Closed juanpc2018 closed 12 months ago
captain-amygdala
commented
1 year ago Yes, the reason is simple :) The current PiStorm hardware addresses a 68000 bus interface only. But the A4000 has a 68020/68030 bus interface. 68000 is 16bit, 68020+ is 32bit. The upcoming PiStorm32 has a compatible bus interface for 32bit Amigas (A1200,CD32,A4000,A3000)
sorlib
commented
12 months ago Any word on the PiStorm32 for the A4000 and who manages this project? Thanks Sorli...
captain-amygdala
commented
12 months ago Yes, the reason is simple :) I have not found time yet . I close the issue again. When I do a A3000/A4000 I will publish it.
Russmrh
commented
3 months ago how can we better support you in making a a4000 work?
sorlib
commented
3 months ago Great question, but I'm guessing there isn't a market for A4000 PiStorms? Maybe one day and who would've thunk the A1200 PiStorm would have ever made landing! 😀
Keep up the great work! Sorli...
a1exh
commented
3 months ago I'm sure there is a market. Lots and lots of ReAmiga4000 and AA3000++ have been made recently to increase the pool size. Yes there are more 060 accelerators for the A3000/A4000 platform (Legacy + 040->060 adapters + A3660 + BFG9060 + TF4060) PiStorm saves a considerable amount of money expanding an Amiga (RTG + Ethernet + HDD).
The A4000 has a nice feature that it has an analog audio mixer on the motherboard intended for CD-ROMs but perfect for PiStorm AHI.
The big problem is probably DMA. The original PiStorm and PiStorm32 don't currently have support for multiple DMA masters.
sorlib
commented
3 months ago Agree completely, my A4000 has so many addons that are now useless (A4000 Coaxial Network, SCSI interface for older A500 Hard Drives, Video Toaster and TBC, and on and on) and that I don't see using. Back in the day they were very useful, but now they've lost their edge, necessity, and in a box somewhere. Not familiar with DMA you're referencing, but appreciate the insight and looking forward to future options to bring my A4000 out of storage in the attic. Personally, I only need a few things including
Look forward to future options and hopefully my A4000 has died from leaking Capacitors and Battery (pulled long ago)... Thanks for the reply! Sorli...
I'm sure there is a market. Lots and lots of ReAmiga4000 and AA3000++ have been made recently to increase the pool size. Yes there are more 060 accelerators for the A3000/A4000 platform (Legacy + 040->060 adapters + A3660 + BFG9060 + TF4060) PiStorm saves a considerable amount of money expanding an Amiga (RTG + Ethernet + HDD).
The A4000 has a nice feature that it has an analog audio mixer on the motherboard intended for CD-ROMs but perfect for PiStorm AHI.
The big problem is probably DMA. The original PiStorm and PiStorm32 don't currently have support for multiple DMA masters.
captain-amygdala
commented
3 months ago how can we better support you in making a a4000 work?
Make a day 28 hours long and me 20 years younger ? :)
juanpc2018
commented
3 months ago how can we better support you in making a a4000 work?
Make a day 28 hours long and me 20 years younger ? :)
very funny... but the work is already done... WinUAE has a PowerPC emulator based on QEMU all code is already done... requires real CyberStorm III Firmware Bios,
latest version of WinUAE does Not work with AmigaOS4, they forked, only the payd version from ForeverAmiga works, or older versions HDD controller does Not work.
code is x86_64, WinUAE + PPC QEMU plugin has to be converted/compited to ARM. Emulating PPC on a x86_64 is too much load.
another alternative: using the PPC emulation code from PlayStation3 emulators, some are super optimized, but are PPC5, and CyberStorm is 604e "simplified" Amiga X5000 is also PPC5, but AmigaOS4 is designed for 604e, AmigaOS4 has a special PPC5 optimized version, Only included when purchasing a X5000 board. standard AmigaOS4 that works with 604 CyberStorm is for sale in A-eon website. there are many other OS for PPC5, Fienix, MorphOS, etc... The problem with X5000 boards is that PPC5 does Not have AltiVec "MMX" instructions, only PPC6 has AltiVec, and 907MP. Newer PPC6 are Super advanced vs. 907MP, and very different vs. Server POWER8 POWER9 POWER10
Newer POWER8/9/10 CPUs moved to Litte.Endian, and Quad Multi-threading to compete with XeonPhi and AMD Epic. According to Phoronix tests, There is No advantage in Power Consumtion Nor performance, like ARM or RISC-V High Security servers need a different Architecture to avoid being affected by Virus & Worms designed for x86_64 PPC6 has the classic architecture used in Xbox360, PS3, G5, etc...
ive done Dhrystone tests on a MacMini 2014 2.8GHz, compiling the source code v1.2 on Github after a minute / 60s gives more than 20 million Dhrystones... test is affected by CPU power settings, needs several 1 minute runs, or a longer run. but i dont know how does compare vs. Amiga3 Dhrystone test. i doubt its a 1:1 ratio.
you should Activate [Discussion] Tab, and move this there.
captain-amygdala
commented
3 months ago I'm closing this issue again. A PiStorm for A3k/A4k Amigas will happen at one point for sure. For discussion please join our Discord. Spoiler : Most (all?) of us current PiStorm Devs are not interested into PPC Amigas, but @juanpc2018 we are happy to merge a PR to add PPC support. Quoting you
how can we better support you in making a a4000 work?
Make a day 28 hours long and me 20 years younger ? :)
very funny... but the work is already done... WinUAE has a PowerPC emulator based on QEMU all code is already done... requires real CyberStorm III Firmware Bios,
very strange Nobody talks about the PiStorm and the A4000 in the same sentence.
shudnt be better to make a PiCyberStorm PPC/Motorola dual CPU architecture board? but also different PPC CPUs from QEMU, Not only the 604e 233MHz, but also the AmigaOne500 Sam460ex 1.15Ghz, and the X5000 P5020 dual core, and the P5040 quad core @ 2.4GHz.
similar to the FS-UAE QEMU plugin. Cyberstormppc.rom has an interesting [Esc] boot menu.