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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

634.0. "68020/68881 for your Amiga" by LEDS::ACCIARDI () Wed Aug 05 1987 01:48

    There are a group of Motorola Amiga hackers who have put together
    a 68020/68881 board for the Amiga.  I don't yet know the details,
    but I read some messages on Plink from Aegis Development to the
    effect that they have been using these boards with absolutely no
    software incompatibilties.  
    
    What I dont know:
    
    *  Clock speed (7.16 or 14.32???)
    
    *  If 32-bit wide ram is used
    
    *  If the board is an internal hack, or a zorro card, or some new
       creation.

    *  Price, avialability, etc.
    
    What I do know:
    
    *  Name/Address
    
    Gemstone Group
    620 Indian Spring Lane
    Buffalo Grove, ILL 60089
    (312) 537-7405
    Contact Rob Stewart
    
    Pebber Brown of Aegis stated that these guys are incredibly cool,
    wild-eyed Amiga enthusiasts.  They will gladly discuss technical
    details with knowledgeable Amigans, which sorta counts me out.
    Pebber also stated that their Amigas were blindingly fast  with
    this upgrade board.
    
    Anyone here fired up enough to call these guys and try to get the
    details?  These guys still work full time at Moto, but are doing
    this a) cause they love Amy, and b) they might be able to make a
    living of it someday.
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634.1Faster Graphics?SSDEVO::YESSEComputing at 6200 ft.Wed Aug 05 1987 15:578
	Seeing this, & the note on Siggraph...can the 68020/68881
	effectively speed up realtime animation? Or are you limited
 	more by the fixed size of chip memory or other architectural
	restriction?

	This comes from a soon-to-be Amiga owner interested in
	very fast frame computation...

634.2It Depends....TEACH::ARTArt Baker, DC Training Center (EKO)Wed Aug 05 1987 16:4110
>	Seeing this, & the note on Siggraph...can the 68020/68881
>	effectively speed up realtime animation? 

	I've seen the bouncing ball demo running on a CSA turbo-charged
	Amiga, and it moves so fast you can't follow it !   The
	issue really is whether the graphics generation is compute-bound
	or not.  If you were just popping up IFF images or something, the
	difference might not be so noticeable.

	-Art
634.3Hey, I know where that is!!!!!!DDMAIL::ANDREWSJust living a life of illusionWed Aug 05 1987 21:297
    Being as Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights (where I work) are
    right next to each other,  I'll call them for you.  However, you
    must give me a list of questions that you want me to ask.  I don't
    know what sort of information ou want to know, and I can't see myself
    calling and asking really stupid questions.
    
    					Rob
634.4questions for Motorola AmigansNAC::VISSERThu Aug 06 1987 14:3214
    re.: .3
    Rob,
    	I'd be interested in the following:
    Are pc boards available, bare, socketed, or otherwise?
    Are shematics available?
    
    I guess the comprehensive question is, Is the design documentation
    available?  This would typically include schematics, PAL equations,
    parts list, PCB artwork, debug notes, etc.  From this database one
    could replicate the board; indeed the package might be uploadable.
    A good format for the PCB artwork might be an HPGL plot file, or
    a Gerber photoplot file; schematics in IFF, Aegis Draw, etc.
    Thanks, John
    
634.5more infoLEDS::ACCIARDISat Aug 15 1987 05:5535
    Got a bit more info on this 68020 doohickey...
    
    The guys are making a production run of boards.  They have, until
    now, made them of a onsie-twosie basis.
    
    Prices are as follows:
    
    Fully loaded board w/68020 & 68881			$775
    
    Board w/68020 only					$550
    
    Board w/o either chip				$335
    
    The board plugs into the 68000 socket via cable (surprise) but I still don't
    know if it is an internal mod or if you must run a cable from a
    Zorro slot INTO the 68000 socket.  Still don't know about schematics,
    misc widgets, etc.  I also wonder if the board would interfere with
    Insider-type boards or not.  The contact there is now Reno Pittner.
                         
    I got this info off of Plink, where it seems to be generating mucho
    interest.  If this is a reality, it could be a real cheap way to
    transform the humble Amiga into a real workstation.  Imagine the
    following:
    
    Refurbed Amiga 1000 			$450
    external floppy				$200
    Sony monitor				$500
    20 meg SCSI drive				$750
    68020/68881 upgrade				$775
    						----
				total          $2600 
    
    That's got to be the best deal on the planet, no matter how you look
    at it.
        					
634.6Tell Me Another OneDICKNS::MACDONALDWA1OMM Listening 224.28Mon Aug 17 1987 12:315
    I'll believe it when I see one installed and running in someones
    machine. (P.S. I believe it is an "insider" type board)
    
    Paul
    
634.7I saw and I believeWINERY::COLLUMMon Aug 17 1987 14:4411
    HT Electronics (Sunnyvale, CA) has an Amiga 500 with a 68020/68881
    board internal. The sales rep at the time said it fit in the 68000
    cpu socket (i'm going back when someone technical is there). He
    also said that it was NOT Amiga 1000 compatible. What would there
    be about the 500 architecture that would allow this while not on
    the 1000?  The board was $800 list price. There was a noticeable
    difference in speed. 
    
    				
    						Jim
    
634.8Whats so hard to believe?LEDS::ACCIARDIMon Aug 17 1987 17:149
    Re: .6
    
    Boy, are you a skeptic Paul.  What's so hard to believe about running
    a 68020/68881 inside of a 1000?  Aegis Development claims they have
    several development A1000s all running the Gemstone board (it's
    actually called Sapphire).  Unless they have a prior record of outright
    lies, I see no reason not to believe them.
    
    
634.9Gemstone's FlyerNAC::PLOUFFThu Sep 03 1987 17:1437
	    		The Gemstone Group, Inc.
 	   		------------------------
    
  	  	Presents...
   	 			Sapphire (tm)
    
    	Available now!!
    
    	Options				Suggested Retail
    	   C	Complete board		   $995.00
    	   B	Without 68881		   $749.00
    	   A	Without 68020/68881	   $449.00
    
    [Picture showing the board mounted in an Amiga.  Contains 68020,
    68881, 4 control chips, adapter plug going to Amiga 68000 socket.
    No ribbon cable visible.  Dimensions about 4 x 5 in. ]
    
    68020/68000 benchmark tests show up to a 40% speed improvement.
    Use of the 68881 floating point coprocessor can improve floating
    point performance by a factor of 10 or more.  68020 and 68881 locations
    are socketed for ease of installation.
    
    V1.2 Kickstart and Workbench required.*
    
    		The Gemstone Group, Inc.
    		620 Indian Spring Lane
    		Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
    
    		Allow 2 to 4 weeks for delivery.
    
    * V1.1 supported by using "Decigel" public domain program.
    
    ====================================================================
    [Comment:  Wholesale price is about 75% of retail.  Somebody (not
    me) might consider organizing a group purchase.  The flyer makes
    no mention of software.  What compilers are out there to generate
    68881 instructions?]