I never understood why anyone would have a 1MW beam laser equipped on an Imperial Courier. It deserves a nice white beam! Now, back to the matter at hand. This is so far the best accelerator concept I've ever seen for falcon. If it really comes as no-soldering-required plug-in board, and ideally with usable accelerated FPU, while fitting inside the original case, just wow! Marvelous achievement! Are 50MHz rated 030s and potentially 882s generally available?
I haven’t got the external FPU working just yet, so can’t comment personally, but I’m told the 40MHz ones are fairly tolerant to overclocking. The other option is to run FPU at half CPU clock. Researching this next.
Most of my non-Falcon projects are done on the STE. It has space problems, though. Take a look at my latest vid: th-cam.com/video/LUlBvfj2VgM/w-d-xo.html
Hello David! That is extremely impressive what you have done there! So piece by piece youbare replacing the core of the system. As all the Atari custom chips exist now as FPGA blocks, I am wondering about 2 things. 1.) ST vs Falcon RAM What is the reason that the ST RAM us segregated from the Falcon RAM? Is it the old ATARI MMU that is blocking Memory ectension beyond 4 MByte? Could the ATARI custom chips be extended to use the whole 32 Bit address a range of the 68030/40? I guess it would be 2.) New Build The circuit diagrams of the Falcon and ST used to be available in my ATARI days in the 1980s. Isn't the next step an ATARI ST/Falvon new-built clone with modern peripherals and HDMI graphics? The ATARI custom chips are available as FPGA and your experience with the DFB should make that possible. Is that on the cards for you? 3.l as the Byffee team will open source most of their software and a lot if their hardware couldn't that substitute the Motorola part and give us a really modern Strau experience?
Hi there, thanks for your note. The only thing being replaced, really, is the CPU. The RAM is being added too. There is no such thing as Falcon RAM. The normal RAM on the Falcon is STRAM (defined as RAM the video system and DMA chip has access too). My additional RAM is classed as TTRAM.
Fantastic work, and great follow through on the project. Is there a limiting factor to the amount of alt ram? The Expose video capture card will use all available ram to capture video. More the merrier :)
The amount is baked into the firmware, but 32, 64 and 128 variants are fairly straightforward. I haven’t looked at higher than that as prices already at 128 are probably too high. 64 seems the sweet spot at time of writing.
GR8 :) 3 questions: - is it possible to use flashed TOS with DFB1 acceleration disabled? - what is expected price? - what did You use for grabbing video output?
Hiya & thanks. 1) no, the onboard TOS is still there so that'll always be triggered when in disabled mode. It's perfectly possible to configure the CPLD to activate the external flash in the TOS ROM location when in disabled mode, but then you'd have to physically remove the TOS chip. Left as an exercise for the reader. :) 2) I'm aiming for all components bar the CPU to cost under £100. I won't be selling completed cards, it'll be down to the user to assemble it, or hopefully someone will build and retail them. 3) A cheap-arsed HDMI USB dongle from Amazon being fed with an equally cheap-arsed VGA to HDMI converter. Probably also from Amazon!
Updates in my latest video. I’m not sure if any other than the prototypes will go on sale, but everything will be available open source when it’s done.
An accelerated 68040 Amiga 1200 POINTS AND LAUGHS at Atari Falcon attempted acceleration, if Doom is anything to go by! And why is Frontier so unstable at that speed? The A1200 manages it with EASE!
Haha, ok, I know this is a troll, but here's the technicals if anyone is interested. Firstly, this is an 030 accelerator so comparing it to an 040 is of little consequence. One could compare it even more unfavourably to a CT60. Doom is an direct port from Linux using OS calls. No optimisation has been applied. See BadMood for an optimised Doom. Frontier isn't unstable at all... I've no idea what you think you're watching.
Eagle-eyed commentators may notice I goofed the memory instruction to PM-Doom so it only actually allocated 8MB. Oh well. :-)
Amazing work!!! Nice idea modding Frontier there for a frame counter too!
I never understood why anyone would have a 1MW beam laser equipped on an Imperial Courier. It deserves a nice white beam!
Now, back to the matter at hand. This is so far the best accelerator concept I've ever seen for falcon. If it really comes as no-soldering-required plug-in board, and ideally with usable accelerated FPU, while fitting inside the original case, just wow! Marvelous achievement! Are 50MHz rated 030s and potentially 882s generally available?
I haven’t got the external FPU working just yet, so can’t comment personally, but I’m told the 40MHz ones are fairly tolerant to overclocking. The other option is to run FPU at half CPU clock. Researching this next.
Wish I found your channel sooner as I love anything Atari 16 bit or 8 bit
Outstanding! I always admire people who have a will and knowledge to support Atari! Do you have any plans for STE maybe?
Most of my non-Falcon projects are done on the STE. It has space problems, though. Take a look at my latest vid:
th-cam.com/video/LUlBvfj2VgM/w-d-xo.html
Well this just looks awesome!
Amazing work BW!
Hello David!
That is extremely impressive what you have done there!
So piece by piece youbare replacing the core of the system. As all the Atari custom chips exist now as FPGA blocks, I am wondering about 2 things.
1.) ST vs Falcon RAM
What is the reason that the ST RAM us segregated from the Falcon RAM? Is it the old ATARI MMU that is blocking Memory ectension beyond 4 MByte?
Could the ATARI custom chips be extended to use the whole 32 Bit address a range of the 68030/40?
I guess it would be
2.) New Build
The circuit diagrams of the Falcon and ST used to be available in my ATARI days in the 1980s.
Isn't the next step an ATARI ST/Falvon new-built clone with modern peripherals and HDMI graphics? The ATARI custom chips are available as FPGA and your experience with the DFB should make that possible.
Is that on the cards for you?
3.l as the Byffee team will open source most of their software and a lot if their hardware couldn't that substitute the Motorola part and give us a really modern Strau experience?
Hi there, thanks for your note. The only thing being replaced, really, is the CPU. The RAM is being added too. There is no such thing as Falcon RAM. The normal RAM on the Falcon is STRAM (defined as RAM the video system and DMA chip has access too). My additional RAM is classed as TTRAM.
Fantastic work, and great follow through on the project.
Is there a limiting factor to the amount of alt ram?
The Expose video capture card will use all available ram to capture video. More the merrier :)
The amount is baked into the firmware, but 32, 64 and 128 variants are fairly straightforward. I haven’t looked at higher than that as prices already at 128 are probably too high. 64 seems the sweet spot at time of writing.
GR8 :) 3 questions:
- is it possible to use flashed TOS with DFB1 acceleration disabled?
- what is expected price?
- what did You use for grabbing video output?
Hiya & thanks.
1) no, the onboard TOS is still there so that'll always be triggered when in disabled mode. It's perfectly possible to configure the CPLD to activate the external flash in the TOS ROM location when in disabled mode, but then you'd have to physically remove the TOS chip. Left as an exercise for the reader. :)
2) I'm aiming for all components bar the CPU to cost under £100. I won't be selling completed cards, it'll be down to the user to assemble it, or hopefully someone will build and retail them.
3) A cheap-arsed HDMI USB dongle from Amazon being fed with an equally cheap-arsed VGA to HDMI converter. Probably also from Amazon!
i miss my old Falcon Wich I paid 1600$ for
Hi! Any updates on the project and when it will go for sale? Thank you!
Updates in my latest video. I’m not sure if any other than the prototypes will go on sale, but everything will be available open source when it’s done.
An accelerated 68040 Amiga 1200 POINTS AND LAUGHS at Atari Falcon attempted acceleration, if Doom is anything to go by! And why is Frontier so unstable at that speed? The A1200 manages it with EASE!
Haha, ok, I know this is a troll, but here's the technicals if anyone is interested. Firstly, this is an 030 accelerator so comparing it to an 040 is of little consequence. One could compare it even more unfavourably to a CT60. Doom is an direct port from Linux using OS calls. No optimisation has been applied. See BadMood for an optimised Doom. Frontier isn't unstable at all... I've no idea what you think you're watching.
Hmmmm