Hands up those who intend to build the TF530 Amiga Accelerator
Please post in the comments if you are going to build one (or more) and if you intend to build and sell them for others to buy.
#TF530CCC
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Monday, 27 March 2017
Saturday, 25 March 2017
Using the Arduino as a JTAG programmer
Using the Arduino as a JTAG programmer
There are a lot of uses for this, but as it relates to this community it should allow you to program things like the TF530 Amiga Accelerator's CPLD's using the JTAG port on that device.
#TF530CCC
There are a lot of uses for this, but as it relates to this community it should allow you to program things like the TF530 Amiga Accelerator's CPLD's using the JTAG port on that device.
#TF530CCC
Monday, 20 March 2017
Something that might be useful for those building modern solutions for vintage systems
Something that might be useful for those building modern solutions for vintage systems
With the recent excitement about people building their own Amiga accelerators, I thought this might be handy for those in the group looking to design and build their own low volume devices.
Plus some of these techniques can be adapted to end users assembling their own projects like the TF530.
#TF530CCC
http://raspi.tv/2017/how-to-do-smt-surface-mount-soldering-by-hand
With the recent excitement about people building their own Amiga accelerators, I thought this might be handy for those in the group looking to design and build their own low volume devices.
Plus some of these techniques can be adapted to end users assembling their own projects like the TF530.
#TF530CCC
http://raspi.tv/2017/how-to-do-smt-surface-mount-soldering-by-hand
Saturday, 18 March 2017
Don't throw out those cracked and broken vintage computers! Repair them
Don't throw out those cracked and broken vintage computers! Repair them
Learn plastic welding quick and simple with tools you either already have, or can get cheap.
https://www.retrohax.net/broken-plastic-case-no-problem-2/
Learn plastic welding quick and simple with tools you either already have, or can get cheap.
https://www.retrohax.net/broken-plastic-case-no-problem-2/
Friday, 17 March 2017
TF530 Accelerator parts are starting to roll in
TF530 Accelerator parts are starting to roll in
I got all my new SMD components yesterday and these puppies arrived a few minutes ago. I also got the SMD soldering paste and new desoldering braid for fixing mistakes.
#TF530CCC
Sunday, 12 March 2017
TerribleFire's TF530 Accelerator - Finished dev board photo
TerribleFire's TF530 Accelerator - Finished dev board photo
I thought you might like to see a photo of what the finished boards look like. Here's one TF posted on the GITHub of a finished board running and installed in an A500 during development.
Also, be sure to checkout the newly updated wiki on his GITHub at:
https://github.com/terriblefire/tf530/wiki
FTA:
Introduction
This page is a brief overview of the system architecture of the TF530. The TF530 is an accelerator card for the Amiga 500 series of computers (may work in other 68000 based machines?).
Components/Features
The TF530 has the following
A 68030 CPU Capable of 32Mhz (at present - 24Mhz Recommended).
A PLCC 68881/2 FPU Running Synchronously with the CPU.
2/4Mb of 5V/12ns 32bit SRAM. Configured in the Zorro II address space.
Gayle Emulation ATA Support (7Mhz Clock Domain at present).
Bus Marshaling to the 68000 Socket only when the cycle is not internal to the card.
#TF530CCC
I thought you might like to see a photo of what the finished boards look like. Here's one TF posted on the GITHub of a finished board running and installed in an A500 during development.
Also, be sure to checkout the newly updated wiki on his GITHub at:
https://github.com/terriblefire/tf530/wiki
FTA:
Introduction
This page is a brief overview of the system architecture of the TF530. The TF530 is an accelerator card for the Amiga 500 series of computers (may work in other 68000 based machines?).
Components/Features
The TF530 has the following
A 68030 CPU Capable of 32Mhz (at present - 24Mhz Recommended).
A PLCC 68881/2 FPU Running Synchronously with the CPU.
2/4Mb of 5V/12ns 32bit SRAM. Configured in the Zorro II address space.
Gayle Emulation ATA Support (7Mhz Clock Domain at present).
Bus Marshaling to the 68000 Socket only when the cycle is not internal to the card.
#TF530CCC
TerribleFire TF530 68030/68882 Amiga 500 accelerator - General Discussion
TerribleFire TF530 68030/68882 Amiga 500 accelerator - General Discussion
Please post all general discussion on this topic in this thread.
Also note that I have gone back and hash-tagged all related posts as shown below on this post and will add that tag to any new TF530 related posts.
#TF530CCC
^^^Click here to see all TF530 related posts!
Please post all general discussion on this topic in this thread.
Also note that I have gone back and hash-tagged all related posts as shown below on this post and will add that tag to any new TF530 related posts.
#TF530CCC
^^^Click here to see all TF530 related posts!
Terrible Fire Amiga accelerator project
Terrible Fire Amiga accelerator project
UPDATE: More info and Group Buy discussion
Just to be clear, I have not committed to doing a group buy yet. However, I have committed to doing the legwork on pricing and seeing if there is enough interest and cost savings to make a group buy worth doing. If so, then I'll look at whether I will handle the group buy, hand off the information and contact list to someone else to handle, or maybe arrange with one or several others in different regions to handle group buys for our area. Basically whatever makes sense. I also will not commit unless we can all agree on a method everyone is ok with and that doesn't put me at financial risk.
I hope none of that sounds too negative. I very much want to help out anyone in the Amiga (or Atari) community that is interested in this project and will do what I can to facilitate that.
Meanwhile, we'll have to be patient. This isn't something that's going to happen in a week. I've already ordered most of the parts to build one or two boards myself and once I've received that parts, I'll do the math on the costs involved and the total and post the information in this section. I also want to test the board and make sure the parts I find are correct and functional. Finally, the board has only just gone to beta status this past week with TerribleFire just achieving the first fully functional version at that time.
What that means is that he's now verified that the hardware design is correct and functional. Any future revisions and updates should be strictly firmware related. This means that anyone getting in now is an early adopter and beta tester and that there may be bugs. However, it also means those bugs can be fixed with an update to the CPLDs.
If we don't rush in to things, TerribleFire and his few current Alpha testers may find any remaining bugs and fix them before we build our boards so it's in our interest to wait a few weeks anyway.
The current recommended speed for the board is 24MHz and that's what I'm gong to build and test. The board has however been tested up to 32MHz though that's pushing stability with the current firmware. One future update planned by TerribleFire is to go through the firmware and find optimizations necessary to run the board at higher clock rates reliably, possibly up to 50MHz. Some people may want to wait until that is achieved, some may not.
If you are just looking for a nice, inexpensive little boost to your A500 then gong with a 24MHz build and processor now should be fine. For those looking for more performance and possibly more RAM, it might be worth waiting so you only have to buy one set of parts and processors.
Anyway, I'll do my best to keep everyone up to date however there won't be much news to report until I've received everything I've ordered and gotten final invoices on it all. Once I do I'll put a spreadsheet together with the parts and costs pus shipping, etc. for everyone to look at to get a feel for what the final costs might be and whether we're all still interested in a group buy or just a parts resource list or what.
#TF530CCC
UPDATE: More info and Group Buy discussion
Just to be clear, I have not committed to doing a group buy yet. However, I have committed to doing the legwork on pricing and seeing if there is enough interest and cost savings to make a group buy worth doing. If so, then I'll look at whether I will handle the group buy, hand off the information and contact list to someone else to handle, or maybe arrange with one or several others in different regions to handle group buys for our area. Basically whatever makes sense. I also will not commit unless we can all agree on a method everyone is ok with and that doesn't put me at financial risk.
I hope none of that sounds too negative. I very much want to help out anyone in the Amiga (or Atari) community that is interested in this project and will do what I can to facilitate that.
Meanwhile, we'll have to be patient. This isn't something that's going to happen in a week. I've already ordered most of the parts to build one or two boards myself and once I've received that parts, I'll do the math on the costs involved and the total and post the information in this section. I also want to test the board and make sure the parts I find are correct and functional. Finally, the board has only just gone to beta status this past week with TerribleFire just achieving the first fully functional version at that time.
What that means is that he's now verified that the hardware design is correct and functional. Any future revisions and updates should be strictly firmware related. This means that anyone getting in now is an early adopter and beta tester and that there may be bugs. However, it also means those bugs can be fixed with an update to the CPLDs.
If we don't rush in to things, TerribleFire and his few current Alpha testers may find any remaining bugs and fix them before we build our boards so it's in our interest to wait a few weeks anyway.
The current recommended speed for the board is 24MHz and that's what I'm gong to build and test. The board has however been tested up to 32MHz though that's pushing stability with the current firmware. One future update planned by TerribleFire is to go through the firmware and find optimizations necessary to run the board at higher clock rates reliably, possibly up to 50MHz. Some people may want to wait until that is achieved, some may not.
If you are just looking for a nice, inexpensive little boost to your A500 then gong with a 24MHz build and processor now should be fine. For those looking for more performance and possibly more RAM, it might be worth waiting so you only have to buy one set of parts and processors.
Anyway, I'll do my best to keep everyone up to date however there won't be much news to report until I've received everything I've ordered and gotten final invoices on it all. Once I do I'll put a spreadsheet together with the parts and costs pus shipping, etc. for everyone to look at to get a feel for what the final costs might be and whether we're all still interested in a group buy or just a parts resource list or what.
#TF530CCC
Thursday, 9 March 2017
Terrible Fire TF530 Amiga 500 60830/68882 accelerator - GIThub files
Terrible Fire TF530 Amiga 500 60830/68882 accelerator - GIThub files
Here is the github for the accelerator project for those interested in building it.
#TF530CCC
https://github.com/terriblefire/tf530
Here is the github for the accelerator project for those interested in building it.
#TF530CCC
https://github.com/terriblefire/tf530
Terrible Fire's TF530 Rev2 Amiga 500 Accelerator PCB's
Terrible Fire's TF530 Rev2 Amiga 500 Accelerator PCB's
For those interested in Terrible Fire's impressive and low cost Amiga 68030/68882 accelerator project, here is where you can order PCB's.
Note that this design is intended to also be functional in the Atari 520ST so it has multiple applications.
#TF530CCC
http://dirtypcbs.com/store/designer/details/12476/1330/tf530-rev2b-zip
For those interested in Terrible Fire's impressive and low cost Amiga 68030/68882 accelerator project, here is where you can order PCB's.
Note that this design is intended to also be functional in the Atari 520ST so it has multiple applications.
#TF530CCC
http://dirtypcbs.com/store/designer/details/12476/1330/tf530-rev2b-zip
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Terrible Fire Amiga accelerator project
Terrible Fire Amiga accelerator project
I'm posting to welcome those interested in Terrible Fire's low cost Amiga accelerator project(s) to this community. This is the section (Amiga Expansion Devices) of the community to post, share, and collaborate on that project in.
Please let me know if I can be of and assistance in helping this project go forward.
#TF530CCC
https://youtu.be/RHnaElLx_CQ
I'm posting to welcome those interested in Terrible Fire's low cost Amiga accelerator project(s) to this community. This is the section (Amiga Expansion Devices) of the community to post, share, and collaborate on that project in.
Please let me know if I can be of and assistance in helping this project go forward.
#TF530CCC
https://youtu.be/RHnaElLx_CQ
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Use modern USB mice and joypads with your Amiga
Use modern USB mice and joypads with your Amiga
I came across this and thought I'd share, given how hard to find real Amiga mice are and how much they suck anyway, especially for what they cost.
http://retro.7-bit.pl/?lang=en&go=projekty&name=rys_mkii
I came across this and thought I'd share, given how hard to find real Amiga mice are and how much they suck anyway, especially for what they cost.
http://retro.7-bit.pl/?lang=en&go=projekty&name=rys_mkii
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