
Uros Vidovic wrote:

    This is great and exciting project! But standalone without applications using MMU and FPU is of no interest for me even with ASIC@1GHz+
    Hatts off to Majsta and Gunnar anyway!!!
 

 
  Certainly it is. Used to have MMU less 020/28 4MB Fast 8882 at 25Mhz and having no MMU wasnt big deal. Having a FPU didnt bring much luck either. All I needed was ... faster IDE,CPU and more RAM.
 
 
Roy Gillotti wrote:

  From what I understand there is a fully compatible FPU in the Apollo-Core design, just concerns about it fitting in the current Cyclone III in the Vampire V2s
 

 
  Me too, and what I do understand is that even when implemented (v4 or beyond) these will NOT be Motorola compatibile FPU and MMU. We will need either new software or software emulation (like FEMU) that would use "our" FPU and MMU.


Uros Vidovic

Posts 31
26 Aug 2017 19:17


Vojin Vidanovic wrote:

   
Uros Vidovic wrote:

    This is great and exciting project! But standalone without applications using MMU and FPU is of no interest for me even with ASIC@1GHz+
      Hatts off to Majsta and Gunnar anyway!!!
   

   
    Certainly it is. Used to have MMU less 020/28 4MB Fast 8882 at 25Mhz and having no MMU wasnt big deal. Having a FPU didnt bring much luck either. All I needed was ... faster IDE,CPU and more RAM.

I believe you dont need MMU and FPU. But you are comming from Amiga and I from Atari community. That is the difference. Quite some our software and OS (MiNT) uses MMU and FPU.



Vojin Vidanovic

Posts 770
26 Aug 2017 19:56


Uros Vidovic wrote:

  I believe you dont need MMU and FPU. But you are comming from Amiga and I from Atari community. That is the difference. Quite some our software and OS (MiNT) uses MMU and FPU.

Linux needs it too. However that would need Apollo/Vampire to overgrow from being "new Amiga box" to a Retro 68k multi machine. I see emuTOS/FreeMINT can currently be run only under AmigaOS - there is no real emulation of Atari chips (yet). I do understand Atari(ST)s interest in Vampire, I just dont see it being there yet in many ways. Since core can be flashed only once, I doubt only large FPGAs could pull it up and much work needed, too.


posts 20